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LEVRYTH
"Planet of Stars"
Type: Terrestrial
System: Levryth
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Levyaar | ice ball | 1 |
SYSTEM DATAFILE
Levryth system, star Lev, yellow sun. Four planets in system; third planet,
Levryth, is the galactic hub of holo-entertainment.
Upon entering Levryth system, the characters' ship will receive the following broadcast: "Welcome to Levryth -- the Planet of Stars! Tune to local spaceport control frequency LXA-2135 for landing instructions. While on Levryth, take the galaxy-famous Imperial HoloVision Studio Tour, and stay in one of our many luxurious hotels! The glitz and glamour of your favorite holos awaits you . . . on Levryth!"
WORLD SUMMARY
Levryth is a pleasant world dotted with virtually every terrain type imaginable
grassy plains, rolling hills, jagged mountains, deserts, jungles, swamps, tundra,
and icy arctic wastes.
Levryth is well-known as the galaxy's "holo world"; the holo-entertainment industry makes up the vast bulk of the local economy. The planet is populated mostly by actors, production staff, and company men from various entertainment corporations, with the indigenous Levryns rounding out the population. A sizable recreation industry has evolved over millenia as well, with resort hotels and amusement parks designed around the glamourous world of holo-entertainment.
SYSTEM SUMMARY
The Levryth system is located in the heart of the sensor-fouling Migryv Nebula
in the Core Worlds. It is the only known system in the nebula -- scouting expeditions
have been sparse due to the high risk of navigational problems in the nebula.
The Levryth system is most well-known for the planet Levryth, but the gas giant Levillah is orbited by twelve moons, three of which are inhabitable. The smallest of these, Levillah-9, is privately owned by the Chaima family. The other two, Levillah-1 and Levillah-6, are used as sets when certain areas of Levryth are booked; Levillah-1 is a cold forested world and Levillah-6 consists of barren wastes and white deserts.
Levryth system's other two planets are uninhabitable and devoid of any currently valuable raw materials.
HISTORY
Levryth was colonized by accident by the eccentric Old Republic independent
scout Waxa Hachi. An independently wealthy pop-culture fanatic, Waxa had funded
the mission himself and staffed his privately-owned scout ship with dozens of
hired scouts, mostly humans. Their ship, the Scintillant Rustbucket,
got lost in the Migryv Nebula and, after months of aimless drifting, eventually
stumbled upon a star system.
Waxa Hachi was the first galactic citizen to establish contact with the indigenous Levryns, a race of humanoids who had attained early feudal technological levels. While teaching Basic to selected Levryns, Waxa and his crew marveled at the picturesque beauty and diverse landscapes of what they later learned was a very ancient world indeed.
Waxa developed a vision for the planet Levryth: a planetary studio, jointly owned by the major holo-entertainment syndicates of the galaxy, employing the hardy Levryns and churning out high-quality, on-location product as never before. The Republic was young and mostly peaceful at this time, and craved entertainment Waxa wanted to help supply it.
The biggest kink in Waxa's plan was the baffling nebula. He sent one-quarter of his crew, along with a handful of Levryns for educational purposes, off in the Scintillant Rustbucket. Their mission was to find a safe route out of the Nebula and launch beacons to mark it, then return to Republic space and make the proposal to one of Waxa's friends at Millenium Entertainments.
The Rustbucket returned over two years later, and before long Millenium and the other major holoproducers were investing in Waxa's dream. The resources were pooled into the Levryth Advisory Committee, a group consisting of representatives from every investing interest. Over the following centuries they built a holomaker's paradise. Eventually Levryth became a pop-culture phenomenon of its own, and Waxa Hachi has attained legend status among Levryth's population and fans.
The rise of the Empire did little to change Levryth's now-venerable infrastructure. Palpatine recognized the need for entertainment to distract the masses, and gave funding to the Advisory Committee. A small, token Imperial outpost was stationed on the planet, but the various companies' private security forces do the real work.
Perhaps the biggest change to Levryth since the Empire took control is in the content produced; the Advisory Committee realizes Palpatine is being merciful by allowing them to maintain control, but one too many "Scarlet" ratings or bannings might change that. As a result, the Advisory Committee often applies subtle (or not-so-subtle, when needed) pressure to the studios if a particular work-in-progress may call down the wrath of COMPNOR. This pressure is never entirely successful, and several products of Levryth have been rated Scarlet. To date, however, it appears that the Empire has not blamed Levryth for the transgressions, but rather the individual studios.
LEVRYTH STARPORTS
The bulk of Levryth is privately owned by such companies as Imperial HoloVision,
Millenium Holos, Chaima Holographic Enterprises, etc. As such, tourists on Levryth
are not allowed to roam the planet freely. Most visitors to Levryth are directed
from orbit to Levryth City Spaceport, the largest port on the world and the
only completely public one. It is modern in every respect, and almost as gaudy
as an Ord Mantell casino. Twenty-meter-high holographs of megastars are everywhere
in the spaceport, and massive holoprojectors dominate every open area. Levryth
City Spaceport is a cacophony of light and sound, and some sensitive individuals
are overwhelmed by it.
Adjacent to the spaceport are hundreds of resort hotels, each catering to different social levels. Very few resorts are geared towards the uppermost elite levels of high society, as such individuals would frown upon spending their vacation credits on a world as "trite" as Levryth. The vast majority of tourism here is aimed at middle-income families who have spent their life savings on one trip to the Planet of Stars, and very few leave the planet without complete satisfaction that their dreams have come alive.
Levryth City is the only proper "city" on Levryth, although the individual studio complexes are large enough to be considered cities. Each such complex contains at least one standard-class starport -- Imperial HoloVision's complex contains one Imperial-class, while Millenium's contains three standard-class. These company spaceports are usually surrounded by vast, posh estates in which stars and producers reside, and surrounding these estates are the studio facilities.
PLANET OF STARS
Virtually every entertainment company of any significance at all maintains at
least a token presence on Levryth. Chaima Holographic Enterprises, a major holofilm
producer and distributor, is headquartered here. Annadale Fayde's record label,
Starline Records, likewise has its central corporate offices on Levryth. The
vast majority of hit holofilms are at least partially filmed here, including
"Nar Shaddaa Blues," "I Married Xim," and "Saving Ensign Lynch." The popular
holoseries "Who Are You To Accuse Me?" is shot at Millenium Holos Studios, where
a live studio audience is selected from the thousands of tourists in Levryth
City every week. "The Brenns," "Laugh Station Live," and most other holoseries
are also produced on Levryth.
THE LEVRYNS
The native lifeforms of Levryth call themselves Levryns. They are humanoid,
slightly shorter than baseline Humans, and generally more muscular. Levryns
are most distinguishable from Humans by the fact that they exhibit more body
hair and have larger, deeper eyes. They tend to be less intelligent than Humans
-- their peaceful, predator-free world required them to develop little in the
way of craftiness. They are herbivorous, which makes them cheap to feed.
The Levryth Advisory Committee "allowed" the Levryns to become "employees" of the various studios on the planet. In actuality, the Levryns are little more than slaves, but none of them complain. Levryns are fascinated by galactic-level technology, and over the millenia have adapted to it fairly well. They don't have the knowhow to create their own, but most of them can use the important devices (holocams, editing consoles, transports, etc.).
LEVRYNS
Attribute Dice: 11D
DEX 1D/3D
KNO 1D/2D+2
MEC 1D/4D
STR 2D/5D+2
TEC 1D/4D
Story Factors
Enslaved: Levryns are essentially slaves of the studios on Levryth. However,
since they are treated well and paid just enough to survive and buy baubles
now and then, none have yet shown any impetus to try to change their lives.
Peaceful: Levryns are inherently peaceful people, and have a difficult
time understanding war. They are known to get into one-on-one fights on occasion,
but only over major interpersonal problems.
Move: 10/11
Size: 1.4-1.6 meters
LEVRYTH PERSONALITIES
Capsule: Jep Staona is a megastar. Known across the galaxy for such action hits as "Line Squad Alpha," Jep can't go to a tapcafe unless he's in disguise -- the last time he tried, he and his droid were almost trampled in the mad rush. Jep's face can be seen at every holotheater most every week -- he's one of Levryth's busiest actors.
Capsule: Morinna Kaustyn is a marketing executive at Millennium Holos. She is in her late 30s and keeps her dark hair cut conservatively, but fashionably, just above her shoulders. Morinna's peers see her as a soulless, smooth-talking observer/manipulator of the public -- which is exactly what she wants to be. Her job is essentially to review scripts and performances, analyzing their potential for popular appeal and passing along "troubled" works to Millennium's Revision department. Given her high rank in the company, however, she often oversteps her job description and makes content suggestions to writers and producers. She has even been known to recruit talent now and then. Above all else, she prides herself on knowing what the galaxy wants -- or, more accurately, telling the galaxy what to want and then giving it to them.
Capsule: Daggbuddle is well-known in cinema buff circles and studio boardrooms. He is one of the finest writers in the business, having crafted a series of big hits, and his recent script for "Rampage of Love" (a bizarre tale of obsession and rifle maintenance) is currently being tossed around by several studios eager to produce it. Daggbuddle's biggest problem is that he can't churn out scripts nearly fast enough to even begin to satisfy the corporate overlords to whom he is beholden -- being a Snivvian, he was raised to write epic poems and revise them endlessly, and this tradition has been hard for him to shake off. He usually has five or more scripts in the works at any time, and it can take him years to finish one -- which frustrates his superiors to no end. In person, Daggbuddle often seems idiosyncratic and distant, often blurting out a guttural laugh for no immediately apparent reason. He has an annoying habit of recording things that happen around him for later analysis and, hopefully, inspiration.
ADVENTURE
IDEA
Galactic entertainment scooper Hari Noals is a major thorn in the side of
every holofilm studio in the galaxy -- his holopage, "Look-At-This News,"
is infamous for posting top-secret holofilm information gleaned from Hari's
various "spies" in menial positions on studio sets. Millenium has learned
that Hari himself is on Levryth, and they have hired the characters to find
him and turn him in. No easy task, considering that no one knows what he looks
like -- and for that matter, no one in the upper studio brass realizes he's
actually a pretty nice guy.
ADVENTURE
IDEA
The characters are on a studio tour when a Levryn pulls them aside and explains
that a small band of the native workers are itching to leave Levryth forever.
The characters must find a way to escape the planet, evading the studio's
security goons, who will likely already be watching them carefully.
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