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MAYA 1b:

The Planet

The planet that the aliens in this project inhabit is an Uncapped Cryoplanet, it could be understood as an inversion of Earth, a Capped Aquaplanet ie ice on its poles and oceans in the middle

Therefore an Uncapped Cryoplanet has ice along it's equator and frost free oceans & "jungles" at the poles

Such an arrangement is a result of mainly 3 things:

Obliquity: Beyond 54° of axial tilt, the poles receive greater solar input than the equators, Maya 1b has an axial tilt of 70°, such a extreme tilt leads to the formation of permanent ice sheets around the equator

Rotation Rate: The planets rotates slightly faster than Earth (average day around ~ 20 hrs) , which causes a more oblong shape, with higher elevations at the equator and the poles closer to the crust

Continents: The continental arrangement is such that multiple long mountain chains exist along the equator further leading to ice formation

All these things combined together give rise to the odd arrangement of this world

The planet also has much higher eccentricity than Earth, which gives it a more elliptical orbit, that combined with the high axial tilt leads to some extreme seasonal variation across the year

Given the geography of Maya 1b, sophont groups from both Perissopodithera & Artiopodithera evolved separately and independent of one another, each pole is it's own unique biosphere, for long, each pole wasn't even aware of the other's existence and the unique life that it hosted but that would change soon when two brothers venture out from the North Pole to the South, changing the course of history and initiating contact between the two biospheres & their inhabitants......for better or worse