Paclernos is an average-sized planet that orbits its eponymously-named star in the Milky Way Galaxy. The homeworld of the Kicath species, Paclernos is one of the oldest known homeworlds of any spacefaring civilsation in the First Gigaquadrant, yet does not have the status of the capital world of the Kicathian Coalition (which instead is Citadel). In its present state, Paclernos is a minimally inhabited world that is under strict environmental protection by the Kicath, and is a place of great archaeological importance to the Coalition. Though not off-limits to outsiders, Paclernos is a world that is most often frequented by researchers rather than tourists.
Paclernos is one of the extreme few worlds in Kicathian space that exhibits traits of ancient Kicathian architecture and evidence of cultural traditions, and as the homeworld of the Kicath race, still possesses great cultural value to them. It is common for the remains of deceased Kicath to be returned to Paclernos and interred in columbariums that possess thousands of generations worth of Kicathian relatives.
Etymology[]
The name Paclernos is a Colloquial Kicathian distortion of the Refined Kicathian term pākuānaśu, which is the elative singular of pākuān, the word for 'cradle'. Thus, the word Paclernos roughly translates to 'out of/from the cradle'. It is common for Kicath to refer to their homeworld literally as 'The Cradle' instead of 'Paclernos'.
Characteristics[]
Description[]
Paclernos is a cold planet, with over a third of the planet's surface covered in tundra, while other cold biomes such as polar deserts, steppes, alpine climate and taiga comprise the rest. As a result, much of Paclernos' terrestrial flora is low-lying. Paclernos is surprisingly biodiverse despite its cold conditions, and with two-thirds of the planet covered in ocean, has a large variety of aquatic life. Paclernos is also very volcanic, with a myriad of volcanoes active over the course of centuries and many more that have gone dormant or extinct. In turn, the volcanic activity of Paclernos has allowed for a huge quantity of fertile soil.
Kicathian technology has allowed for the surveillance and observation of volcanic activity and the ability to render potentially threatening eruptions inert, though in ancient times, pre-spacefaring Kicathian civilisation often had to cope with such environmental changes. The volcanic activity of Paclernos makes it highly susceptible to earthquakes and tsunamis; due to this, ancient Kicathian architecture is typically robust and low-rise, though as metallurgy and technology evolved over time, became increasingly effective in mitigations against seismic and tidal activity and allowed them to build taller.
