Tozect

Planetary Information

 * Orbit: 0.582 a.u.
 * Atmosphere: 180.0 atm
 * Temperature: 900°C (day), -40°C (night)
 * Weather: Class 2-4
 * Tectonics: Class 2
 * Mass: 0.81 e.s.
 * Radius: 0.95 e.s.
 * Gravity: 2.0 g.
 * Day: 40.0 Earth days (960 Earth hours)
 * Tilt: 3°


 * Size/Type: A medium arid planet with a hazy atmosphere and a single moon — Tozera.


 * Climate: Generally calm and dry, but massive dust storms occasionally break out for months at a time.


 * Water Content: The surface is completely absent of water, except for small areas at the poles. Most water comes from below the surface, in underground lakes and rivers.  Only 1% of the planet has water.


 * Habitability: Surface is extremely inhospitable to most life. Caverns and ancient hives however have far lower temperatures and are therefore decently habitable.


 * Dominant Species: Toryds

Planetary Description
A long-dead planet, Tozect was once a very lush world, with few deserts. It is now a medium-sized arid planet, about the size of Venus. It possesses a thick atmosphere, which greatly increases its surface temperature, leaving it at a moltenly high temperature of 900°C (1,652°F) during the day.

Because all of the surface water has long since evaporated into the atmosphere (a major contributing factor to why the atmosphere is so dense), no continents truly exist anymore. This leaves several, world-spanning deserts to take the place of continents. The major one, a desert of fine sand and wrought with annual horrorcanes is named Gleamia. It obtained this name before the atmosphere was as thick as it is, but was still quite expansive — when the sunlight glinted off of the sand, it created a blinding gleam covering the surface of the world.

Storms are infrequent, but when they do occur, they are very powerful and incredibly long lasting. Sandstorms can last upwards of a month without end, and are sometimes so bad that they can strip flesh from bone. Very little survives the worst of these sandstorms, frequently nicknamed "horrorcanes".

Dominated by arthropoids for millennia, the large beetle-like Toryds eventually evolved in the small deserts, and built up nomadic societies. Eventually, Tozect was struck by an small asteroid, and the Toryd investigated. Unfortunately, the asteroid was inhabited by a deadly, polyextremophile virus that infected the local Toryd and spread through their ranks like a wildfire. This virus, dubbed "The Great Red Plague", stopped the heart from beating, and was deadly to most creatures, including the Toryd. Out of fear of their lives, several fled into the far off forests, only to spread the disease further. Eventually, fearing the doom of their entire planet (but mostly themselves), the Toryd moved their colonies into the caves of gigantic worm-like creatures that had become extinct due to the plague. From here they used a gravity beam to pull in a large comet, which subsequently struck their planet and pushed it closer to the sun, raising the temperature of the planet exponentially, and killing off the virus (except for several cultures kept in heavy isolation for use as an all-powerful biological weapon). However, this scorched the surface and killed nearly everything on it; most creatures to survive lived in the ancient hives that dotted the underground, and from here plants eventually thrived once more.

Tozera, The Moon of Tozect
When the comet collided with Tozect that pushed it out of orbit and scorched the surface, its solitary moon, Tozera, did not suffer the same horrible fate. It continued to thrive somehow, keeping most of its biomes intact. How this occurred is a mystery.

Tozera has a humid atmosphere and supports even more life than Tozect. Some believe that the Toryd had at one point tozectaformed it, but this is unlikely, as Tozera is largely swamp and Toryds are desert-based creatures. It does seem to have some sort of atmospheric stabilizers though (although they've never been found — it is only rumored because of the moon's ability to remain alive, as opposed to the larger Tozect), but if these were put there by Toryds or a visiting race, no one knows for sure.

Tozectian Inhabitants

 * Cutter
 * Gloh
 * Killopod
 * Ora
 * Roalch
 * Sandfish
 * Slicer
 * Snipper
 * Toryd