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Description
This is a photorealistic map of Artemis, one of the most important worlds in the Diaspora. The fifth planet of Casimir System , it is a key member of the United Earth Alliance, as well as being one of humanity's oldest colonies - it is also the homeworld of an important character in the Diaspora Series.

As ever, let me know what you think.

Backstory:
A mention of Artemis brings with it a vision of a lush and verdant grass ocean rippling beneath a clear blue sky, with sheer basalt cliffs tempered by clambering herbs and ivy and a distant, snow-capped volcano blushing with the purple of heather on its higher slopes. Artemis is a beautiful planet of fjords, forests and extinct volcanoes, but is most famous for its vast, fertile plains that truly deserve the name ‘grass oceans’. The coasts of Artemis’ cool, life-filled oceans are dominated by fjords and flooded valleys, although towards the equator, mangroves, swamps and lagoons become commonplace. Much of its soil remains low-quality, however, and while its continents do sport forests and agriculture, they also contained large deserts. Utilising techniques imported from Australia on Old Earth, these 'Outback' deserts were mostly seeded with gengineered grass - this in turn increased evaporation and rainfall, transforming them into oceans of grass: some of the largest savannah in the Diaspora outside Mandalay and Tanganyika. The planetary albedo alters as the grass oceans wax and wane and the planet’s huge tracts of deciduous forest respond to the onset of spring and autumn. The grass oceans and forests combined cover the vast majority of the planet’s landmass; towards the tropics, multitudinous pockets of rainforest and swamp intermingle with occasional areas of veldt and drier savannah.

Artemis’ settlers, drawn mainly from Australia, Malaysia, North-western Europe, Arabia and Luna, created a truly colonial society, with urban settlement comparatively uncommon for an Old Core world. The majority of its two billion inhabitants live in small towns or in scattered villages and farmsteads across the planet’s continents. Artemisian society is generally quite relaxed, with a strong emphasis on emotional and spiritual stability gleaned from taking a great deal of strength from the land - most Artemisians have a great love of the outdoors and take pleasure from their homeworld’s stunning natural beauty; rambling, hiking and long-distance walking are considered everyday on Artemis, and an Artemisian is as likely to walk to the next town as to fly - it might take three days, but the journey will be enjoyed. This relaxed nature is combined with a strong sense of morality and a contemplative, practical approach to problem-solving - most Artemisians are good with their hands. Artemis is renowned for the quality of its research, and under both colonial rule and its independent Commonwealth , it has produced a number of the Diaspora’s leading biologists, physicists and astrographers. It also has a strong space-naval tradition, providing a large number of entrants into the United Earth Navy, the Allied Fleet Auxiliary, and the Merchant Astral.
In the year 469 After Landfall by Artemis' local calendar, and the year 434 Anno Diasporae Humanarum by Old Earth's, a young woman from the Outback near the planetary capital of Providence enrolled on the officer training track of the United Earth Navy, like her father before her.

And this - for now, at least - is her story.

Description
This is a photorealistic map of Artemis, one of the most important worlds in the Diaspora. The fifth planet of Casimir System , it is a key member of the United Earth Alliance, as well as being one of humanity's oldest colonies - it is also the homeworld of an important character in the Diaspora Series.

As ever, let me know what you think.

Backstory:
A mention of Artemis brings with it a vision of a lush and verdant grass ocean rippling beneath a clear blue sky, with sheer basalt cliffs tempered by clambering herbs and ivy and a distant, snow-capped volcano blushing with the purple of heather on its higher slopes. Artemis is a beautiful planet of fjords, forests and extinct volcanoes, but is most famous for its vast, fertile plains that truly deserve the name ‘grass oceans’. The coasts of Artemis’ cool, life-filled oceans are dominated by fjords and flooded valleys, although towards the equator, mangroves, swamps and lagoons become commonplace. Much of its soil remains low-quality, however, and while its continents do sport forests and agriculture, they also contained large deserts. Utilising techniques imported from Australia on Old Earth, these 'Outback' deserts were mostly seeded with gengineered grass - this in turn increased evaporation and rainfall, transforming them into oceans of grass: some of the largest savannah in the Diaspora outside Mandalay and Tanganyika. The planetary albedo alters as the grass oceans wax and wane and the planet’s huge tracts of deciduous forest respond to the onset of spring and autumn. The grass oceans and forests combined cover the vast majority of the planet’s landmass; towards the tropics, multitudinous pockets of rainforest and swamp intermingle with occasional areas of veldt and drier savannah.

Artemis’ settlers, drawn mainly from Australia, Malaysia, North-western Europe, Arabia and Luna, created a truly colonial society, with urban settlement comparatively uncommon for an Old Core world. The majority of its two billion inhabitants live in small towns or in scattered villages and farmsteads across the planet’s continents. Artemisian society is generally quite relaxed, with a strong emphasis on emotional and spiritual stability gleaned from taking a great deal of strength from the land - most Artemisians have a great love of the outdoors and take pleasure from their homeworld’s stunning natural beauty; rambling, hiking and long-distance walking are considered everyday on Artemis, and an Artemisian is as likely to walk to the next town as to fly - it might take three days, but the journey will be enjoyed. This relaxed nature is combined with a strong sense of morality and a contemplative, practical approach to problem-solving - most Artemisians are good with their hands. Artemis is renowned for the quality of its research, and under both colonial rule and its independent Commonwealth , it has produced a number of the Diaspora’s leading biologists, physicists and astrographers. It also has a strong space-naval tradition, providing a large number of entrants into the United Earth Navy, the Allied Fleet Auxiliary, and the Merchant Astral.
In the year 469 After Landfall by Artemis' local calendar, and the year 434 Anno Diasporae Humanarum by Old Earth's, a young woman from the Outback near the planetary capital of Providence enrolled on the officer training track of the United Earth Navy, like her father before her.

And this - for now, at least - is her story.