Jorus Merrill
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Name: Kelsier
Region: Wild Space
System: Kelsier system
Suns:
Orbital Position: 3
Moons: None
System Features:
Rotational Period: 32 hours
Orbital Period: 440 local days
Class: Terrestrial
Diameter: 12500km
Atmosphere: Type I
Climate: Frozen
Gravity: 0.96 Standard
Primary Terrain: Snow. Also, ice. (Tundra, for the technical nitpickers among you.)
Native Species: Standard ice-planet flora and fauna
Immigrated Species: Tauntauns, Echani
Primary Languages: Galactic Standard Basic, Rammocate, Sy Bisti
Government: Federal republic
Population: 1.2 billion
Demonym: Kelsieri
Major Imports: High technology, entertainment/media/information
Major Exports: Stygium. Requesting permission to count this stygium development thread (killed a PC with over 2500 posts) towards this planet's existence.
Affiliation: Levantine Sanctum
Major Locations:
Being of Echani descent, Kelsieri prize various forms of personal combat, consider most combat to be a form of communication, and derive many means of self-expression from combat arts. This dynamic, evolving focus can be seen in music, dance, sculpture, painting, and sport, not as a dominant influence but certainly as a common and accessible theme. At once curious and intolerant of outsiders, Kelsieri are generally considered inquisitive and short-tempered -- as well as physically aggressive. Kelsieri often, though not always, wear white, as a practical camouflage choice on the surface. This generally leads them to prize colour and individuality in their other accoutrements, such as food and home decoration. Food generally derives from one of a handful of sources. Hydroponics technology under full-spectrum lighting is very common on Kelsier, growing everything from bedjies to artisanal vegetables. Tauntaun meat is a delicacy; yeast cutlets and related products are more common. The rich can afford to eat food grown on space platforms outside the Mistcloak, in the light of Kyrikal's suns.
Holidays commemorate major battles and duels, as well as the system's colonization. Sun-related holidays are very minor, as the twin barriers of the snow-cloud layer and the Mistcloak keep the suns from being especially relevant.
In keeping with the small size of Kelsieri cities, the planetary republic structure allows far-flung settlements individual representation in a very large parliament. Most representatives are female. Likewise, most settlements are matriarchal.
Punishment generally involves exile, with or without a snowspeeder, or some form of duel.
Technology: Comparable to the Galactic Empire at the height of the Rebellion; somewhat behind the current galactic mainstream, but equivalent to most of the Outer Rim.
History: Kelsier was colonized by three shiploads of Echani pirates in the distant past, roughly 2500 BBY. They found the world suitable as a treasure trove and a hidden base of operations, for obvious reasons, but ultimately their small pirate shadowport became something far larger as they transitioned from Port Bleak to the subterranean vaults which became Vanak. This transition took place before 2400 BBY, and by 2200 BBY Vanak was one of a dozen small cities descended from the Echani pirates and their transplanted families. Much like the Lorell Raiders who ended up contributing to the ancestry of the Hapan Consortium, the Echani pirates' descendants cultivated a harsh but collaborative and even enviable civilization. Isolated by distance and by choice, they kept their world secret for centuries, emerging only to quash rumors of their existence or to refresh their technological base and knowledge of the galactic state of affairs. By 1100 BBY they had lost hyperspace technology due to an ongoing conflict which arose from systems of alliances between city-states. By 700 BBY they had become a true planetary republic.
Hyperspace technology was rediscovered due to pirate wrecks unearthed from a glacier in 210 ABY, and the technology became exclusive to the planet's leadership. By 390 ABY, of course, it was public once more -- but only at speeds equivalent to Class 10 or slower, restricting travel to the long-ago-shifted nearby routes. FTL travel became something of a boondoggle, with major advances coming only at the same time as word of the Gulag Virus. The Kelsier system sealed its borders and vanished again. It was only rediscovered in the late 830's by the hyperspace explorer Jorus Merrill, who brought Class 1 hyperdrives to barter for local goods. Kelsier began limited trade with the nearby Kyrikal system and with Hagron's World, and entered into a cautious defensive alliance. Their smaller elite vessels commonly use cloaking technology, though the gravitic modulator is beyond them. They have traditionally used stygium cloaks to protect their few contacts with the outside galaxy, leading to all manner of tales. One popular cantina song, 'Ghost Ship's Bride,' involves being carried off by an Echani woman at the helm of an invisible starship, way on the edge of space. The story is almost certainly true.
Notable PCs: None as yet
Intent: To provide a foothold for Levantine storytelling.
Name: Kelsier
Region: Wild Space
System: Kelsier system
Suns:
- Kelsier Aurek: Main sequence
- Kelsier Besh: Main sequence
- Kelsier Cresh: White dwarf, distant
- Kelsier Dorn: Red dwarf, somewhat distant
Orbital Position: 3
Moons: None
System Features:
- A massive ring of gas and dust has accreted, or never dissipated after the system's formation. The ring, known as the Mistcloak, spans much of the habitable zone. It has prevented Kelsier from being detected for a very long time, though at ranges of a light-minute or less it can still be detected by normal sensors.
- The system has five planets. I and II are large gas giants with several moons, all too hot for habitation. IV is a gas supergiant surrounded by rubble from a complex moon collision. V is a frigid lump 7000km in diameter, not unlike my mother-in-law.
- The rubble around Kelsier IV is rich in various relatively insignificant materials, including nutorium, terenthium, and carbonite.
Rotational Period: 32 hours
Orbital Period: 440 local days
Class: Terrestrial
Diameter: 12500km
Atmosphere: Type I
Climate: Frozen
Gravity: 0.96 Standard
Primary Terrain: Snow. Also, ice. (Tundra, for the technical nitpickers among you.)
Native Species: Standard ice-planet flora and fauna
Immigrated Species: Tauntauns, Echani
Primary Languages: Galactic Standard Basic, Rammocate, Sy Bisti
Government: Federal republic
Population: 1.2 billion
Demonym: Kelsieri
Major Imports: High technology, entertainment/media/information
Major Exports: Stygium. Requesting permission to count this stygium development thread (killed a PC with over 2500 posts) towards this planet's existence.
Affiliation: Levantine Sanctum
Major Locations:
- Port Bleak: Traditional landing site of the planet's ancient colonists, and still a functioning starport on a small scale, Port Bleak has seen little traffic in the last four hundred years. Port Bleak is regularly very cold indeed, and must contend with snowstorms, accumulated ice, and low visibility.
- Sunwatch: A powerful sensor observatory which can pierce the Mistcloak and give Kelsieri authorities comprehensive, current information on the star system and its contents. Sunwatch is comprised of four linked but distinct and redundant locations, within a hundred kilometres of each other.
- Vanak: The capital city, insulated by a quarter mile of heavily reinforced ice overhead. Vanak is spread out through hundreds of small chambers for maximum safety against caveins, which are very rare; the original colonists chose their location well. Port Bleak is located less than a hundred kilometres from Port Bleak. Kelsier's other cities and large towns generally follow the Vanak model. Because of intraurban transportation limitations, despite ice-tunnel monorail networks, Vanak is the largest city on Kelsier with a population of just 1.5 million.
Being of Echani descent, Kelsieri prize various forms of personal combat, consider most combat to be a form of communication, and derive many means of self-expression from combat arts. This dynamic, evolving focus can be seen in music, dance, sculpture, painting, and sport, not as a dominant influence but certainly as a common and accessible theme. At once curious and intolerant of outsiders, Kelsieri are generally considered inquisitive and short-tempered -- as well as physically aggressive. Kelsieri often, though not always, wear white, as a practical camouflage choice on the surface. This generally leads them to prize colour and individuality in their other accoutrements, such as food and home decoration. Food generally derives from one of a handful of sources. Hydroponics technology under full-spectrum lighting is very common on Kelsier, growing everything from bedjies to artisanal vegetables. Tauntaun meat is a delicacy; yeast cutlets and related products are more common. The rich can afford to eat food grown on space platforms outside the Mistcloak, in the light of Kyrikal's suns.
Holidays commemorate major battles and duels, as well as the system's colonization. Sun-related holidays are very minor, as the twin barriers of the snow-cloud layer and the Mistcloak keep the suns from being especially relevant.
In keeping with the small size of Kelsieri cities, the planetary republic structure allows far-flung settlements individual representation in a very large parliament. Most representatives are female. Likewise, most settlements are matriarchal.
Punishment generally involves exile, with or without a snowspeeder, or some form of duel.
Technology: Comparable to the Galactic Empire at the height of the Rebellion; somewhat behind the current galactic mainstream, but equivalent to most of the Outer Rim.
History: Kelsier was colonized by three shiploads of Echani pirates in the distant past, roughly 2500 BBY. They found the world suitable as a treasure trove and a hidden base of operations, for obvious reasons, but ultimately their small pirate shadowport became something far larger as they transitioned from Port Bleak to the subterranean vaults which became Vanak. This transition took place before 2400 BBY, and by 2200 BBY Vanak was one of a dozen small cities descended from the Echani pirates and their transplanted families. Much like the Lorell Raiders who ended up contributing to the ancestry of the Hapan Consortium, the Echani pirates' descendants cultivated a harsh but collaborative and even enviable civilization. Isolated by distance and by choice, they kept their world secret for centuries, emerging only to quash rumors of their existence or to refresh their technological base and knowledge of the galactic state of affairs. By 1100 BBY they had lost hyperspace technology due to an ongoing conflict which arose from systems of alliances between city-states. By 700 BBY they had become a true planetary republic.
Hyperspace technology was rediscovered due to pirate wrecks unearthed from a glacier in 210 ABY, and the technology became exclusive to the planet's leadership. By 390 ABY, of course, it was public once more -- but only at speeds equivalent to Class 10 or slower, restricting travel to the long-ago-shifted nearby routes. FTL travel became something of a boondoggle, with major advances coming only at the same time as word of the Gulag Virus. The Kelsier system sealed its borders and vanished again. It was only rediscovered in the late 830's by the hyperspace explorer Jorus Merrill, who brought Class 1 hyperdrives to barter for local goods. Kelsier began limited trade with the nearby Kyrikal system and with Hagron's World, and entered into a cautious defensive alliance. Their smaller elite vessels commonly use cloaking technology, though the gravitic modulator is beyond them. They have traditionally used stygium cloaks to protect their few contacts with the outside galaxy, leading to all manner of tales. One popular cantina song, 'Ghost Ship's Bride,' involves being carried off by an Echani woman at the helm of an invisible starship, way on the edge of space. The story is almost certainly true.
Notable PCs: None as yet
Intent: To provide a foothold for Levantine storytelling.
