Jorus Merrill
is mek bote
http://youtu.be/Qe8KYJzOjok?t=1m10s
Name: Tash-Taral (loosely translated, 'defender of lies' in Ancient Sith, or perhaps 'defended by lies'); JQM-245-Aleph-3; 'Little Korriban'
Region: Wild Space
System: JQM-245
Suns: JQM-245-Aleph, main sequence
Orbital Position: Habitable zone, third planet
Moons: None
System Features: First planet is a supermassive gas giant with a number of small hot moons. Second planet is a terrestrial giant with 5.0G gravity, absolutely uninhabitable. Fourth planet is an arid rock with 0.6G gravity and a Type 3 atmosphere.
The system's Oort cloud comet shell is bizarrely dense and thick, causing the vast majority of otherwise accurate hyperjumps to fail catastrophically. It is theorized that the comet shell is somehow artificial. Over and above the comet issue, the only reliable hyperspace routes are praedia to other isolated, insignificant systems.
Coordinates: Roughly V-5, directly between Iferetes and Midvinter
Rotational Period: 29 hours
Orbital Period: 380 days
Class: Terrestrial
Diameter: Standard
Atmosphere: Type 1
Climate: Arid
Gravity: Standard
Primary Terrain: Mainly desert. Small oceans with high salinity. Unknown means, perhaps an Ambria-level curse, have relegated much of the planet's water to a rock layer near the crust/mantle boundary.
Native Species: None known
Immigrated Species: Many transplanted tomb guardians. Various breeds of tuk'ata are common. Other hazards include dreambeasts, rhak-skuri, k'lor slugs, corrupted snakes, Sith undead, technobeast hives, sand burrowers, battle hydras, hssiss (around the few temperate areas, such as oases and near the polar ice caps), and innumerable pelko bugs. Even a few storm beasts were apparently transplanted to Tash-Taral in the distant past. A handful of terentateks are present in the deepest crypts, and there are rumored sightings of Withered Smoke. Most of the deadliest threats generally tend to stick to the catacombs, often in hibernation, but sand burrowers and others can be found anywhere on the planet. The galactic standard milieu of sentient beings is also present to some extent.
Primary Languages: Ancient Sith and derivatives (spoken by the tuk'ata and to some extent by the people), Basic (thickly accented)
Government: Various tribal and democratic arrangements appropriate to small communities.
Population: Estimated 200,000 quasi-sentient, mainly tuk'ata. Estimated 500,000 galactic standard milieu.
Demonym: Tashai
Major Imports: Occasionally, people. Imports of space tape, wire, and nutritional supplements are highly prized.
Major Exports: None. On the off chance that a ship gets through to Tash-Taral with a desirable cargo -- and on Tash-Taral, any cargo is desirable, and quickly put to fifteen undreamed-of uses -- the Tashai have been known to barter with relics, trophies, desert gems and other items which they find useless. Shrewd traders, they recognize the value of their finds to outsiders.
Affiliation: Independent (Levantine Sanctum)
Major Locations: A few hardscrabble settlements, comparable to Mos Eisley or Anchorhead, can be found in various places, their numbers bolstered by occasional starship wrecks and prison ships (as detailed below). Most inhabitants of Tash-Taral -- at least the ones commonly recognized as sentient by the galaxy -- reside in the towns of Tashbaan, Lasaraleen and New Dreshdae, among others. As most of the planet's hazards are commonly found dormant in various tombs, significant portions of the planet are labelled sithspawn-free...up until some unknown crypt collapses beneath the desert, and a caravan slides into hell. Sand burrowers, as large as any on Blenjeel or larger, are a rare but omnipresent threat, so most enduring settlements are built on rockier portions of the desert. Tash-Taral is studded with Dark Side tombs and monuments, all at the mercy of sandstorms for millennia. The Great Valley is, apparently, an aesthetic homage to the Valley of the Dark Lords on Korriban, and served a similar purpose.
Culture: Daily life on Tash-Taral is a matter of survival, ingenuity, dehydration and patchwork engineering. As isolated as Nam Chorios, Tash-Taral has acquired a similar culture, in the quintessentially Outer Rim sense of 'everything gets reused.' Their most common art form is a type of scrimshaw, inked carvings in the teeth and tusks of dangerous animals. Indeed, a very minor Force tradition has sprung up on Tash-Taral, focused entirely on scrimshaw charms and talismans. When the tooth of a hssiss or the tusk of a terentatek, for example, is used for a scrimshaw charm by an old artist with mild Force-sensitivity, the charm can acquire a protective effect, turning the gaze of Sithspawn. Other talismans have been known to point to water. It is important to note that this Force tradition is absolutely without standardization, and poorly wrought scrimshaw, or samples made by the non-Force-sensitive, can lead wanderers astray or fail halfway through a journey. (Tech submissions to follow as necessary.) Talented talisman crafters can make a fortune in water and barely-used work clothing.
Very mild Force-sensitivity is reasonably common due to ingestion of the flesh of Force-sensitive animals, and use of their offal and droppings as fertilizer. Tashai citizens refer to this form of Force-sensitivity as the 'knack,' and attach many superstitions to it and to all Force use. It may also be due to the slightly red-brown complexion of the near-human members of Tashai communities -- the possibility that they have some Sith ancestors.
Water is venerated, water-finding even more so. The protection of hospitality, once extended, is near absolute; it is symbolized by sharing the host's water. The Tashai have devised various innovative and unpleasant methods of gleaning water from the dead, including dead tomb guardians.
Technology: Outer Rim standard, but patched and reused even more than one would expect from an Outer Rim planet.
History: For a world covered in commemorative obelisks and grandiose tombs, Tash-Taral's dated history is unusually difficult to nail down. It was very probably discovered by Sith in at least 9,000 BBY, if not earlier. There is even some indication that it was colonized by the Order of the Terrible Glare during the Pius Dea Crusades, long before the first Dark Jedi landed on Korriban. Tash-Taral has faded in and out of Sith history ever since, mostly in the form of allusions that archaeologists have taken as references to Dromund Kaas, Korriban, Thule, Rhen Var and so forth. At some point it even appears to have played host to the Sith splinter groups known as the Blackguard and the Sorcerers of Tund.
Tash-Taral has been a vault world as much as a tomb world, abandoned and forgotten, then revitalized by building efforts that likely cost millions of lives. It is very probable that the original Tashai were descendants of the laborers who built the tombs -- at least, those who survived.
During the Cold War of roughly 3700 BBY, Tash-Taral saw cursory excavation under the aegis of the Dark Council, but it is believed that they were searching only for specific artifacts. It appears that they dismissed the world as containing little of enough true value to risk the life of any with a Darth title -- and too much of moderate value to trust to any Sith without a Darth title.
Occupation and excavation attempts proved unprofitable, and the Dark Council's influence withdrew from Tash-Taral, bringing with it the only half-decent treasures they had found.
Tash-Taral's last major period of minor relevance occurred around 1000 BBY, when the Calimondra family of Dark Lords encountered the world. An attempt at systematic plunder failed miserably, and at least one Calimondra scion died, either a victim of tomb guardians or of the dense comet shell that protects the system.
Occasional ships have made it through -- the thick comet shell can be navigated with great effort and risk -- enough to keep Tash-Taral in contact with the galaxy every few decades, sometimes more, sometimes less. Tash-Taral missed the entire Clone Wars and the rise and fall of the Galactic Empire. It is believed that Luke Skywalker's Jedi found the world around 20 ABY, but opted to leave it untouched, its deadly treasures better protected than they could manage themselves. A small settlement effort took place in around 110 ABY, and others in 292 ABY and 380 ABY, but overall, Tash-Taral has remained unprofitably remote and very low on everyone's list of priorities. This may be due to the fact that Dark Lords' attempts to control and exploit the tomb guardians have generally ended with the deaths of said Dark Lords.
Tash-Taral was rediscovered and registered by the hyperspace explorer Jorus Q. Merrill after fifty years of near silence between the planet and the galaxy, a standard interval for Tash-Taral's significant contacts with the Outside. As of yet, its existence has been kept moderately quiet, though he made the mistake of telling his little sister.
Notable PCs: None
Intent: Indiana Jones meets Jurassic Park. Can't go wrong. (It's for Dominion stuff.)
Name: Tash-Taral (loosely translated, 'defender of lies' in Ancient Sith, or perhaps 'defended by lies'); JQM-245-Aleph-3; 'Little Korriban'
Region: Wild Space
System: JQM-245
Suns: JQM-245-Aleph, main sequence
Orbital Position: Habitable zone, third planet
Moons: None
System Features: First planet is a supermassive gas giant with a number of small hot moons. Second planet is a terrestrial giant with 5.0G gravity, absolutely uninhabitable. Fourth planet is an arid rock with 0.6G gravity and a Type 3 atmosphere.
The system's Oort cloud comet shell is bizarrely dense and thick, causing the vast majority of otherwise accurate hyperjumps to fail catastrophically. It is theorized that the comet shell is somehow artificial. Over and above the comet issue, the only reliable hyperspace routes are praedia to other isolated, insignificant systems.
Coordinates: Roughly V-5, directly between Iferetes and Midvinter
Rotational Period: 29 hours
Orbital Period: 380 days
Class: Terrestrial
Diameter: Standard
Atmosphere: Type 1
Climate: Arid
Gravity: Standard
Primary Terrain: Mainly desert. Small oceans with high salinity. Unknown means, perhaps an Ambria-level curse, have relegated much of the planet's water to a rock layer near the crust/mantle boundary.
Native Species: None known
Immigrated Species: Many transplanted tomb guardians. Various breeds of tuk'ata are common. Other hazards include dreambeasts, rhak-skuri, k'lor slugs, corrupted snakes, Sith undead, technobeast hives, sand burrowers, battle hydras, hssiss (around the few temperate areas, such as oases and near the polar ice caps), and innumerable pelko bugs. Even a few storm beasts were apparently transplanted to Tash-Taral in the distant past. A handful of terentateks are present in the deepest crypts, and there are rumored sightings of Withered Smoke. Most of the deadliest threats generally tend to stick to the catacombs, often in hibernation, but sand burrowers and others can be found anywhere on the planet. The galactic standard milieu of sentient beings is also present to some extent.
Primary Languages: Ancient Sith and derivatives (spoken by the tuk'ata and to some extent by the people), Basic (thickly accented)
Government: Various tribal and democratic arrangements appropriate to small communities.
Population: Estimated 200,000 quasi-sentient, mainly tuk'ata. Estimated 500,000 galactic standard milieu.
Demonym: Tashai
Major Imports: Occasionally, people. Imports of space tape, wire, and nutritional supplements are highly prized.
Major Exports: None. On the off chance that a ship gets through to Tash-Taral with a desirable cargo -- and on Tash-Taral, any cargo is desirable, and quickly put to fifteen undreamed-of uses -- the Tashai have been known to barter with relics, trophies, desert gems and other items which they find useless. Shrewd traders, they recognize the value of their finds to outsiders.
Affiliation: Independent (Levantine Sanctum)
Major Locations: A few hardscrabble settlements, comparable to Mos Eisley or Anchorhead, can be found in various places, their numbers bolstered by occasional starship wrecks and prison ships (as detailed below). Most inhabitants of Tash-Taral -- at least the ones commonly recognized as sentient by the galaxy -- reside in the towns of Tashbaan, Lasaraleen and New Dreshdae, among others. As most of the planet's hazards are commonly found dormant in various tombs, significant portions of the planet are labelled sithspawn-free...up until some unknown crypt collapses beneath the desert, and a caravan slides into hell. Sand burrowers, as large as any on Blenjeel or larger, are a rare but omnipresent threat, so most enduring settlements are built on rockier portions of the desert. Tash-Taral is studded with Dark Side tombs and monuments, all at the mercy of sandstorms for millennia. The Great Valley is, apparently, an aesthetic homage to the Valley of the Dark Lords on Korriban, and served a similar purpose.
Culture: Daily life on Tash-Taral is a matter of survival, ingenuity, dehydration and patchwork engineering. As isolated as Nam Chorios, Tash-Taral has acquired a similar culture, in the quintessentially Outer Rim sense of 'everything gets reused.' Their most common art form is a type of scrimshaw, inked carvings in the teeth and tusks of dangerous animals. Indeed, a very minor Force tradition has sprung up on Tash-Taral, focused entirely on scrimshaw charms and talismans. When the tooth of a hssiss or the tusk of a terentatek, for example, is used for a scrimshaw charm by an old artist with mild Force-sensitivity, the charm can acquire a protective effect, turning the gaze of Sithspawn. Other talismans have been known to point to water. It is important to note that this Force tradition is absolutely without standardization, and poorly wrought scrimshaw, or samples made by the non-Force-sensitive, can lead wanderers astray or fail halfway through a journey. (Tech submissions to follow as necessary.) Talented talisman crafters can make a fortune in water and barely-used work clothing.
Very mild Force-sensitivity is reasonably common due to ingestion of the flesh of Force-sensitive animals, and use of their offal and droppings as fertilizer. Tashai citizens refer to this form of Force-sensitivity as the 'knack,' and attach many superstitions to it and to all Force use. It may also be due to the slightly red-brown complexion of the near-human members of Tashai communities -- the possibility that they have some Sith ancestors.
Water is venerated, water-finding even more so. The protection of hospitality, once extended, is near absolute; it is symbolized by sharing the host's water. The Tashai have devised various innovative and unpleasant methods of gleaning water from the dead, including dead tomb guardians.
Technology: Outer Rim standard, but patched and reused even more than one would expect from an Outer Rim planet.
History: For a world covered in commemorative obelisks and grandiose tombs, Tash-Taral's dated history is unusually difficult to nail down. It was very probably discovered by Sith in at least 9,000 BBY, if not earlier. There is even some indication that it was colonized by the Order of the Terrible Glare during the Pius Dea Crusades, long before the first Dark Jedi landed on Korriban. Tash-Taral has faded in and out of Sith history ever since, mostly in the form of allusions that archaeologists have taken as references to Dromund Kaas, Korriban, Thule, Rhen Var and so forth. At some point it even appears to have played host to the Sith splinter groups known as the Blackguard and the Sorcerers of Tund.
Tash-Taral has been a vault world as much as a tomb world, abandoned and forgotten, then revitalized by building efforts that likely cost millions of lives. It is very probable that the original Tashai were descendants of the laborers who built the tombs -- at least, those who survived.
During the Cold War of roughly 3700 BBY, Tash-Taral saw cursory excavation under the aegis of the Dark Council, but it is believed that they were searching only for specific artifacts. It appears that they dismissed the world as containing little of enough true value to risk the life of any with a Darth title -- and too much of moderate value to trust to any Sith without a Darth title.
Occupation and excavation attempts proved unprofitable, and the Dark Council's influence withdrew from Tash-Taral, bringing with it the only half-decent treasures they had found.
Tash-Taral's last major period of minor relevance occurred around 1000 BBY, when the Calimondra family of Dark Lords encountered the world. An attempt at systematic plunder failed miserably, and at least one Calimondra scion died, either a victim of tomb guardians or of the dense comet shell that protects the system.
Occasional ships have made it through -- the thick comet shell can be navigated with great effort and risk -- enough to keep Tash-Taral in contact with the galaxy every few decades, sometimes more, sometimes less. Tash-Taral missed the entire Clone Wars and the rise and fall of the Galactic Empire. It is believed that Luke Skywalker's Jedi found the world around 20 ABY, but opted to leave it untouched, its deadly treasures better protected than they could manage themselves. A small settlement effort took place in around 110 ABY, and others in 292 ABY and 380 ABY, but overall, Tash-Taral has remained unprofitably remote and very low on everyone's list of priorities. This may be due to the fact that Dark Lords' attempts to control and exploit the tomb guardians have generally ended with the deaths of said Dark Lords.
Tash-Taral was rediscovered and registered by the hyperspace explorer Jorus Q. Merrill after fifty years of near silence between the planet and the galaxy, a standard interval for Tash-Taral's significant contacts with the Outside. As of yet, its existence has been kept moderately quiet, though he made the mistake of telling his little sister.
Notable PCs: None
Intent: Indiana Jones meets Jurassic Park. Can't go wrong. (It's for Dominion stuff.)
