System: Zavijava

Zavijava is an extremely volcanic world, so much so that high quantities of sulfur gas and other particulate matter blown into the atmosphere by constant eruptions have rendered the air difficult to breathe without filter masks, and prompted an ongoing exodus from the planet. The eruptions began rather suddenly in the twenty-fifth century, long after the first settlers made planetfall on this otherwise unremarkable but heretofore terrestrial world.

Since then, the rate of eruptions has risen steadily through the years, to the point where no less than seven active volcanic chains spew lava and ash on a weekly basis. The cause for Zavijava's geological woes has never been adequately explained, and even stymied the Terran Hegemony's experts during the Star League era, but the effects have been dramatic indeed. In almost six hundred years, the worldwide environment changed so radically that most of the native animal species have gone extinct and temperatures worldwide have dropped nearly ten degrees due to the "nuclear winter" effects of so much ash blown into the sky.

The planetary population, once numbering almost three billion, has also dropped steadily as the disturbances continue, but enough hearty souls and mining corporations have remained behind to try to make the most of the situation. Adding to the declining state of this world, of course, has been its history during the Succession Wars. As a Lyran-Free Worlds border planet, Zavijava has naturally been the target of countless raids and military campaigns in the centuries since the fall of the Star League.

Zavijava has two major continents - Peniah in the north and Velvel in the south. The planetary capital, Tzion, and Zavijava's main spaceport are located on Velvel.

There are no functional factories located on this planet.