In the Beginning there was Light, but then followed Darkness..
Solarsystem
The Sun
Diameter: 695,000 km
Day Length: 25-36 days
Mean surface temperature: 6,000°C
The Sun is the most prominent feature in our solar system. It is the largest object and contains approximately 98% of the total solar system mass. One hundred and nine Earths would be required to fit across the Sun's disk, and its interior could hold over 1.3 million Earths. The Sun's outer visible layer is called the photosphere and has a temperature of 6,000°C (11,000°F). This layer has a mottled appearance due to the turbulent eruptions of energy at the surface.
Solar energy is created deep within the core of the Sun. It is here that the temperature (15,000,000° C; 27,000,000° F) and pressure (340 billion times Earth's air pressure at sea level) is so intense that nuclear reactions take place. This reaction causes four protons or hydrogen nuclei to fuse together to form one alpha particle or helium nucleus. The alpha particle is about 7 percent less massive than the four protons. The difference in mass is expelled as energy and is carried to the surface of the Sun, through a process known as convection, where it is released as light and heat. Energy generated in the Sun's core takes a million years to reach its surface. Every second 700 million tons of hydrogen are converted into helium ashes. In the process 5 million tons of pure energy is released; therefore, as time goes on the Sun is becoming lighter.
The Sun definitely is the only place where no trace of the Dark Soul can be found.
The planet closest to the sun is Mercury, and it is the fourth world to be terraformed. Unlike those previous, however, its surface is not inhabitable. Rather, while the surface of Mercury is bleak and lifeless - baked on one side by the sun, cold and dead on the other - it has shielded starports located along the Terminator Line between "dayside" and "nightside", which provide access to a vast underground network known as the Webway, which connects artificial subterranean biospheres known as Underworlds. Mercury is the domain of Mishima, and its insular nature means that others have had very little success in encroaching upon its domain. The largest Underworld - and the base of Mishima's operations - is Longshore, Mishima's primary starport. Longshore is a vast cavern with the Underground Ocean on its floor, and includes several islands that lie beneath an artificial sky. The central island, also known as Longshore, is located underneath a crater that provides an opening to space, shielded by an ancient wonder of technology known as the Celestial Shield - a plastic dome that keeps air in and radiation out, but which allows starships to pass through, and then knits itself back together once they have passed. Although Mishima is not on the best of terms with the Brotherhood, the Longshore Cathedral can be found here, the Brotherhood's only base of operations on Mercury.
The other major starport is Fukido, which is basically the Mercurian equivalent to Hong Kong in some respects. Due to a bit of a bungle on the part of the Mishimans, Imperial managed to secure a lease to 99% of the properties in Fukido, which is located directly opposite Longshore. The lease only lasts for 99 years, and is bound to expire in a few years, but Imperial has operated it as a nearly anarchistic capitalistic free enterprise city, and various entrepreneurs have flocked here despite the lack of long term security, and the ever present danger that Lord Moya (the Mishiman Lord Heir that oversees Mishima) might just get fed up with Imperial's antics, break the agreement, and drive the foreigners out of the city.
Although Longshore is Mishima's largest city, its official capitol is Yamato, located in yet another, less accessible underworld, though not far from Longshore underneath the surface.
Venus was the third world to be terraformed by the Merchant Corporations, and was claimed by Bauhaus as its new homeworld. It is a planet lush with jungles and oceans dotted with countless islands, with forests and snowy expanses at the caps. The world is divided up into several climactic zones, each of which sports very different environments. Venus is unusual among the planets, in that it is only one of two planets (the other being Uranus) that rotates with a retrograde orbit -- meaning that the sun rises on Venus in the west, and sets in the east. Also, the Venusian day is longer than its year: a Venusian day cycle lasts 243 Earth days, whereas its year is 225 Earth days. The climate on Venus gets especially warm during the daytime, but the little-understood machinery of the ancients helps keep this in check. The long nights (generally referred to as "winter", without regard as to the actual time during the Venusian year) result in temperatures that drop to bitterly cold levels, when much of the wildlife goes into hibernation.
The Circles of Ice -
The Circles of Ice are the two ice-crusted poles of Venus, where unprotected people would die in minutes due to the harsh cold. Huge pipelines run oil down to the warmer lands, and prospectors seek gold, minerals and fuel in cities such as Novakursk. At each pole once stood a great ebony obelisk, two hundred feet high, bearing the Bauhaus cogwheel, as testaments that the Bauhaus Homebuilders were the first to explore these lands. However, the Nepharite Molok has built his Citadel at the north pole, and the obelisk there now is held in the claw of the huge statue of himself that was erected at the gates of his fortress.
The Rings of Winter -
There are cold, bitter lands of sub-arctic tundra and icy seas. The lands are bleak and infertile, with only the toughest and scrubbiest of pines surviving through the long cold winters. There are numerous Imperial mining colonies, remote Cybertronic research stations and Dark Legion Citadels in the north and south Rings of Winter. The Citadel of Astartha - the largest known monastery of Ilian on the human worlds - is located here, and many Heretics make pilgrimages here, despite Bauhaus attempts to monitor potential routes to get there. The harsh gulags of the Ministry of Fear are also located in these Rings. Of special note is the Macguire Crater, a large crater in the Southern Ring of Winter, in the middle of which are hot springs and geysers, warm enough to give the interior of the crater its own micro-climate, and a hospitable environment for one of Imperial's major footholds on the planet.
The Rings of Strife -
These are the lush temperate zones of pleasant land and warm seas ... and also the most fought-over part of the planet. They hold many Bauhaus estates, the Capitol-controlled Graveton Archipelago, and most of the Mishiman provinces on Venus, plus a dozen small Imperial cities. There also happen to be more than a dozen Dark Legion citadels here. The mightiest of these is the Citadel of Balsagoth at Korragador, a former Capitolian fortress on a small island off the coast near Port Mac Arthur. Within his Citadel, Balsagoth breeds gigantic sea monsters, which he then releases into the ocean to terrorize shipping.
Heimburg is the center of Bauhaus power on Venus, a sprawling megacity with an uncountable population. It is located in the lush forests of the Northern Ring of Strife. Heimburg is a Charter City, which means that it is not directly owned by any one Noble House, and it is one of the few places on Venus where the Electors recognize the right of non-Homebuilders to own land. Consequently, there are massive Capitolian, Mishiman and Imperial quarters, and even a small Cybertronic Enclave tucked discreetly near the Palace of Government.
The Ring of Fire -
This is the giant equatorial zone, a place of steaming jungles, constant volcanic eruption, and turbulent seas. It is the last great frontier on Venus, and many of the newly created noble families have sought to stake claims for their homesteads here, while the other megacorporations have set up colonies as well. There are also over a hundred known Citadels of the Dark Legion, and possibly many more under the cover of the jungle. This is also the place where the Lost Cities of the Ancients might be found, abandoned by humanity during the Age of Catastrophe. On the southern edge of the Ring of Fire, close to the tenth parallel, is the large Mishiman city of Quan-to, the capitol of Lord Heir Maru. The Ring of Fire is also home to the enormous Citadel of Alakhai, the Scourge of Venus, possibly the most powerful enemy of humanity short of the Dark Apostles themselves.
Volksburg is another Charter City, built along the southern edge of the Ring of Fire, and close to the Citadel of Alakhai. It is one of the most heavily fortified cities of humanity. The Brotherhood's Venusian Cathedral is built here, serving as an inspiration to the embattled defenders of the city.
Earth (aka Dark Eden)
Diameter: 12,756 km
Mean Distance from Sun: 150,000,000 km
Day Length: 24 hrs
Orbital Period in Days: 365.25 days
Earth was abandoned over a millenium ago by the Merchant Corporations, which had supplanted the nations as the true powers of humanity. Earth had already been battered by the clashes between the original megacorporations, and their relentless consumption of what few resources Earth had, as they sought to bring new life to the other worlds of the solar system. Eventually, the megacorporations abandoned Earth in exchange for their colonies on the newly terraformed worlds. The "best and brightest" were selected to join the corporations, while the rest of humanity was left in filth and squallor. The colony on Luna -- Earth's moon -- sought to declare its independence from Earth, and started things off by raining destruction down on the major cities of Earth. The nations of Earth sought revenge by clandestine means, but such subtlety was wasted against Luna's might and its cold-blooded willingness to slaughter billions in order to prove its superiority over Earth. Luna rained down more weapons upon Earth, annihilating major population centers and laying waste to the environment. Earth lay silent, and Luna declared victory. The megacorporations agreed, and withdrew from any further contact with the now presumed dead Earth.
Humanity was not wiped out just yet on Earth, but the battered fragments of the old nations struggled with each other for survival, while many people retreated into massive underground bunkers. Many people lived underground for decades, whole generations never seeing the sky or sun, while others were forced out of their bunkers more prematurely, or had no such access at all. Some people -- and a great deal of the wildlife -- mutated in response to Earth's new toxic environment, while others emerged from their bunkers to a wasted world, and were forced to use breath masks and other measures to protect themselves from the harsh elements. Some clung to a few elements of the technology of old, but there simply was no longer the industrial base required to make use of much of that knowledge, and limited materials and resources. Even without the help of the Dark Symmetry, the great achievements of the ancients were lost to the survivors on Earth, as they focused on the bare essentials to eke out a miserable existence.
In recent years, with the cooling down of the Second Corporate War, and the return of the Dark Legion, some scouts of the corporations have turned their sights on Earth -- now called Dark Eden -- as a possible source for much-needed resources. While it was previously thought dead and worthless, scouts have detected the presence of nations of people -- or "tribes" -- in the area of what was once Europe and the Middle East, and there may be more elsewhere. The Sons of Rasputin, Lutheran Triad, Templars of Gaia and the Crescentia are among the larger tribes of survivors claiming the Earth, and the corporations have made initial contacts with some of them, even bringing a few away from Earth for study and as mercenaries, scouts and laborers.
Dark Eden is not devoid of life by any means, though it is a very harsh environment, and outsiders have to be innoculated against a wide number of diseases. Plus, air filters are to be worn at all times, and additional protective gear is highly recommended. With the exception of animals preserved by the tribes and kept safe from the hazards of the environment, most wildlife has mutated beyond the point of recognition, to gargantuan and menacing proportions. Furthermore, there is evidence that the Dark Legion has been operating on this world for quite some time, without the Brotherhood's presence to dissuade it. Luna (Moon)
Diameter: 3,475 km
Mean Distance from Sun: 150,000,000 km
Day Length: 27.3 days
Orbital Period from Sun in Earth Days: 365.25 days
Luna is Earth's moon, and it is the cultural and economic center of the human worlds. It was the first world to be terraformed (by Capitol), such that, on its surface, it has a breathable atmosphere and Earth-like gravity, though much of its surface is still barren, grey, and covered in silt. Most all civilization on the moon is concentrated in a single urban sprawl known as Luna City, governed by the Brotherhood, but open to all of the megacorporations and freelance agencies. It is divided into several sectors, some dominated by different megacorporations and freelance corporations, some by the Brotherhood or the Cartel. The architecture styles, old and new, of all the major powers can be found here, but the largest building of all is the Luna Cathedral, the first and most important of all the Cathedrals built throughout the solar system.
Mars is the second world to be terraformed, given an Earth-like atmosphere, gravity, and environment, though much of Mars is still covered by vast tracts of red desert -- collectively referred to as the Great Rust Desert. Mars does indeed have canals now, thanks to Capitolian attempts to irrigate crops. A rather large expanse of land has been dubbed the "Freedom Lands", as Capitol has opened it up for anyone who is willing to rebuild it after the devastations wrought by the Dark Legion -- even people from other corporations. Mars is mostly wide open, flat lands, whether desert or rolling plains, with its cities connected by means of wide-ranging railroads that encircle the globe, to an extensive highway system, to travel by means of aircraft -- Capitol's specialty.
Another location of note would be San Dorado. This is a city far from the warzones, a place of bright neon lights, highways clogged with cars, and everything garish and distinctly Capitolian.
Phobos (Moon)
Radius: 13.5x10.8x9.4 km
Day Length: 0,3 days
Mean distance from Mars: 9,300 km
Phobos is one of the two moons of Mars, the other being Deimos. In the year 100 YC, when Saladin inexplicably vanished from Mars, somehow the symbol of Semai was burned into its surface, so that it now provides an omnipresent reminder of the influence of the Dark Apostles, whenever it is visible in the sky. In Greek, Phobos means "fear".
Phobos was once a home to an infamous penal colony for men. Convicts were sentenced to work in the mines within Phobos' surface, marooned in an endless warren of tunnels with no supervision. The only guards were in the fortresses guarding the spaceports. All manner of atrocities happened here, as anarchy reigned. (And precious little mining actually got done.) There were several calls for the penal colonies to be closed down, but nothing ever happened. Even when President Ernestine Borg crashed on Phobos and witnessed the atrocities with her own eyes before she was rescued by Jake Lizard, nothing happened.
Nothing, that is, until the Dark Legion arrived. Phobos was seized, and fortified against any conceivable attack. There have been many attempts to seize the moons back from the Dark Legion, but all such efforts have failed miserably. Capitol would love to remove these signs of evil that pollute its skies, but the cost has just been too high. A few bold freelancers have tried landing on Phobos to penetrate its secrets ... but these individuals were never heard from again.
Deimos (Moon)
Radius: 7.5x6.1x5.5 km
Day Length: 1.2 days
Mean distance from Mars: 23,460 km
Deimos is the other moon of Mars, and, like Phobos, has a great rune inscribed in its surface. Unlike Phobos, however, this rune is of another Dark Apostle, Muawijhe, and is clearly visible with the naked eye from the surface of Mars. In Greek, Deimos means "panic". Prior to being taken over by the Dark Legion, Deimos was, like Phobos, home to a penal colony, but this one for women.
Between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter lies an asteroid belt spanning an orbit around the sun. It should be noted that, contrary to the depictions in certain popular science fiction movies, asteroid belts are generally not packed and violent, consisting of giant rocks constantly smashing into each other, where flying through them would consist of heroic feats of piloting. In actuality, if one were to stand on an asteroid (all considerations of lack of air, temperature and gravity aside), the nearest other asteroid would most likely be just another speck amongst the stars, hard to discern with the naked eye, presuming that is even possible.
Imperial and Cybertronic, the latecomers to the rush for claiming and terraforming planets, have staked claims on several asteroids in the belt. Imperial came to the asteroid belts back before the Dark Symmetry, and when terraforming technology was still available, so its holdings have something in the way of terraforming, although some of the ancient machinery sustaining these artificial environments has broken down over the centuries. Many of the Imperial clans have staked out one or more asteroids to build a central homestead "estate" on, in miniature ecologies perched on otherwise barren rock.
Although united under a common banner, the Imperial clans are generally solitary, joining together almost exclusively through the function of such devices as the Serenity, the Parliament and the defense forces. Other than that, they tend to keep to themselves, and nowhere is this more evident than in their choice of homes.
Every clan, without exception, has some sort of home in the asteroid belt. While these homes might have begun as mines or farms, they have since developed into something much more important than that. They are the places where the clansfolk unite on holidays and for other special occasions to remind themselves that they are, in fact, family, and that family is what it's all about.
Although some of the homes are limited in their magnificence by the size of the rock on which they are situated, others seem to go on forever. Several of the asteroids in the belt are the size of small moons, and these bits have more than enough space upon them for even the most luxurious homes. The greatest example of this is the home of Clan Paladine: Victoria.
Literally hundred of asteroids are inhabited. If there's enough space to land a ship on it, it's probably got some Imperials on it. Full sets of encyclopedias have been written on these places alone, their inhabitants and their different environments.
Cybertronic, on the other hand, has had to deal with more primitive means of creating habitable environments, though it certainly has the technological edge over the other corporations to be able to do so.
The Brotherhood maintains a number of monasteries and observation posts on different asteroids, with the intent on keeping an eye on any incursions by the Dark Legion, and observing (largely by means of the Art) the activities of the servants of the Darkness in the outer planets. The Brotherhood has declared that the asteroid belt comprises the outer limit of the lands that humanity may travel, as the worlds beyond were captured by the Dark Legion. Imperial has breached this limit by reclaiming the moon world of Ganymede in recent years -- yet another blow against the authority of the Brotherhood -- but by and large the corporations at least try to put on a show of obeying this restriction. (After all ... the Dark Legion isn't a myth. There's a reason why one wouldn't want to venture into territory controlled by the Darkness.)
Victoria (Asteroid)
Diameter: 151 km
Victoria is a particularly large asteroid -- or planetoid -- that is spherical in shape and, while not large enough or close enough to the sun to sustain life by natural means, was still a successful experiment in terraforming, and became Imperial's first homeworld. Victoria's orbit around the sun is such that it keeps pace with Mars, staying at a uniform distance from the Red Planet. (Other asteroids in the belt have been forced into similarly stable orbits by artificial means.) Although the clans have their homeworlds on various asteroids, and Imperial later terraformed Ganymede, this is still home to the core of Imperial society and government.
Camelot (Asteroid)
Diameter: 60 km
This was once the ancestral home of Clan Kingsfield, before the estate was pounded into rubble by rival clans during the Sad Struggle. Starships occasionally pass by the asteroid while making runs through the Belt, and there have been reports of people in archaic battle armor seen walking through the ruins of the castle, though none of these figures have ever been caught on film.
Diemansland (Asteroid)
Diameter: 72 km
Diemansland was once an asteroid-based Imperial prison colony in a previous age, though that's no longer the case now. Many of the people living here are descendants of those prisoners quarantined on this asteroid, and now it's more of an outpost on the fringes of civilization, with some minor mining operations. Although it's ostensibly an Imperial holding, there's a great deal of resentment amongst the populace against the corporation, and there are stirrings of attempts to break away and declare independence from time to time.
The Trojans (Asteroid Cluster)
Mean Distance from Sun: 778,330,000 km
Orbital Period around Sun in Earth Days: 4,333 days
Ceres and Dembovska are located in a cluster of asteroids known as the Trojans, which follow Jupiter's orbit.
Ceres (Asteroid)
Diameter: 1,040 km
Mean Distance from Sun: 414,000,000 km
Orbital Period around Sun in Earth Days: 1,278 days
Cybertronic has made its "homeland" by grouping together a number of large asteroids into networked clusters, and forging an artificial environment in biosphere domes. Originally, these asteroids were homes to mining operations, but Cybertronic seized control of these operations over a century ago. Ceres and Dembovska are the largest of these "cluster worlds", part of an Orwellian society in which the lives of Cybertronic citizens are regulated to the last detail, and where they are subjected to propaganda, mind-altering chemicals, and brainwashing techniques, resulting in the "perfect" culture by Cybertronic standards. This is an insular society, and outsiders are not allowed to visit ... except to join the Cybertronic fold. Ceres houses Cybertronic's core industrial base, though it also has several factories scattered on holdings on other worlds as well. Its chief research and most secret projects are worked on here, however.
Dembovska (Asteroid)
Diameter: 258 km
Mean Distance from Sun: 432,000,000 km
Orbital Period around Sun in Earth Days: 1,460 days
Dembovska is the largest of the two, and houses Cybertronic's central headquarters somewhere within its network of tunnels. It is rumored that the board of twelve that supposedly rules this corporation is joined by a mysterious individual known as the 13th Executive ... who also supposedly has held this position since Cybertronic's inception well over a century ago. This, of course, could just be another part of Brotherhood anti-Cybertronic "leaks" to the rumor mill.
Jupiter
Radius: 71,492 km
Day Length: 0,4 days
Mean distance from the Sun: 778,330,000 km
Jupiter is a gas giant, and it has often been speculated that if Jupiter were a "little" larger, its own mass might have been enough for it to collapse upon itself and create a second star, turning the Sol system into a binary star system. In any case, once upon a time, back before the Age of Catastrophe, there were many gas-mining operations based in orbit around Jupiter, extracting resources from the vapors that make up the giant planet. Many of these satellite stations still orbit Jupiter, though when the Age of Catastrophe struck, with the release of the Dark Symmetry upon the solar system, all contact was lost with these satellites, and it is presumed that they have all been left to drift dead in space, since the satellites were not built to be self-sustaining environments.
Ganymede (Moon)
Diameter: 5262 km
Mean Distance from Sun: 778,330,000 km
Day Length: 7 days
Orbital Period around Sun in Earth Days: 4,333 days
Mean Distance from Jupiter: 1,070,000 km
Ganymede is the furthest human settlement from the sun, claimed by the Imperial corporation long ago. It's a cold, bleak world, but the tall conifers that grow here are regarded as being among the most beautiful in the system. This world is so far-flung that Imperial is the only corporation with any real presence here, its only real competition coming from the dreaded Dark Legion itself.
Saturn
Radius: 60,268 km
Day Length: 10,233 hrs
Mean distance from the Sun: 1,429,400,000 km
Saturn, a ringed gas planet, is yet another world that once had satellite outposts of humanity orbiting it, but none of them were self-sustaining, and it is presumed that all of these bases are either deserted or else under the sway of the Dark Legion.
Saturn is the least dense of the planets; its specific gravity (0.7) is less than that of water. Like Jupiter, Saturn is about 75% hydrogen and 25% helium with traces of water, methane, ammonia and "rock", similar to the composition of the primordial Solar Nebula from which the solar system was formed. Saturn's interior is similar to Jupiter's consisting of a rocky core, a liquid metallic hydrogen layer and a molecular hydrogen layer. Traces of various ices are also present.
Titan (Moon)
Diameter: 5150 km
Mean Distance from Sun: 1,429,400,000 km
Day Length: 16 days
Orbital Period around Sun in Earth Days: 10,759 days
Mean Distance from Saturn: 1,221,000 km
Titan is the largest moon of Saturn and the only satellite in the solar system known to have clouds and a dense atmosphere. Titan orbits Saturn in an elliptical orbit of eccentricity 0.029 and with a semimajor axis of 1,221,860 km (759,264 miles), taking 15.945 Earth days for one revolution. The satellite is believed to make one rotation for each revolution, so that it always keeps the same hemisphere toward Saturn. The diameter of Titan is 5,150 km (3,200 miles), making it the second largest moon (after Ganymede) in the solar system. Its mass is 1.3457 x 1026 g; the resulting bulk density of 1.881 g per cubic cm implies that Titan's interior is a mixture of rocky and icy materials, the latter probably including solid ammonia and methane as well as solid water.
Titan, moon of Saturn, is a known base of operations for the Dark Legion.
Uranus
Radius: 25,559 km
Day Length: 17,9 hrs
Mean distance from the Sun: 2,870,990,000 km
Uranus is composed primarily of rock and various ices, with only about 15% hydrogen and a little helium (in contrast to Jupiter and Saturn which are mostly hydrogen). Uranus (and Neptune) are in many ways similar to the cores of Jupiter and Saturn minus the massive liquid metallic hydrogen envelope. It appears that Uranus does not have a rocky core like Jupiter and Saturn but rather that its material is more or less uniformly distributed.
Uranus' atmosphere is about 83% hydrogen, 15% helium and 2% methane. Uranus' blue color is the result of absorption of red light by methane in the upper atmosphere. There may be colored bands like Jupiter's but they are hidden from view by the overlaying methane layer.
Like the other gas planets, Uranus has rings. Like Jupiter's, they are very dark but like Saturn's they are composed of fairly large particles ranging up to 10 meters in diameter in addition to fine dust. There are 11 known rings, all very faint; the brightest is known as the Epsilon ring. The Uranian rings were the first after Saturn's to be discovered. This was of considerable importance since we now know that rings are a common feature of planets, not a peculiarity of Saturn alone.
Uranus is far from the worlds of humanity, and thus within the clutches of the Dark Legion.
Neptune
Radius: 24,746 km
Day Length: 16.11 hrs
Mean distance from the Sun: 4,504,300,000 km
Spectral Analysis shows that the first two thirds of Neptune is composed of a mixture of molten rock, water, liquid ammonia and methane. The outer third is a mixture of heated gases comprised of hydrogen, helium, water and methane. Methane gives Neptune its blue cloud color.
Popular fiction holds that Neptune was yet another world terraformed by the ancients, somehow given a solid core and turned into an ocean-covered sphere, though still covered by the expanse of blue haze that can be seen from space. There's no proof of this, however, and even if it were true, any humans left there were long ago cut off from civilization, and surely would have been easy prey for the Dark Legion.
Neptune is a dynamic planet with several large, dark spots reminiscent of Jupiter's hurricane-like storms. The largest spot, known as the Great Dark Spot, is about the size of the earth and is similar to the Great Red Spot on Jupiter. A small, irregularly shaped, eastward-moving cloud is scooting around Neptune every 16 hours or so. This scooter as it has been dubbed could be a plume rising above a deeper cloud deck.
Long bright clouds, similar to cirrus clouds on Earth, were seen high in Neptune's atmosphere. At low northern latitudes cloud streaks casting their shadows on cloud decks below.
The strongest winds on any planet were measured on Neptune. Most of the winds there blow westward, opposite to the rotation of the planet. Near the Great Dark Spot, winds blow up to 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) an hour.
Pluto
Radius: 1,137 km
Day Length: 6.3872 days
Mean distance from the Sun: 5,913,520,000 km
It is held by the Brotherhood that the arrival of Imperial Conquistadors on Pluto first stirred the ancient evil known as the Dark Soul into wakefulness, and heralded the return of the Dark Symmetry to the solar system. There was never a chance to terraform this planet, nor its moon Charon, and so it is presumed that this world remains a lifeless rock, no doubt studded with the Citadels of the Dark Legion.
The surface temperature on Pluto varies between about -235 and -210 C (38 to 63 K). The "warmer" regions roughly correspond to the regions that appear darker in optical wavelengths. The bright areas of the surface are covered with ices of nitrogen with smaller amounts of (solid) methane, ethane and carbon monoxide. The composition of the darker areas of Pluto's surface is unknown but may be due to primordial organic material or photochemical reactions driven by cosmic rays.
Little is known about Pluto's atmosphere, but it probably consists primarily of nitrogen with some carbon monoxide and methane. It is extremely tenuous, the surface pressure being only a few microbars. Pluto's atmosphere may exist as a gas only when Pluto is near its perihelion; for the majority of Pluto's long year, the atmospheric gases are frozen into ice. Near perihelion, it is likely that some of the atmosphere escapes to space perhaps even interacting with Charon.
Nero
Diameter: unknown
Mean Distance from Sun: unknown
Day Length: unknown
Orbital Period around Sun in Earth Days: unknown
During the troubled times of the Age of Catastrophe, when mankind's technology was turning against it, the Imperial Conquistadors still ventured out, seeking new lands to claim in the name of their corporation. The leader of the Church of Luna (predecessor to the Brotherhood), the Cardinal Nero, had troubled visions of a tenth planet. Although his visions were accompanied by dire warnings of death and destruction, the Imperial Conquistadors used reports of his visions to pinpoint the location of this tenth planet ... and then eagerly set out for it, waving off his dire warnings as superstition, without pausing to think about the fact that the only reason they even knew about it was because of his prophesy. As with so many things of that era, humanity seemed driven toward a dark destiny, casting aside all reason in their lemming-like march toward doom.
The Imperial Conquistadors landed on the planet (which was named in dubious honor of Cardinal Nero), and found a great alien artifact. The last reports coming back from that expedition described it as some sort of doorway or crypt. Inexplicably, the Conquistadors ignored orders to hold back, as if having lost all sense of reason, and broke all protocol by proceeding to open this long-closed gateway, breaking theFirst Seal of Repulsion. All contact was lost with the expedition, the last report coming from them being only the sounds of their screams.
Largely thanks to visions and the claims of interrogated heretics, it has been determined that Nero became the base of operations of the Dark Apostles, along with its single moon, Brutus. Giant citadels stud its surface, and massive gateways form portals to the largest citadels on other worlds. Dark lore has it that the Dark Apostles themselves hold court on Nero with their most trusted Nepharites, and that it is from here that the siege of the worlds of humanity is coordinated. It is also held that there are additional portals that lead not to other parts of our universe, but to other universes and realms already conquered by the servants of the Dark Soul, and from which they have brought aliens -- twisted by the Dark Symmetry and Necrotechnology -- to assist them in the conquest of humanity.
