Kuari Princess/Legends

The Kuari Princess was an M-class luxury liner built by the Mon Calamari, and operated by Galaxy Tours during the Galactic Civil War.

Characteristics
The Kuari Princess was considered one of the greatest triumphs of Mon Calamari shipbuilding, and was the ship which inspired many of the systems used in the development of the MC80 Star Cruiser. It was itself known as an MC80 luxury spaceliner. The ship's complement of 850 crewmembers consisted of the captain and ten other officers, plus 500 droids and 329 sentient crewers. The bulk of the organic crew served as stewards and engineers, with most of the remainder being involved in the on-board entertainment. A security detail of sixty troopers were also carried as supernumeraries. There were accommodations for 3,500 passengers, with standard facilities for 27 different species.

Standard staterooms had two berths, an en suite bathroom, and environmental controls that could be tailored to the needs of many different species. Depending on their location aboard the ship, these cost from 50 to 150 credits per night. Deluxe staterooms, with amenities including entertainment and refreshment areas, cost 250-450 credits, and there were also two top-line suites costing 1,000 credits apiece. During one stage of the ship's career, these two suites were identified as the Emperor and Kuari, but another document refers to the Royal Suite as the most luxurious accommodation on board: presumably the Royal and the Emperor were the same suite re-named, but it was not entirely clear in which order the names were used.

The primary passenger area was the Lido Deck, which contained much of the standard accommodation (around 400 staterooms), plus the Grand Ballroom, the Grand Dining Room, and the Bistro, one of the ship's three secondary dining rooms. The Lido Deck also housed a holovid library with two billion volumes, and the ship's main nightclub, Xerrol's Place, which boasted a six-piece house glizband, the Graf-Spanners. A specialized nightclub for droids was open to both mechanical crewers and passengers' servants, and there was a crew lounge, reserved for the liner's 400 sentient personnel.

Above the Lido Deck was the recreation deck, with fifteen gymnasiums, capable of catering to a wide variety of species, plus a six-lane, multi-gravity running track, a zero-g sauna, wallball courts and a slafcourse. The ship also boasted 212 standard and 46 deluxe staterooms, two casinos and another secondary dining room on this level.

The uppermost of the public decks was the Bazaar Deck. This was the site of the two luxury suites, along with the the Imperial, the most prestigious of the on-board restaurants, and the Scorp Club, a relaxed, members-only nightclub. Other facilities on this deck included the 900-seat Estuan Theater, capable of hosting both holo and live performances, two shopping arcades and a more informal bazaar, plus meditation chambers, daycare, and a number of additional amenities and eateries. The Bazaar Deck also contained 224 standard and 36 deluxe staterooms.

Below the Lido Deck were the two credicruise decks, the Homthor and Welland decks. Each of these contained 448 standard staterooms and 86 deluxe, plus a small secondary dining room and three snack shops&mdash;without the need for impressive public areas, and the ceilings were much lower than the decks above. Below these was the engineering deck, containing the ship's drive systems and most of the crew areas, plus the hangar bay. The Galleria Shop was also located on this craft.

For defense, the Kuari Princess was equipped with ten turbolaser batteries and deflector shields. It also had deck-mounted miniature turbolasers on the recreation deck, for passengers to enjoy space skeet and target shooting at asteroids.

History
In the course of its career, the Kuari Princess traveled a number of different routes across the galaxy. Perhaps its best-known single voyage was a cruise along the Relgim Run, from Endoraan through Marmoth, Aris and Vykos to Mantooine. Passing through the Maelstrom between Aris and Vykos, it was attacked by the Riders of the Maelstrom, a gang of pirates led by Big Jak Targrim, and rescued by Rebel forces.

At another stage, the Kuari Princess was offering a four-week cruise calling at Tatooine, Endor, Bespin and Imperial Center. The notorious bounty hunter 4-LOM was once a valet and human-cyborg relations specialist on the vessel, where his programming was corrupted by his observations of the passengers under his care.

The liner's fame was such that a sister ship, Kuari Princess II, was eventually launched.

Behind the scenes
The Kuari Princess is depicted in Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, First Edition and on the back cover of Riders of the Maelstrom with a photo of the Liberty special-effects model from Return of the Jedi. The intention may have been to identify her as representing the original civilian version of this Mon Calamari Star Cruiser design, later militarized by the Rebel Alliance. However, whereas Riders of the Maelstrom specifies that Kuari Princess is 500 meters long, subsequent sources have identified the Liberty design as a 1200-meter MC80 Liberty type Star Cruiser. The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia calls her a "MC80 luxury spaceliner".

Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, First Edition also identifies the Kuari Princess as an "M-Class luxury liner", suggesting that she was the same type of ship as the M-class liner Lady of Mindor in Han Solo's Revenge. However, the Star Wars Sourcebook, released only a few months later, defines Lady of Mindor as a ship of a totally different design and origin. The M-class designation must therefore refer to a variety of different luxury liner designs.

Appearances

 * Graveyard of Alderaan
 * Riders of the Maelstrom
 * Of Possible Futures: The Tale of Zuckuss and 4-LOM
 * The New Jedi Order: Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial
 * The New Jedi Order: Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial