[OOC: Samusverse Setting Notes; Place of Interest]
Barduresh
Sixth planet of the Multark system, Barduresh contains rich deposits of the resonant crystals once believed to be unique to Ballybran. To date, no deposits of the rare black crystals have been found, but discovery of other types on a planet without the Ballybran symbiont was initially hailed as a windfall. However, seismic activity and its attendant piezoelectric effect creates a dangerous aharmonic resonance in Barduresh's crystal deposits, interfering with electromagnetic fields. As a result, most conventional technology is inoperative at best, and self-destructive at worst, below the level of Barudesh's ionosphere.
After a few (disasterously) failed landing attempts, planetfall was finally made possible by dropping an orbital tether with a relatively crude elevator system. While Barduresh now boasts an array of such tethers linked by a grid of three docking rings, the planet's surface remains largely unexplored due to the effort involved in mounting expeditions, and the limitations those expeditions would labor under.
Barduresh enjoys a wide tropical zone and small polar regions, the former dense with humid jungles. The planet's eight smallish continents are mostly focused around the equator, with a slight preponderance for the southern hemisphere. Water makes up just slightly more than half the planet's surface, but again, the difficulty involved in retrieving it detracts from the planet's value as a waypoint on intergalactic journeys.
While the anticipated mining industry has thus far failed to materialize, a few souls do make Barduresh their home. The planet boasts no recognizably sapient native flora or fauna, but houses a few immigrants; the majority are members of an antitechnological cult that maintains a settlement on one of the few northern continents. The remainder are mostly those who have one reason or another to wish to avoid galactic society--fugitives, political exiles, and a very few violent antisocials. Ameneties for visitors are minimal on the orbital rings, and nonexistant on the surface.
Sixth planet of the Multark system, Barduresh contains rich deposits of the resonant crystals once believed to be unique to Ballybran. To date, no deposits of the rare black crystals have been found, but discovery of other types on a planet without the Ballybran symbiont was initially hailed as a windfall. However, seismic activity and its attendant piezoelectric effect creates a dangerous aharmonic resonance in Barduresh's crystal deposits, interfering with electromagnetic fields. As a result, most conventional technology is inoperative at best, and self-destructive at worst, below the level of Barudesh's ionosphere.
After a few (disasterously) failed landing attempts, planetfall was finally made possible by dropping an orbital tether with a relatively crude elevator system. While Barduresh now boasts an array of such tethers linked by a grid of three docking rings, the planet's surface remains largely unexplored due to the effort involved in mounting expeditions, and the limitations those expeditions would labor under.
Barduresh enjoys a wide tropical zone and small polar regions, the former dense with humid jungles. The planet's eight smallish continents are mostly focused around the equator, with a slight preponderance for the southern hemisphere. Water makes up just slightly more than half the planet's surface, but again, the difficulty involved in retrieving it detracts from the planet's value as a waypoint on intergalactic journeys.
While the anticipated mining industry has thus far failed to materialize, a few souls do make Barduresh their home. The planet boasts no recognizably sapient native flora or fauna, but houses a few immigrants; the majority are members of an antitechnological cult that maintains a settlement on one of the few northern continents. The remainder are mostly those who have one reason or another to wish to avoid galactic society--fugitives, political exiles, and a very few violent antisocials. Ameneties for visitors are minimal on the orbital rings, and nonexistant on the surface.