Kamchatka

The first world to be folded into the Asmaran Federation after it’s formation. Largely, it’s considered the only truly integrated world in the Asmaran arm, as its representatives and senators hold political clout in federal decisions similar to the core worlds. Kamchatka is an arid, sandy world with a single habitable city-biome near the equator, a city called Orenburg. This densely populated area is rather advanced, and was made habitable by slow, pretech terraformers. The majority of the arid wastes are unexplored, but stories persist of ruins and isolated groups surviving under the cover of frequent sandstorms. It’s widely believed that there is a large weather control facility on Kamchatka that was previously used to reduce the frequency and severity of the sandstorms, but no sign of such a facility has been found. The pretech terraformers that allow Orenburg to expand its borders are powered by unique minerals found under the surface of the sandy dunes, extraction made difficult by roaring sandstorms and raids by wastelanders beyond the reach of the city. They can also be powered by secondary solar cells, but at a much slower rate. Four terraformers laid dormant for many years, two of which have been repaired to begin expanding the city since the end of the Silence. Most of Kamchatkan life revolved around the maintenance of the terraformers and the mining of the mineral that fuels them for a long time, and only recently have they been able to start specializing.