Kal'Shebbol/Legends

"I've been a scout for TaggeCo. for the better part of a decade and I've blazed trails on worlds stretching from Chandrila to Kal'Shebbol."

- Brynder Zebb, corporate scout

Kal'Shebbol was the primary planet of the Kal'Shebbol system, in the Kathol sector of the Outer Rim Territories. Kal'Shebbol was located on the Trition Trade Route, the hyperlane that connected the major worlds of the sector to the nearby Minos Cluster. Settled c. 392 BBY by escaped Twi'lek slaves from Ryloth, Kal'Shebbol grew from a small settlement into a major trading world only fifty years after its initial colonization as sizable Human and alien communities emigrated to the planet in search of a fresh start. Once the Kathol sector entered the Galactic Republic, Kal'Shebbol, being the closest planet to Republic space, was appointed as the sector capital.

With the rise of the Galactic Empire, Kal'Shebbol fell under its auspices. Moff Kentor Sarne was appointed as governor of the Kathol sector in 2 BBY and made Kal'Shebbol his capital. His edicts were oppressive, and the people of Kal'Shebbol suffered under his rule as industry was nationalized and travel to and from the planet was severely restricted. With the death of Emperor Palpatine during the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY and the subsequent breakdown of Imperial authority, Sarne withdrew his sector from the Empire, setting up his own personal fiefdom with Kal'Shebbol as its capital.

In 8 ABY, a New Republic task force was sent to liberate Kal'Shebbol from Sarne's control. Elements of Page's Commandos&mdash;the New Republic's elite commando team&mdash;infiltrated the planet with the intention of dropping Kal'Shebbol's defensive shield and capturing Sarne. While the commandos succeeded in lowering the shield, allowing New Republic forces to capture the planet, Sarne managed to escape into the Kathol sector with the majority of his military forces. The New Republic established a new administration to run the planet, appointing an Elomin named Monjai as governor to appease the large alien communities residing on the world.

Description
Kal'Shebbol was located in the Kal'Shebbol system of the Kathol sector in the Outer Rim Territories. It served as the sector capital and was situated on the Trition Trade Route, the primary hyperlane serving the sector. Kal'Shebbol was connected to the planets Brolsam and Torize via a single hyperlane that branched off in two directions, as well as Pergitor in the Minos Cluster. It took just over nine days to reach Pergitor when traveling from Kal'Shebbol, eighteen hours to reach Torize, and a day and six hours to reach Brolsam with a Class 1 hyperdrive.

Kal'Shebbol boasted a single continent, upon which the planet's population resided. Covered in wide, open plains and rolling hills, the planet was habitable with a breathable atmosphere. The moist hydrosphere, coupled with arable land, made the continent suitable for farming, which the planet's original Twi'lek settlers took advantage of. The continent's terrain was also suitable for the grazing of herd animals, such as the native chollas.

Settlement and joining the galactic community
The planet Kal'Shebbol was first settled around 392 BBY, by Twi'lek slaves who had escaped from their own homeworld of Ryloth. Located on a trade route that led to Gandle Ott, the first world to be settled in the Kathol sector, Kal'Shebbol was also isolated enough from the galaxy to allow the Twi'lek clans to live in peace. Although they initially found the open plains and moist atmosphere to be discomforting&mdash;as they were used to the arid conditions and caverns of Ryloth&mdash;they adapted quickly, domesticating the native herds of chollas and establishing farms to support their growing society.

Over the next fifty years, many families traveled to Kal'Shebbol, intending to settle on the planet and start new lives. However, before they were allowed to take up residence on the world, they had to be formally adopted by one of the Twi'lek clans. Kal'Shebbol soon boasted a population of several million and had transformed from a simple layover point on the way to Gandle Ott to a major trading post.

When the Kathol sector was formally inducted into the Galactic Republic, Kal'Shebbol was appointed as the sector capital over Gandle Ott. Gandle Ott, located in the Ott system at the end of the Trition Trade Route, had been settled 200 years before Kal'Shebbol and was recognized as the first official colony in the sector. However, Kal'Shebbol was selected as the capital simply because it was closer to Republic space than Gandle Ott. By this point, Kal'Shebbol was ruled by a combination of clan and city-state governments.

Galactic Empire
"Sarne wasn't exactly beloved by his public."

- Jessa Dajus, to Lieutenant Judder Page

In 19 BBY, at the end of the Clone Wars, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine reformed the Galactic Republic into the Galactic Empire. Imperial Prefects were assigned to run the planet, and they had little regard for the traditional way the planet had been run for centuries. The clan and city-state governments were made subservient to the will of those officials who had no desire to maintain the society's status quo.

Kentor Sarne was appointed Moff of the Kathol sector in 2 BBY. As the capital of the sector, Kal'Shebbol became his personal stronghold and suffered under Sarne's oppressive edicts as private industry was nationalized and free travel to and from the planet was prohibited. In 4 ABY, Emperor Palpatine was killed at the Battle of Endor. Following his death, the Imperial command structure fragmented, with many senior officials breaking away from the Empire and forming their own warlord empires. Sarne followed suit, quietly withdrawing the Kathol sector from Imperial authorities. By the time anyone realized what Sarne had done, it was too late to stop him, as they could not spare any forces to bring the rogue Moff back in line. Kal'Shebbol became the capital of Sarne's new empire.

In the ten years that Sarne ruled the planet&mdash;both as an official of the Empire and on his own&mdash;he turned the planet's one continent into a virtual fortress, protected by an energy shield and armed with anti-orbital turbolasers and ion cannons, as well as anti-assault weapons on the shoreline. The Imperial Government Complex served as Sarne's military and governmental headquarters, and well as his private residence, which was known as "Sarne's Palace." The building contained the controls for the energy shield and weapons, the main command center so that Sarne could direct the defense of the planet, the Moff's personal quarters, and a secret hangar containing a, the Ambition, Sarne's emergency escape vehicle.

During Sarne's reign, at least one resistance group opposed him, operating out of hidden rooms beneath Kal'Shebbol starport. The members of the group were gradually killed off in a series of skirmishes with Sarne's forces, with the only survivor being Genna Seedar, who acted as the group's medic. In addition, Sarne ordered several terrorist acts to be carried out on Kal'Shebbol&mdash;he would then blame the atrocities on Rebel insurgents as a way to turn public opinion against the Alliance to Restore the Republic and their successor state, the New Republic. One such attack claimed the lives of the family of Shella Inion, a minor actress who would eventually become the bounty hunter Mist.

New Republic
"I don't think Kal'Shebbol's new owners would approve of civilians carrying weapons through the streets."

- Jessa Dajus, to Gorak Khzam

In 8 ABY, the New Republic received intelligence that suggested Sarne had access to a potent new form of technology. In an effort to oust him from power and deny him the opportunity to use the technology, the New Republic assembled a task force to liberate the planet. As the task force engaged Sarne's forces in orbit, elements of Page's Commandos&mdash;who had been inserted on the planet posing as civilian traffic in a Ghtroc Industries Class 720 freighter&mdash;infiltrated Sarne's headquarters and deactivated the shield generator protecting the sole continent. This allowed New Republic forces to successfully liberate Kal'Shebbol, although Sarne managed to escape in the Ambition before he could be apprehended by the Commandos. Sarne marshaled his forces in orbit and withdrew from the battle.

Despite the majority of Sarne's forces fleeing, the New Republic claimed victory at Kal'Shebbol. The inhabitants rejoiced at the overthrow of Moff Sarne and welcomed the New Republic, who established a provisional government headed by the Elomin Governor Monjai. Their main goal was to foster good will among the populace, and the selection of a non-Human governor was considered a good start due to the large communities of alien species that resided on the planet. While the New Republic expected to deploy a defense fleet to Kal'Shebbol, it was not due to arrive for two to three months after its liberation. Monjai was forced to cobble together a rudimentary defense force from ships that were not destroyed during the New Republic's assault on the planet.

However, Sarne's escape was a worry to the New Republic, especially Lieutenant Judder Page, commanding officer of Page's Commandos. He had seen Sarne's new weapons in action during the Moff's escape from the planet and knew that Sarne had to be hunted down before he had a chance to use them on a larger scale. Unfortunately for him, the admiral in charge of the task force did not believe the rumors and could not spare any ships to conduct a sweep of the Kathol sector. Page was forced to make use of the CR90 corvette Renegade, a vessel under Sarne's control that had been undergoing a refit at a secret shipyard located in the Sorbiss Valley. The location of the ship had been revealed to Page by Jessa Dajus, a former Imperial Intelligence officer in Sarne's regime who wanted to track the Moff down for her own reasons. Due to manpower limitations within the task force, Page was forced to cobble together a crew of New Republic personnel and civilians from Kal'Shebbol to man the vessel, under the command of Keleman Ciro, a sergeant in Page's Commandos who was given a field promotion to captain. The makeshift crew prepared the vessel, now renamed as the FarStar, and launched from Kal'Shebbol just after the New Republic task force had departed for the Bozhnee sector.

Several months after the liberation of Kal'Shebbol, the New Republic had deployed warships to assist in the defense of the planet. Several months after the FarStar departed on its mission, a message relayed through the Lifeline Project&mdash; a series of probe droids stationed with the hazardous area known as the Kathol Rift to maintain communication between the corvette and the New Republic authorities on Kal'Shebbol&mdash; informed Governor Monjai that the ship had located Sarne at the planet Kathol. Monjai immediately dispatched a force to the area, although it would take weeks to arrive. Several weeks later, the force returned to Kal'Shebbol with the crew of the FarStar, who had successfully stopped Sarne during a climatic battle at Kathol. Despite suffering the loss of their ship and numerous casualties, the survivors of the FarStar were greeted enthusiastically by Monjai.

Locations
The Imperial Government Complex&mdash;also known locally as "Sarne's Palace"&mdash;was the center of Imperial authority on Kal'Shebbol. Surrounded by a death fence and protected by Atgar 1.4 FD P-Tower laser cannons, the complex was a mixture of squat military bunkers and administrative spires. The complex contained Sarne's private quarters, the command and control for the planetary defenses, research labs, detention cells, a gladiator arena, and a secret hangar containing the Carrack-class light cruiser Ambition. Following the fall of the planet to New Republic forces in 8 ABY, the complex became the headquarters of the newly established administration under Governor Monjai.

The Sorbiss Valley was the location of a secret shipyard created during Moff Sarne's reign as ruler of the planet. Large enough to berth a single CR90 corvette, the shipyard was responsible for refitting the corvette Renegade from a standard vessel into one capable of extended operations away from a home port for an indefinite period of time. One of the major modifications was the addition of a hangar deck bolted onto the starboard side of the vessel. In 8 ABY, Sarne was forced to leave the Renegade behind during his flight from the capital, and its location was discovered by the New Republic, who took the vessel, rechristening it as the FarStar, and tasked it with trailing Sarne as he fled into the Kathol sector.

Kal'Shebbol starport was the planet's primary transportation hub for individuals either arriving at or leaving Kal'Shebbol. By 8 ABY, Sarne had instituted high tariffs at the starport, meaning that many independent traders and visitors to the planet often found themselves stranded when they could not afford the high docking bay fees and had their ships impounded. Facilities at the starport included at least one cantina, a trading post run by Twi'lek merchant Loh'khar the Finder, and a repair yard maintained by Brophar Tofarain. Shortly before the New Republic's liberation of the planet, the Aqualish Unda Lagor went on a rampage through one of the starport's busiest quarters, killing forty-three civilians and twenty-one Imperial troops.

Inhabitants
Originally colonized by escaped Twi'lek slaves, Kal'Shebbol was rapidly inhabited by many other species fifty years after its initial settling. While Humans were abundant on the planet, Kal'Shebbol had sizable alien communities. They suffered under the Human High Culture rule of the Galactic Empire, until the planet's liberation by the New Republic in 8 ABY. At this point, the New Republic appointed Monjai, an Elomin, to run the planet as governor. Her appointment appeased the large alien communities who were distrustful of Humans in general. Individuals from Kal'Shebbol included Solla Deremot, a research assistant who assisted Imperial science team MS-133's archaeological expedition on Aaris III; Shella Inion, a minor actress who became the bounty hunter known as Mist; and Cal Alder, a scout who served in both the Rebel Alliance and the New Republic.

Behind the scenes
Kal'Shebbol was created for The DarkStryder Campaign, a roleplaying game sourcebook published by West End Games in 1995. It was the first book in the series of the same name. The sourcebook detailed the planet of Kal'Shebbol, with the short story The Saga Begins by Timothy Zahn using the world as its primary setting. The planet would be mentioned throughout the sourcebook in relation to character's backstories, as well as receiving an entry in the "Kathol Sector Overview" section. Kal'Shebbol would go on to be mentioned in the other sourcebooks in The DarkStryder Campaign series&mdash;The Kathol Outback, The Kathol Rift, and Endgame&mdash;as well as in other West End Games products such as Lords of the Expanse and the Special Edition Trilogy Sourcebook. Outside of mentions in roleplaying games, Kal'Shebbol was referenced in the 1996 release of Hoth Limited, an expansion set for the Star Wars: Customizable Card Game by Decipher, Inc. In the release, they noted that Cal Alder, a scout at Echo Base during the Battle of Hoth, was a native of the planet. This information was later repeated in issue 74 of Star Wars Insider, where Alder was given a brief entry in the article Who's Who in Echo Base. The information was also included in Alder's entry on the Star Wars official site's' Databank. Kal'Shebbol also received entries in both the Star Wars Encyclopedia and The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia.