Urce

[Rasputin]

Urce​

[Fancybox2]COORDINATES: L6

HYPERLANE: N/A

CLIMATE: Temperate, cool; summer season and winter season last four standard years (two years per)

TERRAIN: Jungle, mountains, desert, arctic, volcanic

ROTATION: 48 standard hours with a year of 709 days

INHABITANTS Primarily Rinthars and Rokars

RESOURCES: Orventh, bolgi fruit, vine cat leather hide, fossil fuels (very scarce, found only at equator)

GOVERNMENT: Oligarchic democracy (formerly a theocratic monarchy)

CULTURE: Traditionally: Tribal deists; Currently: Tribal modernists. See below for details.

TECHNOLOGY: Once a primitive land, the Rinthars slowly embraced technology and melded it with their own to form very retro designs. The influences of Rinthar culture led the species to develop weapons such as energy bows and architectural designs such as the cities built in to the sides of mountains.

SATELLITES: Siez and Maly


INTENT:
Besides expanding an already established stub planet, the introduction of Urce in ‘The Star Wars RP’ allows a new world with new cultures to shine that isn’t the run-of-the-mill Mandalorian, Jedi, Sith, or Hutt. There are a number of influences, including Elves (particularly Night-elves), Native Americans (history), Polish (language) and a number of other sources I can't think of at the top of my head. I intend to use Urce to continue and expand a story arc from Arno Biguus's backstory, which is of rise and downfall of the Urcan Empire and the aftermath of the Ithor Conquest War, use it for future storylines involving Arno and the Sith, and potentially make a Rintharian character who hails from Urce.
[/fancybox2]

CULTURE​

[fancybox2]
Hunting and gathering is the most important aspect of Urcan culture. This is because the jungles of Urce are very mountainous and inhospitable, and thus unattractive from an agricultural standpoint.

Even their religion is based upon hunting.Though it is not as prominent as it used to be, some believe in a goddess called Venat Dea. Those who still have faith believe she blesses the Hunt, which is the name of the summer seasons when hunting is at its peak. The Winter season is believed to signal the end of the Hunt, when the goddess 'goes to sleep'. Siez and Maly, Urce's two moons, were once believed to be children of Venat Dea and that the two moons keep the rivers flowing.

There have been different interpretations, however, especially with the advent of space travel for the Urcans. Some believe it invalidates their beliefs. Some have chosen to reinterpret this, however, to believe that fertile and lush worlds are blessed by Venat Dea, while barren and frozen worlds are forever dead to the Hunt.

Their primary religious authorities are Augons, Force-sensitive priests, with the highest augon, the Prorok, considered a prophet and direct tether to Venat Dea. Force sensitives are seen as demigod-like figures blessed by Venat Dea and weapons are seen as gifts and artifacts for the Hunt.

Traditionally, all Rintharians follow a text called the Zodnosc, which are five tenets that guide Rintharian life: give thanks to Venat Dea; display honorable and altruistic behavior; complete the rite of passage at the coming of age; take care of your weapon; obey and respect your elders.

Rintharians, being primarily carnivorous, hunt and kill animals. Vine cats could be used for its hide while bha'lirs could be killed for their fur and edible meat. Traditionally, a Rintharian would say the word, 'Pokoj' upon a kill as a thanks to Venet Dea and a blessing to the creature killed.

Occasionally Rintharians will indulge in the sweet bolgi fruit during festive celebrations and holidays.

The government of Urce was very much Rinthar dominated, and very theocratic and tribal based. Individual tribes were organized into Jungle Clans, led by ladcases (chiefs), who ultimately answer to the Summa. The Summa was the monarch chosen from a selection of ladcas by the Prorok, the supreme religious authority. The Prorok is traditionally elected by the Augons.

The Rintharian caste system worked with the Prorok at the very top, with the Summa and Augons under him. While the Prorok didn’t serve in a direct manner in secular government, he did advise the Summa and could have the Summa deposed if he believed he was acting against the interests of Venat Dea. The Augons served a similar capacity for the Ladcases, though the Augons couldn't remove the Ladcases and the Ladcases answered to the Summa rather than them. Below the priests and nobility were the warriors and hunters, the laborers, and finally, at the very bottom, the servants. Though in recent years slavery of fellow sentients have become less common and stigmatized, enslavement of Rokar is considered acceptable and a symbol of high status.

There were rare instances when the Summa has more power religious and secular power than the Prorok, and that is when the Summa is declared the herald of Venat Dea by the augons.

In recent years, Urce has turned to a more democratic form of government with the augons now in hiding and thus no elected Prorok present to declare a Summa. Thus out of necessity, the ladcases elected their own leader, called a Konsul.

[/fancybox2]

HISTORY​

[fancybox2]Urce was a relatively insignificant in galactic history and its natives, originally just the Rinthar, did not keep accurate records until recent centuries. During the rise of the Sith Empire, Urce fell quite easily and served as the host for a Sith listening post and later a military installation. The primitive Rinthars took notice of this and began attacking Sith patrol units. The Sith, however, retaliated viciously and wiped out many of the Rinthar clans. This forced the remaining Rinthars to retreat into the wilderness against this seemingly unstoppable foe.

As time went on, the Sith presence decreased, and the Rinthars came out of hiding. With the remaining Sith the emerging Rinthar began a lucrative trade in the form of slaves, bolgi fruit, and animal hide in exchange for weapons. Urce soon became a tourist attraction to hunters looking for big game. Some of these hunters, however, would fall victim to the elements, the predators, or the Rinthar still in hiding, and eventually these Rinthar would come across these weapons. Though very alien to the Rinthar, it didn’t take long for them learn how to utilize these weapons and unite to cause havoc for the foreigners. The Sith did not back down, though, and unleashed their own creations onto the Rinthar. This came in the form of the Rokar, the result of genetic mutation by the Sith to combine Rinthar, Zabrak, and Massassi DNA.

The Rinthar utilized hit-and-run guerilla tactics against the Sith, causing widespread chaos. Despite the odds against them, the Rinthar forced the Sith to withdraw from Urce, unknowingly with the help of the Republic who already were causing the Sith trouble in a galaxy-wide conflict. The war on Urce, though, was not without its cost; the Sith had bombed the planet numerous times and reduced the equator to a barren waste.

After the conflict, the Rinthar prospered and went through an industrial revolution as they analyzed the remains of the Sith technology and reused them for their own purpose. Settling northward, they built cities in the mountainside and, for the first time, not only mastered, but dominated their harsh terrain. Meanwhile, the Rokar, considered inferior by their Rinthar cousins, were banished to the equator.

Although the Rintharians were advancing, this did not mean they had yet mastered space travel. The Urcans continued to remain cut off from the galaxy for some decades, but soon faced yet another invasion from two slaver empires in what would become known as the Slave Wars. The Zygerrian and later the Dathomiran Slave Empire tried their hand at the seemingly primitive world, but the Urcans were prepared this time and fought fiercely, defeating both empires and driving them from this world.

However, this did not mean that the Urcans didn’t adopt some practices of their enemies. One of the most prominent thing the Urcans began to do during this was exploring space travel. Some Rintharians also began to enslave the Rokars, leading to something of a caste system. More minorly, they also integrated some of the shamanistic practices of the Dathomiran witches into their religious culture, which led to the rise of the Augons.

For the first time, Urcans were prominent in galactic politics. Establishing themselves as the capital of Urce Space, the Urcans sat in prosperity and peace for centuries. One Summa and herald of Venta Dea named Hornag, however, changed this when he declared a crusade against Ithor. This war of conquest came out of years of built-up jingoism, combined with the need for resources, particularly food. Ithor was chosen because the Rintharians saw it as favorable, but wasted 'hunting grounds'.

The Urcans were ruthless in their invasion and held a great military edge over the peaceful Ithorians. The Urcans knew well that the Republic did not want involved in wars outside their space, but they didn’t count on the Jedi Knights rallying a rebellion against the Urcans. The self-proclaimed Urcan Empire was about to face its true test. Even though the Urcans kept the Jedi crusaders on their heels, the crusaders managed to keep up the fight long enough to garner the support of the Muuns and Kaleesh who became threatened by the Urcan expansionism, and eventually the Republic sent their own reinforcements. This alliance overwhelmed the Urcans and despite a long and hard-fought war, they were eventually pushed back home where their dream of an empire died.

The Prorok soon learned that the Summa was a puppet of the Sith and had engineered the war to create an Urcan buffer state to prepare for an imminent Sith invasion. Before the secret could be revealed, both the Prorok and the Summa were killed by Sith assassins. This vaccuum of power caused a civil war between the remaining Ladcases vying for the role of the Summa, whilst the Augons went into hiding. The civil war eventually ended in a compromise between the Ladcases, who elected their own leader, a Konsul, in the absence of a Prorok to declare a Summa.

Some believe this civil war was fueled by the Republic to create a less aggressive regime. This can never be confirmed, of course, and whether or not it was a covert operations, the Rintharians have come the favor the transition into modernity. It is uncertain, though, what could occur should the Augons return.

[/fancybox2]

ᴘʀᴏғɪʟᴇ ᴄᴏᴅᴇ ʙʏ: ʙᴇᴇ​

 

[Kiro]