Earth is the third planet out from Sol. Today, Earth has regained it's status as the jewel of humanity; it's central and arguably most important world. Earth is a Garden world, harboring millions of unique species of flora and fauna. It possesses extremely diverse ecosystems, with huge deserts, sprawling tundra, massive mountain ranges, rolling grasslands, and thick swaths of tropical rain forest. 71% of the Earth’s surface is covered in salt water while massive lakes of fresh water are found within continental areas. In the modern age, Earth is densely inhabited and every corner of the planet has a long, well-recorded history and culture.
Earth (also called Terra, Gaia, or Sol III) is the third planet in orbit around the star Sol, and is the homeworld of humanity. Approximately 83% of its surface is covered in salt water, due to an amplified greenhouse effect melting the planet's polar ice caps several centuries ago. Originally home to millions of distinct species of flora and fauna, it is estimated that 94% of those species have gone extinct.
As humanity's homeworld, Earth bore witness to tens of thousands of years of human history and development, from the harnessing of fire and simple tools to humanity's rapid colonization of the stars. The planet's ecology suffered during the 20th and 21st centuries as a result of haphazard development, industrial accidents and population booms. The exhaustion of native resources eventually forced humanity into the stars. Overtime, Earth came to consume a massive amount of extrasolar resources in order to support it's billion of citizens.
==Geography==
==Society==
Earth's near-demise came during the second Sol Alliance civil war, when intense ground fighting devastated many cities, killed millions and displaced billions of people. Masses of refugees fled to Mars and Luna, where their descendants still live in slum-like conditions.
Earth is home to a stable 14 billion humans, spread across all seven of it's inhabitable continents. Advances in conservation, recycling and civil planning has allowed Earth to be much less reliant on other planets for food and raw materials, although it is still the largest importer in human space. The planet suffers from mild space debris in high-orbit, a consequence of centuries of space travel and the Sol Alliance Civil War. The Alliance maintains a significant naval presence around the planet.
Earth (also called Terra, Gaia, or Sol III) is the third planet in orbit around the star Sol, and is the homeworld of humanity. Approximately 83% of its surface is covered in salt water, due to an amplified greenhouse effect melting the planet's polar ice caps several centuries ago. Originally home to millions of distinct species of flora and fauna, it is estimated that 94% of those species have gone extinct.
