— A Snippet on World Building —

Sally and Jim strolled along the newly opened Hamblin space port, so named for its shape inspired by arches on Earth. A laser projected banner waved “Welcome to Aurora, Capital of Chrysocolla” in the distance. The transports here landed with ease; their smooth shiny silver and white exteriors catch rays of the sun and reflect them with each rotation and movement through the atmosphere. The transports are triangular in shape mimicking small gliders, similar to the NASA space shuttle program of Earth from centuries ago. Small transports hold 15 or fewer passengers and had one engine; larger transports have three or more engines.

Jim was astonished with the view. He and Sally had ridden on the transports to Chrysocolla when they first arrived, but he had never seen so many in one place. “Well, I guess people need to travel.” Most people relied on transports to make their way from the one landmass to the other on this planet as well as to the interstellar port which orbited the planet.

Sally couldn’t believe how much change occurred in two decades. They saw Chrysocolla grow from small towns into the massive cities which now took over the prime real estate along the coast. Twenty years ago, settlers would arrive on a single transport every few months and there was no formal “port” for arrival. Now the settlers came in droves daily, meaning more processes to check them in and to ensure contaminants were not brought to the planet.

Sally and Jim’s visitors arrived from the interstellar port. Sally and Jim explained the history of Chrysocolla when their visiting family arrived.

The purple red sky darkened as the sun set and the orbiting moons illuminated the land full and bright. Chrysocolla has two moons, one containing a surplus of minerals. The other contains ice, vital for the survival on Chrysocolla.

Chrysocolla is smaller than Earth by about half. The settlers of Chrysocolla distributed themselves across each of the land masses. Here there are four main continents and a string of islands which circumvent the planet. The planet is also forming new islands from underwater volcanos. Two of the continents extend down from each poles, and the two other continents extend out from a central island found on the equator. Chrysocolla has a variety of climates which were similar to Earth’s.

The capital city of Chrysocolla is Aurora, located on the central island. It is so named due to it being the first city founded by the humans when they landed. Aurora is a beautiful city where the sun rose as well as sat like clockwork every 12 hours. The city originally started as a settler’s village and grew from there. Today it is home to beautifully architected towers which afford the privileged with amazing views of the sunrises and sunsets over the blue-green waters, along with the bountiful lands surrounding the city.

The stars of Chrysocolla do not look anything like the stars of Earth. Settlers would often become confused and disassociated with their locations, no longer able to rely on the North star, Orion‘s belt or any other constellation which made sense to them. Attempts were made by early astrologers to reverse engineer and define similar constellations but it appears that none of the stars would ever fall into the same alignment. When humans would look into the sky it appears the stars are all moving in different directions almost like we are nearing the center of a galaxy with the distant suns constantly changing around us. This is unlike Earth’s stars where, for thousands of years, they have moved in slow predictive patterns humans could decipher.

Chrysocolla was chosen by the humans to settle due to its mild climate and similar growing seasons as those of earth. It is located in the perfect position from the sun to encourage year-round production of foods. It’s soil is fertile and varied. The mountainous regions host the ability to grow teas and coffee, necessary non-potent elixirs for the human race. Chrysocolla also contains wide open plains where barley, wheat, corn and other crops are grown for consumption. Humans also brought with them knowledge of agriculture and of terraforming land to meet our needs. In low-lying boggy areas we figured out how to plant and grow rice, cranberries, and peat. The grasslands also contain areas to raise livestock, however livestock here is diminutive in size to that on Earth. Cattle grow to be the same size as a sheep. It is a commodity which only the rich and well-to-do can afford. Most inhabitants survived on chicken, fish and beans, if any protein at all. Endemic flora are more brightly colored than it’s equivalents from Earth, which make for beautiful displays during blooming seasons and better tasting foods for eating.

The seas cover 80% of the planet. However, humans find it difficult to travel on the open seas except in the calmest of situations. The two moons create rough seas and prohibit much sea travel. Only the strongest cargo ships make it between the lands. Satellites were deployed so a similar methodology of GPS is available however it didn’t help in those places where the skies are still dark. Additionally, satellites deployed by the settlers had issues mapping the sea floors due to some interference which appeared to be generated from the planet’s core. The seas, with the two moons, drive the rotation of Chrysocolla on its axis. The seas are plentiful with seafood similar to that of Earth, but had other wonderous creatures as well. There is a race of humanoid-like beings living in the seas, commonly referred to as Mermaids and Mermen by settlers. Contact with these beings is limited to date, but we are aware of each other’s existence.

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