Unreviewed Tarnac

[Helix]

OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION

• Intent: To create a planet located in Companion Besh, flesh out the fairly barebones lore about the region, and provide a location for future Sith Order/Dzara RP
• Image Credit: Generated by me via ChatGPT
• Canon: N/A
• Permissions: N/A
• Links: N/A

GENERAL INFORMATION

• Planet Name: Tarnac
• Demonym: Tarnaci
• Region: Companion Besh
• System Name: Tarnac System
• System Features: 72-hour days, slow rotational period. No satellites or moons.
• Location: Link, with Tarnac's approximate location where the red smudge is.
• Major Imports: Battle droids, Weapons, Helsteel
• Major Exports: Soldiers, Weaponry
• Unexploited Resources: N/A

GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION

• Gravity: Approximately 2.8 times standard.
• Climate: Tarnac's ambient temperature can drop to nearly -110 degrees Celsius, with its subterranean oceans reaching lower temperatures still. Regular radiation storms wrack the planet's surface, but otherwise, it displays little change in climate from pole to pole.
• Primary Terrain: Ammonium mud
• Atmosphere: Type 4

LOCATION INFORMATION

• Capital City: Wugosa
• Planetary Features: Wugosa, Qarca
• Major Locations:
  • Wugosa: The capital (and only) city of the piratical Xylax Continuum. A vast, alien conglomeration of submarine spheres and tunnels, Wugosa is large enough to encircle the planet's core in a series of overlapping rings. The enormous majority of the Xylax species lives here, only occasionally leaving to engage in space travel.
    
    Since the Privateers' occupation of the surface, Wugosa is accessible via track-tunnels to the surface.
    
    Nonetheless, Wugosa is somewhat rarely visited, as neither the Xylax nor their native environment are especially welcoming to guests. As Tarnac's underground ammonia seas can easily reach -110 degrees Celsius, with Wugosa's internal temperature being only slightly warmer, simply being in the city can easily be fatal to many life forms. Certain portions of the city are designed to accomodate visitors, but the Xylax tend to reserve these for diplomats and other such distinguished guests. Curious onlookers can expect to either die of hypothermia, or wind up in a Xylax rendering chamber.
  • The Deep Sea: Tarnac's only life-supporting region is a narrow strata of freezing liquid ammonia, sandwiched between the planet's outer mud layer and the core. Needless to say, this places much of this region under absolutely astounding pressure, making it almost immediately fatal for most life forms to enter unprotected.
    
    Aside from the Xylax themselves, this region is home to many other bizarre lifeforms, adapted to the lightless dark, the cold, and the pressure. One could spend a lifetime categorizing the innumerable nightmarish forms such life takes, if one wished to spend such time in so bleak an environment.
  • Qarca: Roughly translating to "Doomspire" in the native Xylax tongue, The Privateers maintain only one port of call on Tarnac, despite their Stewardship of the planet. Qarca is a great, almost impossibly large floating megastructure that extends many kilometers up into Tarnac's purple sky. Despite this, there is little of value here for the nosy intruder or would-be conqueror. The station exists purely to give the Privateers a permanent military garrison on Tarnac, with most of the valuable data (if any) being stored below in Wugosa. Despite this, Qarca is open to visitors, provided the occupiers have no reason to be hostile to them. Sith or Sith-tolerated persons may usually come and go freely, though members of Sith-hostile states are generally unwelcome unless especially invited.
  • The Surface: Tarnac's surface could politely be termed "inhospitable". Being exposed on this miry overworld is effectively a death sentence, and indeed, is often used as a method of execution by the Privateers. There is no food, water, or breathable atmosphere to be found here, nor even something as basic as solid ground to rest upon. Any unfortunate pedestrian who, by ill luck or ill intent, manages to find their way to the surface has little chance of survival.
    
    Radiation storms regularly ravage Tarnac's surface, their intensity more than sufficient to boil most humanoids alive in their own skin. Even without these, however, one would have to remain moving indefinitely to avoid sinking into Tarnac's muddy surface. This is made even worse by the planet's naturally high gravity, and eventually, exhaustion will claim most visitors to Tarnac's surface if starvation, thirst, suffocation, or radiation fail to do the job first.
• Force Nexus (Optional): N/A
  Intent: N/A
  Nexus Name: N/A
• Nexus Alignment: N/A
• Size: N/A
• Strength: N/A
• Accessibility: N/A
• Effects: N/A

POPULATION

• Native Species: Xylax
• Immigrated Species: Humans, Near-Humans, Battle Droids
• Population: Moderate (Approximately 2.2 billion Xylax, Approximately 1 billion assorted Sith/Privateer personnel.)
• Demographics: Overwhelmingly native Xylax, with a small, permanent Third Legion garrison present.
• Primary Languages: Basic, Xylax
• Culture: For the Xylax, life is harshly regimented. For the Sith garrison present, things are little better. What culture exists in so desolate a place as Tarnac is necessarily aggressive and hard-nosed, though the planet is slowly developing a more piratical flair as raiders of all types stop to trade.

GOVERNMENT & ECONOMY

• Government: Military Dictatorship (Governed by the Helix Privateers for the sake of the Sith Order).
• Affiliation: Sith Order (Primarily) Helix Privateers (Occupiers)
• Wealth: High: Despite Tarnac's general lack of resources, it has become a hub for Sith-sponsored piracy. The system's remote location and deep ties to Sith conquest render it an ideal place to hide, store loot, or just unwind until the next raid.
• Stability: High: Tarnac is under permanent military dictatorship after the peaceful annexation of the Xylax Continuum. The native population is already not prone to rebellions, and the battle droids that make up the majority of the occupiers are even less so. Any troublemakers among visiting raiders or diplomats are usually never seen again, and as such, the planet is as close to a safe haven as one will get in the region (at least to Sith-friendly individuals and causes).
• Freedom & Oppression: As Tarnac is by definition a criminal haven, trading of illegal goods is fairly frequent there. The Privateers are generally lax stewards, caring little for the world itself or its doings, and leave the Xylax largely to rule themselves as they see fit. Sith-friendly persons can generally expect a tolerable enough stayover should they require a place to refuel, rearm, or rest. Matters are quite different below the surface, where the Xylax rule in their great under-ocean city. Visitors here are seldom welcome, and intruders can be subjected to a number of creatively-gruesome ends.

MILITARY & TECHNOLOGY

• Military: Tarnac is fairy heavily defended, as it is the Helix Privateers' outpost in the region. While the Privateers generally disdain claiming territory in general, it was felt that they required a presence as part of the Sith's Third Legion. As such, there are numerous armed personnel on Tarnac, both from the Privateers themselves and the native Xylax Continuum. Likewise, there is always a significant fleet presence in orbit.
• Technology: As both the native people and their occupiers are fairly advanced, Tarnac is home to several examples of remarkable (if disturbing) technologies. These are usually kept out of sight, but re-emerge quickly enough should the planet be threatened. Tarnac is equal parts military outpost and pirate haven, so it stands to reason that weapons and military technology are fairly prevalent.

HISTORICAL INFORMATION

Tarnac was first discovered by the exploratory forces of the Sith's Third Legion, and swiftly claimed by the Helix Privateers as a semi-permanent port of call.

It is difficult to imagine anyone else finding any value in Tarnac, as the planet could politely be termed "hellish" if one wished to understate.

Tarnac possesses no atmosphere, above-ground oceans, distinct topographical features, or valuable resources of any sort. The sky is a poisonous, eye-buzzing purple. The "ground" if one can call it that, is an endless, featureless expanse of semi-solid gray mud as far as the eye can see. Deep-penetrating scans have shown that this mud layer goes down for thousand of kilometers, almost down to the planet's ferrous core. Any hapless individual setting foot on its surface must constantly be on the move, or else sink down into that mire forevermore.

As such, attempting to build solid structures on Tarnac's surface is infeasible, as is putting together proper infrastructure. In effect, Tarnac is a worthless, dangerous ball of mud, a place best dismissed as a fever dream and moved on from.

Perhaps that is why Helix latched onto the place so hard. It is the only planet in the galaxy as insane as he.

Structures on Tarnac's surface must be made on top of massive repulsor platforms, which move sluggishly across its surface in accordance with the whims of their captains.

Around Tarnac's core, under thousands of kilometers of semi-liquid mud, lies a briny, freezing subterranean ammonia sea. This ocean lies sandwiched between the planet's core and the incalculable weight of the mud layer above, placing it under enormous gravitic pressure. Incredibly, this environment houses a self-sustaining ecosystem, albeit one consisting largely of nightmarish deep-pressure-adapted life. Only one sapient species calls this bizarre environment home: the cephalopod Xylax.

Due to the sheer hostility and remoteness of their civilization, the Xylax's presence in the core went unnoticed by the occupying Privateers for quite some time. It wasn't until the creatures emerged on one of their occasional travels that contact was made, and a rapport established.

For the most part, the Xylax have become a client state of the Privateers, gaining access to valuable outside resources in exchange for access to their own technology, troops, and of course, a place as remote as Wugosa to store objects of interest.