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.

Dra Ag Ahaggalla Fekxtah Station

Dra Ag Ahaggalla

Mean Distance from Oma: 517 WA

Orbital Period around Oma: 18 years

Mean Diameter: 118,150 miles

Length of day: 11.8 hours

Gravity: 4.6 Ethems

Description:

Dra Ag Ahaggalla is Oma’s largest planet. It is in fact so large, and has so many moons, that the ancient texts described the Fekxtah as its own Celestial Family. Only a small part of this planetary behemoth had been explored by the Elzheni. This was due in part because of its enormous size, but also, and perhaps more so, because of its turbulent, and quite violent, environment.

Dra Ag Ahaggalla is swathed in multiple layers of heavy clouds that carry inside them particulates that can eat away at the raw material of anything attempting to pass through them. The clouds form into ferocious storm patterns that extend for thousands of miles and some which circulate across the entire circumference of the planet.

The upper layer of this Fekxtah’s atmosphere is several hundred miles deep with separate, distinct layers lying below it. Each layer has been given its own name by the ancient Elzheni explorers, but we will not recount that list here. It is notable, though, that the sixth layer of Dra Ag Ahaggalla is, unlike those that surround it, an atmosphere that is relatively quiet with storms that are less frequent and more manageable. For this reason it was labeled “The Stillness”.

The layer below The Stillness is as severe as the layers above; however, the clouds of this layer are much darker and thicker than any above it. Parts of it are so thick that they turn from gas into liquid and form temporary oceans that float along the wind currents and then dash into the layer below or suddenly dissipate back into a thick, sticky air. Some of the most extraordinary accounts from the Elzheni explorers tell of creatures that traveled in this heavy layer. Reports speak of tall creatures, hundreds of feet tall (or long), that fly among the violent winds and sometimes dance between them. The Elzheni dubbed these inhabitants of the Fektah the Drawegg in honor of the name of the planet itself.

There are no accounts of direct contact with the Drawegg; however, there were numerous occasions on which these alien beings would be seen close by when damage had just been done to the Fekxtah Station. Huge dents had been made in the outer shell of the station as if a giant hammer, or a hard fist, had battered its thick, metallic skin. Several accounts posited the belief that the Drawegg could speak, or at least laugh, though others argued back that it was simply the wind that they heard.

Below these top-most atmospheric layers the knowledge of the Elzheni becomes more sketchy. A number of brave (or foolish) Elzheni explorers used small vessels to explore the depths of Dra Ag Ahaggalla, but few of them returned.

Of those few that did return, two left detailed accounts of what they saw and experienced. They each made mention that their tiny, one passenger, craft had benefited them. They suspected that it was small enough that the forces of the planet had less effect on them, and that, perhaps, the Drawegg saw them as too small to be of concern. Whatever the reason, each of these ships and their explorer was able to travel thousands of miles into the bowels of Fekxtah. The deeper they went into the planet, the more dense the atmosphere became, and at their deepest extent the dense gas gave way to a sloshing liquid, which was heavy and viscous and seemed to cling to their craft slowing it down. Each pilot reported, independently, that as they went lower and the liquid became denser, it felt as if the liquid was reacting to their ship in an intelligent manner, as if it could perceive them as an intruder. At times the liquid would separate, creating an open, empty space hundreds of feet wide. This would cause the craft to suddenly fall but before it could meet the other side of this space it would be met by a thrust of liquid shooting up from the bottom as if to attack the tiny ship and hold it in its grasp. The pilots’ struggle to regain control of their vessel was significant and they survived only because of their great courage and outstanding skill. Neither of these explorers ever found a solid surface to the planet. They each noted that they believed there was simply no such thing.

We will make note of one other unusual characteristic of the Fekxtah planet Dra Ag Ahaggalla. As mentioned above, this planet has an enormous number of moons. The ancient Elzheni scientists counted over one hundred, and thousands of smaller objects (too small to be considered a “moon”) also circling this planet. Several of the moons are large, almost the size of our own Ethem, whereas the smallest are only a few miles in diameter.

The moons of Dra Ag Ahaggalla were, for the ancient Elzheni, their own separate area of study. They were highly diverse; some being made entirely of water (frozen, of course, at their surface but perhaps liquid deep inside), others a strange accumulation of oddly shaped rock, and still others (though only a few) that were long and wide but only inches thick, like enormous sheets of stone. Sadly the books about Dra Ag Ahaggalls’ moons have been lost to us, or have yet to be released to us by the Heola mayam. NOTE: The Heola mayam are those of their race who devote their lives to the protection of books, in particular, the books of the ancient Elzheni race. In the colloquial language these mayam would simply be called “librarians”.

Fekxtah Station #8:

The ancient texts tell us that the creation of the Fekxtah Station for Dra Ag Ahaggalla was one of their greatest engineering challenges, and considered one of their greatest successes.

This station was built to float in “The Stillness” layer of the Fekxtah. Getting materials to that layer of Dra Ag Ahaggalls atmosphere was a challenge in itself, one which failed many times before a way was found to navigate the hostile storms of the outer atmosphere to reach this less violent place.

The station was built as a large oblong object, with strong, metallic sides to protect it from the planet’s chaotic atmosphere. Inside the Fekxtah Station were particularly advanced Energetic engines that the Elzheni had created just for this purpose. The Engines were powerful, as they had to be to withstand the weather of this strange world, and they had to be constantly attended to adjust for the planet’s constantly changing storms.

There are later accounts that the Elzheni followed their success in building this craft by building several more so that they could position these large ships at various points in the Fekxtah. Of course, we have no ability to verify if this was true, or not. We can only report what the ancient texts claim.

Illidreth’s Reflector

Illidreth

Mean Distance from Oma: 223 WA

Orbital Period around Oma: 28 days

Mean Diameter: 1,826 miles

Length of day: 6.5 hours

Gravity: 0.3 Ethems

Description:

Illidreth is a small, cold Fekxtah that is found deep in the expanse of Seekrem’s Halo. It is not large enough to be considered a Fekxtah planet, but neither is it small enough to be considered nothing more than a piece of debris or a large asteroid.

Illidreth is an egg-shaped object. It measures slightly more than 1,800 miles at its longest and roughly 1,300 miles in its middle. It is made entirely from metals all of which are extraordinarily strong and dense. Even heavy rock, such as granite, is missing from this tiny Fekxtah.

The surface of Illidreth looks “a bit like a piece of dark mud that has been roughly worked by a giant’s hands” as the ancient texts say. It has crests that run across large portions of its body that look like an ocean wave that was frozen in place as it reached its crest. Some of these peaks can be quite sharp and run for hundreds of miles along Illidreth’s length. Though there are patches where the surface is coarse, most is smooth, almost glossy, and reflects the distant light of Oma.

The ancient texts tell us that finding a “path” to Illidreth was difficult because of its shiny metal surface and the strange Energetic patterns that are emitted from it, that extend thousands of miles into distant space. This metal object is composed almost entirely of Physic Energy, and of that kind of Physic that makes itself into the hard, impenetrable metals we have discussed.

Though the ancient texts were unsure of this and only offered hypotheses from a small number of scientists, it is believed that as one explores deeper into the interior of this object, the type of metal becomes harder and more compact. Speculation is that Illidreth had been the dense core of a much larger Fekxtah millions of years ago, and that the Fekxtah had been destroyed through forces inconceivable to the Elzheni or to ourselves. One of the things it left behind by the catastrophic event was this fragment of its core. It is also proposed that much of the detritus of Seekrem’s Halo comes from tiny fragments of this ancient Fekxtah behemoth.

The ancient Elzheni had a strong interest in Illidreth for two reasons. The first was that it offered them, potentially, great knowledge about materials that are fundamentally different from any to be found on our own home Fekxtah planet Ethem. Not long before their destruction the Elzheni were engaged in efforts to drill down into the utmost core of Ethem; however, we have no texts that talk of the details of that project, so we have almost no understanding of what knowledge the Elzheni gained from it.

The other reason the Elzheni had an interest in Illidreth was because of how it radiated pure Physic Energy from its body. These invisible tendrils of pure Physic Energy extended thousands of miles out from Illidreth, and the force of these Energetic lines created a complex system of Energy streams whose effect could be felt throughout much of Seekrem’s Halo. It was a great challenge for the Elzheni scientists to understand these streams and their ever changing paths, but it also had the potential to enormously deepen their understanding of the Six Energies, and Physic Energy in particular. There are also footnotes in the ancient texts that mention efforts to “ride” these streams to travel through Seekrem’s Halo, but it was a highly dangerous endeavor.

Constructing the Fekxtah Station on this object was a great challenge even for the Elzheni. However, as we know is the way with the Elzheni once they set themselves a goal, they find a way, and so they did with the Fekxtah Station, which we will describe in greater detail below.

There was another task, though, that the Elzheni set for themselves which was equally as difficult. An Elzheni scientist by the name of Chelhanna believed that the powerful, invisible, tendrils of Physic Energy that extended out from Illidreth could be used to create a device that could be used to research other objects in Seekrem’s Halo, and perhaps in Oma’s larger family. This led to a project over fifteen years, led by Chelhanna, to construct this device on Illidreth. It was called Illidreth’s Reflector, or Energy Reflector, because it was able to capture, and reflect, the Physic Energy from other objects at great distances.

Fekxtah Station #14:

As mentioned, the creation of a Fekxtah Station on Illidreth was a particular challenge, even to the powerful capabilities of the Elzheni scientists. It was extremely difficult to drill into the strong metal surface of Illidreth, even using Energetic tools that the Elzheni had used on Ethem to great effect. The ancient texts state that even when progress had been made, and a hole was created, the hole would within days, and sometimes hours, fill itself back in. It was as if Illidreth itself wanted to maintain its shape and resisted any attempt to change it.

Eventually all attempts to drill into the tiny Fekxtah were abandoned. The Elzheni next tried to reshape surface material to raise it up into walls and roofs. These attempts met the same fate, and were also abandoned. Finally, material from Ethem was brought to Illidreth to construct the Fekxtah Station. This, too, had difficulties as most materials would refuse to adhere to Illidreth’s surface and soon drifted away into the dark reaches of space, often carried by one of the Energy Tendrils. After many attempts, the Elzheni did find materials that were able to establish an Energetic attachment to Illidreth’s surface and that lasted. In fact, the ancient texts tell us that, “Illidreth not only accepted these materials from Ethem, but seemed to be attracted to them, and drew them to bind with Illidreth’s normal surface metals.”

The construction of Illidreth’s Reflector was another matter. To construct this large device, the Elzheni brought small metal objects that floated in Illidreth’s proximity as the base material for shaping and building the Reflector. Even more amazing was the ability of the Elzheni to position the Reflector so that it could control the direction and extent of the Energetic Tendrils emanating from Illidreth’s form. Unfortunately, the ancient documents in our possession mention little details about the Reflector. They talk about an immensely complex control room that is a part of the Reflector, but other than that mention they only refer us to other documents which we do not now have in our possession.