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Now that I’ve unleashed the Dread Masters upon your players, I felt it time to detail where they had been imprisoned until this time. With this Belsavis gazetteer, I fear I may be falling into a frigid pattern. Rhen Var, Vandor, Csilla, and now Belsavis. I guess it’s a Canadian thing.
BELSAVIS
Astronavigation Data: Belsavis System, Bozhnee Sector, Outer Rim Territories
Orbital Metrics: 412 days per year / 25 hours per day
Government: tribal democracy (Mluki), military governorship (Republic and Empire)
Population: 450,000 (Mluki 95%, others 5%)
Languages: Basic
Terrain: glaciers, ice, snow, tropical rift canyons
Major Cities: Plawal
Areas of Interest: Plawal Rift, The Corridor, Old Republic Prison, The Tomb, Eternity Vault
Major Exports: vine-silk, vine-coffee
Major Imports: foodstuffs, technology
Trade Routes: Belsavis Run
Special Conditions: frigid conditions requiring cold-weather gear outside of tropical rifts, and some vehicles and equipment may require cold-weather modifications
Background: A mostly frigid world of glacial ice, Belsavis hosts tropical conditions in a series of volcano-heated rifts. Many kilometers wide, these rifts are visible from orbit as bright green circular patches marking an otherwise entirely white, frozen planet. Temperatures vary wildly on Belsavis, with the icy surface dropping below -50 degrees while the tropical rifts boast balmy thirty degree weather. Diverse flora and fauna thrive in these warm sanctuaries.
Belsavis’ population is spare, both of offworlders and the native Mluki. The tropical rifts are home to small bands of the native primates. A handful of offworlders operate the scarce number of trading posts and research facilities dotting the planet. The Republic initiated colonization just before the Clone Wars, importing hardy species from Ithor under the biological expertise of Ithorian ecologists. The outbreak of war halted colonization efforts and, with the Empire uninterested in a world with no industrial value, only a small settlement at Plawal remaining.
Unknown to most, Belsavis has served as an ultramax prison planet over the millenia. Buried in the dense tropical jungles of the northeastern geothermic rift lies a four thousand year old prison complex once ran by the Old Republic. In operation around the time of the Republic-Sith Cold War, this prison held only the most dangerous prisoners. Violent criminals, fanatical Mandalorians, and Sith thought too dangerous to kill were all held on remote Belsavis. Below the Republic prison facility lay ancient dungeons constructed by the Rakata. The Old Republic mapped some of these dungeons, even using the ancient technology to secure powerful Sith in stasis, but the majority of the Rakata ruins remained unexplored. Almost entirely iced over, these forgotten cells are thought to hold unspeakable horrors from the past.
FORGOTTEN PRISONERS
Deep within the forgotten ruins of the Rakata dungeons dwell thousands of sentenced to eternal imprisonment by the Infinite Empire. Dreaded foes from both within and without the Rakatan empire make up the prison population. Powerful Rakatan criminals, such as the Infernal One, remain sealed in vaults which trap both mind and body in adjacent dimensions. Monstrous beasts deemed too exotic for extermination remain trapped in remote thermal rifts. Prisoners from a thousand species and a thousand worlds remain deep within Belsavis.
A plurality of prisoners belong to the Esh-Kha, a vicious species that once challenged the Rakata for galactic domination, now sealed in a series of ruins known as The Tomb. Entire armies of Esh-Kha remain in suspended animation. Small bands of awakened Esh-Kha prowl the ruins in pursuit of someway to free their compatriots.
Christopher Hunt
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