Jump to content

Glasignis


JediRP Staff

Recommended Posts

Glasignis

“You were right to fear the world. It has gone mad. The gutters brim with poets. Decency lies burning in the street. But this is not a time for heroes. Look instead to those battered souls who have known fear and failure in ample portion, but rise again to reclaim a glimmer of hope”

- A Keeper of Twilight  

Coordinates: K6

 

A planet in the throes of Armageddon. A dying world that refuses to move on. A sphere of survivors and monsters. These are the most basic descriptions of Glasignis.

 

A tidally locked planet located in the Expansion region, Glasignis once boasted a well-behaved and advanced society, complete with its own force traditions. Tragically, a force-imbued plague known as the Howling caused the planet’s people to rapidly degenerate and now the world is nothing more than smoldering ruins, mutated farmland, overgrown forests and barely functional roads, not to mention the frozen Umbraside and the  burning Brightside ends of the planet. Still, life struggles on, each day a test of strength and willpower. 

History

Much of Glasignis' written history has been lost. Earliest records of the planet show it being colonized in 80 BBY and an application for representation in the senate was received in 24 BBY, only to be quickly withdrawn at the start of the clone wars to maintain neutrality.  Being out of the way of any major trade route, and not a major export in many materials, Glasignis was content to be out of galactic affairs. For a short period, the galactic empire considered making the planet a vacation resort for imperial officers, but this plan was discarded. 

 

When the Howling started to spread is speculative, though best estimates believe it started 30 to 90 years ago. Being a proud people, the residents did not request help from anyone, and shortly afterwards the government fell apart. By the current date, most survivors have forgotten what life before the Howling was like, and their optimism and pride keep the people alive for now.

The Howling (aka the Howling Flesh)

No one is sure how the Howling started. Some people believe it started when a rogue Sith came to the world and created the disease as a way to take over the world. Some think the Force itself manifested it spontaneously and without reason. Still others think that one of the Keepers of Twilight accidentally released an eon-forgotten disease in their pursuit of knowledge. Whatever the cause, the disease runs rampant.

 

The disease is known as the Howling for the effects it causes on infected beings, both sentient and non-sentient. Spread via physical contact, the disease infects DNA and Midichlorians, causing warpage. This results in the infected becoming various forms of monsters, ranging in form wildly. Worse yet is that those infected tend to become slightly force resistant and mentally insane, making it impossible to control the monsters in any way. 

 

The forms that the infected take vary wildly, but they do tend to reflect the environment they are in. Those in the Emberpits tend to have flammable bodies and metal-like bones extending from their hides, while those in the Foetid Farms have tumors, boils and additional bleeding orifices. These traits are gruesome to say the least, and each monster seems to instinctively know how to make the best of their newest mutations.

 

What tends to confuse doctors and Force Healers is that those infected with the disease tend to die almost immediately when leaving the system. While this does prevent a galactic outbreak from occurring, it also makes researching the disease very dangerous, as all work must be done on the planet. Researchers are worried that if this disease occurs on other planets, there is no clue as to whether it will keep this planet-bound trait or not.

Residents

Life on Glasignis is a constant battle and an eternal trek. When the Howling caused widespread destruction and panic, all forms of government fell and the survivors were divided into nomadic tribes, or better known as caravans. While most of the populace is human, it is not too uncommon to see other alien races who had settled on the planet before the Howling struck. 

 

Caravans are forced to travel. In order to survive long-term, they must make their way through the once-populated Twilight Ring to retrieve mineral resources from the Brightside and water and food from the Umbraside. The roving monsters make it impossible for people to stay in one place while scouts go to get resources, so everyone is always on the move together. This might mean caravans are composed entirely of speeder bikes or be made up of people walking on foot with a food-laden hovercraft closely behind. With most forms of transport technology breaking down at some point and with supplies always limited, these journeys are dangerous to say the least. However, to the residents, it beats the alternative of starving to death or remaining in one place for the monsters to ambush. 

 

Despite attempts and offers to transport the residents offworld, a combination of pride and optimistic determinism keep the people rooted on the planet. They have survived this long, and they will not leave their home now. However, they have accepted most forms of help, from food and medical supplies to gifts of technology. In return, almost anyone from off world can find open arms from these caravans. 

 

Those who do not belong to any specific caravans are known as outlaws. These people are considered the worst beings on the planet. Instead of working together, they set up traps and attack caravans to carry off whatever they find. Occasionally they align with other outlaws to attack a larger caravan, but when the howling strikes and monsters swarm, all alliances are called off.

The Keepers of Twilight

Before the Howling, Glasignis had a rich culture, complete with its own religion based on the force. Possibly founded by a Jedi who was stranded on the planet an eon ago, the Twilight is eerily similar to the teachings of the Jedi, with a focus on spiritual and emotional enlightenment, a pursuit for knowledge,  and a selfless attitude.  Those priests of the Twilight religion were known as Keepers, and like the Jedi, they tried to maintain the peace on Glasignis. The only major difference between the Jedi and the Keepers is the latter's belief of the ends justifying most means.  Even then, the Keepers argue that their view is not so straightforward.

 

"Blind means are never justified. Those are the ways of a fool. Rather, a well thought out end justifies well-educated means. One must have knowledge to act beyond basic instinct, which is what we all strive for"

- Keeper of Twilight Teaching

 

After the Howling, the Keepers of Twilight took on a more leadership role. Almost each caravan is led or advised by at least one Keeper. Scholars first and foremost, the Keepers maintain maps of the ruined world,  data entries of the time before the Howling (which is little), logs of their journeys and losses everyone has sustained, as well as their own lessons on the Force. While they do not share their secrets easily, those the Keepers find trustworthy and helpful tend to learn a few things. People believe the Keepers have made both wonderful and gruesome discoveries about the force. Discoveries that the jedi and the sith would love to have and hate for the other to find out. 

Geography

Being a tidally locked planet, the planet is divided into three sections: The Sunscorched Brightside, the frozen Umbraside, and the temperate, populated twilight ring that lines the planet’s terminator zone.

Brightside

This half of the planet is a barren, scorched land. Sporadic mountain ranges  rich in mineral deposits dot the landscape, with a lake of lava facing directly towards the planet’s yellow star. Before the Howling struck, the residents of Glasignis used droids to mine the mountain ranges for necessary resources. A few abandoned mining settlements dot closely to the Twilight Ring, being the only places where people can utilize technology to reacquire the necessary technology to keep surviving.   

 

It is rumored between traveling caravans that somewhere in Brightside is a hidden library built by the Keepers of Twilight. While the actual keepers either deny such a place exists or confess that they have no idea if such a place does exist, the rumor continues on, stating that the temple could hold a potential cure for the Howling, as well as other secrets.  

Umbraside

This half of the planet is cold and abysmally dark. Frozen oceans as hard as bedrock face away from the planet’s star, and only along the edge of the Twilight Ring is where liquid water can be found thanks to the planet’s Emberpits (see Emberpits below). Along these coast lines, caravans collect water, farm patches of vegetables and fruits for future caravans to harvest, and rest before making their return trip to Brightside. 

 

A large landmass does exist above the frozen ocean on the Umbraside, surprisingly filled with frozen trees and deadly night creatures that somehow survive the unbearable cold that would kill any other species. It is here that people believe a secret laboratory that possibly created the Howling exists, though this is speculative at best. 

Twilight Ring

Once a city that completely encircled the planet’s terminator zone, the Twilight Ring is where most life on the planet exists. Whether it is the caravans passing through it to get to the Brightside or the Umbraside, the outlaws who hold up as long as possible, or the wild monsters that roam the ruins and the overgrown roads, life exists here. Before the Howling had caused so much destruction, the eternal stage of twilight was considered beautiful and mysterious. Now, the stage between darkness and light causes only anxiety as monsters can appear around any corner. 

 

Below are listed some of the environments found in the Twilight Ring. This is not a complete list, and visitors to the planet could discover other kinds of areas, as well as the infected that reside there.

Emberpits

In order to bring heat closer to Umbraside, the citizens of the planet created pits that released heat and lava from the planet’s core. After the Howling, these well cared for heat pits fell out of use. Unfortunately, this meant that the heat leaked out into the surrounding areas, creating miniature hellscapes, with the Howling making figurative demons to roam the ruins of industrial factories, complete with charred and flayed skin, metal-like appendages,  and ravenous appetites.

Foetid Farms

Before the Howling, when the Twilight Ring functioned like a well oiled machine, the farmlands were the bread baskets. Now the lands have become overgrown to the point of absurdity. Jungles of vines where fields of vegetables once existed, forests of gnarly trees where fruit was harvested, and poisonous weeds now thrive in these places. This is nothing to say of the carnivorous beings who were once the farmers of these lands, who are more like ghouls than people. People have even reported seeing the infected here eating other infected, only to somehow continue to repopulate.

Nerf Countries/Wild Zones

Nothing was more frightening to the residents of the Twilight Ring than the realization that the common wildlife was susceptible to the Howling. Those animals that were infected grew in size and intelligence, to the point of loosely organizing themselves. The most dangerous of the animals were the nerf herds kept for feasting occasions. Mutated beyond recognition,  these beasts now claim vast areas and kill whatever they find. Passing through Nerf country is an unadvisable, but sometimes necessary, task.

Worn-Down Ruins

Teeming with the infected, the ruins of the Twilight Ring are filled with collapsing skyscrapers, abandoned shacks, torn down warehouses, and ravaged cities. Those ruins closer to the Brightside tend to be more scorched and burnt, while those closer to the Umbraside more cold. Whether it is the outlaws laying out traps on roadways, or the monsters roaming the streets, the ruins of the Twilight Ring are dangerous to say the least. Lost technologies, forgotten knowledge, and many other things draw people both from on and off world to these areas, only to be torn apart or infected by the beasts that call these places home.

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...