Ferri'sol is a fictional planet in the Star Wars galaxy created by Nathan P. Butler. The planet serves as the main setting for the Rayzur's Edge Audio dramas Second Strike, Nothing Changes and Anthology: Doubts Cast.
Description[]
The Ferri'sol System is located in the mineral-rich Expansion Region, in the “pie slice” between the Hydian Way and the Corellian Run, along a roughly drawn line between Tynna and Naboo. The system, centering on the star known as Solerif, consists of several planets, although Ferri'sol itself gives the region its name.
Ferri'sol is a world of oceans, interrupted only by one giant-sized continent, which spreads from a central mountain range into five separate larger regions, all of which have been designated as subcontinents. In the years since the Empire’s takeover of the planet, these subcontinents have each been given over to a minor dictator, known as that subcontinent’s prefect, all of whom answer to the single dictator who rules from the southern-most subcontinent, where the capital city of Pri'gorod is located.
Clockwise, from due south, the five subcontinents are Ginnon, Shodam, Bansom, Minsam, and Dansom, while the oceans are the Mindor (north), Dandor (east), Gindor (south), and Bandor (west) Oceans.
Geographically, the oceans have slowly risen on the world, for various reasons. As of the time of the Battle of Endor, the waters had risen so high against the once-jagged cliff-faces that the land forms an almost entirely level plateau from the ocean to several kilometers inland, where frequent storms and massive hurricanes have left large deposits of salt, dirt, sand, and durideon (a sensor-blocking mineral), creating makeshift beaches.
Inland, the Republic and Empire that followed have urbanized the planet into a smaller version of Nar Shaddaa or Coruscant. Like those planets, where urbanization comes, decadence and crime quickly follow.
History[]
The history of Ferri'sol is a history of urban development and substantial economic growth over the course of several hundred years. At least, that is, until the arrival of the Empire on Ferri'sol and the installation of Arilus Dehrahn as Imperial Moff.
Until Dehrahn's arrival, the planet had been a world of oceanic exports and suridium mining, which gave its inhabitants a comfortable, if dull, existence among the stars. When the Empire finally arrived, one year before the Battle of Yavin, the immediate advent of Imperial anti-alien policies on the planet drove many of the world’s non-human inhabitants from the world, while inciting extreme pride, prejudice, and patterns of decadence among the human population. Within five years, the world had become more like Nar Shaddaa or Coruscant’s seedier areas than its inhabitants might have been willing to admit.
Things only became worse when the Emperor died at Endor, allowing Dehrahn to declare himself Warlord of Ferri'sol. Dehrahn, as sadistic as dictators came, clamped down upon the citizens of Ferri'sol, rooting out dissent and bending the inhabitants to his will.
Just over a year after Dehrahn’s declaration of independence from the Imperial proper, the prayers of millions (perhaps billions) of Ferrisian citizens were answered by the arrival of Valkan's Rayzurs. Within forty-eight hours, the planet was liberated.
In the two decades after the end of Dehrahn's reign, Ferri'sol once again returned to its former prosperity, this time under the New Republic. Fortune would not continue to favor the bold world and its citizens, though, for it was among the first Expansion Region systems to fall when the Yuuzhan Vong began their invasion of the galaxy.
Now, in the wake of that terrible conflict, the survivors of Ferri'sol can only pray to whatever gods they believe in that the Galactic Alliance will soon turn their eyes to Ferri'sol and help the world rebuild again. Until then, Ferri'sol remains a battered world, still bearing the scars of battles past and stripped of its once rich ocean life by “Vongforming” agents.
In one thing, though, there is little doubt; Ferri'sol will rise again.
People[]
The population of Ferri'sol is almost entirely human. At one time, the world’s proximity to Ord Bendis, the trading capital of the Ferri'sol system, had made the world a melting pot of various alien cultures, who chose to settle on Ferri'sol rather than in the chaos of Ord Bendis. When the Empire finally came to lay claim to the world, installing Arilus Dehrahn as the system’s Moff, the Empire began to systematically persecute non-humans to the point that, over the years, many fled the world. Those non-humans that remain are mostly drifters and those down on their luck, who simply cannot afford to leave. The emigration of aliens from the world has left Ferri'sol a world of 90% humans and only 10% nonhumans. The humans, for their part, are indistinguishable from the humans of Coruscant, Alderaan, or any number of other human-majority worlds.
Locations[]
Descriptions of several key locations follow.
Citadel[]
Arilus Dehrahn rules Ferri'sol from his personal citadel in Pri'gorod. The citadel resembles a cross between a tower and a Coruscant ziggurat, making it lean while remaining imposing from a distance.
The citadel consists of seventy-four distinct floors, the first twenty-five of which are below ground. The building maintains its imposing presence from a distance by utilizing buffer zones between each floor, allowing any one floor to be isolated from the rest for security purposes.
Below street level, one finds, from the bottom up: ten high security levels; five medium security levels; one level that acts as a high-security armory; two separate detention levels; and finally a series of seven multi-purpose levels, primarily used for engineering and maintenance of the citadel itself.
After the discovery of Project FlashDeath by Dehrahn’s forces, research was moved from the FlashDeath facility in Pri’gorod to the fifth floor of the citadel (in the high security, underground area). When captured by Dehrahn's forces, Jaren Valkan, Tathan Aldric, Klo'pa'deen, and Kristara Eri'lur were held in the upper detention level on the eighteenth floor.
Dehrahn himself kept an office at the top of the citadel. His office on the 74th floor was adorned with polished wood floors, ornate wooden furniture, and rich tapestries on each wall. Outside, Dehrahn's security force was augmented by an Imperial Guardsman, Cor Javos.
Directly below the command office level, connected only by a single staircase, is the 73rd floor, where Dehrahn's head of security, Plitar Shuun, maintained personal vigilance, forcing stormtroopers within the citadel to rise nearly to the top of the structure to report to him on their activities.
After the liberation of Ferri'sol, the citadel was destroyed and replaced with a less imposing, but larger, government building to house the New Republic’s bureaucracy on the planet.
Dansom[]
Dansom is the easternmost subcontinent on Ferri'sol (and was the location, incidentally, of the Aldric family estate at one time). The region is perhaps the least strategically important, with no suridium mines or important military outposts. It is, however, also very well protected, if for no other reason than to placate its ruler, Prefect Noda Ganzivan, whose political support is a linchpin in Lord Dehrahn's control over the other prefects.
Farlo's Brews and Breasts[]
Farlo's Brews and Breasts is an establishment that serves as a cantina and brothel. It is located along Central Way in Pri'gorod, owned by Jeb Farlo. While his patrons are mostly human, Farlo takes pride in his wide array of alien male and female dancers, bartenders, and prostitutes, particularly the two Zeltrons who helped give Farlo's its reputation for decadent quality. (An unfortunate incident with a Wookiee prostitute and a Trandoshan client, however, has made Farlo a bit more discerning about how his clients and employees are coupled.) Other features of Farlo's include gambling tables and several outdated slot machines, none of which, contrary to popular belief, are rigged.
FlashDeath Facility[]
Located in Pri'gorod, the FlashDeath facility was nothing more than a newer model prefabricated warehouse, located in the interior of the city. Research on the FlashDeath virus was carried out using dual-use materials that could be moved easily or converted into innocent-looking materials for practical, legal uses. Shortly after the death of Lom Darus and capture of Kristara Eri'lur during the botched "first strike" against FlashDeath, Lord Dehrahn moved all materials to the research levels of his citadel, leaving the facility guarded by a regiment of Sigma-Class (SC) guards (including the ill-fated SC-5, Gil Mikasa) as bait for any future New Republic incursions.
Planetary Defense Control Center[]
The central hub of the Ferrisian defense network and its primary means of warding off invasion is the Planetary Defense Control Center (PDCC) in Pri'gorod. This base, a heavily fortified structure with guards around the clock, was the target of New Republic strike teams during the Second and Third Battles of Ferri'sol. In neither case did the mission succeed.
Pri'gorod[]
Pri'gorod, the capital city, is the financial and political heart of Ferri'sol, located on the subcontinent Ginnon. The majority of the city has become highly-urbanized, near-slum areas at street level, but high-rises provide prestigious locales for business and community leaders (in other words, Imperial stooges) to carry out their affairs.
Pri'gorod is home to Dehrahn's personal citadel, the FlashDeath research facility, the primary base of the Ferrisian Resistance, and a sprawling avenue of reputable (and disreputable) entertainment and leisure establishments known as Central Way.
Pri'gorod Resistance Base[]
The base of operations for the Pri'gorod Resistance was little more than a two-story warehouse, refit on the interior to act as the nerve center of the Resistance cell. The base’s location allowed for easy slicing into communication nets and databases for covering their activities and broadcasting pirate signals into Ferrisian news feeds, but its defenses were little more than a few blaster cannons hidden under false ventilation housings on the warehouse roof. The primary defense for the base was secrecy. In the words of Resistance fighter Elimy Vasage, "What the Imps don’t know won’t kill us."
The truth of that statement became clear when, during the second strike against FlashDeath, a captured member of the Resistance, Madan Shurr, revealed the base’s location to Lord Dehrahn. The base, Building Nine in the Gamma Block of Sector Seven, was destroyed. Only a handful of resistance members survived. The Rayzurs, who were inside just before the base's destruction, managed to escape before the blast, but their new ally, Pri'gorod Resistance leader Nadix Rovas, was killed in the base's destruction.
Suridium Mines[]
Located in deposits across much of Ferri'sol, with the exception of the Dansom subcontinent, suridium is the greatest natural resource on the planet. Its uses range from shielding to fertilizer, depending upon what substances it is mixed with and in what quantities. Most importantly, it acts to absorb heat from large blaster weapons, allowing those weapons to fire at an accelerated rate without fear of overheating.
In the period before the New Republic’s liberation of Ferri'sol, the mining operations on the planet were under the supervision of Vanden Tosha and Barshun Vask.
The Four Battles of Ferri'sol[]
Before the New Republic’s strikes against Project FlashDeath, the New Republic attempted to take Ferri'sol by force on four separate occasions.
First Battle of Ferri'sol[]
One month after the Battles of Endor and Bakura, just after the conflict with the Tofs, the Alliance of Free Planets sent a force to liberate Ferri'sol. Victory, with the force’s size limited by current Alliance resources, was entirely predicated upon air superiority. As such, the task force consisted primarily of A-wings and Y-wings, for fast attacks and strategic bombing.
Ferri'sol’s planetary defense system, which is shielded from aerial assault, decimated the task force, forcing a retreat.
Second Battle of Ferri'sol[]
The second attempt to liberate Ferri'sol consisted of a band of New Republic ground troops, whose duty was to infiltrate the Planetary Defense Control Center and disable the world’s means of protection. This would have allowed a new airborne strike to defeat the Imperials.
The strike team was captured by Imperial forces before even making it to the control center.
Third Battle of Ferri'sol[]
The third attempt to defeat the Ferrisian Imperials came five months after the Battle of Endor, with a full-blown ground assault from New Republic troops sent in heavily shielded, barely maneuverable dropships.
The ground forces were to provide a large distraction for Imperial ground forces, allowing a strike team to reach the Planetary Defense Control Center, where they would knock out the defenses and commence as the second invasion plan had indicated. Lord Dehrahn, overly protective of his capital city, where the control center was located, refused to take the bait. The ground forces were eventually driven back, as expected, and the strike team was defeated by the control center’s own security regiment.
Fourth Battle of Ferri'sol[]
Presuming that the Imperials on Ferri'sol would not expect a new assault so soon after the Third Battle of Ferri'sol, the New Republic launched its fourth and final overt assault against the world mere days later.
The new assault, far greater in scale than its predecessors, was carried out by two capital ships, several squadrons of X-wings and Y-wings, and “ground pounders” from the New Republic Army. The battle on the shoreline of Ferri'sol was fierce, and the Imperials took heavy losses, but the combined might of Imperial walkers on the ground and recalled Star Destroyers above ended the battle in yet another defeat for the New Republic.