Notable Skrell Systems and Locations

Skrell Systems and Locations

Nralakk, depicted by an infographic designed in the early days of the Skrell.

The Jargon Federation exerts control over some 1236 planets spread across 800 star systems, representing billions of Skrell citizens. Of those 1200+ planets, only about 500 are colonized with permanent settlements, the rest being used mainly for a mix of mining (of metals and gases), and scientific research. A good portion of Skrell are concentrated in the core system of Nralakk.

The majority of the planets in Skrell space have been terraformed to suit their nature. A typical Skrell planet is covered in swamps, jungles, and the occasional large body of water. On planets where this kind of extreme terraforming is not possible due to natural preservation laws or extreme terraformation cost, the Skrell construct large biodomes and habitat structures to live alongside the xenoflora and fauna.

Almost all planets have accompanying observation posts on their moons or in low orbit, which monitor various things from biodiversity changes to civil unrest. Those on planet are required to send status reports to this observation post, which then determines if any issues are worthy of being sent further up to system-wide management for response. It is expected of the communities on planet to simply solve the problem before sending up this report - including the issue and how they resolved it.

Nralakk, the Homestar

Considered the origin of the Skrell, Nralakk is largely renown for being the jewel of the Jargon Federation. Historically, it has served as the centre of the Federation, but also as a home for almost a quarter of the Orion Spur's Skrell population. Soon after first contact with humanity, Nrallak gained the colloquial name of "Jargon". Roughly twice the size of Sol - the Blue Giant gives off a vibrant green-teal on Qerrbalak, a dazzling turquoise on Qerr'Malic and finally dashing celeste on Aloise when observed from within the respective atmospheres (if there is one) of the various planets. Closer to the star, there litters thousands of Glorsh-era orbital factories powered by its rays, now left behind to slowly dissipate into the giant star they orbit.

Fjylo

Fjylo is the smallest and closest planet to Nralakk. The scorched planet currently has an orbital period of 67 days, and has been noted to have a decaying orbit - proved due to its orbital period being 74 days when it was first recorded by Skrellian astronomers. It is named due to its small, violently burning composition that often leaves a trail of celestial material that has been known to create beautiful patterns before finally being drawn into Nralakk. It was named after a species of flora on Qerrbalak known in Tau Ceti Basic as the "Firevine" - reddish vines curling around one another, with thorns awaiting to sting despite their beauty.

Meyk

Meyk is the second planet in orbit from Nralakk. It orbits Nralakk every 121 days, and rotates on its axis every 179 days - in terms of percentages, Meyk takes considerably longer to rotate on its axis than any other planetary body within the system. Similar to Fjylo, Meyk is without any satellites, and was discovered during the early days of the Skrell. For millennia, Meyk wasn't considered to be a planet but instead a dwarf planet and it wasn't until 523 AD that it was finally recognised as a planet, and eventually nicknamed the "Trivial" due to its small stature. It was stripped bare by mining endeavours shortly after the Skrell began off-world operations.

Toqli-Fet

A binary set that are the third, and sometimes debated, fourth planet from Nrallak. They lie in Qerrbalak's orbit, and can be seen directly west in the twilight phases of the Homeworld's rotational phases, the original reasoning for their nickname due to appearing as eyes that seemingly 'watch' the Skrell. Bearing no atmosphere, low gravity and close orbits, Toqli and Fet were primarily considered to be inconsequential to any greater purpose than mining until the establishment of observation outposts, and now the planet only operates as observation outposts for the rest of the system, staffed by a few hundred workers that ensure the safety of the system through various bureaucratic measures.

Qerrbalak

See: Qerrbalak

Qerrbalak is the origin of the Skrell. One of two habitable planets within the system, comprised of various climates ranging from taigas to tropical rainforests. Qerrbalak is 1.8 times the size of Earth, and sports an atmospheric composition of 82% Nitrogen, 17% Oxygen and 1% other. Qerrbalak is currently undergoing slow terraforming efforts to reduce the damage inflicted by the Skrell during unenlightened times.

Qerr’Malic

See: Qerr'Malic

Qerrbalak has only one moon, Qerr'Malic. It has a surface area of roughly 17 million square kilometres, with an abundant amount of minerals found both close to the surface and deeper within its mantle. Akin to most moons, Qerr'Malic is without liquid water and an atmosphere - however, one notable difference is the effect it has on the tidal activity on the Homeworld. Its elliptical orbit generally comes closest to Qerrbalak during Xepus-qog, which results in most of the coastal regions becoming submerged by the various oceans down below.

Aliose

See: Aliose

Aliose has a heavy atmosphere of cold nitrogen, requiring internals and heated clothing to survive outside. To combat the planet’s much colder temperature, early colonies were subterranean, and heavily utilised geothermal energy for cooling and power production. As it gradually became dotted with cities and laboratories as much of Qerrbalak’s scientific elite sought to take part in the first planetary colonization by the Skrell and over time gradually resulted in Aliose becoming the scientific powerhouse of the Federation.

The Elemental Systems: The First Waves

When Skrell finally ventured beyond their solar system, they did so with great enthusiasm, scouting out the perfect worlds to colonize. In the 1000s BCE, the first waves of colony ships expanded beyond Nralakk into these systems, building up highly populous planets with well-developed infrastructure and healthy trade routes. With the Federation's strict colonist-recruitment systems and idealistic view on exploration, there was only a small amount of crime in this golden age of colonialism. The majority of these planets are composed of more advanced technology.

Aweiji

See: Aweiji

In 983 BCE, Aweiji became the first planet outside of Nralakk to have a permanent Skrell colony. The planet was rockier, drier, and more mountainous than the settlers’ home planet of Qerrbalak, but advances in biodome technology gave settlers adequate shelter while early terraforming technology made the planet’s atmosphere habitable. The first settlers landed on a plain between two mountains, an area which would become the city of Tresja. Because of its history as the first Skrell colony outside of Nralakk, Aweiji would eventually be chosen as the location of the largest political meeting in the Jargon Federation’s history, the Tresja Agreement.

Waughai

Waughai was one of the first planets outside of Nralakk, alongside Aweiji, to be colonized by Skrell. From the start, colonization in Waughai was intended to create permanent, livable settlements rather than temporary living conditions for mining operations. After Glorsh, the planet rose to prominence as Skrell began using mining as a form of art - carving craters into the other planetary bodies within Waughai's system, writing out whole poems that could only be read from space. The most renowned piece is a twenty-mile long-phrase sliced into its moon by an unknown author using mining lasers that reads, "In longing, there is a future."

The Contingent Systems: The Second Waves

As the core of the Jargon Federation grew, smaller settlements sprouted to support them. This second wave of colonization efforts saw the spontaneous rise of many colonies with single purposes, like mining outposts and farming operations. Some of these systems would go on to become thriving, if not modest, communities of varying levels of self-reliance, often with highly specialized citizens. Now, the Contingencies serve as manufacturing giants that provide the inner-worlds of the Jargon Federation with much-needed luxuries. Technological advances within the Contingent Systems lag, but are not too far behind.

Xaqixal

Xaqixal considered to be the biggest provider of minerals to the Jargon Federation. It consists of a single noteworthy planet, a few other planetoids and a massive asteroid field comprised of numerous resources. A colony was subsequently established on Xaqixal I after the discovery of the bountiful system, a planet covered by frozen seas, with approximately 12% of its surface being actual land. The colony remain relatively small in size until 1755 CE, when seismic activity caused exposed various hot springs that were buried deep beneath its permafrost. It has since become a popular destination for tourists, which much of its economy based on the commerce it gains from the hot springs, but mining initiatives continue to produce at healthy rates.

Glorashi

A small five-planet system, Glorashi is considered crucial for a variety of different reasons. Whilst the planet closest to the star are considered far too hot for any meaningful operations to occur, Glorashi III (Akerliim) rests within the "Goldilocks" region of the star and has subsequently developed into a dazzling planet with a climate similar to Qerrbalak. It hosts the High Queen of the C'thur hive, and has the highest population in the system, it is nearly exclusively residential and commercial property, with little industrial areas on the planet as most companies go to its moon, Diulszi, to access its resources for cheaper. Glorashi V, or Jaqvas, is a small ice giant with two moons. Kyeqil, the larger of the two, houses the governmental body for the system and is primarily devoted to act as an Observation Outpost of Glorashi. The smaller moon, Oyepiit, is a military establishment that is shrouded in mystery. One could only hazard a guess for what the Jargon Federation could hold within, or the operations that the institution carries out.

The Trichotomous Systems: The Traverse

The frontier of the Jargon Federation is known as The Traverse, with the name itself is meant to convey the importance Skrell culture has historically placed on the stars. Many believing it is a Skrell’s duty to traverse the stars. Whilst settlements across the Traverse vary drastically, most will have common trends within the categories they are within: the Tributaries, Distributaries and Estuaries. Depending on the category a settlement is situated within the Jargon Federation will offer boons and even protection but the further one gets from the Tributaries, the more common will it become to be preyed upon by malicious shadows lurking within the Traverse.

Tributaries

The Tributaries are the innermost set of Traverse planets, which tend to have closer ties to the Jargon Federation. Majority of the colonists find themselves pushes to the Tributaries - a method devised by the Skrell to hide their true intentions of preventing secessionist sentiments from reaching the core worlds. These systems also act as insurances for the Federation's core, providing resources whilst also preventing independence movements and insurgents from creeping too close. Technology within the Tributaries lags, but is comparable to that of the Contingent Systems.

Pluat

An extremely hot planet. Mostly desert but with some small seas in the northern and southern hemispheres. The equatorial regions are too hot for most species, and so the only settlements are situated in the extreme polar regions. Despite the harsh conditions of Plaut, it has seen tremendous success. Miles and miles of the planet has been converted into automated facilities that in turn manufacture goods for the core worlds of the Jargon Federation. It was during Glorsh-Omega's reign that the planet was retrofitted to instead become a haven for robotics. Thousands, upon thousands, of different machines were created including that of mining drones, observation drones and more. Glorsh-Omega would often work the Skrell station on Pluat beyond their abilities, and subsequently almost destroyed the workforce. Today, Pluat remains active and overseen by a few thousand Skrell that have since devised various systems to ensure that no other individual is pushed beyond what they can handle.

Distributaries

The Distributaries connect the Tributaries and Estuaries whilst also containing most of the Traverse's coordination hubs, providing a link whilst being at the forefront of exploration. Secessionists find their greatest foothold here; quality of life rapidly rising, increasing unrest across the Orion Spur and less dependency on the Jargon Federation than the Tributaries allows the movement to thrive within the sector. Technology within the Distributaries is comparable to that of an information age society.

Yui'qui'gliop

The moon to a large gas giant with an atmosphere mostly composed of hydrogen, Yui'qui'gliop was scarcely inhabited before the rise of Glorsh-Omega. designated as a 'cesspool' in which the Jargon Federation sentenced criminals to repay their debt to society. It was abandoned by the tyrannical intelligence shortly after it rose to power, with the penal colony essentially being left to die out, where it remained abandoned for over a century until rebels rediscovered the planet, and converted it into a base-of-operations to fight against the intelligence. The gas giant in which the moon orbited allowed for easy access to refuel, but also a cunning way to disguise the Skrell's true intentions when veering towards Yui'qui'gliop. Today, it stands as a converted massive communications hub, where it controls a large portion of the Nlom Relays scattered throughout the Traverse.

Estuaries

The Estuaries are the final frontier, and connect the Jargon Federation to the greater Orion Spur. Mostly comprised of developing settlements, termed by many as "Boundary Worlds" or "Boundaries" for short, with dismal qualities of life - its almost the perfect location for independence movements to take hold and flourish. Patrols are far between, and usually only noted when there is a spewing of conflict seeping into the Estuaries - some Skrell even admitting to have never seen a Federation Spacecraft with their own eyes. The Estuaries are the least dependant on the Jargon Federation, with most of the settlements within having to adopt "generalist" instead of "specialist" societies to facilitate trade and survival. Technology within this segment varies, but is comparable to that of an atomic age society.

Xrim

See: Xrim

Xrim is a flourishing planet with thriving jungles and tropical rainforests. It is filled with billions of different hostile exobiological species. From giant sloth-like lizards to tiny, bone-eating slugs, almost every part of this planet is eager to kill. Initially federation research posts dotted this planet in the early colonization efforts, bordering giant preserves where the then peaceful wildlife was kept for scientific study. During the Era of Synthetic Oppression, the organisms of Xrim were subject to esoteric scientific experiments of unknown purpose carried out by Glorsh Omega, seeding the planet with a variety of mutagenic flora and fauna that swiftly came to dominate the world. After the fall of Glorsh, the planet itself was left largely uninhabited by the Skrell mainly due to the now hostile ecosystem the planet supported. The planet was not completely devoid of sapient life, however, as during the second seeding by Glorsh Omega a series of Dionae nymphs where placed upon the world. The Second Federation then discovered the Dionae world and was once again reintegrated into the Federation as a whole. Still extremely inhospitable to skrellian life, the small number of Skrell scientists and citizens that dwell upon Xrim tend to live within structures produced by the local Dionae, working to study the local flora and fauna.

Genners

Qar'Jarq Jetn-aqz - "The Sea Sluggers"

Qar'Jarq Generation Ship, or just the Qar to its contemporaries, was a generational ship originally designed for transit between the Skrellian homeworld and a small, tropical planet. It was the task of the Qar to colonize the planet using the features of the generational ship, including its state-of-the-art vertical hydroponics bay, it's permanent nerve centre, and it's prefab-drones. The Qar was filled with common citizens, but was also known to carry a large surplus of astronomers, who sought to take advantage of the high vantage points of the tropical planet to establish observatories and listening posts. Aside from these points, the Qar was known to be a fairly redundant generational ship and carried no other bells or whistles.

At some point during its second generation, the Jargon Federation lost contact with the Qar. No distress signal was launched, nor were there any other celestial occurrences to explain this communication blackout. The Federation feared the worst, and over the next few years various attempts to replot the Qar's course was made to find it and communicate with it via long-wave radio. Eventually, five and a half years after it's disappearance, scouts were able to find radio-signatures matching the Qar, and further investigation allowed military vessels to locate and make contact with the Qar ship.

Accounts regarding this location report that the Qar's hull was covered in bright blue paint, and various geometric sigils and angled shapes were drawn about the bow and the stern. Prefab drones had erected a large, flat, and oval-shaped stature idolizing what appeared to be a slug. Further communication proved that the command-staff of the Qar had been overrun by the crew who, according to the Qar representative, had been 'enlightened' by the teachings of Jetn-aqz, a Skrellian astronomer. Jetn-aqz was reported to commune with the stars and the cosmos during their voyage, and gave compelling arguments in favour of 'The Great Slug', whom enveloped the universe in it's gamma-mucous and brought about a rebirth of power, psionics, and 'beauty'.

The Qar refused any boarding or disembarking, and threatened to turn their prefabbed turrets on the military ship if intervention was threatened. The scouts invariably backed off, and the Jargon Federation decided it would not be worth the trouble, or the bad press, to retake the spacecraft. Still, the Qar travels with a tailing military scout to ensure it doesn't get into trouble.

Lu'Qyu - "The Abyss Trinity"

The Glosa, Blenq and Qrinq Generational Ships were the first of its kind, spacecraft designed to barely breach faster-than-light levels to allow the Skrell aboard to be taught in the various fields required for colonising another planet. Filled with thousands of Skrell, it eventually launched on March 21st 2208. The spacecraft were observed by the Jargon Federation from afar - before eventually losing contact mere months after it was dispatched. The Jargon Federation, still recovering from the effects of Glorsh-Omega, launched the largest manhunt ever known to the Skrell. Thousands, upon thousands, of manhours were invested in attempting to recover the vessels with little success. The trio were missing with no explanation.

For centuries, the spacecraft were immortalized in the Jargon Federation. Memorials dedicated to those lost, and annual remembrance days. Unbeknownst to the Skrell, the trio had been pulled into the clutches of massive wormhole generated after catastrophic failure of their warpdrive. They had been transported dozen of light-years away from their intended destination, with engines barely capable of breaching faster-than-light levels needed to reconnect with other members of their species. There was only one thing that they could do; attempt to find their way back home using sublight speeds. Their journey back perilous, and could only be accomplished through strict regulations implemented by the command staff of the three spacecraft.

It took approximately two-hundred-and-thirty-two years for the trio to make their way back to the edges of the Jargon Federation. They made contact on June 3rd 2440, sending shockwaves across the Orion Spur. No longer did Skrell mourn its loss, but instead celebrated its recovery. Despite their welcome back into the Jargon Federation, many remained aboard the spacecraft and chose to continue traversing the stars as they had before.