TERRESTRIAL RAVAGED WORLD | CORE WORLDS
Features
Celestial Interference. An immensely complex gravitational juncture within the nexus of competing black holes has generated a number of shallow tunnels which makes hyperspace travel directly to the planet impossible. Even reaching the ostensible ‘entrance’ to the tunnels toward Kessel requires great skill.
Kessel Run. Despite vast security measures and the incredible difficulty of navigating the sublight tunnels between the nebula storms surrounding the planet, smuggling remains rampant on Kessel. The most famous route is called the Kessel Run, and is so difficult that any smuggler who achieves it is usually apt to brag about it for the rest of their career.
Monitored. While various underworld interests monitor traffic to and from the planet, the Imperial Security Bureau pays particular attention to any starship entering or departing the system.
Remote. While Kessel technically falls within the sphere of the Core Worlds, it is nested within a large galactic void between two black holes, full of astral storms and some of the worst navigational conditions in the entire galaxy.
Mining. The planet is infamous for its spice mines, which have stripped half of the planet’s surface bare, and are a place spoken of only in whispers by many of the galaxy’s citizens. The planet produces vast amounts of the rare and highly addictive glitterstim spice.
Garrisoned. A substantial military presence exists on the planet, largely in the form of mercenaries. However, rumours swirl of a large number of Imperial troops also remaining on the planet, both to protect it and also keep an eye on the operations there.
Underworld Controlled. While the dreaded mines could only openly be operated in the fashion that they are by a criminal organisation, the Galactic Empire essentially subsidises and part controls the planet. Through a lucrative back-channel of bribes, kick-backs and a steady supply of slaves, the Empire fuels the planet’s notorious industry and turns a blind eye to the terrible scourge of glitterstim.
Locations
Spice Mines of Kessel. Almost half of the planet’s surface has been extensively strip-mined for the dangerous and extraordinarily addictive spice called glitterstim. This colossal mining operation is likely the largest in the entire galaxy, driven by slave labour from across the Galactic Empire, whose own interest in the mines means it has become a convenient destination for political dissidents and agitators.
Phenomena
A standard day on Kessel lasts twelve standard hours, and the length of its solar year is seven hundred local days. However, because of the extensive terraforming of the planet’s surface thanks to the large-scale mining operations, these figures have long been thought to be highly inaccurate, as small shifts—and other tectonic events—have played havoc with the planet’s natural momentum.
Native flora and fauna—now almost exclusively insectoid—have largely adapted to subterranean environments, as the surface has become degraded and unstable over generations of mining, which has essentially begun to terraform the planet and shift its atmospheric composition.