a-desando

By any standards, A-desando is an affluent world.  Desando Dynamics shipyards, Ridley Powcorp Systems and Floova Colonia all originate from the planet, and her sister world Halando has several conglomerates that have sites on A-desando.  By Setnin levels the standard of living is high and therefore attracts wealthier types.  Also, many of A-desando’s thousands of tiny islands are privately owned by celebrities, politicians, trillionaires and even Imperial governors.  Homelessness is simply not a part of the social make-up on A-desando.  Their Charter of Independence states the “Express right of any native A-Desandian to dwell on land, be it in his own dwelling or that of the state.”  - An accord that guarantees housing to every A-desandian. 

Unless able to prove their financial solvency, aliens and off-worlders are denied residence on the planet, a system that has endured for thousands of years and, according to her government, been a part of making A-desando one of the jewels of the Mid-Rim.

However, behind every successful economy there are usually layers of healthy competition driving it forward.  While A-desando isn‘t blatantly corrupt it does have its society structured into Houses.  In a mafia-style manner, each house `pays’ its respects to the ruling house of the time.  For example, the House of Lomona would pay a tithe to the House of Benzana, a situation which would reverse with the ascendancy of the Lomona House.   Each House leader assumes the governorship of their home city – in the case of the Lomona’s, the planetary capital of Ecaps.  With this position the Governor runs planetary affairs and commerce, along with a vast council of non-political advisors who fall outside the House system.  The Governor also ensures the tight rulings of the House system are adhered to, keeping planetary politics in order.  While sounding antiquated and restrictive, the purpose of the House system is to focus efforts on the “Betterment and destiny of A-desando.” – set up as part of the Charter of Independence, the House system has endured for thousands of years.

Before the expansion from the Core Worlds, A-desando stood with her sister world Halando, ever-visible throughout A-desando’s 38 hour day, in a tight trade cycle, eventually expanding out to the rest of the four-world Desando System and the rest of the sector.  In reaction to the opening of the modern Chancai Trade Centre on Zelon just thirteen years before, A-desando became one of the 25 systems who were charter members of the Setnin Council on the Zelon moon of Benesk over 800 years before the Battle of Yavin, and enjoyed a golden age of trade and peace, all the while remaining under the wise protection of the Republic, as it had for over three thousand years.   Jedi Padawans were often trained on A-desando and Houses played host to political summits and trade fairs.  In the still expanding Setnin Sector, A-desando gained a reputation as a model planet of peace.

However, this was not to last.  Six millennia before the Sith War had raged throughout the galaxy and Sith artefacts had been deposited on many worlds, including A-desando.  Four hundred years before Yavin, four young Jedi trainees, preparing for their final tests to become Jedi Knights, found the artefact.  Overcome by its dark power they turned to the dark side and began a murderous killing spree, eventually quelled by fellow Jedi. 

Centuries later, as the Republic was reorganised into the Galactic Empire, tales of Sith artefacts made their way to Coruscant.  Emperor Palpatine dispatched a large force of troops to A-desando, intending to make it his base of operations within the Setnin Sector, now recognised as a key strategic point in taking the Mid-Rim and beyond fully under Imperial control.  While the bulk of that deployment never made it to A-desando – tales of Chatroot and the Howlrunners battling them in the Salura Star was a popular, if inaccurate story – Imperial forces did seep into the formerly impregnable sector and initiated bases, one of which was set up in Ecaps City. 

Now that the Empire had taken A-desando as its base, to the shock and dismay of the local systems, they refused to fight the occupation, instead welcoming it.  This should have come as little surprise – A-desando was prominently pro-Separatist during the Clone Wars, and readily allowed Confederate vessels passage through their airspace and unfettered use of starports.  This latest political change was little different, and likely saved the planet from the Empire’s ire and being raised to the ground.  The then Governor of Ecaps city, ostensibly the planetary leader, gave full support to the Imperial cause, merging A-desando’s Security Services with Imperial activities and giving them complete co-operation.  For that, A-desando wasn’t made an example of as so many other Setnin and Mid-Rim worlds were.  Many A-desandians were drafted, a process that lasted only for a short while as it became apparent that almost all people of a fighting age were willingly signing up to join. 

The Desando System is a four planet system circling the star Tri-Lomon.  The innermost world is Locaarn.  Base of the Runanian crime lord Monall Torch this Desando System world, with a solitary moon, orbits the star Tri-Lomon.  Locaarn orbits Tri-Lomon at a distance of 136 million kilometres, making it a fiercely hot world. 

Secondly there is Lagara.  Orbiting the sun Tri-Lomon at a distance of 158 million kilometres, Lagara is a warm world filled with dense jungles.  Populated by a mere thirty million inhabitants, Lagarans enjoy the solitude and the quiet.  The smuggler Jan Lomona owned a property on Lagara, in the country of Barnon.  Lagara is orbited by seven moons. 

Thirdly lies A-desando itself, 275 million kilometres from Tri-Lomon.

Fourthly lies Halando.  Halando has been constantly at odds with A-desando for centuries.  Birthplace of Imperial General Narn Giapa Lomona, father of smuggler Jan Lomona, Halando is virtually identical to her neighbouring world, lying 285 million kilometres from her sun, almost exactly the same distance as A-desando and sharing the same orbit.  Halando’s seven satellites cause tremendous tidal pressures, therefore making it impossible to inhabit the coastal regions.

According to planetary law, no structure over three storeys high can be constructed on the planet in any location other than the capital city of Ecaps.  The planet enjoys a consistent temperature in the high 70ºc, but coastal areas can be susceptible to high winds and seismic disturbances.  This balance was a factor in leading the ancient A-desandians to adopt the architectural habit of living in single storey houses with three or four floors cut into the ground below.  Thousands of years of architecture have led to flexi structures below ground, and as such A-desando leads the way in subterranean dwelling designs in the sector.

But Ecaps is exempt from this, and as such has built a cityscape rarely seen on worlds outside of the Core.  The Mimiban district of Ecaps City is a prime example.  On the higher levels lie the landing pads for local transport.  Halfway down lies the multi-platformed Dackarr Starport, the continents major starport.  Populated by one million inhabitants, the Mimiban district has become a major trade complex and is partly operated by the same managers who run the Chancai Trade Centre in the Zelon System.