Name: Beryck [BEAR-ick]
Indigenous Sentients: None.
Ruling Faction(s)/Nation(s): This is a Light-policed world, mostly headed by humans, despite the fact that this is primarily a vur colony world.
Other Factions/Nations: There is a small cultist population on-world, but they tend to avoid tangling directly with the Lightworkers and mercenary lawmen of the settlements.
Description: Beryck is known primarily as a swamp world. It is extremely lush, very wet, temperate-to-warm in climate, and largely covered in shallow lakes, seas, and dense marshes and wetlands. Only about a quarter of its surface is land that doesn't experience regular flooding, and an equal portion is covered in deeper bodies of saltwater - but a full half of the world is naught but swamps and ponds. Vurri colonists have shown a marked preference for the patches of dry land, but they've adapted to the floods and wetlands by building their homes on stilts. Main roads, which are usually only packed dirt, are constructed above the water-levels in the area; roads in particularly wet regions are reinforced with wooden planks or made entirely of wood (which often rot out quickly, despite woodworker efforts to waterproof it). Most settlements are small towns, with some outposts, some dock-based mini-cities, and some 'farms' filling out the rest of the settled areas. A small handful of Lightworkers can be found in almost any settlement, helping out primarily with healing, but also with protection against brigands, cultists, and wild animals; bigger towns, especially the dock-cities, have also hired mercenaries as lawmen. (These mercs are the only ones allowed to carry firearms. They're usually humans, buthines, or vurri.) Exiles of the Light are commonly left on Beryck if they're not expected to cause trouble; there is a slightly higher crime rate due to the informality of Lightworker protection and the small population of bitter ex-Lightworkers.
Magic: Beryck is a fairly low-magic world, though not enough to completely stifle use of magic. The predominant magic-workers on Beryck are of the druidic persuasion, and their use of magic is very subtle and low-key, more a facilitator of a good life than a flashy display of power. Lightworkers are primarily healers here, and cultists are often the less-confrontational sorts who are happy with their arcane knowledge and feel no need to go out raising plagues and summoning demons (though some could). Magic-workers will find themselves between 25-50% of their full power on Beryck; those who utilize qki will be relatively unaffected in range of ability, though their endurance will be greatly lessened.
Technology: Beryck is a low-tech world, civilized in parts but lacking in truly advanced machinery, technology, or architecture. There is some metal-working, though metal tools and weaponry are just as likely to be imported from Sige as they are to be made on Beryck, but nothing more complicated than steel reinforcements for buildings and some standard blades, occasionally metal wheels. There are no trains, no flying vehicles (other than the intersun ships) - wagons and carts are the primary mode of transportation, when one is not riding a domesticated steed or walking. While crossbows are the staple ranged weapon on Beryck, firearms are strictly frowned upon and neither imported nor made locally.
Solar System: Beryck is one of three worlds in the sun system of Primos. Primos is a woven system, with its three worlds tilted at varying angles and the sun drawn in a weaving pattern amongst them. Beryck itself is tilted sideways at a strange angle, with Sige facing 'up' and Oru facing 'down'. As a result, Beryck's seasons are unpredictable and its night-day cycle varies widely through the course of the year as it rotates horizontally and the sun carves a daily path through the system.
Galactic Location: Six weeks from Airdh, five months from the Source of Light, eleven months from Gurhai, and six weeks from Nesaule.
Intersun Trading: Beryck is not a major trading spot by any stretch of the imagination, but it has enough raw organic materials to be a viable stop for merchants already in the area. Largely unspoiled by human colonization, it sees visits from fvayzi, halasshi, Lo'hês, gnits, buthines, and vurri. While much of the trade is need-based - other human worlds, like Navos Jorde and Saecala - Beryck does have an extensive trading relationship with Sige, the other human world in the sun system. Sige usually exports refined goods in exchange for Beryck's raw materials.