Szabar, Cynther System

Geographic Features
Big Salt Lakes	Perhaps the defining geographic feature on Szabar are the Big Salt Lakes. They make up just over half the surface area of the planet and are, technically, seas as opposed to lakes. Most of the water that evapourates off the lakes rises up the sides of the surrounding mountain ranges until it condenses and precipitates, running down the mountains back into the lakes it came from. Evapourated moisture on the north and south of the lakes generally comes into quick contact with cold air masses from the northern and southern ice caps, leading to steady light rains that drive ecosystem of the northern plains and southern grasslands. The Big Salt Lakes host a variety of marine life and provide much of the food available on Szabar.

Northern Plains	The northern plains are rocky and hard, covered with grassy sloping hills and scrubby vegetation. Precipitation is common as warm water vapour from the Great Salt Lakes collides with cold air masses from the northern ice cap region. . The northern plains host two large forested areas, Northwood and the Kanji Forest.

Northwood	Northwood is a taiga over long, flat hills. It is comprised predominantly of tall, slender needleleaf evergreens, mixed with tall hardwoods near Zairan Lake. Northwood skirts the northern shore of 3 different Big Salt Lakes and the presence of the large bodies of water helps moderate the temperatures in the area, leaving it covered in snow about one third of the year. Northwood has a diverse ecosystem, with a variety of insect and small animal life. Ataxial aberrations, while not exactly common on Szabar, are most common in this area.

Kanji Forest	Kanji Forest is a mixed forest over jauntily rolling hills. It is composed of mostly scrubby brush and short, wide, broadleaf evergreen trees near the permafrost line with taller, denser broadleaf evergreen and hardwood in the south near Lake Tehu. The area is covered in snow a little over a one third of the year and tends to be a little colder than the Northwood. Kanji Forest has a particularly diverse ecosystem for Szabar, with an incredible variety of plant, insect, and animal life. Many of Szabar's rarest and most prized delicacies are found in Kanji Forest.

Southern Grasslands	In the southern grasslands, flat rolling ground is the rule. Thick lichens and mosses cover the ground near the permafrost line, giving to taller and taller grasses and short, scrubby brush as one heads north. The southern-most areas of the grasslands are covered by snow about half the year. The grasslands have pockets of limestone deposits which allow small, spring fed lakes to pop up here and there.

Haeton Wood	Between the Southarm of the Toktse Mountains and Toroa Hardlands, Haeton wood sprawls on harsh, rolling hills. . The plant life here is generally spread apart and widely crowned, composed mostly of tall, broadleaf hardwoods, giving way to tall, wide needleleaf softwood approaching the permafrost. Haeton Wood is sheltered between two mountain ranges and its termperature is moderated by the Big Salt Lakes. Much of the area only sees light, temporary snowfalls during the coldest times of the year.

Toroa Hardlands	A range of old folded and block mountains, the Toroa Hardlands are harsh and rocky. Sparse scrub and softwood trees dot their sides. The mountains generally have some separation and the patient traveller can wind his way through the rocky lowland between them. Toroa spire is a huge old volcanic peak that has thrust its way up between the shores of Great Salt Lake, Zairan Lake, and Toroa Bay. It is harsh, rocky, and barren.

Toktse Mountains	Mount Toktse is a huge, rugged old mountain, volcanic in origin and long dead. Southarm is a range of far less severe folded mountains that formed during the same time period. Mount Toktse itself is still severe, rocky, and steep. Scrubby brush and intermittent trees grow up its sides to its snow-covered peaks. Southarm has been eroded and rounded. It maintains a layer of top-soil and vegetation. While going is difficult, it is generally possible to traverse.

Cloven Hills	The Cloven hills are actually a pair of mountain ranges formed on two tectonic plates sliding beside and now away from each other. Relatively gradual folded and block mountains were churned up and are now being torn into two separate ranges with lowlands in between. The Cloven Hills are gentle, rolling mountains as far as it goes on Szabar. Ithoth Peak and the central Crescent Ridge are huge, sheer fault-block mountains thrown up in the center of the more gradual folded mountains representative of the rest of the range. The Mankore Valley sits nestled in the center of the Crescent Ridge.

Mankore Valley	Mankore Valley is a hilly highland in the center of the Crescent Ridge of the Cloven Hills. It is relatively fertile, supporting low vegetation and basic farming. There are localized water pools, fed by water flow off the Cresecent Ridge, that have allowed the area to develop a decent little ecosystem. The largest water pool is the Mankore Basin, fed by the massive Eternal Falls. The city of Mankore sits with her back against the Ridge and her side against the Basin.

Settlements
Porter	Porter is the largest city on Szabar and sprawls around the wreckage of the cargo ship, Porter, which crashed into the side of Mount Toktse in the early days of the colonization of the Cynther system. Through the generations, the inhabitants have clung tenaciously to the technology provided by the ship. The fusion reactor is still running, providing electricity to the city. Many of the ship's small arms disruptors still work and are carried by the local military. The remains of the hull of the ship house the Porter government, military, and important personnel while a somewhat ramshackle city spills down the sides of the surrounding mountain. The Porters are not expansionist but they are aggressive and their military maintains active patrols across the face of the planet looking to scavenge any useful technology, tools, or fuel from other crashed vessels. The Porters are a tough and proud people. They trade occasionally with the Saleen Angels.

The Triad	A semi-offical trade arrangement and non-agression pact. Includes the towns of Shki, Mankore, and Kanji. The Seora Traders are a nomadic culture that services the Triad by carrying goods between members.

Mankore	In the heights of the Mankore Valley in the Cloven Hills mountains, the town of Mankore sits backed against the face of the mountains, where the Eternal Falls pour into the Mankore Basin. The Mankore are hard, tough, simple mountain folk. They mine, smith and craft, and trade. There are legends that the water from the Eternal Falls is what makes the populace so hard and durable and there is a minor export industry around it. Mankore is the central town in the Triad, a trading alliance between Mankore, Shki, Kanji, and the Seora Traders. It maintains a large caravanserai that serves as both lodging and market for the Seora as they pass through town. It is also a favourite refuge for newcomers to Szabar, as its height in the mountains means the air has a lower oxygen content, reducing the chance of developing Szabar Sickness.

Shki	Shki sits nestled securely on the rocky, sandy plain on the edge of the thundering Shki River, where water from the Cloven Hills pours into Lake Rehoke. The Shki are excellent boat builders, sending expeditions to the Kanji Forest and Haeton Wood to bring back material. They are also decent farmers and produce sufficient food to not only supply their own needs but to sell export to the Seora Traders. Shki tries to maintain a friendly, simple, quiet lifestyle. They are a comfortable but not excessive people.

Kanji	Kanji is a semi-wild town on the fringes of Kanji Forest in the northern plains, north of Lake Tehu. There is a large population of aggressive hunters in Kanji, who ply the woods and grasslands for pray. They also excel at collecting rare herbs and spices that grow wild in the area, including the drataki mushroom, which is dried and ground into piquant spice, and the hydrasha plant, whose thick stem holds water for use on extended travel, and whose heavy flower is considered a delicacy across Szabar. Kanji also has a relatively large population of carpenters and craftsmen who specialize in fine woodwork. Kanji is a simple, earthy village that savours its freedom and simplicity. It trades furs, spices, raw and crafted wood, and meat with the Seora Traders.

Seora Traders	A semi-nomadic people that developed around the Triad alliance between Shki, Mankore, and Kanjij. Each city of the alliance had an abundance of certain materials and huge deficiencies in others. The Seora Traders came together over the generations, specializing in moving goods from one settlement to the others. On one hand, they are very wealthy and well provisioned. On the other, they are essentially homeless and their individual tribes move constantly from place to place. They also collect knowledge wherever they travel and aggressively teach their children from their body of knowledge in formal, travelling schools. The Seora also produce wise thinkers and healers, who sometimes settle into other communities, often emerging as local leaders. Get fish and crops from Shki. Metal and craftwork from Mankore. Wood, fur, meat, wood and woodcraft, spice from Kanji. Some trade with Porter.

Salvation Springs	A small town scattered haphazardly around a patchwork of spring-fed ponds on the Southern Grasslands. The town is decentralized and has little government to speak of. It has grown slowly but steadily for, while it perhaps the most uninteresting small town around, it is generally informal and welcoming to all. It is primarily a farming town.

Raylin	A village on the edge of the Northwood, at the tip of the Toroa Hardlands. A relatively recent expedition in Antiquity left a crew of Rafers stranded on the Szabar's surface. They quickly founded Raylin, adopting a familiar habitat on the edge of the woods next to a rocky plain. The higher than average occurrence of Ataxial aberrations around that area gave the Rafer populace the stressful existence they prefer. The Rafers' biology rendered them immediately immune to Szabar Sickness.

Venture	Venture was a planned colony and chosen for its survivability. It is on the shores of the Venture river, a huge, fast flow from the mountains of the Toroa Hardland into Zairan Lake giving it the advantages of both fresh water river and salt water lake. While the Toroa Hardlands provide the shelter of a mountain range, Venture pass allows easy access to the plains to the east. While support of the colony was quickly abandoned by the Core Commonwealth settlers, Venture would grow on as an independent and secluded little town, Venture is generally intelligent and educated, if a little xenophobic at times.

Other towns	Other towns and wandering tribes dot the surface of Szabar. They come and go with the whims of the harsh planet..