 | |
| Algethiius | |
|---|---|
| Astrographical | |
| Region |
Beyond Outer Rim |
| Sector |
Unknown Regions |
| Sun(s) |
One (blotted out by ash clouds) |
| Orbital Position |
Normal |
| Moons |
Unnamed ice moon (saw the birth of Dantius & Hyperion) |
| Grid Coordinates |
Unknown |
| Rotation Period |
Standard |
| Orbital Period |
Standard |
| Physical | |
| Atmosphere |
Rich with oxygen (pre-Crassus), smoggy and ash-filled (post-Crassus) |
| Climate |
Steppe (Former), Volcanic (Present) |
| Gravity |
Standard |
| Primary Terrain |
Plains & small forests (former) |
| Societal | |
| Native Species |
Human |
| Immigrated Species |
Zabrak, Chiss, & Rodian |
| Primary Language(s) |
Galactic Basic |
| Government |
Algethiius Empire |
| Population |
More than a trillion (former). Less than 10,000 (Present) |
| Major Cities |
Crassus' Capital (Former). None (Present) |
| Major Imports |
Many plants & animals (Former). None (Present) |
| Major Exports |
Weapons & ships of military grade & jewels (Former). None (Present) |
| Affiliation |
Algethii Family Empire (Former). Neutral (Present) |
Summary[]
Found 16,347 years before the Treaty at Coruscant by it's namesake, Algethiius was the planet that saw to the birth of five people who would go on to shape the galaxy in subtle yet meaningful ways: Christopher Algethii, his grandfather Crassus, Crassus' former master Mitsunarius Maximus, and two of Crassus' other grandsons: Dantius Octavian and his elder brother Hyperion Algethii. Each of these individuals would play a hand in the formation and dissolution of an organization known as the Triumvirate of Vengeance with Crassus forming it and Chris destroying it through his grandfather's death. Dantius and Hyperion would also have a hand in the post-Triumvirate affairs particularly in dealing with General Nobunaga, greatest of Crassus' servants. Little is known of its origins beyond that its namesake and his brother journeyed there not too long after the beginning of the Great Manifest Period to escape the attention of the Jedi.
From above, it would seem as though Algethiius would never be able to support life again after Crassus destroyed most of it during his search for Christopher. However, below the atmosphere, the survivors go on as best they can.
Legend has it that the reason for this was because the brothers had a natural connection to the Dark Side that was so powerful that they seldom needed a lightsaber when facing down Jedi Masters. This claim is likely myth however, it is not unlikely that either of these brothers could have been powerful enough to attract unwanted attention alone. But because they were quick to escape the ever-expanding Republic and its Jedi minions after accidentally killing an ancient Jedi shaman, they were never found and thus their powers were never tested to that degree. Upon arriving to Algethiius, the brothers immediately found a lost colony of human beings who had lived there for seven thousand years and had awaited the arrival of their gods who they thought to be the brothers.
However, peace and quiet ended for the brothers when it came to the matter of who would lead this new colony to the glory it would become when it was revealed that only one of these gods would survive a ferocious death struggle. Neoginus, Algethiius' brother, challenged his older twin for power and the battle was so fierce that it was often said to have created the volcanoes that existed on the planet though once more, this is unlikely. In the end, Algethiius emerged victorious and threw his brother's body into the lava pit of one of the volcanoes before naming the planet after him.
For 16,089 years after that, Algethiius was ruled by a single line of family descended from the planet namesake and accumulated to Crassus. He would rule the planet through essence transfer for 194 years and ultimately bring the near-complete annihilation of it in his quest for immortality which included killing his grandson. For 19 years after, the survivors of Crassus' wrath did what they could to eek out a living before Chris returned shortly before his 20th birthday with his wife Claudia to begin efforts to restore the planet to its former glory. The effort would take 75 years with Claudia passing away on her 72nd year as the first Queen since Crassus' wife.
Christopher, slowly driven depressed by grief for the loss of his wife and three of their eight children in construction accidents, would die a year after the restoration efforts were no longer needed. He died alone, sad, but celebrated as a hero for his deeds and the deeds of his wife despite both their statuses as traitors in Known Space.
Early History[]
It is unknown how long people have existed on Algethiius although it is likely that it had been many centuries before Algethiius and his brother Neoginus arrived to stake their claim. Technology on the planet was also relatively backwater until the brothers arrived, the most advanced weapon being basic vibroblades and stoneheaded arrows. But when Neoginus saw this as an opportunity to gain power beyond any they had had in the Republic, he finally succumbed to the temptations of the Dark Side. He fought his brother in hand-to-hand combat and though he was great, Algethiius was slightly greater and thus gained the upperhand in the fight.
He killed Neoginus and cast his body down one of the active volcanoes that existed in Algethiius, declaring cremation to be the customary funeral for the dead. The people accepted this and with their aid, he established a dynasty that would last more than 16,300 years in a single line that the people of Algethiius would worship and fear. After all, with each generation, the Force had a more and more powerful bearing on those who had it in the family. Even those who didn't could hold their own in a fair fight against even the toughest of the common people without much aid.
But it all accumulated in the sheer might of Julius Crassus Algethii III, born 239 years before the Treaty of Coruscant. His rise to power and, in the years to follow, his victory over Mitsunarius Maximus would almost destroy the planet.
Crassus' Reign[]
For thousands of years, Algethiius had known peace and prosperity with some skirmishs between the tribes here and there. However, there rose a conflict that would span across three generations of Algethiius Kings to which no one knew the start of nor even if it was with a reason. The first century or so was extremely violent and saw more bloodshed than any other time but from the ashes of that war and the war of the second generation arose a new one. Crassus was born just before his father returned from a war party in good health and the young Prince was trained his whole life for the day when he would take his father's place in the campaign to unite Algethiius forevermore.
However, an activist of the war, Crassus' own retainer Mitsunarius Maximus was discontent that Crassus would be ruling and that he himself was fixed to his caste. So when Crassus' father finally fell ill due to old age, Mitsunarius made his move and poisoned the water that the King drank before putting the blame on his son. Initially, Crassus' spirit was broken and he was left to rot in the dungeons where many of his father's enemies were imprisoned. However, he soon learned that Mitsunarius was behind the poisoning from a guard who knew and broke his way out violently thus opening the path to his declaration of a challenge to Mitsunarius whose terms were simple.
Crassus and his Zabrak retainer would fight to the death and the one who survived would rule over all the King's properties, including the Crown. The duel was ferocious and included the usage of many incredible Force powers seldom seen amongst Jedi or Sith but it ended with Crassus defeating Mitsunarius by bisecting him and severing his arms. Mitsunarius would live in exile in the Mantiev jungles of Vornu until he was driven away from the planet by a team under the leadership of Mathes Colunga and Jaden Ezio, 223 years later. At age 35, Crassus finally assumed the throne and after ten years of campaigning, he united all the known properties of Algethiius forevemore.
But even so, there was one lost civilization that escaped his eyes and would do so for another forty years. However, Crassus' obsession with exploring the entirety of the planet as well as his business sense and his desire to cheat death meant he soon learned the location after obtaining technology to traverse there. But instead of mindlessly charging in as he had been able to do with his weaker enemies, Crassus had another plan for destroying this new enemy. First, he had several spies flood the moats going in and out of the city and ordered the flood to last long enough for feces-carried diseases such as Cholera to take their toll on the people.
He also waited until the King of this civilization and his heirs also succumbed to the diseases at which point the warlords beneath him would fight for control. By the time Crassus finally did march in with his military, it was almost inglorious conquering an enemy that had been his greatest threat until he made that brilliant plan. But during this time, Crassus had also successfully practiced the ancient Sith ceremony known as Essence Transfer for the first time. This act offended the priests of his people who prophesied that if Crassus kept on cheating death as well as continuing his war efforts, he would be defeated by a bastard child born of one of his sons.
Whilst paranoid about this prophecy, Crassus had also taken a protege that he had enrolled in Algethiius' military Academy and in the Order of the Way's training process due to his Force-attunement. This protege would one day be known throughout the Empire as General Nobunaga, the man behind the successful unification of the territories that Crassus had in sight but could not himself conquer. Starting a path of destruction that brought many a victory, the General proved to be Algethiius' greatest hero until he was betrayed and sealed away by the very Order that gave him his powers and the prophecy loomed again.
For 76 years after the utterance of the prophecy, Crassus avoided marriage or producing children of any kind for fear of the prophecy. However, the time came when he would need to insure that his alliances lasted forever and as such, married the descendant of the Oracle that had uttered the prophecy of his death. With her, he produced 11 sons and married 10 of them when they were of age. But the youngest, Julius Marcius Algethii VI, snuck off one night and conceived a child with a common prostitute that he had been seeing for sometime.
For six months, the baby was hidden from the keen sight of its grandfather but Crassus sensed its presence through the Force. After torturing his own wife for hours on end, he found out that he had a bastard grandson born of his youngest son as the prophecy feared. He scoured the entirety of the planet, destroying everything in his path in search of this child and even taking his revenge on his other sons by dismembering them and turning the pieces into the Shadow Wraiths that would serve him in later years. His wife stood in his way once more and after a ferocious duel, he managed to shatter her staff and reduce her to only her most powerful abilities.
However, the price he paid for dueling with his wife and turning his sons into the Wraiths was to find out that his grandson and his parents had escaped him. Commanding a shuttle, he pursued after it but not before his Queen ordered soldiers to shoot down the shuttle and force it to crash on nearby Nathema. For nineteen years thereafter, the Queen would continue to wither away in wait for her grandson's return as did the people around her. But it wasn't until a few months short of Christopher's 20th birthday that that would occur to which she was finally pleased.
Christopher's Return[]
On his way to Onderon, Christopher stopped at Yavin 4 in the hopes of tracking down Crassus at his temple, catching him by surprise in the process. However, he was greeted with the sight of the Temple being empty to him and Mitsunarius having had the same idea. The two dueled and it ended with Mitsunarius being killed by Christopher who then dug through his utility belt to discover the coordinates to his world of birth. Using them, Christopher returned to the planet and found it a wreck from Crassus' desperate measures to try and destroy his grandson as a baby.
After traversing several leagues, Christopher was reunited with his grandmother who showed him the place of his birth and transferred her Malacia and Force Valor powers into his being. Combined with his more neutral powers and his two Dark Side abilities, Christopher managed to obtain a balance between Light and Dark. After laying his deceased grandmother to rest, Christopher returned to known space and went to Onderon for planning the final fight. His intent was to kill Crassus (which he would) and return to Algethiius to begin its restoration process.
The next affair that Chris was involved in with his Jedi friends would see to the death of Crassus at the Hapes Cluster and the disbandment of his forces. Soon after, Christopher had his wedding to Claudia after two years of waiting and the two of them went on business to Vornu. After it turned sour with Christopher nearly killing an Initiate and Claudia being branded a traitor by Isabelle Rieva, Chris and Claudia immediately returned to Algethiius to being a new life. They spent the rest of their lives to the effort of restoring Algethiius via the wealth that Crassus had left behind combined with the reestablishment of many of the business connections that he had made before.
Claudia died four years before Christopher did at the ripe old age of 91, her death and the death of three of their eight children in construction accidents acting to eventually kill Christopher through his grief at the age of 94. However, he and Claudia were commemorated by their remaining children and the surviving people of Algethiius for their efforts. From there, the planet would begin a new era of peace that would last for the rest of its existence in the Unknown Regions of the Galaxy.
Trivia[]
The backstory of Algethiius and many elements of its culture are based respectively on the story of Romulus and Remus as well as post-Caesar Rome. The architecture, the strategies used in military affairs, naming of people or cities, and even the clothing of the people is all based on elements of ancient Roman culture.
The monarchical system is based on ancient India's caste system which included Untouchables at the bottom and Royalty at the top. Lastly, the armor, helmets, and/or masks of many warriors and their leaders are based on medieval Japanese samuari designs that were predominantly used in the 1500-1800s.
The story of how Algethiius is destroyed was based on the Burning of Rome, conducted under the reign of Emperor Nero who was said to have sat and played his fiddle while Rome burned before his eyes. It is also said that the Burning was caused by Nero's schizophrenic paranoia of having enemies conspire to take the throne from him though he would frame the first Christians for this action.