Hot, humid, and stirred by intense storms and tides, Castrovel abounds with an unusually robust variety of life, from enormous saurian beasts to deadly moldstorms capable of devouring whole settlements. The most prominent sentient races are lashuntas, followed closely by elves and formians, all three civilizations highly connected via a network of ancient magical teleportation portals called aiudara. Traditionally organized into independent city-states with elected matriarchies being the most common governmental style, lashunta society has evolved in the modern era with larger corporate concerns often buying out officials or establishing privatized settlements. The insectile formians battled lashuntas for millennia until careful shirren-brokered peace talks ended hostilities a mere 30 years ago; today the formian hive-burrows of the Colonies can cover miles, sometimes bulging up in artificial honeycombed hills. The elves of Sovyrian are predominantly xenophobic traditionalists who trade with outsiders only when necessary and bar most foreigners from their canal-choked capital of El. The planet's vast ecological preserves reflect Castrovel's enlightened approach: maintaining wilderness is key to advancing knowledge and allowing evolution to continue. The planet's primary shipyards and most destructive heavy industries are relegated to its airless, rocky moon Elindrae, while a strong Xenowarden presence keeps ecological damage in check.