Apr 22, 2015

S is for Spire

Today's planet is one I made up. It's from my WIP titled A View That Lacks Stars, and will be available....who knows. It's still going through critiques. But with that in mind, please forgive me if I ramble. This is my baby after all.

So, Spire. Small planet, with a rainforest ringing the equator. Heading north things get drier and flatter, with one of the continents having a spit of land that connects with the ice cap. Going south, the rainforest gives way to grassy plateaus, and then mountains followed by an icey tundra.

There's a species of really tall trees whose flowers have a chemical used in the cure for the common cold. The cure, and planet, were found by the company Spire, Co and so the planet was named after the company. They needed people to farm the flowers and so found people from Earth willing to do that.

Thing is, there's been a bit of trouble in the past with space colonies. Terraforming doesn't always take (and in this case could have damaged the flowers), and building liveable domes hasn't been tried since the tragedy on the Moon. Instead, Spire and four other companies who found useable planets in the same sector of space changed the colonists. All colonists were genetically modified with characteristics to enable them to leave in harmony with the planet's environment and allow them to do the work the sponsor company wanted.

In the case of Spire, people were given wings to live high off the ground in the trees and reach the super tall ones producing the cold flowers. Their feet and hands have been altered to allow them to grip branches, their lungs expanded to handle the thin air at such an altitude. Sadly, the modification didn't work as Spire, Co hoped. While the people who went through the process were given wings, flight isn't possible. Spire colonists can only glide downwards, not ride thermals or launch themselves into the air and gain altitude.

One of my main characters is from Spire. She's a third generation, and so has a smaller wing span than her grandparents. Humans, it seems, aren't meant to fly and so the wings have been getting smaller and smaller with each generation although other modifications are holding.

Sadly, Triluthnilyn doesn't stay on Spire long. Early into the novel she gets taken away by an executive of Spire, Co to become his child bride and live on the nearby space station.

And since I made this planet up, there's no photo of it. So have a series of winged women.

(Actually, it was hard finding women [cuz winged teen gives me eyeliner tips] that were properly clothed and not warriors. So here's only two :/ You have let me down Google.)


  1. Wow! that is one awesome planet, actually way cooler than any of the other planets that are well known you mentioned here (aside of course from those of Star Wars and Doctor Who :P and you know the premise is sooo intriguing, I would love to know more about your world and character :)

    1. I'll probably talk more about this project once it's done going through the CC fourms. But I'm glad you like my concepts ^_^