About planet names
Written like field notes from an orbital survey, the results cover gravity, moons, and ecosystems taking "the first baby steps to mammals" or growing "a forest of long, tentacle algae" under "a blue sun". Use them to rough out worlds for a sci-fi campaign or a colony ship logbook, then keep the one odd species detail as the planet's hook.
How planet names are built
This describes a planet rather than naming it (a coined survey name like Pavestrand or Orrethine runs through the prose under a "Field designation" frame). Sentence templates cover the planet's solar system and neighbours, its size and gravity relative to Earth, its moons and sun, and at length its lifeforms, both animal and plant-like. Slots draw from banks such as 30 plant-organism phrases, 24 life-description entries, 20 name entries and several animal and water-world banks, so the biosphere differs on every roll.
Field designation: Sorrowfen, so called by the crew that nearly starved in its long winters, the planet counts as one of an ancient, well-ordered arrangement of eight worlds bound to a single star.
template: solar system sentence + slots: planet name + naming note + system character + neighbour count
the system size and neighbour count place the planet in its sky
The dominant minds are tool-users who never developed metal, building instead with grown coral and lashed bone into cities that breathe with the tide.
template: animal life sentence + slots: intelligence note + material + habit + city detail
the lifeform lines carry the bulk of the description
Plant life clusters around the geysers, timing its flowering to the eruptions and scattering seed on the rising steam.
template: plant-organism sentence + slots: flora habit + trigger + seed strategy
the plant line varies from lush flora to a sparse waterworld
Naming notes
The output reads like a survey log: an orbital designation line, then close accounts of what lives there, from coral-building tool-users and mud-coloured scavengers to plants that flower on geyser steam, or seas where life stalls at the doorstep. Each pull is one long sentence, so stack several to build the full log. Use it to seed a sci-fi setting, a read-aloud when a crew first scans a world, or speculative prose. The lifeform lines stand alone if orbital mechanics are not needed.
Questions about planet names
- Does this name planets or describe them?
- It describes them. A planet name appears in the prose, but the output covers the planet's system, size, gravity and especially its lifeforms, not just a name.
- How long is a planet description?
- One long sentence per pull: an orbital designation line, or a lifeform line about the planet's animals, plants or seas. Roll several and stack them into a survey log; the biology lines can stand on their own.
- Can I use a generated planet in a sci-fi game or story?
- Yes. Use it as a survey log when a crew scans a new world, or as worldbuilding for a setting. The biosphere changes per roll, so pull again for a different mix of life.