Kessel
Kessel
A cold, barren world of alkali flats and jagged mountains, Kessel is a misshapen lump, of interest only for the thick veins of glitterstim running beneath its crust. Kessel isn’t quite big enough to hold its thin atmosphere, which leaks away in tendrils and is replaced by a creaky network of air factories. For millennia miners have worked in a pitch-black labyrinth of tunnels beneath the planet extracting glitterstim, a photoactive spice of great value. Though few of the galaxy’s addicted “glit-biters” know it, glitterstim is a residue of bioluminescent webs spun by energy spiders, vicious arachnids that prey on small energy creatures in the dark.
- Grid Location: T-10
- Region: Outer Rim
- Terrain: Alkali flats, mountains
- Diameter: Roughly 7,200 km
- Length of Day: 26 standard hours
- Length of Year: 322 local days
- Population: 11,100
- Sentient Species: Humans, many others
- Species Mix: Humans (22%), other (78%)
- Languages: Basic
- Government: Military administration
- Major Exports: Spice
- Major Imports: Foodstuffs, machinery
- System/Star: Kessa/Kessa
Planets in the System:
| Planets | Type | Moons |
|---|---|---|
| Senna | Molten rock | 0 |
| Kessel | Barren rock | 1 |
| Kareda | Ice ball | 0 |
Detailed History
Mining on Kessel began as a small operation under the aegis of the Republic, with volunteer miners supervised by medical teams packing glitterstim for therapeutic uses. But as the Republic dimmed, criminal organizations pushed their way in, diverting increasing amounts of glitterstim into the galaxy’s black market. The Empire assumed control of Kessel, installing stormtroopers on its Garrison Moon, and turned the planet into a prison world, forcing violent criminals and political prisoners alike into the dark to work until they died. Crooked administrators ensured that the illicit spice trade would continue, however, and countless smugglers made their reputations (or lost their lives) dueling Imperial picket ships along the Kessel Run, a thin corridor perilously close to the Maw cluster of black holes.
Kessel changed hands several times after the Battle of Endor (with the Garrison Moon blasted into oblivion), and was eventually bought by Lando Calrissian, who freed the miners remaining prisoners and restarted mining using droids.
Kessel sits on a bypass of the Pabol Sleheyron, which runs Rimward from Hutt Space to its intersection with the Triellus Trade Route, passing worlds such as Aeneid, Little Kessel, and Randa. Most legitimate traffic to Kessel exits the Pabol Sleheyron at Zerm for the Kessel Trade Corridor; smugglers who don’t trust their luck at escaping Imperial attention often head for the Maw, emerging from the Kessel Run and the asteroid-plagued Pits at Formos, a hard-scrabble spaceport on the Pabol.