Information provided for a variety of cultural aspects of Selvaris. Will be updated as needed.

 

Travel

For many on Selvaris, travel between different communities is an irregular occurrence. With the rise of the more extreme pro-environment groups in recent decades fewer and fewer opportunities for travel to different cities or regions are available. Some areas, such as those around the planetary capital of Caru City, still have the paved roads from earlier times, but travel is restricted to specific hours and requires licenses to be renewed frequently. Other regions that were settled later often have few roads in their regions, often little more than a series of radio guide markers laying out a route for the low impact and underpowered repulsorlift and hover vehicles favored by the government to follow.

To get around, many Selvarins rely on public or group transportation, either public or private companies. Older troop transports from outside the region were brought in and converted for public use, as their durability and simplicity of maintenance were of importance over aesthetics. For many people these transports are how they get around their regions, and the service is reliable if not very frequent throughout the day. For those of a more adventurous or wealthy nature, there are regular flights to other regions of the planet along strict transport lanes. These flights often run daily from Caru City, but other large cities may not offer them as often.

 

Communication

While many people view the people of Selvaris as backwards and technological luddites, the citizens of the planet actually have a sophisticated communication system when compared to their transportation system. Some of the cargo from the original colony ships had been a robust selection of comm satellites, tied to the converted dreadnaught/orbital station, creating a planetary communication and data sharing system that, while not as pretty as those found in the core, was efficient, reliable, and covered most of the settled portions of the world.

Even though the basis for the system is over 1000 years old, the maintenance of the system is one of the few high tech priorities of the planetary government throughout the planet’s history. As such, the satellites and comm net receive regular maintenance, and went through its last update shortly before the Clone Wars began.

 

Death and funerals/burials

Most Selvarin colonist cultures view death as a normal end of life. It is a sad occurrence and a time to remember the life of the individual. Some groups have a more spiritual outlook, with thoughts on afterlife or reincarnation.

Most of the colonist cultures prefer some sort of minimal burial or cremation as opposed to forms of long-term entombment, as it fits more in line with the original idea of the colony believing in trying for the minimal impact to the environment. Some groups practice open air burials, while others may bury their dead in simple shrouds or plain wood boxes.

 

Different races/demographics

For the most part, Selvaris is a largely mixed group when it comes to race and such. Some species group together in neighborhoods inside larger cities, often because of physiological or dietary reasons, but all species are able to participate equally in society and culture to the best of their abilities.

There are a few that tend to separate themselves a little more. The Mandalorians, who settled there during the Interloper period, often have compounds separate from major communities. At the same time, they also maintain a presence inside the cities and settlements, such as a neighborhood, street, or high-rise arcology. These compounds serve as their centers of culture and everyday life, while those inside the cities and towns are how they maintain close relations with the everyday ebb and flow of the planet.

Regressives function differently from the majority of Selvarin society, having chosen an even more technology free existence. A culture centered around families and clans, interactions between different Regressive groups can vary wildly, with some animosities and hostilities going back centuries. Their communities tend to be much smaller than those of regular Selvarin society, in the nature of villages and forts deep in the wilderness, with rumors of some having extensive communities in secret cave networks, but no evidence of such a complex has been found to date.

As for the native Odho, they make great efforts to limit their culture to outsiders, with few people getting much access or detail. What is known is fragmented and can differ wildly between groups and regions. Outsiders are divided on if this is a sign of distinctive culture or political groups, or a coordinated misinformation campaign that has been going on for centuries.

 

Marriage

Marriage is viewed as an issue for individuals, families, and communities. Most view government involvement in this part of life as needing as little as possible, and many communities only require some sort of official statement or notification within two weeks of the event.

 

Trade and tourism

Selvaris is mostly known as being a place where people go to either hunt strange game animals or disappear from society. The general opinion of people in the galaxy is that it has little to offer the average tourist, and much of the Selvarin government has no desire to change that opinion much. While there is a limited tourist trade, usually focused on those looking for a thrill by hunting wild creatures, efforts by tour and tourist companies to expand their toehold more broadly have been largely resisted. It remains to be seen how the influence of the Empire in recent years will affect these policies.

However, Selvaris does have a lucrative trade in some materials. Some of it is standard fare for rim worlds, like low-tech handmade crafts, but the biggest portion of the trade revenue comes from the exportation of exotic flora and fauna to gourmet chefs and eateries in the more civilized parts of the galaxy. Seasonings made from local plants and exotic meats bring in a surprisingly large amount of revenue, especially given the tight limits on their export the government maintains. As a result, there is a small but lucrative market for those with more guts than legal sense to make a quick credit out of sight of the law.

As Selvarin industry is not up to the task of meeting such demands, a major import for the planet is mid- and high-tech items. As these often require rarer material components, expensive processing requirements, or invasive infrastructures, there has been no push to expand the limited tech development that happens in the major cities. Custom items, software, and decorative accents for such technology is about the limit of Selvarin tech manufacturing ability.

 

Wealth and prosperity

As part of their program of strict environmental laws, the government of the planet set up a robust social net to provide necessary services to all citizens. Simple housing, food, education, and medical issues are all supposed to be covered. After the conflicts with the Regressives in the early centuries, these support systems were legally extended to them, but usage of such systems has been sporadic at best, as distrust is still a major component of their interactions.

Unfortunately for those needing access to such services, actually accessing them is inconsistent. The programs are fully funded by various taxes and fees, but the bureaucracy to properly handle it has never been adaquetly implemented, even after so many centuries. As a result, many government employees feel it to be a dead-end job, and citizens know that getting actual promised support can take months to ever appear. Poverty and underclasses have been a direct result, with the accompanying disparity in economic status becoming more and more pronounced.

As Selvaris has had a long history of treating everyone equally under the law and traditions, the strange reaction to such divisions of wealth have led individuals of traditionally marginalized races, such as Gamorreans, to have a greater than average shot of raising in society. Gamorrean business leaders, celebrities, and crimelords as well, have all managed to overcome traditional expectations in the equal inequality that is the basis for Selvarin social safety nets.

 

Security

Security has been a concern since the day people arrived on Selvaris. With several major conflicts, and many more minor ones, combat and violence has never been distant from the minds of leaders. Strangely enough, Selvaris lacks a strong standing military, relying on only about 10,000 or so troops across their space and planetary forces.

The Selvarin Army, which is responsible for operation on the planet and low orbit, was last upgraded several years before the Clone Wars, and the state of their gear reflects the age and lack of recent use. At least half of the vehicle pool is down for repairs and maintenance at any one time due to a shortage in the needed parts, and most frontier units tend to stay close to their bases so as not to quickly expend what limited resources they do have.

As for the Selvarin Patrol, the branch that patrols and maintains order in the rest of the Selvarin system, they have similar issues to the Army. Most of their system patrol craft are outdated by modern standards. Capable of dealing with small time smugglers and such, but lack hyperdrives and are usually outgunned by anything serious.The few hyperdrive equipped ships in service are surplus from the early days of the Clone Wars, picked up for cheap as most of the weapons had been removed before being sold. The government has been attempting to re-arm them, but they are still well under specification.

Both the Selvarin Army and Patrol use similar rank structures to the Empire, but have some differences due to size and culture.
 

Selvarin Army	Selvarin Patrol
Enlisted	Enlisted
Soldier	Crewman (class 1 > class 2 > class 3)
Trooper	Bosun
Sergeant > Master Sergeant > Ball-Breaker (Only one at any time)	Master Bosun > Head-Cracker (Only one at a time)
Officers	Officers
Lieutenant	Midshipman
Ranger	Lieutenant, 3rd class
Captain	Lieutenant, 2nd class
Colonel	Lieutenant, 1st class
Marshal	Lieutenant Captain
High Marshal	Captain
General	Commodore
	Admiral

In a perverse sense, while any outside observer would think that the Selvarin military should be full of deserters and malcontents, morale actually runs very high among members. A strong sense of pride and patriotism permeates the ranks, as well as a semi-fatalism in acknowledgement of their sub-standard gear. They know they are outgunned by any modern force, but they have more than enough pride in their planet to keep them fighting.

 

Law and Justice

Each city and region deals with law and justice slightly differently. Some places have elected officials for each and every position, while others may elect some and appoint others, and even a few have leaders earn their positions through trials or contests. Those who practice law on a more than local level often develop nervous tics or similar habits trying to deal with the myriad of conflicting and overlapping issues that arise.

When it comes to enforcement, each locale is responsible for providing their own peace keeping force. While they may fall under the respective planetary governmental office, each region has their own style and flavor. Some regions have strict and disciplined forces, while others are more relaxed and individualistic. Some regions even rely on the local Mandalorian communities to function as an unofficial reserve guard, a relationship that rarely gets official recognition but assistance and such manages to make its way to these Mando communities through non official channels.

 

Politics

The planet and system is ruled by a nine member council. Each region elects at least one of the members, with the Caru and Anek regions electing two each. The original charter the colony was founded under provided for the formation of an executive council elected by the people and a separate judicial branch at the planetary level, and each region would self determine their own systems as they were settled and organized. As a result of this system of open determination at the local level, each region has developed their own characteristic ways of doing things, with some following a strict democratic or republic system, while others have gone different routes. The only thing that stays the same is that every citizen is allowed to vote for their executive representation to the ruling council.

When it comes to the division of power between branches of government, and between the world government and local, things can get murky as the original charter was full of ideals but lax on strong structure. Technically there are supposed to be several branches of government in addition to the Executive Council and the Judiciary, but they have mostly been subsumed by one or the other branches as the bureaucracy has developed. In many ways, the bureaucracy has become a third branch to balance the other two, as things that are unpopular or risky can sometimes get stymied for extended times during the bureaucratic process. Individuals running for office often talk about correcting and restoring the original intents of the charter, but once in office find it easier to work with the existing structure.

 

Official political regions

Each of these regions are separate polities, able to elect a representative to the planetary Executive Council, two in the case of Caru Province and Anek, but have their own set of laws for internal enforcement.

Caru Province - Capital: Caru City
Antari Province - Capital: Okoro Station
Inkari Province - Capital: Lior Station
Anek - Capital: Anek (city-state)
Valen - Capital: Belanor
Kar’Tikka - Capital: Chakrei
Ekiam - Capital: Ekiam (city-state)