Planet - K (pt.2)
Source List & Abbreviations
Kashyyyk
A jungle planet covered with kilometers-high wroshyr trees, Kashyyyk is
the homeworld of the fierce but loyal Wookiees. Various ecosystems exist
along each layer of the trees, with each level growing progressively
more deadly the farther one travels to the planet's surface (dangerous
webweavers, for instance, set traps in the lower levels). The Wookiees
inhabit the highest levels in huge cities that are naturally supported
by the thick tree branches, since wroshyr branches grow together when
they meet. One such city, Rwookrrorro, is over a kilometer wide and
built on a flat platform of meter-thick spongy material. It features
two- to three-story buildings and a landing platform made from the stump
of a wide limb. The most prestigious homes are built on the trees
themselves, and nursery rings for young Wookiees are built in the tops
of the very highest wroshyrs. The kshyy vines that grow among the trees
cannot be cut with blasters and are strong enough to support liftcars.
Wookiees have easily incorporated modern technology into their society
and can accommodate visiting starships, though they sometimes prefer to
use archaic items like their traditional quarrel-firing bowcaster.
Colored searchlights in the cities help attract native birds called
kroyies, a prize food.
Customs of the Wookiee people include the "life debt," where Wookiees
feel they must repay the person who has saved their life, and the "honor
family," or those people to whom a Wookiee feels a particular bond of
friendship. Wookiee adolescents undergo a dangerous rite of passage into
adulthood by harvesting silky strands from the heart of the carnivorous
syren plant. The Wookiee species was treated as slave labor by the
Empire and many were forced to toil on various Imperial construction
projects. Many Wookiees still resent humans for the actions of the
Empire. Leia Organa Solo hid on Kashyyyk until discovered by a team of
Noghri commandos, who made an unsuccessful attempt to capture her.
[HTTE, SWS, HSLL, YJK]
Kathol sector
Jacc Maldelbrot, owner of the Royal Casino in Bespin's Cloud City, began
his career as a textile worker in the remote Kathol sector. [GG2]
Kauron?
The possible homeworld of the alien Kauronians. The bounty hunter Greedo
observed a Kauronian bounty hunter during Greedo's first visit to the
Mos Eisley Cantina. [TFTC]
Kelada
Located in the Anarid Cluster, Kelada is an industrial planet (home to a
major Arakyd factory) that supplies the Empire with repulsorlift
components and parts for Imperial walkers. Recent increases in Alliance
activity have resulted in the Empire struggling to maintain control of
Kelada, and they have diverted ten Star Destroyers to the system to
cement their hold after the disastrous Battle of Endor. Once, Kelada
kept an ecological balance between industry and the environment, but the
balance is now threatened as forests and savannas are cleared to support
greater production. An industrial wasteland is growing just outside the
Kelada starport. The starport contains the popular tavern Lorana's
Labyrinth, which features mirrored walls and a mazelike bar. The smu
ggler Dirk Harkness' companion Chessa was tragically killed by Imperial
stormtroopers in the Kelada starport. [SWAJ]
Kelavine system
The Kelavine system, located in the Expansion Region far from any trade
lanes, contains the gas giant Taloraan as its largest planet. After the
Battle of Hoth, Alliance operatives were sent to search for tibanna gas
deposits on gas giant planets in the Lequabis, K'taktaxka, Poviduze, and
Kelavine systems and the Shasfath Cluster. [SWAJ]
Kelrodo-Ai
Site of the Kelrodo-Ai gelatin mines, famous for their water sculptures
and formerly operated by Baron- Administrator Drom Guldi. Guldi and his
aide were killed by Wampa ice creatures while on a hunting expedition to
Hoth, eight years after the Battle of Endor. [DS]
Keller's Void
Named for the trader who first discovered it, Keller's Void is an empty
region of space that serves as a hyperspace shortcut between the Calus
and Wroona systems. Occasionally pirates have been known to bring
asteroids from the nearby Udine system and place them in the Void, to
create mass shadows and force unsuspecting ships from hyperspace. [SWAJ]
Kemplex Nine
Nearly four thousand years ago, Kemplex Nine was a strategic
jump-station in the Auril sector and the Cron system, and the only
inhabited outpost near the Cron Cluster. During the Sith War, Ulic
Qel-Droma gave hints that he intended to attack the undefended station,
but it was merely a ruse to draw Republic defenses away from his true
target of Coruscant. Later, Qel-Droma did decide to hit Kemplex Nine,
but this was meant to draw Jedi forces into a trap. Aleema and Crado,
aboard an ancient Sith ship, devastated the station and lured the
pursuing Jedi fleet into the ten stars of the Cron Cluster. When they
were in position, Aleema activated the Sith weapon and inadvertently
ignited all ten stars, utterly wiping out Kemplex Nine and the entire
surrounding area of space. [TSW]
Kerensik
A frozen planet located in the protective federation of worlds called
the Botor Enclave. New Republic navigator Kane Griggs grew up on
Kerensik and joined the Alliance following the Battle of Endor, after
working in the Botor Income Ministry as an economist. Kerensiki trees
have spines and needles instead of leaves. [DESB]
Kessel
Kessel is a potato-shaped planet with one large moon located somewhat
near Fwillsving and Honoghr. It is home to the city of Kessendra, is the
only source of the telepathy-inducing glitterstim spice, and was the
former site of a brutal Imperial prison and spice mining operation.
Kessel's surface is covered with crumbled salt flats and
atmosphere-producing factories, which make the air breathable when
filtering breath masks are used. Kessel is too small to hold this
artificial atmosphere, however, so much of it trails off behind the
planet in the wake of its orbit. Beneath the surface of the planet live
energy spiders, which spin glitterstim webs as a method of catching
their prey (primarily the luminous "bogey").
Following the failure of the Emperor's attempt to destroy the Jedi
enclave on Belsavis, several designers of the Eye of Palpatine were
reassigned to punitive duty at Kessel. The Kessel system is adjacent to
a cluster of black holes known as the Maw, which makes navigating to the
planet difficult and helped glamorize the smugglers' "Kessel Run." While
Kessel was under control by the Empire it was a common smuggling
destination for those dealing in spice, and Han Solo once boasted he had
made the Kessel Run in "less than 12 parsecs" by flying dangerously
close to the Maw. Solo's life was also saved on one Kessel run by his
old associate Badure. Prior to the Battle of Yavin, a bold Alliance
rescue operation freed a group of Rebel POWs during a prisoner transfer
operation. During the chaos surrounding the Battle of Endor, a Rybet
prison official named Moruth Doole (who had secretly been supplying
glitterstim to smugglers) staged a prison revolt and took control of the
planet from the Empire. Several years later, after Doole's operation was
dismantled, the administration of the mines was taken over by Lando
Calrissian. Kessel's moon, which once held an Imperial garrison and
Doole's ragtag defensive fleet (which was decimated in a battle with
Admiral Daala's Star Destroyers), was utterly destroyed by a Death Star
prototype from Maw Installation. Lujayne Forge, a member of the famed
Rogue Squadron, was from Kessel, daughter of a man who had taught
inmates under an Old Republic social program. [SW, JS, COTF, TLC, HSLL,
COTJ, FP, XWRS]
Kestic Station
A free-trader outpost near the Bestine system, Kestic station was a
frequent stopover for smugglers and outlaw miners. Alliance pilot Zev
Senesca lived on Kestic Station with his parents, who supplied the
Rebellion with arms until their illegal transactions were revealed by an
Imperial informant. The station was subsequently destroyed by the Star
Destroyer Merciless. [MTS]
Ketal
The unique ID number on a particular bacta shipment allowed the Xucphra
bacta-harvesting corporation to uncover an Alliance base on Ketal.
Xucphra promptly informed the Empire, who eliminated the base. [SWAJ]
Ketaris
A major trade center as successful as Svivren, Ketaris was the target of
an attack by Grand Admiral Thrawn which became stalled at one point.
There was hope from Alliance pilots that Wing Commander Varth could
escape the Qat Chrystac battle and hook up with a unit at Ketaris.
During Thrawn's attack on Coruscant, Admiral Ackbar was on an inspection
tour of the Ketaris region. [TLC]
Khomm
Khomm is a pale green world lying very close to the Deep Galactic Core.
It has moonless, has no unusual geologic features, no axial tilt, and a
regular orbit. A thousand years ago, the planet's alien inhabitants
decided that their society had reached perfection. They froze their
bureaucratic culture at this "perfect" level, and began producing clones
of previous generations. The genderless clones of Khomm like to keep to
their own affairs, rarely leaving their planet and keeping the same
roles and schedules from generation to generation. The planet remained
neutral during the Galactic Civil War. Khomm's cities are laid out in
perfect gridworks, with almost all buildings and residences looking
identical and made from the same green- veined rock. Large cloning fa
cilities in each city hold a record of all the major family lines. Dorsk
81 (the eighty-first clone of Dorsk) surprisingly showed unexpected
Force aptitude and became one of Luke Skywalker's Jedi Academy students
seven years after the Battle of Endor. The following year, Dorsk 81
returned to Khomm, and the planet was devastated by Colonel Cronus and
his fleet of Victory-class Star Destroyers. [DA, DS]
Khuiumin
The Khuiumin system was the primary base for the infamous Eyttyrmin
Batiiv pirates, until they were systematically destroyed by the Imperial
Victory-class Star Destroyers Crusader and Bombard. The two warships
eliminated all 150 craft in the pirate armada and chased the last
survivors to the surface of Khuiumin-- where their stronghold was wiped
out by the Crusader's concussion missiles. [SWS, SWAJ]
Kiffex
The site of a colony, where the twin con-artists Brea and Senni Tonnika
were raised and where they perfected their deceptive money-making
skills. [MTS]
Kiilimaar
A planet possibly in the Eva-T system. It was at Kiilimaar, following
the Battle of Hoth, that the Rneekii pirates arranged to turn a captured
TIE Defender scientist over to the Empire in exchange for a substantial
ransom. The Imperial forces, however, double-crossed the pirates and
recovered the ransom money. [TSC]
Kimanan
Kimanan is home to the animals known as furballs-- tiny, tubby, clownish
marsupials which are considered premium pets. They are sold at Sabodor's
pet shop on Etti IV. [HSSE]
Kimm systems
In addition to its trafficking in Senex sector slaves, the stock light
freighter Smelly Saint runs counterfeit agri-droids from the Kimm
systems. [COTJ]
Kintan
The Nikto assassin Ma'w'shiye, a former Alliance agent, hails from
Kintan. [SWAJ]
Kinyen
The home planet of the highly social, three-eyed aliens known as Gran. A
common sight on the world are gently waving fields of goatgrass.
Ree-Yees, one of Jabba the Hutt's courtiers, was exiled from Kinyen
after committing the highly unusual (for Gran) crime of murder. [MTS,
TFJP]
Kira Run
Several decades ago, the Haik expedition discovered a reliable hyperlane
through the Kira system, which they named the Kira Run. The Kira Run
connects the Lazerian and Ropagi systems, and also links the Harrin
Trade Corridor with the Enarc Run. It was originally seen as a risky,
uncertain route, but recently small shipping companies have begun
servicing the Run and bringing it into the company of established trade
routes. [SWAJ]
Kira system
A hyperlane running through the Kira system, known as the Kira Run,
connects the Lazerian and Ropagi systems. [SWAJ]