Al'malamut is a spherical earthworld. It is size E, having a diameter of 8000 miles and an equatorial circumference of 25133 miles. Instead of normal (one-direction only) rotation this planet rotates along all three axles, completing a rotation in 35 hours.
The composition of Al'malamut is standard, and the crust is very thick - leading to almost nonexistent volcanic activity. The only anomaly is a lack of 'normal' minerals in the rocks, for some reason the minerals themselves have not 'evolved' during the planet's formation. Geologically Al'malamut is almost dead, continental drift has slowed down considerably, and with few exceptions all the mountain ranges have been eroded or systematically chopped down.
Water is abundant on Al'malamut, regularly formed (see below), almost rulerstraight rivers flow through the countryside, regularly emerging into a huge lake-reservoir. All water is fresh, due to the lack of minerals in the geosphere.
Due to the universal spin of the world, Al'malamut's seasons are very mild, and are based mainly on the planet's orbit. The major temporal alteration in the weather is due to the day/night changes. The weather is quite pleasant, with an average of 80 degrees during the day and some 20 degrees less during the night.
Winds are usually light, but near the few mountainous areas, gales are common. Thunder and lightning are nonexistent, but rains are heavy, averaging 65" per year.
The clouds cover the planet in almost systematical fashion, each area seems to get the same amount of light during the year.
A greenish sphere, with regular canals and big lakes. Almost geometric cloud cover whose elements seem to shift uncannily (two clouds next to each other can move in different directions at unequal speeds). Some ships visible in low orbits. The planet has two, voidworld moons.
The dominant lifeform has altered the whole world to his specifications, killing an untold amount of species in the process. What animals and plants are left are either natives of the prevailing climate or have adapted themselves to it.
Of the millions of plant species that once lived on the planet, only a fraction of them are left. All but the crop species are restricted to small areas near the mountains and other uninhabited areas. The huge, planet-wide pasturelands and fields consist mainly of only a handful of plant species, making them very boring-looking places indeed. Trees are also quite rare, but where forests exist, they're the epitome of forest cultivation: every tree is beautifully erect, and the distance between trees is constant.
Animal life has also suffered greatly, but its' decimation hasn't been as total as the plants'. The animals themselves are a pretty standard fare, with mammals and birds dominating. All creatures dangerous to humans have been hunted to extinction, or driven to the non-cultivated areas.
The only native race is the human race. This particular planet had many different species of sophonts in the beginning, but the humans slaughtered the others in grand wars millennia ago. Since then the planet has been their playground, and it really shows.
The humans, back in the early days, found Ptah to be "just the God for them", and have been strict followers of him ever since. As the last remaining "heathen race" was finished, the empire spanned the entire globe (back then a normal, earth-like world). But that was hardly enough for these greedy creatures, as theirs was the first human world to be visited by the Arcane (who saw the potential in a planet-wide religious empire), predating the others by a thousand years. And during those years the 'malmutians didn't idle: in a few hundred years they had carved themselves a nice empire in the nearest four spheres, they had no less than nineteen colonized or conquered worlds and well over a hundred explored ones. And in those 1500 empire years they terraformed their own planet completely, creating many wondrous devices to control the spin and weather.
But, some 200 years ago the empire had a mighty clash with an illithid nation over the resourceful Garland-sphere, which ended in a truce. The colonies and other worlds outside the 'malamut sphere itself had grown tired of the ever-increasing taxation, and rebelled against 'malamutians on the day the truce was signed. After losing a third of their navy to the illithids, they could not keep the rebels out of their home sphere. But the rebels were very merciful, instead of capturing the resourceful Mal-sphere, they just divided up the navy and drew up a contract that forbids any 'malmutian to leave this sphere. Being given a total education in space-related matters, a sizable navy, good infrastructure and big cities (not all tax money went all the way to 'malamut) does have a placating effect.
The 'malamutians have resigned to their fate, at there were a few attempts to break out of this sphere, but they were brutally crushed. A normal 'mal is a devout Ptahian: working ten hours a day, attending mass every evening, and taking part in a bit of sports before turning in for the day. Think of any utopia-novel, such as Huxley's Brave New World. Even the biggest cities are dull compared to normal metropolises of equal size, but regardless, there exists a peacekeeping force more than adequate to quell any disturbance.
The planet has been drained of its' resources for too long, and the inhabitants have seen worrying signs in decreasing crops and fishcatches. During the last score years they've been formulating an escape from this planet for at least half of the people (well over ten million inhabitants). The only planet left in this system to be inhabited is another eartworld, a huge jungleworld with a lot of volcanic activity and a very nasty wildlife. The exodus has already begun, the first few crews (about 10000 best pioneers in colonyships) have already founded two cities there. Another gigantic project is going on in the smaller moon, it's being hollowed out to work as the biggest ship of all time (the architects expect to fit over 100000 people inside at one go).
The 'malmutians are a devout folk, worshiping their own version of the egyptian gods (modernized during the centuries). Their cities are in two size classes A and B, A cities are huge metropolises, whereas B sized cities have less than ten thousand inhabitants.
Since Ptah is the only entity worshiped in this sphere and the existence of other (mainly) egyptian deities is acknowledged, all others worshiping other gods have a Really Hard Time[tm] within this sphere.
The 'malmutian fleet has grown to some 200 ships, but the growth has been stunted by the fact that they simply do not need any more ships, as the trade generated in this sphere is pretty small (only three worlds support humans). In addition to traders, there's a large amount of hammerships and squidships circling the planet and protecting the populace. And there's also a lot of the really old ships that were left here and only their helms taken in the uprising. And, being Ptahians, the only right way to bury the high priest is to put him in a barge and set it off toward the sun.
