Hostile Environments

Most worlds within Charted Space are inhospitable: extreme temperatures and pressures, frozen wastelands, toxic or corrosive atmospheres.

Rains of molten metal or glass, supersonic winds, lava seas, lethal radiation, frozen oceans, and even more exotic phenomena.

For Humaniti, they are deadly; for corporations, they are sources of noble gases, rare metals, or exotic compounds impossible to synthesize.

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Extrosophonts

In some of these extreme environments, life evolves, surprisingly pushing the boundaries of biology; sometimes even reaching the level of sophonts: sentient species known for technologies as extreme as their worlds of origin.

Studying them may reveal cultural processes and biological adaptations that inspire new technologies; yet the —likewise extreme— differences with Humaniti often spark conflicts of conquest and exploitation.