Kainan Wolfe
Shadow of War
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To expand on the lore of one of the moons of Nibelungen, as no description has been provided beyond the mention that they are inhabited and provide a world for the Shrouded Republic to inhabit
- Image Credit: Planetmaker + Photoshop CS5
- [background=transparent]Canon: N/A[/background]
- Links: Nibelungen | Eclipse of Nibelungen
- Planet Name: Winter
- Demonym: Winterling
- Region: Outer Rim
- System Name: Nidhog
- System Features:
- Trinary Star System called The Ashla
- 5 Sisters: What the worlds within the system have been called by the one who colonized it. The worlds have been slowly terraformed and colonized with their moons to fulfill the requirements of the order and give them a massive system to grow into. (worlds to be subbed later). Named after the five force priestesses of that had appeared to grandmasters. The three largest of the worlds are gas giants with dozens of moons. - Coordinates: AK-33/34 (Moon of Nibelungen)
- Major Imports: Food, Drinks, Clothing, Luxury Goods
- Major Exports: Durasteel, Duralumin, Ships, Industrial Equipment
- Gravity: 0.18 G (Increased to a comfortable 1G within cities and on thoroughfares, through use of artificial gravity generators)
- Climate: The gravitational forces generated by Nibelungen and the orbit of the other moons, cause massive tidal forces which result in high volcanic activity on the moon of Winter. The constant eruptions have caused the moon to be enveloped in a constant layer of ash clouds, turning Winter into a world of perpetual twilight and causing temperatures to drop dramatically. As such, the climate is mostly cold, with warmer areas existing around hotspots of volcanic activity, giving the moon its name and the moniker of the Realm of Night Eternal.
- Primary Terrain: Ashlands, Tundra, Volcanic Plains
Major Locations:
- Windshear Keep (image source)
Situated on the North-Eastern continent of Winter, Windshear Keep is a massive and imposing fortress constructed by Lord of Shrouds Kainan Wolfe out of the ruins of a much older structure, following the conquest of the Ashla system by the forces of the Ancient Eye and its vassal state, the Shrouded Republic. Safely tucked away between the massive cliffs of one of the moon's volcanic valleys, this foreboding-looking fortress is meant to serve as the seat of power for the Lord of Shrouds and the government of the Shrouded Republic.
Matching its foreboding exterior, the interior of this fortress is cold, dark and spartan, a harsh, silent place made even more terrifying by the shrieking winds and the sulfuric smell of brimstone coming from the valley floor below. Despite this, there are some luxuries to be found within this fortress. Housed within the stone walls, there is an impressive library, as well as a number of state rooms, offices and guest quarters which are lavishly decorated in an imposing, grandiose style meant to inspire awe in the hearts of visitors. Aside from this, there is also a well-stocked military barracks, a hangar for a squadron of fighters and several protocol shuttles, as well as a landing pad for incoming visitors.
The landing pad itself is located on the foremost of the three massive towers which comprise this structure, forcing the visitors to brave the cold wind and the falling ash as they cross the massive bridge that links the three towers of the structure. The fortress is well defended by a network of blaster turrets, designed to act as both anti-air and ground defenses.
- Westender City (image source)
Winter's largest city, the moon's capital is located slightly above the equator, in one of the warmer regions of this world. Even so, this windswept bastion of civilization on this harsh world, is a difficult place to inhabit. The city's most distinctive feature is its massive, imposing towers, constructed in Coruscanti style above the old, pre-conquest city below, to serve as residences and workplaces for the moon's new overlords, the Shrouded Republic's colonists. This division between old inhabitants and new colonists, has created a huge contrast between the lower and upper classes. While the conquerors live as comfortable a life as this harsh moon allows, the conquered live in squalor and extreme poverty within the undercity below the massive, suspended thoroughfares that connect the tower above, often without even the most basic amenities.
As would be expected, this city is both an industrial and a commercial center. A massive starport exists right at the heart of this city, built on an impressive suspended platform, with hangars and facilities for safely storing away ships, being set below it. At the edge of the city, a ring of factories works non-stop to process the metals mined out of this planet's rock and to produce a variety of machines, weapons and industrial equipment, which are this moon's only exports aside from the ships built in its orbital facilities.
- Shipyard: Torus Aeterna (image source)
Orbiting the moon, there is a massive, yet graceful structure which bears the name Torus Aeterna. Several companies and the state have pooled their resources and collaborated, in order to build the shipyard that is the lifeblood of this moon. It is an immense orbital industrial complex that has become one of the Shrouded Republic's greatest symbols, a testament of their prowess and mastery over the material world.
This shipyard is the birthplace for some of the greatest ships in the Ancient Eye and it has a reputation for producing high-quality vessels. It is an ever-expanding project, which continuously grows to meet the demand for new ships, as the Ancient Eye expands out into the cosmos.
- Moletown (image source)
Moletown is the largest of the moon's many mining towns and one of the most important resource production hubs on Winter. This is where most of the metal that is used to build the world's renowned ships, comes from.
As a mining town, Moletown is mostly inhabited by those of the moon's underclass, the conquered, and consists of a mixture of slums and industrial facilities, as well as a sizable military garrison which is used to keep the peace amongst the discontent workers.
Unlike the more glamorous settlements where the conquerors live, there are few luxuries and modern amenities to be found here and the atmosphere is one of suffocating oppression and despair. A strict curfew is in effect and the town's inhabitants have little say in managing their daily lives, which revolve around working in the mines. The impoverished miners are little more than slaves and those who refuse to work, are thrown out of the town, to brave the elements, the town's authorities justifying this by claiming that there aren't enough resources to support freeloaders.
Very few of those who are exiled, manage to survive for long and those who do, often turn to savagery and banditry as a means to extend their short and hard lives, until that is brought to an abrupt end by the occasional military raid.
- Native Species: N/A
- Immigrated Species: Human, Twi'lek, Bothan, Rodian, Anubian
- Population: 420 Million Inhabitants
- Demographics: 90% of the moon's population is comprised of humans, although significant populations of Twi'leks, Bothans and Rodians are also present. Recently, a small minority of Anubians has also settled this planet, although their number remains limited due to their species' low tolerance to cold environments. Although a clearly human-centric and human-dominated world, societal division is not based on racial characteristics, but rather on a system of tiered citizenship, with the moon's conquerors sitting on the top and the original colonists relegated to the role of second-class citizens who are discriminated against and do not have the right to vote.
- Primary Languages: Galactic Basic
- Culture:
(Image Source)
The moon's society can be roughly divided into two distinct and separate cultures. The original inhabitants of Winter, had, prior to the conquering, built a vibrant, cosmopolitan culture that much resembled that of their mother planet, Nibelungen. Jedi beliefs formed the core of their morality, customs and governed much of their lives. These colonists lived in accordance with the strictest interpretation of the Jedi code and spiritual tenets and the vast majority of them looked up to the Jedi Order for leadership and spiritual guidance.
All that changed with the arrival of the Ancient Eye and their allies from the Shrouded Republic. The latter of these, was comprised of fugitives, refugees and survivors from the fall of the Dominion at the hands of the Sith Empire, a painful lesson that has been learned at a great cost. Over the course of two years, the hardships of life aboard a nomadic fleet, have transformed these people into a disciplined, regimented culture built around principles of meritocracy, service to the community and loyalty to the state.
Following the conquest of Nibelungen and its moons, a stratocracy has been imposed on Winter by the moon's new masters. Although technically a democracy, the original colonists are barred from voting by through the existence of a social and legal hierarchy based on ethnic, financial and military criteria. Those who came here with the Shrouded Republic's fleet and their descendants, are granted automatic citizenship and placed at the top of the hierarchy by virtue of their origin and contributions to the state. The original colonists, on the other hand, are faced with a number of obstacles if they want to obtain full citizenship, most notably in the form of a special toll that is far beyond the financial means of the vast majority, as well as having to serve in the military for ten years. As a result, most of them are relegated to the position of second-class citizens and have far less rights and freedoms than their overlords.
Far from accidental, these barriers and their associated consequences have been put into place by design, in order to prevent the "natives" from accruing sufficient political power to oust the new regime. Life is harsh on Winter, and it is harshest for those who were there first.
- Government: Stratocratic Federal Republic
- Affiliation: Shrouded Republic, Ancient Eye
- Wealth: Medium-to-high, due to its exports of high-quality machinery and its shipyards
- Stability: Recently, the moon has undergone a dramatic transformation as a result of its conquest at the hands of foreign invaders, resulting in massive and far-reaching social upheavals that have reshaped this cold world and its inhabitants. The original colonists now live in extreme poverty, enjoying few of the benefits of their supposed liberation at the hands of the Shrouded Republic. With the fall of the Jedi Autocracy, these people have simply exchanged one dictatorship for another, only this time, a foreign and unfamiliar one that has relegated them to the status of little more than slaves.
As such, discontent is high amongst the "natives" and within the slums that they inhabit, it is not uncommon for the occasional rebellion to crop up, although these are swiftly and brutally suppressed by the government, which does not hesitate to use its military to crush any dissent amongst the moon's underclass.
Stricken by poverty and lack of opportunities, these slums are rampant with crime and violence is very common as desperate individuals fight for the few scraps that their overlords decide to throw them. Although performing the vast majority of the menial, dirty and otherwise dangerous jobs, the inhabitants of the slums are paid very little and have few, if any, avenues through which to challenge this situation. - Freedom & Oppression: The government in charge of the moon is technically democratic, but social divisions are put in place in order to insure that only the "good, productive citizens of this nation" have the right to vote, or any say in the way that the moon is governed, for that matter. This upper class of invaders and conquerors enjoys many of the political freedoms and civil rights that are the staples of democracies everywhere, but their privileges are not shared with those who literally live below them, in the slums at the base of the great towers that make up the cities of this moon.
For the "natives", those who were "liberated" by the Shrouded Republic's uninvited military intervention, life is hard and characterized by misery, hopelessness and constant hunger. There is a system put into place, which insures the hierarchical separation between conquerors and the conquered, resulting in the intentional and systemic oppression of the latter.
Any dissent or whispers of rebellion, are swiftly and brutally crushed by the military and the inhabitants of these slums are paid meager prizes in order to rat out suspected rebels, rewards which, though meager, are enough to tempt many a slum dweller into informing on their cohabitants. This creates an atmosphere of constant fear of a government crackdown, increased by the fact that the state does not bother to imprison underclass criminals and dissidents, opting instead for summary execution, supposedly so as to avoid the overcrowding of the prison system and the weighing down of the economy that is the result which a large prison population, has. Instead, prison sentences are a luxury reserved only for those citizens with "full status", the conquerors and the few cronies who have managed to claw their way up and into the good graces of the moon's new masters.
- Military:
(Image Source)
The capital of the Shrouded Republic is a cold, harsh world which, combined with the already militaristic culture of its overlords and its status as a conquered world, has led to the heavy militarization of the moon. In proportion to its population, it has a large, well trained and well equipped military.
The rank-and-file soldiers are equipped with modern blasters and armor and the army makes extensive use of hovertanks, armored speeders and walkers, such as the AT-AT's it used to conquer the moon and the planetary guard also has fifteen squadrons of TIE/Reaper starfighters at its disposal.
The moon's cities, mines, industrial centers and numerous military encampemnts are also protected by blaster turrets and ion cannons. Also, the main thoroughfares also benefit from such defenses, placed at regular intervals in military checkpoints. Due to the high discontent of the conquered population, the military is actively conducting operations to suppress dissent, especially within the slums of the cities and within the poorer townships. As such, the highly disciplined army is kept at constant battle readiness, in order to deal with any potential rebellions, though it can just as quickly mobilize to defend the moon, in case of a foreign invasion.
- Technology: Like its mother planet, the moon is spacefaring, though there is a huge contrast between social classes, when it comes to what technology is available to them. The top-tier citizens, who enjoy all the rights and benefits given to them by the Republic, have relatively easy access to most modern amenities and comforts and what the moon itself can not produce, is imported from offworld. The underclass, however, is in a much poorer situation, living in squalor and often without access to any but the most basic of services and amenities.
Within the moon's industries, priority is placed on military technology and industrial equipment, with ship building being a primary focus. Although relatively sparsely populated, Winter has a reputation for producing some of the best ships and soldiers within the Ancient Eye.
-
(Image Source)
The planet of Nibelungen and its moons, were originally discovered at some time during the Old Republic era. Led by the Jedi, a colonization effort using sleeper ships was undertaken, eventually leading to the planet and its moons being gradually terraformed into the shape they have taken today. Due to the early conditions within the system, the society of the colonists gradually transformed into an authoritarian religious government, with the Jedi grandmaster at its head.
The population of the planet and its moons grew steadily, up until the advent of the gulag plague, which devastated the worlds, culling large portions of the population and leading the Jedi rulers to take drastic action in order to save what was left, by quarantining themselves within their temples as the population around them died.
Following this plague, the population slowly recovered up until the advent of the Netherworld crisis, when several important leaders disappeared, leading to a political crisis that was nonetheless, eventually resolved. The Jedi Autocracy has only recently reestablished contact with the rest of the galaxy, following their self-imposed isolation in the aftermath of the gulag plague and initially, seeking reestablishment of ties with other Jedi across the galaxy.
Those plans were halted, however, by the arrival of the Ancient Eye and its vassal state, the Shrouded Republic, which swiftly put an end to the plans of the Jedi Autocracy through the military conquest of Nibelungen and its moons. Winter itself was conquered by a Shrouded military force which, supported by orbiting fleets, swiftly crushed all opposition, although not without resistance, despite their superior firepower and technology. Ultimately, it was the Shrouded military's exceptional discipline that won them the war, resulting in the conquest of the moon, just as the planet and the other moons were being conquered themselves.
Following the war, the moon was reshaped by its new overlords, who brought in their civilian population and settled Winter, building towering cities on top of the old ones, which were left as slums for the previous inhabitants, now relegated to the status of second-class citizens. Although already a mining and industrial moon, the Shrouded government undertook extensive efforts to expand on the moon's industries, particularly in the armament and shipbuilding sectors, which have grown dramatically since the moon's conquest.