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Part 1: Backwater
By Cory Herndon
The water world Manaan was, at one time, quite possibly the most important planet in the galaxy outside Coruscant. As the only known source of kolto-a miraculous healing agent that historians believe was several times more effective than modern bacta-Manaan was hotly contested by the Republic and the Sith during Darth Malak's war of conquest four millennia ago. The planet was able to maintain strict neutrality in the conflict for some time, until for mysterious reasons that are still argued in academic circles, kolto production suffered a devastating setback. Without kolto, Manaan rapidly fell into decline. Never a member of the Republic, their petition to join the body was rebuffed, causing the proud native Selkath to swear that their world would never again seek to join with offworlders for any reason.
By the time Emperor Palpatine rose to power, few galactic citizens even remembered that Manaan existed. When the kolto flowed, ships went out of their way to visit the world, but the old hyperspace routes fell out of use long before even Master Yoda began his Jedi studies. Yet the Emperor remembered, and he also knew that Manaan still held many secrets that could be of use to him. The Imperial expeditionary forces found a planet that had fallen into a primitive state populated by natives who barely understood Basic any more, living in undersea caverns far below the surface of the water.
The Imperial troops expected a simple hunting mission, but their superiors had other plans. At the behest of Lord Vader himself, they enslaved the population and built-a resort?
Part 2: Whatever Happened to the Selkath?
By Cory Herndon
The halt of significant kolto production that caused the rapid departure of Manaan from the galactic stage and virtually ended contact with the Republic sent the planet spiraling into a technological decline. Most of the native Selkath eventually abandoned Ahto, the floating city that had been constructed almost exclusively for the use of off-worlders, and returned to living in the depths. After less than hundred years, the planetary government completely collapsed. Young warlords with no memory of Manaan's era of economic prosperity fought among themselves, and within another hundred years had broken Selkath society into tribal clans.
When the Imperials arrived with thousands of aquatically trained stormtroopers and a pair of Star Destroyers, the Selkath had become so primitive that a few blasts of the energy weapons caused entire clans to swear fealty to the Empire. But to be on the safe side, the commander of the expeditionary forces ordered the deployment of depth charges dropped from orbit to wipe out the underwater villages, towns, and cities wherever they could be found-after the most stubborn Selkath in the clan had been executed with their kin and the rest rounded up as slaves.
During their period of Imperial subjugation, most Selkath are broken, oppressed people who no longer have any hope that their lives will improve. Unable to return to the sea lest they incur the wrath of the Empire (which maintains a pair of Star Destroyers in the system, unusual to say the least for a relatively minor resort planet), they have been forced to live in floating shantytowns that can be found just a few kilometers from Ahto on all sides. As far as the Empire knows, Manaan's entire native population has been forced from the depths, humiliated, and utterly demoralized.
As far as the Empire knows.
Of course, the complimentary copy of the Guide to Beautiful Manaan every tourist receives has a slightly different take on the Selkath.
Part 3: The Order of Shasa
By Cory Herndon
Though their origins were lost to history when Manaan fell into economic decline, the Order of Shasa has protected the Selkath for thousands of years. According to their own legends, the order was founded by a Selkath that had studied with the Jedi, or perhaps the Sith. With no input or influence from either group once the world was abandoned by the rest of the galaxy, these Force adepts have had to find their own way through the gray areas between darkness and light-but always with the ultimate safety of the Selkath people in mind.
Unfortunately for the Manaan natives, even the order was powerless to stop the initial Imperial assault on the planet. Their numbers were simply too small and their understanding of the Force too limited. Yet they continued to train in their secret base in the ruins of an ancient underwater mining facility, awaiting the moment when they would be able to strike back and drive the invaders off their homeworld.
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) mach ich mir kaum Gedanken.Im Gegenteil:Ich registriere sie sogar mit einem leichten Schmunzeln.