"Planet 9"

The ice-capped poles are really more of a frozen ocean, thawing periodically and filling the dry river beds that carry water towards the equator, and a few small inland seas dot the world's landmass, periodically freezing and unfreezing.   Luckily for its denizens, [Planet 9] is very tectonically calm, and consequently the land is very flat in most places. There are a few mountain ranges located in the far north and in the southern badlands, but the life zone is almost universally flat.   That flat ground is predominately rocky with a thin layer of dry dirt, but there are a few locations where there exists enough moisture in the ground (often deliberately funneled from underground sources) to provide fertile soil. These are heavily farmed and well-protected from wildlife and, in eons past, hostile forces.   The inhabited regions are honeycombed with carefully constructed cave systems, expansions of the naturally-occuring caves [Species 9]'s anscestors used to take shelter in.

Given the often dramatic shifts in temperature, the line most consistent in proximity to the sun is the most hospitable region, and the only region able to host any practical amount of surface farming.   Most of the world's water is frozen at the poles, but periodically, one pole or the other will thaw, allowing the rivers to flow again, briefly. This periodic release of water allows the world's inhabitants to refill their expansive reservoirs and prepare for the next dry season.   Due to this lack of consistent water, most of the world is barren. The only plant life exists around the "life band," which is consequently where all other life assembles, much of it having generated in the small nearby inland seas or in the shielded underground bodies of water.

The ecosystem cycles, while predictable, are inconsistent and can only be divined through study of the parent stars, as their orbit of each other exerts a frequently changing gravitational pull on [Planet 9], beyond the fact that the companion star itself will sometimes be closer.   These variables result in often very hot warm seasons and very cold cool seasons, leaving only the thin band of the planet which is most consistent in temperature as habitable.   Most creatures in that habitable zone retreat underground when the temperature shifts, either laying eggs and dying or burrowing deep into the earth and hibernating.   Most plant life simply dies, sometimes leaving root systems that will regenerate once the warm seasons come again, but the hostile enviroment means that very little vegetation grows year-round and there are only very few species of large trees, primarily evergreens whose young can handle both the hot season and the bitterly cold seasons.

As the homeworld of the [Species 9] species, its history is inextricably entwined with the history of [Nation 9].   Once [Species 9] expanded from their home system in 9 A.C.E. and began colonizing other planets over the next couple centuries, massive amounts of [Planet 9] population emigrated to less hostile climes, leaving many great cities empty.   Even as its population shrank, [Planet 9] had a rather safe existence, spared the ravages of the various wars that sprung up by [Species 9] tenacious fight to protect their Fatherstar and Motherstar and by the swathes of frontier space that served as a defensive line.

Tourism is a profitable industry on [Planet 9] in spite of many species' reluctance to visit a world of reptiles. Its underground cathedrals and sophisticated star-map carvings, all topped by the aptly-named Grand Cathedral of the Unending Dance, are considered one of the great wonders of the galaxy and a perennial attraction for tourists across the cluster.   Local governments, under the watchful eye of the nation's Historical Preservation Council, lovingly maintain the sites and carefully arrange the construction of any new buildings so as not to disturb the aesthetic theme of any historical sites.   They are eased in their efforts to accomodate travellers by the massive emigration, which left many buildings utterly abandoned, with entire cities void of denizens. A substantial portion of many locales' budgets goes into maintaining or "pruning" these structures so that not only do they serve as an intact historical record, tourist attraction, and tourist housing, but as a safe retreat should the colonies ever fall and be forced to stage mass evacuations.   The very ability to temporarily reside in "authentic" native architecture is a big draw, with many tourists taking extra pains to "experience" "what life was really like" before clusteral expansion, eating the same foods (as allowed by their biology) and walking the abandoned streets to view and explore the expertly preserved or restored buildings and businesses which grant a glimpse into a way of life from centuries and millennia past.