Kessel

Kessel is a planet within the Akkadese Maelstrom that hosts significant spice mines. The planet also previously exported coaxium and kesselstone. While Kessel's cold and dry barren northern hemisphere has been devoted to mining for centuries or longer—the planet's hot and humid southern hemisphere was home to lush jungle sanctuaries enjoyed by Kings and Queens of ancient civilizations. Of the planet's numerous strange life-forms, it is most famous for Spice Spiders (and their glitterstim webbing) and the skeletal avian hunters commonly called Death Screamers. Other less dangerous planetary fauna includes the phosphorescent Bogey, nutritious but awful-tasting insectoids Taras-chi—and large adult flying pinkfish Kamanio that migrate from the moon Mahina once per year during atmospheric conjunctions to fertilize Kessel's spice before they die.

Ancient tombs and ruins, possibly of Sith origin, dot the planet's surface, often haunted by strange and terrible beasts. The massive prison settlement and military outpost, Kessendra, was established amidst once such religious ruin.

One of Kessel's moons, Little Kessel, was destroyed during a test of the Empire's Death Star. Its other two moons both feature a habitable atmosphere. Once per each of the moons' lunar cycles, they orbit close enough to Kessel that their atmosphere touches the planet's, allowing flying life-forms to move between worlds. Many mythologies and superstitions revolve around these Lunar Conjunctions.

KESSEL HISTORY

During the Imperial Era, the Galactic Empire and Pyke Syndicate ran several mining operations in the northern hemisphere. Kessel became known as a hellish prison world during this time, and the combined efforts of the Galactic Empire and Pyke Syndicate founded the galaxy's largest glitterstim spice mining operation in the planet's northern hemisphere. So terrible was a sentence to serve in the Kessel mines that people across the galaxy commonly refer to a situation gone horribly wrong as having become "Kesselled."

After the collapse of the Empire in 5 ABY, Kessel's prisoners revolted and freed themselves. The next thirty years became a series of rebellions and gang wars as the Pyke Syndicate and Kessel Royal Families attempted to retain control over the spice trade. The collapse of the Pyke Syndicate saw the world's lucrative spice trade left in a state of complete disarray. Without the guiding hands of Imperial officials or Mining Guild protection, competition for Kessel spice became a bloody free-for-all. The gang wars violently ended when the First Order arrived and reclaimed Kessel's spice mines and prison complex with the support of the Kessel Royal Families.

In 35 ABY, shortly after the fall of the First Order, all of the inhabitants of Kessel at that time went mysteriously missing. Their ships, royal palaces, spice mines, and other belongings remain on the planet. Their remains have never been found, and no one has ever learned where they went, leading the others who live in the sector to call Kessel cursed and avoid returning there. Over the thirteen years following the mysterious event, the system fell into the control of the less tyrannical but still quite dangerous pirate gang known as the Spice Runners of Kijimi and their Pirate Queen, Belit San Horo. Only recently have the Spice Runners dared to start re-exploring Kessel and repairing its abandoned spice mines so that they can profit from them as the Pyke Syndicate had previously.