The World of Nero

Guide "Caravanning through Nero"

Attention! This chapter contains spoilers: some information that is not common knowledge on Nero. It is closely intertwined with the things any boy off the street knows perfectly, so one cannot be separated from the other.

The astronomers of Nero have studied the surrounding stars and planets since ancient times. But being able to name celestial bodies does not mean understanding their nature and essence. After all, what truly is the sun? That same bright day-star, bluish-green in color on the firmament? What are the two moons and the other glowing dots and circles in the sky? Answers arrived gradually, each time creating a sensation. Heliocentrism, the discovery of several new planets and asteroid rings... And to this day, not a single humanoid on Nero even suspects what contribution the ancient civilization of ants made to the current state of the star system. And it was truly enormous! But let us take everything in order.

Ilio

That is the name of the sun of this system, Ilio. It is somewhat larger and hotter than our Sun, having a green-blue tint (shifted more toward green). However, from Nero, Ilio still seems rather yellow, only slightly greenish: Nero's dense atmosphere absorbs the blue part of its star's spectrum well.
As a star larger than the Sun known to us, Ilio has long since swallowed a couple of the closest rocky planets in the star system. And yet even after this, four terrestrial planets remained: now they are called Phothia, Gi, Aras, and accordingly Nero. Around Ilio there are several asteroid belts and gas giants.

Project "Planetary Upgrade"

It was Gi, a planet whose name translates as "Earth," that actually became the cradle of civilization—specifically, the civilization of ants. Not too large, rocky, with a relatively small amount of water on the surface... Difficult for survival, unstable. But rich in minerals and possessing many hidden opportunities. The ants developed quite well there and flew into space. And even more! They learned to manipulate very significant energies, far greater than modern Nero or even our human civilization can imagine. In those times, ant technologies were crude and inefficient, but still extremely powerful.
At some point, the ants decided that they needed something more than huddling on their small rocky planet. Yes, the gas giants did not offer any reasonable conditions for existence. But other terrestrial planets... Phothia is hot, even smaller than Gi, but still has certain prospects. Aras is a relatively large planet, but surprisingly light for its dimensions... This is, of course, due to an enormous concentration of stable crystalline hydrogen, truly inherent only to this planet, although found on others in small quantities. And Nero—the largest of them all, completely covered in water for many kilometers... And, apparently, partly because of this, it was a lifeless ice cube.
Project "Planetary Upgrade" was perhaps the most ambitious project of the ants throughout their entire history of existence. All four rocky planets were to undergo orbital correction and even slight changes in mass in order to improve living conditions: gravity, climate... It was also necessary to stabilize the orbits relative to one another: new orbits were incredibly carefully checked so as not to allow any future displacement or (even more so) collision of planets. At the same time, all orbits had to approach certain ideal values for the climate: planets should not overheat or overcool. In essence, the ants changed only their native Gi, using it as a kind of "standard"; all other orbits were radically changed by means of mass bombardment of the planets with especially large asteroids from the belt (the ants used gravitational engines to move them). The new orbits, of course, no longer lay in one plane and actively used various resonance effects for their stabilization.
Need it be said that a great deal of time went into the project? But it was successful. Phothia began to cool, Aras became slightly heavier, Nero began to melt and rid itself of excess water. But... there was something the ants did not think through.

The Collapse of the Project and the Birth of Modern Nero

All sorts of nasty things hide in the details. The ants did everything in their power to bring life to the nearest planets and begin colonization. Ark-ships were actively built, which could even accommodate all the ants on board, should they wish it. Planets were actively bombed with microorganisms, followed by multicellular plants and some especially simple animals resistant to harsh conditions. The ants forgot only about their home planet—Gi.
It would seem that the ants had thought of everything. Although the gravitational environment of their planet had changed, the orbits were nonetheless stabilized perfectly and nothing could disrupt them! Gi moves exactly as it had for hundreds of thousands of years, except that it deviates slightly to one side when one of the neighboring planets flies by, but immediately returns back once another planet passes... The ants forgot about tidal forces. No, they didn't forget; they reasonably calculated possible changes and concluded that these very changes would be negligibly small. But in reality, it was not so: the same resonance effect that helped stabilize the orbits of the four planets had a terrible impact on the magnetic field of planet Gi, completely destabilizing the planet! The situation was so terrible (I won't say "unfortunate," although it truly was a great misfortune and a horrific act of randomness) that Gi threatened to completely lose its magnetosphere in the future. But even the temporary presence of a magnetosphere on the planet did not guarantee comfortable living: the planet's axis proved unstable and could start a sharp rotation at any moment... Imagine what would happen to all those herds of sheep-rams, peacefully grazing on the surface of Gi, should it suddenly spin in another direction? Do you think the shepherds would find them in near space?
Changing everything back was already too late... Although the ants first tried to do so, taking it out as much as possible on Phothia. The planet was moved closer to Ilio again and heated up (however, it was moved in such a way as not to disrupt the orbital balance of other planets). However, the process of destabilizing Gi's magnetosphere only accelerated, and the ants realized they had no time, and the result of all these hurried "fixes" was very difficult to predict. They decided simply to leave Gi and send the entire civilization to another planet. And Nero, for obvious reasons, proved to be the best candidate for settlement.
In the shortest possible time, Nero's biosphere was polished up to some minimum tolerable level. There was no need to work on the magnetosphere: thanks to the presence of two moons and their fortunate orbits, tidal forces on Nero were as stable as a tank. There was even too much water compared to how it was on Gi, but this could be endured, since after the latest changes land was at least visible on Nero. The entire population of Gi was evacuated in own "Noah's Arks," along with a considerable amount of flora and fauna, of course. And just a couple of years later, the ants—now residents of Nero—saw through their telescopes how Gi's axis began to slowly turn, and sheep-ram carcasses flew off its surface... They say that mutton meteorites falling on Nero taste so-so, just charcoal.
Surprisingly, the catastrophe of Gi caused little harm to the ants. Their migration to Nero only accelerated their progress; high-energy and crude technologies were replaced by new ones designed to optimize everything and anything, sometimes using incredibly subtle effects but with enormous efficiency. In essence, all artifacts that now remain on Nero from the ants (or almost all) were made precisely during the period when they were already full citizens of Nero.

Apparently, sheep-rams are the oldest livestock animals on Nero. They possess an amazing versatility: providing milk, meat, wool, horns... Yes, these animals have excellent horns, so much so that sylphs used to be able to make bows from them. And although now, in the age of metal, bone has lost its former relevance in many areas, no one refuses to use this cheap and beautiful material in everyday life.
Sheep-rams have only one drawback: they listen to no one and nothing, and understand only force. Just think, previously, especially strong and thick-headed village lads would specifically strap horns to their own heads and compete with sheep-rams, just so the animals would respect them and finally deign to change pastures! Therefore, shepherd dogs, who know perfectly well how to apply force to these animals without getting a concussion, were a vital part of any farm.