Pandora

Back Story

Pandora is a planet first colonized by a group of hopeful humans.  Pandora's peculiar orbit results in the planet having 60-hour days and seasons that last decades. The planet was first colonized during it's long winter, when the climate is relatively clement and suitable for human life.  Unfortunately for the first colonists, the seasonal shifts are extraordinarily pronounced, and entire oceans can dry up during the summer years.

After years of settlement, Pandora's spring came and the large creatures that had been in hibernation woke up and devastated the human colonists. There are a few settlements left, but most of the people who remain on Pandora are bandits, mercenaries, or treasure hunters, like the player characters. 

Pandora is rumored to be the location of a lost vault of advanced  alien technology, which is sought after by numerous treasure hunters and megacorporations. A similar vault, discovered on the planet Prometheus by the Atlas Corporation, held enough advanced knowledge to turn Atlas into one of the most powerful organizations in the universe, capable of fielding an elite private military force, the Crimson Lance, equipped with reverse-engineered weaponry.

Terrain

Pandora's geography is mildly varied, including snowy mountains, volcanoes, deep caves, ocean coasts, and thick swamps, but the vast majority of the surface consists of similar-looking arid deserts.