Drav:
This world is also known by the names Dravingas (its dragon name), Jhaerghone (its elven name) and Dravosse (a human name). Drav is a terra world with the most diverse explored ecosystem in the Mintakos Stellar System. It is known for the high levels of wild magic here that is woven into the fabric of its existence. The wild magic and the nature of how it flows makes this world a hub for uncountable gateways and pathways between worlds and forms of reality, and attracts magic users from all over who want to study it or use it.
Dravosse is a large spherical earth body of size category F (a "superearth", part of the category one size above the earth's size category). It has three moons named Tyronax (aka, Alkon), Sylvanus, and Elianton (aka, Sylveria).
This world is home to a supreme dragon of the ferrackarl draconic family named Dravellothor. Supreme dragons are the mightiest mortal form of dragon. They are more powerful than even ancient dragons, and are just one step below a draconic demigod. A supreme dragon rules over everything dragon-related on its world, and anything else it feels like ruling over there.
There are thousands of different sentient races here. A hierarchy of dragons controls the planet. The more organized dragon families rule over the disorganized families, and keep widespread wars from breaking out amongst the different wyrms and wyrm clans. The ferrackarl dragon family is the strongest, and rules the others by might and guile. Dravellothor rules over the ferrackarl family, so he is the de facto leader of the planet. A planet-wide order of druids works to keep the other sentient races in balance with each other, so that none start to dominate the entire world. If the druids ever fail, the dragons will begin to attack that race constantly until it is broken back down to a scattered, primitive level.
Due to the size and ruggedness of the planet, many of the non-dragon sentient species have never seen a dragon, though all but the most isolated species have at least heard of them. The druid religion is also very prominent on Drav, and is present in every corner of the planet, from it's subterranean caverns, to its seas, to the mystical cloud realms that float above parts of the world. The dragons dominate the druidic religion, though, and use it as a tool to keep the planet wild, and thus avoid the rise of any other sentient species that may threaten their power. Many world-wide wars have wracked the planet in the past, some almost destroying it, and now the ferrackarls and their allies seek a strategy of divide and subdue to prevent more wars.
The areas here are organized by continent or sea and then by druvahn. "Druvahn" is the word the druids of Drav use to describe a druidic region. Each druvahn is widely different than the druvahn that neighbor it. For example, one druvahn may be subactic in climate, but the one that borders it may be a blazing desert. Sometimes neighboring druvahn are similar, but not always. Each druvahn is like a world of its own. Druvahn are seperated by chaotic border ley lines that are very hazardous to cross.
The druids strive to maintain a state of balance, allowing no non-dragon species to become powerful enough to dominate the planet. They do this by subtle manipulation and the maintenance of an extensive buffer of wild lands between every sentient realm. When the druids fail the ferrackarls step in and lay the emerging power to waste. Many ferrackarl dragons and many of their shigarl dragon allies disguise themselves as humans or elves or some other sentient species and live among them, as well. In these forms they take positions of power and manipulate the societies they are embedded within. In some realms the dragons also rule openly, instead of in secret. These two types of realms - the ones were dragons rule secretly or openly - are the only ones that ever seem to rise to a level more sophisticated than that of a simple agricultural society on Drav.
Many different types of animals also live on Drav. Many should be long extinct or not present on a world like this at all. The wild magic of the planet constantly opens up random gates to various places and times, and random creatures from these places and times are sometimes teleported to and from the world through the wild magic zones. Most of the time they die off, especially if they are so alien they cannot survive on Drav, but if enough of the same kinds of species come to Drav in the same place and they can survive the environment there, they will gather together and thrive, displacing what was already there. Creatures can become completely extinct and then mysteriously reappear thousands or even millions of years later. Fortunately, this does not happen at a fast enough rate to make the life on Drav rapidly change at a chaotic rate. But it does change very differently than life does on other worlds and there are many pockets of strange life scattered everywhere. The changes are relatively gradual, but over hundreds of thousands of years creatures and ecosystems from the far past or far future constantly appear and displace the current ecosystems. So evolution is not the only driving force behind life on Drav, unless one takes into account evolution on other terra worlds.
This planet is a vast, rugged world, with towering, extremely steep-sided mountains, and seas that plunge to immense depths. The planet is about two and a half times larger in diameter than the planet Earth and has over six times the surface area. In addition to having more surface area, the altitude range is higher. The highest peaks on Drav tower a mile and a half higher than the highest peaks of Earth and the lowest depths of the seas are over a mile deeper (at this point the ocean depths start to blend in with subterranean lands called "the darklands").
On most terra worlds the closer to the polar regions one goes the colder the climate becomes. The distance from the poles is a huge factor in an area's average temperature. On Drav the elevation is a stronger factor in climate, and not the distance from the poles. Polar distance is secondary if it is a factor at all. The poles are cold, and the lower elevations and lands close to the sea tend to follow roughly the same climate to latitude relationship as on earth, but the relationship is very rough and has many exceptions. Very large, highly magical areas also disrupt the climate patterns here and change them from the patterns seen on more mundane terra worlds like Earth.
The climate zones of Dravan elevations are tied to altitude in the same way as those of Earth, with alpine zones at similar elevations, treeless zones, permanent icy zones, etc., all starting at close to the same elevations as they do on Earth. The main difference is that there is a range of alien climates at the higher elevations on Drav that would not exist on Earth and the air on Drav thins out at a much slower rate. The highest elevations, above the elevations known on earth, are called the "Upper Heights" and the "Dragon Heights". The air in the dragon heights is thin, like the air in the highest elevations of Earth, but it is not as thin as it would be if it followed the exact pattern from earth. (This also applies to pressure beneath the sea. Pressure increases, but not at the same rate.)
The upper heights start around 7,500 feet above sea level, and if they are not jagged or mountainous they are usually forested and green. The jagged areas tend to follow the same climate pattern as lands of this elevation would follow on Earth, but the more open, gradually sloping land follows a different pattern. On Earth lands here would be cold, treeless and barren, filled with scrub and grasslands or rocky, snowy wastes. Not so on Drav. The open lands tend to be filled with evergreen forests, grasslands or alpine meadows. They are essentially vast extensions of the alpine climate zones that exist at lower elevations, reaching much higher than they would on other terra worlds. About half of the landmass surfaces of Drav are part of the upper heights, making it the most common type of above-sea environment.
Many of the lands where the upper heights border the lower elevations are perpetually foggy or cloudy. Rainforests or swampy bogs are common in these border zones. Clouds from the lower elevations tend to bunch up here. The moisture from the clouds then settles on the ground or comes out as frequent rain. Depending on the details of the region, thick rainforests may grow in these border areas or expanses of highland swamps or treacherous ice may form. When one passes into the upper highlands and looks back from a good vantage point these areas often look like they are covered in a solid sea of clouds. One would think the lands above these areas would be a barren desert with no moisture, but they are not. Just like the clouds of lower elevations form over seas and forests and then drift to the border lands, where they bunch up, more clouds even higher in the sky form above the border areas and drift farther inland, out over the upper heights.
The dragon heights start at around 17,500 feet. They are perpetually frozen and snow-covered. They are called the dragon heights because dragons are the most well known species that can survive there. Conditions are harsh and glaciers are as common, if not more common, than snowpack at these elevations. There is more ice and snow in these elevations than there is around the planet's polar regions. Towering peaks completely sheathed in shining, ancient, blue ice are common.
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Primary Star: Mintakos