@ net -lgn$ TWDL_DUM

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@ TWDL_DUM: SYSTEM BULLETINS
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None available.
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@ cat yggdrasil

Name: Yggdrasil
Distance from Mu Draconis: .8953 AU
Mass: 6.579 x 10^27 g
Density: 5.203 gm/cm^3
Gravity: 1.224 Earth Standard
Sidereal Rotation Period: 32.654 hours
Sidereal Orbit Period: 256.78 days
Inclination of Equator to Orbit: 1.734 degrees
Mean Temperature at Solid Surface: 307 to 315 K
Major Atmospheric Consituents: N(2), O(2)
Natural Satellites: Mimisbrunnr, Urdabrunnr, Hvergelmir
Colony Name: Midgard
Founded: December 16, AC 199
Major Cities: Asgard (Main continent, capital), Jotunheim (Main continent), Niflheim (South Island Cluster)

Climate:
Yggdrasil, despite the chilly imagery its Norse name conjures up, is an extremely warm planet. While it has small glaciers on each of the poles with temperate zones surrounding them, most of the planet is either a tropical or desert climate. Due to the almost non-existent axial tilt, there is almost no seasonal variation, other than unending rain during the planet's "spring." Also, there is little variation between the length of night and day. 83% of the planet's surface is covered with water, so the air in most places other than the highest mountain regions tends to be very humid. For the most part, the weather is fairly mild; hurricanes or other such violent disturbances are a rare occurrence. Yggdrasil is a fairly old planet; while it is obvious from the many islands that it was at one time very tectonically active, eruptions and earthquakes are extremely rare occurrences.

Geography:
There are two large land masses on the planet; the Main Continent and the West Continent. There are also many island chains, most notably the Sourth Island cluster, made of seven massive islands. The Black Lions main base (lovingly called "the Lair" by many) is located on Jormungand, one of the central islands of the planet's east archepelego (Ragnorak). There are training facilities on the neighboring island of Hymir, and the "hot lab" facilities are located on one of the other islands, Fenrir. The base is about 700 km East of Asgard, 300 km NNE of Jotunheim, and 750 km NNW of Nifleheim.

The Black Lion Settlement:
Commander Maxwell chose Yggdrasil as the site for the main Black Lion base because of several factors; first of all, it is a well established colony. While it is isolated like most outer systems colonies, it has a sister colony on Draupnir. [Draupnir is a fairly cold planet, but rich in rare minerals, Gundanium being one of them.] Also, Yggdrasil's higher than earth gravity makes it a good place for military training, since most other colonized planets, outposts, or colonies have earth level or lower gravity. There is good variation in climate from one extreme to the next on the planet, but outside of the spring storms, the weather is predictable and mild, making it an ideal place to have an air field. In AC 200, shortly after the founding of the Black Lions, Commander Maxwell signed a contract for the Ragnorak island chain with the colonial government in Asgard, overseen by the CTC. The Yggdrasil government was more than happy to comply with Maxwell's request. While they did not and still do not have any inkling of what the Black Lions truly are, they know that their planet is home to one the largest, most well equipped and efficient military installation in the outer systems. It affords them good protection from Privateers and the natural hazards of the planet, since Maxwell agreed to help the colonists, should they need it. Construction of the main base, built into the completely inactive volcano of Jormungand, finished in May of AC 201. Construction of the training facilities on Hymir finished in August of AC 201, and the hot labs on Fenrir were completed a month later. Additional MS construction and hanger facilities attached to the main base were completed in September AC 201. Despite the massive size of the various bases, all that is visible from planetary orbit are the runways on Hymir and Jormungand, as well as a few auxiliary, innocent looking buildings. The main parts of the bases are subterranean, built into the sides of the enormous inactive volcanoes, and by design, they would be able to withstand a from orbit, nuclear bombardment. Currently, there are small outpost bases for the Black Lions in the rest of the Mu Draconis system--a supply depot based on Draupnir, and unmanned communications/monitoring stations on one of Draupnir's moons, Munnin and one of Yggdrasil's moons, Hvergelmir.

A few notes on Yggdrasil's Flora and Fauna:
Hearteningly enough, terran crops and plants have adapted very well to Yggdrasil's foreign soil after a bit of genetic tweaking. There are also several types of native plants that are edible, and quite palatable as well. For the most part, the plant life of Yggdrasil resembles that of Earth's tropical rain forests. However, there is one very notable difference; there are great many more carnivorous and poisonous plants than what ever existed on earth, some of them large enough to trap and consume an unwary human. Psychotropic fungi abounds as well, which makes the forests very popular with a certain set, despite the inherent dangers. Most of the fauna on Yggdrasil is extremely large and exhibits a six-based limbic structure--most of the animals either have six legs, or four legs and a pair of wings. There is the usual division between carnivores and herbivores, however, the carnivores are a great deal more aggressive than those of earth, and the larger the carnivore, the more aggressive it seems to become. All of the cities have energy fences around them and their fields; it's the only way to ensure the safety of the population. To leave the fence boundaries is to risk one's life. While many attempts were made to transplant terran fauna to Yggdrasil, there was almost no success, and the colonists gave up and began domesticating/hunting the native animals. There is one exception, however--dolphins were transplanted to the oceans soon after the founding of the colony, and they took an immediate hold, fitting themselves easily into the oceanic ecosystem. While there are ocean going carnivores large enough to eat them, the dolphins have the advantage of intelligence, which some claim has been enhance by the move to Yggdrasil (this is unsubstantiated). All other thoughts aside, Yggdrasil is one of the most life- rich planets in the known systems, suiting the origin of its name (the tree of life) very well.

@ lgt -q

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