Beyond the Resheborian System are the Allied Planets, governed independently.
Some Allied Planets have treaties and relationships with one another.
Subject Planets are held by Allied Planets. Officially, it is illegal to hold a Subject Planet, but as a practical matter, some planets are coerced by others.
Hostile Planets are outside the Intergalactic System and look forward to, sometimes actively working for, the system's downfall.
Reshebora was the first to recover. Only a small group of humans remained on a tiny arable section, but they began finding other lost planets in a process called The Rediscovery. First they incorporated them into what is now called the Resheborian System, then they made alliances with more distant planets such as Eyimalia. Thus the Intergalactic System was born.
Some planets are probably not found yet. Now and then a new one is discovered by Reshebora or an Allied Planet. One of these is Paffir Eket.
Another system of advanced planets contacted the Resheborian System some four hundred Resheborian years ago, and relations have not been especially friendly. Those are the Hostile Planets.
Before the conquest, Paffir Eket was probably a collection of city-states with an aristocracy. Each city would have been surrounded by peasant farms. One major city was the center of civilization. Natives call it Ayekar, the city of the gods. Ayekar may have been on the site of the present Lir Temple, seat of the current theocracy.
During the conquest, the natives of Paffir Eket united to some extent to try to resist Eyimalian forces, but the odds were hopeless. The Eyimalians carpet-bombed. Even the Lir, the major river, burst into flames.
After the conquest, Eyimalia divided the land into farming provinces populated by the few remaining natives. The redistribution may have been run by Eyimalians of the Viyato clan disguised as priests. Villages were constructed at regular intervals, not only along the rivers but everywhere, supplied with wells and set to raising crops for tribute. A so-called peace treaty gave this arrangement the blessing of Eyimalian law.
About five generations later, Paffir Eket was granted autonomy. Three Eyimalian families (the Viyato, Ketry and Var) extort taxes there, in return for payments to the Ministry for the Welfare of Autonomous Planets, a corrupt branch of the Eyimalian government.
Now, the Eyimalians do not reveal themselves to natives, since that would provide a focus for resistance. Instead, taxation is carried out by priests. Of course, there must be some high-level priest(s) working with the Eyimalians, and the whole system relies on the natives' obedience. A logical focus for resistance would be the temple... and therein lies our story.
Language: Clan and ethnic languages are common, though most people speak some Eyimalian, the native tongue of the elite.
Geography: Some of our characters live in the planetary capital, Eyimalia City, in the small fertile area between two of the world's only rivers. Others live in Merced, the city of the desert Outland, where Outlander is spoken.
The Outlanders are refugees from Dead Mama who were settled in the desert by the Viyato clan. Their position in Eyimalian society is low.
Gravity is weak, so the Eyimalians (not the Outlanders, who haven't been here as long) are tall.
Paffir Eket
This agrarian world is remote from the intergalactic system. Most natives are peasant farmers, with a small priestly class who enforce religiosity and collect taxes. Much of the tax goes to corrupt off-planet traders who control the climate through satellites. Natives don't know this exactly, but their religion says gods reward obedience with good weather, and remembers Eyimalia's takeover of Paffir Eket as a war among deities.
Language: Peasants and priests speak different dialects.
Geography: Our story takes place in an area somewhat like Earth's United States. Nichayu province is in the central north. Itscriye province is along the eastern coast. The main river, the Lir, runs west to east through the rich Middle Plains. A tributary, the Red River, runs along the north of the Middle Plains. South of the Middle Plains lies marsh. Mountains separate the capital at Lir Temple (near the Lir's origin) from the farming provinces.
Reshebora
This is the hub of the intergalactic system. The most ambitious and successful citizens of every planet that's any planet flock here to the financial, academic, technoligical, legal, and political centers, bringing a few lesser persons to serve them. Treaties enforced by military technology keep planets like Eyimalia in line.
Language: People speak their home-planet tongues and learn the Intergalactic Language (IL) in school.
Geography: There is a Resheborian geography, but only civic planning students, gardeners and transit drivers care.