Welcome to my worldbuilding and speculative biology project! Here there be graphs. I am very much creatively-minded, not scientifically-minded, but I love science, especially biology, and I find space a source of endless fascination. Please note that this is the very beginning of the project - things are still bare-bones and imperfect. But as I go on, I'll get advice from friends (and maybe even professionals????) Credits are here. Go back to the rest of my site here.
NOTHING ON THIS PAGE IS FINAL. It's mostly notekeeping at this moment. I may 180 on things. Do not believe a dang thing that is said here.
To say that "Homeworld" is an unusual planet is an understatement. Falling just shy of its star's habitable zone, an atmospheric pressure of 8 atm and a large iron core creating a large magnetosphere allow it to host carbon-based, oxygen-breathing, water-dependent life. Underneath, its plate tectonics are active, leading to numerous hot springs and volcanoes - and yet its exterior is cold, due to its erratic orbit and highly reflective atmosphere, despite its relative closeness to its sun.
The makeup of its atmosphere is as follows: 39% Nitrogen (~3.12 Earth atmospheres), 25% argon (~2 Earth atmospheres), 23.125% Helium (~1.85 Earth atmospheres), 6.85% ammonia (~0.548 Earth atmospheres), 2.6% oxygen (~0.208 Earth atmospheres), and about 2% of other gases (~0.16 Earth atmospheres), including carbon dioxide, methane, and sulfur dioxide.
Three billion years ago, "Glory" formed - a star bright and shining in the midst of a desolate area of the galaxy. In its formation, it consumed most of the matter in the area - but left enough for four intrepid planets to form. Two rocky planets and two gas giants exist in a shockingly close cluster.
Both rocky planets had the recipe for life, and yet were unlucky in one respect: neither of them existed in the habitable zone. One planet formed too close, and the other formed too far. The first planet would be given to the whims of the star's magnetic forces and radiation, and the second one would be too cold. There could be ways to offset this: if the farther planet had low albedo and many greenhouse gases, it could heat itself enough to offset the sun's distance; if the closer planet had a thick, protective atmosphere and a magnetic field strong enough to resist its sun's forces, it could protect itself from radiation. The farther planet's atmosphere formed wispy and plain, with not enough of anything to make itself hot. But the closer planet ended up with all the protection it needed.
The origin of life is a mystery, one with many theories. A distant asteroid carrying bacteria; polymer chains forming just so in the midst of an ocean vent; even ancient aliens seeding life on distant, foreign planets. There are no answers here, either - but nevertheless, life became on "Homeworld" in the form of extremophile bacteria feeding off of the minerals in an oceanic vent.