Summary

A recently colonized planet in the Junkstorm, Calidor is a B-class world that requires considerable terraforming to be habitable. All the basic essentials are there - it is in the Goldilock-Zone, there is liquid water, a magnetic field and an atmosphere within acceptable parameters - they are just not in quite the right proportions. The atmosphere has too much CO2 and greenhouse gases, resulting in temperatures of 30°C to 80°C on the surface. As a result, the native vegetation is very limited and consists mostly of algae.

Terraforming is underway and is expected to last another forty or fifty years.

History

Discovered along with the other planets in the Junkstorm around the year 240 AA (After Armstrong). It was explored and catalogued, then put aside in favor of the other three habitable planets. For over thirty years, nobody gave it much thought.

Then, in 274 AA, the first plans were made to colonize it. The other planets had grown to the point where they were not frontier worlds anymore, and demand for more resources and space is always a driver for human expansion.

The first expedition in 276 AA failed and was evacuated after three casualties. But the demand for another planet was still there, and so new plans were drafted over the next decade.

Finally, in 285 AA another expedition was sent to establish a first outpost. Four months later, the first terraformers were brought in and have been working ever since, with a constant influx of additional terraformers to reduce the time it takes until Calidor can be colonized.

Which is not to say there are no colonists. Aside from the engineers that run and maintain the terraformers, a few hundred early colonists have decided to tough it out on the still barely habitable planet.

Calidor Settlements

At this time, in 299 AA, it is not yet possible to live on Calidor without protective gear. While temperatures have dropped slightly as the concentration of greenhouse gases is reduced, it is still hot. The atmosphere is breathable, but oxygen content is too low to survive for more than a few minutes without an oxygen mask.

In other words: The Calidor settlements are closed ecosystems and resemble scientific bases more than villages.

But even so, the settlers are working hard towards independence. Growing food on the planet remains a challenge, with the soil having an unbalanced amount of nutrients - more than enough minerals, but few organic materials. 298 AA was the first year in which one settler family claimed to have grown enough food to support themselves, with a mixture of robot-tended outdoor fields and interior hydroponics as well as chickens for eggs and meat.

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Mountain Valleys

Most of Calidor is fairly flat, with only three mountain ranges worth the name on the entire planet. Within those mountains, the most unique geographic feature of Calidor can be found. A specific type of valley that digs deep between the mountains, causing incredible chasms that dip down sometimes close to sea level even though the terrain around is a thousand or more meters above sea level throughout.

Scientists have several theories on how these valleys were formed, with the most popular one being a period of high acidity and highly corrosive rains. This theory is supported by most of these valleys being near the highest mountains, where clouds would naturally accumulate and rain down when pressed upwards.

There are prospecting expeditions planned to several of these valleys once the surface becomes more habitable, reducing the risk of such an expedition. If people can survive on the surface of Calidor long enough for a rescue shuttle to arrive, it will become feasible to explore the planet further.

The reason for these expeditions is that the valleys are expected to provide easy access to natural resources otherwise buried deep underground.

The Silent Sea

The Silent Sea, a vast expanse of water, stretches across Calidor, its depths concealing a world not yet explored by humans. Its surface, often calm and reflective, mirrors the harsh, sun-scorched landscape above. Yet, beneath the tranquil surface lies a vibrant ecosystem, teeming with life adapted to the planet's extreme conditions. Only its surface layers have been explored, and even those only slightly.

Bioluminescent plants inhabit the further depths of the Silent Sea. Their faint light was detected by human explorers, but nothing more is known about them. Extrapolating from the planets other flora, scientists assume that what they have seen is swarms of microscopic plants drifting in the ocean currents.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the Silent Sea is its connection to the planet's geothermal activity. Hydrothermal vents, spewing hot, mineral-rich water, dot the ocean floor, creating oases of life in the otherwise barren depths. Only one of these has been studied so far, and that study revealed a plethora of extremophile organisms, capable of thriving in extreme conditions of temperature and pressure. Single-cell creatures not readily classifiable as either plants or animals, they anyway appear to play a crucial role in the global carbon cycle and more knowledge about them will be vital to the ongoing terraforming efforts.

As Calidor undergoes terraforming, the Silent Sea is also changing. The lowering sea levels, caused by a reduction in temperature and soon the formation of polar ice caps, are gradually transforming the coastline, creating new habitats and bringing to light coastal underwater ecosystems. The increased sunlight penetration, as the atmosphere clears, is also going to affect the marine life, though the precise results of this remain to be seen.