Krypton, a history. (or Kryptonian's explained... maybe?)
A/N: (updated on march 11,2017 to fix format)
The Trappist-1 star system hit the news a few short days ago and it struck me that it fit in with an idea i had for why Kryptonian's had this amazing ability to absorb and redirect solar energy into a usable resource (like fat, but not!). This then lead to me wondering what can absorb IR energy in a significant way? that question lead me to this article...
"CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Nov. 27, 2012 — An ultra-thin, tunable device developed at Harvard absorbs 99.75% of infrared light on demand and, when activated, looks like a black blob to IR cameras. The near-perfect absorber could expand the possibilities for energy harvesting and thermal detection. Designed by scientists at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and at the University of California, San Diego, the instrument is composed of a 180-nm-thick layer of vanadium dioxide on a sheet of sapphire.
Although scientists have created many perfect absorbers before, none have had such versatile properties, the team said. When two mirrors sandwich an absorbing material in a Fabry-Perot cavity, for instance, light simply reflects back and forth until it is mostly gone. Other devices employ surfaces with nano-scale metallic patterns that trap and eventually absorb the light."
...There is more detailed information in the article but the first thing that popped into my mind after reading this was 'what could do this in the natural world?', Chameleons! So then I did some research on them and found a fascinating article By Janet Fang (Janet Fang - Chameleons - IFLScience) that made me think that if they evolved on a low energy planet they may have evolved to do just what I theorized Kryptonian's may have done...
"Chameleons are one of the most famous champions of quick color change, alternating between stealthy camouflage and flashy displays within minutes. And now researchers have revealed their rapid color-change secrets: Chameleons have light-reflecting nano-crystals in their skin that can be rearranged at will. The findings are published in Nature Communications this week."
...Anywho, that's the thought process and what led to 'my' version of a Kryptonian history and evolution. OH, btw! In my reality, Superman is not nearly as strong under a yellow sun as he is in comics... maybe under a blue supergiant or bigger sun, but not a yellow dwarf.
Also, just for further thought...
Earth's circumference = 24,901 mi (distance around the equator)
Earth's Sun circumference = 2,714,209 mi
Trappist-1a's (sun) circumference = 317,568 mi ? (feel free to correct me on any of this!)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Earth's Sun is a g-class main sequence yellow-dwarf star
(3.14=pi)
Circumference / (pi) = Diameter / 2 = Radius
2,714,209 / 3.14 = 864,398 / 2 =432,199
Trappist-1's Sun is an m-class ultra cool red-dwarf star
(3.14=pi)
Circumference / (pi) = Diameter / 2 = Radius
317,568 / 3.14 = 101,136 / 2 = 50,568
Size of Smallest Possible Star Pinned Down › Science & Astronomy Jun 4, 2013 - All stars should be at least 8.7 percent as wide as our own sun (which is 864,398 miles in diameter),... if that is true then the smallest star is as follows...
0.087 x 864,398 mi = 75,203 mi in Diameter or...
Circumference / pi (or 3.14) = Diameter / 2 = Radius
236,137 / (pi) = 75,203 / 2 = 37,602
all this means is that the Trappist-1 star system is so small it almost doesn't classify as a star! which in turn means to me that any life in such a star system needs to take extra-ordinary measures to collect, and preserve it for future use, as much energy it can. by any means it can possibly devise! If that means altering what a chameleon/Kryptonian does with its own skin to absorb every erg of energy it can any way it can then storing said solar energy I'm all for it.
Solar radiation from a red dwarf sun is not nearly as energetic as solar radiation from a yellow dwarf sun. So, if Kryptonian's evolved then later genetically re-designed themselves to absorb more, and more types of solar radiation in order to take advantage of what little they could get from their low energy sun there by reducing their needs for actual food and consumables in the way of heating and cooling their environment just think how powerful a Kryptonian under the radiation output of a much more energetic yellow sun would be!
ONE LAST THING!
My version of Science Fact in the Fictional Superman Universe...
Krypton's Sun 'Rao' (Trappist-1a) is an m-class ultra cool red-dwarf star.
Krypton (Trappist-1g), Krypton's surface is 55 percent water. (or whatever)
Kryptonian's began the long trek to sentient from a chameleon skinned primate like species who developed their highly specialized skin early in their evolution in an effort to find a way to absorb more solar radiation. this led to their body storing and using this energy to supplement their oxygen and caloric intake which allowed for accelerated brain and body growth relativity early in their evolution.
Early Kryptonian's could change their colors rapidly via light-absorbing nano-crystals in their skin that could be rearranged at will to absorb more or less energy from what little IR energy was available. This all happens within a couple of minutes, and is totally reversible. For much of their existence Kryptonian's relied on structural changes in their skin to affect how their skin absorbs or reflects light. These structural changes are generated without pigments, but via a physical phenomenon of optical interference. They resulted from interactions between certain visual wavelengths of light and nano-scopic structures.
Kryptonian's accomplish these color-changing feats by actively tuning a lattice of light-reflecting nano-crystals within a top layer of skin cells. These photonic nano-crystals are made of one of the building blocks of Kryptonian DNA, and they could change the structural arrangement of the cells they're in just by relaxing or stretching the skin. When relaxed the nano-crystals are organized into a dense network reflecting deep blue and green wavelengths (colors). When excited, the nano-crystal lattice loosens to allow the reflection of other colors, like yellows and reds.
Additionally they have evolved not just the one, but also a second deeper layer of light reflective/absorbent cells. The second layer of crystalline cells, which are larger, reflect/absorb a substantial portion of sunlight in the near-infrared and infrared range. This layer plays the most important role in their ability to absorb the most abundant energy source available to them other than oxygen and nutrients in the way of calories eaten.
This lead to their ability to store the absorbed energy for later use much like they could store energy in the form of fat from foods. This was all later refined with the genetic re-engineering that the Kryptonian's as a species experimented with in order to 'perfect' themselves.
An average Human 'on Earth' can lift 150 pounds (.075 u.s. tons) easily and approx. 500 max (.25 u.s. tons).
A Kryptonian who is drained of any stored energy can lift 1,000 pounds (0.5 u.s. tons) easily and approx. 3,000 max (1.5 u.s. tons).
A Kryptonian 'on Krypton' can lift 50,000 pounds (25 u.s. tons) easily and approx. 150,000 max (75 u.s. tons).
A Kryptonian 'on Earth' can lift 500,000 pounds (250 u.s. tons) easily and approx. 1,500,000 max (750 u.s. tons).
A Kryptonian 'on Earth' can fly at approx. 24,901 mph (or 415 mi. per min. and 6.9167 mi. per sec.).
Kryptonian's absorb radiation of all kinds (IR, UV, EM, ect.) absorbed radiation is stored in the body and used to fuel tactile telekinesis which allows them to pick up large objects without crushing them, superhuman strength, form an impenetrable shield up to 1mm (or 1/16 in.) outside the skin, flight, laser-beam eyes... super-breath, unless its from eating tons of garlic, is ridiculous! (cough*)
Kryptonian History in a nutshell... hey, if hawking can put 'The Universe in a Nutshell'...
Kryptonian's evolved on a very low energy planet (Trappist-1g). Eventually, they explored and colonized every planet of their 7 planet system and in the process genetically re-engineered themselves making many changes one of which was the development of skin which would absorb every bit of energy that it could in order to supplement their caloric intake and storing it in their very cells like miniature batteries.
Upon leaving their star system they discovered their genetic manipulations had inadvertently made them increasingly stronger depending on the amount of solar radiation they absorbed. this lead to their gaining almost god like powers after further genetic manipulation. Millions of years later Krypton had explored and colonized not only their own galaxy but several smaller ones nearby.
Eventually they tired of exploration and turned inward, withdrawing from the galactic civilization they had largely engineered and the other species they had encountered and in most cases conquered, or at the very least fought to a draw. In this withdraw they left behind isolated pockets of those who disagreed with the withdraw and who eventually were themselves absorbed, sometimes unwillingly, by their so called inferiors sparking wars the galaxies had so far never seen before.
Tired of all the fighting when all they wanted was to withdraw, a small group of Kryptonian's were selected in secret to find a way to leave the known galaxies behind. They used various means, some old some new, to remotely explore distant regions of space and eventually came across a promising galaxy and after some years study they narrowed their selection down to a single garden planet orbiting a middling aged and energetic g-class main sequence yellow-dwarf star filled with flora and fauna but had not as yet developed intelligent life.
A perfect sanctuary world where they could start over again and hopefully avoid the pitfalls that they had encountered during their long existence. Having found their target they next needed a new way to travel such a great distance, their target being almost 290,337,680 l.y. away.
It took almost 1,000 years of new development in secret but eventually they developed what would become known as the phantom drive. this new drive was capable of traversing that nearly 300 million light years distance in a just under 7 years time. This is a distance well outside any Kryptonian's or any other races imagining, let alone their enemies whom they thought of as inferior, making it the perfect place to start over.
Unfortunately, there was a delay of almost 200,000 years due to a random strike during the war and the almost complete destruction of the research which made the phantom drive possible. Brothers Jor and Zor of the House El, discovered a cache of data while exploring the ruins of a family redoubt. It took them 20 years but they reconstructed the basics behind the science of the Phantom Drive not realizing for many more years what it truly was they had found.
The brothers became famous for their theorizing of and later developing the Phantom Zone. The Phantom Zone was 90 degrees out of phase with reality, a reality between realities as they knew them and which were desolate but livable to some extent to the meaning of livable, where it was theorized and later proved that distances were greatly reduced between any two points.
Of course, politicians being politicians, realized this Phantom Zone could be used as a form of punishment for 'criminals' whilst also getting them both out of sight and mind and soon criminals of all types were sent to the Phantom Zone. By the time Jor-El discovered the true reason behind the development of what he found had been dubbed the 'Phantom DRIVE', Kryptonian's had long since withdrawn to their original solar system and fought several internal wars over who would rule over their diminished and failing society. thus, he did not share his discovery with anyone outside his family.
Meanwhile, a small band of Kryptonian nihilists and Dheronian forces plotted to introduce instabilities into Rao which would force it into a series of rapid mega-solar flares by altering the Magnetic fields of the star which would destroy it and the rest of the Kryptonian home system. The plot ultimately failed due to faulty equipment but an almost undetectable instability was later discovered by Jor-El who reported it but the high council in their arrogance denied the brothers request to sink a probe into the star thinking it too risky.
A/N: Dheronian's unlike in DC comics cannon did not originate from the same solar system and there wasn't some stupid 20 year resource and riches raiding cycle between them. Dheronian's and Kryptonian's are also an almost perfect example of convergent evolution unlike Daxamites, who are descended from Kryptonian colonists.
also...
2,544,360 l.y. is what I'm calling the average distance between galaxies ( anywhere from zero to 13,000,000 l.y.)
25,000 l.y. (light years) average galaxy diameter ) I have no idea! I just took this from the first article found which stated that the Milkyway Galaxy was actually rather large for a galaxy and that the average nearby galaxy was 1/10th its size.
2,569,360 l.y. x 113 galaxies distance = 290,337,680 l.y. distance
290,337,680 / 1,000,000 (distance traveled in one week)= 290 weeks (or 73 months (6.08 years))
2,544,360 (distance between Milkyway and Andromeda Galaxies)
and that's all folks what are your thoughts on my thoughts... yeah, that just happened.
i have ideas for stories that may or may not use all this cool backstory or info... Buffy Summers as a Kryptonian / Carggite hybrid made by loki the Roswell lookalike from SG-1 (so you know there's a defect)! Xander as 'the thing' from marvels F4 and maybe Willow as an alt universe Panacea from Worm who can only heal/alter herself!
And so much more!
R&R