Ind. Priv. Sel. Multimuse blog for the properties of the Kavsek Labs, and other such oddities. Original characters, original species. 18+, look at the rules linked in pinned for warnings. Penned by Nik.
“Nothing you could be is more terrible than what I am."
Welcome to the Kavsek labs. We’re pleased to have you.
A multimuse blog with five original characters, all of the same original species. Please read rules, about, and dossiers on the linked carrd and feel free to fill out my interest checker before interacting.
This blog is currently on SEMI-HIATUS. I will be liking posts, talking to people, etc, but the energy to write is hard to find, so I'm saving it for only when inspiration clicks just right. Thus, IC posts are few and far between.
Please still send me things though. I like them and I don't delete them, everything will be replied to eventually. <3
I've been thinking about K'war a ton lately, both in terms of the creatures and people on it and the planet itself, so THANK YOU LUMIIII. To anyone not aware: I am a massive nerd about space. My dad is an astrophysicist and astronomy teacher and he instilled me with quite a bit of knowledge and passion, and my mom raised me on sci fi books and movies- both typical ones, and ones that are more exploratory in terms of what these planets might be like to live a daily life on rather than massive adventures. All this to say: CRACKS MY KNUCKLES. I'm going into the most important aspects of one half of their orbit today. Long ass post below.
When making K'war for the first time, I wanted to explore both the likely and the unlikely, when it came to space. The likely aspect is simple: One of the stars it orbits is an early class v m-type star, in other words, a high temperature, size, and luminosity red dwarf. The unlikely aspect is revealed in the previous sentence: it orbits two stars. The other star is an early class v f-type- much brighter, much hotter, much more dense, and white in color. Describing that dual orbit as unlikely is misleading; half to a third of star systems have two stars, the issue is more in terms of the orbit of the planet itself, and how unstable it is, and therefore unlikely to sustain life. The orbit looks a bit like this:
But wobblier, more unsteady. And the speed varies at different points not only in terms of the planets travel, but how fast it spins. K'war has long years and varying days, highish gravity, and most of the surface is water. There are two continents, connected, and another continent on the other side of the planet. Most of my world building is done on the two connected continents in terms of geography, but the other side is still important in its own ways, just needs fleshing out.
Back to the orbit! The red sun there is Kahielte, Kahieltek, Kahiel, Kahul, Kahitek, Kulte, a lot of things- she is their goddess of power, war, strife, and the strength to push through it. Often, she will be presented by my muses as evil, and in a way she is, but ultimately, all gods of K'war are influenced by belief rather than the other way around, and in my muses' time, she is a figure of oppression, and influenced by that.
Red dwarfs are interesting planets when it comes to habitability, because they don't necessarily function the same way as our sun does. As you can see, it's dimmer. The fact that it's red actually has nothing to do with what color of light it produces- it's because it doesn't produce much light in general, and red reaches the furthest. That's also why our sun rises and sets red in our sky, even though it seems white when directly overhead. When K'war is near Kahieltek, it is in a perpetual sunset save around noon. But it's also hot. Red dwarfs release most of their energy via convection rather than light, and while the habitable zone is very small, requiring it to get super close, it's a risky zone to be in. Many red dwarfs, Kahieltek included, are prone to solar flares, multiple times a year.
Not just the kind that fuck with your electronics. Oh, they certainly do, and that's a big reason why Kei have both a lot of electronic equipment and a lot of hand made, non powered equipment- their electronics shut the fuck down frequently and they go right back to using their hands. But these solar flares are so, so much more than Earth experiences, because we are far away, and our sun has very very low activity. No, these flares are actually considered to be a different thing entirely, only the same in that they are caused by magnetic activity.
During the preflare phase, only a few minutes, the sun's coronal plasma- the gas around its surface- heats up to tens of millions of kelvin. Keep in mind that it normally sits around five thousand kelvin. It begins to emit soft x ray and extreme ultraviolet light- basically those fun little radioactive waves we don't want excess amounts of. Then comes the implosive phase, about ten or fifteen minutes, where the electrons in the coronal plasma reach fucking ridiculous speeds, and a ton of energy comes out, the vast majority of the energy from the flare in general will come out here as two different types of electromagnetic radiation affecting radio and hard x ray wavelengths. This is when electronics shut down, when radio communication no longer works. It's rare that earth experiences this, and it's always a massive event. Even then, the radiation isn't a big deal to humans. We are much, much further away from our low activity sun than K'war is to Kahielte, which is high activity. Finally, after the implosive phase, we have the flash phase. This is where that heat I mentioned before leaves the surface of the star and reaches the planet, obviously not at that same sheer temperature, but it's still an intense amount of thermal radiation, and finally, we have the decay phase, wherein the star slowly cools back down and returns to normal. This is the model for how isolated flare stars perform, but in dual systems- like this one- the two stars can feed off each other and make it SO MUCH worse. Thankfully, the other star in this system is low activity, and the orbit arcs further away from it, so K'war only has to worry about Kahieltek.
Of course, the sudden influx of radiation with little to no warning and fairly frequently is not good for survival. Current theory suggests that despite the fact that red stars by FAR the most common star, their high flare activity might make them uninhabitable to forming alien life. I think that this discounts the fact that other life—like ours—may have formed in the ocean, or underground, somewhere safer from this sudden influx, and simply developed a higher resistance. Plant life that cannot move out of the way of the radiation has evolved to take it. Some plants use it to reproduce—the sudden heat and radiation causes their seed pods to burst and spread, much like certain plants reproduce using forest fires on Earth. Others shield themselves using large leaves that fall off and regrow, taking the brunt of the light and radiation off of themselves. Yet others allow their upper bodies to die, and regrow from the roots. Regardless, the plant life is the first line of defense against the flares, and after, fallen organic material coats the earth to be reabsorbed and feed future growth, having taken some of the immediate brunt. And like sunflowers and amaranths growing rampant in radioactive zones, the new life will consume the energy left behind and convert it into plentiful life.
What is not eaten will decay into rich, dark soil on the surface. This is the next defense. Dark objects absorb more light and heat. Though it may well be bleached of life with the current flare, deep underground, life that is able to move and retreat—most terrestrial animals—will do exactly that, digging as far below as they can the second they detect that a flare is about to occur. There is a reason Kei are prone to burrowing when anxious. They are hard wired to effectively make bunkers to hide from the heat and radiation of the flare. Stationary settlements usually have an above ground system for visibility and such, with a complex system of tunnels underneath. Even then, every time they retreat below, they usually start to resume digging as if they'd never stopped out of pure instinct. Temporary camps usually involve a simple fire and set of tents or hammocks above ground and a nice tunnel to dig into if things go bad, or even just a tunnel and nothing else. When they emerge again some hours or days after a flare, their electronics may or may not be functioning, but their bodies will be safe, and they may even begin diving into the burrows of other animals to hunt them before they can emerge. A flare is an event of terror, but also plenty.
The final defense is, of course, the ocean. Burrows near them might be prone to floods, but sea kei don't exactly mind those. Near the coast, they will burrow under the water and flood it on purpose, using both the soil and the water to shield and cool themselves. Further out, they don't even need to do that—they and other aquatic life simply swim straight down. The increase in pressure is a small price to pay, and their bodies are built for it. This is why sea kei are sometimes paler than the terrestrial races—certain subraces of them simply remain in the depths full time. No need for a tan when light doesn't reach you. Coastal sea kei have a similar range in skin tone to terrestrial races, from medium dark skin to deep midnight tones.
All that to explain Kahieltek, but Alraiatek—Alraia, Alraiate, Alriatek—their other star, goddess of life, remains unaddressed. She is much simpler, hence her role in their mythos. Bright, consistent sunlight, little to no flare activity. Any flares she does have usually start and then are pulled in by Kahieltek and go the other direction, so the planet when on her side of the orbit is safe. Temperatures are lower, but unless it's winter and you're further from the equator, it's something you can handle just by bundling up a bit. Closer to the equator, things are generally even, temperate. Deserts are actually a bit cooler than on Earth during the day and warmer than on Earth during the night, thanks to dark, often black sand (that will be another post!) that absorbs the heat of the day and emits it during the night. After the destructive flares of Kahieltek, Alraiatek gives a time of relief and respite, to reap the time of plenty that has resulted from the flares. A time to prepare for future dangers.
Dangers such as the period of time where the planet is too far from both Kahieltek and Alraiatek, in the transition from one to the other. Storms, unpredictable weather, bitter cold as the planet grows too far, or intense heat as the two gravitational forces battle. There have been times that the planet has been too slow in its orbit and pulled into a figure eight instead—and almost ejected from orbit entirely due to moving too quickly.
(i generally debate between the current egg shaped orbit, and a figure eight that spends most of it's time circling around Kahieltek with occasional pulls into an Alraiatek orbit instead. That would be SO unlikely, astronomically speaking, but this IS fiction, so...)
got a crick in my neck and a frog in my throat and a chip on my shoulder and a stick up my ass and now you're gonna stand there puttin words in my mouth? haven't I been through enough?
I tried to come back from my break and immediately my mental health tanked so bad that I walked into the bathroom to take a shower and instead ended up face down on the floor crying and hating myself and calling myself stupid so
- Complications with my partners hysterectomy (they're ok)
- Baby in the house
- Drama
- Wasp in my house (i have a severe allergy)
- Got wasp killer spray (wasn't in a place i could catch it, was very aggressive) on the ceiling and dad was upset not at me but at the chance that it might fuck w the paint he just did there a month ago
Btw I should note to those who know me on discord and haven't heard updates due to my break: It's taking so long because right as I decided to take that break, my house got a gas leak which was quickly repaired, but stressful, and then right after that my siblings closest friend started fighting with her husband and family (deserved, she's in the right) so badly that we now have to take care of her 6 month old baby for her most days, and I Really Don't Like Babies. The crib is also literally in my bedroom due to lack of space. So rest has been impossible. :( I'm recovering but it's taking way longer than I want it to
Adds the millionth 80s hit to Spades's playlist. He may be modern, he may be futuristic as well, but he is also retro! As a character deeply tied to the concept of time of change, of course he's gotta have a fuckton of classics in with the modern bangers >:3
(also I just love 80s music. And 70s. And 60s. And all the way fucking back to the earliest music we've fuckin got. I love music)
I think one of the funniest abortion stances I've heard was from my parents neighbor. He's a like, hard-core libertarian viking larper guy who is very tall and very fat and very bald.
He believes a fetus is human with a soul, but also its "basically attacking the woman's body" so if she wants to get rid of it, that's "basically self-defense". He compared it to shooting a home invader. So he supports abortion not as healthcare, but as killing a baby in self-defense
Y'know I'm so glad someone reminded me of this. Because this was also discussed.
My stepmother did NOT like the way her Libertarian Viking Neighbor framed pregnancy as the fetus "attacking the woman". She incredulously told him this was extremely disrespectful to expectant mothers to portray pregnancy as so violent and negative.
Libertarian Viking Neighbor's response was that people consensually hurt each other all the time, and "there's like a whole community about that, with the acronym the one that starts with a B" And his reasoning was that if the mother was consenting to bring attacked by the baby, it in fact wasn't violent and negative because there was consent.
He brought up people consensually hurting each other, didn't go for one of the obvious answers like boxing or body mods or something, no he went STRAIGHT TO BDSM and he DIDN'T EVEN REMEMBER THE ACRONYM
