| Information on Farrina's Web: Documentation on Farrina's Web cached at Exgal-5 -Galactic Survey Information: Farrina's Web. -Compiled by High Ambassador Tasgal Vorrus, Jedi Master Basic Astronomical Information: (A parsec is 3.26 light years) Diameter: 120,000 Light Years Thickness: 7,000 Light years thick 130 billion stars 6 spiral arms Colliding with small dwarf galaxy on far side Combined Republican Federation (CRF): -8 native space-faring species (~40 planets in 30 systems) -Over 50 colonist species (~15 planets in 10 systems, some overlap with above) -Combined senate (120 members) with President and Prime Minister -Current ruling coalition the Conservative Trade Coalition -76 seat majority, made from Conservative party, Trade Coaltion party -Congressional capitol (Corlan) on New Correllia -Jedi High Council, seated at New Correllia -Approximately 12% of galactic area explored, with 5% inhabited. History; Imporant dates: The calendar in the CRF is similar to the Galactic Standard calendar in year length and such. Its main difference is its year 0 is the date of the founding of the first colony on New Correllia. Dates in this calendar are marked as positive or negative numbers "P.F." or Post Founding -150 P.F. (estimated) Awakening of Mortarrius on Locus Arrius -40 P.F. The first explorers from the Republic reach Farrina\rquote s Web. They find the inhabitants friendly and few. After brief discussions, they learn that major colonies could be established with almost no strain on local populations and environments. -31 P.F. The explorers return, and the Senate debates what action to take next. Eventually, due to a mix of population pressure, fear of extra-galactic invasion (such as the Yuuzhan Vong) and general desire to have some sort of wild frontier lead the Senate to authorize a massive and expensive colonization effort. -22 P.F. Construction of the colony ships begins. These rely on the same technology as the smaller hyperspace rockets. Due to economies of scale, it is not siginificantly more expensive to send a ship with a hundred thousand carbon-frozen occupants than it is to send a single awake explorer. -5 P.F. Founding of the colony on the abandoned planet Rifflia. 0 P.F. Founding of the colony on the main landmass of New Correllia. Diplomatic relations established with the local Sloolini populations. Relations are cordial as the Sloolini have no use for land, only water, and are happy to gain trade partners. 2 P.F. Founding of the colonies at New Kashyyyk, Corlan, Sloolin 3 P.F. First major diplomatic incident occurs when New Correllian settlers accidentally offend the Sloolini by allowing waste products to enter the ocean. Strict environmental controls satisfy the Sloolini. However, the need for an independent government among the colonists so that they don't have to send home for instructions becomes obvious. 4 P.F. Foundation of the New Republic in Farrina\rquote s Web. Foundation of colony at Hasfundu. 5 P.F. First Spider Demons arrive on New Correllia (estimated). Birth of Arriella (estimated) 7 P.F. The poor world of Sirdiss applies for Republic membership and is accepted. 8 P.F. Sloolini join Republic (giving them a plurality in the Senate). In light of the growing diversity, it is renamed Combined Republican Federation. Member species are allowed to decide their own way of choosing their representation. 22 P.F. After the immigration of approximately 40 billion, the old-world stops sending colonists. Those who travelled barely made a dent in local population problems, the expense was too great, and intergalactic transit had not become less expensive the way they expected. 36 P.F. Lomp Trading federation, including two minor native species in addition to the Lomps, joins the CRF, doubling its area of influence. 75 P.F. (estimated) Awakening of Arriella on New Correllia 90 P.F. Decennial census shows that the smaller colonies are rapidly declining as people seek larger worlds. 145 P.F. Mortarrius' so-called "second awakening\rdblquote 156 P.F. Disappearance of Rifflia- 315 colonists vanish under mysterious circumstances. Master Ambassador Thorin Solo arrives to investigate (last known travel from Old World). Spider Demons or their worshippers blamed. Treaty of Rifflia signed with Arristotle of the Order of the Twilight Web (on Siddix Prime). Treaty pledges non-interference of Republic and Spider Demons with each other\rquote s business. 157 P.F. Destruction of the Kashyyyk Queen, a powerful Spider Demon who had slain several Jedi. The War of Spiders. CRF bombards holy world of Locus Arrius. Renegade Lomp fleet utterly destroyed by Republic forces. Spider Demon cleanup crews commissioned on all CRF worlds not in rebellion. Sirdian silk industry destroyed. Mortarrius attacks the Jedi. Destruction of Jedi Academy. Mortarrius slain. Moon over Locus Arrius destroyed. Arriella vanishes. 158 P.F. Locus Arrius declared holy world, evacuated. Lomps rejoin CRF. 162 P.F. Discovery of the Book of Mortarrius. Cult of Mortarrians begins. 168 P.F. Julius Palpatine ascends to Grand Master. 187 P.F. Spider Demons begin to reappear 192 P.F. Grand Master Julius Palpatine accompanies a Spider Demon to parts unknown, and vanishes. 233 P.F. Droids re-introduced into CRF. They had long been avoided from lingering memories of the IG-88 droid rebellion. 241 P.F. The wandering Carsalians join the CRF, bringing with them 10 worlds far coreward of Locus Arrius. 262 P.F. News of the re-discovery of midi-chlorians reaches CRF from old world. The study of the Force is dramatically altered. 280 P.F. A decennial census records that CRF population has passed 1 trillion beings all told, spread over fifty different worlds. Large cities have developed on most major colonies. A large criminal underclass and group of working poor have developed. 334 P.F. A theory emerges that Spider Demons feed on midi-chlorians in their victims. With several Spider Demons actively helping, a search is begun to try to find an arteficial subsitute, so that they can live peacefully among other creatures. As of the last known transmission, that search had not yet succeeded. The theory falls into disfavor after about five years. 352 P.F. Massive anti-Jedi demonstration on Siddix Prime. Recent investigations have revealed the incident was sparked by Yuuzhan Vong agents in disguise. 368 P.F. Yuuzhan Vong scoutships detected in small numbers in Carsalian space. 369 P.F. Yuuzhan Vong attack (mostly unsuccessful), last known transmission. 410 P.F. <Current date> Important Regions in the CRF: The CRF is located along one spiral arm of the galaxy Farrina\rquote s Web (also called Farrina's Veil). Systems are strewn along a fifty-light-year radius swath of space along the center of the spiral arm where inhabitable systems are most frequent. Coreward are the Carsalian territories, where a local small black hole's radioactive emissions make inhabitable territory hard to find. The Carsalian homeworld is sheltered from the radiation by a heavy dust cloud, and their trade federation extends outward from that area. Carsalian ships employ heavy energy shields, making them large and slow, but very tough. Slightly further out is the holy world of Locus Arrius. In the War of Spiders, its large, rocky moon, hideout of the rebel Spider Demon Mortarrius, was destroyed. The fallout from that explosion and the previous bombardment had made the world close to uninhabitable, but the world has unusually strong regenerative powers, and its climate is effectively restored as of this writing. Locus Arrius was declared a holy world in 158 to appease the religious extemists who at that time led and controlled the Lomp worlds. All of the inhabitants were evacuated, and it may now only be visited on pilgrimage, and only in certain areas. There is an orbiting space platform to keep an eye on the place, mostly staffed by Lomps to keep anyone from causing any mischief in the area. There are probably Spider Demons on the world, though there\rquote s no population to support any advanced state of developement. Further out are the Lomp worlds. There are several uninhabited planets within Lomp space known as Cursed Worlds, which they dare not colonize for superstitious reasons. Archaeologists believe that some sort of hive culture lived on many of these worlds, but collapsed internally due to the chaos sowed by Spider Demons among their population. The Lomp homeworld is Wullapu. Lomp religious extremism, once common, is now mostly relegated to the world of Siddix Prime, where the Mortarrians and the older Cult of Farrina still vie for control of the faithful. Why they couldn\rquote t live far apart remains a mystery. The religious of all species generally will stop by this world if making a pilgrimage to Locus Arrius. Far to the Galactic North of the Lomp worlds, under constant bombardment by interstellar dust, is the windy world of Hasfundu, currently a homeworld for the orphaned Noghri. Its tough and windy climate proved too much for most other races to gain a foothold, but reminds the Noghri of their ancestral homeworld of Honoghr. The Sloolini worlds are further rimward. Their homeworld of Sloolin is completely covered by water, and air-breathing residents inhabit either orbiting stations, floating platforms on the surface, or sub-oceanic glass domes. Sloolin boasts some beautiful coral reefs in its temperate zones, but the water along the equator is a bit too warm to support life. This may be a result of atmospheric pollutants the Sloolini emitted early in their history. In modern times, the Sloolini are clean to a fault, and none of their worlds have been altered by their inhabitation in a significant way. Several of the Sloolini worlds on the rimward side sport colonies from the old world. The biggest of these are Corlan and New Correllia, the current CRF capital. Also in this area is the cursed world Rifflia, whose last inhabitants vanished in the War of Spiders. The colony was never reestablished, as the CRF has always had ample space for its population. The coreward rim of CRF space holds the impoverished world of Sirdiss, home of the Sirdians. Sirdiss' one main export business is its textiles, and it's not a very profitable one. Still, Sirdiss' poverty is not the same as that of the big cities on other worlds, where crime, corruption, and drug-addiction are common, but rather the poverty of a not-very-successful agricultural world, similar to some of the monasteries on Siddix Prime. After a brief attempt at wealth and happiness during the War of Spiders, Sirdiss has settled down to being rather drab and boring once again. Also in the area is the arboreal world of New Kashyyyk. New Kashyyyk has 9 layers of forested ecology, with the more inhabitable layers at the top. A Jedi expedition once reached the surface for a short time during the War of Spiders, but it has not been attempted since. Wookiees and Ewoks are the chief residents of New Kashyyyk, with a small Sirdian contingent. Native Species: The important CRF member species native to Farrina\rquote s web are (in order of population) Sloolini, Lomps, Carsalians, Sirdians, Ufrict, and Neebs, the last two being small members of the Lomp trading confederation before joining the CRF. Sloolini are completely aquatic, based on some sort of local fish species. Their home planet's ecology has been severely damaged by global climate change, so that it's difficult to determine their origins. They now inhabit 8 worlds with major populations, with smaller colonies anywhere in the CRF where saltwater can be found. Sloolini culture is chiefly determined by their tremendous birth rate and relatively short life spans (it's actually very random- Sloolini may live to be as old as 130, but the average life span is only 35.) They are by necessity strict environmentalists (often violently so) as in their early history they came close to driving themselves extinct by overpopulation and pollution. When travelling among air-breathing species, they travel in motorized hydro-suits and communicate with a computerized translator. It\rquote s fashionable among Sloolini to choose strange voices for their translators, but these have little to do with their actual mode of communication, which is by sonar. Sloolini have genders, but they don't really care about them, since they do not form romantic attachments of any kind. Thus they prefer a pronoun "esh" of their own invention. Don\rquote t call them "it" or they'll be offended. Lomps are reptillian, based on turtles. They've got a hard shell on the front and back, usually dappled in shades of green, blue, white, and black. Males and females can be told apart by their dress- if you can see any shell through the clothing, you're looking at a female. Lomps are cold-blooded and become very sleepy and sluggish if the temperature drops below 50\'a1 F. Lomps are very hardy, which makes them ideal for space-travel in Farrina's Web, where inhabited worlds are few and far between. The Lomp trading federation covered 13 worlds when it joined the CRF. Traditionally, the Lomps were among the most religious of the cultures in Farrina's web, and it is important to note that there has only been one main religion in Farrina's Web as far back as anyone can tell, namely worship of Spider Demons. Today their fervor is less intense, and the fundamentalist sects can mostly be found on the world of Siddix Prime, where the strong Order of the Twilight Web set up a haven for the faithful after the War of Spiders and the subsequent assimilation. Spider worship can be found in a small way on most worlds, though usually only as a remnant of superstition. The most common superstition is the Spider's ward, an eight pointed gesture made with two hands across the chest as a sign to ward off evil. Carsalians joined the CRF late in its life, contributing massive shieldships and seventeen sparsely populated outpost worlds. The Carsalian homeworld is barely inhabited today, as radiation from the nearby Star Fountain black hole has made the place less than pleasant. Most Carsalians live in travelling interstellar convoys of several tens of thousands each. Physically Carsalians are insectoid, though unlike many of the insect-based races of the old world, they are no better adapted to survive vacuum, heat, or cold than anyone else. They do have a very high radiation tolerance out of necessity, however. The Sirdians of Sirdiss were among the first friends of the CRF. Their world is fairly cold, with large polar ice caps. Sirdians themselves are mammalian, tree-dwelling, and very dextrous with their hands, which sport two opposable "thumbs\rdblquote . They'd joke about giving something four thumbs up, if they joked, which they don't. Their bodies are covered in the various drab shades of soft, silky fur, and they wear loose wraps of similarly drab fabric, which is their chief export. Under natural conditions, Sirdians are subject to very strong mood swings, a continual problem for those Sirdians brave enough to become Jedi. To compensate for this, their world has adopted a powerful philosophical discipline known as the Way of Stone, which deadens emotions. They had a brief attempt before the War of Spiders at using medication to prevent their mood swings, but gave it up when their economy collapsed at the end of the war. They had been exporting goods made by spinning spider silk, and for spiders they had used young Spider Demons. Needless to say they soon learned the error of their ways. Sirdiss is one of the few worlds which contains no known Spider Demons at any stage of developement, though of course it's hard to be sure if that's still the case. Colonist Species: In order of population, the chief colonists are humans (over 70 percent), Mon Calamari, Chiss, Ewoks, Wookiees, Noghri, Sullustans, Lormarians, Gungans, Jawas, and Vratix. Over 30 other species are present in numbers less than 1% of current population, and every now and then a population is discovered that hadn\rquote t been listed in the official records, and travelled here as stowaways. The most recent example was a group of Hutts and Gamorreans discovered living on the minor colony of Corvus in 302 P.F. They brought three forms of cattle with them, Vornskrs and Ysalamiri, two agricultural fish varieties, and (accidentally) mynocks, which continue as a nuisance to this day. Frozen embryos and stored gene sequences for several million useful animals exist in the gene banks at New Correllia. The Jedi: The Jedi order is alive and well, and a strong presence (though not officially part of the government) throught the CRF. Jedi of every native species and most colonist species are present at one degree of advancement or another. Humans remain the most common. The seat of the Jedi Order is at the Jedi Academy on New Correllia, with smaller training centers at New Kashyyyk, Wullapu, and orbiting Tartus Secundus in Carsalian space. The Jedi order numbers one Grand Master (merely a title of authority, not of command of the Force), 210 masters, 422 knights, and 85 apprentices at this time. The Jedi council on New Correllia contains posts for the leaders of the various disciplines of the Jedi, the Reader of visions, the Lifter of stones, the Listener of thoughts, the Healer of bodies, the Warrior, the Shifter of forms, the Teacher, the Traveller, the Ambassador, and the Weaver. The last post is traditionally held by a Spider Demon or one of their worshippers, or (as we occasionally have discovered to our embarrassment) a Spider Demon posing as a worshipper. Maintance of this file is the duty of the Master Ambassador, myself. Jedi are respected throughout the CRF, even by the fanatics on Siddix Prime. The Grand Master has a seat on the Senate, which is the Jedi order's only political outlet, and we tend not to be political in most situations. With the recent sightings of the Yuuzhan Vong, the Jedi order is admittedly a bit nervous, but we have records of how the invaders were defeated in the old world, and we think the battle won\rquote t be as desperate here. Particularly our military is much stronger and more centralized than the Republic's was back then, as we do have some trouble with pirates and hostile neighbors from time to time. The Spider Demons: Arguably, the Spider Demons are the creatures that make Farrina\rquote s Web what it is. They are the focus of the central religion of all the aboriginal species (even the ones not capable of space flight). Their predations created the large number of empty inhabitable worlds that drew old-world colonists here in the first place. All of the CRF's major conflicts have been fought on account of them. Some people think of Spider Demons as this galaxy\rquote s answer to Jedi, or perhaps to Dark Jedi. They do use the Force in much the same way as we do, but it comes to them more naturally. That's not to say they're born with it, more that they gain its use as they age and become more powerful. Starting from the beginning, Spider Demons (genus Magno-Arachnid Marci) are born as small, mindless hatchling spiders, barely large enough to spot with the naked eye. Even the Spider Demons themselves consider their offspring to be merely animals. These hatchlings live as ordinary spiders, spinning webs and catching prey with poisonous venom, for several months typically, before they start to show unusual traits. One of these traits is that they explode when they die, in the same way as a Dark Jedi will when releasing its grip on the Force. However these death explosions do not leave a permanent scar on the Force the way Dark Jedi do, or life in this galaxy would be intolerable. The baby spiders grow in proportion to the amount of living prey they can catch, so I'll give developemental stages in terms of size (as measured from leftmost claw to rightmost in their relaxed sitting position) rather than time, which varies widely. At six inches they begin to become warm-blooded. At twelve inches they start getting noticably more intelligent, about cat-intelligence at this point. At eighteen inches they begin hunting actively in addition to spinning webs, as their metabolism is too high to be supported by passive hunting. At two feet they begin to be able to change the color of their fur, chameleon style. At two and a half, they begin to alter their shape somewhat as well. Soon after that, they become ready for the process known as awakening. This is a difficult process to explain, so I\rquote ll leave it to the words of one of the best known Spider Demons, Arriella Derrin: \fs20 "That's what we call it when we cross from animal into sentient creature. It's my earliest memory. That was eighty years ago, and the first thing I remember is that I was feeding. I was feeding on the Jedi hermit Nathan Jade. And he was still alive. And screaming. I'd webbed him into his cot while he was sleeping. I must have taken an hour or two to teleport through the glass of the window over there. He had thought he was safe because I was too big to fit through the spaces between the logs, but he didn't realize how powerful I'd become. So I devoured him, completely, and fed on his soul. That's why Master Horn thought my powers seemed familiar. They weren't mine. I have no memories from before my awakening. In any case, killing Jade was the first time I ever fulfilled the inner hunger that makes me what I am. Using what information I had torn from his mind, I assumed a human form, much rougher than this one, and went in search of prey." \fs24 According to the Master Weaver, Spider Demons\rquote existence is ruled by the fact that their first act is murder. Some of them accept this act and become more vicious as sentient creatures than they were as animals. Others become ashamed of themselves, as Arriella did (there's a school of Spider Demons known as the True Daughters of Arriella, among whom the least dangerous Spider Demons can be found). They have very strange and deep philosophical arguments about their right and ability to kill, but I won't go any further into it, as it is far beyond my comprehension, and thankfully so. As they continue to feed, Spider Demons collect the power of their victims within themselves, and eventually develop a very strong connection to the Force, which only the strongest Jedi can rival. However they are often driven by their hunger for living, preferably sentient, prey, haunted by the minds they have consumed, and often maddened by the power they've acquired. It's a rare to find a Spider Demon who isn't wholly given over to the Dark Side. Spider Demons, worshipped by most native species in this galaxy, themselves worship their creator goddess Farrina. Farrina, they hold, made the universe but died of the effort. She was so bitter and angry about this that she twisted it so that every effort toward good will eventually turn to evil. Some Spider Demons use this as an excuse for their crimes, but most simply hold that the universe is a nasty place and then get on with their lives. Interestingly, there is a massive crystal formation on many Spider worlds which is highly permeable to the Force, which the Spiders call Farrina's Web. It's possible that at one point a very powerful spider built the structure, giving rise to their mythology, as Spider Demon silk also has a conductive and focusing effect on the Force. The Mortarrian sect worships the Spider Demon Mortarrius, who died in the War of Spiders in 158 P.E., but they have no known followers among the ranks of the Spider Demons, which makes sense since Mortarrius wanted to destroy his own kind. His worshippers would have to be suicidal or at least very badly deluded. When Spider Demons mate, the female eats the male. Canibalism is common among them, and this among other factors gives Spider Demons a very chaotic unstable society. This means that while individual spiders are strong, as a whole they are very weak. Only when one strong older spider controls or manipulates several weaker ones do they show any form of society. Mortarrius\rquote reign on Locus Arrius is the most obvious example of this. Spider Demon abilities: Listed from most common to least- Teleportation- The spider fades away in one location and appears in another. Process may take hours for young spiders or seconds for old ones, and the range varies. It has never been successfully achieved at greater than a few dozen kilometers distance. The farthest Jedi teleportation, initiated by a Master Traveler in 341 P.F. was 12 kilometers, and the Jedi in question had to be hospitalized afterwards. Energy Shield- Appears as a bright blue sphere around the wielder, absorbing impacts, blaster fire, and at its most powerful, lightsaber blades. Shapeshifting- This is pivotal to Spider Demon survival, as it allows them to both hide and hunt (they frequently hunt by seduction). Killing an assumed shape of a Spider Demon will both weaken it and prevent it from assuming that shape again for several months. New shapes are only reached after careful concentration. Jedi shapeshifting barely scratches the surface of Spider demon capabilities. Telekinesis (and other Jedi abilities)- Generally gained by very old spiders or those who have fed on Jedi. Generally not as strong as actual Jedi, due to lack of training. Ysalamiri Resistance- Spider Demons can get very good at this with practice, although if they don't expect it and have never tried before, an Ysalamir can completely incapacitate them. It is said that Mortarrius, in battle, resisted two dozen Ysalamiri for over five minutes, though his powers were exceptional. Web weaving- As mentioned before, Spider Silk focuses, transmits, and reflects the Force. Some spiders have learned to use their webs to amplify its effects. Some Jedi carry shards of petrified spider web in their lightsabers to create a locus of calm in the Force near them, a practice established by Teiresias, the first Master Weaver. When Grand Master Julius Palpatine, greatest of the Jedi in this galaxy, was asked whether Spider Demons were good or evil, he gave the enigmatic smile which made him famous and said, \ldblquote No." Though not as strong as they were before the War of Spiders, they are a force to be reckoned with, and it\rquote s not a reckoning many in this galaxy truly understand, myself included. Recent Addendum (368 P.F.): Yuuzhan Vong troop movements: Yuuzhan Vong agents disguised in their Ooglith Masquers (a living skin which can be bred to immitate many species within the CRF) may have infiltrated our territory as early as 344 P.F. They've generally kept a low profile, investigating our territory, readying their armies, gaining supporters, and instigating civil strife. Their scoutships found and destroyed a small Carsalian convoy deep within the dust nebula rimwards of the Star Fountain. Since then covert ships hidden in the nebula have detected a massing of Yuuzhan Vong forces, though their worldships hadn\rquote t made an appearance yet. General Vutzat (a Chiss who received his training indirectly from General Zarn of the War of Spiders) has been drilling and preparing the combined fleet. He anticipates a fierce battle, but he think CRF forces will triumph. "We know exactly what their strengths and weaknesses are from when they attacked the old world," Vutzat says, "and they have to start from square one. The only thing they seem to know about from previous invasions is the Jedi. Of the local species they know nothing." The Carsalians have agreed to withdraw their convoys into Lomp space until we know the precise scale of the enemy invasion. In the meantime, our forces are building, the Jedi are preparing, and we wait for the enemy to begin its attack. Addendum II (369 P.F.; last transmission): Yuuzhan Vong invasion: Three worldships have entered Carsalian space and set up advance bases there. The radiation is giving them some trouble, and the Carsalians left them some unpleasant surprises in retaliation for the convoy they lost. To the annoyance of some of the more religious, we have established a naval headquarters over Locus Arrius, it being the closest point to the enemy forces with a large space station. An enemy raid consisting of fourty cruiser-analogues and several hundred smaller ships was smashed by CRF forces in a battle around that system's fifth planet, a massive gas giant with several moons the Yuuzhan Vong had intended to occupy as forward bases. We have received word from the Order of the Twilight Web that a native population of Spider Demons living on the surface of Locus Arrius was captured during the battle, and they are demanding we advance and drive back the Yuuzhan Vong from the holy world. Admiral Vutzat has not responded to them, but he remains optimistic about the coming war. Sabotage and internal strife are on their way up, most likely do to the activities of the Yuuzhan Vong infiltration caste (the followers of Yun Harla, the trickster goddess). The intergalactic transmission array has been somewhat damaged by a recent suicide bomber. He flew a coral-skipper into the side of the building. In any case, we've got the thing rigged up with duct tape and patch cables to get this transmission out, but it may be the last for a month or two, while the technicians crawl all over the inside and determine the extent of the damage. So if you don't hear from us for a bit, don't be alarmed, just annoyed, same as we are. The main forces of the Yuuzhan Vong have mobilized now, and are probably headed toward Locus Arrius to try to destroy the main fleet. From what we've seen, they aren't going to succeed, though they have bred themselves a War Coordinator. We'll tell you the results when the communications array is repaired for real. |