» Mon Aug 19, 2013 2:31 pm A Brief Overview of the Magnus System
Before we can talk about the planets, moons, and peoples of the Magnus system, we must first talk about the star its surroundings. The star formed roughly 6.2 billion years ago from a giant cloud of mostly hydrogen and helium gas, along with most of the other bodies in the Nir Cluster. Magnus is about 2.3×1017 km (23,000 ly) from the center of the Aurbis galaxy in the Dawn Gap, a comparatively sparse region of the galaxy between the mighty Anu and Padomay arms. The star Magnus itself has a diameter of about 1.4 million km and a mass of ~2×1030 kg. Magnus’ heliopause is at 108 au, and it has eight large, planetoid satellites and thousands of asteroids, comets, and dwarf planets in orbit.
Nearest to the star is the planet Resdayn with an orbital distance of just over 100 million km. With a mass of 5×1024 kg and a diameter of roughly 12,000 km, Resdayn is the second largest terrestrial planet in the Magnus system. Originally a pressure cooker world, the planet was terraformed by the advanced Dwemer race about 10,000 years ago, who also created a complex system of atmospheric and orbital stations around the planet to maintain the climate. After the Dwemer left, Dunmer culture split between the traditional surface nomads and the station-dwellers who inherited the structures left behind by the Dwemer. The largest of these stations, Telvanni, Redoran, Hlaalu, Dres, and Indoril, became powerful city-states. The stations themselves and the systems maintaining them were ran by a trio of Dunmer-built city-sized supercomputers called Ayem, Seht, and Vehk. Unfortunately, after thousands of years the artificial intelligences within these supercomputers became self-aware and started to battle each other, much to the detriment of the systems they were overseeing. When they were eventually rebooted, it caused a cascading systems failure that irrevocably damaged the atmospheric stations, causing them to crash to the surface. The ancient “Ashlander” nomads were obliterated, and the surface was rendered uninhabitable for decades. Following that disaster, the Argonian peoples invaded in retribution for millennia of slavery. The Dunmer population has yet to recover, and though certain surface regions are again habitable, the planet will cease to be able to sustain life in a few hundred years. Most remaining Dunmer live on the remaining orbital stations or elsewhere in the system as refugees, particularly on Cyrod and its holdings.
Cyrod is the next planet in the system at about 150 million km from Magnus. The planet has a diameter of 13,000 km and a mass of 6×1024 kg, it is the largest terrestrial world in the system. The ruins of White-Gold and Saarthal are also some of the oldest sites of non-et’Adan habitation in the system, comparable with the oldest Alinorian ruins and only superseded by the ancient stones of Atmora, where the original human stock is thought to have originated from. The Cyrodian landmass is mostly split between the Rumare supercontinent and the smaller continent of Skyrim. The planet’s only moon, High Rock, is also habitable and is home to several successful nation-states. Cyrod has also been the home of every major human inter-planetary state since ancient times. By far the most successful of these was the empire forged by the legendary Tiber Septim, who took control of the ancient Dwemer battleship Numidium to conquer every planet in the system. The great Empire lasted for several hundred years before the comet SD20-Dagon smashed several stations out of orbit, many of them crashing to the ground and killing thousands, including most of the Empire’s administration. Chancellor Ocato made a valiant effort to keep the already fractured empire together, but in the end he failed and Tiber Septim’s empire was no more. Now they have a new emperor, a new Empire… and a new war with the Mer.
Separating the first two planets from the rest of the system is the Illiac Belt, a large collection of asteroids spread between roughly 1.4 and 2 au from Magnus. The belt is mostly comprised of carbonaceous and metallic asteroids, with a total mass estimated at around 2.3x1022 kg. Just over half that mass is held by the belt’s five largest bodies. Orsinium, at roughly 1025 km in diameter, is by far the largest. The dwarf planet was originally settled by the Orsimer people thousands of years ago. They proved their skill in construction by creating an artificial gravity generator, shielding strong enough to protect against major asteroid impacts, and an amazing complex of surface structures and subterranean cities. It is a testament to Orcish engineering that Orsinium has been bombarded dozens of times by asteroid and battleship alike, yet the Orsimer people remain. Next largest is Balfiera, at roughly 950 km in diameter. The dwarf planet would be largely unremarkable if not for the amazing Adamantine Complex, the oldest structure in the solar system. It was said to be where the ancient et’Ada race met for diplomatic disputes and negotiations, a purpose that has remained largely unchanged since its rediscovery. It is also under constant study by the greatest scientific minds in the system, who hope to glean some insight into the mysterious et’Ada. Discoveries made at the Adamantine Complex have heralded some of the greatest breakthroughs in modern science. The third largest body in the belt is the mineral-rich asteroid 304-Betony, which has almost constantly been contested between the spacefaring Bretons of High Rock and the Yoku of Hammerfell. Next are the asteroids 413-Cybiades and 612-Sestres, both of which are home to large Yoku bases that help solidify their dominance in the belt. Most of the remaining asteroids are tiny, no more than 1 km across, and only 249 recorded at over 100 km across.
