Skathos


Type: Terrestrial rainforest.
Function: Homeworld, port.
Region: Border Regions.
Trade Route: Long Path.
Sector: Yaeger Sector.
Strategic Location: The Imperium Sphere of influence.
Temperature: 180% standard.
Atmosphere: Standard, with somewhat higher than usual percentages of methane.
Hydrosphere: 48% of the surface of Skathos is covered in water, though the atmosphere has far greater concentrations of water vapor than usual for planets with that amount of surface water, due to the world's thin crust, which causes numerous volcanic eruptions and other seismic disturbances.
Gravity: 184% Standard.
Terrain: Tropical Rainforest.
Mineral Resources: Substantial reserves of iron and duridium, most of which have been fully played out.
Length of Day: 45 standard hours.
Length of Year: 300 local days.
Sapient Species: Skathos is the homeworld of the Skathelon.
Capital City: Suthuk Al is the capital city of Skathos and of all the Skathelon.
Other Cities: Masthus, Osthicas Shee, and Thesko are the other major cities of Skathos.
Starport: Suthuk Al has a galaxy class port, and there are numerous smaller ports across the planet. The largest port on the planet is the galaxy class military port at Shar Ulim, the site of the first Skathelon flight into space.
Population (within +/- 1%): 23,550,345,010 Skathelon.
Government: The planet is ruled by a council of elders, who control all the internal matters of the Skathelon. Interstellar policies are decided by the Pangritai Central Council, which meets on Eshabien, a world that was captured by the unified Pangritai.
Tech Level: Space.
Major Exports: Warriors, technicians, manufactured goods.
Major Imports: Foods, Imperial technology, Imperial workers
System: Skar-Athas
Star: Skar-Ath
Name Planet Type Moons
Sheketh-OmSwamp World3
ShathrakToxic World1
SkathosTerrestrial4
ThisothIce World1
MithorFrigid Rock2

System Capsule:

Sheketh-Om: The first of the worlds that the Skathelon expanded out to after they developed space flight.
Shathrak: Naturally highly radioactive, Shathrak is mined by the Skathelon for nuclear fuel, and rods for their power plants.
Skathos: See above.
Thisoth: Frigid, but habitable, Thisoth has never been settled by Skathelon, due to their preference for warmer climes.
Mithor: Located at the edge of the Skar Athas, Mithor is the site of the system defence fleet base.

Planetary Capsule:

Flora and fauna: Skathos is a typical tropical rainforest world. Once past the forest margin, the forest has something of the air of a cathedral, with little undergrowth and massive, arching tree trunks. Numerous varieties of broad leafed plants and woody vines can be found in the forests, as can some truly spectacular orchids and pitcher plants, some of which are large enough to swallow full sized humans. These forests are home to a wide variety of life forms, from velvet furred warblers, to arachnid monkeys, to razor fanged night serpents.

Sentient Species: The massive reptilian Skathelon are the only sentient life on the planet.

History: During the early years of it's civilization, Skathos went through thousands of years of conflict between warring petty kings and princes. Contacted by galactic traders of some sort (the records are unclear), the Skathelon acquired the secrets of hyperspace travel, and began expanding out to the stars, still bearing the disunity of their homeworld. The feuding Skathelon colonies proved easy prey to the Yrotha, and they soon found themselves enslaved. Skathos itself held out a bit longer, but soon fell to the Yrotha.

During the years of Yrotha domination, the Skathelon became organized under the council of elders, and when the Yrotha grew weak, the Skathelon rebelled against their Yrotha masters, and soon found themselves both independent and in possession of some of the Yrotha's most powerful warships. Working from these models, the Skathelon soon developed a relatively high level of technology and began their war of conquest. While their fleet was not as advanced as that of many of their foes, it was somewhat larger, and the Skathelon are fearsome ground fighters, large enough to use high scale weaponry without adjustment.

As the Skathelon expanded, they incorporated other races into their empire, using them as sources of labor and technical know- how. Skathos reflected this prosperity and power, as extrastellar goods and slaves poured into the economy. The world was soon dotted with massive estates, the products of the years of plunder.

The Skathelon seemed destined to rule the sector, until they met the same stumbling block that the Yrotha had, the Ien Yaeger humans and their allies. The Skathelon war ended in a tactical draw, as the Yaeger were not able to penetrate into the Skathelon's core, and the Skathelon were not able to capture the Yaeger planets. However, the Yaeger succeeded in the end, because once the Skathelon stopped expanding, their empire began to falter, and soon collapsed under it's own weight. Skathos's economic collapse was even more dramatic. No longer able to support itself, when the flow of resources from newly conquered areas was cut off, the planet suffered from famine and rioting. Most of the merchant and military estates were destroyed and looted. Only the council of Elders remained untouched, protected by the full force of the Skathelon military.

When the Asber began their expansion, the Skathelon quickly formed an alliance with them, which resolved the situation on Skathos. Genetic investigation soon determined that the physical similarities between the two races were a good deal more than skin deep. The Skathelon and the Asber are genetic siblings, both descending from a far more primitive race, the Gritai. The Asber-Skathelon alliance became the Pan-Gritai, and later the Pangritai.

When the Empire came, the Pangritai were one of their most enthusiastic recruits, seeing the Empire as an opportunity to challenge the then superior military might of the Ien Yaeger. They soon found out that they had signed up for more than an attack at an old foe, but by that time Doran had large enough forces on their homeworlds that they could not change their minds. Skathos has recovered somewhat, though the Imperial presence and the relative austerity that Imperial government imposes has changed the pace of life there somewhat.
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