Pirate Prince
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: To expand upon a canon planet.
Image Credit: Planet, Melekess, Bobriki
Canon: Samovar
Permissions: N/A
Links: Development thread Chasing a Rumor On Samovar
GENERAL INFORMATION
Planet Name: Samovar
Demonym: Samovarans
Region: Western Reaches
System Name: Samovar system
System Features:
- One yellow sun
- A large blue gas giant orbited by one moon
- An inhospitable acidic ocean world orbited by three moons
- Samovar, a habitable planet with no moon
Major Imports: Construction materials, heavy equipment, various technologies, art, luxury goods
Major Exports: Tea, lumber, oil, precious stones, trace amounts of doonium and dolovite
Unexploited Resources: Kyber crystals
GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION
Gravity: Standard
Climate: Humid continental near major cities; subarctic in most other areas. Warm to hot dry summers, dry and very cold winters.
Primary Terrain: Lowland plains broken by low hills and plateaus. Some mountainous regions in the east, including a few active volcanoes.
Atmosphere: Type I Breathable
LOCATION INFORMATION
Capital City: Melekess (planetary capital)
Planetary Features: One major landmass, excluding the frozen, barren polar regions.
Major Locations:
Olenska (main continent nation-state, ruled by the Olenskan Empire)
- Melekess (planetary capital)
- - Tsarskoe Palace (main residence of the Tsar and his family)
- - River Quarter (area containing mostly warehouses, which store goods due for exporting)
- - Lazdinay (major avenue containing the Lazdinay Theater, along with various shops, cafes, and entertainment venues)
- - Summer Palace (residence of the Astapovs, a major noble house; located slightly outside the city limits, near the wilderness)
- Bobriki (nearby resort town located in the mountains)
- Bashanta (capital of Dacia)
- Novorod (capital of Antrea)
- Gorodok Peninsula (southeastern peninsula containing the Gorodok volcanoes, many of which are active)
POPULATION
Native Species: Samovarans (Humans or Near-Humans)
Immigrated Species: A handful of humans/aliens, mostly confined to Melekess.
Population: Sparse
Demographics: 99% Samovaran, 1% Other. The Samovarans are still warring with each other over cultural lines and have had limited contact with non-natives. This planet was originally an Imperial mining colony, and they still have the same xenophobic attitudes of the Empire.
Primary Languages: Galactic Basic
Culture: Samovar is dominated by the Olenskan Empire, an imperial state led by the Tsar (or Tsarina), but it is not unilateral culturally. Three different cultural groups evolved separately before the Olenskan Empire took over, each with their own distinct identity and culture.
Generally, the inhabitants live in a feudalistic society sharply divided between the nobility (originally an elite warrior class, now also including the educated and wealthy merchants) and the serfs/common folk (farmers, craftsmen, civilians, etc.).
The nobility, who prize art above all save their precious tea, view themselves as superior to the serfs by virtue of their birth, education, and sophistication; the commoner’s life is one of chaos and barbarism, redeemed only by their usefulness as providers of food and artisan goods.
The commoners rely on the nobles for protection. There is some interplay, with commoners serving as foot soldiers in the armies, but no commoner can be placed in a position of authority within the military.
Technologically, the Samovarans are significantly behind compared to the rest of the galaxy. Education and literacy is limited to the privileged few, and technology that isn’t at least a few centuries old is normally only found in Melekess.
The Samovarans have no official religion, but local folklore includes many legendary creatures, particularly sea monsters and mysterious beings that dwell deep in the forests and mountains.
GOVERNMENT & ECONOMY
Government: Imperial Autocracy; the Samovaran government (or the Olenskan Empire, specifically) mimics the structure of the Galactic Empire, albeit with different titles used. The Tsar/Tsarina is the head, fulfilling the role of the Emperor; a “First Citizen” acts as his second-in-command, the role being similar to that of Lord Vader; the nobility acts like the Moffs, though the source of their power is couched in their wealth, not bureaucratic appointment. There are also regional governors in charge of the provinces, but they are the puppets of those in power and have little autonomy.
Affiliation: N/A
Wealth: Low. They are as backwater as it gets, and only the tea merchant nobles are just beginning to grow truly rich.
Stability: Medium. The Samovarans are occasionally involved in conflicts with each other over land, resources, power, etc, but they will argue that they have been doing well enough for themselves. It is dangerous for travelers to visit Samovar, as the natives are distrustful of off-worlders and highly xenophobic, with the one exception being Melekess, which has attempted to open itself to the rest of the galaxy purely for the purpose of trade. There is little that travelers could gain from going there, due to the political unrest and lack of opportunities. Some might be interested in “civilizing” the inhabitants, but it would be a difficult task to say the least. The Samovarans are a proud people, and while they may fear the advanced technology and might of off-worlders, they will not bend to their will without resistance.
Freedom & Oppression: Depends on where you live. Aside from the hierarchical system of society which places the nobles over the commoners, Olenskans are fairly free. They are more limited by their lack of technological advancement and low literacy rates than anything else. Those who are born into a family of farmers go on to become farmers, and there is almost no opportunity to break the cycle.
Those who are born in the provinces which have been subjugated by the Empire, Dacians and Antreans, experience far more oppression. This includes military conscription as a requirement for citizenship, and a social status as one of the conquered. Both provinces are ruled over by puppet leaders installed by the Tsar, and their people have little say in their own government.
MILITARY & TECHNOLOGY
Military: The Olenskan Empire does have a trained military at their disposal, as well as some modern technology now that trade has opened up with other planets. They could not withstand an invasion from a major faction, but from a minor faction they could certainly put up a fight.
Technology: Below Galactic Standard, with the one exception being the city of Melekess, which would be considered average.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
“Samovar. Perhaps it had been important once, the fuel for Tarkin's insanity - torn up and mangled by rampant mining efforts to supply a catastrophic misinvestment.” —
AMCO
“The echoes of an Empire gone roughly eight centuries ago still resounded on this world, its population decidedly human and bordering on a caste system. Over time, the figurative hat of nobility had been traded off from those who led Imperial mining efforts to tea farmers. Bonus points for those who could maintain production in Samovar's cold winter months. Venari had traveled to many worlds, but this one stuck out as an oddity suffering from Stockholm syndrome. Samovar wasn't an Imperial jewel of any sort; it was a resource and the Galactic Empire made very little effort to hide that fact yet hundreds of years later, Samovarans latched onto the ways of old.” —
Lord Venari
“The Samovarans, having been forgotten by the rest of the galaxy, had filled in the centuries with their own private little wars. Currently, much of the planet had fallen under the power of the Olenskan Empire, which in many ways mimicked the Galactic Empire’s internal structure. There was a Tsar in place of the Emperor, a First Citizen occupying the position Darth Vader had held, the nobility fulfilling the role of Moffs, and so on. He doubted the Olenskans could match the sheer scale of cruelty and oppression exhibited by their galactic forebears, but that was only because their imperium was confined to just one world.” —Nimdok
Once a legacy world, Samovar was mined to exhaustion by the Galactic Empire to obtain doonium and dolovite, crucial materials needed for the construction of the Death Star. After the fall of the Empire, the former Imperial mining colony was more or less forgotten—shipments stopped coming and the colonists were left to fend for themselves. Interestingly, their isolation seems to have left them largely untouched by the devastation of the Gulag Plague, though it also left them cut off from any resources not readily available on the severely mined world.
The colonists began to squabble among themselves and rapidly descended into barbarism, which led to the forming of three distinct cultural groups headed by a warlord. The Olenskans (named after their first leader, an Imperial officer named Bram Olenska who was originally in charge of the mining efforts) were militaristic, organized, and sought to impose their will through force. Many of the fascistic trappings carried over from the Galactic Empire have been replaced by “pure” imperialism, modeled after more primitive planet-bound cultures in order to suit their needs.
The Dacians were originally part of the Olenskans, but they split due to the ambitions of Bram Olenska’s lieutenant, Varin Dalesti, who wound up becoming a rather gruesome warlord (a practicer of impalement, and according to legend a follower of the Sith) before dying as a mad hermit. The Dacians continued to fight the Olenskans up until around two hundred years ago, when they reluctantly allied themselves against the Antreans and were eventually subjugated via diplomacy.
The Antreans were led by Katerina Antrea, allegedly a rebel spy; there is little evidence to corroborate this, but they were the primary resistance to Bram Olenska’s leadership. Their identity today is defined by their continued defiance of the Olenskan Empire; they are still trying to break free and gain independence even now, though it is a seemingly hopeless cause.
Eight hundred years after the fall of the Galactic Empire, the once-verdant planet has been successfully restored, albeit minus most of its doonium and dolovite reserves. Instead, a new market has developed—the growing and exporting of Samovaran tea. The nobles are technically all tea farmers, though they rely on the lower classes to do the manual labor of planting, maintaining, and harvesting the tea. In addition, the planet’s natural oil reserves are being mined and its forests cut down for lumber. Precious gemstones are found in the mountains, along with a yet untapped reserve of what appears to be kyber crystals. No doubt the planet will become increasingly valuable once again for its resources, and its close proximity to the border of the OPA may make it a point of contention in the near future.
—Nimdok, archaeologist and historian
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