Lit A Bright Center: The Official Core Worlds Discussion Thread

"If there's a bright center to the universe, you're on the planet that it's farthest from." - Luke Skywalker

"Who controls Coruscant controls the Core, and without the Core, the Alliance is nothing." - Traest Kre'fey

The Galactic Core. While not quite the literal center of the GFFA (in cartographic terms), it is the center of the galaxy's history, power, common culture & language and a myriad of other things. Cradle of galactic civilization and founding region of the Republic. The earliest spacefaring species, like humanity, the Duros, Herglics, and others, call the region home. And, most notably, it is the home of Coruscant, galactic capital for over twenty five millenia, home to republics & empires, and the place were galactic culture starts before spreading out into the greater galaxy.

The idea for this thread was spawned in general from some discussions I have had, both recently and over the years, with my friend and fellow Core fan @GrandAdmiralJello. But, if recent conversations in any number of threads, ranging from the Fleet Junkie thread to TCW thread to the Fantasy Flight thread are any indication, there are alot of people on these boards equally interested in the heart of the galaxy.

As older sources like WEG's Into the Core or ones like @jasonfry and @Dan Wallace stellar (pun intended) Essential Atlas or the more recent Essential Guide to Warfare (with our old friend @Thrawn McEwok) show, the Core Worlds are not some boring monolith lacking variety. Yet, outside of Coruscant and a handful of other worlds, we have actually had very few books really explore the worlds of the Core or their varied cultures. Just a few examples of major Core Worlds that are ripe for exploration yet lack much more than basic info or one off appearances:

Alsakan- mentioned recently in the EGTW, but never officially "visited" and we know little about the world outside of it's role as Coruscant's primary antagonist in the early Republic period.

Diamal- powerful world in the southern Core and a powerful trade hub. Home to a prominent alien species, the Diamala.

Isht- another alien Core world, with a powerful fleet of war cruisers. A very bellicose species.

Shawken- Core Founder, an ancient world with a Galactic Wonder, and lacking any major mention or appearance since debuting in the Marvel Star Wars comics of the 1980's

There are so many little nuggets about the Core Worlds that have been touched on or mentioned once that are just begging for additional information. Did you know that Esseles maintained a empire (via a constitutional monarchy with a parliament) right up until the start of the Clone Wars? Or that Anaxes, "Defender of the Core" and galactic naval powerhouse, was a democracy? That Ixtlar, a massive ecumenopolis, was covered in holographic signs that could be seen from low orbit? And what about the various cultures? Do we really know what makes a Ralltiiri different from a Kuati or a Recopian?

My goal for this thread is that it will serve as a fun forum for fans of the Core to gather and discuss the region, neat little tidbits that are not readily known, and hopefully point to the fact that was a region, it is underused and ripe for new stories and new adventures!

So, without further ado, lets jump into the Core!

--Adm. Nick

Sweet, you got it up a day early!


Will follow up with a response implementing planned comments from the FFG thread but let me first announce that I preëmptively love this thread.

Yeah, that is one concept I would love to explore more. I think it is very telling that during the particularly violent Alsakan Conflicts (as opposed to the later ones that were considered "antiquarian" and a mere squable) the Core Worlds and the rest of the Republic essentially split into three camps, forming de-facto nations, even while the Republic officially existed and all parties had representation in the Senate. In a very broad sense, the galactic viewpoints of Coruscant, Corellia, and Alsakan do highlight the main viewpoints towards governance and democracy. Coruscant and Alsakan represent opposite poles, with Corellia being a sort of "inbetween". This was undoubtedly one of my favorite parts of the EGTW.

@JackG

Yeah, in terms of alien Core species, I am dying to see more about the Diamala and Ishori. Both are prominent trade worlds and members of the New Republic, as well as worlds that had powerful defense fleets. It would be interesting to see if tensions between both worlds flared up at all during the Second Galactic Civil War. LOTF did mention that regional conflicts were sprouting up across the galaxy, which is some ways were more distracting to the Galactic Alliance than it's conflict with the Confederation. I imagine that a conflict in the Core between two GA members would of been of major concern. Especially if one world sided or was at least sympathetic with the Confederation.

--Adm. Nick

I want them to do more with the big Core Worlds. Stop setting stories on Coruscant. Not every powerful person is there. Stop going to Hapes and Tatooine and every other place we've already been. Start going to Alsakan, Esseles, Rhinnal, Brentaal IV . . . let's see the old-money Core we're told so often about but so rarely see. And I would love to see more done with the aliens of the Core. Duros, Caamasi, Diamala, Ishori . . . show them playing their role.

Alsakan in the Imperial or New Republic era would be very interesting to see. I imagine it is a world that is still wealthy, but lacking the prestige it had from millennia past and it somewhat old fashioned and archaic. IIRC, the last time Alsakanwas mentioned in that period was in the DESB, where it it mentioned that it was one of the worlds that surrendered to to Ackbar's fleet during the NRDF's push towards Coruscant.

But yeah, I would love to see Core Worlders from other places than Coruscant. A Senator from Esseles, a smuggler from Brentaal IV, an admiral from Rhinnal or a pilot from Diamal. And I definitely want to see more of Isht and Diamal. Those worlds have fascinated me since the HoT duology.

Come to think of it, I still want to see Rendili a lot too. Why have we never been to such a prominent Core World with such deep ties to the Republic?

--Adm. Nick

Alright, first I've gotta respond to stuff from the FFG thread.... then I'll get to the stuff in this thread.

Agreed, mostly. The problem is, Alsakan seems to be historically influential but because its role is constructed after the fact, it's difficult to see its place in the politics of the PT, OT, or NR era Core. For instance, the Core Faction of CoD was very pro-Republic, pro-centralization: in other words, the Coruscanti position. Yet that faction essentially represented the Core Worlds in a coalition, whereas the Rim faction adopted the more limited government Alsakani position.

I am unsure how many of them would be staunch New Order supporters. Certainly most of them were supporters of the legitimate government, and weren't ideologues. I feel like those that were (perhaps Llon Banjeer) did so for purposes of advancing themselves rather than a belief in that ideology, since the New Order ideology -- like most fascist ideologies -- tends to dislike the existence of a privileged class. The Anaxsi are both an aristocratic and military class: they remind me of the old German military, which was monarchist, aristocratic, and rightist and opposed to the SS and all that Nazi business.

ImpIntel, for instance, is part of the Imperial military but the ISB is part of COMPNOR. They hate each other. The same is probably true of the Navy and COMPNOR (witness Ozzel's distaste for them in Allegiance).

Still waiting for your short summary

Yeah, that's likely. I can see Corulag as unwilling to surrender to Ackbar and though perhaps wavering after Coruscant's fall, hanging on for a while just like Kuat did.

re: Raltiir -- don't we see them in the KOTOR comics? or am I misremembering? And yeah, I don't recall seeing much of Recopia.

re: Shawken, I'd really like to know more about them because they seem very important historically, especially in the early Republic. But then I'd like to see an early Republic thing in general, I'd find that much more interesting than DotJ. The Republic was originally a trade grouping of Core Worlds but grew to be much more -- there's gotta be a lot of politics and culture involved.

Sure, but a common language, currency, etc is the result of trade concerns. As far as defense and military go -- the early U.S. had a common military, but that didn't stop the states from regarding each other as rivals and playing power games against each other. Each Core World may well regard certain fleets as their "own" in terms of how they fund and influence them, besides.

Same here on Isht and Diamal. I've been wanting more on them ever since 1998. Coming up on fifteen years now.

Also, the Coruscant-Alsakan conflicts would be a magnificent setting for some Old Republic stories. Enough with the damn Sith. Let's see some normal wars and some Solo princes swaggering to the rescue.

Jello: I would absolutely love to see something placing Alsakan in a major role within the Rim faction, alongside Rim worlds taking the pro-centralization position. Geographic factions are a good starting point, but nothing is so simple, and Alsakan is a great starting point to introduce some complexity.

Yeah, I wish the idea of sort of cultural and colonial hinterlands was explored more. We know lots about Coruscant -- but what's it like elsewhere in Coruscant's system? What's it like living in Coruscant's sector? How are the systems around Kuat integrated into the KDY structure and its government structure? What is the relationship between Rendili and the worlds in its sphere of influence? How do residents of Alderaanian-colonized planets in and outside the Core feel about Alderaan, how do they relate to it culturally and in terms of identity, how much business do they do with it, etc? There's a ton of really interesting stuff like this built into the background of Star Wars that's begging to be exploited for story potential, but it so rarely is, and this is one of the elements I'd really like to see. Corellia, with its large, well-populated Corellian sector that we've already seen some of, and its prolific colonization efforts and continuing role in trade along the hyperlanes it colonized, would be a perfect vector for exploring this sort of stuff.

It would be interesting to retcon the Rim Faction as being made up of worlds that were originally founded by Alsakani colony ships during the early years of the Republic. Still, it is clear that Alsakan lost alot of it's infulence in later years. Many of the worlds in it's sphere of infulence, including Corulag, Alderaan, and Chandrila, all went on to be strong supporters of a centralized Republic.

I just love the fact that Anaxes is a military world with aristocractic values that is still a democracy. It breaks so many stereotypes and it all combines into making Anazes one awesome world. Though I still want to know more about Axum. It is a industrial powerhouse and at one point in it's early history had the Axum Imperium, which presumably peacefully entered the Republic. I wonder if Axum is still a powerful world in the later Imperial, New Republic, or Galactic Alliance eras?

Coruscant: Pro-(insert current form of government here) and cultured.

The real tipping point, I think, was the Tionese War. It forced the Republic to band together for most than just trade and a loose common defense. Suddenly, in the midst of a terrible war that has Tionese pressure bombs raining down on Coruscant and Alsakan, the various worlds and species have to unite more closely to coordinate their efforts. A truly federal Republic Navy is formed for the first time, I imagine that the Supreme Chancellor's office and the Senate were given greater power to conduct the war and provide a common policy, and worlds had to coordinate their industrial outputs. This seems to be the catalyst that pushs the worlds of the early Republic into a more federal, centralized structure. I want this story told in depth more than ANY other EU story still untold.

INCLUDING my beloved Ackbar vs. Pellaeon story.

Honestly, every time I re-read the HoT books it just kills me that we haven't had those worlds expanded on. It is a shame that WEG wasn't around to do a sourcebook for those books. Zahn was very good at having his worlds & species expanded on in WEG sources. Just look at all the fantastic stuff about New Republic worlds and members in the Thrawn Trilogy SB. Had we gotten a HoT SB, I imagine we would of learned more about both the Diamala and the Ishori. Both worlds are located in the L-13, which would of been the section of the Southern Core liberated by Admiral Nantz and the First Fleet as well.

I agree 100%. Even if the factions were named after the Core and the Rim, they need to have variety. One obvious candidate for a Rim world being part of the Core Faction would be Dac. The Mon Calamari were pro-Republic, pro-centralized government, and as the EGTW put so perfectly in Ackbar's entry, firm supporters of the "civilian democracy & Jedi Knights". Sullust would be another supporter of the Core Faction most likely, and to be honest I can even see Bothawui being a supporter as well.

I have no issues with Coruscant, provided that we still see other worlds and get other worlds in the Core developed. What kills me is that it is not hard at all to have a chapter or two of a book set on another Core World than Coruscant. Take LOTF, for example. Instead of making Coruscant the focus of everything, one chapter could of had Admiral Niathal inspecting a fleet being assembled at Anaxes and attending a briefing there. It wouldn't of changed the flow of the story at all, but it WOULD of enriched the EU and used some worlds that need more attention.

Well, if the defacto "Corellian Hegemony" is any indication, alot of the human worlds in that region of the galaxy were probably Corellian colonies or at least worlds settled by folks originally from Corellia. That is another thing that LOTF got dead wrong. Corellia's influence should of been shown in this area, as opposed to painting it as an isolated world that has little infulence outside of it's own star system.

--Adm. Nick

Well, the Duros are credited by some as being the inventor of the hyperdrive, plus according to the Essential Atlas, Duros are found on every civilized world in the Republic, so they are very numerous. I think the reason that Neimoidians seem to "do" more is that their appearance in the Prequels means that they get alot more coverage in "official" media like the movies, TCW, etc. In the Expanded Universe, Duro and the Duros have been used quite a bit. I for one what to see how Duros culture evolves post-YVW. They now have a fully habitable world that is lush and green. Makes me wonder if their was a sort of reverse migration of Duros from other parts of the galaxy back to their homeworld. There is no longer a need for space cities. That would change the culture in major ways.

My hero, Admiral Gar Stazi, presumably was among that first generation or two of Duros citizens born on their reborn homeworld. THAT story is worth telling and I for one hope that having a restored homeworld helped the Duros rebuild and expand their infulence in the galaxy and within the Alliance.

Interestingly enough, Corellia itself, per the Essential Atlas, is 60% human, 20% Drall, and 20% Selonian. Out of a total population of 3 billion people, that equates to the following:

• 1.8 billion humans
• 600,000,000 Drall
• 600,000,000 Selonians

The dynamics of this are always overlooked in the EU. They make it seem like Corellia is only full of humans, which isn't the case!

--Adm. Nick