Our Solar System: Moralastalla

Moralastalla

Mean Distance from Oma: 987 WA

Orbital Period around Oma: 31 years

Mean Diameter: 93,801 miles

Length of day: 56 hours

Gravity: 6.2 Ethems

Description:

Moralastalla is referred to in the ancient texts as “the Breathing Fekxtah.” The more mystical members of the Elzheni Astronomers Scientific Federacy claimed that this was due to a “being of cosmic proportions, born during the Second Age of the World, living inside the material confines of the Moralastalla Fekxtah.” It is not entirely clear what this cryptic remark means, and, sadly, the author (or authors) do not go into additional detail (or that detail may be contained in some of the Lost Volumes), so current scientists are left to little more than casual (or some would say, wild) speculation.

Even though this ancient tract gives us little to go on, the Fekxtah planet itself does have some peculiarities that lend credence to the “breathing” claim. The planet is constantly emitting huge plumes of gasses from its northern polar region. This creates a massive churn in the atmosphere of Moralastalla and, due to the spin of the planet, it creates a large halo around the planet. The halo has divided itself into a set of separate rings. It is believed that hidden within these rings are many small moons and even lesser (smaller) bodies. There are accounts (again, these are contained in the ancient texts) that “smoke devils” move among these small, lifeless rocky forms. If the texts are to be given credence, these smoke devils have an ability to form themselves into various shapes. They also have an ability to launch at high speeds to travel within the halo of Moralastalla and then have the ability to cling to one of these small moons, or planetoids, to halt its forward momentum, and surround the object. The Elzheni observers, who occupied Moralastalla’s Fekxtah station, recorded contention among the smoke devils for possession of the halo’s moons and moonlets. If two or more smoke devils occupied a moonlet at the same time, they observed terrific storms and churn of the cloudy substance of the devils, as if they were fighting for dominance of the celestial object. In most cases these great battles resulted in the expulsion of all but one devil from the planetoid. In the other cases, the speculation among the Elzheni was that one of the smoke devils had consumed its rival(s).

The halo of Moralastalla deserves much more attention than we can provide here. We must leave it at the idea that the halo is a world unto itself, and is deserving of years of study in addition to what studies may be given to the planet.

In addition to the halo, Moralastalla is surrounded by a naturally occurring belt of rings that rotate around the planet at a highly accelerated rate. The rings approach the planet very closely, within miles of the surface of the Fekxtah.

This brings us to the surface of Moralastalla, or, more accurately to the absence of a solid surface. There is a thick cloud cover that provides the outer shape of this planet. The clouds are in constant movement, and provide a sharp delineation between the emptiness of space around Moralastalla and the clinging, self-entangled masses of clouds.

Fekxtah Station #9:

The Fekxtah Station for Moralastalla is quite large. The accounts talk of it housing hundreds, possibly as many as one thousand, astronomers and workers.

The station sits in the upper levels of Moralastalla’s cloud cover so that it has access to both the planet itself as well as to the empty space around the Fekxtah. Though the station sits in this outer covering, it is anchored to something deep below. The Fekxtah Station is unique among all such stations in that it has this long anchor that tethers it to the planet. The tether is made of a material the Elzheni refer to as gennelith, which is a material the Elzheni crafted from other materials including some found in the outer Fekxtah of Oma’s Family. Gennelith’s properties are a strange combination of strength, pliability, and lightness of the material itself. In small form, that might be held in the hand, gennelith is so light that it is nearly impossible to feel the weight of it and its thin strands are so thin as to be almost invisible.

The ancient texts claim that the giant strand of gennelith is anchored at one end to the Fekxtah Station and its other end is connected to the hard surface of the planet which is thousands of miles below the Station.

During the early days of the use of this station the Elzheni had a vehicle that was able to descend along the shaft of the gennelith tether to carry a small group of explorers from the station to the surface of the planet. It was a terribly dangerous journey due to the tremendous turbulence of Moralastalla’s atmosphere which would often disturb the gennelith tether causing sometimes sharp, uncontrolled movements. In addition to the dangers of the journey, the surface of Moralastalla was extremely hostile. Temperatures were high and much of the surface was covered in shallow oceans of molten rock connected by streams of hot lava. Many Elzheni explorers lost their lives in pursuit of more knowledge about this strange Fekxtah, and, as the ancient texts record, over time fewer expeditions were launched until, at some point, they were finally ended and the car that traversed the gennelith tether was stored away in the least accessible sections of the Fekxtah Station.