Darkover

Darkover
The above illustration shows Darkover as the planet on the left with its four moons: Liriel, Kyrrdis, Idriel and Mormallor. In the background is a representation of the Cottman red giant star.
Universe	Darkover
Planet type	terrestrial planet
Moon(s)	4
Continents	1
Oceans	1
Created by	Marion Zimmer Bradley
First appearance	The Planet Savers (1958 (1958))

Darkover is the focus planet of the Darkover series of science fiction-fantasy novels and short stories by Marion Zimmer Bradley and others published since 1958. According to the novels, Darkover is the only human-habitable of seven planets orbiting a fictional red giant star called Cottman. The word "Darkover" is a registered trademark owned by the Marion Zimmer Bradley Literary Works Trust.

Bradley describes Cottman's Star as a red giant, around which seven planets orbit. Cottman IV, known to its inhabitants as Darkover, is the only habitable planet. The three inner planets and two outer planets are not habitable. Cottman V is an ice planet that while not toxic to humans, cannot naturally support a self-sustaining human population.

Like Cottman V, Darkover is a planet stuck in a permanent ice age. Only one small equatorial strip of its single smallish continent is warm enough to support limited agriculture, fishing, and livestock. Similar in size to Earth, Darkover has a lower gravity due to its relative lack of metals; it also has a higher percentage of oxygen in the atmosphere. One Darkover year is roughly equal to fifteen Earth months.

Darkover's weather is affected by two major forces:

The planet is dominated by polar icecaps and glaciers that cover most of its surface. The sole continent, just a few degrees north of the equator, is linked to the northern icecap on the continental northern and eastern side where glaciers from The Wall Around the World mountain range about the cap. To the south and west of that mountain range is Darkover's nominally temperate continental zone which borders the open water of the planet's ocean.

The temperate portion of the continent is dominated by evergreen forests that grow in the mountain foothills. These trees contain a flammable resin which contributes to frequent forest fires during the warmer months. Further, southwest from the forests are Darkover's highlands, plains, salt marshes and arable river valleys. On the continent's far western side is another mountain range called "The Hellers" and a high elevation cold desert plateau called "The Dry Towns."

Multiple conflicting attempts have been made at producing a map of Darkover. Bradley provided a map in The Heritage of Hastur (1975) that should probably be considered canonical. It does not exactly match the Speakman map that illustrates this article. Thorsten Renk's attempt at mapping Darkover based on the descriptions of journeys provided in several of the books (starting with Darkover Landfall and ending with The Heritage of Hastur) produced a third map that does not match the others. Renk is probably correct when he says that Bradley appears to have a mental model when she writes, but not a map in the ordinary sense.