Campaign:NHNE/Worlds/Sapphire
Sapphire is the main planet of the Coalfire Sub-System of the New Earth System
Astrography
see: New Earth System for astrographical context
Sapphire is a planet that orbits the star Coalfire at 0.13 AU. It take 27 days to do so. It is tidelocked to Coalfire, but there is some precession causing the twilight zone to be relatively broad.
Planetology
Summary
Sapphire A664677-A N Ag,Ga,Ni,Ri,Tz
Starport
New Earth has a Class A Starport, an excellent quality installation which includes all the expected amenities including refined fuel for starships, brokerage services for passengers and cargo, and a variety of ship provisions. There is a shipyard capable of doing annual maintenance, overhauls and other kinds of repair, and construction of both starships and non-starships. Most ports of this classification have both a Highport and a Downport.
Size
Sapphire has a diameter of 9800km.
It is tidelocked to Coalfire.
Atmosphere
The slow addition of Hydrogen (expelled from Coalfire during its periodic flares) to the atmosphere makes the dynamics of the planet's atmosphere of great academic interest. This Hydrogen is rapidly converted to water, but this then affects the oxygen and carbon cycles. Modelling is still in its infancy.
The solar flares also affect the atmosphere, not only with spectacular light-shows but by causing notable peaks in insolation. The incidence of storms two days after a flare is much higher than theoretical meteorological models predict.
Hydrosphere
44% of the surface of Sapphire is covered in water.
Population
The population of Sapphire is 6,000,000.
Government
Two governments recognised by the New Earth Council:
Law
Technology
Biology & Ecology
Native Biology
The existence of a land, sea and air fauna on Sapphire was not expected. It would appear that life on Sapphire started about 200 million years before that on New Earth or Poseidon. This difference is driving many academic papers. Land based life appears to have evolved with little direct interaction between East and West Sapphire.
Visitors to Sapphire are advised to get a full set of inoculations before arrival otherwise the early days of their stay will be severely uncomfortable as their bodies adjust.
The most famous of the lifeforms are the "8-Legged Hoovers" of East Sapphire and those are heavily protected.
Transplanted Biology
The East Sapphire Government has sought to limit the introduction of Terran life-forms onto that continent. Thus the changes seen in the ecology in the east have been less damaging.
Bioengineering
The extensive use of bio-engineering in West Sapphire - often to undo the excesses of the prior bio-engineered introduction - have led to an complex mix of species from various domains on that continent.