*The content of this entry remains largely unaltered from the previous version; although some minor changes have been made.*
Location and Orbital Pattern:
Nephina, like its sister planet Juno Minor, orbits yearly around the gas giant Juno Major. The difference is that Nephina is greater than Juno Minor in distance from Juno Major. As a result, Nephina is passed by Juno Minor once every 2400 years.
Evidence shows that Nephina and Juno Minor were once merged together as a single superplanet, which hosted plant life. Approximately 3 billion years ago, however, an unknown cataclysmic event caused the superplanet to split into Nephina and Juno Minor. Such findings provide plausible reasoning behind the striking similarities between the two worlds, especially in the ability of both planets to support life.
Nephina was observed in ancient times before setting below the horizon of Juno Major (relative to the viewpoint from Juno Minor), and was the source of myth and legend. Its resulting absence in the night sky over the following centuries would eventually lead belief in its existence to be subject to skepticism and controversy. Such disagreements ended in 1213, however, when Nephina was observed having reappeared over Juno Major's horizon.
Geography:
With its axis slightly less-tilted than that of Juno Minor, Nephina boasts of five climate "belts": the tropics belt, two temperate belts, and two polar belts. The tropics belt contains most of Nephina's oceans but also has desert regions and tropical forest regions. Here, it is warm year-round with wet and dry seasons. The temperate belts have more land and moderate temperatures. They are the narrowest belts and have four distinct seasons similar to Juno Minor. Vegetation in each temperate zone is dominated by numerous species of trees, grasses, and flowers. And the polar belts have constant polar vortices around each pole, each of which shrink during the summer months and expand during the winter months. Both poles are land-based, just like on Juno Minor, while each polar belt has the least amount of vegetation.
There are similar plant species on Nephina to Juno Minor, further supporting the theory that plant life existed on the ancient superplanet before the great split. There are, however, no native animals. Instead, rock-like organisms that produce carbon dioxide exist, as Nephina's only oxygen-consuming life forms, in a variety of sizes ranging from a grain of sand to miles in diameter. No microorganisms (i.e. bacteria) have existed on the planet before the arrival of humans. While the rock-like organisms are multicellular, their cell structures are quite different, in that they are larger and have more of a similarity to plant cells.
No noted cellular species from Nephina seem to pose a threat to humans. Similarly, no microorganisms from Juno Minor seem to harm or even interact with plant or carbon life on Nephina, posing a complete mystery to scientists. Nevertheless, visitors have been instructed to take precautions.
Colonization:
On 2 October 1364, the first humans set foot on Planet Nephina. In the years leading up to this accomplishment, a space apparatus, known as Ultima Porta (UP), had been constructed to conduct rigorous testing practices and eventually transport scientists and aerospace vehicles from Juno Minor to Nephina. And it was from this station that the landers were launched to arrive on the new world.
The first two humans to set foot on Nephina were Mara Kroll from the Commonwealth (ICSR) and Hana Mystera from Gyrosak. The next two were Tom Sortenson from the Commonwealth and Syndol Korvis from Gyrosak. The agenda of the mission was to map out the region surrounding their landing site in a detailed fashion and document its topography. However, matters took a controversial turn when Sortenson placed a Commonwealth flag atop a hill in the area and took a photo that would later be published in a Commonwealth media outlet. This prompted backlash from the Gyrosakian government, who condemned the decision as "an inappropriate act of nationalism," and filed a suit against the Commonwealth under the Congress of Circlaria. The lawsuit dragged on until the year 1369, when a final decision was reached to establish the Global District of Nephina, an objective, academic-based organization that emphasized a ban on national symbols of any kind (including mottos and anthems). In the years to follow, the Global District would oversee the establishment of a limited number of scientific communities that continue to dominate the landscape of Nephina to this day. In 1372, the Circlarian Space Agency was established; and in 1377, the Commonwealth liquidated its program to merge with it.
Although scientific communities constitute the majority of human settlements, businesses and other organizations are permitted to operate on the new world as well. For example, since 1419, the Commonwealth-based Library of Circlaria has been administrating a facility here.