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Depatar, also known as the City of Masks, was a floating city on the gas giant of Genarius. Unlike other Genariusan cities, Depatar was shaped like an urchin, with each spike serving as a private landing bay.[1]
Description
The city was created by five criminal organizations looking for a neutral ground for secret meetings. They soon discovered that many parties would use this kind of place, so they decided to open the city and make a profit of that: Depatar would allow anyone to meet and deal with anyone, both parties willing, without anyone else knowing it. Each of the five crime unions chose one representative for the five-member City Council.[1]
However, the city included important bureaucratic restrictions and norms to keep control. Firstly, any non-locals would have to go in disguise, to ensure the secret of their identity. Many people used this chance to wear unusual and creative disguises, giving rise to the City of Masks moniker. Locals, who could be disguised or not at their whim, sometimes disguised themselves following the lead of a particular foreigner, and offered them their services as decoys to distract anyone wanting to follow that person.[1]
Depatar also developed a complex bureaucracy where almost anything a person might want to do required that person to buy a permit—including bearing weapons, buying legal or illegal goods, gambling and/or cheating, attacking a specific person and/or defending from such an attack, and even visiting the city itself. As the identity of the person was secret, the permits applied to the costume a person was using. Permits were valid for a limited amount of time, which could be increased by paying more money. If a person performed a restricted activity without a permit, that person could be exiled from Depatar.[1]
The city soon developed a black market of false permits. This could be done in a haste: A false permit could be ready in less than one minute, while a real one could take several hours. As the government was made up of crime lords, they profited from both legal and illegal permits.[1]
Permits also gave rise to the job of permitor, or professional permit sellers for guests. Guests were required by law to have a permitor, commonly only one permitor during the guest's stay in Depatar, with the permitor doubling as guide; a well-prepared permitor also booked hotel rooms for his guests. Wherever a ship landed, unengaged permitors crowded around the docking bay to offer their services and to discredit the other candidates.[1]
History
During the Cold War between the Galactic Republic and the reconstituted Sith Empire, rumours were spread in the city that the black market was selling valuable organic compounds.[2]
In 31 BBY, Jedi Knight Alec visited Depatar dressed as a giant albino Wookiee as a part of his plan against his personal enemy, the Dark Jedi Karae Nalvas.[1] Alec had stolen Nalvas' blueprints for the Conkesta, a flying armored city with enough firepower to destroy any other city on Genarius.[3] Once in Depatar, Alec and his pilot and guide Danil visited the casino Grande Game, whose manager Kelko had specialized staff with cheating permits; and dance club Club 111, whose manager Sebaracca was not beyond bribes either. Alec finally hid in the Five Star Entertainment theater along with a platoon of soldiers and laid off his permitor Delan with a vacation in Dorumaa as a bonus.[1]
Nalvas plotted to distract Alec while Nalvas himself recovered the stolen documents. Nalvas pretended to be a worried boss, Fesvk Wefos, from the Usable Resource Location, Recovery, and Development Corporation and hired an independent team to track his supposed missing courier Alec along with the blueprints Alec was supposed to give the company. Nalvas even hired a permitor and bought some permits and disguises for his people, as well as paying their stay in the Blue Sapphire, allegedly one of the best hotels in Depatar. Alec was found by Nalvas's people, and then he proceeded to recruit them against Nalvas telling them the truth about the Dark Jedi. Alec and his new allies left Depatar in an attempt to stop Nalvas.[1]
Appearances
- Star Wars: The Old Republic (Mentioned only)
- Clouded Paths
Notes and references
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Clouded Paths
- ↑
Star Wars: The Old Republic — Bioanalysis Crew Skill mission: "Black Market Medicine"
- ↑ Into the Storm Clouds