#coldfall

Coldfall is a moderately-old planet, having formed 6.5 Gyr ago. It orbits a K4 orange dwarf; its sun is a fairly average member of Population II and has no particular kinematic or chemical abnormalities. Being a K dwarf, the star’s luminosity is only 0.19 Suns, and its effective temperature is a cool 4600K.

Whilst Coldfall orbits its sun closer than Old Earth does, nonetheless the planet isn’t quite close enough to compensate for the star's lower luminosity. As a consequence, the planet's average temperature is a mere 2 ° C, making it 12 degrees cooler than pre-industrial Earth.

As well as lower temperatures, Coldfall also has a lower surface gravity than Ancalagon, at 0.98 G. Surprisingly, however, Coldfall's atmosphere is actually thicker, with a surface pressure of 1120mb. This is due partly to the lower temperatures (which flattens and shortens the high-velocity tail of the atmosphere's Boltzmann distribution) and also due to the much lower levels of UV coming off of the star. (Thus, unlike Ancalagon, there is little in the way of photo-disassociation going in the stratosphere.)

When it was discovered in 192 BE, Coldfall's landmasses were found to be in a largely-barren and unvegetated state. While there was some life in the planet's oceans, nonetheless biodiversity was very low. It appears that Coldfall's ecosystem had developed some sort of subtle imbalance, and had been in a state of decline for much of the past gigayear. Whilst this was unfortunate for Coldfall, nonetheless it made the planet relatively-easy to terraform - there was little to compete with a constructed ecology, and plenty of 'blank canvas' upon which to install said ecology. It also meant that Coldfall already supported a fully-breathable atmosphere. The terraforming proceeded quickly and successfully. The remaining native life was integrated into the new ecosystem.

Today, large areas of Coldfall have been terraformed with imported Earthlife. The planet's tropical belts support a temperature range roughly approximating to the temperate/Mediterranean boundary, while subarctic conditions prevail in the mid latitudes. The most clement conditions are found on the large, equatorial island known as New Albion. The planet's capital city, New Southampton, is located on the east coast of New Albion.

Coldfall was colonised during the Last Century BE, by evacuees from Old Earth. The planet's comparatively Earthlike conditions and lack of major pathogens have meant that the local population have required only very moderate levels of genetic adaptation. In fact, these are small enough that the natives are indistinguishable-by-eye from unmodified cis-humans. Consequently, most authorities do not count the Coldfallers on the trans-human spectrum.

This makes Coldfall's political situation all the more ironic, as since the Third Mechanist War (999 PE - 1005 PE), the planet has been part of the Empire of Ancalagon. The planet acceded voluntarily, due to widespread public concern about the perceived inability of its government to respond to the Replicator threat. (Coldfall's Independence-era administration had developed an unfortunate reputation for corruption and incompetence. The accession was essentially forced by mass street protests, after said leadership had failed to take any action for months, even whilst Replicator forces advanced through the Exile. At the subsequent referendum, the accession was approved on 92% of the vote.)

Unfortunately for Coldfall, a Replicator attack was essentially a certainty. Its star system contains no less than seven wormholes, making it a key node on the Exile-wide FTL portal network. Sure enough, the expected attack happened almost as soon as the planet's accession request was filed with the Empire. Fortunately the Imperial military were able to prevent the Replicators from taking the planet, although it took nearly a year to evict them completely from its solar system.

The Province of Coldfall is now a self-governing domain of the Ancalagonian Empire, with its own Provincial Assembly, Chief Minister and representation in the Imperial Senate. Coldfall is also unique as it is the only province within the Empire that has a non-dragon majority. Coldfall currently has a population of 421 million, of whom 87% are considered cis-human. The dragon population is a mere 5%, owing largely to the planet's colder climate. (The remaining number constitute various other transhuman residents.)