Wookieepedia:April Fools' Day 2012/Aantooine

"Aan-tooine, it's just the remnant of a long dead civilization that liked to have war, just like us."

- Belbub Paxx

Aantooine was a planet located in the Mid Rim. It was a rich temperate terrestrial world with oceans, grassy plains, mountain chains, ice fields, and volcanoes. Initially the planet was inhabited by two races that split into a struggle of two galactic empires, the Aan and the Tooins. After thousands of years from their disappearance on Aantooine, they were replaced by another spacefaring people, the Spalgar, who took Aantooine as their own, renaming it Garpai'lcla.

Geology, geography and astrography
Major landmasses on Aantooine included Bajorcia, Ulaia, Wiesia, Laaitia, Fluoritia, and Nuaisa. Bajorcia, Laaitia, and Fluoritia were considered the central continents that were grouped together in what was called Bajflulaa. Bajorcia contained the territories of Crom and Gysis, which were discovered to have a long war-faring history between them.

Most of the continents were of varied terrain, with granitic mountains comprising most of them. Sandstone was abundant along the cliffs where sand compacted over millions of years, and shales and slates underlaid vast fertile plains. Volcanic regions in the island archipelagos were basaltic in nature, most volcanoes only dormant for less than one hundred standard years, and roughly five active on the planet at any given time. Ocia Island was historically the most active recent volcanic complex, even killing several beings in close proximity. One island chain was affected directly by overwelling that created high pore water pressure in the area, resulting in the island archipelago acting like a giant quicksand trap. By the Skywalker epoch, thousands of beings had been swallowed by the aqueous sands and soils, rendering the islands hazardous.

Aantooine also boasted some of the galaxy's best mineral specimens, including type localities of psietite, alsifite, and cryxoristite. The most unique minerals were found in the mines of Fluoritia, along fluid displacement zones and veins where multiple elements mixed together in solution.

Because of its placement between the Core and the Outer Rim, observers on Aantooine could view more stellar and galactic diversity than most other locations in the Galaxy, and was thus a haven for astronomers and other scientists. This was even more true of the wide-eyed Spalgar, whom found the planet from their home system in the Outer Rim. Constellations that could be seen from Aantooine included the Grapid and B'k'shree.

Early history
Theories indicate that the planet was formed from the accretion of material leftover from the explosion of a massive supergiant star. A new protostar and solar nebula condensed and became the Aan system. Aantooine was molten for a billion standard years and then cooled down allowing for life to grow.

Theorized to exist around 65,000, the Aan race were a devoted people with considerably higher status than their lesser counterparts, the Tooins. This separation in status, demarcated by a frill on the backs of Aan but not Tooins, created a level of discrimination that slowly grew into complete denial. Over time, the Tooins begged for the same amenities as the Aan, but were again denied. The Tooins, deciding to strike back with force. They formed a new world army called the Tooin Clash Force and on the 75th day of 60,000 BBY, when the five moons of Aantooine aligned, the army began its siege on Aantooine's capital of Antoo and the rest of Bajorcia. The takeover of the capital was temporary, however, when Tooin forces were defeated by Aan reinforcements led by General Yisk.

This new war raged for several decades on the planet and then became interstellar, with each new world colonized by either side retaining a mark of their presence. As the Aan Empire pushed toward the core of the galaxy, they came across such worlds as Alderaan and Manaan. The Tooin Empire took control of what later became the Outer Rim Territories, founding such worlds as Tatooine, Dantooine, and Mantooine.

As attention waned from Aantooine, a new species of beings began to populate their homeworld. These demonic creatures could fly through the air, attacking towns and villages from the skies. Aanian troops were urgently requested to return to Aantooine to defend their cities. Simultaneously, Tooin forces wanting to reclaim their lands also returned to the planet and joined forces with the Aan for the first time since before the events that led to their war with each other. However, even the combined forces of the Aan and the Tooin could not hold off the seemingly endless numbers Skeen that had collected on the planet, and all forces were wiped out. All external contact with the planet was lost. Those that remained on the colony worlds would later be subsumed by new waves of aliens, including Humans.

It was later found that the intervening species was an unseen kind with large wings and gargoyle faces: the Skeen. As Humans later discovered the planet, a large war erupted between the Skeen and the new settlers on the plains of Crom. This Serpent's War resulted in an unheard amassing of beings, a force of ten million men led by a god in Human form named B'k'shr. Knowledge of the war was subsequently lost in history as a plague raced across Aantooine killing nearly ninety-five percent of its Human population. It was believed that the rotting corpses of the Skeen created an environment favorable for the spread of the disease; the Humans did not see the need for burial of their enemies. The battle between man and the Skeen would become mythology, with the only indications found in caves inhabited by the few survivors. Over thousands of years, the planet entered a long ice age and naturally balanced itself of disease. Once the ice retreated back to the poles, Aantooine began a new phase where forests grew lush and wildlife became abundant.

Spalgar settling
"Isn't it a beautiful planet?"

- Forbos

It was not until the Spalgar species of near-humans found the forgotten planet (when it was locally called Garpai'lcla meaning "One for the Spalgar") and settled there circa w:c:swfanon:14,000 BBY that Aantooine would have a sustainable population again. The new settlers would be unaware of what history came before them on the Aantooine until Spalgar archaeologists starting digging in the Crom territory and learned the true name of the planet. However, the Spalgar did immediately discover Aantooine's gift, in that it was perfectly situated for astronomical viewing. Because of this advantage, the planet was voted to be one of four district planets for the Astrographic Society. Between 12,000 BBY and 1,000 BBY, the Spalgar set up several universities and colleges on the planet, open to all forms of life, including the University of Central Gysis, the University of Aantooine-Antoo, Croman College, and Aantooine Astronomical University.

In this time, Spalgar also had to deal with a Galactic Senate that was historically unforgiving to the inhabitants of Aantooine, whether it be Aan, Tooin, or Spalgar. The Spalgar, living with the stain of their planetary predecessors, attempted to work their way in galactic government, pushing forward the initiative of education.

Imperial influence
During the rule of the Galactic Empire, Aantooine's space and ocean ports were seized and controlled by Moff Torbis Rakis, hoping to mine what remained of the planet's vast mineral deposits. Spalgar were enslaved to assist Imperial prospectors. General Aurelius Tempest visited the planet to investigate its storied past, eventually taking inspiration from its ancient structures to construct his own. While he did not support slavery, Tempest required some of his slaves to help him locate dig sites. When the Empire fell, the Spalgar regained full control of the planet's commodities and officially declared the planet neutral in all future conflicts.

Later history
By the time of the Legacy era, Aantooine was in survival mode. It had escaped damage during the Yuuzhan Vong War as the Vong were pre-occupied with decimating declared New Republic strongholds, of which the planet was not. By severing all ties with the New Republic, which soon would become reorganized as the Galactic Alliance, the Spalgar had rendered themselves essentially unimportant, and not vital to the control of the galaxy. After the war, however, the Spalgar lightened their neutrality and thought it necessary to allow some refugees from devastated worlds to settle on the planet.

In 204 BBY, the remains of a winged creature were discovered in Crom, and were confirmed to be a Skeen. This find brought forth proof that the Serpent's War was indeed real and not just mythology passed down over the millenia.

Behind the scenes
Aantooine is a planet by Riffsyphon1024 to explain the backstory of the multitude of planets that end in either -aan or -ooine throughout the galaxy, such as Tatooine, Dantooine, Alderaan, and Manaan. Over several years, the idea was vetted to various Star Wars authors in the hopes that it might reach canon. With Lucasfilm's shift in continuity recognition in 2012, this planet and many like it created by Riff can now finally be recognized, and will effectively tie together one of the remaining mysteries of the galaxy.

Appearances

 * The Tempest Files

Category:Articles by Riffsyphon1024 Category:Aantooine locations Category:Mid Rim planets