FROZEN COLONY WORLD | OUTER RIM
Features
Smuggling Run. Regular smuggling routes operate from Teyra directly into the Core Worlds, where more sophisticated processors refine the ore mined from the planet. Teyra itself possesses no such facilities; however, their abundant and cheap labour means they are a popular source for various Imperial corporations whose industrial capacity does.
Former Mining Colony. Teyra was once an outpost of the Galactic Republic prior to the Clone Wars, after which it was largely abandoned and fell into disrepair. Re-colonised by local brigands, it quickly resumed its mining operations, though under the auspices of overlords whose interest in safety or security were sorely lacking. The planet now acts as a hub for desperate runaways and indentured servants, all of whom toil in the mines for pitiful wages, hoping to escape retribution from elsewhere, or repay some horrific debt to one crime lord or another. A sizeable number of miners are actually droids, whose chassis are capable of withstanding the horrific conditions further from the surface, which most biological forms cannot tolerate.
Former Archaological Survey Facility. The primary starport, Frostgate, was once an Old Republic Archaological Survey Facility which scoured the sector for data on alien ruins. An unusual number of those ruins were detected on Teyra, which became a natural hub for the activity. When ore deposits were also found, various corporations began funding the survey facility in order to gain access to rights for exploiting mineral reserves.
Black Market. Thanks to its wide variety of patronage and position as an exporter of cheap ore, Teyra also sports an unusually large black market. Many smugglers heading to the Core Worlds take rare items with them to sell in wealthy markets there, and also often bring strange ephemera—usually stolen art—back from the Core Worlds to offload at the same markets. The markets on Teyra are known particularly for high tech gear and cybernetics in particular.
Independent. Teyra remains free of significant oversight, and is economically self-sufficient. While it produces almost no foodstuffs, its trade surplus is such that it is able to import all the food it requires. No one local warlord is strong enough to dominate the others, and so it remains in a state of relative stability.
Covenant Target. Despite the fact that most are literally engineered to destroy or be destroyed, the fact of so many droids being present on the planet has drawn the ire of the Black Ember Covenant. Teyra has also developed something of a reputation for advanced cybernetics, which has in turn resulted in Frostgate requiring substantial security. Covenant forces strike regularly, with moderate success, making the starport’s security services notoriously twitchy and somewhat overzealous in their inspections.
Locations
Frostgate. Nested between large glaciers, the major starport is both well-defended and discreet. The port is well-appointed and is known for striking visitors as appearing unusually affluent. However, the lack of maintenance quickly becomes evident. While many of the facilities are surprisingly modern, there remains a raft of broken down or non-functional equipment and services which have simply surrendered over time to gross negligence.
The Oil Pit. Perhaps its most infamous attraction, the open-air gladiatorial arena adjacent to the starport was originally one of a number of huge docking bays crafted for larger freighters which could not effectively dock at the smaller bays within Frostgate. It soon became known as the Oil Pit once it began specialising in deadly fights between droids. Competitors would arrive from all over the Outer Rim with custom-built fighting machines, prepared to win or lose everything in battles which often ended only when one droid or another was completely obliterated.
Naturally, a lucrative gambling market sprang up around these contests, which came to involve not just The Ladder—individual fights between powerful droids—but also Armageddon—entire armies of droids battling it out for the sake of entertainment. It is said that the actual floor of the Oil Pit has not been seen in over a decade, as the manager of the “arena” does not bother to clear out most of the rubble and slag which tends to be all that remains, particularly after large battles. The Oil Pit’s origins extend from an informal contest between local “barons”, who pitted their mining droids against one another for bragging rights. Miners and other scum attracted to the planet from elsewhere in the sector began betting on these fights, which eventually led to what is currently the planet’s primary economic output.
Drago’s. An infamous “sports” bar in the centre of Frostgate, Drago’s is perhaps an iconic representation of the flourishing gambling culture which has sprung up on Teyra. While it showcases contests from all over the sector, and even some further afield in the Outer Rim (and even an occasional Core Worlds event), the real reason it exists is simply another means for fans of the Oil Pit to watch droids destroy one another in greater comfort than the more austere facilities in the hollowed-out docking bay provides. Some visitors quickly realise that anything that is “open air” on Teyra is potentially asking for frostbite, hypothermia or, for some less resilient species, even death. The burgeoning local podracing circuit is easily the second most-watched entertainment in the facility.
Phenomena
A standard day on Teyra lasts twenty-two standard hours, and the length of its solar year is five hundred and thirty-seven local days.
Native flora is rare, but the adapted species are incredibly hardy. The most notable are called cordyceptic digits, and are what they sound like—fungal “fingers” which protrude from the ground and live off melting the surface ice and consuming the bacteria trapped within. Evolved to the harsh climate of Teyra, the digits flourish to the point of infestation within more comfortable artificial environments.
Little is known of the planet’s fauna, though the infamous “ice rancor” is an almost mythological beast which locals treat with a mixture of fear and reverence.