Planet:Icarka Persillus Prime

Icarka-Persillus prime is a superearth planet orbiting the blue giants Icarka A and B, a binary system. What it lacks in potential habitability it makes up for in strategic value. The system was one of the first to take advantage of emerging wormhole-creation technology of the age. The high gravity and humid conditions are popular for Talon officers to train new recruits in arduous environments. The star system it inhabits serves as both the empire's first gateway system and as a model for future systems that would fulfill this role.

Geography
The terrain consists of two main contianents: Glorus and Samaus. The former is in fact a supercontinent of high mountains and steep valleys. Many of these valleys plungs into tropical water far below. Air pressure at high altitude measures at a more comfortable 125kPa and many settlements are built high on these plateaus. Within the mountain valleys are lush jumgles of imported plant and animal life, becoming more sparse at higher altitudes.

Samaus is seen as a cool break from the comparatively-dry supercontinent. Because altitude is much lower, many take advantage of the denser air. The northern nhalf of the continent is occupied by a montain range that shelters the southern regions from hurricanes passing down from the Laronic sea.

The main settlement on Glorus is Kolathamur (Which literally translates from Kolath Mur as 'Waypoint Zero'), populated by 21 million throughout the highlands. The cities themselves - unlike architecture in other systems - consists of whitewashed stone and stainless steel, an attempt by the planetary government to increase the planet's albedo. 64% of the population lives within Glorus with 20% living on the continent of Samaus and the remaining 6% occupy stations in orbit (this is also where much of the 25 million-strong non-draconis population live).

Climate
Anyone visiting will describe the climate with three words: Hot and sticky. The twin suns and dense cloud cover create an atmosphere that is both hot and humid nearly all year round. Temperatures do drop to around 10 degrees during the three winter months but the lack of a moon makes this unpredictable. Much of this humid weather is focused on the jungle valleys, creating stormy microclimates that fog up the view of anyone looking down from above. The planet has developed a lively tourist trade for people interested in seeing the 'Vanishing jungles of Icarka Prime', a tourist site that has inspired both mystery and romance novels alike.

Samaus is more dangerous than Glorus during the summer months. The intense heat from the two suns heats the tropical oceons to create intense hurricanes which drive many citizens inland. As a result the continent's most populous city of Alethfi is right in the centre of the continent, fed by a freshwater spring from the surrounding mountain range.

Defences
The primary development aspect of Icarka Prime is the strategic value. The system has always been of critical strategic value since it was colonised in ID.171410 as one of the first lines of the core worlds' defence should anything emerge from the Ohlon-1 sector. Cities are built to funnel enemy soldiers through narrow, winding streets and the spires are built to make landing on them as difficult as possible. Local garrison levels are higher than in several other systems and the planet itself is protected by two orbiting battlestations (Which, due to their mass, help mitigate orbital inastability) and is the site of the Kalthar shipyards - a key contractor for the Imperial Talon Navy and supplier of both military and civillian-grade vessels - along with being a key workshop of both Kahnoth security and Alkamus (Both are, again, high-value investors in the imperial military).

For millenia the jungles have served as a proving ground for difficult terrain training for marines along with providing for pharmaceutical companies. Seeing more than one academy in major cities is common and the population has a rich tradition of serving in the navy.

History
originally settled in pID.171406, the first colonies served as work camps for the construction of the empire's first senvinus reactor after four years the reactor provided power supplies to support the colony's dvelopment and Kolathmur was founded on the site of the original work camp. For the next 340 years ecologists would work on improving conditions on the planet, making it habitable and a key strategic resource. Many plants and animals were shipped from offworld to provide for the terraforming effort and by ID.171740 the planet had been declared a suitable subsector capital, reaching a population of 3 billion by ID.171820. The planet's remote location made it one of the last places the speeder sought to inhabit after gaining full citizenship in ID.205730.

During the Mecha-Wasp war tensions ran high with the constant fear that the swarm could emerg from the wormhole any day, but these fears were unfounded. To quell this fear the navy stationed seven fleets to watch over the wormhole and a further eight were sent to guard the exit point. After the war's conclusion celebrations spread planetwide as the ihabitants' fears of what might have been were put to rest.