Darth Hauntruss
Wraith of the Sith
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATIONIntent:
To create a planet that will act as a sandbox for those RPers looking to RP, Lore Build, and Story-Tell on a planet designed for Courtly Intrigue, Royal Plots, Great House Schemes, Planetary Politics, and Monarchical Stories (i.e. alternative Imperial/Political RP) - as well as establish a homeworld for a future monarchy minor faction.
Image Credit:
Photoshop Art By Me (with original artwork from here)
Canon: N/A
Links: N/A
GENERAL INFORMATION
Planet Name: Starmark
Demonym: Starrian
Region: Unknown Region
System Name: Starmark
System Features:
Binary Star System, Asteroid Belt, 8 Planets - 4 Rock, 3 Gas Giants, 1 Super Gas Giant (only Starmark hospitable to large colonial settlements)
Coordinates: T12
Major Imports: Merchant Goods, Natural Materials, Processed Metals and Materials, Financial/Stock Market Exchanges, Raw Materials
Major Exports: Tabanna Gas, Sig Gas (mined from nearby super gas giants), Metals/Minerals (Titanium, Chromium, Platinum, Unprocessed Teniline Granule), Agricultural Product
GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION
Planetary Geography Map
Art By Me
Gravity: StandardClimate: Temperate
Primary Terrain: Variety [Arctic Tundra, Grasslands, Plains, Steppes, Mountains, Forests, and Deserts]
Major Locations:
Eight Great Continents:
Archnovia
Archnovia is a land of frozen capped mountains, rocky shores, low fjords and plain vallies huddled between long mountain chains.
Starfell
Starfell is a temperate continent filled with agricultural hinterlands, flat plains, forests, lakes, long rivers, and mountains
Valliance
Valliance is party sandy beach, arid steppe, and low valleys and shares much of its terrain with its neighbouring continents of Starfell and Exillion
Exillion
Exillion becomes an arid and cold tundra the more south you go, further north it shares its terrain with Starfell and Valliance, as a combination of plain flat lands, agricultural hinterlands, and mountains
Hyporia
Hyporia is similar to Archnovia, but far milder and is home to a great range of rocky outcroppings, mountains, crags, revenes, and pebbled beaches
Solvala
Solvala is a land covered in jungles, long meandering wide rivers, which get thicker and wilder the more east you go. Its western terrain shares the dune desert terrain of its neighbour
Celestion
All of Celestion is one grand dune sea of red and orange desert. There are oases and river fed green lands near its coasts and towards the greener lands of Solvala
Eidolon
Eidolon is one large arid and rocky steppe that spans the entirety of the island continent. Its coasts however support green grasslands, agricultural lands, and sandy beaches
POPULATION
Native Species: Various (Bantha, Nexu, Thala-siren, other species)
Immigrated Species: Humans, Chiss
Population: Heavily Populated
Demographics: Humans (Dominant); Variety of Xeno/Alien (Chiss, Twi’lek, Duros, Togruta; humanoid aliens, while still considered second class, are treated better than non-humanoid)
Primary Languages: Galactic Basic
Culture:
The Culture of Starmark is very much influence, and at times manipulated, by the Monarchy that rules the planet and the Eight Great Noble Houses that rule everyone else. As a Star Kingdom, the aristocracy old great power over economic, political, and cultural trends. Society is firstly divided along Speciest lines. Humans are given greater privilege and consideration than Aliens. Some humanoid species such as the Chiss, due to the proximity of the Chiss homeworld of Csilla and prolonged exposure to each other, have greater access to the higher echelons of society. In total, the culture of Starmark is at once that of baroque sophistication, aristocratic grandeur, royal might and power; and dirty large metropolises, poverty, inequality, and class division.
GOVERNMENT & ECONOMY
Government: Star Kingdom (Elected Monarchy and Aristocratic Oligarchy)
Affiliation: N/A
Wealth: Medium/High (Exports for Hyperdrive parts, and Tabanna, Sig Gas lends to high export market yields; a domestic world Stock Exchange also produces vast financial wealth)
Stability: High (rule of law and power monopolized under the Noble Houses and Monarchy)
Freedom & Oppression: Aristocratic Oligarchy and rampant Xenophobia, as well as semi-feudalistic societal structures. Starmark appears free but, also has an oppressed and exploited underbelly.
Additional Primer:
The Royal Star Kingdom of Starmark
Starmark is ruled, as its autocratic head of state, by an elected Arch Sovereign who, for a term of fifteen galactic revolutions, acts as the monarch of Starmark. This Arch Sovereign is always elected from the families of the Eight Great Noble Houses whose family names derive from the continents their ancestors colonized.
Thus, these eight houses are: Archnovia, Starfell, Valliance, Exillion, Hyporia, Celestion, Solvala, and Eidolon. These eight houses wield untold power with supreme control over their lands in terms of economics, politics, law, and military management. Only to the Arch Sovereign are they accountable. The rule through their Courts which are made up of loyal house retainer known a Legates.
Below them are the Minor Houses, families that are of high-status and acclaim but, are not officially recognized as nobles. Below them are the commoners and even lower are the Serfs who are workers tied to their houses in perpetuity until they can either pay their servitude debts or be granted freedom by their houses.
Aliens have a strange relationship with the Eight Great Houses and the Monarchy. Chiss are given the greatest privileges, but, are rarely allowed high rankings within the military or civil service. The are virtually non-existent within the great houses or monarchy, a deep xenophobia is rooted in the houses and monarchy. Some nobles have been known to marry aliens however, their political careers are usually ended by this. There is however, an unofficial Ninth House known as the House of Patriots, these are aliens who have lent such great service to the monarchy they have been given symbolic honors such as titles and lands.
MILITARY & TECHNOLOGY
Military: The military of Starmark is controlled and commanded by the Arch Sovereign and the Eight Great Houses
At the macro-level: the armed forces of the entire planet collect together to create the Host of Starmark.
At micro-level: the Host of Starmark is divided into the Royal Army and the Royal Navy. The Royal Army is then subdivided into War Chapters (i.e. Infantry Legions), with each chapter submitted by a great house. The great houses have numerous and wide range of War Chapters some lead by their Legates, others by direct house family members. The Royal Navy is subdivided into Royal Fleets, which are commanded by appointment of the Arch Sovereign's Royal Admiralty, instead of the War Chapter system of the Royal Army.
Within the Royal Army there is also the order of Force adepts that act as special forces units - these are known as the Force Orders. Various War Chapters have their own Force Orders with their own names, traditions, leadership styles, and Force Alignments. Generally, Starmark allows the enlistment of any Force Alignment adept as long as they are loyal to the monarchy - but, usually they tend to fall within the range of Gray to Darksider, with most being Gray and Dark Jedi.
Technology: Modern Technology
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
The Founding
During the early days of the Old Republic, a fleet of ships left the Core to search for a new world. This fleet as inhabited by dreamers, adventurers, venture industrialists, merchants, renegades, exiles, runaways, and yet to born. Over the course of their treacherous meandering across the unknown regions only eight ships made it to the world that would become Starmark. This eight colony ships were called: Archnovia, Starfell, Valliance, Exillion, Hyporia, Celestion, Solvala, and Eidolon. Having been separated during a hyperspace jump the eight ships landed in various parts of the world at different times. Thus, each of the continents of Starmark were named after the ship that brought them there. The settlers would colonise their own part of Starmark in isolation. However, by the time of the great Hyperspace Wars, the various colonial city states had come into contact with each other and together formed the Starmark Commonwealth and named the planet Starmark as it was the systems star that had marked a light in their dark voyages across the unknown regions. The Commonwealth would laster for millennia in one form or another, even when the various city-states went to war with each other. By the time of the Dark Age of the Old Repulic, great families whose names derived from the continents' names and could trace their lineage to the captains of the great ships that bare the same name, grew in power and might.
Rise of the Eight Great Houses and the Creation of the Arch Sovereign
During the Dark Age of the Old Republic, when the Republic and the Jedi were in the midst of a brutal war against the Sith Empire, Starmark was undergoing great change. By now the Eight Great Houses had risen and for a thousand years controlled the planet but, in divided and hotly contested rule. This period is known as the Hundred Years War Period. House fought House in titanic battle for power and total rule over the planet. These on and off wars devastated the planet's economy and populace. However, their war would come to an end with the arrival of the Dark Hegemon - a Sith Lord exiled from the Sith Empire who invaded Starmark. His fleets, veteran Sith Troopers, and Sith Knights conquered the world and subjugated the eight great houses. For the next two hundred years the Sith Lord ruled over the planet along with his Dark Dynasty. Only when the Eight Great Houses united in a Royal Alliance was the last of the Dark Hegemon's regime dismantled. Vowing to not let their alliance be lost later on, the houses formed the Royal Star Kingdom of Starmark and created the elected office of Arch Sovereign.
The Royal Star Kingdom of Starmark
By the time of the Galactic Empire, Starmark had fully evolved into a semi-feudal monarchical society ruled by an aristocratic oligarchy. At this time, the star kingdom was gaining wealth and notoriety within the Empire as it was their merchant fleets that fed the Imperial Fleets the much needed tabanna, and sig gas that went into the turbolasers and blasters, as well as the titanium and chromium metals that make up the components of their hyperdrives. When the Empire collapsed Starmark began an aggressive campaign to maintain the Imperial facade but, contort it to their image. Starmark began spreading its merchant fleets and developing its own naval power. Centuries, later into the future, Starmark would fall into stagnation and neglect due to the reigns of the Cloistered Arch Sovereigns. It is at this time the Iron Empire subjugated the world and incorporated it into its structure. With the final collapse of the Iron Empire, Starmark is free, with a new Arch Soveriegn, and new zeal for power.
