Aaris III

Aaris III was a planet located in the Kathol sector of the Outer Rim Territories. Covered in jungle, it was connected to the worlds of Charis, Kolatill and Brolsam via hyperlane. Aaris III was also the homeworld of the Aaris species, a race of reptilian humanoids whose society flourished several thousand years before the Galactic Civil War. Their civilization was almost totally destroyed after a destructive civil war, perpetrated by the Plaque of Victory, an inanimate but sentient relic that could manipulate the feelings of those around it, turning them suspicious, violent and homicidal. The Aaris's cities fell into ruin and were reclaimed by the jungle, and their primitive descendants inhabited the hidden ruins.

Four years after the death of Emperor Palpatine at Endor, Aaris III came to the interest of Moff Kentor Sarne, an Imperial warlord who ruled the Kathol sector following the fragmentation of the Empire. He dispatched a science team to the planet under the command of Professor Lancer Brunou to investigate the ruins. While on the surface, the team uncovered the Plaque of Victory, and its influence slowly began to turn the team against one another. Believing that they were being attacked by unseen hostiles, Professor Brunou sent out a distress call to Sarne's capital on Kal'Shebbol, hoping for rescue. After a few days, only three members of the team were left.

Brunou's distress signal was intercepted by the FarStar, a New Republic CR90 corvette. During the time that the science team had been on Aaris III, Kal'Shebbol had fallen to the New Republic. The commander of the FarStar, Captain Kaiya Adrimetrum, diverted to Aaris III to investigate the science team's presence on the world and render aid. During rescue operations, the crew of the FarStar came under the influence of the Plaque of Victory after it was brought aboard by one of the survivors. Unlike the science team, however, they soon realized the cause of the negative feelings running through the ship, and jettisoned the artifact into space.

Description
Aaris III was a planet located in the Kathol sector of the Outer Rim Territories, and was connected to the worlds Brolsam, Charis, and Kolatill via hyperlane. It was the homeworld of the Aaris, a race of reptilian humanoids. The Aaris had established an extensive civilization on the planet several thousand years before the Galactic Civil War, but the society had all but destroyed itself in a civil war. By 8 ABY, the primitive descendants of the Aaris survivors inhabited the underground levels of the ruins of their cities.

Covered in heavy jungles and oceans, Aaris III was a lush blue-green planet when viewed from space. Long mountain ranges ran throughout the landscape, punching through the jungle cover and rising to several kilometers in height. Immense ruins, which were remnants of the native Aaris civilization, were located all over the planet, covering hundreds of square kilometers and hidden under the jungle canopies. A vast desert was located in the middle of the planet's equatorial jungle. Fauna was widespread across the planet, and Aaris III played host to an abundance of animal life in both the jungles and oceans. The standard day on Aaris III lasted for nineteen standard hours, and the length of its year was two hundred and ninety-nine local days.

The Aaris civilization
"Six days since the arrival of the "Plaque of Victory" our city is wracked by violence. First it was minor&mdash;a small surge in crimes, most resulting in the victims' deaths. Then it became more pronounced, with small gangs ruling the streets, clashing in bloody battles at every corner and gate."

- Kastays, from the translation notes of Imperial scientist Grigor Tansad

The Aaris civilization flourished thousands of years prior to the Galactic Civil War, establishing an industrial society and utilizing an oral tradition of communication. They built great cities across the face of the planet, and were an organized society with occupations including scholars and professional soldiers. A relatively peaceful society, they did nevertheless engage in occasional wars between one another. One of their more prominent citizens was the scholar Kastays, who resided in one of the planet's cities.

One night, a comet streaked through Aaris III's skies. Several days later, a military legion from an outpost entered the city in which Kastays resided with an artifact, a triangular shaped metal ingot that they had dubbed the "Plaque of Victory." Unknown to the Aaris was the fact that the artifact was sentient, albeit inanimate, and that it fed off the life-force of organic beings. The Plaque's goal was to destroy those around it, but not by any action of its own. It manipulated the feelings of individuals, causing them to act in paranoid, irrational and homicidal ways.

Six days after the arrival of the artifact in the city, civil unrest began to blight the population. A rise in violent crimes was reported, with many resulting in the death of the victim. It escalated quickly, with street gangs clashing in bloody battles throughout the city. Eventually, even units of the city guard turned on one another, and even killed innocent civilians, claiming to have been betrayed by them. Each faction had one thing in common&mdash;they claimed that the Plaque of Victory had spoken to them, and each claimed to be its guardian.

One faction, who had access to the relic, removed it from its place in the gushaz, and took it to a tower in the city's government buildings, high above the city. It was hoped that it would soothe the population if it was high above the people. To safeguard it, the artifact was given over to Kastays, who hid it in a floor vault. The plan failed, and the Aaris civilization descended into civil war and anarchy, all but destroying itself in the process. Kastays recorded the events using bas-relief pictographs that stored sound, mounting them on the walls of his chamber at the top of the tower where he had secured the relic. Despite the fall of their society, the Aaris continued to live on. As the jungle reclaimed their cities and achievements, the primitive descendants of the survivors made their home in the ruins of their cities.

Discovery


"Today we made our most ground-breaking discovery since we arrived here two months ago."

- From Lancer Brunou's journal

Shortly after Moff Kentor Sarne assumed control of the Kathol sector in 2 BBY, he sent a scout mission to the system. The team charted Aaris III, deployed a standard Imperial marker beacon, and returned to the sector capital of Kal'Shebbol to report their findings, although they found no evidence that the Aaris species had survived. Shortly after, all members of the team disappeared. Some time between the scout mission and 8 ABY, Sarne established a supply cache on the planet, filled with standard issue Imperial equipment. The Moff intended to use the cache in case Kal'Shebbol ever fell to his enemies and he needed to resupply as his forces either fell back in retreat, or mustered for a counter assault to reclaim the capital.

In 8 ABY, Sarne organized and dispatched a scientific mission to the planet. The team, designated as MS-133, was led by Professor Lancer Brunou, a respected archaelogist who had taught at the University of Byblos before joining Moff Sarne's forces. Scientists Doctor Theda, Grigor Tansad, and Jelok were also assigned to the team, along with research assistant Solla Deremot, at least three technicians, and ten soldiers commanded by a lieutenant who doubled as the team's shuttle pilot. The mission was kept secret, and their assignment was to excavate the ruins of the planet for artifacts and information, paying particular attention to why the ancient Aaris died out. Professor Brunou suspected that the landing coordinates for the team's Curich-class shuttle had been supplied by Sarne himself. Setting up a base camp in a field of ruins, the team also deployed a comm transfer satellite in orbit.

Unearthing the Plaque of Victory
"Jelok made another discovery today while helping Deremot clean up some of the rubble in the chamber. A concealed floor panel revealed a small alcove&mdash;within the alcove Jelok found a flat ingot of dull metal, roughly round and pitted along the heavier end."

- From the journal of Lancer Brunou

MS-133 spent several months exploring the ruins around their camp and landing site. On the forty-seventh day of the expedition, Tansad discovered an entrance into one of the ruined metallic structures. The structure was the chamber at the top of the tower that Kastays had used thousands of years previously, and the team came upon the pictographs that had been created during the last days of the Aaris civilization. Professor Brunou authorized the setting up of a second camp nearer to the chamber to further explore the find. Upon studying the pictographs&mdash;which emitted sounds when touched&mdash;it was discovered that they corresponded to a dating system, and the sounds emitted were a record of events. Tansad and Jelok worked to decipher the alien language, with support from Deremot.

During their work in the chamber, Jelok and Deremot discovered the Plaque of Victory concealed within Kastays's floorsafe, where he had hidden it thousands of years previously. Not knowing exactly what it was, Professor Brunou took the artifact back to the main base camp and examined it. The results showed that it was constructed of no metal known to Imperial science. The analysis equipment also picked up faint traces of energy emanating from it, and Brunou decided that it should be sent to Kal'Shebbol for further analysis by Sarne's laboratories in case it was a new form of energy that the Moff could use.

A day after the artifact's discovery, it began to spread its influence among the team, causing them to see and hear things. Members of the trooper detachment reported seeing "spies" watching them from the jungle, although there was no evidence of any intelligent life on the planet apartment from the personnel of MS-133. The commanding lieutenant led five soldiers into the jungle in search of the beings they believed were watching them. An hour after they had left, the team at the base heard blaster fire in the distance; believing the worst, weapons were issued to all members of the science team. The troopers who had gone into the jungle did not return; believing them to be dead, Brunou began considering the possibility of recalling the expedition to save lives, although cancellation of the mission was against Sarne's standing orders.

That night, "hostiles" attacked the base camp, wounding Doctor Theda with blaster fire. The remaining troopers returned fire. As day broke, an investigation of the area found the bodies of several of the troopers who had entered the jungle the day before. Brunou decided it was time to evacuate the planet, and he ordered the secondary base camp to be abandoned after Jelok reported Tansad missing and two technicians with him were shot by sniper fire from the jungle. Initially, Jelok refused, citing that his research into deciphering the chamber's pictographs was reaching a critical stage, but he was forcibly escorted to the shuttle by the remaining troops while the base camp was packed up.

As night fell, a fireball erupted over the jungle as the hostiles used detonite to blow up the team's shuttle. The remaining team members erected a defensive position at the main base camp, digging into one of the mounds in the ruins and raising makeshift fortifications. An E-Web heavy repeating blaster was mounted on the ramparts and Brunou sent a distress call to Kal'Shebbol, hoping for some form of support or rescue. The following night, the camp was attacked, prompting the remaining soldiers and technicians to charge over the barricades to confront the enemy. The survivors started to lose hope of rescue, wondering if the team's booster satellite in orbit had been destroyed so that Kal'Shebbol had not heard their distress call.

Rescue
"Emergency, emergency! This is Imperial science team MS-133 on Aaris III. We are under siege. Please, anybody respond."

- Professor Lancer Brunou

Brunou's distress signal did not reach Moff Sarne, instead being intercepted by the New Republic CR90 corvette FarStar. Kal'Shebbol had fallen to the New Republic in the months that the team had been on the planet, and the FarStar had been assigned to track down Moff Sarne, who had fled his capital following the New Republic's liberation of the world. While completing a mission in a nearby system, the crew of the vessel became aware of the team's plight. Lieutenant Jessa Dajus&mdash;a former Imperial Intelligence agent in Sarne's regime&mdash;knew of the expedition, and believed that it was connected to the mysterious "DarkStryder", an entity that Moff Sarne was known to be in league with. She recommended that the FarStar divert and answer the distress call to the vessel's commanding officer, Captain Kaiya Adrimetrum, stating that the expedition members may have held information as to Sarne's location.

Adrimetrum agreed, and organized a rescue mission led by the FarStar ' s First Officer, Gorak Khzam. The team&mdash;including pilot Brophar Tofarain, scout Kl'aal, and Lieutenant Dajus&mdash;descended to the surface in one of the corvette's shuttles. Landing in a clearing on the edge of the jungle, the rescue team had to trek through the foliage to MS-133's base camp. Arriving at the site, the FarStar crew members had to convince Deremot&mdash;who was manning the E-Web repeating blaster set up on the makeshift fortifications&mdash;that they were there to help the Imperial team. Nervous, tired and afraid Deremot initially believed that they were linked to the hostiles who had besieged them previously. The team managed to convince her of their intentions, and proceeded to render medical aid. However, Doctor Theda had succumbed to his wounds and died. Brunou and Deremot were evacuated to the FarStar, although Brunou insisted on taking the Plaque of Victory with them, classing it as a significant archaeological find. On the corvette, the two Imperials were questioned over their activities on the planet, which they answered truthfully. The crew also examined the artifact.

FarStar landing parties salvaged equipment and supplies from the science team's expedition, and investigated exactly what had occurred on the planet. A team scoured the wreckage of the Imperial shuttle, discovering the traces of detonite that had been used to destroy the craft. They also found Tansad's body hidden under rubble in the pictograph chamber of the Place of Kastays, along with evidence that he had been murdered&mdash;a fist-sized rock covered in blood that corresponded to a fatal wound on the back of the scientist's skull. Along with the body was a datapad with Tansad's translation of the pictographs, which detailed the last days of the Aaris civilization, and its descent into anarchy following the discovery of the Plaque of Victory.

On the FarStar, the Plaque of Victory was starting to exert its influence over the crew. Paranoia and suspicion began to run rampant through the ship, although the crew soon realized that they could not all be going mad, or be the target of conspiracies and personal grudges. They linked the behaviour of the crew to that of the ancient Aaris&mdash;as shown from the translation notes discovered on Tansad's body&mdash;and realized that they were having similar experiences, albeit on a smaller scale. The artifact brought on board by Brunou matched the description of the Plaque of Victory, and the crew came to the conclusion that it was responsible for their heightened aggressive behaviour after observing the professor's possessive behaviour concerning it. Relieving him of the object, they ejected it out of one of the ship's airlocks on a course for the Aaris system's star. Shortly after, the crew's feelings of paranoia and suspicion faded.

Inhabitants
The Aaris were meter-tall reptilian humanoid sentients indigenous to Aaris III. Thousands of years before the Galactic Civil War, they had developed an industrial age civilization that covered the planet. The Aaris never developed a written language, as they had a strong history of oral communication. Information was stored in bas-relief pictographs that emitted sounds when touched, and the translation of some of these in the Place of Kastays by the Imperial scientist, Grigor Tansad, was the only known surviving record of species. The Aaris civilization fell into ruin with the arrival of the Plaque of Victory, as the society descended into in-fighting and civil war. The survivors inhabited the ruins of their cities; thousands of years later, during the Galactic Civil War, their descendants lived underground in the remains of their civilization as the native jungle had reclaimed the artificial structures and hid most of them from view.

Locations
During the height of the Aaris civilization, many cities were constructed on the surface of Aaris III. One such city was the home of Kastays, who recorded the fall of the Aaris following the discovery of the Plaque of Victory. It had a tower where Kastays resided, as well as a gushaz. When Aaris society collapsed, their cities fell into ruin and were reclaimed by the jungle. Covered by jungle growth, the metallic structures lay undisturbed until 8 ABY when they were excavated by Imperial science team MS-133.

During his time as governor of the Kathol sector, Moff Sarne established a secret supply cache on the planet in case he ever had cause to retreat from Kal'Shebbol, or needed a staging area to retake his capital in the event that it was lost to him. Ten large pressurized cargo containers were buried in jungle foliage on the edge of the planet's vast equatorial desert, and covered over by vines, plants and fallen trees. Each unit was code-locked, and was rigged to explode if the wrong code was entered, or if it was tampered with. The supplies within the containers were all Imperial standard issue, and ranged from food packets, to TIE fighter and speeder bike parts, and service droids.

A group of outlaws also established a camp on the planet, using the dense jungle to cover their settlement. The base was located on the far side of the planet from the Place of Kastays, and used the jungle canopy to mask hangars and other buildings from aerial observation.

Behind the scenes
Aaris III was created for the adventure Artifact of Aaris, which was part of The DarkStryder Campaign published by West End Games for use with Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game.

The outlaw camp on the planet is mentioned in an adventure hook at the end of the main scenario; the population and purpose of the camp is deliberately kept vague, so that it can be tailored by the gamemaster to suit the needs of their campaign. Possible occupants include smugglers, slavers or pirates, and the encounter may be hostile or peaceful depending on the gamemaster's wishes.