Venus

Map
This is the original map created by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko for his Venus Wars manga. Though I plan to use this extensively, expect to see a much more legible and detailed map with updates for the new setting.

Calendar
(See Calendar page for a raw calendar)

(See Current Calendar to for the RPG timeline)

Prior to the collision of Apollon, Venus's yearly trip around the sun took 224.7 Earth days (ED), while its rotation on its axis was 243 ED, making Venus's day longer than its year. After the impact, both the speed and rotation was accelerated. The planet is now orbiting at 224.5 days and has a rotation of 28 days. Compared to Earth, this means that Venus goes through one solar day and night in roughly a month. The tilt of the axis is small, so the hours of the day are fairly even latitudinally. The polar regions receive less direct light which makes them more habitable for human life. This also limits the differences in annual seasonal changes between summer and winter.

People who live on Venus for long enough tend to use the Venusian year to calculate their age. Since the planet's orbit takes 224.5 Earth days to complete, a year on Earth would last 1.62 Venusian years. For example, a person who is 25 on Earth would be considered to be 40 and and a half years old on Venus.

Because of Venus's different rotation period compared to Earth, the concept of a day or month is also very different. As each rotation takes 28 Earth days, each Venusian day is analogous to an Earth month, with a total of 8 Venusian days in a year. Venusians still call this increment a day despite its length. It takes 14 ED for a Venusian midday to arrive. Sunrise is typically around 7 ED and sunset around 21 ED. The long Venusian days create similar effects to season changes, but on a shorter timescale. Every Venusian day goes through a period of intense cold, then winds and rain, then intense heat, and finally more winds and rain before the cycle repeats itself.

The four weeks of the day are known by the relative position of the sun. The first week is Night, when the sun is furthest from the observer but is making its return. The second week is Morning, when the sun rises and begins its journey across the sky. The third week is Afternoon, beginning with high noon when the sun it at it highest and beginning its decent into evening. The fourth and final week of a day is Twilight, when the sun has finally disappeared behind the horizon and heads toward Night.

Since a day on Venus does not correspond to the natural circadian cycles of humans and other organisms from Earth, the transition has been a rough one and takes toll on many unsuspecting new arrivals. In order to adapt, humans have maintained a 24 hour clock that they use to roughly approximate a normal sleeping regiment. Following this pattern, the Venusian day is broken down into four segments of 7 ED known as weeks. Each week is further broken in to "shifts" which correlate to a 24 hour Earth day.

No matter how much humans have tried to recreate a semblance of their native time scales, the long periods of light and dark make people susceptible to a condition known as Micro-seasonal Emotional Stress Syndrome (or MESS) which manifests as insomnia, paranoia, hallucinations, anorexia, tremors, and uncontrollable mood swings. Newcomers are given a series of drugs and inoculations when arriving on the planet, one of which is the very important cocktail created to help combat the condition. If the symptoms are noticed early on, it can usually be easily treated with drugs that induce sleep. However, if left untreated (or is not treatable), the condition can be potentially fatal. For those who have ancestors stretching back to the first colonies, MESS is extremely uncommon as most people who suffered from it did not live long enough to pass on their susceptibility.

Aquanet
Across the entire surface of Venus, rain that turns to ground water has been interacting with various minerals. In many places, the acidic water has eaten away mineral deposits and created vast networks of caves. These new caves combined with even older networks that appear to have been created in a slimiar manner. This massive cave network extends to the sea, acting like a sponge. Depending on a number of factors, such as the position of the sun and the moon Apollon, the time of day, and the distribution of rainfall, the ebb and flow of water through the labyrinthian rises and falls. The majority of these tunnels are fairly deep, about half a mile to a whole mile down on average. Accessing this complex water table and knowing when certain wells will active is very important to people living in the wastelands. Major cities and oasis towns have the technology to dig deep enough that such variations have less of an affect, though droughts are always possible.

Micro-seasons
Venus's long days and low axial tilt has created a situation in which annual seasonal changes are fairly minor, whereas each Venusian day exhibits the qualities of four distinct seasonal changes. These effects are known as micro-seasons that cycle every 28 Earth days. These seasons are fairly analogous to the season experienced on Earth, except that they are much shorter and more extreme. Though annual seasons still exist, they are mostly noticed by those living closer to the poles.

At the start of the day, midnight, the first micro-season of cold, winter like conditions occur. In this first week, temperatures are at their lowest as the sun hasn't been seen for 7 Earth days and won't be out again for another week. In arid regions, this drop in temperature is accelerated by heat escaping into space, dipping to -50 C (-58 F) or more. Without proper protection, a human could not survive for very long exposed to the deadly cold. Where humidity is higher, snowfall is common. These areas tend to have slightly more mild conditions, though they are still hazardous if taken for granted.

As sunrise comes, the heat of the sun quickly builds on the planet's surface. Without a sunset for another 14 Earth days, the heat doesn't have a chance to dissipate for a very long time. The quickly mounting temperatures drive hot air up off of the surface, drawing in cooler air from the surrounding area, bringing in strong winds. Where the land is dry, these winds are associated with massive dust storms that can blanket hundreds of miles in abrasive choking clouds. In more humid regions, these storms are more likely to bring strong rains. Though these rains are an important part of the water cycles and a necessity for life, they pose the threat of both physical damage from winds and flooding as well as the chemical risk of acidic rain. Many precautions have been taken to mitigate the damage caused by acidic rain, but sometimes very high concentrations occur. Most buildings and equipment as well as most of the wildlife are immune to strong concentrations of acid, but humans must wear extra protection if they wish to leave the safety of their homes. On very rare occasions even some of the most hardy defenses are not good enough to withstand the worst concentrations. The locals call these dangerous storms Halja Rains, a reference to both Hell and hiding one's self, and special buildings and shelters have been designed to put as much a barrier as possible between their inhabitants and the caustic storms. Runoff management is also paramount since deadly pools can form.

At midday, the sun has been scouring the planet for 7 Earth days straight. Though the greenhouse effect of Venus is nowhere near what it once was, its still difficult for the planet to dissipate the continuous heating of the Sun. Temperatures can raise above 60 C (140 F), with some remote and uninhabitable locations getting close to or even perhaps surpassing the boiling point of water. For the vast majority of Venusians, midday is the start of a long siesta. Time spent outdoors is limited, and when it is endured, travelers must wear special heat exchanger and water recycling suits or risk heat stroke and desiccation. Areas that promote air movement and humidity are the least hostile during midday and it is no surprise that most colonies have found themselves far away from the equator where the sun's baleful gaze is at its strongest.

As the sun sets in the final week of the day after 14 ED of light, the heat stored up on land radiates away, drawing in the relatively warm air from hotter regions of the planet, namely the day baked surface and the seas. Depending on the geography and distance to water, these winds often bring in storms and much needed rain. Compared to the oppressive heat of the day, the winds and rain ushers in a festival of thankfulness. The water from these rains tend to be much more basic than the highly acidic rains of the sunrise. Sunset brings more people outdoors than any time of the day and the general mood of the people tends to be at its highest. Even for long term residents of Venus, the setting sun also has a temporary positive effect on circadian cycles, allowing many to sleep better than they have all day. The longer the sun is gone, however, the temperatures continue to drop, once again moving the Venusian calendar another day forward, and renewing the micro-season cycle of the planet.

Flora and Fauna
Venus is a harsh and dangerous planet. Many of its environments are completely hostile to life found on Earth and its micro-seasons drastically alter the climate every day. Nonetheless, life has found a way and has flourished. Nearly every organism on Venus was designed by bio-geneticists or are the offspring of those creations. Not many of Earth's naturally occurring lifeforms can survive and have been mostly limited to small invertebrates and some plants. When Venus was cut off from Earth during WWIII, a vast array of science experiments were abandoned, releasing many of their subjects. Though most of them did not survive, the descendants of those first pioneers have now dominated the planet. Not much is known about what kinds of experiments were being run or what kind of evolutionary gauntlet those creatures endured. As such, many scientists have come to Venus to study the new genesis.

Scientific Name Resource

Vulpavians (Dusk Foxes)
The most successful and diverse of all mega fauna, vulpavians, also know as dusk foxes, are a hybridization of foxes and numerous bird species. They are primarily active during dusk and dawn. Like many other organisms on Venus, the acidic environment provides the means to create striking coloration on their fur and plumage.

Because of their high adaptability, intelligence, and the ease at which new breeds can be generated, dusk foxes are frequently turned into tame pets or work animals. They are arguably not domesticated since they have succeeded in the wild for quite some time without human intervention.

Synapsids
Synapsids are a large group of mammal/reptile hybrids that have become the dominate diurnal species.

Setosas
Setosas are physically large mammals-like hybrids. There are both herbivore and carnivore varieties. Most Setosas are active at night.

Hexasauras
Usually on the smaller side, hexasauras are six legged reptile hybrids. Many of these species are active all day long, though they must be careful not to expose themselves too much as they are often prey to larger animals.

Caecuraptors
Caecuraptors are blind predators that mostly hunt at night.

Boletusaur
Using fungi as the base genetic code, boletusaurs are ambulatory mushroom/reptiles. They are particularly common around bodies of water.

Invertebrates
Perhaps more than any other life form on Venus, invertebrates without a doubt are the most diverse group of animals.

Aquatic Life
The number of species that can survive in the waters of Venus is very small. Nonetheless, there are still a handful of organisms that have found a niche and even thrived in the caustic waters.

Microbes
Three completely different lineages of life now exist on Venus, including the microbes native to the planet as well as those brought by Apollon. Because of this, the microbial life on Venus is a hotbed for scientific research. Much of this new life has been used to hybridize life from Earth to make them better suited to the planet's harsh alien environment. Aside from genetic engineering, microbes also serve as a major producer of terraforming gases and fuel.

Plants
Plant life has had a hard time establishing itself on Venus. The long day/night cycle and the acidic rains have selected only the hardiest and best adapted plants, the majority of which are hybridized with Venusian genetics. Most plants have dormancy periods designed to withstand the overbearing sun or freezing nights. Whenever there are rains, especially during dusk and dawn, plant life will flourish. Plants are much more successful in the further they are from the equator.

Apollon
The icy body that collided with Venus and made it habitable. All that remains of Apollon is its core that is now a stable moon.