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Ryloth
From TheHolo.Net Forums Wiki
Primary Terrain
Mountains
Valleys
Desert
Tundra
Ice cap on night side
Points of Interest
Bright Lands
Darkside
Floating Rock Gardens
Leb'Reen
Hunvar's Spire
Joreikna
Lohema
Lonely Five Range
Sith Academy
The Enclave
The Fungus Pit
Population
1.5 billion (76% Twi'lek, 24% other)
Ryloth, also known as Twi'lek, and Twi'lek Prime, was the harsh, rocky homeworld of the Twi'leks, an Outer Rim Territories world located on the Corellian Run and forming one endpoint of the Death Wind Corridor. Its day and year were identical, so that one side perpetually faced its sun and the other remained in darkness, a phenomenon known as tidal locking. The dayside was referred to as the Bright Lands and the night-side was known as the Nightlands.
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Description
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| Ryloth, the second planet in the Ryloth system, was a dry, rocky world of deserts, mountain ranges with mist-covered peaks, shadowy valleys, and had little or no surface water except for patches of water ice on the night side. It possessed a thin, but breathable atmosphere. The planet was orbited by five moons, which had subtle tidal effects on the planet's liquid core and underground springs.
Because of its permanent division into a day and night side, atmospheric conditions on Ryloth's surface were characterized by extremely high winds (reaching 500 kilometers per hour) scouring the surface and sculpting the landscape and unpredictable bursts of heat called heat storms, which could reach 300 degrees centigrade. The more extreme heat storms sometimes moved across the equator and reached miles underground, making caves near the surface temporarily uninhabitable, before eventually dying out on the night side.
Along the equator, between the day and night side, lay a thin habitable border, a twilight realm between the two extremes. Along this narrow strip were the series of caverns and underground cities of the Twi'leks, blockaded with thick blast doors and portcullises to keep out the vicious monsters that prowled the Bright Lands, especially lyleks.
The Floating Rock Gardens of Ryloth were a natural wonder and tourist attraction, well known throughout the Outer Rim, where strong winds blew among the tunnels, causing rocks to float gently through the air. Over the years the gardens became filled with rare and dazzling stones. Visitors were allowed to rearrange the stones to their liking, but were encouraged to seek meaning in the natural configurations.
Kala'uun was a permanent city located within the Lonely Five mountain range, boasting a large underground spaceport.
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History
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| Ryloth was originally discovered by Old Republic explorers approximately 10,000 years before the onset of the Clone Wars and was one of the first worlds discovered in the Outer Rim. Located at one end of the Corellian Run, it was one of the few worlds of the galaxy further from the Galactic Core than Tatooine.
Civilization on Ryloth at the time of its discovery was not particularly advanced. Twi'leks integrated windmills and turbines to power their homes and industries carved out of the mountains. The cultivation of fungi and molds provided nourishment for the populace, as did the rearing of the domesticated herd animals rycrits for meat. Twi'leks never developed space travel, but instead expanded throughout the galaxy by trading with the Republic, variously negotiating, charming, or seducing their way to the stars.
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Ryll
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| The major export of Ryloth, and the product which sustained its early trade, was the mineral known as ryll, a potent spice, discovered in 4,800 BBY, which was mined and originally distributed for medicinal use. Ryll was found in 'blooms' in the rock rather than veins, typical of most ores. Miners placed their mines underneath the blooms and drilled up. Ryll's highly addictive nature and hallucinogenic properties also made it a favorite recreational substance among the scoundrels and decadent nobles of the galaxy. A particularly popular and addictive mixture was glitteryll, a synthetic mixture of ryll and glitterstim which had a strong numbing effect on memory. Ryll and glitteryll were outlawed on most Republic worlds, but the demand was great enough to sustain a healthy black market. Crime lords and slavers turned their attention to ryll smuggling operations and began competing with legitimate miners. By the time of the Jedi Civil War, most legitimate ryll mining operations were gone, leaving only the smugglers.
The exclusive distribution rights to ryll were temporarily seized by the Neimoidians around 4,800 BBY. Though it was thought this might end the perilous illegal ryll trade, it had quite the opposite effect. Irresponsible distribution of the drug eventually led to the Gank Massacres.
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Life of Enslavement
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| The slave trade had been an everyday part of life on Ryloth since 12,500 BBY and persisted long after its contact with the Republic. Dancing girls were especially prized, and as Twi'lek communities were established throughout the Republic and elsewhere, they found numerous eager markets. The slaves were often sold by 'contract,' as a feeble way of evading antislavery laws.
Twi'lek slave girls.
Female Twi'lek consorts and companions soon became a status symbol among the rich and the decadent throughout the Galactic Republic and eventually the Galactic Empire. The slave trade remained profitable all throughout Ryloth's history, and though the early slavers were Twi'leks, over the years many alien crime lords migrated to Ryloth for a piece of the action.
Twi'leks of all professions eventually became a common, even ubiquitous, sight all over the galaxy, as businesspeople, servants, bodyguards, majordomos and slaves. Their near-human appearance made them less the target of anti-alien prejudice than others during the Imperial era.
The Anx crime lord Graxol Kelvyyn had his headquarters on Ryloth shortly before the onset of the Clone Wars. He was known for having a vast slave-trading network that covered the Outer Rim and even reached Kidiet Olgo in the Galactic Core.
Prominent examples of Twi'lek slaves during the last days of the Republic and the Empire included Ann Gella and Tann Gella, twins owned by Sebulba, and Oola, owned by Jabba the Hutt.
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SW-Fans Connections
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- Arya Ravenwing was born and raised on Ryloth, and speaks fluent Twi'lek.
- et cetera
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SW-Fans History
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Characters
Characters who were born on Ryloth can be found here.
Roleplays
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