The Kessel System
The System
The Kessel system, also known as the Kessa system, is a star system located in the Kessel sector of the galaxy's Outer Rim Territories. The system contains the planets Kessel, renowned for its spice mines, and Oba Diah, a major trafficking planet controlled by the Spice Runners of Kijimi.
The Kessel System is also renowned for the Kessel Run, a dangerous unofficial trade route that passes close to the Maw. The lesser known hyperspace route Sanity Skip links the planet Kessel with the outer-system world Osean—and acts as a junction for both the Kessel Run and Pabol Sleheyron trade routes.
SPICE
Spice refers to similar illicit substances with a variety of recreational and medicinal effects, in demand throughout the galaxy, long since mined on Kessel and distributed through Oba Diah through smuggling channels and trade routes. Other planets and systems have harvested their own versions of spice, but none compared to the potency of the stuff mined on Kessel.
A gang of space pirates that originated from Kijimi in the New Republic Era currently control Kessel's spice trade. The Spice Runners of Kijimi took power in the Kessel system during the chaos of instability that followed the fall of the Galactic Empire and Pyke Syndicate. Cutthroat and ambitious, the few settlements remaining in the system still largely prefer the Spice Runners of Kijimi to the brutal rule of the previous major Kessellian factions. In turn, the Spice Runners invest a little in local communities and allow them to largely manage themselves. Spice addiction has become increasingly prevalent as a result.
The human Pirate Queen Belit San Horo currently rules the pirates. She focuses efforts on trade, smuggling, and restoring the fortifications of Pyke Palace on Oba Diah to serve as a paradise fortress for her most loyal followers. A small bastion of the runners have also begun to rehabilitate the ruins of Kessendria on Kessel—previously a massive prison complex and military settlement for the Empire.
THE KESSEL RUN AND THE MAELSTROM
The Kessel Run was a 20-parsec (distance, not time) within the Akkadese Maelstrom used by smugglers and unscrupulous freighter captains to move spice from the spice mines of Kessel while avoiding safer and more well-patrolled routes. Han Solo, piloting the Millennium Falcon, made the infamous run in slightly over 12 parsecs, boasting about his ship's ability to endure shorter but more hazardous routes through hyperspace—to break the record, he flew his ship between two supermassive black holes at the edge of the Maw Cluster.
The Akkadese Maelstrom, also known simply as the Maelstrom, was a cluster of matter in the Kessel sector containing interstellar gas, carbonbergs, ice chunks, and other large debris that surrounded the planet Kessel. Another major threat of the Maelstrom were its spacefaring inhabitants—massive creatures with many eyes and electrified tentacles known as summa-verminoth.
The final and most dangerous threat, deeper within the Maelstrom, is the Maw Cluster. The region is a cluster of churning black holes that confounds navigational computers. The largest and worst of the black holes is the Maw. Glowing a faint amber, it swirls and sucks debris into its planet-sized gravity well, causing objects to be crushed inside. The Maw is home to the summa-verminoth and other unknowable creatures. Many scholars have theorized—none successfully—as to how so many black holes near one another remain stable. There is no record of anyone ever traveling directly through the Maw Cluster to learn what might beyond
Oba Diah
Oba Diah is a planet located in the galaxy's Outer Rim Territories that was the homeworld of the Pyke species. Located at the end of the Kessel Run, the Pyke Syndicate once managed the distribution of spice from Kessel as it was delivered throughout the galaxy from Pyke Palace on Oba Diah. Years of war between the Black Sun and Pyke Syndicate left both factions decimated and Pyke Palace mostly in ruins.
The cool, arid planet contains a thin but breathable atmosphere. Its geography features several small oceans with surprisingly great depths and great, jagged obsidian mountains that stretch up into the atmosphere's dark clouds. Beneath the mountains, a series of sunken but interconnected subterranean tunnels are all that remain of the ancient Pyke civilization's original travel infrastructure. Many of the mountain fortresses and smuggling tunnels are no longer defended or occupied, slowly falling into rust and ruin.
LIFE ON OBA DIAH
Though its oceans host strange aquatic life far beneath their waves, not much life survives naturally above the water. Though Pirate Queen Belit San Horo and her space pirate gang the Spice Runners of Kijimi control and reside in some of the Pyke Syndicate's ancient fortresses, much of the world is left abandoned. Queen Belit San Horo is currently overseeing a massive reconstruction and small-scale terraforming project to transform the ruins of Pyke Palace into her personal paradise.
Small settlements of Pyke who refuse to leave their homeworld remain in hiding. These sentient humanoids are slimmer and taller than humans, with faces that resemble fish. Pyke typically have long limbs and three-fingered hands. Their small skulls contain two narrow, almost-shaped eyes that are often either magenta or blue in color. While their skin tones vary, grey, green, and pinkish flesh is common—though all Pyke bleed yellow. Capable of surviving underwater for short periods of time, the Pyke on Oba Diah use sunken cave systems to avoid detection by pirate gangs and other forces.
THE DESERT MOON OF OBA DIAH
The Oba Diah moon is a barren desert planetoid in orbit of the planet Oba Diah. It becomes frequently ravaged by severe sandstorms, which makes travel difficult due to the blowing sand and nonexistent visibility. After the fall of the Pyke Syndicate, the moon became uninhabited beyond its strange desert lifeforms and the rare smuggler hiding out amongst its deadly storms. Many shipwrecks lie half-buried in the sand, their metal bones the remnants of those who pressed their luck against the moon's wrathful weather.
Kessel
Kessel is a planet within the Akkadese Maelstrom that hosts significant spice mines. The planet also previously exported coaxium and kesselstone. While Kessel's cold and dry barren northern hemisphere has been devoted to mining for centuries or longer—the planet's hot and humid southern hemisphere was home to lush jungle sanctuaries enjoyed by Kings and Queens of ancient civilizations. Of the planet's numerous strange life-forms, it is most famous for Spice Spiders (and their glitterstim webbing) and the skeletal avian hunters commonly called Death Screamers. Other less dangerous planetary fauna includes the phosphorescent Bogey, nutritious but awful-tasting insectoids Taras-chi—and large adult flying pinkfish Kamanio that migrate from the moon Mahina once per year during atmospheric conjunctions to fertilize Kessel's spice before they die.
Ancient tombs and ruins, possibly of Sith origin, dot the planet's surface, often haunted by strange and terrible beasts. The massive prison settlement and military outpost, Kessendra, was established amidst once such religious ruin.
One of Kessel's moons, Little Kessel, was destroyed during a test of the Empire's Death Star. Its other two moons both feature a habitable atmosphere. Once per each of the moons' lunar cycles, they orbit close enough to Kessel that their atmosphere touches the planet's, allowing flying life-forms to move between worlds. Many mythologies and superstitions revolve around these Lunar Conjunctions.
KESSEL HISTORY
During the Imperial Era, the Galactic Empire and Pyke Syndicate ran several mining operations in the northern hemisphere. Kessel became known as a hellish prison world during this time, and the combined efforts of the Galactic Empire and Pyke Syndicate founded the galaxy's largest glitterstim spice mining operation in the planet's northern hemisphere. So terrible was a sentence to serve in the Kessel mines that people across the galaxy commonly refer to a situation gone horribly wrong as having become "Kesselled."
After the collapse of the Empire in 5 ABY, Kessel's prisoners revolted and freed themselves. The next thirty years became a series of rebellions and gang wars as the Pyke Syndicate and Kessel Royal Families attempted to retain control over the spice trade. The collapse of the Pyke Syndicate saw the world's lucrative spice trade left in a state of complete disarray. Without the guiding hands of Imperial officials or Mining Guild protection, competition for Kessel spice became a bloody free-for-all. The gang wars violently ended when the First Order arrived and reclaimed Kessel's spice mines and prison complex with the support of the Kessel Royal Families.
In 35 ABY, shortly after the fall of the First Order, all of the inhabitants of Kessel at that time went mysteriously missing. Their ships, royal palaces, spice mines, and other belongings remain on the planet. Their remains have never been found, and no one has ever learned where they went, leading the others who live in the sector to call Kessel cursed and avoid returning there. Over the thirteen years following the mysterious event, the system fell into the control of the less tyrannical but still quite dangerous pirate gang known as the Spice Runners of Kijimi and their Pirate Queen, Belit San Horo. Only recently have the Spice Runners dared to start re-exploring Kessel and repairing its abandoned spice mines so that they can profit from them as the Pyke Syndicate had previously.
Mahina
Mahina, designated IX3766-B and known as the Ocean Moon of Kessel, is a temperate ocean moon orbiting the planet Kessel in the Kessel system. Mahina is tide-locked to Kessel, causing half its surface to enjoy 24 hours of sunlight and only 4 hours of twilight each day. The moon's far side experiences an average of 4 hours of twilight each day, followed by 24 hours of very dark nights.
Mahina used to be almost entirely underwater save the small landmass of the Mahina Isles until Kessel's gravity began pulling the moon's orbit slowly closer to its parent—causing tectonic upheaval and venting water into its atmosphere that resulted in more small landmasses rising from the ocean. Today, the Mah Sur Ocean covers over 90% of the moon's surface. The atmosphere is highly saline and wracked by violent storms that can cause high tides of over 300 feet. The moon's inhospitable weather requires its land-dwelling settlements to build and constantly maintain Lakua, massive weather terraforming generators that keep the worst storms and tides at bay.
Mahina's gravity is earthlike most of the year but increases as it approaches its annual atmospheric Lunar Conjunction with Kessel, a period of time where the planet and moon's atmospheres touch, allowing migration of certain species and inflicting the most dangerous storms and cold snaps upon both bodies. Within several thousand years, scientists predict Kessel's gravity will pull Mahina out of its orbit and result in a collision of stellar bodies that will prove a world-killer for the planet and its moons.
The current migrant settlements attract refugees of all types seeking to hide or start a new life. While fishing and spice mining is the primary economy of the larger underwater moon settlements, the economy of the Mahina Isles centers around export trade, transport from the spaceport and to the underwater cities, and tourism to the isle's Fussa Baths. Fussa, a local substance resulting from the death of large deadly spore clouds, has a similar appearance to bacta—fussa's healing properties are lesser, but bathing in the substance regularly allows most organic species to regulate their body temperature to a moderate degree with their thoughts for several weeks. A recent discovery, the closely kept secrets of fussa farming has drawn attention and criminal activity to the Mahina Isles.
MAHINA HISTORY
Previously, the migrated settlements of Mahina worked for the Galactic Empire, the Pyke Syndicate, and the First Order—serving as fishing colonies to support the glitterstim and prison enterprises on the planet Kessel. The collapse of the Empire in 5 ABY caused thirty years of faction wars in the Kessel system. In 35 ABY, the settlements of Mahina declared independence and established the Moon Council, a governing body of four Councilors representing the four largest settlements on the planet: the land settlement of the Mahina Isles and the massive deep ocean "bubble sanctuaries" of Strata, Tari-Vorti, and Galta.
One year ago, the Moon Council voted to trade with and purchase protection from the Spice Runners of Kijimi to help oust the arrival of the Hutt Clan to the moon. Currently, the council has gathered to the Mahina Spaceport where it will reside until it can unanimously agree on whether or not to accept a recent offering from the native Nakua civilization. The sentient sea species have offered their aid and knowledge of how to survive on the moon in exchange for a promise to stop polluting the waters and over-mining the deep sea spice.
Over the last several thousand years, other migrant colonies attempted to make a presence on Mahina. Each colony failed to survive the moon's harsh realities in the end, leaving behind deep sea ruins and artifacts that provide food for local rumors and myths. Notable ruins include a crashed Imperial Star Destroyer that lies half submerged atop an ocean coral shelf, the skeleton-filled remains of a high-elevation tree-top village on the Mahina Isles, and the Makuahine Lighthouse—an abandoned ancient lighthouse structure on a tiny rock one hundred miles from the isles.
THE MAHINA ISLES
The smallest population center on the moon, the Mahina Isles are never-the-less the largest above-water landmass and home to the quaint but busy Mahina Spaceport. The isles are located on the side of the moon not facing Kessel, granting the region long days and short twilights. Outside the spaceport and its trade towers in the center of the isles, scrapyards and poor scrap villages dot the culled landscape, with more quaint and rustic villages settled further out on the isles. Around 10,000 people make the isles their home. Within the past year, Brothers and Sisters of the Order of the Four—a monastic religious group from Mahina's sister moon Dokiri—traveled to the isles and began to take a pilgrimage to aid the needy where they can and share their stories and philosophies with the local populace.
Most island residents live in small but stable communities, though some families and small groups live nomadically by traversing the great jungles, plains, caves, and the icy region of the northern isles created from a strange side effect of the Lakua generators. During the last Lunar Conjunction, lowering tides revealed a large new landmass southeast of the isles. Called the Badlands by locals, the low-altitude wasteland is bordered by hills and mountains with an active volcano at its center. The region is relatively unexplored and frequently floods when tides rise.
Island life tends to move slower than in many other civilizations, attracting smugglers, outcasts, and refugees seeking a quieter and calmer life. When someone migrates to the isle permanently, they must first interview with the Counselor so he can determine whether they will be a good contributor to the local communities. This often requires them to at least visit Oli should the Counselor not currently be in session at the spaceport, before they relocate to the settlement of their choice. If they are welcomed into the community, their previous lives no longer matter. It is taboo to ask prying questions of your neighbors on the isles, and the locals remind each other of this with the phrase, "The past is buried salt, and the future is open sky."
Everyone who lives in the communities contributes somehow to its survival or economy, working together, without much official leadership. If someone is good at something, they do that thing, and others let them. Music and dancing, mid-day naps, sharing meals, nightly revelries, and daily hard work contribute to a strong sense of community and happiness. However, crime and criminal organizations remain an issue, and unguarded travel outside the villages—even to the nearby beach—is not considered safe. For this reason, many ex-smugglers and mercenaries contribute to the villages by acting as armed guards and travel companions.
Rumors and myths abound in the Mahina Isle communities. Some more prominent rumors include:
- If you fly or ride your way up a water vortex during a Lunar Conjunction, the Mahina Dragon will grant you a wish.
- Several people who disappeared recently after traveling into the tunnels leading up to the Lakua generator found a series of caves that go deep beneath the mountain, where a secret paradise is located.
- A hidden cache of Imperial treasure promises unimaginable riches to anyone who finds it, though whether its secret location is an island burial site, a floating weather station, a sunken land mass, or an ancient deep sea ruin is hotly debated.
- A benevolent and powerful entity arrived recently on the Moon and has taken up residence in an ancient lighthouse ruin in the Mah Sur Ocean. The lighthouse's beacon has since relit after thousands of years of disuse, leading locals to claim the entity can repair broken technology and bring dead electronics back to life through her mysterious powers. However, the few who have voyaged to the Makuahine Lighthouse have not returned.
THE BUBBLE SANCTUARIES
Most refugees who come to Mahina find the isles not to their tastes, often due to the lack of emphasis on profiteering, the heavily salted air, living in subterranean tunnels, or the fear of deadly storms. Most of the planet's settlers buy or bargain their way into one of the three overpopulated underwater cities, where there are a lot of credits to be made from deep sea spice mining since Kessel's spice mines have become largely abandoned in recent years. Life in the sanctuaries is modern, and the city's owners are wealthy enough to afford advanced technology and luxuries unseen on the moon's surface. Each city features its own underwater Lakua that creates a breathable air bubble and keeps sea life at bay.
The smallest city, Tari-Vorti (population ~800,000), is located at the edge of the mysterious Douscaya Trench. The city is contained within a single rectangular mega-structure at the center of its bubble. Outsiders often call Tari-Vorti Droid Haven, as its denizens are droids from every corner of the galaxy. Its Moon Councilor, an assassin droid X-1LL3R or "X" allows outsiders to enter the city for no longer than four hours per year, where they can do business and trade. The droid city is currently building a massive underwater vessel with which they hope to plumb the high-pressure depths of the unexploded Douscaya Trench in hopes of striking it rich off of untouched spice mines.
The larger cities, Strata (population ~2.2 million) and Galta (population ~5.6 million) are overcrowded, multicultural, modern cities with a distinct lack of modern security. Corporate theft and violent crime run rampant. Allies and spies of the Hutt Clan linger in Galta, undermining the efforts of the bothan ex-mercenary Moon Councilor Hosk Me'me to bring back some semblance of order to the city. Meanwhile, the charismatic mon calamari Moon Councilor of Strata, Rako Vebbar, has profited off of his rival city's strife by simultaneously paying the Spice Runners of Kijimi for protection against the Hutts while helping to fund Hutt insurgents' efforts to take control of Galta.
While all three underwater cities and their leaders rely on the spaceport and taxi services from the Mahina Isles on the surface, they pay little other heed to the comparatively smaller and poorer communities above. Though they have tried to bribe Moon Councilor Gil Avik at times to sway a vote in their favor, he has always refused their offers. However, the isles' representative to the Council also wisely abstains from voting any time a matter is put forth that might place him in the crosshairs of one of his fellow Councilors' assassins.
NATIVE SPECIES
Nakua. While most species native to Mahina never evolved advanced intelligence, the Nakua have lived in harmony with the harsh world for thousands of years. The Nakua appear akin to massive pink-fleshed dolphins and can grow as large as 40 feet long. Their advanced language is incredibly complex, consisting of high-vibration chittering when they make statements and subtle body-to-body physical contact with their long noses to express emotions and questions. Due to their multi-linguistics and the speed at which they communicate via sound waves, universal translators often miss the nuances of their language.
The Nakua subsist on fussa and a unique spice found on the ocean floor, giving them a euphoric and accepting disposition. Nakua often live to be several hundred years old before they die. They pass down their ancient history from generation to generation through a form of oral and kinesthetic storytelling, generation to generation. The Nakua will defend their schools and spice farms from predators and spectators. They otherwise avoid most contact with migrant species to Mahina. The Nakua have seen several migrant colonies make the deadly moon their home throughout their history. They know all migrants will ultimately suffer the same fate—the salt always takes them, leaving only their bones and memories behind.
The Mahina Dragon. The strangest creature on the moon is called the Mahina Dragon by the locals. The flying serpent has scales that change color with the weather, and its long body stretches several miles when fully uncoiled. The Mahina Dragon predates even the Nakua's known history of the world, has no known kin, and does not communicate with other species. While once it lived on the Mahina Isles, its massive serpentine formed shaping permanent grooves in the mountains and forests, it has long since migrated into the seas and skies. During the annual Lunar Conjunction, the Mahina Dragon eats its fill for the next year by hunting migrating kamanio and other sea creatures as water vortexes pull them from the moon into Kessel's atmosphere. Thrill-seekers, bounty hunters, and local madmen have attempted to hunt and kill the Mahina Dragon for sport—but not enough laser cannons seem to harm the legendary creature.
Kamanio. Another common animal species on Mahina are the kamanio, predatorial fanged pinkish that hatch eggs in the deep sea and grow quickly to 12 feet in length by subsisting on algae and smaller fish. kamanio sprout wings and migrate from sea to air near the end of their life, which lasts between one and two lunar years. At their life's twilight, kamanio attempt to migrate off the planet by flying and surfing water vortexes being pulled from the Mah Sur ocean to the planet Kessel during the annual Lunar Conjunction. Most kamanio that survive to the end of their lifespan die fertilizing glitterstim spice mines on Kessel and being eaten by Spice Spiders.
Korcha Spores. While not an animal, clouds of parasitic Korcha Spores native to the moon move atop tides and on stormwinds, sometimes attaching to trees and crafted structures. Korcha Spores can be deadly to breathe and corrosive to metal and flesh. However, when large volumes of the spores die, the algae-like substance they leave behind can be processed into Fussa—a valuable saline substance with properties similar to bacta that is also very nutritious.
Common Species. Other common animals include Blub, a large edible fish found in high waters, and Shallowbuck—a furred mammalian evolved from underwater reptiles with a similar appearance to dear but with longer pink fur and massive white horns. The ocean features much biodiversity and creatures undiscovered or unnamed by current migrants. However, the Mahina Isles' only animal species is the shallowbuck, who are for some reason never caught up in Korcha clouds. Due to this, many land-dwelling locals hunt Shallowbuck to sell their furs as protection from the deadly spores. Whether or not shallowbuck fur cloaks actually protect travelers is extremely contested.
Both underwater and in the jungles of the Mahina Isles, plantlife and trees tend to be far more massive than on most other habitable worlds. Their leaves and bark are often pink or orange in color, except for where large deposits of white seasalt gather in their grooves. Most vegetation and fruit on the moon causes a sense of low-level and slightly addictive euphoria in organic creatures.
Settlement: Oli
THE VILLAGE OF OLI
The largest settlement on the isles is Oli (population ~1,000), a seaside village on the edge of the jungle responsible for much of the isles' economy. Oli engineers and guards protect and repair the isles' Lakua generator, the largest and most important weather-controlling device that wards the settlements from violent storms and maintains their near paradise climate for most of the year. Oli also provides travel submarine taxis to the larger underwater cities and is the primary producer of fussa on the moon. Its people subsist on de-salinated ocean water, local fruits, fish, and frozen fussa shakes.
Leadership. Oli is led by the elected human Moon Councilor Gil Avik, who owns the Mahina Spaceport and represents the interests of the 10,000 settlers who live on the Mahina Isles. Gil Avik has the reputation of being charming, generous, and inviting to outsiders. His decisions have been widely popular except for his allowance of a branch of the New Republic Bank to be established at the spaceport—most locals prefer to barter for goods or services and still practice barter economy amongst each other despite the bank's presence.
During the Lunar Conjunction, Gil Avik honors the seven members of local communities who have contributed most to the settlements' survival over the past year by sending them on a journey to the moon's dark, deadly far side. There, they release lanterns into the water vortexes that travel through the atmosphere to Kessel. Locals believe the isles will be blessed for another year if the Mahina Dragon appears and devours the lanterns along with the sea life. Some who make the journey do not return, and their likeness is carved in the trunks of great trees so their spirits will continue to protect their community.
NOTABLE LOCATIONS
Above the Undertown, a few structures made of wood-and-thatch stand atop stilts to protect them from flooding. While these structures can easily be repurposed to serve different needs of the village, currently, they are all used for specific purposes.
Undertown and Port Oli. While several stilt-raised buildings exist on the village's surface for trade and business purposes, most of the villagers live in the Undertown—a maze of brightly lit natural tunnels and root-infested subterranean hollows that run beneath Oli and the surrounding jungle. Deeper in Undertown, a large underground lagoon serves as a port for the village's submarine vessels that sometimes travel to the deep sea cities. Procuring passage through the port requires travelers to purchase or barter at the village's trade outpost.
Port operations fall to a gamorrian gang led by a cunning, cruel ex-pirate named Hukta Gleemus. Hukta and his gang briefly sieged Oli eight years ago. Gil Avik negotiated a peaceful resolution allowing Hukta a significant cut of the credits earned from managing port travel—in exchange, the gang gave up most of their weapons to the local guard and agreed to accept residency in the village. The gamorrians rarely leave Undertown and keep to themselves, but it is widely known and accepted that they still retain criminal contacts and make illicit deals on the side.
Cantina. The local Cantina is owned and operated by female dark-furred wookie Farkoo and her business partner, the fast-talking non-binary human Varlo. Farkoo slings drinks and manages security, while Varlo handles serenades guests with their charming voice and manages bookkeeping. Like many settlements, the Cantina is its social hub, where deals are made, rumors are mongered, friendships are formed, and occasionally someone gets blasted. A popular stopping point for travelers and those hoping to settle on the moon, the relatively poor and run-down Cantina still provides music, several rooms for rent, and breathtaking views of the Mah Sur Ocean just off its back porch.
Trade Outpost. Owned by the villagers as a whole, all profit made from the trade outpost is redistributed back to the village. Locals, in exchange, provide goods to be sold or bartered there. Managing the stock, currency exchange, and reporting finances back to Counselor Gil Avik is a full-time job for accounting droid 42-IC and the nature-loving female Ithorian woodcarver, Tenda Creeno. Well stocked on survival supplies, sometimes more interesting items pass through the outposts stores, each item with a story on how it came to find its way to the isolated moon.
Counselor's Lodge. Overlooking the bluff and the sea below, Counselor Gil Avik's home is clean, well-maintained, and filled with plantlife both local and bartered from locations across the galaxy. The Counselor's reputation for having a green thumb is known throughout the town, and the lodge smells of a myriad of wild and inviting scents. When the Counselor is away from the village on business, a rotation of two guards ensures no one enters his home. When Gil Avik stays in the village, his doors remain open, and he frequently sees villagers at his seaside office to help resolve local disputes and other concerns.
Doctor's Office. The village clinic is a two-story hut on the edge of town run by Nachkt, an old male trandoshan—and retired bounty hunter. Nachkt gave up the hunt thirteen years ago after witnessing a horrific event on the planet Kessel during the gang wars and the fall of the Pyke Syndicate in the sector. Nachkt is haunted by his past but refuses to speak of what he saw on Kessel. Instead, he has spent thirteen years putting his battlefield medicine skills to use and built the local clinic with his own hands. Not the most skilled doctor in the village—and not always reliable due to his drinking habits—Nachkt wisely relies on other villagers to tend to the sick and wounded. He has a room on the second floor of the office. The first floor contains a reception area run by the linguistics droid C-7T7. Through moth-eaten curtains in the back of reception is a simple four-bed clinic and its humble medicinal supplies. Those requiring services of a bacta tank must travel to Mahina Spaceport.
Guard Tower. Mahina attracts many ex-pirates, smugglers, and mercenaries who best contribute to island life by serving as village guards. Guards man the village's walls, patrol the forests, accompany scavengers and engineers on bi-daily journeys to the Lakua generator, and oversee the general security of the town. While natural predators sometimes threaten the village, the largest threats are pirates and scoundrels who come to Mahina to rob or capture locals and travelers in the jungles. Being a guard is the village's most dangerous occupation, and the most skilled guards tend to be short-lived in their position. Due to an extreme injury defending the village fussa-makers from an avian Death Screamer who migrated from Kessel, the previous male human Guard Captain Jama Wehrin has taken a leave of absence while they recover. In their place, the Counselor has promoted young Cori Halcorr to the position of Guard Captain.
The Guard Tower is the most weather-secure exterior structure in Oli, crafted from thick Kessel stone rather than wood and thatch. It features a small, not-well-stocked armory, sleeping barracks, meeting rooms, food hall, and a secret entrance to the Undertown. Guards often take up posts at the tower's peak, where they can easily look over the town walls to the trails leading into the jungle and down to the beach.
Drax's Lodge. The only local figure more well-liked than the Councilor is famous engineer Drax'ara Beren, an ancient Twi'lek whose purple skin has turned light grey in her twilight years. Drax has been unwell recently. Near the end of her life, she has spent what energy she has each day teaching a new generation of engineers and mechanics to tend to her creation, the Lakua generator that protects the isle. Since Drax has become less involved in the settlements' upkeep, and it has been years since a deadly storm or large Korcha Spore cloud ravaged the isles, people have become more relaxed regarding safety procedures and heeding warning sirens, relying on the Lakua generator in the nearby mountains to protect them.
Drax's home appears to be little more than a hut, like most other structures in Oli. However, the lodge's interior is packed with a maze of machinery, half-finished gadgets, unfinished blueprints, and trinkets from a long life full of adventures. Caring more about her belongings and tech than her own comfort, Drax repurposed a small closet in the back of the building to be her bedroom. It fits a small bed and a small, expensive, locked safe. The bedroom stinks of death, and those who visit it become reminded that the old legendary Twi'lek will soon be returned to the salt.
Fussa Bathhouse and Tents. Owned by the villagers as a whole, all profit made from the Fussa Bathhouse is redistributed back to the village. The largest bathhouse on the moon, deep stone pits have been carved into the back room of the building. The process of making fussa is closely kept a Mahina secret, and nobody does it with more love than the people of Oli, for whom it is both their most profitable export and most common occupation. A difficult process, the male quarren Saquinn runs the bathhouse and organizes the rotation of villagers working to create and distribute fussa. Saquinn's oversight is fair, but his demand for the procedure and proper care of the material is strict—it was his departed grandfather who discovered the process of making fussa, and he considers it his family legacy to ensure it is done right.
The Oli process for making fussa follows:
- Rotating groups of scavengers, engineers, and village guards travel every two days to the far side of the islet, through the cave and tunnel system, to check the Lakua generator. While there, scavengers draw up specialized nets designed to trap and kill Korcha Spores from the ocean to the cliff above. Once they confirm the spores are dead, they drag the nets back to the village. On alternating days, scavengers instead scour the jungles closer to the village to gather Galanni Fruit and drain sustainable amounts of tree sap from The Watchers.
- Each dawn, workers take rotating two-hour shifts at the Fussa Tents outside the village walls. The process and prolonged closeness to several harsh ingredients cause organic species to suffer painful headaches, necessitating a frequent change of shift. First, the makers meticulously drown the algae-like substance left over from dead spores in the overly acrid and fermented juice of local Galanni Fruit, careful to avoid contact or allow the escape of any living spores. They then cook down the mixture to a thick syrup, adding tree sap procured from giant purple trees known as The Watchers native to the isle. The sap contains alazhi bacteria that is also used to create bacta.
- Once the syrup cools, it hardens where it touches oxygen. Near the end of the day, workers stomp barefoot on the mixture until it becomes pulpy. Finally, they scoop up the pulp, rinse it with organic disinfectant, and mix it with salt water until the material gains the thin saline consistency and pale purple hue of fussa.
- While much fussa is stored in cold containers at the Trade Outpost, some of it is sent to the bathhouse. During the brief twilight period each day, the baths are filled with fussa made fresh in the village proper. The fussa is heated for several hours, so the baths reach 98 degrees Fahrenheit by dawn—the most comfortable and luxurious temperature for soaking.
The Order of the Four
The near-human species native to the moon Dokiri refer to themselves as the Children of the Four Aeons. Their oral storytelling history teaches them that thousands of years ago, they were four great tribes constantly at war over the resources and safety of Megatama Valley until God traveled to the planet and revealed to them a great universal truth—each of the gods the clans worshipped were but different aspects of the same being, and so it was for many religions across the stars. God spent one lunar year with the tribes, imparting upon them his teachings and how to balance both the Light and Dark sides of the Force.
After their God departed, the tribes built a new syncretic society with the foundations of the monastic Order of the Four, which shared the philosophies and teachings of Luminara the Healer, Crath the Wizard, Amater the Shepherd, and Amortis the Judge. They believe each aspect of their god represents a period of time in a person's life and how they should live during that time. When a person is a child, they revere the child-god Luminara and learn how to treat the sick, heal the wounded, and care for the dying. When a person becomes a young adult, they follow the way of Crath the Wizard, pursuing secrets of the Force, the knowledge of science, and adventure with reckless abandon. When a person grows older and wiser, they settle into the path of Amater the Shepherd, where they begin families of their own and learn to care for the land and the revered herd animals they call the woozeersu. And when a person's children reach the path of the Shepherd, the parent spends the rest of their life in service to Amortis the Judge, playing part of a council that passes down edicts, tries crimes, and leads society—charged to balance the wisdom of age with unyielding fierceness.
Lifestyle. The Dokiri natives became a spacefaring civilization four hundred years ago. Some young members of their society allow the path of Crath the Wizard to lead them on a brief pilgrimage to experience the wonders of the galaxy, often returning with new technologies and knowledge to teach others. During the last atmospheric Lunar Conjunction, a handful of monks from the Order traveled to the Mahina Isles on Dokiri's sister moon, where they began sharing their history and philosophy with island residents.
Otherwise, most of the Children's population of several thousand study in monasteries or travel nomadically through Megatama Valley and the tunnel systems beneath the Kodokushi Mountains. Each monastery is a large ancient structure built to revere one of their God's four aspects and led by Brother and Sister Monks. The monasteries can house several hundred people and feature a subterranean catacomb where the Children conduct secret Force rituals and bury those of their society that died during the period of their life that corresponds with the monastery's purpose.
The monastery monks sing and play instruments at specific daily times, and their music echoes through the canyon. This musical ritual is meant to symbolize the passage of a lifetime within a single day, and each song utilizes a different instrument made from local resources.
Law and Leadership. The natives' society is led by the Brothers and Sisters of the Judge, old monks who reside at the Monastery of the Judge. The Children follow the Oaths of the Judge, a series of laws and proverbs meant to guide society with ancient wisdom and honor. The Children live in harmony with the new settlers of Megatama. Many outsiders have joined the religion in the past several decades, and some settlements have built temples revering one or more aspects of the Four. Because the settlers agreed to take the Oaths of the Judge, the Order's laws have become theirs too.
The most prominent Oaths of the Judge that affect peoples' lives in Megatama Valley include the following:
- In Megatama, no one is above the Oaths of the Judge once they have sworn them. The only groups that refused to swear the Oaths are the Spice Runners of Kijimi and the isolated Wookie clan Zaalbacc.
- Honor is greater than currency. While each monastery, clan, and house decides its own definition of honor, an individual's worth is measured by how they honor or dishonor themselves and the community in which they currently reside.
- Both the Light Side and the Dark Side of the Force should be used, in balance, to serve communities and uphold their ideals of honor and law.
- Environmentally destructive activities, like mining, can only occur east or south of the Tanjo River. The Tanjo Rainforest is sacred. It can be settled but must be protected and sustained.
- The Oaths are enforced by the Sons of Amater, an elite group of aged warrior monks with the right to kill the dishonored should they deem it necessary. Otherwise, oathbreakers are taken to stand trial at the Monastery of the Judge. As each group or settlement in Megatama has its own code of honor, Sons of Amater must learn and value different types of honor, never preferring one to another.
- Disputes between individuals or factions can only be settled with violence during the Festival of Enlightenment, a week-long holy holiday honoring the coming of God to Dokiri to teach its people the true nature of the Force. During the celebrations, a grand dueling tournament is held at the Monastery of the Judge, allowing those with disputes to challenge one another to honorable combat. Death is commonplace during the tournament but not a given. The tournament's champion receives great honor.
- Only the current year's tournament champion may form a hunting party (of no more than six individuals) to climb the Kodokushi Mountains and hunt one of the great terotonbo, horrifying creatures revered by the Oaths and prized for their invaluable gull stones.
Moon: Dokiri
Dokiri, designated IX366-C and known as the Rocky Moon of Kessel, is a temperate mountainous moon orbiting the planet Kessel in the Kessel system. Dokiri's orbit provides 9-13 hours of sunlight per day, depending on the season. Its gravity is above average for an earthlike body, making travel on foot a tiring challenge for many spacefaring species. Historically, Dokiri has sustained few attempts at long-term colonization because of its highly toxic methane atmosphere and the jagged terrain covering most of the moon's surface. Crimson storms of combustible methane are visible from space across the planet and make landing on Dokiri dangerous. The safest time to land or explore the upper mountains is during the season of Dokiri's annual atmospheric Lunar Conjunction with Kessel, a period of time where the planet and moon's atmospheres touch. During this time, some of the methane build-up from Dokiri's deep mines and waterbodies vents into Kessel's atmosphere and reduces toxicity on the moon.
One region of Dokiri, located near its equator in a deep green river valley, is significantly less toxic and more habitable than the rest of the planet. Locals call the region Magatama Valley for the rich jade color of its rivers, lakes, rain forests, and grassland. Because much of the valley is difficult terrain for spacecraft landing, most travel to Megatama goes through Luumai Space Tower—a high-tech spaceport with advanced atmosphere and weather shielding, repurposed from an ancient mesa once used for space travel by Dokiri natives. From the tower, travelers can hire transport down to Luumai Citadel, where smaller vehicles can take them anywhere in the valley. Those who cannot afford to rent vehicles instead take the Kodokushi Steppes, a wide pre-historic escalator that descends through the mountains, past several waypoints, until it reaches the valley floor near the settlement of Kosaten.
Still, few people travel to Megatama other than the Spice Runners of Kijimi, who maintain a presence on the moon but rarely interfere in local affairs outside of spice mining. Most of the valley's settlers are the survivors of Dokiri's prison and mining colonies run by the now-absent First Order, Galactic Empire, and Pyke Syndicate. Each settlement in the valley and the surrounding Kodokushi Mountains is autonomous, led by either a clan leader or the head of a wealthy family. Wealthier settlements are small cities of high towers overgrown by local flora. Poorer settlements, largely found at higher elevations, feature pagodas and simpler tiered structures housed within biodomes capable of protecting organic life from Blood Tsunamis—a deadly type of storm that can occur during the Lunar Conjunction season due to changes in atmospheric pressure. These storms inflict extreme winds, toxic crimson rain, and devastating floods upon Megatama. Due to toxic rainfall, treating the valley's water sources is a constant effort to which all settlements contribute.
DOKIRI HISTORY
During the Clone Wars, the Galactic Empire began its spice mining operations on Kessel and grew its efforts into the largest and most infamous prison colony in the galaxy. At the same time, the Empire used the nearly uninhabited moon of Dokiri to build a smaller prison colony for important prisoners it wished to keep alive, near enough to see the planet Kessel on their horizon so they would always be reminded how close they were to the hell of its mines.The moon's prisons were domed structures built into mountainous peaks and required only a minimal guard presence to maintain—escape would do prisoners little good in the toxic, resourceless high atmosphere. The collapse of the Empire in 5 ABY caused thirty years of faction wars in the Kessel system, which largely ignored Dokiri and its abandoned prisoners.
In the time since the fall of the Empire, Dokiri's small hidden native society emerged from secret under mountain tunnels where they had been hidden from imperial forces for a generation. Calling themselves the Children of the Four Aeons, the natives were a religious society of near-humans who had survived on the moon for thousands of years. The Dokiri natives wielded Force powers and helped overthrow the remaining imperial forces on the moon but allowed the prisoners to go free. At first, opposing prison gangs violently turned on each other. However, the brutal realities of surviving on the moon soon forced them to work together to seek out the aid of the Children of the Four Aeons. The natives promised them salvation but only should the prisoners agree to the Oaths of Amortis, a series of laws meant to keep the peace and settle disputes. The prisoners agreed to take the Oaths, knowing to break them would be to risk the judgment of the native's powerful Force-using enforcers.
The Children of the Four Aeons led the surviving prisoners to Megatama Valley, a fertile low-altitude paradise below the moon's toxic atmosphere. While the natives reclaimed their old monasteries, the prison clans were free to build a new society, led by the wealthiest and most influential prisoners Derru Gita, Vinis Luumai, Tylo Gorlund, Lellan Dori, and Shashev Kino. The founding families of the valley immediately realized the potential Megatama held for profit—it was rich with spice, crystals, and local fauna with highly valuable properties. Using salvaged imperial technology, the founding leaders contacted their networks across the galaxy and quietly brought their full resources to settle Megatama, building a spaceport, then towns and small cities with protective biodomes and towers capable of withstanding the moon's toxic storms. While each House agreed to control one aspect of trade on the moon, House Luumai quickly became the most powerful due to Vinis Luumai's connections to the New Republic Senate.
During the Spice Wars in the Kessel system, House Luumai wisely backed the Spice Runners of Kijimi, supporting them with supplies from the valley, while the other Houses supported the Pyke Syndicate. Since the gang took control of the system, they have established tradeposts, scrapyard, and their own spice mines in the valley. Though the Spice Runners of Kijimi have sworn not to interfere in daily life so long as they receive a cut of the Megatama Houses' profits, many fear the pirate gang harbors resentment against the Houses that supported their enemies and may try to take control of the entire valley for themselves.
MEGATAMA GEOGRAPHY
The fertile valley lies of Megatama in a deep ravine at the base of the Kodokushi Mountains. The jagged mountains, ominously named for how lonely and uninhabitable they are, reach high into Dokiri's toxic atmosphere and cover most of the moon's surface. The valley below contains a surprising amount of biodiversity, including rivers, tributaries, lakes, swamps, rainforests, grassland, subterranean crystalline caves, and salt flats that border a toxic ocean. Megatama's low elevation keeps the valley relatively cool most of the lunar year, with average temperatures that range between 40 and 65 degrees Fahrenheit. It toxic rains often in the western and southern portions of the valley, necessitating a constant treatment system for local water sources. The plants and animals of Dokiri have evolved to survive or subsist on the high methane levels in the water.
The Tanjo River runs south from the mountains, cutting the valley into regions and creating natural borders. Notable regions of the valley include the Tanjo Rainforest, a blend of lush forests, flora unique to Dokiri, and long stretches of toxic swamps. Most animals in the valley thrive only in the rainforest, which is home to several alpha predator species. East of the Tanjo River lies the Spice Wastes, a region of hilly salt flats and subterranean tunnels. The wastes have become heavily mined in the past thirty years, leading to much of the region becoming destabilized by cave-ins and earthquakes. In the southern valley, the river feeds into Lake Guro, a massive body of water with a crystalline floor. Due to the bioluminescent leeches that make their home in the crystals, Lake Guro is most notable for giving off a bright purple glow that can be seen most of the year from several miles away. Grasslands and salt plains lie between the lake and the Choking Sea, a mostly subterranean ocean that runs beneath vast mountains surrounding the valley. The section of the sea south of the valley hosts savage storms during the Lunar Conjunction season. For the rest of the year, much of the methane in the air above the valley is vented south over the sea.
MEGATAMA COMMUNITIES
Despite the potential for profit in Megatama Valley, Dokiri's inhospitable conditions do not allow it to sustain a large population. Around 16,000 settlers live in the valley, spread between a handful of communities settled in biodomes and towers designed to survive severe seasonal storms and sudden rises in toxic air. Surveys estimate another 20,000 others settle higher up in the Kodokushi mountains and elsewhere across the moon.
The mountain dwellers live in small clans beneath small biodomes crafted from repurposed imperial tech. Clan life is particularly hard, and many clans perish without anyone ever knowing. The Megatama Houses only allow the wealthiest denizens on the moon to live in the valley, ever wary of how overpopulation might destroy its ecosystem. The largest and most powerful mountain clans fight for territory at low altitudes nearer to the valley, sometimes daring to raid travelers and steal resources from those lucky enough to live below. The most influential mountain clans near the valley include:
In 28 ABY, the leaders of the Megatama Houses permitted Clan Boulette to settle at the northern edge of the valley and build a town there that other mountain dwellers could visit freely. Belle Boulette founded Kosaten (population ~500) at the base of the Kodokushi Steppes. While the trade flowing through Kosaten has helped those living at higher altitudes survive and reduced the number of raids into the valley—some more powerful clans remain jealous of the exception the Megatama Houses made for Clan Boulette.
In 40 ABY, the Houses made another exception when they allowed the Spice Runners of Kijimi to establish two mining facilities, a tradepost and scrapyard, and fortified compounds in every valley settlement. The Spice Runners maintain a presence of around 300 members in Megatama; however, during the season around the atmospheric Lunar Conjunction, the gang's numbers increase by several thousand.
The largest settlements in Megatama were built in the past several decades by the wealthiest denizens of Dokiri, located along the valley's water sources. The small cities are formed of towers with interconnected bridges, designed to withstand severe toxic weather. Each city only allows citizenship to those with enough credits or fame, and those who dwell there enjoy a lavish lifestyle unimaginable to most who live elsewhere on the moon. The Megatama Houses utilize droids for their service needs rather than other species that require food and water to survive. The cities of Megatama include the following:
Other settlements in the valley include the Monasteries of the Order of the Four, which house the native Dokiri's religious devotees and more recent transplants to the religion. The most significant populations of the Children of the Four Aeons include the following:
NATIVE SPECIES
Native Near-Humans. The near-human species that call themselves Dokiri or Children of the Four Aeons appear almost identical to humans and feature a wide diversity of genetic traits. Their most distinguishing traits are the ability to breathe methane and oxygen, purple eyes with iris colors that change throughout their lives, and a distinct lack of wrinkling skin as they age. While no other species on Dokiri has evolved to become a spacefaring civilization, the moon does feature several migrated species and entirely unique species of flora and fauna, particularly in the Megatama Valley and surrounding mountains.
Rainforest Flora. The Tanjo Rainforest features diverse jungle flora capable of subsisting on water that would be toxic to plants in most other worlds. Due to the toxicity in the water and atmosphere, very few of Dokiri's plants are edible. Native flora tends to grow extremely quickly, and many of them die off annually during the season around the annual lunar conjunction.
The rare exception is the shinzo fern which can grow up to 30 feet. The fern's large fan-like leaves uniquely filter toxins from the surrounding air, and its deep root systems filter water toxins to produce waste that fertilizes crystal growth underground. The roots grow quickly, are nutritious and safe to eat, and have a sweet taste similar to honey when cooked. However, the roots contain numerous tiny thorns that can inflict a neurotoxin to those pricked by them, causing long-term illness and sometimes death. Near the season around the yearly atmospheric conjunction with Kessel, shinzo ferns unfurl a thick layer of fibrous dark green material to protect them from the storm season. Dokiri's natives believe it is good luck to sleep beneath the fern's floam.
Guro Leech. One of the most economically important species in the Megatama Valley ecosystem is the diminutive guro leech, a bioluminescent earthworm that burrows into crystals native to Dokiri to reproduce and live in large hives. Guro leeches are primarily found in Lake Guro, along the Tanjo River, and in subterranean tunnels in the Spice Wastes. The guro leech is a primary food source for several native mammals, which in turn attract larger predators to areas where the leeches can be found. While they edible, settlers make use of the leeches in other ways. The slime produced by the leeches makes for a powerful anesthetic and is commonly used to treat pain in the valley. The leeches' saliva can be used to prevent and treat blood clots. Remarkably, the leeches do not die of natural aging. Older leeches can grow up to four feet in length and give off an incredible amount of purple light. It is commonplace for children to seek out old leeches and capture them in glass jars to use as lanterns.
Woozeersu. Perhaps the most important animal to the people who live in Megatama Valley is the curious woozeersu, which appears similar to a cross between a sheep and an anteater. Woozeersu use their long snouts to filter out toxic air, which allows them to be an edible food source for near-humanoid species. The herd animals usually move together along the Tanjo River and in the lower Kodokushi Mountains. They primarily feed on large quantities of guro leeches, which they can suck up from cracks in crystals using their powerful snouts. The leeches' slime interacts with their body's methane filtration organ, causing gas pouches in the mammal's belly to balloon. After eating, the woozeersu's belly expands and they begin to float as high as two dozen feet above the ground. Woozeersu use their snout to expel air that lets them gently fly in their chosen direction. Slowly, as their body digests the food, the woozeersu floats back down to the ground.
Every part of the woozeersu is used by settlers and natives in their everyday lives. Their wool makes clothes and other materials, while their milk and meat provide sustainable sustenance. Even their bones, which are particularly dense and strong, are crafted into usable tools by those who cannot afford more expensive technology. The Order of the Four considers the woozeersu a holy animal. Those following the Way of the Shepherd herd the beasts using a flute instrument crafted from shinzo leaves that the animals find soothing. By playing their music, they guide floating woozeersu herds to domed yards.
Woozeersu reproduce asexually from a Mother Woozeersu through an evolved form of self-cloning. Mother Woozeersu live for hundreds of years and are much larger than their genetically identical offspring. Only one in a million cloned woozeersu mutate into a Mother Woozeersu during their lifetime. Because they are so rare, only a handful of Mother Woozeersu remains on the moon, and they are fiercely protected by the Order of the Four. Any Mother Woozeersu found is to be brought to live and be cared for in its own dome amongst the Monastery of the Shepherd.
Alpha Predators. While the region Megatama Valley is home to a variety of predators, three species are far more dangerous than the rest. Native to the Choking Sea, the kamisori is a massive, invisible jellyfish with powerful tentacles capable of accidentally tearing a person in half or destroying machinery. Their high population in the ocean, where they eat other native fish, makes deep sea mining extremely challenging. Sometimes kamisori find their way inland as far as Lake Guro by way of the river. Their highly durable but extremely toxic skin poisons waterways, and their territorial disposition can turn them from dormant into a rampaging monster in mere moments.
The mord-misha is a migrated mammal similar in appearance to a honey-badger, with toxin-filtering gills, long curved claws for climbing, and the size and speed of a jaguar. Native to the jungles of Kessel and hunted for sport by the planet's Royal Family, smugglers brought them to Dokiri after the royal family's disappearance thirteen years ago. The mord-misha killed their captors and escaped down into the Tanjo Rainforest. They have since begun to repopulate and spread across the valley, hunting spacefaring species, woozeersu, and other predators alike. Prized for their luxurious fur and their claws used to craft climbing gloves, some dare to hunt the mord-misha. However, the predator's unusual form of psychic communication can cause extreme disorientation and sickness to most other species that get too close to it.
No Dokiri species is more feared than the terotonbo, a gargantuan dragonfly-like insect with chitinous armor and incredible strength. The terotonbo's mandibles are strong enough to crush steel, and it can snatch a hovercraft or speeder out of the air and fly away. The insect injects its prey with a destabilizing acid through its long, flexible stinger. The acid quickly breaks down organic material into sludge, allowing the terotonbo to slurp the remains through its straw-like mouth. Even the creature's wings are so strong that their low-pitched, high vibrations create a resonant fluttering sound that can be heard for up to a mile away. Thankfully for the settlements in the valley, terotonbo struggle to fly in lower altitudes and mostly live in the toxic higher atmosphere of the mountain moon. However, atmospheric pressure changes during the typhoon season allow the terotonbo to descend and hunt in Megatama.
The terotonbo's gull stones—which locals call terosteel—are made of material nearly as light and durable as beskar. Terosteel is incredibly valuable and is used to craft armor, weapons, or trophies. However, because so few of the monsters are still living, hunting them is against the Oaths of the Judge. Only the tournament champion of the annual Festival of Enlightenment can form a hunting party, and they may kill no more than one terotonbo per lunar year.