Name: Erdor [AIR-dor]
Indigenous Sentients: The only natives of Erdor are the qkaulom.
Ruling Faction(s)/Nation(s): The Builders rule over everything.
Other Factions/Nations: There are no other factions with political or military power.
Description: Erdor is a naturally darkened worlds whose ever-present clouds block out 90% of all light from the sun. Because of this lack of sufficient sunlight, the surface is rocky and barren, barely possessing enough low-lying trees and scrub-brush to supply air to the world. Nothing larger than a rat lives on the surface, and weather is often violent and unpredictable, tossing up a variety of storms with little heed. Erdor is riddled with a vast underground network of caves, tunnels, and caverns; several flesh-eating creatures live in the top-most levels of that network, feasting on each other to survive and propagate. It is beneath that top-most layer of carnage that the qkaulom have built their civilization, only clearing a few wide tunnels up to the surface in order to have access to visiting merchants and pirates. Areas around the smoke vents from the cities are constantly under a cloud that pours acid rain; garbage is dumped there, swiftly eroded and dissolved by the corrosive water.
Magic: Erdor is a planet average in magical energy. The qkaulom, rather than dedicate time to aligning and managing this magical power in a natural grid or cycle, typically mine a variety of crystals and charge them with energy to be stored. Many crystals are so fine-tuned to magical energy that they can hold a very specific kind of energy - such as the result of a particular spell - and be released as an insta-spell upon being broken or ritually emptied. These gems are very diverse in type and ability, and choosing which gem to match to which magical energy, element, or spell is a process that requires care and study.
Technology: Erdor's surface is barren of technology, but within its bowels lies a mechanical heart. The qkaulom have infested the deeper layers of the world with a stunning variety of magic-powered machines, most dedicated to either construction/tunneling or destruction/warfare. Huge caverns are home to shipyards; the qkaulom provide most of the highly advanced intersun ships owned by pirates and black magic cults (or the highest private bidder). There are a few intersun docks, well above the layer of storming, acidic clouds that cover the planet in unrelenting gloom, but visitors and traders must find their own ways from docks to qkaulom cities, if they wish to barter or buy new ships. Erdor is one of the five most technologically advanced worlds in the universe.
Solar System: Erdor resides in the Erdor system, first of two planets. The other planet, Cgorev, was the qkaulom's first conquest, now home to Cgorevinian qkaulom, a new race of the powerful species. The qkaulom are extremely possessive of their sun system and take extensive measures to ensure that it is well-protected and permanently theirs.
Galactic Location: Five weeks from Ztar, six weeks from Ationa, two months from Do'agnun, four and a half months from Airdh, two months and three weeks from the Source of Light, eight and a half months from Gurhai.
Intersun Trading: Erdor engages in a surprising amount of intersun trading, despite the difficulty visitors face in getting from docks to underground cities. The qkaulom are vicious traders, forcing any merchant to give them the best deal possible or offering death as an alternative. As a result, only pirates and black magic cults will trade with the qkaulom, willing to take the risks (and the losses) in order to procure such swift and powerful intersun ships and versatile weaponry; the qkaulom typically trade ships, weaponry, enchanted crystals, and machine blueprints (often construction/tunneling ones) for massive amounts of raw ore, other blueprints, slaves, and pertinent information on the newest developments in warfare and black magic.