Dromache

Basic Information

ASTROGRAPHICAL

• Grid Location: M-10
• Distance from Core: 7,166 LY
• Sun: Skaadi
• Moons: Cassiopeia, Cepheus
• Diameter: 13,030 km
• Length of Day: 27 standard hours
• Length of Year: 440 local days

PHYSICAL

• Terrain: Oceans, sub-tropical islands, mountains
• Climate: Cycles between subtropical/mediterranean and subarctic

SOCIETAL

• Population: 1.5 billion
• Sentient Species: Humans; Jotunn; other
• Species Mix: Humans (65%); other (30%); Jotunn (5%)
• Languages: Basic, various galactic languages
• Government: Monarchy, aristocracy
• Major Exports: Advanced medicine, high technology, scholarly publications, works of art
• Major Imports: Food products

OTHER INFORMATION

• Title of monarch: The Grandsire (House Jotunnson)
• Houses (current): House Dreyfus, House Bettencourt, House Pradon, House Tengeli, House Rames, House Forja, House Le'Shaad
• Notable Natives: Duchess Scholar Morgo Le'Shaad, Count Scholar Daneel Dreyfus, Grandsire Grand Scholar Egon Jotunnson II, Crown Prince Scholar Rorek Jotunnson, Desaan

OVERVIEW

Dromache (DROM-ah-kee) is a lush, ancient world of wonder and enlightenment. Though larger than the average planet, only about 3% of it is land, the rest of Dromache covered in vast azure oceans. The largest landmass, Zkovos Isle, makes up around 60% of the planet's total landmass. A further 20% is dispersed across a thousand islands peppered throughout the endless seas, and the remaining 20% lies beneath glaciers and icecaps at the north and south poles.

On Zkovos lies the seat of the Grandsire's power and around one billion inhabitants. The island is a humming metropolis of gleaming white stone and luminous architecture, a marriage of cutting-edge technology and ancient splendour. Here, the great archives, libraries, laboratories, hospitals, and subterranean vaults are housed and protected under the authority of the High Court. It is on Zkovos that minds from across the galaxy pool their knowledge, the arts and sciences flourishing at a pace few worlds can match, because few worlds concentrate so intensely upon knowledge alone.

The rest of Dromache's population lives across the thousands of islands scattered throughout the seas, governed by the Esteemed Houses who rule alongside the Grandsire. Each House is seated upon its own archipelago, where palaces, laboratories, and athenaeums are raised to continue the work of research and publication. In Dromachean culture, to contribute is to govern, and to govern is to safeguard the continuity of learning.

A STRANGE CLIMATE

"Four years of glorious Summer and two of ass-freezing Winter. I'll tell you, my good man, you can travel the galaxy looking for a place with seasons like this and you won't find another. That I promise you."
        - Desaan

Originally an ice world dominated by glaciers and frigid oceans, Dromache was once a chunk of frozen rock adrift beneath a thin atmosphere. That changed when the Celestials, also called the Architects, took interest in the Skaadi system and used Dromache and its sun as an experiment. They built what became known as the Genesis Shield, an ancient machine of immense sophistication, embedded deep beneath the surface.

The Genesis Shield collects solar energy for two years at a time. At the beginning of the next cycle, twin installations, one at each pole, discharge that stored energy in a sustained beam through the atmosphere and into space. The effect is the creation of a thicker, secondary atmospheric canopy that traps greenhouse gases and slows their escape into the void. Over time, this allowed Dromache to warm and melt, glaciers bleeding into oceans, unveiling landmasses and driving seismic activity that birthed countless islands and archipelagos.

By experimental design, the Genesis Shield sustains the secondary atmosphere for four years before shutting down into hibernation, returning to a two-year period of energy collection. When the canopy fails, greenhouse gases bleed away, the planet sheds heat rapidly, and Dromache enters a swift autumn and a brutal winter. In practice, this means Dromache enjoys four years of lush summer and endures two years of barren cold as the Shield sleeps and regenerates.

POLITICAL SYSTEM

Dromache is a monarchy led by the Grandsire, the only title granted by heredity. Alongside the Royal House Jotunnson rule the great Houses of Dromache, distinguished families elevated by contribution rather than bloodline, whose libraries, laboratories, and publications have advanced the world's legacy. Together, House Jotunnson and the Esteemed Houses form the High Court of Dromache.

In earlier eras, a priestly council guided the Grandsire on matters concerning the future. An order of priestesses and a single Oracle, a Force-sensitive human woman with the gift of foresight, served Dromache under the faith of the Goddess, understood as the embodiment of Knowledge and the mystery of the Force.

With the rise of Emperor Palpatine and the establishment of the Galactic Empire in 19 BBY, Force-sensitives who did not serve the Sith were hunted. The Oracle and her priestesses were either corrupted, converted, or killed, and the Order of the Goddess was ended.

THE TITLE OF SCHOLAR

"The greatest honor. The greatest burden."
        - Acheron Le'Shaad

Anyone within Dromachean society, native or not, may pursue the title of Scholar. From peasant to aristocrat, all are granted access to Dromache's archives, museums, and vaults. Education is free to those who seek it, and prestige is not inherited but earned through learning, innovation, and discovery.

When a willing child is ready to begin the Shibboleth, a process of at least a decade, their devotion is tested: capacity for learning, integrity as scholar and scientist, and willingness to die to protect Free Knowledge. Those who enter the Shibboleth become part of the Order of the White, an institution similar in structure to the Jedi Order, but devoted not to war, but to the guardianship of history and truth. Within the Order, a system of ranks marks how far one chooses, or is able, to pursue education.

The highest rank is Grand Scholar, requiring thirty years of education, and held only by the Grandsire and heirs who complete the same path. Below this sits the rank of Scholar. Once the title is earned, the Scholar's family is elevated to House status, granted a place on the High Court, and entrusted with governance over an archipelago to continue the work of discovery and stewardship.

THE HIGH COURT OF DROMACHE

To be part of the High Court, a family must be a recognised House of Dromache. To become a House, a member must earn the title of Scholar by passing the Shibboleth, a decade-long test of devotion to knowledge and willingness to safeguard it at any cost.

Currently, the High Court of Dromache consists of:

• House Jotunnson (pronounced YO-toon-sun), the royal house of the Grandsire
• House Dreyfus
• House Bettencourt
• House Pradon
• House Tengeli
• House Rames
• House Forja
• House Le'Shaad

The High Court of Dromache both governs the world and serves it.

RENOUNCEMENT

"To be Renounced is the greatest shame for any House. As all are vulnerable to it, all fear it. And rightly so. See that you do not bring this family to its knees, daughter."
        - Acheron Le'Shaad to Morgo Le'Shaad

Renouncement is the High Court's practice of demoting an Esteemed House whose Scholar is guilty of grave criminal behaviour, or who becomes idle and unproductive for a period of thirty years. If the Grandsire judges a House unable to produce discoveries, publications, or meaningful contributions within its discipline, that House is struck from the rolls and cast from the High Court in disgrace. Extensions are possible, but only if the Grandsire deems the case worthy of mercy.

HISTORY

The Native Jotunn, Coming of the Celestials (40,000 BBY)

"...They came in floating mountains, veiled in starlight and shadow, the Gods. And with them came Skaadi, the bane of our kind. With them came the Weak Ones, destined to overrun our beloved world..."
        - Excerpt of ancient Jotunn myth

Though not too far from its sun, Skaadi, Dromache once suffered under a thin atmosphere. Before Celestial tampering, the planet was an ice world dominated by glaciers and cold oceans. Its dominant sentient species were the Jotunn, ice giants who hunted and foraged as nomads and warriors. Force-sensitive by nature, they used their gifts as instinctively as breath, and were famed for the power later called Animal Friendship, binding great beasts as mounts and hunting companions.

Scarcity made the Jotunn fierce. Tribes warred over territory, raided camps, and forged culture through violence and endurance. When the Celestials arrived, they embedded the Genesis Shield within the planet, and Dromache began to warm. Glaciers melted, oceans swelled, and the world reshaped itself, hot spots awakening and raising archipelagos from the sea.

Warming drove the Jotunn toward the poles. Many died, and those who survived adapted by hibernation. As centuries passed, their numbers dwindled, and their legends grew stranger. The Genesis Shield remained active for ten thousand years, and the ice sheets receded.

The Jotunn slept for ten millennia, until the arrival of the first Humans, and the first shutdown of the Genesis Shield. Winter returned to Dromache for the first time in living memory, and the Jotunn awoke.

Transplanted Humans and the First Winter (35,000 BBY - 30,000 BBY)

"The elders say we came from Coruscant, we Humans, as a grand experiment for the Force-wielding Architects to study and amuse themselves with. Think of it. Dromache, born from an experiment at the hands of scientists. And we Dromacheans, moulded in the image of such gods. I find I quite like this fanciful tale. But do not tell Father. I'll burn you if you do."
        - Excerpt from Morgo Le'Shaad's (scorched) girlhood diary

Once Dromache was capable of supporting Human life, the Celestials transplanted a population of Humans from Notron, the archaic name of Coruscant. When the Genesis Shield was shut down to rest and to test adaptability, the world began to freeze once more.

Sea-beasts fell dormant, while older terrors awakened. The Jadenose Leviathans sank into deep sleep, and Dracon Sea Serpents rose as winter's apex predators. The Humans, accustomed to warmth, were unprepared for frigid winds and blizzards. Famine and frostbite spread through the settlements.

Then the Jotunn emerged from their long slumber. Enraged to find their world altered and their lands occupied, they waged slaughter against the Humans, raiding villages and massacring those who could not flee. It seemed inevitable that the transplanted population would be wiped out.

They would have been, legend insists, but for one woman named Sigunn.

Le'Shaad Rebellion and the Dromachean Civil War

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