Unreviewed Refuge | Hycean Planet with Ringworld

[Big Nick]

REFUGE
SANCTUARY IN THE CORNER OF THE GALAXY

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OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION

• Intent: To create a Hycean planet with a ringworld around it in the furthest reaches of the galaxy.
• Image Credit: Halo Ring, Joe Rannells and Gas Giant Planet 03 from ArtStation combined in Photoshop. ArtStation for view from 'ground level.'
• Canon: N/A
• Permissions: N/A
• Links: N/A

GENERAL INFORMATION

• Planet Name: Refuge
• Demonym: Refugees
• Region: Unknown Regions
• System Name: ZX-44B System
• System Features: One yellow star forms the center of the system, ZX-44B. Three small terrestrial planets, ZX-Alpha, ZX-Beta, and ZX-Gamma, orbit too close to the star for habitation, all scorched and lifeless rocks. Refuge, the lone fourth planet in the system, sits in the Goldilocks Zone, allowing it to support life in it's surface ocean. The system sits on the edge of a small black hole, ZX-44A, which complicates travel in and out of the system.
• Location: Here
• Major Imports: N/A
• Major Exports: Hydorgen, Helium, fusion generators
• Unexploited Resources: Kyber

GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION

• Gravity: 3/4ths Standard Gravity.
• Climate: Tropical.
• Primary Terrain: Oceanic. Note: As a Hycean planet, Refuge's surface and core is majority water, with the thick Hydrogen atmosphere making up the majority of the planet's volume. the abundance of microscopic life releasing greenhouse gasses ensures that the oceans stay warm, retaining the heat generated by the system's star.
• Atmosphere: Type II

LOCATION INFORMATION

• Capital City: Spaceport Alpha
• Planetary Features: The oceans of Refuge are vast and populated by only the smallest of lifeforms, not capable of hosting land or organisms larger than the human fingernail.
• Major Locations: Floating platforms called Boats sit on the surface of the ocean and harvest valuable materials from within the water. These platforms return to a small port called Oris, where materials are loaded onto shuttles and taken to Spaceport Alpha on the Refuge Colony Installation.

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RINGWORLD STATION INFORMATION

SETTING INFORMATION

• Space Station Name: Refuge Colony Installation
• Station Model: N/A
• Classification: Ringworld
• Location: Refuge
• Affiliation: Refuge
• Population: Moderate
• Demographics: Evenly mixed.
• Accessibility: The installation is open to the public but difficult to access. Due to the black hole just outside the star system, travel to-and-from the installation is not worth the financial cost to most merchants. This has lead the community on the ring to develop a self-sustaining attitude.
• Traffic: Low. The only reason anyone travels to the Refuge Colony Installation is because they're from a nearby system on a diplomatic mission or because they simply wish to vanish off the face of the galaxy. The latter is more often.
• Description: A large, artificial ring structure made to simulate a natural environment. Mountains, small seas, flat grasslands, and the occasional desert make up this environment. Scientific analysis of the soil has concluded that material used in the construction of this environment was likely sourced from some of these planets: Balmorra, Ossus, Tatooine, and Jakku. Interestingly, the material from Tatooine is located in non-desert environments, implying that it was extracted before Tatooine was terraformed by the Rakatan Infinite Empire. More planets are likely to have been utilized.

POINTS OF INTEREST

• Spaceport Alpha: The primary port of entry, and the only one still remaining in operation. Both ports Beta and Gamma have been abandoned and left to become ruins. Thos port is also a large, semi-industrialized settlement, the most advanced on the ringworld.
• Village of Bones: A settlement with homes constructed out of the remains of several Greater Krayt Dragons, situated on a peninsula notable for rolling hills and fertile soil.
• Summit of Elders: A remote mountain retreat where an order of martial artists of the Matukai order dwell, isolated from a schism long ago that lead them to leave behind their ancestral home.
• Kodachi: A village situated in a sea of Mangrove growing out of a river delta. Their homes are built from the Mangrove wood on stilts to rise above the water, and rope bridges compose the walkways between structures.
• The Underdark: A system of caverns where burrowing beasts such as the native Krayt Dragons dwell. Entry is advised agains, but may reward those who enter with the prospect of yet undiscovered Kyber.

SECURITY

Medium: While the nearby black hole and the sheer size of the ring make it extremely difficult to destruction, no systems are in place to police entry and departure from the installation. This means that, if one can manage to get by the natural defenses around the station, they may be free to raid and plunder.

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POPULATION

• Native Species: N/A
• Immigrated Species: Note; All species listed dwell aboard the Refuge Colony Installation.
  
  • Sentient: Humans, Mirialan, Twi'lek, Nautolan, Mon Calamari, Querm Rybet, Roria Gungans, Smarteelian Zabrak, Mud-Walkers, Stone-Watchers
  • Semi/Non-Sentient: Krayt Dragons, Purrgil, Wampa, Tauntaun, Loth-Cat, Krykna, Lantern Bird, Bonegnawer, Flyhorn Lizard, Sleen, Frosch, Gooberfish, Gumfish, Barbed Hookfish, Pierceskimmer
• Population: Moderate
• Demographics: The population is moderately spread, with a good number of each represented population. While humans hold a slight majority, most species are well represented within the planetary demographic. Some species are late arrivals to the system, while others were brought here in the ancient past as part of an experiment.
• Primary Languages: Basic, Frog, Mon Calamari, Rakata
• Culture: The majority of the culture of Refuge is rural. Villages are scattered across the ringworld surrounding the Hycean giant that have stood unchanged for thousands of years, subsisting of simple fishing and local trade. The odd force-user typically situates themselves as a prominent leader within these communities, identifiable by their unique Force-imbued swords. It has been a few hundred years since the last open war between villages, but several settlements maintain open rivalries to the present. A strong emphasis in communities is placed in spirituallity, personal valor, and contributing to one's community. Martial arts, brought roughly two-thousand years ago by immigrant Matukai warriors, has proliferated and diffused into the combat style of the people of Refuge.
  
  Non-locals, only arriving in the last two-hundred years, situate themselves in the renovated Spaceport Alpha. These individuals resemble civilization found closer to the Core, especially Coruscant. They are content to leave the locals alone and lay low, trying to live quiet lives away from the wars of the galaxy. Some venture off into the wilds, joining up with and integrating themselves into the local culture.

GOVERNMENT & ECONOMY

• Government: Chiefdom. Settlements organize and run themselves, typically rallying behind a chief of sorts. They are independant entities, but may ally with other settlements to form larger networks.
• Affiliation: Neutral
• Wealth: Low
• Stability: Medium. Generally, communities self-police due to cultural beliefs and are thus insulated from a variety of crimes. Their isolation also keeps them rather preserved. Spaceport Alpha is maintained by a small mob-style civilian protection force, beholden to an unknown benefactor. They break up fights and curb ambitious individuals, but are otherwise hands-off.
• Freedom & Oppression: Society is mostly beholden to cultural standards for those who dwell within villages. The Darkside is shunned, frowned upon due to ancient tales of evil overlords that are likely the Rakata. The able-bodied are expected to learn how to defend their village or contribute in some other way. The elderly and disabled are supported by the community, though are typically provided with alternative means of service. Service to the community is held in the highest regard, and crimes against the community is typically met with exile. In Spaceport Alpha it seems like anything goes so long as it isn't what the powers-that-be dislike. It seems like as long as it isn't military ambition, anything is on the table. One should just be sure that they aren't partaking in anything that may make them a target of their neighbors. Many residents of the port have entered alliances to keep things like spice, slavery, and even certain weapons out of their portions of the settlement.

MILITARY & TECHNOLOGY

• Military: While villages tend to have their own small, volunteer forces for small-scale combat and defense, there is no standing military or navy on Refuge. Most individuals with the capacity to make a navy dwell in Spaceport Alpha, and they want to keep a low profile. As such, law is only lightly maintained.
• Technology: Spaceport Alpha sits at galactic standard. Every other settlement is below galactic standard, with the most advanced technology they posess being recovered blasters. The majority of settlements still live a rural, simplistic life.

HISTORICAL INFORMATION
The history of Refuge is long and vast, starting around 25,000 BBY. The legend goes that, when stricken by a plague, the Rakata grew hell-bent on discovering the means to create life, a tendancy reflected in the existance of the Mother Machine. It is unclear if the installation they constructed around the Hydrean world was construdtec for that purpose, but for some reason or another the Rakatan Infinite Empire came to this place and created a giant artificial environment housed on a ring orbiting the large body of hydrogen. Given the various chunks of matter seemingly transported from other planets to create the environment of the ring, many historians wonder if what is now referred to as the Refuge Colony Installation was simply a vanity project to boost the ego of an ancient Rakatan warlord. Whatever the case is, around 24,500 BBY Refuge would be completely cut off from the Rakatan Infinite Empire following the arrival of ZX-44A, a small blackhole that made travel to the system near impossible for a time. There is an active debate weather the ZX-44A was always present and simply moved closer to the ZX-44B system or if ZX-44A was a direct result of some lost Rakatan technology. Whatever the case was, the people of Refuge would quickly throw off their oppressors and vanish into the void of space. Reflecting their ancient history, some villages still speak the ancient Rakatan tongue.

The Rakata are believed to have brought Human, Mirialan, Twi'lek, Nautolan, and Querm Rybet settlers to populate the artifical ringworld around Refuge, as well as all known occuring wildlife. Later arrivals, the Roria Gungans, Smarteelian Zabrak, Mud-Walkers, Stone-Watchers, and Mon Calamari, are documented to have begun arriving starting 8 BBY, either brought from nearby systems or by their own free-will from abroad. When the ringworld was discovered by Mon Calamari explorers it was percieved as a sanctuary to escape the woes of the Galactic Empire. It was these explorers who would name the planet Refuge, as well as name the ringworld the Refuge Colony Installation. The population maintained by outsiders has always remained relatively small, as Refuge's status is maintained as a relatively unknown planet by those who seek to keep this paradise to themselves. Rumors fill seedy cantinas of a place far beyond the reaches of any government, where an individual can simply vanish without a trace.

While modern history is more well-documented, the ancient past of Refuge is left to local mythology. It is stated that, after a period of freedom following Rakatan rule, called the Great Rest, a war between villages broke out. This conflict was waged by a dark wizard of terrible power, a conquerer remembered only as Lok the Repugnant. This warlord, perhaps a Force user of some sort, sought to unite all villages on the ringworld under his banner through brutal conquest, a campaign that resembled the brutality of their former Rakatan masters. This war would cause peace to fracture. Hundreds of thousands of sides would be formed as villages fought to protect their land and take advantage of weak neighbors. The conflict would last a thousand years, long after Lok had died in battle. This conflict would only be ended by another mythologized being, who is refered to as the Sunny Woman. It is believed, based on depictionsin ancient paintings, that the Sunny Woman was a Nautolan. Using a warm light, the Sunny Woman soothed the aching hearts of the villages and told them to return to their lands. In the modern day she is reveared as a saint of sorts, and those who posess her natural ability, the Force, are held in high cultural regard. While light-alligned Force sensitives are seen as the kin of the Sunny Woman, it is unclear to historians if she was a traveling Jedi or something else entirely.

In the present day, the long-standing villages and the modern settlement of Spaceport Alpha maintain some trade, but meddle little in the affairs of one another. No expansion is ever attempted by those who come to Refuge, as the common belief is that Spaceport Alpha is the perfect size to avoid the attention of the wider Galactic society. Thusly, any plans to establish more advanced settlements beyond the port is met with antagonism. Some individuals, especially those with deep-seeded power over the spaceport, wish to see Refuge remain as an unknown destination in the furthest corner of known space, at least within the primary Galactic disc.