When one thinks of lush, resinous forests one images snow and, perhaps, skiing, naturally.
One rarely imagines inferno.
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Though their strong, deep grained dark wood and potentially volatile resins are the mainstay of industry on Hades' Gate, collecting these products from the native Red Faros trees can be dangerous.
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The Red Faros, a mighty conifer that often reaches two hundred meters in height and fifteen in girth exist solely on the far North of the planet's single massive continent. Due to the eccentric 'sideways' orbit of the planet (much like Uranos in the Home System), the farther North one goes, the hotter the climate. North of the Hestia Mountains, where the Red Faros grow most abundantly, is high desert and the summer heat is intense.
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The heat has another effect on these hardy trees; their volatile sap will often combust spontaneously in the hotter months and the trees for miles around will become torches. It just so happens that the cones by which the Red Faros spread their seeds mature at this time and are redolent in the most volatile of their resins. Imagine great pillars of flame tossing dozens of hand grenades...
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The Faros forests are pratically impassible between the 7th and 10th months of the 16 month local calendar yet some, known as Tan Baggers locally, have learned to 'read the forest' and claim to be able to safely navigate the inferno and retrieve the most abundant and vauable resins as well as the priceless Red Faros seeds that are only obtainable at this time. The giant, discus-like seeds rapidly flourish in the fecund conditions following the summer conflagarations and, once gerninated, are utterly inedible.
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The arid soil of lower climes allows for little in ther way of agriculture so all bread products on the planet are made from flour milled from the the massive eight-inch seeds of the Red Faros.
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It is also the Tan Baggers who collect the resins and saps later refined into fuel and other compounds.
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Attempts to cultive the trees under safer conditions have either failed or ended in disaster,
Hades' Gate
Official Designation: CE-G-03-02
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Solar System : Cerberus
Orbit: 1.2 Gaian Years
Rotation: 88 Gaian Hours
Diameter: 94,230 km
Satellites:2; Persephone & Demeter
Atmosphere: Oxygen, nitrogen mix with strong touline, acetic acid, methylbutenone, benzenediol and butandione levels
Orbital Position: 2nd planet in system
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Population:819 Million
Afiliation: Empyraeum
Colonised: EA 2185
Industry: Lumber and derivatives, paper and similar products, volatile compounds related to the legendary Greek Fire
Climate: Part-frozen planetary ocean
Max. Temperature: 49 degrees celcius
Min. Temperature: -2 degrees celcius