Planet: Zorya

"Bring firearms and antihistamines" is what veteran guides say about this lush garden world. First colonized in 2160, Zorya's temperate and tropical zones are overrun with plants and fungi of all kinds. As a result, the air in most habitable areas is choked with pollen and spores that range from benign to deadly. The scattered colonies across the planet have resorted to clear-cutting and slash-and-burn farming to create habitable zones, and the more rural areas, where the spores are thickest, are populated only by vorcha. Lax ecological laws allow mining and manufacturing industries to flourish and pollute cheaply, as the planet's carrying capacity far outstrips the current size of its colonies.

Zorya is also home to the Blue Suns mercenary company, who dominate the colonies' security forces. The Suns also enjoy nearly unlimited influence with local politicians and judges, ensuring no other private military contractors can compete with the economically. Nearly every colony has a Suns recruiting station, if not a training camp, though this has hardly made the planet any safer. Piracy, drugs and vice, and political violence and commonplace.