Almas

*Reference Book: Star Wars Saga Edition Dawn of Defiance (Echoes of the Jedi)*

*See also: Galactic Gazetteer*

Almas is a world in The Expansion Region, notable for being terraformed into a habitable planet. Its moon of Dorumaa has been likewise terraformed, a captured satellite which now resides with Almas in the Cularin System.

### Almas Statistics

**Region:** The Expansion Region

**Climate:** Desolate wasteland, temperate kaluthin grasslands (high oxygen)

**Gravity:** Normal

**Moons:** 1 (Dorumaa)

**Length of Day:** 38 Standard Hours

**Length of Year:** 5,547 Local Days

**Sapient Species:** 66% Human, 14% Tarasin, 20% Other Species

**Government:** None

**Capital:** Forard (Abandoned)

**Major Exports:** None

**Major Imports:** None

Knowledge (Social Sciences)
 15
 20

Knowledge (Galactic Lore)
 15
 20
 25

## Homebrew Almas Planetary Data

   *Homebrew Reference Book: Living Force Campaign Guide*

Orbiting far from the suns of the Cularin System, the small planet of Almas would be unremarkable except for its importance in the history of The Jedi. The planet itself is an anomaly in space: a molten terrestrial planet orbiting beyond the usual range for such planets. The core is hot. but the surface would normally be covered with ice. The planet's original atmosphere contained methane, phosphorus, and other heavy gases, all of them poisonous. That did not deter a Sith Lord named Darth Riven from choosing the planet as his home. Darth Riven built a fortress and enclosed the whole structure in a dome.

But Rivan was not content to leave nature to its own devices. Combining his expertise in biology with the power of The Force, he developed a new species of plant called kaluthin. Kaluthin is a wavy, grasslike plant. Its leaves are green on the edges and deeply purple in the center. The stalks are generally greenish, but also contain white areas that mark phosphorus deposits. Kaluthin's unique properties include the ability to synthesize methane from the air and create oxygen. Its taproots reach miles into the crust of the planet. After Darth Rivan spread kaluthin across the surface of Almas, the plants slowly changed the local environment. The taproots brought heat from the center of the planet, and the methane processing changed the atmosphere. As the plants processed the phosphorus in the air, the mineral accumulated in the plants structure, and they began to glow. Before he was slain, his creations had begun to terraform the planet from an unlivable nightmare into the gardenlike world it is today.

Darth Rivan was driven from Almas by Jedi during The Republic Dark Age, and his domelike home was blasted into pieces. The central fortress remained, impervious to blaster fire. The Jedi, thinking that the fortress was not worth the continued effort, decided to leave it. Centuries passed. The kaluthin continued to prosper, spreading across the whole planet. By the time Reidi Artom came to Cularin, the planet supported an oxygen atmosphere a little richer than Humans consider normal. Trace elements of methane and phosphorus make the air slightly poisonous as well, but after a visitor starts breathing the atmosphere, he won't notice adverse health conditions until he's had several months of exposure. Breath Masks are strongly recommended.

Though the planet is far from the suns, and therefore receives little light, the surface is always illuminated by Cularin's moonlight. Leaves of kaluthin, glowing with phosphorus, are responsible. It can be a little unsettling for visitors to see the light coming from the planet rather than the sky.

Materially, the planet is poorly suited for mining. The expense of establishing a mining operation does not outweigh the value of the small mineral deposits in the planet's crust, and removing the kaluthin would cause the planet's atmosphere to become unstable. Thus, the planet Is more like a living plant than anything else; the roots of the kaluthin bind the soil together.

Almas has two mountain ranges, each one about 200 kilometers long. The mountains are far from the settlements, and the fields of kaluthin do not grow all the way to their peaks. Almas has no surface water, but below the surface, there are large underground lakes where the icy crust has melted. The kaluthin all nourish themselves from these underground lakes. and settlers dig deep wells to mine the precious water.

From space, Almas looks like a planet of contrasting, and conflicting, environments. Over much of the surface, the kaluthin grow. Other plants have been introduced into the soil, but only those that survive form a symbiotic relationship with the kaluthin. On the far side of the planet, there is a desolate wasteland where even kaluthin cannot grow anymore. The ancient Sith fortress, now partially hurled, is at the center of this wasteland. The "Dead Zone" surrounding it is slowly expanding. Jedi have measured the growth rate at about a meter of increased radius per year. Within this area, the planet is cold and lifeless. The atmosphere is barely breathable, even with Breath Masks. Scholars among The Jedi study the area and speculate on what is killing the planet.