A Cularin Presence

A Cularin Presence was the first Living Force adventure, part one of the Eye of the Sun trilogy. It was written by Morrie Mullins.

Plot summary
In 31 BBY, on the 200th anniversary of Reidi Artom's founding of the settlement on Cularin which became Gadrin, Velin Wir interrupted Gadrin's celebrations with a hologram transmission into the town's central square, announcing the Metatheran Cartel's intention to build a trading and distribution center on the planet. The party continued, but became a bit more subdued.

A young human named Darin burst into a cantina, telling the people in there that Cularin was in danger. A moment later, a group of House Hirskaala security guards came in and arrested him. A small group of the cantina's patrons momentarily questioned their right to do so and were shown authorization signed by Hirskaala's head of security. Darin was taken away. Those cantina patrons sensed that something was amiss, and took it upon themselves to investigate.

The concerned cantina patrons went to the Hirskaala offices to speak to the head of security, a Trandoshan named Nim'Ri. He let them know that the uniforms had been stolen from a laundry company and the authorization was a form letter that was also stolen. Darin was actually an employee of House Hirskaala and they were concerned about his disappearance. Nim'Ri was able to tell them that Darin claimed to have information that could "sink" the Metatheran Cartel.

Investigating further, the cantina patrons discovered that there had been a rash of cargo thefts and hijackings, some of those carried out by individuals wearing other uniforms stolen from the same laundry service. From the laundry service, they learned that uniforms for Renna's Transport Service had been stolen at the same time as those for Hirskaala. Going to Renna's, they came upon the scene moments after the thieves had attacked. They stopped one of the thieves fleeing the compound on foot.

Renna offered these thief-catchers jobs on her security force, as they proved themselves more capable than her existing security. She told them that the hijackers took a full ship from her landing pad and headed west low over the jungle. Borus Ferthyn had told them in his crazy rants that there was hidden base in the jungle to the west of Gadrin. Renna lent them a speeder to pursue the hijackers. While traveling over the jungle, they were attacked by a pair of speeder bikes. Though they defeated their attackers, they crashed in the jungle.

After being attacked by unusually territorial Mulissiki, they were found by a patrol of Caarites from the Metatheran Cartel. The hidden base that Borus had mentioned belonged to them. Meeting with Velin Wir, he told them that he knew of a landing platform further to the west which had a large amount of traffic coming and going. He agreed to send a security squad to show them to the platform.

The group that had come together in the cantina saw that Renna's shuttle was parked on the platform, and there was a group of pirates working around it. Capturing and interrogating the pirates, they verified that they were indeed the group that had captured Darin, but that Darin had escaped and run off into the jungle. They uncovered that the pirates had been working for somebody else, but these pirates were not important enough to know for whom. Some of the stolen goods were found in a nearby cave, but many high-tech supplies were still missing.

The cantina patrons became famous for a short while for defeating the thieves. The Metatheran Cartel came out publically about their base in the jungle, and Velin Wir filled the news with stories of how the Cartel helped the local heroes root out the pirates. Darin was assumed to have fallen victim to a jungle creature.

Characters

 * Amaya
 * Bont
 * Darin
 * Dregz
 * Vanster Enan
 * Borus Ferthyn
 * Kerner
 * Kip
 * Lars
 * Lori
 * Henk Lorin
 * Nance
 * Nim'Ri
 * Oosk
 * Renna
 * Suki
 * Varoca
 * Velin Wir

Sapient Species

 * Caarite
 * Cerean
 * Dug
 * Human
 * Ithorian
 * Rodian
 * Sullustan
 * Tarasin
 * Trandoshan
 * Wookiee

Creatures

 * Mulissiki

Organizations

 * House Hirskaala
 * Metatheran Cartel
 * Office of Peace and Security
 * pirates
 * Renna's Transport Service

Locations

 * Cularin
 * Gadrin
 * Vanster Enan's Sop House
 * Metatheran Cartel jungle base

Vehicles and vessels

 * Speeder
 * Speeder bike

Weapons and technology

 * Blaster pistol
 * Hologram

Food and beverages

 * Ithorian brandy
 * Meir wine

Miscellanea

 * Sabacc