Coober Pede is an F7 star two and a half times Sol's brightness. The 3200 million year old star system of seven planets (three rocky inner planets and four modest sized outer gas giants) are the very last star system at the end of one of the galaxy's spiral arms. Oz, a terrestial planet 0.9 of Earth's mass and a surface gravity of 0.97 of Earth's, is the third planet out from the star 1.66 AU. Oz's annual average surface temperature is 10 degrees Celsius, just slightly cooler than Earth's but still within a range in which Earth's domestic plants and animals would survive. The planet has an axial tilt of 28 degrees, just a tad more than Earth, with a rotation period of 23.2 Earth hours. There are ice caps at both poles and just two continents--the equatorial one about two-thirds the size of Australia and the other about double the size of the smaller one. The rest of the planet's shallow ocean is dotted with smaller islands. Most of the population lives along the northern part of the bigger continent, which stretches into a more temperate zone; although it is still a hot, muggy environment. New Alice, the capital, is a rusty clump of geodesic domes of tin and plexiglas and 7, 819 souls. The 3,032,000 population is mostly rural, living on huge mining, ranching, and farming stations. The only other town besides New Alice is Placer with a population of just under 500. Oz is not an ugly planet, but neither does it have scenery spectacular enough that tourists are going to pay the extra expense in time and credits to journey there--not even to see the incredible view of the entire galaxy stretching across its night sky. It also has a rather unique native plants. There are no trees and bushes, only grass, which does grow into tree-sized forests. The nightlife in Oz's capital is what one would expect of a small town in the middle of nowhere. There are a couple of dozen bars, a couple of holo halls, about thirty bordellos, and maybe ten eateries. Beyond the town is a rundown racetrack where everything from horses to skimmers are raced. Alice is a seedy, rough place with few ammenities, lots of alcoholics and druggies, not to mention a fair share of mayhem and murder. Oz is a good place to be from and a bad place to be heading toward. Everything is owned and run by the first 200 settler families from Australia. Everyone else owes their soul to the company stores and many live lives of despair and hopelessness. The spacers who erratically supply the planet with goods from the rest of the universe are far from the elite of that breed. Their ships are as rundown as the buildings of Alice and for every pound of legitimate trade they bring in or take out, they smuggle three more. There are not repair shops for the spaceships. If your ship barely makes it to the space field, it is likely those spacers will become new citizens of Oz. Credits: Sky: Derived from a sky by Bob Meski. Grass forests: 2D planes made by me from Flink's 3D grasses. Spaceship: Stephen Ray. Highrider: Net freebie. Jeep Dune Buggy: Psionic Design. Survival Vehicles: Post Apocalyptic Survival Vehicle by kalebdaark. Solar panels: Cryo Tech Solar Panel from Grafik 3D Portal. Hill textures: Judith Ward. Concrete texture: LeMog. Walker: FireBat Walker2. Terrains, Buildings: by me. Figures: Aiko3, Poser5 Women. Man: Brendan Walker. Thanks for looking, Jeremy