Location Info - Planet Duruth

Name: Duruth IV (Argoth to its inhabitants)

Size: 3,400 miles at the equator (by comparison, Earth is 3,963 miles)

Moons: 3 (Noct, 800 miles at the equator; Tellur, 875 miles at the equator; Pallad 600 miles at
The equator).  By comparison, Earth's moon is 1,080).  All three moons are relatively
Smooth, as there have been minimal impacts (little debris in solar system)

Planet Age: Young (From a Geological standpoint, so mountains and cliffs are in abundance)

Day Length: 30 hours

Week Length: 8 Days

Continents: 5 large landmasses; two very small polar regions (each less than 1,000,000 square
Miles in size).  By comparison, Antarctica is 5,300,000 square miles

Population: 400 Million (all Viana) scattered among all 5 continents

Government: Each land mass has its own governing body, but since encountering the other races
They have unified of sorts in a planetary council.  Each land mass sends representatives
Proportional to their population, and a council leader is elected by them through an
Election among the group

Military: Each area maintains its own military force, but the majority of the military force is
Concentrated under the planetary council.

History:
The Viana origins are shrouded in mystery, something they (and the other races) seek to understand.  The planet Duruth IV is of particular interest to all exploring this mystery for two reasons.

The first is the more obvious reason.  Duruth IV is among of the oldest locations of the Viana planets, long enough to where their origin tales are shrouded in myth and legend.  

The second is for something that renders the planet unusual by galactic standards.  Most known life-bearing planets in the galaxy are of a similar size scale – as in, someone visiting any planet will find that everything is scaled to life as it evolved on Earth.   Just like Earth, it is not unusual to find atypically large Flora/Fauna (Redwood trees, Whales, Dinosaurs) or atypically small Flora/Fauna (Bonsai Trees, Bumblebee Bat, Bee Hummingbird) but the overall scale is that of Earth.

Duruth IV is unusual in that all life seems to be set to the scale of the Viana.  Plant life, animal life, even insects are all in scale to them.  While that may give the planet a good cause to be the potential 'home world' of the Viana, the mystery is deepened when one looks at the Gulaan Peninsula.



The Gulaan Peninsula
The Gulaan Peninsula juts from the largest continent, and is 500 miles wide and almost 800 miles long (by comparison, the State of Florida is 361 miles by 447 miles).  It has the most extreme elevation ranges on the planet, with the highest mountain peaks and the steepest cliffs (and the highest percentage of both).  Where it peaks the most interest, however, is that the biology of the peninsula is different from the rest of the planet.  Flora, Fauna, and even Insect life are three to five times larger in the Gulaan Peninsula.  There is a complete lack of avian life, and the Flora and Fauna are unsafe to eat by the rest of the life on the planet (at least, unpalatable but mainly various stages of toxicity).

Due to that and the difficult geology, the Viana have never attempted to move into the peninsula.  They use the natural barriers (mountain ranges, steep cliffs) to contain the creatures living there, and simply monitor the portion of the peninsula that joins to the mainland, though in times past it was these creatures that gave rise to many of the monsters in Argothian mythology.

A result of that is the Gulaan Peninsula's ecology is virtually untouched, and making it a dream location for scientific research.  If this was naturally occurring (not likely) then it is an incredibly unusual situation to investigate from a biological standpoint.  More likely, its existence raises the implication that the planet was terraformed.  That would mean that originally the planet was more in line with the known galaxy, and at some point Duruth IV was terraformed to be more suitable to Viana life.

When the Alareen found out, they requested permission to investigate.  Viana are always very nervous to be around the much larger aliens, but allowed them to create a base of operations at the southernmost point of the peninsula.  In return, the Alareen helped to carve wide roads along the edges of the continent, and installed devices along the road (large metal pillars) that give off signals that keep Gulaan life from encroaching on the roads.

The Alareen base is small (by their standards).  The southernmost point of the peninsula is a flattened location for their landing pods (capable of supporting up to 2 Alareen).  The actual base is several hundred miles (or a 5 minute walk) to the north, and consists of several Alareen buildings along its southern point, and the Western point is a large Viana Military/Scientific complex.

The Alareen buildings are small.  One of the buildings is a small bathroom facility (think a deluxe porta-potty with a small shower) while the other two are about the size of cubicles.  The Alareen do the bulk of their work and research on their space ship orbiting the planet (the scientific vessel Our Father's Spirits) so the base is primarily for them to prep their work for return.

There is a buffer zone of about 300 miles that is clearly delineated by signs and fencing where the Alareen are allowed full access.  Viana are discouraged from going to the location, but the military makes no effort to patrol/enforce this as the risks are abundantly clear, and very few Viana are willing to go to such a hostile location, even if there wasn't the threat of being stepped on.