IN-GAME DATE
September 21, 9 AFE (10 BBY)Caru Province is the most developed of the provinces of Selvaris, with the oldest settlements being inside its purview. Agriculture has always been a large part of its lifeblood, with the fields around Caru City providing much of the needs of about half the planetary population, when support services work correctly. Thick forests cover much of the area not controlled by the actual capital, and locals outside the city often associate more closely with their towns than with the cityfolk. As the Caru City Starport or Saiyani Station is usually the first location on Selvaris new visitors arrive at, Caru Province has seen the greatest influx of off-world wealth and influence. Other regions grumble about this, but have not made a large effort to counteract this effect.
Having access to both Starwind Bay and the North Helion Ocean, Caru Province has many small hamlets dotting its shoreline, and as many small villages in among the trees. Some of these are either current or former Regressive settlements, claimed after the various incidents over the centuries, but there are still many Regressive camps and hidden communities in the forest and mountains of the region.
Being the province with the longest contact with the native Ohdo, Caru tries to make sure that any development does not encroach on their pre-existing claims. This has often led to projects taking several months, or even years, longer than anticipated as the bureaucracy works out all the intricacies. It also doesn't help that the Ohdo in Caru Province are particularly hard to pin down, with their communities often moving in unpredictable patterns and are difficult to track when they do move. Some speculate that this could be a spiritual part of their culture, but there is also a small minority that think this is the Ohdo playing games with the settlers.
Caru City - Capital of Caru Province and the world
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Saiyani Station
When the more stringent planetary environmental laws went into effect, Saiyani Station made the cut of towns whose space stations were permitted to continue service. Only marginally larger and busier than its neighboring stations (such as Corox), Saiyani had a difficult time handling the increase in spaceport traffic that had been handled by all the local landing fields beforehand. Two months of non-stop scheduling problems and no downtime for station upkeep coalesced in an incident involving an overworked astromech droid, an unnamed Barabel who had grown impatient with waiting 6 hours to dock, and a protocol droid lacking vital updates to its programming forced the station to shut down for a week of clean-up efforts.
Not wanting to lose their status as a functioning space station, Saiyani Station's governing officials quickly secured the necessary loans to rent extra worker droids and hire enough laborers to keep one bay open during repairs, and begin work on expanding the station. A year later, and Saiyani Station was finally keeping up with demand and turning a profit.
Saiyani Station is on a peninsula surrounded by one of Selvaris's great seas on three sides. Three roads lead out of Saiyani further inland. One follows the coast towards Corox Station, Kelva Shallows, and beyond. Another follows the coast in the other direction, towards Selvaris's capital. The third goes deeper into the jungle, and passes other former space port towns out into the wilderness. The planetary environmental laws prohibit paved roads more than a mile into any forested region, so all three roads start out well paved and well maintained, but only the road to the capital city stays this way.
While Saiyani Station is only about 100 miles from Corox Station, the road between the two winds quite a bit along the coast, around hills, and through the jungle. Local speed laws along the road prevent travel between the two towns in less than an hour's time (each way).
The town surrounding Saiyani station has grown to a regular population of approximately 20,000. Humans still make up the largest percentage of the population, but the volume of trade moving through Saiyani ensures that almost every sentient species has been present at some point, at least in passing.
In an effort to keep business flowing, Saiyani Station maintains a strong security force. Their policies within Saiyani focus on keeping the peace, and as such they tend to only intervene in violent matters. When the security force intervenes in an incident of violence, standard policy is to impound all vehicles and droids, and search all cargo. All contraband is then confiscated to escalate the charges. While Saiyani's laws on contraband are not any different from the rest of Selvaris, the local forces do not normally inspect cargo unless given good reason. The most common reasons are in response to violence or a tip from a reliable source. It is not unheard of for a few credits in the right hands to influence one’s reputation as a reliable source, and typically the local law enforcement are not above bribes to look the other way. Due to the local government's strict stance against violence, it is much more difficult to convince the security force to turn a blind eye to contraband if you are already in custody, especially if a death within city limits or of a citizen was involved.
In addition to local administrative buildings, a regional government compound is also located in Saiyani Station. From this place the Selvarin government administers the local region and communities, and is often the source of first responders to emergencies that happen in the towns on the fringe, such as Corox Station.
The Empire has recently been granted a plot of land near Saiyani, where a permanent pre-fabricated garrison is expected to be located. While approved by the planetary government, locals are not sure the possible increase in revenue is worth their presence.
Saiyani Station is the closest place for those on the fringes to make contact outside Selvaris easily, having a connection to the orbital communication system. As such, it is often where many people who venture into the wilderness make planet fall, and at one time even sported a Bounty Hunters Guild office, although it amounted to not much more than a few rented rooms with a bored clerk and a few droids.
Corox Station
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Kelva Shallows
From the main road, Kelva Shallows is about 80 miles to the east of Corox Station (about 20 minutes from Corox Station by transport), followed by a mile and a half of a dirt road before you get to the town itself. Since the shutting down of easier powered transport, fewer people make the trek out to the community unless they have to.
The town is built on the coast of a large lake and its surroundings are densely wooded. There are only a couple hundred people who call Kelva Shallows home at any given time, mostly locals involved with the fishing trade, or small-game trappers and breeders attempting to selling unusual pets offworld to tourists in Saiyani Station.
The major claim of Kelva Shallows was it being the site of the first contact with the native Odho species. A small monument is set up to commemorate the event, and a festival is held each year to mark the occasion. As there is usually an uncomfortable pall hanging over the memory of the delayed first contact, the remembrance festival is rarely hugely attended, but Kelva Shallows still celebrates it in an effort to keep their town alive and relavent.
On the edges of the town where the tree line and the lake meets are several swamps that continue into the woods. As swamps go, they are actually quite beautiful (if ‘teeming with colorful life with only some of it incredibly deadly’ appeals to you) and there is just enough water current to keep the insect population from growing out of hand. These are some of the reasons why small and large groups of “Swamp-Lifers”, a local group of Regressives, live in the surrounding swamps. “Swamp-Lifers” aren’t seen much, but when they are they are usually looking to trade for something that the majesty of nature doesn’t provide (anything from news and sports scores to medicine and batteries). They rarely have credits, but typically have interesting things to trade.
Jekurra
If Corox Station and Kelva Shallows are out of the way destinations, then the small town of Jekurra is decrepit. While a town has been on this site along the beaches of Lake Oren since the early days of settlement, it has gone through several striking population waves. It is currently home to only a few hundred people, with ruins surrounding the town indicating that it had at one point housed several thousand. Collapsed, gutted by fire, scavenged for materials to repair currently occupied dwellings, or just empty lots, the town is a depressing place to view.
Many efforts have been put forth by the planetary government to relocate those who live there, but strangely enough no one ever does. When people question why the residents elect to stay in such a depressing town, the locals only shrug and say they couldn't imagine living anywher else. There are even records of people leaving the town in the past and suffereing from pains and emotional distress until they eventually returned to Jekurra.
The town does continue to hang in there, living on the trade of certain underwater grains that are refined into a valuable seasoning offworld, exotic meats and furs from the wilds that surrond them, and the incredible wood carving figures that the Mist Carvers produce.
Many visitors to the planet remark on the delightful wooden carvings that come out of Jekurra, and those from outside the area shrug their shoulders in confusion, as the carvers of the town produce incredible pieces that are capable of evoking strong emotional reactions. Ranging from figures the size of a child's thumb, to a 4-meter tall scene depiciting a battle during the Integration Wars that currently resides in the home of a wealthy Gamorrean merchant in Caru City, their crafts fetch a high sum. But buyers must be cautious, as the Mist Carvers of Jekurra, in their iconic wood and grey mesh masks, won't do specific commisions, limiting their agreements to only generic size and theme. And they will not do refunds.