Jorus Merrill
is mek bote
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Name: JM-357-II, Echoy'la ('mourning,' 'searching,' or 'lost' in mando'a)
Region: Unknown Regions
System: JM-357
Suns: JM-357a
Orbital Position: 2, slightly outside the habitable zone
Moons: Echoy'la has twenty-eight moons, all small and lacking atmosphere, of similar composition to the massive rings. The fourteenth moon, Echoy'la Colony, is hollow, as detailed below. To date, beskar ore has been found only on the fourteenth moon, which once had a large amount, though mining has been ongoing for years.
System Features: The first planet, JM-357-I, is an irradiated rock. Echoy'la, or JM-357-II, is surrounded by a gigantic ring system.
Coordinates: Roughly K-3. Between Bastion and Shusugaunt, within Mandalorian territory.
Rotational Period: 10.5 standard hours
Orbital Period: 1200 local days
Class: Gas giant
Diameter: 120,464km
Atmosphere: Type 2, with layers of Type 1
Climate: Comparable to Bespin, with greater incidence of storms. None of the moonlets have a climate.
Gravity: 1.3 Standard
Primary Terrain: Clouds
Native Species: None
Immigrated Species:
- Space beldons and colossus wasps common throughout the rings and moonlets
- Beldons also found in atmosphere
- Mandalorian human population on the moonlet JM-357-II-14, Echoy'la Colony
Government: An informal council composed of local leaders of existing Mandalorian clans, such as Ordo, Skirata, and Dem'adas. In most matters, acephalous.
Population: 20,000
Demonym: Echoy'lans
Major Imports: Foodstuffs (though Echoy'la Colony prioritizes self-sufficiency with bedjies and ration converters); spare parts; entertainment
Major Exports: Beskar
Material: Beskar/Mandalorian iron
Amount: Small (Unique and Semi-Unique items only)
Intent and Reasoning: To create the only known source of beskar outside the Manda'yaim system. The story behind this involves the Sith Empire discovering this source and using prisoners of war to exploit it. The planet's location challenges Mandalorian sovereignty and provides a major incentive for other Major Factions to engage. The existence of beskar in this system is not explained, comparable to phrik and cortosis locations being scattered across the galaxy. The improbability of its discovery is the motive for its entire known history. The moon's beskar veins are largely mined out, but experienced locals can usually find a little more for people they like.
Development Thread: Deep Black Sea II: By the Pitiless Stars (80+ posts, discovery and liberation of Echoy'la Colony, ongoing for story purposes)
Affiliation: Mandalorian, Levantine
Major Locations: Echoy'la Colony, a hollow moonlet and former secret prison camp. Echoy'la Colony was outfitted with powerful communications jammers, a gravity well projector, long-range tractor beams, a handful of ion cannons, and intensive beskar mining/refining operations, all designed to contain and make use of a population of twenty thousand Mandalorians captured during the battles of Junction, Toprawa, Concord Dawn and Manda'yaim. Echoy'la Colony was recently liberated and is now self-governing. It remains a hub for beskar prospecting and refining.
Culture: The Echoy'lan culture is derived from three basic veins: prison culture, Mandalorian culture, and deep-spacer culture. The most unforgivable crime is tampering with life support or food provision; insofar as there's any law enforcement, mostly in the form of local clan elders' close associates, it turns a blind eye to the spacing of anyone who interferes with the colony's continued existence. Though clan-against-clan prison dynamics have led to occasional skirmishes, the largely acephalous Mandalorian culture has prevented the post-liberation power vacuum from descending into chaos. (OOC note: the culture has some influences from the Ceres/Belter culture in James S.A. Corey's Leviathan Wakes.)
The population follows Mandalorian culture in most respects. After years of captivity, some elements have come to the fore:
- Denied armor for years, the Echoy'lans are now very closely associated with their armor, and wear it constantly. They hold even basic aliit'gam in high honor, but prioritize beskar above other materials even more than most Mandalorians.
- Denied home for years, the Echoy'lans faced a choice after liberation. Many returned to Manda'yaim; others were joined by their families, and by prospectors. Those who stayed prioritize pilgrimage to Manda'yaim when practical.
- Denied use of their language for years, the Echoy'lans spoke mando'a in secret; their defiance resulted in a population that speaks mando'a fluently, often preferring it to Basic, the language of their captors.
- Denied connection with their clans for years, the Echoy'lans are perhaps less willing to answer the call of clan leaders. Some have forsaken their old identities and created a Clan Echoy'la. Mandalorians have little patience for self-aggrandizement, and even the leaders of the clans they ascribe to may not be able to sway the Echoy'lans -- other Mandalorians not having experienced what they experienced.
Technology: Comparable to the Outer Rim. Echoy'la is a hub of knowledge on beskar mining and refining.
History: Echoy'la was discovered in the early days of the Sith Empire, during the reign of Empress Desmius, Ashin Varanin. Echoy'la was one of uncharted billions of star systems, and is located just beyond the hyperspace disturbance that makes exploration of the Unknown Regions difficult. It was discovered during the Sith Empire's massive push towards and beyond the Braxant Run, an effort which eclipsed the major Perlemian offensive in success, in ambition, in range, and in the volume of worlds added to the Empire. The effort drew on maps provided by Desmius, who had spent her entire career exploring the Unknown Regions. As the Empire expanded away from its standard resources, however, and known habitable systems failed to meet the need for various ores, exploration efforts began to examine non-habitable systems, many of whom had simply been written off after cursory scans. One of the probes happened to find an unusually dense signature in one of the moons of a gas giant with massive rings. A routine followup lander found traces of mandalorian iron ores.
Unwilling to propagate lightsabre-resistant beskar among her fractious subordinates, and secretly intending to impede and redirect the Empire as a whole, Desmius kept the system's discovery and survey data as confined as possible. When she was deposed at Roche, however, a handful of her senior officers quietly vanished. Too close to her to survive the new regime, but not close enough to get the call to go with her, they set up Echoy'la Colony and staffed it with thirty thousand Mandalorian prisoners of war from various secret jails, such as Jurgoran Prison. Whether the notoriously Mandalorian-friendly Desmius knew about these prisoners is hotly debated in Echoy'la Colony. Suffice it to say, while Varanin's Clan Ordo affiliation can get her a drink just about anywhere in Mando space, she'd be welcomed with about ten thousand shivs on Echoy'la.
During the era of the Republic's expansion into the Unknown Regions, only a handful of strategic worlds were claimed; the Atrisian Empire, thanks to the Klaxxi, also had larger strategic concerns than the millions of difficult-to-reach, non-habitable systems in the region. Occasional scans registered nothing unusual about the system or the gas giant's fourteenth moon, whose dense beskar veins had been partially depleted; between that and the excavation of the subterranean mines, the moonlet's density was marginally less than it had been when first discovered. When coupled with the difference between the mining sensors that had first discovered its significance and the standard scans used by later probes, this led to the moonlet being written off as just another unexceptional little rock.
The prison camp was brutal; over thirty percent of prisoners died while mining and refining beskar, and/or at the hands of the former Sith Empire guards. Much of the refined beskar vanished shortly after the destruction of the Sith Empire, and the refined metal began to pile up, but the prison camp continued to operate until the Levantine Sanctum survey vessel Baobab, commanded by Jorus Merrill, stumbled across it and was promptly trapped. Dragged down by tractor beams, comms jammed and hyperdrive interdicted, the Baobab and its crew had to connect with the Mandalorian prisoners while resisting concerted boarding attempts from the guards. Ultimately, the Baobab was able to liberate Echoy'la Colony, earning the Sanctum a place in the Echoy'lans' hearts. This closeness was aided by the presence of several Mandalorians on the survey ship's crew, including Chief Engineer [member="Anija Ordo"], beskarsmith [member="Ijaat Akun"], Security Chief [member="Ermac Laith"] and former Mand'alor [member="Mia Monroe"].
Though Echoy'la is obviously Mandalorian-affiliated, its extreme remoteness makes it vulnerable to interference and potential control from other powers. Meanwhile, the Echoy'lans are bracing themselves for a potential 'gold rush.' They are unwilling to surrender what control they've gained over their home.
Notable PCs: None
Intent: To create the only known source of beskar outside the Manda'yaim system. The story behind this involves the Sith Empire discovering this source and using prisoners of war to exploit it. The planet's location challenges Mandalorian sovereignty and projected power capabilities, and provides a major incentive for other Major Factions to engage.
