Azkaban
| Nemesis | |
| Stellar characteristics | |
|---|---|
| Right ascension (Epoch J2000) | 2h |
| Declination (Epoch J2000) | -67.5° |
| Spectral type | L |
| Distance from Sol | 9.6 light-months (0.8 ly) |
| Other designations | Niburu, Voldemort's Eye |
| Planets | Azkaban |
| “ | The biggest find in exoplanetology in the century, and what do the Wizards do with it? They build a prison on it. Remarkable. | ” |
| —Anonymous | ||
Azkaban is the sole planet orbiting a brown dwarf star about 10 light-months away from Sol, out on the very fringe of the Oort Cloud. The dwarf is known by a couple different names: Nemesis and Niburu are the most common ones, but the Wizards like to call it Voldemort's Eye. And it fits; the dwarf doesn't so much as shine as glow sullenly, casting a malevolent light over everyone and everything.
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Nemesis was discovered by Wally Hendricks, a Wizarding World prospector and bughunter who stumbled over the star while hunting around the Oort for curiosities in 2009. He reported his discovery to the Ministry of Magic, who promptly classified it as a secret and started planning to use the Nemesis system as a prison complex. Ground was broke on the Azkaban Prison and the support colony of Port Malfoy in 2011. The first prison barracks were complete in 2013, and the complex itself turned over to the Convention shortly afterward. Since then both prison and colony have expanded steadily.
Planetology
| Azkaban | |
 | |
| Planetary characteristics | |
|---|---|
| Orbit | 1,882,700 km from primary (mean) |
| Diameter | 9739.1 km (equatorial) |
| Surface Gravity | 0.76G |
| Year | 3.4 days |
| Day | 123 hours |
| Mean Temperature | 280°K (7°C) |
| Atmosphere | .5 atm (N2 72%, O2 19%, Ar 2%) |
| Water/Ice Index | 25% |
| Political Affiliation | Fenspace Convention |
| Capital | Port Malfoy |
Azkaban orbits Nemesis at a whopping distance of just under two million kilometers. This is close enough to put the planet inside Nemesis' habitable zone, where just enough infrared energy hits the surface to make liquid water possible. Much like Mercury, Azkaban's day (120 hours) is longer than the year (roughly 72 hours), but this speed of rotation is fast enough that the planet doesn't completely roast or freeze like Mercury's surface.
While Azkaban is in the habitable zone, habitable is a relative term. Most of the planet's water is locked up in large polar icecaps. In fact the surface is only about 25% covered by open water, in a couple largish unconnected seas and a handful of lakes. The terrain is very rugged, similar to the hard coasts of Scandinavia, Antarctica or polar Asia. The lower latitudes remain ice-free most of the time (Azkaban's short year and minimal axial tilt prevent seasonal shifts) except in higher elevations. Most everything above 40 degrees north/south or 5000 meters in elevation has a permanent snowpack.
Biology
The native life of Azkaban is primitive compared to much of Earth, but extremely well-adapted to the conditions on the surface. Plants grow everywhere on the exposed surface. Though they're not much more than the local equivalent of moss and lichen, they grow quite well in the harsh cold, stormy weather and dim red light from Nemesis. Most Azkabanian plants use a chlorophyll-analogue that absorbs infrared radiation very efficiently - these plants give Azkaban it's distinctive dark-green-shading-to-jet-black color from space. Animal life is restricted to the seas, mostly in the form of invertebrates and primitive fish. Because the seas of Azkaban are smaller and consequently saltier than those of Earth, most Azkabanian aquatic species are highly halophilic, capable of handling the brackish water.
Azkabanian life is largely edible by humans, with the same range of variance as life on Earth is edible. Much of it requires some processing (salt removal in the case of seafood) and little of it is all that tasty. Still, it can support human life without too many nutritional problems.
The Prison
Azkaban Prison is situated on a rough promontory at the northeast end of the major mountain range on the planet's largest ice-free landmass (the range is known locally as "The Horcrux"). The site planners originally wanted something more inland, but when surveyors found a decent geothermal upwelling in the area they decided to utilize local resources instead of having to ship everything in from Sol. The prison is run by the Azkaban Prison Authority, a non-partisan group that reports directly to the Convention.
The prison itself backs up against Mount Lestrange, a respectable 2000m peak sitting at the end of the promontory. Most of the prison facilities are prefab buildings at the mountain's foot, while high and max-security cells were dug directly into Mt. Lestrange as a precaution against direct escape.
Compared to prison complexes on Earth, Azkaban Prison is fairly small; only a few hundred resident inmates and one hundred guards total live and work in the complex. The prison was designed along the lines of a standard British medium-to-maximum security facility.
Port Malfoy
Originally set up to support construction of the prison, and then later as a place for the guards to come home to, Port Malfoy has become against all odds a surprisingly lively little community out on the ass edge of nowhere. The majority of the town still exists to support Azkaban Prison, of course, but since travel restrictions were eased in 2015 migrants, scientists and adventurers have slowly filtered into Port Malfoy. A group of long-time residents have even started a small fishing industry, selling Azkabanian dementor fish to Wizarding markets around Sol as delicacies.
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