Vulcan
| Vulcan | |
 | |
| Planetary characteristics | |
|---|---|
| Day | 38.75 hours |
| Mean Temperature | 31.6° C |
| Water/Ice Index | 99.95% |
| Political Affiliation | United Federation of Planets (Fenspace Convention) |
| Capital | Shi’Kar |
Excerpt from "Zoalaster's Guide to the Exoplanets (2023 Edition)" (Starfleet BuNav, Utopia Planitia, 2023):
Vulcan (Keid A II.1) is considered by some proof that Trekkies do in fact have a measurable sense of humor, or at least a sense of irony. The Keid trisystem was originally surveyed in 2018 by the United Federation of Planets and the (then-independent) Sozvezdie Soviet. The original survey crews were hoping to find a high gravity desert planet in the Keid A system, what they found instead was a standard gravity world covered in shallow oceans, with only a few small tectonic rafts, islands and atolls poking their heads above water. Despite this collision of reality into fiction, the Trekkies named the planet Vulcan anyway.
Vulcan has a rotation of 38.75 hours and takes 182 Tellurian days (113 local days) to orbit Keid A. Vulcan has an axial tilt of 14.2 degrees, giving it much milder seasonal variation than Tellus. Vulcan has no moons, but is part of a stable double-planet configuration with a warm-Mars world known locally as “Delta Vega” or “T’Khut” depending on location. The two worlds orbit their common center of gravity at a distance of 65,000 km every 192 hours (or 5 local days).
Because of the interactions of the double-planet system, Vulcan is somewhat more geologically active than Tellus, and due to the activity being almost entirely underwater this means tsunamis are a common occurrence. What little surface life there is has adapted well to the near-constant threat of tidal surges washing over everything; the most common plant ecosystem is similar to the Tellurian mangrove swamp, for example. Vulcan is slightly warmer than Tellus, and combined with shallow oceans and a lack of ice caps or continental windbreaks, powerful storms are a very frequent occurrence. Hurricane-level storms happen multiple times every local year, and with the wide-open nature of the oceans can travel halfway around the planet or more before dissipating. “Every season is storm season” is an important aphorism on Vulcan, and every form of long-distance transport is required by local regulations to either be able fly away from or submerge and ride out a (Tellurian) category 5 hurricane.
Vulcan was formally opened for colonization by the Federation in 2021; the main settlement evaluation outpost is the town of Shi'Kar, with a population of about 7,500 people.
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