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Warning: This infobox is missing the following parameters: otherlife Sanctuary, a small, island-dotted oceanic planet located in Mon Calamari Space, was one of the oldest and most well-known Rebel Alliance safe world colonies, predating the Declaration of Rebellion. Sanctuary was originally settled by religious pacifists dodging an Imperial draft. These colonists joined the Alliance on the condition that they would not have to fight in the war against the Galactic Empire. So began a mutually beneficial relationship, in which Sanctuary accepted all manner of Rebels and political exiles seeking asylum from Imperial oppression in exchange for equipment that would boost the planet's agricultural capability.
As the war progressed, Sanctuary's population swelled to nearly thirty thousand, while the refugees' surplus in food production enabled them to export many tons of fish and grains to the Rebel cause each year. Although Sanctuary's location remained strictly classified, the planet's name became synonymous with Alliance safe worlds, as Rebel troops began referring to anyone who mysteriously disappeared as having "found Sanctuary."
Description
Sanctuary was a small[4] terrestrial ocean world[2] located in the Sanctuary system at the southern edge of Mon Calamari Space, within the northeast quadrant of the Outer Rim Territories. Sanctuary was positioned at the intersection of two hyperlanes running through the Calamari sector—the Tidal Circuit and Prously's Rim Run—that eventually connected with the planet Mon Calamari itself.[1]
A temperate world with a moist hydrosphere, Sanctuary's surface terrain primarily consisted of deep green seas and small rocky islands. The planet had a Type I atmosphere breathable[2] for Humans[3] and standard gravity. A day on Sanctuary lasted twenty-two standard hours, and a year 312 local days. Sanctuary's oceans boasted an abundance of fish life and seaweed.[2]
History
Sanctuary was originally settled by a few thousand[4] religious pacifists who were attempting to escape enforced[2] Imperial conscription. The planet also attracted several aliens who felt discriminated under Emperor Palpatine's New Order. Together, these people colonized a small island chain and used steam-powered ships built from scratch to feed the colony through deep-sea fishing, supplemented by small-scale agriculture.[4]
Shortly after the formal Declaration of Rebellion against the Galactic Empire, Sanctuary reached out to the Rebel Alliance. Although unwilling to directly join the Rebellion's fight,[4] the planet's colonists agreed to join the Alliance, provided they did not have to take up arms in the growing conflict. Alliance Chief of State Mon Mothma agreed to their provision,[2] and the two groups struck a mutually beneficial arrangement: Sanctuary would provide asylum to wounded Rebels, Alliance family members, and political exiles for an initial investment in supplies and equipment to increase the planet's agricultural production.[4]
Sanctuary thus became one of the Rebellion's first[2] and most relatively well-known safe worlds. The Alliance guarded Sanctuary's location at the most restricted levels. Only a few select transport crews tasked with ferrying personnel and supplies to and from the planet were trusted with Sanctuary's coordinates. Rumors of Sanctuary's existence abounded, and a common saying developed among Rebel troops to describe anyone who mysteriously disappeared as having "found Sanctuary," regardless of which safe world they had actually been sent to.[4]
Over the first few years of the Galactic Civil War, Sanctuary's population swelled to include several thousand new refugees.[2] By 2 ABY,[5] Sanctuary's population numbered 29,000, well over the average population of a Rebel safe world.[2] Once the planet's fishing and agriculture began to produce far more than the refugees needed, they began trading their surplus to the Rebellion in exchange for common technologies, including datapads and labor droids. Sanctuary also began growing textile crops, becoming a major supplier of Alliance military uniforms. By the Battle of Hoth[4] in 3 ABY,[6] Sanctuary was producing a significant portion of Alliance foodstuffs and exporting tons of fish and grain each month.[4]
Inhabitants
Sanctuary's population of 29,000, which included Humans and many refugees of other species,[2] grew out of the planet's original colonists, who sought freedom from Imperial oppression. A common interest with the Rebel Alliance led to Sanctuary becoming a Rebel safe world in exchange for items that would expand the planet's agricultural capability, which created a synergetic trading relationship between both groups.[4]
The abundance of fish life and seaweed in the planet's oceans formed the staple of Sanctuary's inhabitants' diets. Sanctuary's fishermen utilized steam-driven wooden vessels and hand-woven nets to catch such a wealth of fish as to be able to export many tons every year to the Rebellion[2] as a source of protein.[7] Along with an agricultural surplus that furnished Alliance military uniforms,[4] several varieties of Sanctuary's seaweed were found capable of being made into serviceable cloth for uniforms—though some soldiers claimed they never quite got the fishy smell out.[2] In turn, Sanctuary imported common technology items from the Rebellion.[4]
Sanctuary's denizens lived in independent villages affiliated with the Rebel Alliance. These individuals lived at a feudal technology level, with limited starport services catering only to the Rebellion.[2]
Behind the scenes
The planet Sanctuary was first mentioned in the October 1990 first edition of the West End Games Rebel Alliance Sourcebook, written by Paul Murphy for use with Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game.[7] Subsequent expansions came in the 1994 second edition of Rebel Alliance Sourcebook;[2] the 2009 The Essential Atlas, which established the planet's galactic location in Mon Calamari Space;[1] and Strongholds of Resistance, a 2015 sourcebook supplement for Fantasy Flight Games' Star Wars: Age of Rebellion roleplaying system.[4]
Sources
- Rebel Alliance Sourcebook (First mentioned)
- Rebel Alliance Sourcebook, Second Edition
- The Essential Atlas
- Strongholds of Resistance
Notes and references
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 The Essential Atlas
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 2.21 2.22 2.23 2.24 2.25 2.26 2.27 2.28 2.29 2.30 2.31 Rebel Alliance Sourcebook, Second Edition
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 The Star Wars Planets Collection defines a Type I atmosphere as "a proper mixture of oxygen, nitrogen and other gases so that Humans and comparable species can breath it unassisted."
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 Strongholds of Resistance
- ↑ The Rebel Alliance Sourcebook is set between the events of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope and Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back, "ending with the establishment of the Rebel base on Hoth." The New Essential Chronology dates the establishment of Echo Base on Hoth to 2 ABY.
- ↑ The New Essential Chronology dates the Battle of Hoth to 3 ABY.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Rebel Alliance Sourcebook