Minor Planets to Maybe be Used in Future

Any vague ideas, inspirations, or full-ideas for notable planets that players might encounter or be discovered in the future, so we aren’t limited to barren rocks and so KSOHS doesn’t have to do all the work himself.

(this was also noted to be a neat idea, earlier. these planets may be affected by supernova Virtuosity business to certain degrees, iunno man i’m uncertain on the details) 

I already have one cool idea:

A system with a sun-like star, maybe slightly larger, a G or an F type. Around it orbits a Gas Giant, maybe a super-jupiter/sub-brown dwarf type planet. Around that gas giant orbits a europa-like moon, with an icy surface and a subsurface ocean underneath, kept liquid by the gas giant’s tidal forces. In this ocean, life can develop. Even cooler, the gas giant has an eccentric orbit, so at times it’ll pass into the star’s habitable zone. Then, the surface ice melts too, making the moon a water world. Once the gas giant and moon leave the habitable zone, the surface freezes over and ice returns, effectively creating two ‘seasons’: one ‘dark’ season beneath the ice, and a ‘light’ season exposed to the star’s rays.

Sult: The Hungry Sands 

The entire planet is a desert of magenta ferrous Seeker Sand (Malphium-esq). At the same time, invested winds blow constantly from east to west, picking up and weaponizing the sand. When invested, the sand will move at incredible speeds, shredding anything that gets in the way of the wind. Anything invested, including the innate investiture in the resident sentient and other living things, attracts the sand, which often speeds up after passing through, having absorbed the investiture and converted it into kinetic energy. Even if somehow captured, the sand will not stop moving until it has depleted its Investiture. At that point, it can still be reactivated with either blood or an infusion of investiture.

This, of course, asks the question of whether there’s hungry, life-eating sand, how on earth does anything, much less higher life, like humans, still exist? The answer is simple:

The Cradles.

Each Cradle is a mountain of softly glowing, cyan steel-infused glass (Calphium-esque), the result of an ancient impact; remnants of sand turned into boiling glass, infused with the carbon of ancient life and the dust of that same impact, curving into a sort of dome. (Think of that mountain from Evangelion that was melted by Ramial’s laser). Since these mountains are Calphium and Steel-infused,  the powers of Calphium come into effect, repelling the sand enough to create a sort of “shadow,” where the sand doesn’t go, and life can exist safely. 

In addition, something about the cradles creates an atmospheric disturbance, resulting in a miniature climate that differs from what you would expect in a desert. Rain, humidity, and cold climates are all possible 

Over time, the life native to Sult has discovered this interaction and begun to figure out that the sand also interacts with other metals. The Allomantic metals each have an effect, much like they do in the rest of the cosmere.

• Steel: Repels Seeker Sand. It’s used in the mountains to not die, duh. It can also be used in personal suits to aid in avoiding the sand.

• Iron: Attracts Seeker Sand. Typically, it’s used to harvest the sand or used in weaponry to draw the sand to someone you don’t like and also to extract the sand to stop it from burrowing deeper into their flesh.

• Pewter: Preserves speed of Seeker Sand. Stops the sand from slowing down as its investiture depletes. 

• Tin: Decreases the speed Seeker Sand, until it halts, preserving investiture.

• Zinc: Increases the speed at which the sand is traveling, but the investiture remains finite, so it lasts for a shorter period. Used in weapons and sandtraps.

• Brass: Slows Seeker Sanddown, but the investiture remains the same, so it lasts longer. Used in backup safety systems.

• Copper: Hides Life from the sand. Acting in an aura, enough copper surrounding an individual masks them from the sand. Used in personal suits to aid in avoiding the sand.

• Bronze: Allows one to measure how invested, and thus the top speed, of a given amount of sand. The faster a bronze rod vibrates when in contact with stationary sand, the more invested it is.

• Duraluminium: Forces sand to use all of its investiture at once, creating uninvested sand moving at the highest speed possible. Used in weapons.

• Aluminum: Is immune to the invested damage of the sand, EX the sand will not accelerate in an attempt to break through. Also, if someone is in an aluminum-lined room, the sand can not detect them.

• Nicrosil: allows for safe, man-made reinfusion of the sand. When non-invested or otherwise stationary sand makes contact with it, the investiture present within blood or other investiture sources can be applied from a distance.

• Chromium: Drains the investiture of sand, and thus the speed. When near Chromium for an extended time, the sand will lose its investiture in ways other than speed.

• Gold: Fuses seeker sand grains. When two or more grains come in contact with gold at the same time, they become attracted and merge.

• Electrum: Splits seeker sand grains. When a grain comes into contact with electrum, it splits into two smaller grains.

• Cadmium: Dulls Seeker Sand. After being exposed to Cadmium, Seeker Sand becomes sluggish, temporarily slowing down and becoming slow to respond to stimuli. Used in storage.

• Bendalloy: Quickens Seeker Sand. After exposure to Bendalloy, Seeker Sand becomes hyperactive, temporarily speeding up and becoming hyper-reactive to stimuli, and is prone to missing its target. Used in weapons.

• Silver: “Kills” the sand. After making contact with the silver, the sand turns ash white, dropping to the ground and refusing to interact with investiture. The silver corrodes with every grain of sand that makes contact, slowly turning into black dust.

Invested art: Idealization. When one captures the Seeker sand and melts it, it loses its most… violent properties and hardens into a plastic glass that glows like an ember. It's slightly pliable and dents rather than chiping or shattering. In this state, the Malphium-Silcate, known as Glass by the locals, isn't particularly useful. However, when re-exposed to the winds, in a process called Windtempering, the light brightens, and the glass becomes extremely pliable to the touch, almost like clay, but seems not to droop or shift without direct action from a sapient. 

This, of course, makes an extremely good artistic medium, being easily moldable. There is, however, another step to its final use. When taken inside a Cradle, the Glass undergoes a process called Idealization, or Hallowtempering. When Idealized, the Magenta glow shifts to a bright white, hardens completely and gains a variety of invested properties, depending on what the Glass is shaped like and the level of artistic skill used in its creation. The Glass is nearly unbreakable in this state, only chipping when another Glass object is used with the intent to destroy, or the sand makes contact, which leaves tiny scrapes.

Some objects acquire a rudimentary mind, being more advanced in organic forms, such as animals or people, rather than inanimate items like swords. The better the artist is, the stronger the invested item, and the greater the mind. Its sort of aligning itself with the platonic ideal for what an item of that sort should be.

Here are some objects and example powers

The Whispers: creatives on Sult often experience strange dreams, where they hear the wind whispering, or the cradles themselves telling them secrets or inspiration.