Gaskar III

Gaskar III

(Cosmos)

Type

Planet

Diameter

1-1/3

Mass

1-1/2

Gravity

1-2/5

Atmosphere

Normal

Year length (PST)

228 days

Day length (PST)

36 hours

Satellites

Rhelko

Inhabitants

Vesk

Source: Near Space, pg(s). 78

Gaskar III is the watery, storm-wracked third planet in the Gaskar system, home to all kinds of exiles, most notably vesk who reject the Veskarium's ideals and call themselves renunciants.

Geography

Gaskar III's landmass is concentrated in the small continent of Lavnovya, which is surrounded by an irregular ring of islands and the Yulalov Ocean. The largest island is Prozbyra, which is almost as big as a subcontinent itself. Gaskar III's warm climate and slow rotation result in massive storm clouds, which regularly form cyclones crashing into the mountains of eastern Lavnovya. The western parts of the continent are slightly calmer. On the edge of the continental shelf, the ocean floor plummets into the deep Pripast Abyss.

Gaskar III is orbited by two moons.

History

When it was still forming, Gaskar III collided with an asteroid that reversed its rotation and knocked off ejecta which became the moon Rhelko. Recently, it was engulfed in an ice age that weighed down many continental plates; since it ended, Lavnovya has been slowly reclaiming land from the ocean.

The first settlers who came to Gaskar III were followers of Yulalov, a vesk philosopher and follower of Weydan who rejected the Veskarium's violence and tyranny. Although Yulalov was executed by the Veskarium, his disciples rallied around him as a martyr and persisted for generations in the fringes of the empire. When the Veskarium mastered Drift travel, Yulalov's followers built a starship called the Gaskari, and after a few months, their journey took them to an uninhabited solar system ideal for settlement. These renunciants named their new home Gaskar III.

Inhabitants

Gaskar III has no native intelligent life. In addition to the vesk renunciants, many individuals from across the galaxy have migrated to Gaskar III in search of a free-wheeling, whimsical society. Their population is concentrated mostly in the relatively calm rocky lowlands and river valleys of western Lavnovya. Smugglers and criminals view Gaskar III as an ideal place to lie low, due to its treacherous seas and storms.

Although the renunciants credit Weydan with allowing them to escape the Veskarium, rationalists have pointed out that Gaskar III provides an easy way for the Veskarium to get rid of troublesome dissidents. The Veskarium only pursues these exiles if they are criminals, and even then they prefer to hire freelance bounty hunters to capture them. The renunciants hold little ill will toward the Veskarium and tolerate these abductions to keep the peace.

Gaskar III has a diverse ecosystem, and its wildlife have evolved to tolerate its storms. Some of them, like the peschkery and the ryugar, can grow to gargantuan sizes.