Khirius Solvetras
The Khirius Solvetras, the solar system of Kralis.
| Solvetras Information | |
|---|---|
| Name | Khirius Solvetras |
| Central Star | Rhu |
| System Radius | 1.82 path lojosars |
| Approximate Radius | 10.12 trillion miles |
| Primary World | Kralis |
| Known For | Void travel, seeded worlds, ancient ruins, colonies, orbital ports, moons, dangerous planets, and inhabited pockets of atmosphere |
| Major Void Port | Titan City on Hunthak |
| Important Trade Presence | Blue Scarab Trading Company, Eastern Star Trading Company |
Khirius Solvetras is the solar system of Kralis, a vast and ancient system spanning roughly 1.82 path lojosars, or approximately 10.12 trillion miles, in radius.
The system is centered on the immense star Rhu and contains numerous planets, moons, colonies, void stations, dangerous worlds, gas giants, shattered planets, ancient ruins, and pockets of habitable life scattered across otherwise hostile environments.
Unlike Kralis, not every planet in the Khirius Solvetras is inhabitable across its entire surface. Many worlds have only small pockets of atmosphere, protected colonies, magically sustained ecosystems, subterranean settlements, shielded ports, or habitable moons.
Overview
Sages point to evidence that, in the distant past, the Omniverse may have been “seeded” by an ancient void-faring species that transformed many planets and solvetras. It is believed that these beings either became extinct or moved beyond the constraints of the Omniverse.
Some sages believe these same beings may have caused the destruction, or even the formation, of Bhuragask.
The Khirius Solvetras is a system of extremes. It contains burning stellar seas, boiling oceans, jungle worlds, water worlds, desert planets, hollow dead worlds, ice shells over hidden oceans, shattered volcanic planets, gas giants filled with floating landmasses, and frontier void ports at the edge of known civilization.
Many of its worlds are not truly safe. They are merely survivable in places.
System Reference Table
| Body | Diameter | Gravity | Distance from Rhu | Atmosphere | Population | Temperature | Orbital Period | Length of Day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rhu | Super-mega; 873,590 miles | SuperHeavy | 0 | Corrosive-Very Dense | None | Burning | 0 | 0 |
| Mhar | Medium; 4,212 miles | Heavy | 35 million miles | Tainted-Dense | 1,500 to 3,000 | Hot | 90 days | 50 Kralis days |
| Vhurrakus | Small; 2,500 miles | Light | 51 million miles | Thick Reflective | 500 to 1,600 | Hot | 200 days | 215 Kralis days |
| Gunghris | Small; 3,800 miles | Light | 51 million miles | Thick Reflective | 500 to 1,600 | Hot | 200 days | 215 Kralis days |
| Phultaar | Large; 35,000 miles | Heavy | 71.6 million miles | Tainted-Dense | 3,000 to 7,550 | Temperate | 250 days | 36 Kralis hours |
| Sirith | Medium; 8,525 miles | Normal | 96.3 million miles | Normal | 250,000+ | Temperate | 328 days | 27 Kralis hours |
| Alor | Small; 5,750 miles | Normal | 96.6 million miles | Dense | 30,000+ | Hot | 329 days | 28.5 Kralis hours |
| Talok | Medium; 7,750 miles | Normal | 96.5 million miles | Dense | 75,000+ | Temperate | 329 days | 28 Kralis hours |
| Kralis | Medium; 9,875 miles radius | Normal | 115.3 million miles | Standard | 350 million+ | Temperate | 365 days | 24 hours |
| Ereg | Medium; 7,875 miles radius | Normal | 115.1 million miles | Standard | 10,000 to 15,000 | Hot | 364 days | 23.5 hours |
| Jultak | Small; 3,899 miles | Normal | 131.5 million miles | Light | 20,000 to 35,000+ | Temperate | 450 days | 30 Kralis hours |
| Asmeon | Medium; 7,899 miles | Normal | 131.5 million miles | Normal | 20,000 to 35,000+ | Temperate | 450 days | 30 Kralis hours |
| Faleriath | Large; 15,899 miles | Normal | 131.5 million miles | Light | Unknown | Hot | 450 days | 30 Kralis hours |
| Greystone | Large; 63,875 miles | Normal | 230 million miles | Light | 15,000+ | Cold | 686 days | 36 Kralis hours |
| Huthaya | Small; 2,685 miles | Light | 260 million miles | Insidious | Unknown | Cold | 710 days | 11 Kralis hours |
| Nuphan | Colossal; 640,685 miles | Light | 550 million miles | Exotic | 7,500+ | Varies | 850 days | 36 Kralis hours |
| Kartur | Large; 65,986 miles | Normal | 621.9 million miles | Thin | 500? | Cold | 1,050 days | 18 Kralis hours |
| Coraleaon | Medium; 6,756 miles | Very Light | 661.8 million miles | Exotic | 7,500+ | Cold | 2,650 days | 29 Kralis hours |
| Mellinu | Medium; 5,565 miles | Normal | 700.7 million miles | Exotic | 10,000+ | Cold | 3,659 days | 28 Kralis hours |
| Bhuragask | Colossal; 758,995 miles | Light | 1.49 billion miles | Dense-Tainted | 3,750+ | Varies | 6,500 days | 48 Kralis hours |
| Hunthak | Small; 1,600 miles | Light | 3.1 billion miles | Exotic | 10,000+ | Cold | 9,000 days | 19 Kralis hours |
| Cul Dhar Rha | Small; 1,600 miles | Light | 4.1 billion miles | Exotic | 0 | Cold | 15,000 days | 140 Kralis hours |
Rhu
| Rhu Information | |
|---|---|
| Type | Solar star |
| Diameter | Super-mega; 873,590 miles |
| Gravity | SuperHeavy |
| Atmosphere | Corrosive-Very Dense |
| Population | None |
| Temperature | Burning |
| Known For | Nuclear fires, super-heavy gravity, fire portals, fire elementals, phulthars |
Rhu is the central star of the Khirius Solvetras. It is gigantic and absolutely inhospitable to most mortal organic life.
Most of Rhu’s surface is hot enough to instantly vaporize even red steel, even in its coolest spots.
Despite this hostile, vaporizing heat, Rhu is host to a handful of species and beings, including fire elementals and Phulthars, plasma-like beings. It is also known for portals to various planes of fire within the Celestial.
As the solar star of the solvetras, Rhu should be avoided by all but the most powerful travelers. Only complete immunity to fire and heat allows a traveler to survive the star’s immense heat. Creatures and items not protected against the fires of Rhu are instantly and utterly consumed. Only an alter reality or resurrection can bring them back.
The nuclear fires of Rhu are not the only dangers. Travelers must also contend with crushing super-heavy gravity and a surface similar to a vast ocean of stellar fire.
Mhar
| Mhar Information | |
|---|---|
| Diameter | Medium; 4,212 miles |
| Gravity | Heavy |
| Distance from Rhu | 35 million miles |
| Atmosphere | Tainted-Dense |
| Population | 1,500 to 3,000 |
| Temperature | Hot |
| Orbital Period | 90 days |
| Length of Day | 50 Kralis days |
| Major Moons | Est, Shae, Urhtug, Kham |
Mhar has an orange-yellow atmosphere and lacks a solid, well-defined surface. The planet itself is inhospitable and has no real population upon its surface.
Those who exist around Mhar do so on its several small moons, known collectively as the Tears of Mhar. These moons hold several ports where great spacefaring ships dock.
There are four moons: Est, Shae, Urhtug, and Kham.
Kham is the largest moon, measuring roughly 3,500 miles in diameter. It is home to the largest population of humans, Ha' Vatu, and Chovah in the Mhar system, with roughly 2,000 residents in the large town of Ower. Kham has several large blue sulfur lakes and is dominated by rolling forested hills.
The moons are primarily composed of iron and other dense metals beneath dark earth.
Est is a dark rocky moon that lacks any atmosphere and is subject to the harsh rigors of the Void. It is inimical to all but a few resilient forms of life. Voidfarers who have landed upon Est report ancient ruined cities, long abandoned but still inhabited by clockwork-like beings, many of which have rusted out and no longer function.
Shae and Urhtug orbit between Est and Kham. They are covered in vast sandy deserts with numerous oases. Khul is the largest and best-known port oasis.
Many regions of the four moons are protected from hostile atmospheres through magical barriers and force barriers generated by Thaumic Batteries or some other ancient, undiscovered energy source.
Vhurrakus and Gunghris
Vhurrakus and Gunghris are referred to as the Twins. These two planets share the same orbital path around Rhu while also orbiting each other.
Both worlds are covered in a thick, reflective gray-white mist atmosphere that helps protect them from the heat and radiation of Rhu. Despite sharing an orbit, the two worlds have little else in common.
Vhurrakus
Vhurrakus is a hot ocean world with very few island landmasses capable of supporting life. Its ocean is a boiling expanse of yellow-green briny water.
There are only five large islands on the planet. Each is roughly 350 to 400 miles long and 200 to 300 miles wide. The largest island, Rhisu, is home to just over 850 inhabitants.
Rhisu is primarily inhabited by humans and Chovah. The settlement is a large fortified fortress built to protect the spaceport from monstrosities that crawl from the corrosive oceans.
The most feared of these creatures are Brugahs, giant slug-like alien creatures. Brugahs are bright orange with yellow stripes and are known for thousands of trident-sharp teeth and hundreds of writhing tentacles used to seize prey.
Gunghris
Gunghris is a vast jungle planet filled with harsh, hot temperatures for most of the year. The only relative safety from this heat is found in caves within the many rolling hills of limestone and iron.
This small planet rotates very quickly, allowing it to maintain a somewhat bearable atmosphere.
There are thousands of caves and cave systems hidden within the thick jungle, as well as many abandoned colonies where the aggressive jungle quickly overgrew the buildings.
Gunghris is home to an aggressive non-sentient plant resembling a fly trap, but capable of growing as large as the dragons of Kralis.
The only true place that spacefarers can call home is the City of Udar. Built within the highest hill on the planet, Udar is home to roughly 950 permanent residents, mostly Ha'Vatu and Chovah. The hill rises high enough into the humid atmosphere that it is not swallowed by the jungle below.
Phultaar
Phultaar, often called the Giant, is a massive gas giant whose low orbit is home to a dozen continent-sized landmasses. These landmasses are the only truly inhabitable regions associated with the planet.
Phultaar itself is a swirl of purple and green corrosive gases of extreme density.
Within the planet are hundreds of small rocky masses, each roughly 1,500 to 3,500 feet in diameter. These are known for hollowed interiors where powerful spellcasters and others have built remote, isolated hideouts.
The orbiting landmasses range from 75,000 miles to 2.5 million miles in shape and size. Most have no atmosphere or only limited pockets of atmosphere ranging from Standard to Corrosive.
Most landmasses are only a few hundred miles deep, as moving deeper into the planet is nearly impossible due to atmospheric pressure and density.
Khalsa Umbar is the most populated landmass, with roughly 5,000 inhabitants. It is only 950,000 miles in size. Jhuphan is the capital of the region and is home to most of Khalsa Umbar’s residents.
Sirith
Sirith shares the same orbit as Talok and Alor.
Like Talok, Sirith is a water world, dominated by a single continent in its southern hemisphere. It is roughly three-quarters the size of Talok and the same size as Alor.
Its waters are cooler and bluer than those of Talok. The vast ocean is predominantly shallow, extending only a mile or so in depth. Several thousand atolls are spread across the world, some the size of small cities and others no more than a dot of one or two buildings.
Nearly all of Sirith’s 250,000 inhabitants reside on the single continent of Jhul Khal, though tens of thousands are scattered across the planet.
Sirith is a dominant world in the ruling Ta'Jahu House of the Avitanu. It is believed to be the home, or prison, of at least one of the many Old Ones.
Alor
Alor is called the Desert World by Void travelers.
It is a sparsely inhabited world of sand, harsh desert, powerful dunes, rocky mountains, and canyons. Despite its inhospitable appearance, Alor is populated by many species and creatures that favor hot, sandy surfaces.
The most numerous inhabitants include several hundred clans of fire dragons and the giant Kraluis Worm, a creature that both preys upon and is preyed upon by fire dragons and colonies of sentient species.
Alor is not entirely without moisture, though water is sparse and tends to circulate around the northern and southern poles.
The planet is home to hundreds of mining guilds that plunder its depths in search of minerals, especially the large veins of red steel ore that streak through the planet. This has left the hardened crust of Alor littered with crisscrossing mines.
The largest populated city is Kalkilor, a massive sprawl of miners, thieves, mercenaries, and guilds situated upon one of the planet’s many rocky mesas.
Talok
Talok is a medium-sized planet completely covered by dark blue waters and riddled with numerous islands. Some are no larger than a galleon, while others are as large as Dardura Sheva on Kralis.
Its waters are temperate except near the northern and southern poles, where they thicken into layers of ice.
Most of Talok’s population consists of seafarers who inhabit the planet’s many atolls and islands. The largest island is Red Juhntol, a massive island nearly 20 miles in diameter.
Red Juhntol is home to several large towns, the largest of which is Macru, with 10,000 residents mostly made up of humans, Manax, Bhahuul, and Mazadhuk chovah colonists.
Talok’s dark blue waters are home to tens of thousands of types of sea life. A large number of Avitanu Elf colonists live in the southern hemisphere near a place known as Hyrjah Nastath.
Talok is also home to a colony of leviathans, presumed by some to be the source of the monstrosities that terrorize the oceans of Kralis.
The waters are also home to water elementals and other beings associated with the Nexus Planes, as there are more planar portals than normal within the deeper portions of the planet’s oceans.
Kralis
Kralis is the primary world of the Khirius Solvetras and the focus of the Legends of Kralis.
While Kralis shares its life zone with several other planets, the vast abundance of life on the world suggests to many that it is truly the home of the gods. It is also the known prison for the Great Chaos.
Kralis has three moons: Amm, Mantara, and Rimdor. Amm and Mantara are twin moons orbiting at a great distance from Kralis, while Rimdor is a smaller moon that sits closest to the world.
All three moons support several colonies, predominantly Chovah, Ha'vatu, humans, and several Houses of Ta' Jahu. The largest colony is Shu Tahn, whose great spaceport is home to many spacefaring Reikosjharnas companies.
The best-known of these is the Eastern Star Trading Company, whose travel logs record over 3 trillion miles in the Void.
Most moon surfaces are lifeless, lacking breathable atmosphere and surrounded by the killing cold of the Void. Yet there are pockets where the surface has been transformed by magic and sustained by powerful Aradgah. These scattered ecosystems contain many environments, including several locales with portals to the outer planes of the Celestial.
Ereg
Ereg is a world of ancient forests, predominantly warm to hot jungles.
It is filled with a thin layer of mist that hugs the floor of the planet, hiding the surface from close inspection. The planet is sparsely inhabited by void-faring species but is home to thousands of animal, beast, and monstrous creatures.
These creatures keep most sentient species at bay. It is hard to build a large community where 200-foot ape-like creatures rampage through an area or a 350-foot reptilian creature torches a valley in search of food.
However, brave souls have located “safe” areas within the mists, hugging sheer continental cliffs. In these places they have built very small villages for explorers to rest and recover before heading back into the Void or exploring deeper into the jungles.
Jultak
Jultak, called the Diamond of the Void, is the smallest of the planets within the life zone surrounding Rhu.
Half the size of Kralis, Jultak is dominated by a single ancient forest separated here and there by huge lakes of purple-blue water.
The forest resembles the thick oaks of Kralis in trunk, branch, and leaf structure. Due to the lower gravity, however, the proportions of the trees are far greater, with many reaching nearly a mile in height.
Jultak is home to many clans of Jakara, humans, and Aelwyn. From orbit, the planet appears as a green marble with no visible cities.
Hidden within the trees and canopy are numerous towns and villages. Bhultyrn, with roughly 10,000 residents, is the largest and best-known spaceport on the planet.
Because of its heavy tree cover, Jultak is also known for piracy throughout the Void.
Asmeon
Asmeon is three-quarters the size of Kralis and is the closest sister planet of any world in Gishra’s Womb.
It has become a second home to many species from Kralis. Asmeon has three moons: Galidon, Ohwurd, and Srawrats.
Little is known in public records compared to the larger worlds, but its stable atmosphere, temperate climate, and proximity to other life-bearing planets make it one of the more important settled worlds of the system.
Faleriath
Faleriath, called the Giant, is the largest planet within the habitable zone.
Despite its size, it is not heavily populated. Its thin atmosphere and harsh environment make the surface difficult to settle. However, the surface is littered with hundreds of thousands of ruins, ranging from great cities to vast caves exposed to open air.
Despite its size, Faleriath has the same density as Kralis, which has allowed it to maintain a stable orbit since creation.
It is believed that Faleriath was once an outpost of one of the great races before the Age of Mortals, accounting for the thousands of ruins scattered across its surface.
Explorers have documented hundreds of millions of miles of caverns, constructed tunnels, and vast underground areas that appear to have once been large subterranean cities. These are now deserted except for the occasional demon, fiend, or other foul creature.
Greystone
Greystone is a rocky world composed primarily of iron and other dense metals encased in a thick crust of rock and dust.
Its stone shows vibrant reds, oranges, purples, and blues, though most of the surface is a drab desert filled with sharp-edged hills and countless meteorite impacts.
Greystone’s atmosphere is incredibly light and holds very little breathable air for most spacefarers.
The planet is thought to be hollow, its core long ago destroyed by ancient Chaos or some other dimensional event. It has become known as a world dominated by undead, perhaps the last remnants of the planet’s ancient residents.
There is a single large colony in the southern hemisphere where the atmosphere is thicker, though still hostile to most life. Known as Sulphur Springs, this mining city holds the sole population of the planet at roughly 15,000.
Its residents are primarily humans, Chovah, Ha'Vatu, and a few clans of Bhahuul.
Huthaya
Huthaya, often called the Black Knight, is a small, rocky, desolate world considered cursed by many voidfarers.
Very few spacefarers have landed on it.
The planet is covered by a thick black atmosphere where yellow and red lightning can be seen from orbit. Those few who have made landfall and survived often tell similar stories: horrors in the darkness, metallic demon-like creatures of great power, red eyes in the blackness, and whirring noises.
One account describes an ancient many-spired city in the northern hemisphere near massive Mount Hurgha. The city has narrow, winding streets between domes, towers, and needle-like buildings of black metal.
There is no breathable atmosphere on Huthaya. The toxic fumes of its black atmospheric layer make personal suits or magical protection necessary to survive the choking darkness.
Nuphan
Nuphan is the second largest planet in the Khirius Solvetras. It is more gas than solid mass and is made up of several layers, most of which are inhospitable to Kralis-based life.
At each layer, spacefarers tell of massive floating landmasses, many only a few miles in size and composed of gray, smooth stone. Others teem with unusual life.
At its core, beneath the thick gaseous layers, is a Kralis-sized planet of molten rock and landmasses acting like giant ships floating upon oceans of lava.
The atmosphere near the core is toxic to most life, but pockets of fresh air allow several colonies of spacefarers to mine veins of red ore used to forge red steel.
Most of this ore lies just above the lava, making mining extremely hazardous. Several competing colonies fight over red ore deposits, and skirmishes between them often result in many deaths.
Colonies move from landmass to landmass in search of good ore sites or to escape landmasses sinking into the molten ocean.
The Khul Fuhr Company is the largest colony on the planet, with just under 6,500 miners and residents.
Because of thick atmospheric layers and the danger of being struck by fast-moving landmasses, only Rwikahra are used to move materials or personnel from colonies to the reikosjharna in orbit.
Kartur
Kartur is a desolate world covered with ice and snow and rarely visited by spacefarers.
Its surface is covered by a frozen ocean except where gigantic volcanic fissures open steam vents, creating warm biomes where life can be sustained until the fissure closes.
When these fissures open, they deposit rock, minerals, and gases that warm the atmosphere up to a mile in diameter. Most of the world is smooth, with a few mountain ranges piercing the ice shelves. Some of these are active volcanoes that support larger biomes up to 10 miles in diameter.
Kartur is known as the home of the gigantic Shuuldrago.
Due to its orbit, daytime temperatures barely rise above freezing and are unbearable to most species.
The planet is orbited by 15 moons, ranging from 150 miles to 3,500 miles in diameter. Most are frozen balls of ice, while others are covered with active boiling volcanoes.
These distant moons are inhabited only by the brave, the stupid, or the desperate, and often serve as ports for void pirates.
Coraleaon
Coraleaon is a non-rotating planet that first appears to be an ice world devoid of life.
Its outer surface is covered by a two-mile-thick layer of ice. Hidden beneath this shell is a temperate, warm ocean similar to those found on Kralis. This ocean is named Qhuan Qu.
There is one spaceport on the surface: Quun Dim Tah, a large town protected by a magical field from the harsh cold of the surface.
From Quun Dim Tah, a two-mile maze of shafts has been dug through the ice to reach the way-station of Iquam Zho, just above the surface of the ocean world.
Within Qhuan Qu is a unique world where every species of animal and humanoid must be able to breathe water. Most humanoid life lives within bubble-like domes interconnected to create vast cities throughout the ocean.
These structures are usually connected to the icy shell surrounding the water or to underwater mountains.
The water is rich in oxygen and does not present the same crushing effects as normal deep water. Throughout the world are large pockets of air where many inhabitants establish homes or colonies.
Mellinu
Mellinu is a shattered, violent world filled with erupting volcanoes that eject cold, bright blue lava.
The planet is surrounded by a thick layer of blue ash cloud from thousands of erupting volcanoes. There is no native life on Mellinu.
Only those brave enough to endure the bitter cold, survive the toxic gases, and avoid rivers of blue lava come to this planet.
They come for one reason: Thoricar Blue Diamonds.
Mellinu is the only known place in the Omniverse where these rare gemstones are created, other than from even rarer thoricar meteors that streak through the Void.
There is only one spaceport, located on the low-orbiting moon of Kuth. It is a very busy port with nearly 10,000 permanent residents and another 5,000 in transit from the outer fringes of the Khirius Solvetras.
Bhuragask
Bhuragask is the largest planet in the Khirius Solvetras and is often called the Sorcerer.
Unlike other planets or gas giants that have something resembling a surface, Bhuragask is made up of tens of thousands of landmasses orbiting a small charged black hole or planar rift. This central force generates enough gravitational pull to maintain the various landmasses around the core of the planet.
Bhuragask was once a large, solid world similar to Kralis. Sometime in the distant past, sages believe that a magical or other-dimensional explosion created the black hole and blasted the world apart, creating its many layers of orbiting landmasses.
Most landmasses are no larger than 280,000 square miles, but others reach up to 2.6 million square miles.
Each landmass has its own atmosphere and biome. While most are inhospitable to Kralis-based life, many have diverse ecologies adapted to their region’s unusual qualities.
Hunthak
Hunthak, called the Stranger, is the last planet of the Khirius Solvetras and the final waypoint for those jumping into the Void beyond the solvetras.
It is a gray, featureless planet with no fauna, no surface atmosphere, and extremely cold temperatures ranging from -150 to -200.
Yet there is abundant life beneath the surface, close to its core. Hunthak is home to the largest spaceport in the Khirius Solvetras: Titan City.
Titan City has over 10,000 permanent residents and a transitory population of another 15,000. There is also a huge slave population, both as laborers and as people being bought and sold in auction houses throughout the city.
Titan City is barely civilized, functioning as a frontier city of the Void. It is filled with mercenaries, villains, merchants, scouts, gangs, pioneers, and those struggling to survive far from true civilization.
Private agencies provide law and order. The most respected among them are the Knights of Hadak.
Cul Dhar Rha
Cul Dhar Rha, often called the Dark Sister, is not truly a planet, but a dying brown dwarf companion to the massive Rhu.
Cul Dhar Rha is deep pink, with purple layers stratifying its surface. It gives off some light, but not nearly enough to be considered a companion star.
It has a single orbiting moon often used by those coming and going from the Khirius Solvetras. This moon is most often used by void pirates and other less savory species.
