Kerest

Kerest
Astrographical information
Region	Outer Rim Territories
Sector	Sluis sector
System	Kerest system
Suns	1: Kerestian sun
Grid square	M-19
Physical information
Class	Terrestrial
Climate	Frigid
Terrain	Glaciers
Societal information
Native species	Kerestian
Primary language(s)	Kerestese
Demonym	Kerestian

"Limna is one of the Kerestians born in the blood of her planet's downfall. She survived in the savage wastes by murder and treachery […]"

―A Galactic Empire file on Limna Yith

Kerest was an Outer Rim Territories planet located in the Sluis sector. It was the homeworld of the sentient Kerestian species. At one point more than a millennium before the Battle of Yavin, the Kerestians settled the nearby moons Karoliston and Pharna and launched multiple sublight-speed colony ships toward distant star systems.

Less than a century later, the sun of the Kerest system unexpectedly began to cool, resulting in rapid temperature decrease on Kerest. Most of the planet's surface became covered by thick glaciers, and over the subsequent centuries, the Kerestians that survived there reverted to a primitive, barbaric state. By the time of the Galactic Civil War, those Kerestians—known as relentless hunters—who left Kerest frequently became employed as mercenaries and bounty hunters.

Description

Kerest was situated in the Sluis sector.

Kerest was a terrestrial planet located in the Kerest system, a part of the Outer Rim Territories' Sluis sector that lay far from any commonly traveled hyperlanes. It orbited a red giant–type star and was located near the system's moons Karoliston and Pharna.

Kerest was inhabited by several species of animals, with a type of mammalian carnivore at one point giving rise to the sentient Kerestians. After the rapid onset of a severe period of glaciation from which the dying world never recovered, most of Kerest's surface—save for a narrow band of inhabitable land around its equator—became covered under glaciers that were hundreds of meters thick. Only a small number of Kerest's animal species were able to survive the cataclysm by adapting to the frigid conditions.

History

The disaster

A member of Kerest's Kerestian species (lower right; second from right) once joined the offworld Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders.

At some point between 3996 BBY and 3960 BBY, a member of the Kerestian species of Kerest joined the Neo-Crusaders movement of the interstellar Mandalorian warrior culture. The Kerestians at one point colonized the habitable moons Karoliston and Pharna. Eventually, they also launched several dozen colony ships equipped with sublight drives and filled with Kerestians in suspended animation toward distant star systems they hoped to settle.

Nearly a century later, more than one thousand years before the Battle of Yavin, the Kerestian sun entered an unusual cycle of activity and began to cool within a single year. As a result, most of Kerest's surface rapidly became covered in expansive glaciers that buried much of the Kerestian society's technology. Several groups of Kerestians evacuated the planet and once again left their star system aboard sublight-speed starships.

Those Kerestians that remained on their homeworld and survived the cataclysm reverted to a state of primitive barbarism, with the memories of their civilization's past technologies buried under the planet's glaciers being relegated in the process to the status of vague and inaccurate fables. Over the subsequent hundreds of years, the Kerestians on Kerest hunted each other for food and sport, gradually pushing the species toward extinction.

Interactions with offworlders

The Kerestian bounty hunter Nariss Siv Loqesh was born on Kerest.

Eventually, a House of Tagge explorer starship arrived in Kerest's orbit after an error by its navigation computer deposited it in the star system. The Tagge ship's crew subsequently offered to transport a handful of the fiercest Kerestians off Kerest in return for serving the noble house as assassins—a privilege that the natives proceeded to fight each other over. Later, the Galactic Empire also recruited Kerestians to serve Imperial officials and nobility as messengers and combatants.

The Kerestian bounty hunter Nariss Siv Loqesh, who would later be known as Andov Syn, was born on Kerest in 31 BBY, and the Kerestian mercenary Limna Yith likewise hailed from the planet, with an Imperial file on Yith during the Galactic Civil War claiming that she had used murder and treachery to survive on Kerest's wastes. In 7 ABY, Kerest was mentioned by the New Republic General Airen Cracken within the datafile Wanted by Cracken in an entry dedicated to Syn.

At some point during the Galactic Civil War, a group of individuals discovered one of the centuries-old Kerestian colony ships. After they were released from suspended animation in cryotanks, the Kerestians aboard the vessel guided the group in recovering unusual and valuable pieces of lost Kerestian technology from beneath the glaciers on Kerest, Karoliston, and Pharna.

Inhabitants

Kerest was the homeworld of the Kerestian species.

Kerest was the homeworld of the Kerestians, sentient humanoids who spoke the Kerestese language. Prior to the cataclysm that befell Kerest, the Kerestians had an industrial civilization that developed nuclear fusion power, repulsorlift technology, and sublight space travel capability. The Kerestians of that time were interested in art, diplomacy, and exploration, and those that were awakened from suspended animation centuries later were stunned and saddened to learn of the fate of their homeworld and civilization.

Following the glaciation of Kerest, the Kerestians residing there struggled to survive, subsisting on the few animal species—as well as other Kerestians—that were available for hunting. Due to the hostile conditions on their homeworld, few Kerestian young were born, and the species moved toward extinction as a result.

By the time of the Galactic Civil War, it was thought that natural selection on the planet had favored the most merciless Kerestians, and the species eventually achieved the reputation of brutal, relentless hunters. The Kerestians who had left the planet aboard colony ships were shocked by the barbarity displayed by the members of the species who had remained on Kerest. Kerestians who became weary of living on Kerest frequently found work offworld as mercenaries and bounty hunters.

Behind the scenes

Kerest was first mentioned in the 1993 sourcebook Wanted by Cracken, which was written by Louis J. Prosperi for use with West End Games' Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game. The 1995 Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game sourcebook Galaxy Guide 12: Aliens — Enemies and Allies includes a roleplaying adventure seed that is written by Lisa Smedman and features Kerest as a setting. This article assumes the scenario plays out as described. The 2009 reference book The Essential Atlas placed the Kerest system, and therefore the planet, in grid square M-19.

Appearances

• "The Barani Conspiracy" — Secrets of the Sisar Run (Indirect mention only)

Sources

• Wanted by Cracken (First mentioned)
• Galaxy Guide 12: Aliens — Enemies and Allies
• Alien Encounters
• Ultimate Alien Anthology
• The New Essential Guide to Weapons and Technology
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, Vol. II ("Kerestian")

Notes and references

In other languages

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