Sparta (originally Botany Bay) was discovered by Captain Mark Brodin of the CoDominium Exploration Service ship Lewis and Clark during the Grand Survey of 2010. Initial survey indicated a very favourable native ecology but no exceptional mineral or other resources. A Standard Terraforming Package was seeded in 2011, and the Category VI Higher Mammal Package followed in 2022.

Circumference:43,600 km

Diameter: 13,900 km

Gravity: 1.22 standard

Diurnal cycle: 20 hours

Year: 1.6 standard

Composition: Nickel-iron, silicates

Satellites: Cythera, mass 1.7 Luna

Atmosphere is basically terrestrial, but with 1.17 standard sea-level pressure. Total land area is approximately half that of Earth, with extensive oceans; much of the land, c. 28,800,000 sq. kilometres, is concentrated in the Serpentine Continent, an equatorial landmass deeply penetrated by inland seas. Native life is mainly marine; the high concentration of dissolved oxygen in the oceanic waters, and the extensive shallow seas, permit a very active oceanic ecosystem with many large piscoid species. Land-based forms are limited to primitive vegetation and analogs of simple insects; terrestrial species have largely replaced the native on the Serpentine continent and adjacent islands. Total illumination is 92% of standard, resulting in a warm-temperate to subtropical climate in the equatorial Serpentine continent, shading to cold-temperate and sub-arctic conditions on the northern shores.

Crofton’s Encyclopaedia of the Inhabited Planets (2nd Edition) ^[1]

After the collapse of the CoDominium, Spartan turned from a semi-democratic meritocracy to a dynastic, hereditary aristocracy. It became the capital world of the First and Second Empires of Man.

1. ↑ Go Tell the Spartans, pg. 149.