02-18-2021, 04:01 PM
(02-06-2021, 09:10 PM)stevebowers Wrote: I think there would be a lot of planets, especially around white dwarfs, that have had their previous atmospheres and surfaces eroded and replaced by material ejected from the star when it left the Main Sequence. In the EWoCS classification these planets would be classified as Ragnorokian, I think. According to that table, Ragnarokian planets might be rich in carbon, nitrogen, lead, mercury, barium molybdenum and a bunch of other interesting elements.
It would be so cool if white dwarf or neutron star planets had a habit of hosting exotic biospheres because of unusual element abundances. Well, in real life too, but barring real-world reasons to think it's impossible, it would be cool to have in the setting naturally occurring biosphere(s) based on (typically rarer) heavy elements, even if just a brief mention (maybe at the Garden World article). I know about Samael, but there have got to be a few others that don't have a sophont species or even are just microbial (but still biochemically exotic).