The Golden Rule
Region: Outer Rim
System: Klatooine System
Suns: 1 Yellow Star
Orbital Position: Habitable Zone
Moons: 1 Moon
System Features: N/A
Coordinates: 17,15 (Chaos), S-9 (Galaxy Map)
Rotational Period: 21 Hours
Orbital Period: 324 Days
Class: Terrestrial
Diameter: N/A
Atmosphere: Type I
Climate: Arid
Gravity: Standard
Primary Terrain: Deserts, Savannahs
Native Species: Klatooinians
Immigrated Species: Humans, Hutts, Nikto, Vodran, Apokka
Primary Languages: Basic, Huttese, Klatooinian
Government:
The planet runs under a form of oligarchic rule known as gerontocracy, the idea being that the eldest of the population are most fit to rule by virtue of their experience accumulated over their lifetime. The highest ruling body is the Elder Council, made up of a collective of seniors representing the various provinces and city-states of Klatooine.
The Hutt founded colonies of Klatooine are afforded some a degree of autonomy, governed by their own parliaments or mayor-led councils. They have some limited representation on the Elder Council to voice their concerns in the form of emissaries. Lobbyists are a common fixture on both the state and federal level, representing corporate and offworld interests.
Technically, the local government answers to the Jedi High Council of Voss, an appointed Protector/Watchman serving as their intermediary. In practice, the local government is left to its own devices so long as it observes basic standards expected of all member of the Silver Coalition. There’s some flexibility here, as the Jedi recognize that cultural nuances make certain questionable practices acceptable by local inhabitants. In the case of Klatooine, it is indentured servitude. Protectors try to work within this difficult gray area to find a compromise to satisfy both the High Council and the local government.
The Silver Jedi exert more direct control over matters of external security, but the final say over deployment of indigenous forces rests with the local government.
Military:
Native Klatooinians have a rich military history dating back to the earliest days of civilization. Across the wide spaces of the savannahs and deserts that dominated the planet, Klatooinians developed a dazzling style of maneuver warfare based around cavalry units. Emphasis was placed on incapacitating foes rather than destroying them outright to save precious resources, and later recruit surviving enemies forces into the fold to enlarge one’s own military force.
This style of combat would translate well into modern times in the form of space combat and combined arms assaults on land. While never receiving the renown of more martial races like the Mandalorians or the Echani, at least in Hutt Space, the Klatooinians were respected for their tactical prowess and discipline, earning many victories for their Hutt overlords across the millennia.
Within the Silver Coalition, the Klatooinians maintains its own standing army, and a small fleet geared for patrolling the Klatooine system and the hyperlanes of the Si'Klaata Cluster. Its military is supplemented by the forces of the Silver Jedi and its allies, allowing for extended operations abroad in joint missions. As the Silver Jedi begin their overhaul of their military, indigenous units have began to see some action across Silver Space. Klatooine itself has become a training hub for various special operations units, its inhospitable locales making for an excellent training environment.
Population: 238 million
Demonym: Klatooinians
Major Imports:
Foodstuffs, water (from ice haulers), and fuel make up the majority of imports. With few advanced industries of its own, manufactured goods, luxury items are also heavily imported.
Major Exports:
For generations, Klatooines chief export has been manpower (for that sweet remittance), followed closely by exotic delicacies like paddy frogs and pak’pah fruit. Its position at the intersection between several major trade routes has made it a prominent trader’s point, and a pit stop for individuals and commercial entities moving back and forth between the Outer Rim and the Core. The planet’s primary spaceport also serves as the site of a massive storage space for goods.
Klatooine has a small but burgeoning manufacturing sector, its location and cheap work force making it an attractive destination for companies to set up shop. However, corruption at all levels of government has stunted growth.
The planet is the only known source for a special substance known as wintrium, a viscous liquid that hardens into a nearly indestructible glassy material after being subjected to oxidation over time. The existence of wintiium in the soil has given rise the evolution of unique plant life found nowhere else in the galaxy. Until very recently, wintrium wasn't practical in any large scale use because of the time required for the aging process. However, technology developed by Sasori to speed up maturation made mass production of wintrium-based products possible.
Seeing the potential for the growth of a new industry, the government began issuing permits to Sasori and other companies for limited extraction operations near and under the fountain, but there would later be a great outcry among several conservative members and religious groups as the program gained wide attention. The intense pressure from their constituency later forced the Elder Council to shut down the program and ban all future extraction operations in or around the Fountain*.
A huge black market exists on Klatooine, its spaceports being used as major distribution centers for drugs and smuggled goods. As with many planets in Hutt Space, sentient trafficking is also a serious problem.
*Note: All current mining permits have been revoked, and no more will be issued while the Silver Order controls Klatooine on the map.
Affiliation: Order of the Silver Jedi
Major Locations:
Treema
Once the seat of power for the most powerful empire of ancient Klatooine, it is now the administrative capital of the planet. As the political center of Klatooine, it has a disproportionate amount of elderly inhabitants. The Silver Jedi are also based here.Kossak
It is the largest and most developed of Hutt founded cities, named after the legendary Kossak the Hutt. The local economy revolves around shipping and a thriving gambling scene that has made it a prime tourist destination for inhabitants of the Si’Klaata Cluster. However, beneath the slick veneer of a modern city lies a large criminal underbelly who use Kossak’s spaceport for large smuggling and trafficking operations. The Hutts used to dominate the criminal underworld, but the fall of the Cartels has left a power vacuum. Several groups now war in the shadows for control of the underworld, but the violence sometimes spills out in the open, claiming several casualties.
A continent-spanning desert located in the eastern hemisphere of the planet, which has been steadily spreading over the millennia to eat up large tracts of savannah. The desert is home to the holiest site of native Klatooinians, the Fountain of Ancients.
A training base for the various special forces units of the Silver Jedi and their allies, based in the Derelkoos Desert. The base has a large firing range that’s used for testing munitions and weapons systems.
Culture:
The limited resources of the Klatooine prompted the development of collectivist societies among the native population. From a young age, Klatooinians were indoctrinated in order to suppress individualism and instill a reverence for tradition, that being unquestionable loyalty to their community elders. Only by respecting the wisdom of the elders, could the community persevere in the harsh climate of Klatooine. As part of that indoctrination process, young Klatooinians were often stripped away from their families and rotated through the community as slaves to discourage individual identity and give them an appreciation for the community as a whole. Among the youngest of Klatooinians, waste and greed were abhorred, and they were allowed few personal possession, if any.
Not all Klatooinians took well to this indoctrination process, so the unruly individuals were often exiled to work camps to perform hard labor until they got with the program, or died. Klatooinians who did make it through the process were gradually granted ever greater rights as their contributions to the community were recognized. At about midlife, Klatooinians enjoyed full rights within their communities and became eligible to take up leadership positions as Elders.
Slavery was also a component of inter-tribal warfare, in largely bloodless, almost ritualistic campaigns for resources. Defeated Klatooinians from another group, both young and old, were given the simple choice to either assimilate or die. Slavery here functioned as a form of probation as the defeated Klatooinians integrated into their new community. In this case, older Klatooinians, especially elders, received greater scrutiny as they were considered the ringleaders of the opposition, stifling any competition to the ruling order. When opposing elders did choose to assimilate were welcomed for all the wisdom they could bring to the table.
This near worship of the elderly permeated through their religion, an animistic system with the Fountain of Ancients serving as the centerpiece of their beliefs. The wintirium that bubbled from the fountain would harden into a nearly indestructible wave of glass, gradually adding onto the proceeding waves to create an ever stronger structure. This process perfectly encapsulated Klatooinian values of patience, tenacity, and strength from experience.
Gradually, with the advancement of technology into the hyperspace era, more individualistic tendencies were allowed to develop as the historic resource crises had been largely resolved. The practice of slavery was abandoned, but young Klatooinians still enjoyed few rights, and the general lack of economic prospects still drove them into a life of indentured servitude.
Communities later founded by the Hutts and other groups of non-native species was a melting pot of different cultures from across Hutt Space and the Outer Rim. These new colonial communities operate under a system of cronyism known as wasta, inspired by the inter-clan relations of the Hutts. In business and public relations, merit and efficiency usually comes second to personal influences and connections. This culture of favoritism created a hotbed for corruption and crime that extended to native communities. More conservative members of Klatooinian society actively opposed the negative influence of outsiders, finding wasta a deplorable practice flying in the face of their traditional values. With the arrival of the Jedi, the Elder Council have finally began its first concerted operation to crackdown on corruption, which was now hindering its economic development, but efforts so far have been met with limited success.
Technology:
Average. The planet lacks many of its own industries for the production of advanced technology, but easy access to everything it needs makes this a non-issue.
History:
Early History
Civilization began on the planet as prehistoric hunter-gatherer tribes of native Klatooinians began to form settlements around water sources with the discovery of irrigation. Over time, these simple agrarian communities would grow into great city-states that dotted Klatooine. War between these city-states was common, each group vying for limited resources to provide for their exploding populations. The city-states were also victim to constant raids by nomadic tribes who continued to roam the savannahs and deserts in the tradition of their ancient ancestors.
City-states grew into continent-spanning kingdoms and empires with the advancement of technology, fueled by an arms race to come out on top of an endless string of conflicts. This cycle continued well into the post-industrial era, until much of the planet had been rendered a barren waste by poor resource management among a fractured race.
It was at this point, that Klatooinians began to set aside their differences as they were faced with the very real possibility of extinction within the next few generations. A planetary political coalition formed as Klatooine was taken by a global conservation movement. Many already considered Klatooine past the point of saving, though, so they began to look to the stars as an escape from the barren planet. A parallel movement began to seek out new planets for colonization, ushering in the space era.
Hutt Empire
Klatooine gained notice by the Hutts as their deep space probes were discovered. For a time, the calculating Hutts quietly observed the Klatooinians determining if they were worth the effort of annexing. Noting a long-standing tradition of slavery among the Klatooinians that still persisted to the time of discovery, they were deemed useful as a new potential source of labor.
The Hutts would then reveal themselves to the Klatooinians, presenting themselves as saviors to fix all of the planet’s troubles. In exchange for becoming vassals to the Hutts, technology would be shared to halt the effects of global desertification, and allow the Klatooinians access to the greater galaxy. The ruling Elder Council, led by Barada M’Beg, quickly agreed to the terms.
This arrangement was later cemented by the Treaty of Vontor, formally binding the Klatooinians to the Hutts for all time. The Elder Council would be left to handle local affairs, while the Hutts took care of all offworld matters. From that point onward, Klatooine became a source of cheap labor and recruits for the armies of the Hutts Empire and it succeeding iterations. On their end, the Hutts made good with their promise to assist the Klatooinians, but they constantly meddled to ensure that the Klatooinians never got too far in their development. Since the time of the Klatooinian’s instrumental role of defeating Xim the Despot, the Hutts had grown concerned that the Klatooinians would grow too powerful if left unchecked.
(Old) Galactic Alliance
While the Klatooinians mostly served their Hutt masters dutifully, there would be a rising discontent through the generations. Through constant interference, the Hutts seemed keen on keeping Klatooine as little more than a labor pool. Meanwhile, the existence of the Old Republic provided inspiration for pursuing a new path.
The tragedy of the desecration of the Fountain of Ancients by the Lost Tribe of the Sith sparked a slave revolt among native Klatooinians millennia in the making. The vassal race had lost all respect for the Hutts as they had failed to protect their holiest site from attack. The Elder Council at the time took advantage of the situation, using the event as an excuse to break free from the grip of the Hutts with the aid of the Galactic Alliance.
Officially, slavery was abolished on Klatooine, but it would persist in the form of indentured servitude which continues into current times. The issue of indentured servants and policies that promoted rampant underemployment would become a point of contention between the local government and the Galactic Alliance, but Klatooine was largely left alone as the central government’s attention was taken up by more pressing concerns.
Conditions on Klatooine gradually improved under the rule of the the Galactic Alliance, but ageist policies against the youth, and corruption would stymie growth.
Gulag Plague
Like most of the Galaxy, Klatooine would be hit hard by the deadly virus as the epidemic reached their system. For a time, the mostly homogenous civilization would adopt isolationist policies to limit the spread of the virus, but tens of millions would still die from the Gulag Plague. After the initial shock of the outbreak, the Klatoonians would develop effective quarantine protocols to prevent new rounds of local epidemics. Live interaction with the rest of the galaxy would resume, but only at a few designated areas under heavy monitoring.
Relief from the plague finally came in the form of medical missionaries from Kiribi, offering gene therapies to provide the entire population with a resistance to the virus.
Return of the Hutts
Looking to reassert themselves in their old stomping grounds, the Hutts approached the Klatoonians for talks of a new union. Afraid of a violent overthrow while the planet was still in a fragile state, the government reluctantly agreed to join the Cartel. An uneasy alliance would form, which would last until the fall of the Hutt Cartel as a major galactic power.
Netherworld Crisis
In absolute terms, the loss of Klatooinians to the rapture was fairly minimal, only reaching a few thousand. However, several elders took the rapture as a bad omen, a punishment from their ancestors for engaging in taboo practices. This interpretation would give rise to a fundamentalist movement that opposed certain reforms by the government, like increased worker rights for the youth, and extraction of . In the background, Cartel and corporate interests would quietly provide support to the fundamentalists, who benefitted from the status quo. What began as a small fringe movement gained some traction from astro-turfing.
While the Elder Council itself remained divided on the level of reforms, they all agreed that they most certainly didn’t want Hutts regaining their influence. A counter-campaign was then launched to reveal the external actors for what they were, while also reminding everyone of stagnant conditions under the Hutt’s rule in the past. Reactions to the campaign was mixed, as crtics viewed it as a move to deflect from legitimate concerns about how reforms would affect the economy.
Hi Ho Silver
The expansion of the Silver Jedi - then the Silver Sanctum Coalition - into the Si’Klaata cluster was met with a healthy dose of suspicion. After resisting the Hutts for so long, they didn’t want to see themselves ruled by what they saw as a group of Jedi Imperialists. However, the Klootonians would slowly warm up to the Silvers as they were able to observe their benign method of governance. The continued use of indentured servants would likely be a sore spot between the Klatoonians and the abolitionists within the Silver Order, but if the Jedi left them alone to deal with the issue, then they would join the Coalition if only to escape any further entreats by the Hutts.
Since opening its doors to Silvers, Klatoooine has enjoyed a steady rate of growth not seen since joining the original Galactic Alliance. The Silver Jedi’s collaborative style in working side by side with the local government in role as mediators, and their efforts to help reverse millennia worth of desertification has earned them the respect and gratitude of many native Klatoonians. However, there’s been a shakeup within the criminal underground as a new focus has been placed upon them by the Jedi, particularly in the trafficking scene. Some government officials and business establishments have also been facing the heat as they come under closer scrutiny for corruption and other illegal activities. Unsurprisingly, this particular group has less than a favorable opinion of the Jedi as their bottom line is affected.
Omega
Klatooine had no role in events, though the local government offered to take in some of the refugees from Castameer, and issued a small amount of aid in the form of foodstuffs and medical supplies.
Notable PCs:
Arisa Yune - Watchman of Klatooine. As she continues her Jedi training with the Silver Order, she volunteered for the position as Klatooine’s protector.
Yann Natshttp://starwarsrp.net/topic/91694-loki/?p=1334543 - A mid level smuggler and information broker with operations all over the Outer Rim. He runs his criminal enterprise from his bar.
Intent: Fleshing out Klatooine as I intend to reference it a lot in future roleplays. Klatooine, and Hutt Space in general presents an interesting challenge for Arisa in her development as a Jedi.
