Lazarus

 GEOGRAPHY

Originally colonized by those of African and Sino-Arabian descent, Lazarus was in the flowering stages of becoming a world that would rival it's sister planet Paquin. Lazarus, full of potential for becoming a rather popular world for tourism and trade, was notable at the time of its uprising for it's scenery, extensive mountain ranges, cave systems and rich culture. An accident several years before the war, during the initial colonization resulted in a drastic fall from grace for the planet.

While an accidental, and unpreventable (as was reported) tragedy. The loss of the systems powering the terraforming machines resulted in the deaths of the majority of settlers living there. Those that survived were the lucky, with homes located near the few machines that did not fail and maintained a habitable environment for surviving until everything was fixed and the all was able to begin anew.

Most of the settlers aside from the Alliance workers were not even aware of the situation until the failure of the atmosphere began to directly effect them; and once that was upon them they began fleeing to different regions only a minority of people arrived to save havens. 

As slow as the start was the resolution of the problem took even longer, allowing plenty of time for organic decomposition of the flora and the fauna left behind. By the time that everything was operational the areas that fell apart were cesspools of bacteria and dead matter, while not ideal it became a breeding ground for flourishing marshes, swamps, etc.

These new wetlands had great potential for those that manage to import in the right crops and animals for that kind of environment. This was rare due to the money on the planet being sparse, most spent dealing with ecosystem and economy. Even rarer was those with the money to do so actually being willing to travel into the wetlands, for fear that the atmosphere will fail again.

With the population at a minimum an overflow from nearby planets of settlers were shipped out to Lazarus. The most primary of these having been Paquin. Settlers of French ancestry was majority of the population relocated to revitalize the planet's potential.

As the revitalization came into effect many considered the construction of stained glass (various shades of blue and green due to their resources), and shrimp and crayfish farming as potential production areas. However when of the settlers from Paquin arrived on Lazarus, the wealthy that might have had a chance to help rebuild the planet began disappearing to the tunnel systems to begin building tourist-hotspots focused on the hotsprings as their primary attraction, leaving the middle-class and poor to fend for themselves elsewhere.

The planet is now ripe with class-discrimination, with clear regional areas for the higher-class working and living in the safe isolation of their tourist attractions, the middle-class attempting to enter the tourism areas or attract attention elsewhere to make a living as merchants, and the lower-class getting by with whatever they can, living on the edges of the wetlands while farming the silt on occasion to be sent to the tourist areas to be refined and used for stained glass.

While a world that could offer even more than before; the fear of the locals, the sole focus from the wealthy to only put money into the tourist sites, and rumors that spread around the 'Verse ruin its reputation too much to overcome the support needed to boom economically. Now all that appears to work in its favor is stained glass made from the silt on the borders of the wetlands and the numerous hot springs located within tunnel systems throughout the planet. Just like most of the planet, the best hot springs as well as the best land for silt is in the areas that few will dare to venture.

Towns on the planet of the surface do have rumors, tall tales (although none confirmed or even holding examples to support it) of Vourdian or 'mudmen'. People that either survived the failed terraforming, disappeared into the wetlands after revitalization never to be seen again, or simply are horrific constructs made of mud themselves to name a few. Rumors vary greatly, and some regions on Lazarus claim them to be benign, malignant, or altruistic. No matter what the view is though no one has much motivation to venture into the deeper recesses of the swamps and find them, or be found by them.

Most of the tourist central areas is completely underground with a few isolated areas for living/staying on top of mountains and outside the landing ports, laden with large bug-nets to protect those there from the insects normally rampant on the rest of the planets surface. All areas of interest for tourists are located inside the tunnel systems. These include cave-walks, the hot springs, gift store areas, recreational spots, entertainment venues, restaurants and spas. Upon landing on the surface for a period of three days or more the locals will offer a complimentary package for 5 for a free five hours at their hotsprings, as an attempt to boost commercialism.

The designated space-ports on Lazarus are almost exclusively owned for use at the tourist locations, with maybe a small handful at most over the rest of the populated middle-class areas. Upon landing a vessel will be attached to an extending airlock that leads inside the tunnel systems for welcome to the planet. If one is wanting to venture from or back to the rest of the planet outside of the tourist locations they must pass through an extensive screening process that includes symptom checking, blood tests, warnings about the dangers of the planet and the like. These of course are all paid for by the wealthy class including the amount of time taken for the procedure to conclude that would normally be charged for docking.

Once outside and on the rest of Lazarus one finds a completely different lifestyle from the rest of the wealthier settlers. Problems with ticks, leeches, crocodiles, and most overwhelmingly mosquitoes. The mosquitoes often pass through some areas and can be seen from a distance as a thick black cloud their numbers are so great. The import of frogs is a high commodity for the lower and middle-class as a means to deal with some of the bug problems, and killing a frog can be punishable by heavy fines. A few poorer areas attempt to domesticate the crocodiles as home protection assets. In the deeper untamed areas predators have turned to high aggressive behavior to be able to continue feeding, eating whatever they can even to the point of cannibalism. 

A few locations offer sales of netting to protect from bugs, for those that cannot afford such the method of smearing mud on their skin to protect themselves has been adopted. This can be seen as an issue that compounds that of the mudmen myths. 

The locals are superstitious and members of towns often know everyone else who resides there. The culture is rich in entertainment since the migration of settlers on Paquin to Lazarus. It is a notable hub for various tobacco products and cheap novelty trinkets for tourists. Buildings outside of the tourist spots are often constructed out of wood and laden with mud. The tourist hotspots are often made out of metal, wood, rock, and glass.