Kalem

The planet Kalem orbits a red dwarf star with the designation BC647. The system itself is now normally referred to as the Via system, after the sun around which Kalem orbits.

The system around Via is very simple, as expected from such a small star. There is a single other planet just an AU from the orbit of Kalem, and beyond that sits a colossal asteroid belt containing no less that 5 dwarf planets.

Kalem is extremely close to Vai, just inside the goldilocks zone. The result is both being tidally locked, and being extremely hot. The side that is facing the sun is scorched with temperatures reaching around 400°c at the hottest, and blasted with high amounts of UV and IR light, enough to blister the skin of even the hardiest non-native life. This sunward side is known as 'Kepai' by the natives.

The other side of Kalem is frozen, with a majority of the planets water locked up in it. The slow moving glaciers sometimes move into the sunnier areas, melting to form rivers that become hives of animal activity. This frozen wasteland is known as 'Ferai' by the Excation. Between the two extremes is the thin twilight of the habitual zone, where 80% of all Kalem's organisms live in a few hundred mile wide line.

In this thin band, most water is situated deep under the surface, and is rarely brought to the surface as it is not required by the native excation and thier branch of life. The few times it does surfact it brings a larhe abundance of plantlife that transitions the water into hexanol that other species require for their life proscesses.

The majority of the surface is covered in a find red dust that makes breathing hard even in small quantities, and reaches deadly levels in great dust storms, even for the hardy animals of Kalem. To protect from the dangerous dust most animals have an exoskeleton and multiple protective adaptations that isolate internal structures.

In recent times, the twilight zone has started to fill up with Excation settlements, the UV and infrared radiation produced so clearly visible with the right equipment. Indeed, IR scanning was how the first drones discovered Kalem, the cities a bright glow even among the radiation saturated atmosphere.

Atmosphere and Weather
The atmosphere of Kalem has some similarities with earth, it has enough differences to make it hazordous. While it is approximately 20% oxygen, it is also 10% ammonia, a bi-product of the type of respiration most common on Kalem, and 68% carbon dioxide. The remaining 2% is assorted other gasses, such as argon, neon, chlorine, bromine and iodine.

The extreme inabalance in temperatures means a number of large storms are often occuring across the habitable zone, traviling from one side to the other before peetering out. These storms transport vast quantities of sand and dust, and are wracked with powerful lightning strikes.

The habitual zone's geography
The habitual zone of Kalem is dominated by enormous flat rock plains covered in a layer of red dust, called 'gila' by the excation. The size of the gila can range from a a few hundred metres to several miles long. In between the huge planes sit tall mountain ranges, almost impassable to animals and the weather, giving the cities a degree of protection from the hot winds of the sunward side.

The sun is barely visible, only the odd glimpse of the deep red stelar body seen between the mountain ranges, and its often obscured by dust in the upper atmosphere. The lack of direct sunlight leads the thin habitual zone to being cooler than the sunward side. Being cooler does not make the planet any more survivable sadly, with temperatures reaching 70°c in the shade, and up to 110°c in what little light breaks through.

The sandstorms that ravage the planets surface hit the habitual zone particularly hard when they make it, as the tend to drop in over the mountains, robbing the inhabitants of a vital piece of protection. The storms are often named after demons of mythology, and sometimes believed to be the same demons coming back to exact vengeance. There are reports of entire villages being buried by particularly vicious sandstorms, only to be recovered soon after by another gust of wind.

The dark and sun sides
It is difficult to get accurate information on the topography of the dark and sun sides of Kalem. The sun sides heat and radiation destroys images (and camera drones) extremely quickly, and scrambles data so that transmitting information is extremely hard. Taking pictures from orbit is little help as the atmospheric disturbance hides all detail.

All knowledge of the sun side comes from the Excation priesthood, as traveling to the sun side is their method of entering the order. The journey bleaches their blue fur a ghostly white, and the radiation damage destroys their nerve endings. They all describe the same features, flat red plains as far as the eye can see, with scattered groups of black vegetation. In between the bands of dust, they say that the sky is a pale yellow, possibly due to the higher amount of ammonia and chlorine in the upper atmosphere. Most tales mention ghostly sounds and large shapes moving far of into the distance.

We hope that soon technology will be advanced enough that a venture into the sunward side will be possible and we can uncover the secrets of that heat wrecked place. Even with current advanced suits, we required constant breaks, and one of us once collapsed with heat stroke even though his cooling system was running at max. Any suit strong enough to repel the heat is far to bulky to use planetside.

The dark side is far easy to explore, with a temperature minimum of about -210°c, which can be negated with more modern spacesuits. The dark side is dominated by glaciers that move extremely slowly, an order of magnitude slower than those of earth. The friction of this slow movement allows the bottom of the ice to melt, producing liquid water that trickles into the twilight zone for many miles before being drying up or sinking below the ground.

Kalem's geology
The major component of the planets crust is quartz. Some of the larger mountains have crowns of pinkish red crystals that reflect the limited light that breaks though into a kaleidoscopic array that dazzles most caught unaware

There is a large amount of sedimentary rock, and little to none igneous rock. It is suggested that there is no internal metallic core, or if it is there, it has stopped spinning, and minimal geological activity. This would cause there to be little to no magma to cool into igneous rock. The sedimentary rock has be suggested as proof that Kalem was long ago covered in water, water now locked up in the dark side.

Most of the theories behind evolution on Kalem are based on speculation, as actual physical samples are difficult to obtain, Kalem being absurdly lethal to non-native life, and the Excation being difficult to communicate with. In the future, once more of their language is decoded, more detailed information can be obtained.

Large amounts of Kalem have underground caverns of considerable size with temperatures low enough for liquid water. These caverns are normally filled with all manner of exotic life, most of which has almost no relation to anything on the surface.