Enochia - Planet

Pronunciation: [Ē-nō’-shē-uh  or  Ē-nō’-shuh]

Repurposed just over five millennia ago as a new home for humans descended from Enoch and his wife after they were taken from Terra, the planet bears the name of its first human inhabitant. It is an Earth-like planet that reflects the state of Earth, or Terra, before the Flood of Noah's day. Thus, it's inhabitants have inordinately long life-spans and technological advances far in advance of their planet of origin.

Location
Created in the Universe of Law, Enochia is a planet in a galaxy Terrans refer to as Messier 81, roughly 91,000 light-years from the Milky Way. Like Terra, Enochia exists in the space between the spiral arms of its galaxy near the outer edges where it avoids heavier intragalactic turbulence.

Enochia is the fourth planet from its local star, a yellow-white G3V-main sequence dwarf-star (according to Terran reckoning). The two innermost planets, the Twin Forges, are co-orbital in that they are the same distance from the local star, yet they are on opposite sides of the star. The next planet out is somewhat larger than Enochia. None of these planets have moons. Beyond Enochia are two more smaller planets, rocky like the other four. Three major gas giants and one proto-gas giant sweep the stellar system of the rare natural visitor to the region. There are a few smaller ice-planets beyond them before the vast, mostly empty interstellar space.

Enochia takes 350 days to orbit its local star, Shem'bahir. It has a 24 hour rotational period and has a 22 degree axial tilt.

Ecology
Much like pre-Flood Terra, Enochia has a verdant singular continent balanced across its equator. Though Enochia has a volume five percent larger than Terra, it's above-water land covers only 28% of the surface. However, there are three floating "continents" of primarily plant matter that cover another 12%.

Enochians can grow up to 3 meters (10 feet) in height and have a wide variety of skin pigmentation from practically white through various browns to an almost pitch color. Traditionally monogomous, Enochians have no concept of "race" and will marry according to heart and mind without regard to skin coloration.

Animals and plants grow to much larger sizes and live comparably long lives to their Enochian cohabitors. Under the protective ice canopy called the Skywater, there is no rain but warmth, a continuous mist that keeps things watered, and a calm, singular ocean body without ice-covered poles. The mean global temperature is 21 C (70 F) with a more even distribution across the planet.

Culture
Enochian culture is centered around a mono-theistic federation that worships Jehovah. While its current, and only significant religion is Christianity, up until 2000 years ago, it held to a minimal patriarchal religion based on laws given by the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. These were codified in written form 700 years after Enoch was translated to this world by Enoch himself along with a number of his sons. The laws were few and simple: A secondary civil framework was developed for the few criminals Enochia experienced.
 * There is only one God, Jehovah, and only He is worthy of worship.
 * Love God with all of your being.
 * Love your fellows as you ought to love yourself.
 * Honor your mother and father
 * Respect the life of your fellows and do not take it unjustly.
 * Respect the liberty of your fellows and do not take it unjustly.
 * Respect that which is your fellow's and do not take it unjustly.
 * Speak only truth.  Reason only truthfully.
 * Seek humility, wisdom, and knowledge.

In the Terran year AD 29, Enoch sent his grandson to Terra after a message from God instructing him to do so. This young man traveled with Jesus as one of His disciples until a few years after the crucifixion. After that, he returned to Enochia with the good news and the gift of prophecy. A year later, almost unanimously, Enochia had converted to Christianity.

As a whole, the culture is and always was relatively free from self-serving individuals.

Enochia still has a singular language having never experienced a Babel-like event. This language is called the proto-language, the pre-Flood language, or simply Enochian by Terrans. The Enochians just call it "the speech".

Due to the harmonious nature, the long life spans, and the naturally inquisitive nature of humans, Enochian technology was allowed to advance far more rapidly than Terran. They have advanced space travel, energy generation, agriculture, and many other technologies.

Feeling a kinship with their ancestral homeworld, Enochia watches over Terra at arms length. Operatives in the world (with a small base located under Olympus Mons for parking starships) prevent the Terrans from completely wiping themselves out without preventing them from making any other mistakes - a too-long list in Enochian eyes. The other quest they have assigned themselves up until the Ja'ar Macin War and the emergence of the Hero's Guild was to protect the Terran System from invaders.

Notable People

 * Enoch
 * Neyado

A Note About Words and Names
The words and names in this article are Terran equivalents for Terran readers and do not likely reflect the actual spelling or pronunciation of those words.