Sic transit gloria mundi
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: Expand on the elf diaspora and provide more rp opportunities with it. Make use of a ship I subbed.
Image Credit: Here.
Canon: N/A.
Links: Vashyada, Tylania, Order of Fire, Four of a Kind.
SETTING INFORMATION
Starship Name: Light of Yarkul.
Starship Model: Verdant Ark.
Classification: Colony/exploration ship.
Homeport: Arx Aeternae.
Travel Route: Tygara, Arx Aeternae, Arkas. However, the ship is not bound or limited to these areas. The ship journeys across the fringes of space. The goal is to find new areas to explore, find a new world to settle on and establish trade relations with outsiders along the way. As a result, it will often stray from known hyperlanes.
Affiliation: Firemane Industries & Technology, Vashyada.
Crew Complement: Heavily Manned.
Notable Crew Members:
Seku Fenn: A female Twi'lek diplomat and member of Firemane's Diplomatic Bureau. She acts as the Firemane resident, representing the interests of her corporate mistresses. Unfortunately for her, she has mild arachnophobia and the Vashyada have insisted on bringing their spiders along. Seku suspects that Siobhan assigned her to the Light of Yarkul a joke. Sometimes she claims it is because she turned down all of of Siobhan's advances and refused to sleep with her. Seku would have preferred to be posted on a Qadiri worldship and finds her present posting to be a bit 'rustic', but is an ambitious sort and wants to advance her career.
Hwraarci: A female Wookiee astrogator who was recruited by Firemane. She grew up during the Dark Age, and was initiated into the Claatuvac Guild, a group of Wookiee cartographers and navigators. When the One Sith occupatied Kashyyyk, she used her knowledge of secret hyperspace routes to help fellow Wookiee fugitives escape. During this time she worked with resistance groups and the Oathkeepers, a unit of Wookiee warriors who fight for Firemane. Hwraarci cannot speak Basic, but has no problem understanding it. Despite the linguistic barrier, she gets on quite well with the Vash. Her people are a good role model for the wood elves, as they are an advanced - yet natural - civilisation. She is also a tough warrior, wielding traditional Wookiee weapons.
Cletos Natar: A male Ithorian researcher. Cletos acted as a consultant during the construction of the first Verdant Ark. He consults on how to maintain the delicate ecosystem aboard the ship, but also gives lectures at the school, where Vashyada are taught essential skills to keep their floating community running and learn about the outside Galaxy. Cletos is a bit of a know-it-all, but good at what he does. He has also come along to learn more about the Vash people and any cultures and worlds they might encounter on their journey.
Vailkai: Vashyada druid. Vailkai is a disciple of Tylania and a Vash cleric of high repute and impeccable honour. She is a staunch believer in the Light, a healer and a defender of her people. When the Vashyada entered diplomatic relations with Firemane, Vailkai agreed to work with the outsiders for the benefit of her people - and make sure that those of her students who spent time with the foreigners did not lose their way. She is sceptical of the 'sky people', for she believes that those who draw upon the dark side will be tainted by it. The fact that one of her students fell to the dark side and became an outcast factors into this. Nonetheless, she will answer the call if the Order has need of her and thus may be pulled away on missions.
Bozhena: Spiritual priestess interested in seeing nature beyond Tygara. She is the de facto religious leader of the community, providing spiritual guidance, though in theory it is more of a first among equals situation. Aside from leading religious ceremonies and interpreting omens, she also provides healing and trains Force-Users in the ways of the Vash. She is a believer in the old Vash deities such as the Mother Sun. She used to travel across Tygara, being a wandering botanist and anthropologist of sorts. Now she continues this in space, but with responsibility for a flock. Her nomadic life style means she is more than capable of defending herself.
Kseniya: Vash entertainer/singer and poet who tours between the ships. She sings Vash songs for a wider market. Her projects also include soundtrack work for holomovies and holodocumentaries, including Heroes of Purity: A Firemane Film. She has given private performances for the Kerrigan-Alcori clan. Young Elpsis is one of her fans. Despite her success, she has a very private life style. Kyseniya was raised in the faith, but is more spiritual than religious.
Mislav: Male Vashyada warrior. Former Order of Fire member who resigned to lead the training programme aboard. Firemane were happy for this to happen as it means their allies and their methods are in place. Before leaving the Order's services, he was a member of the Circle of Yarkul, a unit of Vashyada warrior druids who specialise in terramancy. His closeness to the outsiders causes conservative elements to view him with a degree of suspicion. He gets on well with Hwraarci and has gone on several missions with the Oathkeepers.
Bohumir: Male Vashyada warrior. Bohumir is a grizzled war leader happy to be leaving Tygara. He is a veteran of several campaigns against foreign incursions and bears the scars of many battles. Peace to him is something to be cherished, but those who wish for it must prepare for war. Bohumir bears a grudge against the Qadiri for their past crimes against the Vashyada. He is staunchly protective of his people. Poster child for good is not soft - or necessarily nice. He is a bit of a warrior poet in his spare time.
Mileena: Returned Vashyada merchant who has set up her corporate headquarters aboard and supplies the ship with the basics they need...for a price, of course. Old style Vash dislike money, and consider her to have been tainted by the curse of lucre. For her part, Mileena sees herself as forward-thinking, arguing that she is a self-reliant Vash who who makes her own path instead of seeking succour from others. She is friends with Varisantha Lycaeni, an Eldorai banker who provided capital to finance her start-up and is one of the financial backers of the Tygaran space exloration efforts.
Accessibility: The ship is not isolated from the rest of society, but can be difficult to find since it will often traverse areas of space beyond the known hyperlanes. The Vashyada are new to the Galaxy and a bit wary of outsiders. However, their overall alignment is peaceful and welcoming, though newcomers will be vetted before being allowed aboard. Firemane has a stake in the ship, so individuals and groups the megacorp is hostile to will not be allowed aboard.
Description: The Light of Yarkul is Verdant Ark Class colony ship. It is able to carry and supply millions of people, allowing them to set up new colonies on the way. It possesses the space, materials and supplies to enable them to start a new existence elsewhere and found colonies. Like an Ithorian Herdship, it can simulate an entire ecosystem. The view of the sky is great, too. The Verdant Ark is a special variant of the Asur Class Worldship. It was designed for the Vashyada, a race of wood elves. Of all the members of the Eldorai family of races, the Vashyada are the least tech-savvy and somewhat primitive. However, they are perfectly attuned to nature, make excellent scouts and healers and, in contrast to many of their kin, have a rather peaceful society. They are also devoted to the Light.
The interior of the Light of Yarkul is almost like a floating tiered forest. The wood elves need bubbles to properly grow their forest habitats, which makes providing UV light and water particularly pertinent. For the design, Firemane has taken inspiration from Ithorian Herdships. Similar to a herdship, the Light of Yarkul is able to contain a complete and living ecosystem. Cities and living areas are located on the upper levels, while the forests are on the lower levels.
In addition, each ship contains greenhouses with simulated suns. Space has been set aside for nurseries and meditation areas. The Vashyada have also brought a number of their giant spiders along, as they are quite fond of them. Fortunately, these large beasts are domesticated and very intelligent. They can still be quite unnerving to individuals with arachnophobia, as they are big enough to be used as war mounts. Tribal ties are very important to Vashyada, so members of the same clan tend to be grouped together in settlement areas.
The Vashyada like looking at the stars, so the ship incorporates a dome of the sky like the Asur. Huge glasteel plates are tessellated together, allowing those on the ground and in every dwelling to get a view of space. It helps keep people from getting too claustrophobic. The sky does represent a weak point though. As a result, two hemi-spherical half-domes can close over it when the ship is travelling through hyperspace or under attack. When this is done, the sky is protected beneath metres of hardened durasteel.
The ship is well-protected. It has heavy armour, multiple overlapping and redundant shields and hundreds of defence guns. This means it is a tough nut to crack, but it possesses little in terms of offensive armaments. So it can take a beating, but not dish out much. Each ship contains a strong on-board garrison and a militia composed of all adult civilians. The passenger capacity of the ships is lower than that of the Asur, as room had to be made for the nature habitats and so on.
A lot of space is devoted to nature and communal living areas. Moreover, the Vashyada do not favour close living or living in cities. At present the Vashyada are not that numerous, so this is not a big issue. Strict environmental regulations have been introduced to preserve the ecosystem of the vessel. The Vashyada do not take kindly to individuals who disregard them and, for instance, leave trash lying around. They also have stern recycling rules. Firemane personnel are expected to abide by those.
Government aboard the vessels is quite libertarian. The Vashyada have taken the idea of democracy to heart and have instituted a general assembly, which meets to discuss issues and elect individuals for civic roles, though certain positions such as captain and navigator are permanent to ensure continuity and steady leadership. A Firemane resident provides advice, technical support and ensures that the megacorp's interests are represented.
POINTS OF INTEREST
Broadly speaking, the ship consists of two areas: the facilities that pertain to running it, such as hangars, engine room, reactor, bridge, quarters and so on, and the city within the ship, where the general population lives. The Light of Yarkul is essentially a mobile forest--city on the move. Similar to an Ithorian herdship, settlements and living areas are located on the upper levels, and the forests on the lower ones. Aside from the usual facilities, the following areas are of interest:
Assembly: Here the council meets to discuss issues and pass laws that affect the community as a whole. It is an open-air chamber. The council is directly elected by the crew and citizens of the vessel. Smaller assemblies exist to deal with local issues. The meetings of the assembly can attract audiences. The Vashyada are a monarchy, but a decentralised, constitutional one. The occupants of the ship owe fealty to the dual monarchs.
Residency: The office of the Diplomatic Burea's resident, who has been assigned to provide advice and represent Firemane's interests. It is guarded by Firemane personnel and has a technical staff that helps the Vashyada run and maintain the ship. It has a direct line to Firemane headquarters.
House of Healing: The infirmary of the ship. The Vashyada are a bit sceptical about modern medicine, though they have adopted vaccinations because exploration is no fun when your people die from foreign diseases.6 The healers tend to be Vashyada priestesses. These druids have powers comparable to that of Jedi healers. They will also offer healing to outsiders who do not come with ill intent.
The Menagerie: Special area for new plants and animals collected on the journey.
The Queen's Chamber: The spider hatchery. The Vashyada do have a sense of humour, hence the name. Visitors who ask to see the Queen are brought here, where the queen spider says hello. She is very large. It is a great time for everyone, except those with arachnophobia. Fortunately, the giant spiders are domesticated, can be trained and are very intelligent.
Oak of Knowledge: A school that offers classes for all age groups. Education is very decentralised among the Vashyada and literacy is mostly limited to the priestesses This school intends to teach them skills they will need to maintain the ship, set up colonies and survive in the greater Galaxy. It tries to balance reverence for the old ways with adaptation of those aspects of the new that suit their people. Ithorian and Wookiee guest teachers are brought in sometimes, as their mind set is quite close to that of the wood elves in a number of ways.
Greenhouses: Self-explanatory really. Here plants are grown in climate controlled areas. They are vital to sustaining the population of the vessel. In addition, they give the Vash products to sell or barter during their voyage. The greenhouses have miniature suns. Vashyada botanists who are skilled in plant surge help make things grow.
The Mother's Realm: Forests. Located in the lower levels of the vessel. It does not quite match the untamed wilds of Yarkul, but resembles them as much as is practical. Animals have been released into it. Maintaining it is considered a matter of principle.
Rangers' Assembly: Weapons training area and armoury. Members of the militia and of the garrison are drilled here. The Vashyada are more used to irregular warfare than regimented conventional one, but have adopted modern weapons, such as shatterguns, bowcasters and Dathomiri style energy bows.
Hall of the Spirits: A training area for Force-Users. Some of the training methods and trials had to be adjusted since they are not in Yarkul anymore. Here the disciples of Tylania teach Force adepts how to use their powers and, even more importantly, respect them. Lightsabres are all but unheard of, since the Vashyada did not know about them until the arrival of the sky people, but they are good at designing Force Imbued weapons. Elemental Force abilities, plant surge, stealth powers, animal friendship and typical Light Side skills are common. Dark side abilities are not taught here, and indeed prohibited.
Star Chamber: A grand sky plaza to watch the stars. The ship offers a great view. The Vashyada refer to space as the sky-ocean, and see every planet as an island in it. The sky is covered when the ship is moving through hyperspace or under attack, as it represents a significant weak point.
SECURITY
High
- In keeping with its model, the Verdant Ark only has limited offensive armaments. It has some fast-mounted turbolasers, a few ion cannons and turbolasers.
- However, it has significant defensive ones: Hundreds of quad lasers and point defences distributed evenly around the front/fear and a few flak cannons. It also has heavy armour plating and redundant shield generators as well as ion shielding.
- The ship has a large on board garrison, war beasts and extensive defences, including ray shields, auto-turrets etc. The regular garrison is supplemented by a militia composed of all adult civilians. The garrison includes Vashyada Rangers as well as magi who specialise in elemental Force abilities, especially those of the earth. There is also a Firemane contingent of marines.
- The ship is populated almost entirely by Vashyada, many of whom do not speak Basic. Their own language is extremely obscure. This can impede infiltration, as outsiders will stand out, especially if they are aliens.
The Light of Yarkul is the first of the Verdant Arks, a class of worldships Firemane created for the Vashyada, a race of wood elves. Firemane first established diplomatic relations with the Vashyada following the defeat of the Xioquo. Siobhan Kerrigan and Tegaea Alcori led an expedition to Yarkul, the homeland of the Vashyada. There they met with both the High King and the High Queen as well Tylania, prophetess and Paragon of the Vashyada.
There were serious ideological differences. The Vashyada were peaceful, but technologically primitive, had no experience with market economics and venerated the Light. Still, both sides realised they had a lot to offer to one another. Firemane wanted allies and loyal vassals rather than slaves. The Vashyada had good healers and stealth specialists, but were lacking in tech. Siobhan and Lady Tylania struck up an unlikely friendship. After Siobhan suffered a stroke, she lost her connection to the Force. Tylania helped her restore it.
When the major leaders of Tygara convened for a summit aboard the Arx Aeternae, it was decided that the elves would go off to colonise in space. Lady Tylania, the prophetess and Paragon of the Vashyada, had been one of the instigators of the conference. Tylania had been the first Vashyada, and had thus been around when the Rakata created the elves as slave races. This gave her the foresight to understand that her people would have to advance in order to survive and the ability to look past the petty rivalries of the contemporary era.
However, the idea of space travel was revolutionary for the Vashyada. The accord did not meet with universal support. Some were afraid of moving into space, others regarded the humans of Firemane as foreign tyrants who wanted to take control. Not only were they foreigners, they also had several Force-users who used the dark side, including their leader. This was anathema to conservative Vashyada. Some of them would find their own way into space, but break off from the main group. A few of these joined the Shadow Knights. Others decided to play the long game, determining that they could use the tools of the outsiders for the advancement of their people.
Moreover, the wood elves did not want to give up their traditions and be assimilated by the humans or Eldorai. They wanted to maintain their way of life as far as possible, merging old traditions with those aspects of modern civilisation that could complement them. In that regard they are on a similar trajectory to the Wookiees, who understand modern tech and are quite savvy, but do not use a lot of it. The Wookiees may live in wroshyr tree cities, but bowcasters are more powerful and accurate than blasters. They also have skilled navigators and technicians. Indeed, Kashyyyk was a major exporter of computer technology in the New Republic, which is why the Second Imperium invaded it.
As a result, when Firemane was approached by Tylania and her adepts, the megacorp decided that a special type of worldship would be needed to accommodate them. Similar deals had already been made with the Kar'zun and Queen Lia of the Xioquo. This design, called the Verdant Ark, would have a smaller production run than the baseline Asur, but offer the Vashyada a habitat they would feel at home in. This would also make them less dependent on outside help, meaning Firemane would not have to micromanage. The first Verdant Ark was given the name Light of Yarkul. Its interior was designed to resemble the forest cities the Vashyada were familiar with. Firemane consulted with Ithorian nature priests on the design.
After construction was complete and an inspection had been carried out, the ship was handed over to Tylania, the dual monarchs and the Vashyada people. A Firemane resident and a significant support staff were assigned to the crew to provide advice and represent the interests of Firemane. The corporation offered incentives to engineers, teachers and so on to join the crew and teach the Vashyada essential skills.
Much to the chagrin of the Firemane resident, the Vashyada insisted on taking their big spiders along with them. Unfortunately, the diplomat has arachnophobia. A host of escorts was assigned to the ship to provide protection during its journeys. In addition, a number of Wookiees were recruited for the crew. Though Firemane never established a presence on Kashyyyk, its founders established ties with some Wookiee clans during the early days of Omega Pyre. This helped them find suitable recruits.
Getting used to living on the 'sky-ship' was a serious adjustment for the wood elves who signed up for positions in the crew or became residents in the city. However, despite initial hiccups, they have started to find their way. The Vashyada have a practical mind set and while they are more primitive than their cousins, they also lack some of the internal issues holding them back. The ship is crewed by some of the most adventurous Vashyada, who now seek to traverse the sky-ocean, as they have come to call space.
