Pabaq drifts slowly around its bright-yellow sun in an annual cycle nearly twice as long as Absalom Station's. The planet's land surface is covered in greenery, from muggy rain forests and treacherous marshlands to tropical coastlines where 300-foot-tall trees stretch skyward. Six major continents feature distinct biomes: Zhast, with large populations of saltwater gengen osharu; the largely unexplored desert of Demwiq; the sparsely populated ice caps Nalfant and Avar dotted with remote research compounds; Rawara, with rolling plains, taigas, and the towering Rivali Peaks; and Jenikar, a landlocked verdant continent of rain forests and swamps that is the most populous and home to capital city Jhavom. The planet's sole sapient species, sluglike osharus, are notoriously cautious due to their weak physical constitution. Despite pervasive timidity, they are adamant in their shared objective to gather as much knowledge as possible, conquering fears to tame unforgiving wilds and establish thousands of university-like settlements. Major cities are protected by armies of mobile AI-controlled drones programmed with pacifistic defenses that tranquilize dangerous beasts and transport them far away, while air-defense systems guard against airborne attacks. Most osharu settlements are near aquatic areas—on freshwater riverbanks and lakes, with ocean-dwelling gengens favoring saltwater coasts. Wilderness outside protected cities is harsh: long unforgiving seasons, frequent storms, and dangerous fauna like the jungle-stalking ganatra, vicious mammalian predators whose camouflage makes them nearly invisible. In Jhavom's center stands the Hall of Records, a 180-story skyscraper housing all information collected by osharus. Near its top, the Grand Council—six elected osharus permanently wired into complex computer networks—exist in virtual-reality comas, processing unimaginable data influxes that many believe are blessings from Yaraesa.