Character
Oba Diah as viewed from space.
Oba Diah City’s Old Town district.
Krim Rally Hall.
The Temple of Darth Oblivonia.
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To update and expand on Oba Diah’s Canon lore, and create a setting for a thread in the distant future.
- Image Credit: Space View, Oba Diah City, Krim Rally Hall, Temple of Darth Oblivonia
- Canon: Oba Diah
- Permissions: N/A
- Links: Spice, Coaxium, Interdiction Field, Turbolaser, Bomblet Generator, Jej Ulchtar/Darth Exalton, Kessel Run, Darth Desolous, The Spice Wars
- Planet Name: Oba Diah (Spelled in some antiquated sources as Obah Diah.)
- Demonym: Oban
- Region: Outer Rim Territories
- System Name: Kessel System
- System Features:
- Star:
- Planets and Moons:
- Other Features:
- Location: Top-middle of Quesh‘s Hex.
- Major Imports:
- Raw Spice
- Unrefined Coaxium
- Military Hardware
- Major Exports:
- Processed Spice
- Refined Coaxium
- Obsidian and obsidian-made products
- Unexploited Resources: N/A
- Gravity: Standard
- Climate: Cold
- Primary Terrain:
- Obsidian Cliffs
- Mountains
- Atmosphere: Type 1
- Capital City: Oba Diah City, an expansive metropolis and galaxy-class spaceport, which has expanded greatly since the Clone Wars. Has a population of 29 million.
- Planetary Features: Orbital space stations, obsidian spires
- Major Locations:
- Within Oba Diah City:
- The Obsidian Shard: The modern capital building of Oba Diah, and of the Pyke Syndicate.
- High Fortress of the Pyke Syndicate: The historic capital building of the Pyke Syndicate, and the Grand Wsjirari’s ceremonial residence.
- Tygazotz: An important industrial refining city on Oba Diah, and the capital of the East Yrondlis administrative region. Has a population of 14 million.
- Velkaccio: An influential cultural/religious center, and the capital of the Kajadakeel Administrative Region. Has a population of 16 million.
- Krim Rally Hall: A massive government building, military base, and a frequent site for propaganda speeches and rallies. It is named after the influential Krim family, who financed its construction in the 780s ABY.
- Within Oba Diah City:
- Force Nexus (Optional): Yes
- Intent: To provide a location for Darth Exalton (and potentially my PC later on) to conduct Sith rituals.
- Nexus Name: Temple of Darth Oblivonia
- Nexus Alignment: Dark
- Size: Medium
- Strength: Moderate
- Accessibility: The Temple’s existence is not public knowledge, and is only privy to certain members of the Pyke Syndicate, archaeologists, historians, and Sith Lords. The Temple itself is situated deep within an obsidian mountain range. Its entrance is defended by a squad of Elite Pyke Guards, and blocked off by a heavy door which can only be opened telekinetically by a force user. The interior is patrolled by ancient droids who maintain the temple’s condition. When a user of the Dark Side enters the temple, the droids will be helpful and accommodating, speaking in rather antiquated forms of Galactic Basic or the Pyke language. When a user of the Light Side enters the temple, the droids will instead become aggressive, attacking the intruder with a crude form of blaster pistols.
- Effects: The Temple’s aura has different effects for users of the Dark Side and users of the Light Side. For the users of the Dark Side, the temple projects a calming and decisive aura, perfect for meditation or conducting Sith rituals. For users of the Light Side, the aura instead feels menacing and condescending, as if the temple itself is being judgmental towards their lack of worthiness to be there.
POPULATION
- Native Species: Pyke
- Immigrated Species: Toong, Trandoshan
- Population: Heavy: 13 billion
- Demographics:
- Pykes: 96%. The native sentient species of Oba Diah, and by far the largest demographic. Pykes hold all effective power on the planet, and often see other species as beneath them.
- Toong: 3%. A minority population of Toong also live on Oba Diah. They are descendants from refugees who fled from Toong'L when the planet was ravaged by the impact of a toxic comet in 45 BBY. As distant evolutionary cousins of the Pykes, Toong enjoy many of the same rights as the Pyke population. They often find work in jobs that require physical strength beyond what Pykes are typically capable of, but are too important or complex to assign to slaves or droids. While not barred from high advancement within the Pyke Syndicate, Toong usually lack interest in the byzantine politics and ruthless power-playing that come with a higher rank.
- Trandoshans: 1%. While small, a noteworthy Trandoshan community exists on Oba Diah. These Trandoshans are usually either employees of the Pyke Syndicate, or independent contractors such as bounty hunters or merchants. While never outright persecuted by the Pykes, Trandoshans are typically limited in their advancement opportunities within the Syndicate, never making it past the rank of Captain.
- Primary Language: Pyke
- Culture: A major cultural aspect of Oba Diah is an emphasis upon practicality and self-limitation. This is a direct result of the rampant corruption, hedonism, and decadence which left the planet completely unprepared when the Gulag Plague hit in 435 ABY. While the Pyke Syndicate still maintains its spice operations, very few Pykes actually use the substance, especially on Oba Diah. Another thing that changed as a result of the plague was that the Pykes generally became more patriotic for their species, and distrusting of other species. This is hardly true for every individual, and there are plenty of younger Pykes who find themselves dissatisfied with their elders’s xenophobic outlook. One thing that all Pykes agree on though is that interspecies romantic relationships are not for them. This is a combination of the previously mentioned xenophobia, and the lingering of practical concerns from when they needed to rebuild the population after the plague.
- Government: In theory, Oba Diah is a Parliamentary Democracy governed by the Oba Diah Senate and a Prime Minister. In practice, it is actually an Authoritarian Autocracy controlled by the Pyke Syndicate.
- Affiliation: Pyke Syndicate
- Wealth: High. As the Capital Planet of the powerful Pyke Syndicate, a large share of the profits of the Syndicate’s operations end up here.
- Stability: High The Pyke Syndicate maintains tight control over Oba Diah with the use of intimidation, propaganda, and surveillance.
- Freedom & Oppression: As the old smuggler’s adage goes, “Oba Diah is a good place to be a bad guy, but a bad place to be a good guy.” All sorts of actions which would be considered crimes on other planets are tolerated by the Syndicate as long as they are not directed towards it. The only crimes which usually get serious investigation otherwise are arson, fraud, mass murder, and terrorism. However, when action is taken against the Syndicate, things are a very different story. Traitors, insurgents, and protesters are ruthlessly hunted down and punished. Even fairly innocuous actions can result in a severe punishment.
- Military: Oba Diah has a significant military presence, both in terms of land armies and space fleets. The planet is orbited by several space stations with advanced weaponry, such as interdiction fields, bomblet generators, and turbolasers. These space stations also have docked E-90 Patrol/Scout Ships and Prosperity class Medium Cruisers. Completing the defense fleet is a massive Ostenxa class Carrier carrying smaller craft such as RZ-565 Long Range Starfighters. The planet also has a significant standing land armies, consisting of around 10 million soldiers. Some land vehicles used in the ground forces include the AT-EMAP and the RK-22 Armored Landspeeder.
- Technology: Galactic Standard
The planet Oba Diah originally formed approximately 5,000,000,000 BBY. Its formation occurred when two separate planets collided with each other, thanks to their orbits being disrupted by the formation of the Akkadese Maelstrom. One planet, Oba, was covered in an ocean of liquid water. The other planet, Diah, was covered in a sea of molten lava. When the two planets collided, the water of Oba caused the lava of Diah to rapidly cool down, forming large amounts of obsidian in jutting, mountainous waves. While it is not confirmed, Scientists hypothesize that some form of life existed on Oba before the collision, which provided raw material for the new primordial soup life on Oba Diah evolved from.
Before the Pyke species was even close to emerging, a wide variety of species lived and died on Oba Diah. Ranging from microscopically small protists that collectively formed massive tree-like structures, to fish with multiple heads, the array of prehistoric life on Oba Diah was utterly dazzling. Fossil evidence of these fantastical creatures inspired many of the early myths and religions on the planet.
The Pykes originally evolved from a species of cave-dwelling Caecilian which possessed an unusually large brain used for an echolocation system. In addition to facilitating echolocation, this larger brain also made these caecilians more intelligent and curious. Overtime, they formed various adaptations to explore their caves further, most notably limbs used to cling to the cave ceilings. As they became more and more intelligent, these “Cavepykes” began to become more social and developed rudimentary forms of communication. The final evolutionary step for these early Pykes was leaving their caves, and walking upright.
The early Pykes mastered agriculture and animal husbandry relatively quickly, and built early city states out of the naturally-occurring obsidian towers common on Oba Diah. These Spire-Cities were well-organized, with floors dedicated to housing, food storage, and community meeting areas. However, existence was not always peaceful between the Spire-Cities. Many of the cites maintained active armies, however they were generally not used for outright conquest. Instead, the Pykes waged war against each other primarily through economics, and the armies were used primarily to enforce sieges, collect strategic resources, and to defend supply routes. Wars were not won by victories on the battlefield, but by having a better-supplied city than the enemy.
Competition between Spire-Cities led to the advancement of technology throughout Oba Diah, and the development of larger nations. This eventually culminated in a united government known as the Pyke Parliament based in the city of Anefozotz (later renamed Oba Diah City), and the development of space travel. Early Pyke space travel was limited to Ceratus, and just for scientific study. However, there was evidence that the Akkadese Maelstrom had a planet hidden within, which would be within the reach of Pyke spacecraft. After several expeditions to chart a safe and consistent pathway through the deadly haze, the Pykes discovered the hidden planet of Kessel, and established the Kessel Run hyperspace route to make future travel between Oba Diah and Kessel much easier. The discovery of Coaxium on Kessel made inter-system travel easy for the Pykes.
Not long after the discovery of Kessel, Pyke explorers made first contact with their first sentient species of alien: the Hutts of the Hutt Empire. The Hutts and Pykes were at similar levels of technological development, and had a surprising amount of respect for each other. Soon enough, the Hutts suggested a mutually beneficial trade alliance. In exchange for refined coaxium and spice from the Pykes, the Hutts would give them large quantities of precious metals and “prisoners with jobs” (i.e. slaves) to mine the substances faster. The Pyke Parliament agreed to this deal, and soon enough, Oba Diah became an important and prosperous distribution center for spice and coaxium. On the flip side, the Hutt Empire became significantly more powerful, using its new supply of coaxium to facilitate increasingly distant conquests.
The Hutt-Pyke Alliance would continue until the collapse of the Hutt Empire. Fallout from the Hutt Cataclysms eventually ended up triggering a period of history known on Oba Diah as the Great Disorder. During the Great Disorder, the Pyke Parliament dissolved, technological progress on Oba Diah stagnated, and civil wars became commonplace. Thanks to this, control of Kessel usually fell to other powers during this time.
Oba Diah would eventually be reunified thanks to the efforts of a Pyke Sith named Darth Oblivonia. Originally a Jedi named Xrelia Drite, she was the apprentice of the Jedi Master who would become Darth Desolous. When her master fell to the Dark Side of the Force, she followed him soon after and took the Sith name Darth Oblivonia. During Desolous’s war against the Jedi, Oblivonia served as his loyal second-in-command. After Desolous and most of his army fell in battle at Yaga Minor, Oblivonia managed to escape to her home planet of Oba Diah and avoid capture by the Jedi.
Oblivonia set herself up as a religious prophet called the Grand Wsjirari (exalted seer) in order to reunite the fractured planet with the power of religious zealotry. In contrast to Desolous, Oblivonia sought power not through military might, but through the domination of strategic resources and the religious faith of the populace. The population of Oba Diah was quite simply done with the Great Disorder, and gladly flocked to the teachings of the Grand Wsjirari. This was helped along by the Sith rituals Oblivonia conducted in her secret Sith Temple to make the populace more susceptible to her influence. Under Oblivonia’s guidance, the Pykes not only reunited, but managed to retake control of Kessel and other worlds rich in strategic resources. However, Oblivonia never extended her reach too far. If she did, there was always the risk that the Jedi Order would look into her activities too closely, and discover her true nature.
While Darth Oblivonia eventually died of natural causes, her legacy on Oba Diah most certainly lives on. Her unified government of Oba Diah eventually evolved into the Pyke Syndicate. While the Syndicate does not have much of a religious aspect in its modern incarnation, its leaders still go by the title of Grand Wsjirari. Oblivonia also has many direct descendants living on Oba Diah and other Pyke worlds.
The Pyke Syndicate’s influence continued to expand past Oba Diah in the following centuries, being counted among the prestigious Five Syndicates by the time of the Clone Wars. As such, it was represented on the Council of the Five Syndicates by Grand Wsjirari Lom Pyke. The planet remained neutral in the Clone Wars (not counting the momentary blip that was the Shadow Collective), with Lom Pyke attempting to play both sides against each other for maximum profit. He ended up paying for this with his life when the Sith Lord Darth Tyranus came to Oba Diah and killed him.
Oba Diah managed to stay self-ruling for the most part during the Imperial Era, as long as the Pykes sold coaxium to the Empire for a reduced price. After the Empire’s collapse, Oba Diah declined somewhat thanks to infighting and competition from the upstart Spice Runners of Kijimi. However, the Pykes managed to bounce back with a vengeance after Kijimi was destroyed in 35 ABY.
The destruction of Kijimi marked the start of the Gilded Age of Oba Diah. During this time, Oba Diah became one of wealthiest worlds in the Outer Rim, eclipsing the likes of Terminus, Scipio, and even the opulent Cantonica. However, this wealth and prosperity bred corruption. Levels of bribery, absenteeism, nepotism and hedonism were off the charts, and barely anything actually happened on Oba Diah. This left the planet very much unprepared for the Gulag Plague in 435 ABY. The Pykes were the first of the Five Syndicates to fall, and casualties from the plague on Oba Diah were beyond count. To make matters worse, the planet also descended into a bloody civil war over remaining supplies of spice and other valuable commodities.
Slowly but surely, the Gulag Plague ran its course on Oba Diah, and the civil war fizzled out. The Pyke Syndicate was restored under a new Grand Wsjirari named Bael Eios, and a technological renaissance occurred. The influence of Oba Diah was once again on the rise.
However, prosperity often inspires jealousy in others, and this was certainly the case here. Terpadas Tokine, the jealous and paranoid General Secretary of the Crymorah Syndicate, desired control of the lucrative Kessel mines for himself. To obtain control of them, he orchestrated the assassination of Grand Wsjirari Dazat Eios, starting the Crymo-Pyke War. During this war, the Crymorah Syndicate conducted Hyena Bomber raids against cities on Oba Diah, indiscriminately attacking both military and civilian targets. While the war was eventually won by the Pyke Syndicate, the Crymorah Syndicate committed a last act of spite by unleashing a bioweapon stolen from the Arkanians upon Oba Diah. This bioweapon was called the Malchai Plague, and resulted in millions of Pykes dying. Fortunately, a cure was developed relatively quickly, and the plague was eradicated before it could get as bad as the Gulag Plague had been.
In the aftermath of the Crymo-Pyke War, culture on Oba Diah became much more militaristic. Thanks in part to this, and the aggressive leadership of Grand Wsjirari Jej Ulchtar, the Pyke Syndicate has become more focused on external conquest. A few notable planets which have been forcibly placed under its sphere of influence include Doan and Niamos. With Jej Ulchtar’s ambitious designs on the Galaxy, many more are bound to follow.
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