Chorva
Chorva Prime
Planet Type: Terrestrial
Climate: Cool temperate
Terrain: Canyons, mesas, and small forests
Atmosphere: Human friendly
Gravity: Standard
Diameter: 8,366 miles
Length of Day: 21 standard hours (9 hours in daylight)
Length of Year: 208 standard days
Sentient Species: None
Languages: Basic, variety of species languages
Population: 2.8 million
Species Mix: Blended
Government: Nominal Imperial presence/ Crime Lords
Major Exports: None
Major Imports: High Tech
System/ Star: Chorviki/ Chorvana
Chorva Minor
Planet Type: Terrestrial
Climate: Warm temperate
Terrain: Savannahs, rainforests, and mountains
Atmosphere: Human friendly
Gravity: Standard
Diameter: 7,128 miles
Length of Day: 27 standard hours (10 hours in night)
Length of Year: 208 standard days
Sentient Species: Cheeli
Languages: Basic, Chel, variety of species languages
Population: 4.2 million
Species Mix: Blended
Government: Nominal Imperial presence/ Crime Lords
Major Exports: Precious metals
Major Imports: High Tech
System/ Star: Chorviki/ Chorvana
Planets Type Moons
Tivok Barren rock 1
Grinolaun Volcanic rock 0
Chorva Minor Terrestrial 0
Chorva Prime Terrestrial 0
The Crown Asteroid belt -
Almandeer Gas giant 5
Tigritior Gas giant 14
Description
The twin planets of Chorva Prime and Chorva Minor effectively follow one another through their solar system. Due to the nature of their orbit Chorva Prime is much cooler than Chorva Minor simply because Chorva Minor is on the inside of their orbit, thus blocking significant amounts of the sun?s heat energy from reaching the larger planet. At the same time Chorva Minor?s day time is significantly longer than it should be because of the little light, often called the Smile of Light for its crescent shape, that reflects back at it from Chorva Prime. Both are rather temperate worlds. Chorva Prime has little in the way of life on it due to the harsher nature of its climate. Add to this the constant elevation changes of river-canyons and tall mesas and very little surface area sees much in the way of sunlight. Chorva Minor, however, is full of life. It has its own sentient species, the Cheeli, and a plethora of other flora and fauna.
The Chorviki system would have been ignored had it not been that Chorva Minor has substantial precious metal deposits deep within its crust. These are no where near the quantities needed to compete with such places as Muunilist or Raltiir as centers of economy since the pockets are not that large and are only in select places, but it is enough for people to start mining operations to transport its natural resources there.
The worlds are both, at least nominally, under Imperial law. Still, their location out in the Outer Rim and so near places such as Kessel and Nal Hutta as well as possessing great natural resources means that there is a definite, strong criminal presence as well. These underworld types make up the majority of the non-native population, though there are plenty of simple farmers and other colonists that live on both worlds.
History
Discovered during one of the Old Republic?s great land rushes three hundred years before the battle of Yavin, the star and its system of worlds were first officially named Vicar?s Reach. Later, when it was discovered that the Chorva Minor had sentient life the Cheeli were asked what the name of their world and their sun was. Under the Republic?s Native Species Protection Act the locals had first claim to their planet. But that didn?t stop colonists from planting themselves on Chorva Prime until the contracts were settled. Over the next twenty years as the Cheeli were introduced to space travel and modern technology through their new-found contacts and wealth, which they took to with only average skill, mining companies and prospectors began setting up for the great rush of opportunity the new world was going to provide.
Chorva Prime became a nearly abandoned planet almost over night when drilling and mining was finally allowed. This left many semi-permanent buildings unoccupied, waiting for someone to move back in what became known as the ?anticipation towns.? The Hutts and other criminal types became the new inhabitants of the remains. Some became rather successful. Others went under fast either due to bankruptcy or violence. Once things settled in the mining towns that had finally been developed they found their neighbors to be a thriving half-hidden black market.
After some disastrous initial raids and counter-assaults there was an uneasy but unofficial truce settled between the legitimate business men of the mining world and the less legitimate crime lords who ran the colder, darker world above. The miners wouldn?t try to oust the criminals as long as businesses directly attached to the mining world were left alone by the gangsters. This truce has mostly stood for almost two centuries now with little disobedience.
With the advent of the Clone Wars Chorviki became a small flash point between the Republic and the CIS. Initially declaring neutrality since it had never been a strong member of the Republic, the world was quickly taken over by the powerful Confederacy. In the twenty-first month of the war it became one of the many worlds in the Rim to be put under siege by Republic forces. It only folded when the war was over and Palpatine declared himself Emperor. It lasted so long because it had so many successful smugglers already inhabiting the system. They liked their little haven and would find a way to be able to maintain it, running the blockades at significant danger to themselves to make sure the seven million people in the system didn?t starve (though some said that the Jedi commander in charge was letting them pass for the same reason).
After the Clone Wars were over and the siege lifted the sector Moff put in a stronger Imperial presence to try to quell the criminal activities in the area. He assigned a governor whom he trusted be watchful and funded the establishment of a small stormtrooper garrison on both worlds. It almost worked, too, but everyone, especially in the Empire, has their price. While the governor remained loyal and stalwart in his duties, many of those under him were on the payroll of some crime lord.
Now, as before, the twin worlds have a half-hidden underworld of crime and corruption that acts as a safe haven for those types. Chorva Minor?s mining operations are running smoothly to produce metals for the Imperial war machine and Chorva Major?s anticipation towns are full of undesirables.
People
The people of the Chorva worlds are as varied as Tatooine or the inmates of Kessel. Crime has a firm foothold in every activity that happens here except the mining operations which are handled by the business leaders themselves. Their ties to the underground, though, are stronger than anyone lets on; chartering smugglers to carry their legitimate cargo and allowing their presence on Chorva Minor.
There are other local immigrants, too though, mostly farmers who grow food for the miners and the miners themselves. They are generally simple people who keep their heads down and their eyes and ears closed about what they see happening around them.
The Cheeli don?t have much to say about any of it. They have adapted their tribal lifestyle to the new technology they?ve been given in exchange for the right of others to be there. They still inhabit large swaths of the unmined continents and find their own food there. Some have taken to space and brought their entire tribe with them, living on large ships and traveling from system to system finding work to continue feeding them and keep their ship in good condition.
Locations
Mine Head 18
Chorva Minor?s Mine Head 18 has been out of commission for a long time. It briefly housed a gold mine that soon ran out. Now the empty tunnels are used by the crime boss Ivriss Kovell?a as a secret storage facility. Kovell?a?s preference for running starship-quality laser cannons means that he needs a large space to put them. He hides them here, along with the occasional dead smuggler, where no one thinks to look anymore. The mine head is officially owned by Raltiir Minerals Incorporated (RMI), but the local properties manager has an arrangement with him that makes sure that no one who works for the company ever goes there.
Holy Church of the Smile of Light
The Revered Mother (whose real name is not known) is possibly the best-loved woman in the town of Deepgold by the vagrants and vagabonds that live there. Deepgold is one of the many mining towns that exist on Chorva Minor and it has produced a number of people who are unable to work and orphans created by mining accidents. The Revered Mother takes them in and gives them a place to live, food to eat, and useful activity to do. She often has the physically disabled learn another trade or focus in a subject so that they can then instruct the orphans in it. The orphans, then, are given a decent education by people who had nothing better to do with their time than study their subject.
Of course, the Revered Mother doesn?t fund her church on the product of these unfortunate souls. Knowing old miners gives her first-rate information on what?s going on in the corporate sector of the world. The orphans are given time every day to run around the city and play, and in the process they learn much that wouldn?t be publicly accessible because people don?t think much of children listening in on big-people conversations. The Revered Mother takes the stories from her various sources and puts them together until she can see the whole picture. She then takes these whole pictures and informs her corporate and Imperial benefactors of her knowledge who in turn are quite generous with their wealth towards her philanthropic cause.
Nol Larin
Chorva Prime?s main starport, Nol Larin, was built up on one of the largest mesas on the world. It was RMI?s main anticipation town but emptied quickly when the mines opened up. With so many abandoned buildings around, crime lords like Gonin the Hutt swiftly moved in and made themselves at home. Gonin seems content, at least for the moment, to simply run the town while everyone else runs things through it. The abandoned homes have never been completely filled so passing smugglers always have a place to stay as long as they need. Gonin only charges for use of the abandoned houses when they exceed a certain size or are too close to his own home.
During the Rebellion Era the governor tried to stomp out crime in the system but failed miserably by hiring Sheen Liffin. Liffin is a low-level manager of the traffic control towers on Gonin?s payroll. He lets whatever ships he wants down during his shifts and those who Gonin doesn?t want are escorted to an Imperial search yard where the ship is torn to pieces in the search for contraband. Once the ship is down Liffin is the one who tells the garrison commander whether or not to search ships carefully. In the end Liffin is truly the man in charge of the larger planet?s Imperial forces and receives a cut of Gonin?s activities.
Lost Canyons
The so-called Lost Canyons are a spacer legend where an ancient empire, perhaps Xim the Despot?s, stored huge amounts of treasure. The existence of such a place would be difficult at best to confirm the existence of since the entire planet is covered in crags and canyons of all sorts. Still, it provides a good name to spread for the airspeeder races that are annually held in the canyons.
Gonin hosts the Lost Canyons Open with holocameras at every major turn and particularly dangerous point. Or, at least, those that he allows to be seen. Plenty of dangerous turns and straightaways are unwatched (at least by the public) so that Gonin?s favorites can pull dastardly maneuvers to gain an unfair advantage. The route of the race changes almost every year since they don?t actually know which canyons are the Lost Canyons. This makes this one of the most challenging races in the Outer Rim since the racers never get a chance to know the track like they do on most others.
Allies and Antagonists
The Chorva worlds provide plenty of people for PCs to interact with. Here are a few examples.
Moirah Kirvish (female human Diplomat 3)
Moirah Kirvish doesn?t particularly like the Empire. That?s the main reason she?s been thinking about leaving her job. However, being the head bartender in the TuneUp gives her access to the Imperial pilots assigned to defend Chorva Minor. While their attentions may not be very savory, and certainly not the kind she?s looking for, they still occasionally let slip some useful tidbit that she is then fully willing to pass on to other customers who tip well.
Sheen Liffin (male human Expert 5/ Soldier 1)
Sheen Liffin has sold his life for a salary. The traffic controller knows each and every ship, who it belongs to, and what it?s carrying long before his tower hails it. Gonin pays Sheen well for every ship he lets pass, and pays him just a bit extra for every ship he tells Sheen to raid. It helps that Sheen?s younger brother Givil Liffin is an honest Imperial officer in charge of twenty-four of the garrison?s stormtroopers. All Sheen has to do is call his brother, telling him that it is smuggling contraband and Givil jumps at the opportunity to prove himself to the governor and other Imperial officers.
Lt. Givil Liffin (male human Diplomat 3/ Soldier 6/ Officer 2)
Lieutenant Givil Liffin is as loyal and honorable as an Imperial can get. Still young, he was put in Officer Training School early on and graduated in the middle-upper levels of his class. He requested that he be sent back to his homeworld of Chorva Minor to help eliminate the criminal elements there. His request was granted and he has since been put in charge of three squads of eight stormtroopers. Even when on down-time he is always in on-duty mode, watching carefully for criminal activity and ready with a commlink to call it in.
Givil?s favorite criminal activity to turn in, it seems, is not being human. He is a cruel man who constantly picks on nonhumans crossing his path. One of his favorite targets is Thivil Yub, the Sullustan mechanic who was very successful until the Empire?s anti-alien biases nearly pushed him out of business. Anyone who shares similar sentiments and talks as a loyal Imperial citizen will hear him talk long and eloquently of his beloved Empire.
Parcher Joanus (male human Fringer 6)
Every city or town, especially a spaceport, needs a junkyard. Parcher Joanus fills that niche quite nicely in Nol Larin. He keeps it well-stocked with parts sold to him by pirates back from raids and smugglers whose own ships have lost or broken pieces. He pays ten credits per hundred pounds he?s sold, but charges three credits for every two pounds of material taken out. Still, when you need a three-thousand credit part that weighs one hundred pounds and he?s got it, it?s definitely worth your money. Of course he also sometimes charges large amounts for other dangerous items, such as reactors or dead bodies, to be put through his disintegrator.
Thivil Yub (male Sullustan Tech Specialist 5/ Scoundrel 2)
Before the Empire?s anti-alien policies came down Thivil was a thriving business man on Chorva Minor. He could fix almost any ship or vehicle in nearly two thirds the time that most of his competition could with equal reliability, and his prices showed it. Still, when someone needed their ship quickly or weren?t concerned with cost he was the being to see.
But when the Empire took over and they began to limit the scope of what business he could do Thivil began to suffer for it. He was forced to slash his prices to undercut the other mechanics around. Between that and the constant harassment of Lieutenant Givil Liffin and his stormtroopers he has developed a distaste for humans equal to the Empire?s distaste for him. He still works for humans, but unless they have nonhumans with them he charges them his old rates in a fit of vengeance.
The Revered Mother (female human Jedi Counselor 3/ Noble 2/ Priest 3)
The Revered Mother was not always known as such. She used to be Jedi Padawan Sheila Isk?arit until her master began to show her the depth of her emotions and where it could lead her. She got scared and turned in her lightsaber, leaving the Jedi order forever, and hasn?t made a replacement weapon since. Since this happened long before the Clone Wars she has had a long time to be forgotten and has been left alone by the Empire?s Jedi hunters thus far.
When she left the Jedi order she still felt the need to aid those who could not take care of themselves. She knew of the plight of the Chorviki system from her travels with her master and settled there under a false name. At first she was just a do-gooder who helped orphans and the handicapped but as time went on she found that people began to look to her for advice. Over the next decade or so she became known as the Revered Mother from the Holy Church of the Smile of Light, named for the effect of Chorva Prime?s lighting effect on Chorva Minor, and lost use of even her false identity. Though she didn?t intend for it to become a religion it did. Now she uses her poverty-stricken contacts as information sources to blackmail the wealthy of Chorva Minor while she provides the poor with useful work and education.
Driva Sunrunner (female human Scoundrel 5/ Black Marketeer 3)
Everyone in the underworld needs to know someone who can move contraband into the hands of buyers. Driva Sunrunner, a Tatooine native, is just such a go-between. She knows all sorts of people who want all sorts of things or can get all sorts of things. This ability has earned her special protection from Gonin so that no one is allowed to even threaten to rough her up over her prices. For those who she knows personally she gives better deals while those who have been unreliable in the past will not see the same kind of money.
Rickety (male-personality droid of unknown type Scoundrel 6/ Crime Broker 3)
Rickety is a novelty of the Chorva system. He is a humanoid-shaped droid that?s very old, but no one has yet managed to discover his make and model. He lives in Nol Larin, brokering jobs for whoever comes through his office near Gonin?s palace. He doesn?t work for Gonin usually. Usually he?s the one who sets smugglers up on their Kessel Runs or tells pirates of a particularly sweet cargo ship coming through. His rates are significant but he is one of the most reliable job-finders an outlaw could find. He is never seen without his bodyguard and personal mechanic Lowkundo (male Wookie Soldier 2/ Scout 2).
Ton Dith (male Kel Dor Tech Specialist 3/ Scoundrel 4/ Outlaw Slicer 2)
Every outlaw needs to have backup identities and faked cargo manifests, not to mention a live feed from the Imperial communications network. Ton Dith makes a killing doing this out of Nol Larin. He can slice his way into any and every computer system that is connected to a network in the Chorviki system. While his rates are exorbitant his work is worth the price. Trying to talk to him may not be though. He speaks at the speed at which he types, which is to say exceedingly fast.
Jin Jak Mokem (male Gungan Expert 6/ Field Medic 1)
Jin Jak Mokem is a veteran of the Clone Wars where he worked as a medic aboard MedStar III. When the wars were over he quickly retired and tried to return home to Naboo. The mood there was too dark for him, though, with the death of Senator Amidala and the formation of the Empire by their own representative Palpatine. Instead he found passage further out into the Rim and started working for whoever would hire him. Eventually he settled on Chorva Prime where he set up his own practice. He has a very strict don?t-ask-don?t-tell policy about injuries. If anyone gives any explanation that implies illegal doings he will refuse to see them the next time they come to him. Any time he is performing surgery on someone he has the odd habit of humming Naboo lullabies.
The Boss (male near-human Expert 8/ Crime Lord 1)
The man simply known as the Boss knows just about everything about the local crime syndicates. His knowledge comes from a long working knowledge from when he used to run one of the smaller anticipation towns. After a good long run working underground goods through his place of origin he got greedy and started moving in on Nol Larin. Gonin wouldn?t have any of that and swiftly moved to remove the man from the business entirely. The Boss now bums his way around Nol Larin begging for spare change. However, his vast knowledge of Chorva Prime?s underground could benefit anyone who knows the right things to ask and has the price of a few glasses of lum.
Zikri Ruk?ki (female Bothan Soldier 3/ Scoundrel 2/ Demolitionist 3/ Black Marketeer 4)
Zikri Ruk?ki has long worked for the Bothan Spynet as an espionage agent. She still does, in fact, but her talents have been directed elsewhere since her days of sneaking in places and planting explosives. Her current cover is as a professional demolitionist for the mines working independently on a contract basis. She is also working to supply weapons to various anti-Imperial resistance groups. This has made her a valuable commodity amongst the Chorva underworld. She will sell to anyone who is doing anything under the Imperials? noses since the more chaos they sow for the Empire the easier the resistance will remove them. She charges 10-25% over the manufacturer?s list price since she is getting them illegally, but her equipment is reliable. She has a special love in her heart for explosives, though, and rarely charges more than 8% over their list price.
Dialphis (male of unknown species Force Adept 9/ Baran Do Sage 5)
The strange Sage of Chorva Prime has been investigated multiple times both by the Jedi of the Old Republic and the Jedi Hunters of Palpatine?s Empire as to whether or not he is a Force user. Neither has ever come up with a positive or negative. They never seem to be able to get a clear reading on him, even when he?s making his predictions.
What none of them have been able to discern, though, is that he is one of the last of the Sith species. He is over seven hundred years old and he doesn?t know if any more of his kind are alive but has decided he doesn?t much care. He has decided to use his Force powers to become a sage and psychic, making money telling superstitious pilots and gangsters whether or not they will be successful in their endeavors. Really he?s hoping to begin cultivating that trust into power over the Chorva underground from which he can begin to control the system, a step in his plans. For the time being though he uses a number of gimmicks and trinkets to put the people who come to him in his thrall.
He has managed to hide from the Jedi and the Empire for so long because he never leaves his house. He has imbued his house with a detection-blocking technique of Sith origin. It makes sure that other Force-users cannot detect him even in his presence. To be able to successfully see his power in the Force a Force-user must make a See Force check (DC 45). Otherwise they simply get no reading of any sort.
Probos (male Duro Scout 9/ Stunt Pilot 2)
Probos is a green-skinned Duro who truly loves to be in a fast-moving vehicle any time he can. He is a regular at Gonin?s Lost Canyons Open with his specially designed and modified T-16. He is an excellent starfighter pilot but prefers to navigate planetary areas because their just isn?t enough stuff in space that he might run into to make it dangerous and thus worthwhile.
Squadron Leader Dursht Olvadiar (male human Soldier 4/ Noble 4/ Wing Commander 3)
Squadron Leader Dursht Olvadiar is the scion of a small Outer Rim aristocratic family who maintained their loyalty to Palpatine through the Clone Wars. While the family is of no great importance in the galaxy they are influential enough to have won him a place in the Imperial Academy and then an appointment as Squadron Leader in one of the new non-clone squadrons.
Following his appointment to Blade Squadron he led them to numerous victories stamping out brush fires that were the remnants of the CIS in the Outer Rim. In one of these combats he was assigned to protect their Star Destroyer. When a squadron of droid fighters moved in he and his squadron engaged them, chasing them all over the battle field. This drew them away from the Destroyer and ultimately to it suffering significant damage from droid bombers that soon followed the fighters. While he was quite successful in eliminating the fighters and a number of other enemy targets he and his squadron were reprimanded and assigned to planetary defense on the out-of-the-way planet of Chorva Minor.
Nowadays Olvadiar spends most of his time plotting what he?s going to do when he finally discovers something big and earns respect again. If anything looks like it will be a big, influential job he will quickly jump on the opportunity, even if he and his squad were not ordered in the air. Otherwise he lets other squadrons handle it and will often push uninteresting assignments to the other squadron leaders. Still, he keeps his squadron in top shape so that they are truly the top defense squadron on Chorva Minor. He has long since earned the respect and trust of his subordinates and his commanders.
Ivriss Kovell?a (male Cheeli Diplomat 8/ Crime Lord 5)
Ivriss Kovell?a is one of the premier big-gun merchants in the sector, beaten only by a few Hutt cartels and the Hutt himself. He runs his operation out of Nol Larin with the approval of Gonin though he keeps most of his goods over on Chorva Minor in Mine Head 18. Mostly he runs artillery- or starship-grade weapons and shields but will occasionally take the special order of smaller guns in big quantities.
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