Cularin asteroid belt

The Cularin asteroid belt was a thin asteroid belt in the Cularin system. Its asteroids were the remnants of Oblis, the jungle homeworld of the Oblee. The asteroid belt laid between the orbits of Almas and Genarius. One of the stranger asteroids in the belt was known as the Crystal Snare, a remnant of the large crystal deposits in Oblis.
The Cularin asteroid belt was used as a hiding place by smugglers working for Nirama. Nirama's criminal organization itself was based on the largest asteroid, over 400 kilometers in diameter. He also controlled other asteroids, including repair station Darkside, which received its name for being always in the shadow of other, bigger asteroids.
It was also used as a hiding place and ambush point for groups of pirates, in the other part of the belt. Ships had to leave hyperspace to pass further in-system, which made it an ideal place for the pirates to prey.
==History==
At some point, the Czerka Mining Corporation established a mining outpost, CMC-3, there.
In 188 BBY, former Padawan Kibh Jeen, who had fallen to the dark side due to the Almas Sith fortress, used his mind powers to control the pirates in the asteroid belt and to attract other minions, creating an army that he would use for seven years in the Dark Jedi Conflict: Jeen and his troops, based in the asteroid belt, attacked the planets and the transports in the systems, and disappeared among the asteroids so that no-one could find them. Jeen was eventually killed by a local, Jedi-led armada, but the pirate presence remained in the belt.
In 32 BBY, Colonel Jir Tramsig, a Thaereian officer assigned to protect Cularin system, reacted to the pirate ambushes on civilian ships, by sending military cruisers through that same route; in one ambush, his cruiser destroyed five pirate ships, and discouraged the tactic among the pirates.
In 31 BBY, the Blood Raptors organized a race through the tunnels of Eskaron. The first racer to leave the moon could choose the path for the reminder of the race: Either go through the Cularin asteroid belt and back, and then to the starting point, Tolea Biqua; or visit the dangerous Nub Saar before returning to Tolea Biqua. Expert Raptor racer Gael Kinner preferred the asteroid belt.
Soon afterwards, The Cell, a faction of Nirama's organization that conspired against him, wrestled with Nirama for the control of some strategic asteroids, including the space station Darkside and the main weapon storage facility Rothe Gate. Nirama eventually defeated the rebellion.
One local pirate gang known as the Red Fury Brotherhood had its base in asteroid L-7, although most of the gang almost evacuated L-7 annually to go to the SoroSuub party of the city of Tolea Biqua, in Genarius.
Around 31 BBY, Nirama's agent Len Markus obtained a Sith artifact called Darkstaff in the Cularin asteroid belt and attempted to leave the system with it. One decade later, Markus's agent Phylus Mon, who was holding the Darkstaff, tried to hide his ship, Animiasma, in the belt. The Darkstaff then tried to modify the galaxy around it to its image; however, it only managed to turn the ship, and not the belt, into a dark side nexus.
Explorer Jag Murrock discovered Adegan crystal extracts in parts of the Cularin asteroid belt around 22 BBY.
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==Notes and references==
 
Category:Expansion Region asteroid fields
Category:Thaere sector