Tal is a system on the edge of the Xi’An Empire and one which has been generally receptive to extended human presence. The entire planetary series is what the Xi’An call a ProductionSystem: every planet has been carefully planned and patterned as a specific work zone. Each inhabited world (Tal II through V) is filled with factories, refineries, food production domes and other facilities and each planet has a specific purpose in a larger production chain.
One visually surprising element of Tal is that the Xi’An love of large scale organization means that they have actually color coded their ProductionSystem worlds: EVERY structure on Tal II is a bright yellow, Tal III purple, Tal IV dark green and Tal V a burnt orange. Humans regularly express their disbelief that such a system is even possible, although it goes a long way to explaining why Xi’An frequently have trouble adapting to the chaos of human cities.
Although the actual system is far more complex than a simple summary can provide, merchants should know that Tal II produces large scale space fabrication, Tal III food and textiles, Tal IV processes hydrogen and antimatter and Tal V is responsible for end-stage processing of weapons. The Xi’An are happy to purchase raw materials for use on their factory planets and they sell surplus production runs at fair prices. It’s not the best place in the galaxy to score a deal, but dealing with the Xi’An is as close to being able to guarantee a small profit as you can find.
