Kos

Designations:
noun: Kos
adjective: Kotic, Kosn
“of chaos”, “causality”, “void”, “balance of nature”, “wild mother”, “formless womb”

Radius: 2968 miles
Circum: 18,637 miles
Gravity: 7.86 m/s^2
Mass: 2.678x10^24
Density: 5.865 g/cm^3¹

The Edge of Darkness

Kos is the closest celestial body in the gimbal to “orbit” Dia. The physical location on Dia’s surface closest to Kos (due to tidal locking) is the Latis Isle. Travelling in any direction away from the isle would put Kos lower in the sky relative to where you are. At a certain point, somewhere near the line between the inner and outer hemispheres, Kos will sink below the horizon and not be visible².

For a large portion of the the inner hemisphere the sun can be eclipsed by Kos, creating a short “night” in the middle of the day, depending on your location and the season. During the night, Kos can also reflect light back on some parts of Dia, creating a second “day” in the middle of the night. This greatly affects the calendars and day/night cycles of people living on the inner hemisphere.

The other incredibly bizarre thing about Kos is its gravitational pull. It has much less gravity than on Dia, meaning you would weigh about half what you do here. We’ve theorized this is the reason behind most of the flora and fauna we’ve found to be as large as it is (including the species of Goliath and Drow), however it doesn’t quite account for the enormity of the roots.

A Story in Layers

From Dia, Kos appears as in the picture above, green and lush. However on Kos, at the location on Kos closest to Dia, there is only a wasteland of dust, jagged rocks, craters, cracks, and chasms. This wasteland stretches out a thousand miles in all directions before the craters lessen and the landscape changes. Presumably this has been the affect Dia’s first rings have had on the surface of Kos over years of orbits. We’ve only recently been able to venture out any farther, as the terrain beyond this wasteland becomes nearly impassible.

Under this wasteland, and appearing where the craters lessen, is an impossibly massive network of seemingly tree-like roots. Hundreds if not thousands of feet across, they roll and twist like hills as far as we’ve been able to explore so far. This is the lush green that we see from Dia. It really is as alien as you can imagine.

The roots naturally leave huge river-like channels we can follow down into the planet. Here is where we finally reach water. From what we can tell, there is a sea most likely spanning the entire inner hemisphere of Kos, just like on Dia. It just exists under the eons of space debris, from Dia’s first rings, that is supported by a giant, sourceless, teaming root system. These roots continue down deep into this sea, disappearing into the dark water. We’ve not yet dared go any deeper.

Encounters With Intelligent Life

Goliath is the prominent sapient species living on the surface. Some live in the wasteland, drudging it for precious materials from space. The majority that we’ve corresponded with however, say they’re from deep within or even beyond the roots. They speak of an apparent plethora of life beyond the wasteland, from insect to absolute monstrosity. There is little else known, as these Goliath are notoriously reluctant to share their knowledge.

The fascinating thing about the Goliath is that they may well be the a more direct subspcie of actual primeval giants. They are taller than the average sapient on Dia; perhaps more comparable to our bolglings and Ork. When, where, and how these Goliath came to Kos is not fully understood, but they utilize a very similar language to the primeval giants on Dia, which is how we were able to set up communication and trade as quickly and smoothly as we have.

We’ve also met the Drow, another Elf race, surprisingly on Kos. Tall, with a grey complexion, they are perhaps even more private than the Goliath. We have learned that their lineage of Elf has been on Kos for more generations than the high elfs on Dia. This gives an interesting background and context to what we know about the Fae and the exodus of the elfs.

— Prof. R. Mistmore, Esqu. pp Scriv. Blot