OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To worldbuild the home of Clan Rodarch on Mandalore
- Image Credit: Town, City, Caves, Tower, the Mandalorian TV show (disney)
- Canon: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Links: N/A
SETTING INFORMATION
- City Name: Rodarch Yaim
- Classification: Market Town/Hidden City
- Location: Mandalore
- Affiliation: Clan Rodarch, Mandalorian Protectors
- Population: Heavy The entire city complex is home to hundreds of thousands of Clan Rodarch, and there is room to house much of the diaspora, up to ten times the number of residents.
- Demographics: Clan Rodarch makes no distinction for species race or gender, as is the Mandalorian way. Countless species are represented, with a mix similar to galactic standards, with humans being the largest group represented without being near a majority. There are no non Mandalorians.
- Wealth: High Clan Rodarch prizes efficiency and sustainability along with ingenuity. These virtues as well as the hard work and generosity of the many members of the Clan ensures their home city is a good place.
- Stability: High A safe and secure society, with good wealth distribution, and a cooperative spirit. Mandalorians not of the Clan Rodarch are welcomed or at least tolerated. Non Mandalorians are not tolerated.
- Freedom & Oppression: The mood is relaxed and open, for there are very few outsiders here, and those here must be trusted vode. The mood for a non-mandalorian would be the extreme opposite, their presence not tolerated.
- Description: The surface town is a collection of rock hewn and sand tent dwellings spread out in a canyon valley, masked from the outside on almost all sides by high peaks and cliffs, surrounded outwardly by a seemingly endless desert. This is the face that Clan Rodarch shows to the galaxy. Spies and satellites will see only a small village.
Artfully concealed within a small cave is the main entrance to the true city, and once underground, this is where visitors are often struck dumb by the green oasis hidden away. Buildings linked by trees and gardens are dimly lit by shafts of light, a whole underground plant city beneath the surface, stretching down into the depths.
This city is both ancient and modern, with rock hewn galleries dating back thousands of years filled with the most advanced and new equipment. Here the population need not hide their numbers, and the size and breadth of the main cavern system is able to house many thousands of Mandalorians.
POINTS OF INTEREST
Surface Town - A small settlement in a rocky ravine, surrounded by desert on all sides. The place is difficult to spot from the air or from space, and difficult to approach on the ground. An aboveground village, quite safe, well within the Clan's territory, and physically shielded by the high rocks around them.
Homes, markets and businesses are located here, mostly catering to the desert rodarch, and any visitors. Here also are more newly built garages and hangars, artfully concealed inside the rock formations, to house the speeders and spacecraft of any visitors. Inside the town, visitors are often taken by its simplicity and efficiency, with dwellings positioned to take advantage of the cover provided by the rock formations. There are wells that take advantage of natural springs, and shade is provided both by the high wall-like rock faces and the trees here and there.
Plant City - Concealed beneath Mandalore's much abused and barren looking surface, a large cityscape extends into deep caverns. The beating heart of Clan Rodarch, this is the home of the Alor, and many of the Clan from onworld and offworld. Aided by the finest hydroponic technologies, the city is very green with trees, plants, hedges, vines, and green in every direction.
The city includes marketplaces, factories and housing districts, which serve to support the activities of many different families. Located at the lowest levels of the city where the cave system begins are the beskar mines, which employ many local families. The many support industries for manufacturing and production are also located in the lower levels.
Restoration Tower - A terraforming plant that provides oxygen and nitrogen to improve the local atmospheric conditions. This also provides additional water in the form of a light misting rain that simulates precipitation. In addition the presence of the atmospheric purifiers here deals with much of the output from the forges and mines below, so that the air quality is not affected, and the telltale smoke of industrial output is concealed.
Cave System - A labyrinth of tunnels and shafts surrounding and below the main city, this is the habitat of the Cave Rodarch, who live and work down in the darkness. They scout the tunnels, and secure the area against predators of which there are many. Beyond the city, tunnels lead off in all directions into the complicated maze of passages, dead ends, flooded and collapsed ways, caverns both natural and unnatural, and the deep darkness of Mandalore's underground. The creatures that live underground beyond the Clan's city are wild, dangerous, and deadly.
Seed Vault - A biological and ecological preserve, this area contains laboratories for ongoing research, farming, and development. Even during times of hardship the plant growth programs keep going, and the vaults are always ready to help regrow Mandalore.
SECURITY
Maximum
This is the well established home of an entire extended family of Mandalorians, the Clan Rodarch. They tolerate their vode. They do not tolerate outsiders. They are all armed, and many of them are violent and unyielding in the protection of their home. Two thirds of the Clan is dedicated to a life of protecting their home.
Any attacker would require an army numbering in the low millions to assault the city. These forces could easily wipe out the surface town, but would take very heavy casualties when moving underground. The main entrance is heavily fortified, and can be collapsed. There are tunnels and caves which can be breached, but these will be used to funnel and bottleneck enemy forces before they too are collapsed. Even with a full assault from above and below ground, the Clan will be able to evacuate through the underground, and hold out for years with the cached supplies and hidden bunkers.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
The settlement which Clan Rodarch calls home dates all the way back to the Taung's arrival on Mandalore, though records from this period are nonexistent. Like most all permanent structures on Mandalore, it has been ruined, partially or nearly completely on more than one occasion as cataclysm and destruction has been visited upon the world by Mandalore's enemies.
The city, when it had to have a name, was referred to as Yaim by the Clan Rodarch, and Rodarch to the outsider Mando'ade who had been honoured to visit.
Clan Rodarch always returns, to rebuild, recruit, and restore what was lost. Supply caches and seed vaults have provided a way for the Clan to begin again each time. The most recent iteration of the city has been established for decades, since the time before the Civil War. Much of the expansion has been below ground, aiding in the Clan's baslan shevla during the times of troubles.
The underground works are supervised by those called cave Rodarch, who are descended from those who have never left, having survived everything that has been done to the homeworld, living their lives underground. The cave dialect of Mando'a being particularly difficult for outsiders, even vode, to understand, but they work well with their desert dwelling family, each protecting and defending the home.
Following the battle of Mandalore the Clan unmasked to the galaxy again, and became less serious about hiding their numbers and their presence; though they still take the security of their home not lightly. Those who had traveled to the Clan's home by ship or speeder are met at the edge of the canyon, so their craft could be quickly camoflagued.
After the fight at Sundari, Clan Rodarch was making a great show of trust and inclusiveness, solidarity with the Protectors and the other Clans, by opening their home up to the other residents of Mandalore. Once Everyone wore beskar'gam, there were no aruetiise in a place like this. Even a group of vode was a rare sight.
This went against the grain for some of the arch-conservative types, but the wisdom in building ties took the majority, and swayed the Alor to sanction Arla's request. Several elders including Archimedes spoke in favour of the proposal to invite their vode to visit and enjoy their hospitality, and partake in the hunt. They would share food and drink, and share the dangers and wonders of their home.
