Kerithis (Planet)

Kerithis, also known as Arcaelion IV, was the uninhabited fourth planet of the Arcaelion system, which consisted of at least five planets orbiting the star Arcaelion. Kerithis was tidally locked to this star, and as a result had a scorching day side and a frozen night side, as well as a temperate ring known as the Terminator Zone. Kerithis was a close planetary companion to Archenar, the system's third planet, and was close enough to appear in its skies similar to the way Luna did in the skies of Earth billions of years later. The planet had a single moon, a dead captured planetoid. It is unknown whether this moon survived the destruction of the planet.

Kerithis was initially a target for colonization by the Archenarian Spherimal people, but was quickly discovered to have a toxic atmosphere that was unable to protect the planet's surface from the stellar radiation of Arcaelion. As a result, Kerithis was ruled out as a colonization target and the Spherimals turned their attention to the stars.

Kerithis was destroyed shortly after the destruction of its neighbor. When Archenar exploded due to the Eraser's directed energy superlaser, Kerithis was unaffected by the shockwave, but was pelted by fragments of the planet and battered to pieces. However, the cover provided by the planet against the wave of rocks did allow the surviving Spherimals to escape the system. This "sacrifice" would live on in Spheronian legend for hundreds of generations to come. Later, after the colonization of the Geometrica system's sixth planet, Spheron, one of the planet's two smaller moons was named Kerithis in honor of the planet.