Razbyymir

The harshest frontier in Polyyshar other than the cold void of space, Razbityymir is a well of resources as well as one of the most dangerous places in the system. It stands silent and imposing, a planet blown apart by some unknown force and reduced to hundreds of thousands of large fragments, some large enough for small towns and cities to have been constructed and then some. A fixation of the PEC’s curiosity, Razbityymir is known for being inhabited by strange and dangerous wildlife as well as containing ruins that predate the silence. Beyond this, many of the fragments that remain have developed their own strange, magical ecosystems, causing the planet to almost hold a facsimile of its presumed original state. Though few have made it that far, the planet itself has been divided into 5 select layers, though none have been able to investigate the source of light that resides in the planet’s core.

Having only been recently colonized and inhabited, the population that dwells on Razbityymir is small but hardy in the roughly 150 years that efforts have been made to tame the outermost edges of the first layer. Most land on Razbityymir is designated as free territory, and any that are willing to lay claim and build and defend a homestead or other structure on the planet’s strange surface can have the land for free.  However, living on the planet comes with its own dangers, as few stray far from the larger outposts and towns that can support the spelljammer docks that bring in supplies and material for the colonists. Despite the difficulties, however, there is immense profit to be made in the strange and wonderful items and materials that can be found in the fragments of the fractured planet and the ruins some occasionally stumble across, to the point that even some paramilitary factions such as the Umbral Legion occasionally send small expeditions or scouts into the second and third layers of the planet.

## **Government**

Governing of Razbityymir is a contentious issue due to its remote location as well as how small the populace is. One can generally live without government intervention in Razbityymir if they keep to themselves, though around the major outposts and towns, discipline is much more strict for the purpose of keeping cohesion and not disrupting the town in dangerous ways.

Despite this, the Hetmanate tends to hold dominion over the more solidified settlements that exist, and the relationship is more symbiotic than anything. It is a matter of trading security for artifacts and materials covered from deeper within the many layers of Razbityymir. In this way, over the “capital” to Nadezhda is one of the orbital castles that has been delegated to provide support for the city. The Duke of this castle has a sort of dominion over the planet, though his actions regarding the planet at large need pass through the military council and Hetman before being enacted.

## **Crime**

 Crime is somewhat more prevalent on Razbityymir than anywhere else in Polyyshar, due to the the lawless nature and difficulty of enforcing punishments and law as one descends closer to the core of the planet. Thus, it is entirely possible for bandits and some small-time pirates to set up lairs and small settlements on some of the larger, inner fragments of Razbityymir, despite the risk this carries to them beyond judicial action. Thus, the risk-reward ratio is one most pirates must consider, as they need not only contend with being tracked by naval vessels, but with the hostile wildlife and environmental conditions of the core regions of Razbityymir. In this way, crime is somewhat uncommon, but when rooted, it is much more difficult to get out for either party.

Due to this inherent danger, crime in the major settlements is treated very harshly, due to the nature of several of these colonies and the necessity of order. As such, capital punishment is common for more heinous crimes like murder, but one of the common punishments is simply having the condemned serve more time on the planet.

Due to the sheer amount of valuable resources capable of being harvested from Razbityymir, the planet functions somewhat as a penal colony and option for reduced sentences. In most of the major colonies built around deposits of rare resources and blightstone, one can receive less time in a judiciary sentence by working on the planet and keeping oneself clean from crime. In this way, someone sentenced to 14 years can serve 7 years on Razbityymir if they are willing to work and put up with the danger inherent in the planet, though stipulations are distinct in the Polyysharan legislature that mistreatment of these workers is distinctly forbidden, even if the working environment is more hazardous than most.

Lastly, though it is not necessarily a crime, there exists an affliction in those who delve deeper into the layers and zones of Razbityymir. In this way, those who find something they cannot comprehend become what veteran explorers refer to as Star-Mad. Though poorly understood, it is generally accepted that this phenomena afflicts the weak of mind as well as those who dive too foolhardily into the more dangerous layers of the planet. In this state, any afflicted behave irrationally, rambling about nothing in particular, and become particularly affixed with looking at the sky, to the point of becoming aggressive and violent if something would prevent them from this objective. In this way the affliction, which has no known cure, is incredibly dangerous and warrants further study, as currently it is thought to be a curse around the planet itself.

## **Climate/Geography**

Due to the strange nature of the planet’s fragments and its size, Razbityymir is divided into several layers based on the environment and what sort of wildlife and materials have been found within. These layers are more of a loose guide and blend together somewhat where they meet, but still serve as a decently solid estimation of where one is on the planet itself. Regardless of how many layers truly exist, the planet’s massive size dictates that many mapping expeditions are made into the depths, though few return from these with all their crew, an intact vessel, or in sound mind. Thus, most habitation and exploration attempts are relegated to the top five layers of the planet, though even exploration wanes beyond the fourth due to the inherent danger therin. The lowest recorded layer an explorer had reached and survived was the 8th, though they returned in a wounded vessel with a largely star-mad crew. This expedition was mounted in 1702, the captain of this expedition being the only one surviving in the present day as a renowned explorer and high ranking member of the PEC.

The outermost and most inhabited layer is referred to as the High Wilderness, and it is somewhat tame and acts as a bulwark that keeps some of the beasts and leviathans from inner layers from escaping out into the sphere proper. The High Wilderness is largely covered in dense vegetation and forested environments, with many fungal growths and intense greenery both outward and inward. Despite the hostile nature of this jungle environment, there are parts of the High Wilderness that are more similar to a traditional forest, generally vast groves of lesser wilderness, that are the sections many inhabit and where Nadezdha is located. These places also have remarkably fertile soil, making them ideal for homesteaders that do not wish to live close to the more major settlements, though oftentimes the tranquility of these areas can be deceiving in regards to the area’s safety. As such, any that plan to settle on Razbityymir are provided with information on what monsters tend to dwell where and what anomalies one must look out for in most areas, though many anomalies remain unstudied and dangerous. It is in this way that the PEC garners funding, though they have backed off of studying the planet in recent years due to the cost in lives as well as equipment and spelljammers.

The second layer is known as the Reach. Due to the separated nature of the various layers, they have rather unique climates that are dictated by seemingly nothing in particular. The Reach is incredibly cold, and a much more tundra-like environment. As it is, it is filled with an eerie silence and snow-covered islands in a sea where almost nothing lives. Some notable discoveries within the Reach are massive frozen leviathans, though how they succumbed to this fate is unknown. It is a small sailor’s legend that if one passes by these entombed giants, the eyes of the beast follow the ship.  The icy nature of the Reach makes it incredibly hard for food to be grown, and thus homesteading as is somewhat common in the High Wilderness is much less common, with the only permanent structures being smaller forts and towns as well as some resupply depots and basecamps for further descent into the planet. The largest settlement on the Reach is Bezrassugrad, a rather small city built into a massive rocky glacier in one of the larger chunks. It imports mostly food but some is grown within in the form of mushroom farms and distilleries. There is very little soil in the reach, just thoroughly rocky and ice-covered biomes throughout it.

The third layer is formally known as the White Well, and is the limit to where people live in the outer regions of Razbityymir. The White Well is strange in its composition, that it is one of the few notable layers that has a distinct quantity of water. Presumably made up of the remnants of an ocean before the planet broke, the White Well consists of massive chunks of algae and kelp-covered rock that are ringed and surrounded by water of various types. The wind in the White Well is immensely fast and hard to predict, thus giving it its name by the white swells and waves that the wind generates throughout the Well. There are no permanent settlements in the White Well, but occasionally some minor drydocks are set up to repair vessels, though they are quickly abandoned.