Kenara System


The desert tri-system of Kenara is one of the most trafficked in all the galaxy, nearly rivaling wormhole systems for the sheer number of ships soaring through the inner system. It is the financial center of the galaxy, boasting a seemingly endless array of orbital trade stations as well as stock and commodities markets. The feline Hacan built this esteemed position through shrewd dealings over millennia, going from poor, exploited laborers to cultural exporters to an economic powerhouse.

Arretze

Arretze is narrowly the most populous of the tri-system planets, its name translating roughly to “the moving sand.” The world is home to the majority of the system’s trading activity. Kenara’s economic influence began on Arretze, thanks in large part to the ease of cultivating the spehat vine and gerr root. While most off-worlders stick to the orbital trade stations or the static capital city of Harcarum, most Hacan enjoy a less hectic pace, living within their enormous, nomadic sled-cities.

The dominant economic and political force on Arretze is the Mowshir Emirate, a line of ancient rulers of which the current Quieron is a member. While the emirs of the Harriqh and Alcaiq Emirates compete and plot to one day supplant the Mowshir, the Emirates of Hacan are so interconnected that it is difficult for any one of them to damage a peer Emirate without hurting themself or an ally.

While the Hacan approve trades and make deals in comfort, the orbital trade stations bustle in a way few other places in the galaxy can. The great orbital trading ports each deal in a specific category of trade: Haal, for instance, hosts financial markets, while Shimax is a liquid chemical commodities exchange. There are so many warehousing, docking, and trading stations in orbit, along with some of the largest exchanges in the galaxy, that many beings joke it’s a wonder any sun makes it to Arretze’s surface.

Harcarun

Near Arretze’s north pole, the capital city of Harcarun is also the system’s only static city, a gleaming white urban sprawl set within a shaded valley and encompassing battleship-sized trade markets. The Harcarun trading markets deal equally in native Kenaran exports such as gerr root, starflower silk, and spehat-derived products as they do in foreign exports. Off-world traders, hustlers, and opportunists mingle with their counterparts from the Emirates in a never-ending bustle of deals, negotiations, cons, and general hubbub. Most Hacan find the temperate polar temperatures freezing, and thus most who spend time in Harcarun do so either out of a sense of duty to their clan or because they angered a superior.

Spehat Tower Complex Colrugn

Spehat-derived compounds, along with gerr root, are part of the engine that powered the first precarious meters of the Hacan ascent from vassal to great power. Spehat is a flowering vine quintessential to traditional Hacan medicines, liquors, narcotics, and even aphrodisiacs. And while most Hacan Emirates rely on investments, spehat is still a significant export product.

Typical of spehat farms, Complex Colrugn is a collection of hundred-meter-tall vented towers floating along the northern sand dunes of Arretze. It carefully migrates along the weather seams where cold and warm air fronts meet, the narrow band for viable spehat cultivation. Once pulled by great sleds like their cities, most spehat towers now operate on modern antigravity systems, supplemented by weather, terrain, airflow, and tilt sensors to ensure optimal growing conditions.

Hercant

Its name meaning roughly “fire sand,” the populous desert world of Hercant is home to the most famous of the great moving cities. The city of Raffir, still pulled by traditional Tuuran beasts, is where the Quieron rules over the Hacan Council and commands the Sword Fleet. Most Emirates have their own capital sled-city as well, and some sled-cities remain independent from any Emirate. One of these is Hphari, the headquarters of the Golden Mirwaat. Dozens of clanless Hacan travel to this city each day, hoping to be accepted as a member of this prestigious band of sell-spears and be sent across the galaxy on missions of glory and plunder.

Rockier than its desert siblings, Hercant is also more tectonically active. Several dozen minor eruptions occur annually in the southern hemisphere, and many do so at regular intervals. Hacan tourists consider the southern hemisphere a grand romantic locale. The atmospheric ash makes for incredible sunsets, and most Hacan dramas are set within caldera-rim resort palaces.

Raffir

The most populous city in Kenara, Raffir was built upon massive dust sleds that are dragged by herds of freighter-sized Tuuran beasts, whose gill-like skin membranes take moisture directly from the air. While the Quieron’s palace dominates the Raffir skyline, the city is also home to many notable members of the Veiled Skies clan, who live in a series of bulbed towers near the rear of the sled. These members have a near total controlling interest in Horizon Transport, one of the largest cargo hauling concerns in the galaxy that operates everything from bulk cargo haulers down to small couriers. It is said that they have the Quieron’s ear, and may provide a means to approach the Hacan Council outside of normal diplomatic channels.

Quieron's Palace

A golden ziggurat looming over Raffir, the Quieron’s palace is home to much of the Hacan government. Its lower levels are filled with lines of Hacan seeking government services or paying off taxes or fines. In the middle levels, draped with clan banners, staff coordinate military matters, particularly between the Quieron’s own Sword Fleet and the dozens of Emirate armies and auxiliary flotillas. The upper levels provide a spectacular view of the city from all sides as the staff there focus on the economy. In this section, the Quieron considers the advice of emirs, clan leaders, trade group magnates, and other advisors. Once an issue is decided, the Quieron issues orders to trade groups who oversee the fine web of trade agreements that keeps the Kenaran economy running strong.

Kamdorn

The setting for most ancient Hacan mythologies, Kamdorn—the name translates roughly to “dream sand”—is home to many religious orders. Though it is sparsely populated, Kamdorn floods with religious pilgrims, starflower harvesters, and starflower silk-spinners around each equinox when the starflower blooms. Towns spring up overnight, filled with eager pilgrims and Hacan purchasing agents.

The planet is otherwise known for its endless, mirage-inducing sand dunes punctuated by rocky canyon oases throughout the equatorial latitudes. It is in these canyons that the starflowers grow; Quierons past divided the viable canyons between the various Emirates and religious sects, though currently the commercial exploitation rights often get leased in a dramatic bidding war each solstice.

Hacan Temple Gilgraqh

Gilgraqh is one of the many ancient gods of Hacan mythology. While few understand Gilgraqh the Quieron and his two children—Garrus the Purse and Algruq the Spear—as literal gods anymore, the morality tales about them are studied seriously. Most Hacan believe these tales are exaggerated, but largely true, oral histories of the early days of their culture.

While Gilgraqh is by far the most popular of the gods, Kamdorn has temples to dozens of different dieties. Most temples on Kamdorn are squat pyramids with spacious, shady interiors. Beams of sunlight enter through narrow slits to illuminate stained lightning-glass sculptures. Many services feature dramatic retellings and productions of the legendary deities’ adventures, constantly reinvented and recontextualized for new generations.


Star Name and Type

Kenara, white main sequence star


Population Status

homeworld, 8.82 billion (85% Hacan, 15% other)


Government

united Emirates under the Quieron


Major Imports

foodstuffs, technology, refined materials


Major Exports

gerr root, starflower textiles, spehat-derived products




Cover image: by mroceannn
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