Preview #2 The People of Obroa-Skai

[GM Nicha]

Preview 2 - The People of Obroa-Skai

From Fandon Nootgann’s ‘Obroan Sky’ 3724-bby

I confess I had never intended to write about the Obroan people. When I first visited their home it was merely because the planet housed the great Celebratus Archive. After my seminal and nebula winning history of Troydian Hats ‘A Head for Business’ I had hoped to write a followup discussing Hutt glove culture. Alas, administrative delays at the archives required me to spend several months on the planet waiting for entry, and like any true scholar I decided to make myself busy.

The Early History

The early history of Obroa-Skai is far removed from us now. Indeed I feel few truly appreciate how old the planet’s culture truly is. The Archives themselves are at least some 13,000 years old and their story of a bargain struck with the early settlers is well known. Some claim that like most human dominated planets Obroa-Skai must have been settled by the ancient sleeper colony ships, but to my mind even that is far too late in the piece. No, if one simply regards the planet’s highly diverse population, the scattered settlements and the age of the archives it becomes clear to my mind that it was settled piecemeal by centuries of scholars, outcasts, hermits and those seeking the quieter life.

The Great Celebratus Archive

The Archive itself is a galactically renowned marvel, so I will not long dwell on its nature. Instead I believe I can humbly add an examination not of the archives, but their effect on the planet’s populace. From my interviews with the locals, the Archives and their keepers, the Archivists have always kept a distance from most of the planet. Entry is by invitation only and the keepers are notoriously slow to trust. And yet the Archives have acted as a beacon for scholars of all kinds for millennia. Many like myself journey to the planet explicitly for a chance to visit the archives, and it is only natural that some of that rubs off on the locals (although I would advise not telling them of such a fact). For a small planet Obroa-Skai boasts several prominent and influential educational institutions, and its urban populace tends to be extremely well educated. Most families will expect their children to attend one of the academies and it is a rare city dweller who cannot at least make conversation on a variety of academic issues. Of course, this leads me to the majority of the Obroan population, the rural people.

Rural Obroa-Skai

Most of the planet’s population lives in small townships and villages scattered across the surface. These communities are almost always tight-knit, as I have frequently seen on planet’s with harsher climates. Indeed, I understand that the Obroans take hospitality extremely seriously, as to refuse a warm room in the midst of winter can have fatal consequences.

Still, that does not make them friendly, although I suppose they are more welcoming than the acidvores of Ventrusia IX. Interestingly, I have found it is quite common for individuals to move between communities or to even integrate with them from off-world. Obviously this makes sense from a genetic perspective, after all [COMMENTS OFFENSIVE TO OUR HUTT PATRONS HAVE BEEN REMOVED BY THE EDITOR] but I think there is more to it. When I have interviewed people in these townships they have expressed a custom of welcoming those who can pull their own weight. I believe this can be traced back to the planet’s early settlement when its small diverse population was required to work together and accept whatever help they could get.

A Day in the life of an Obroan

Daily life on the planet can largely be divided between the urban Obroans who live in the planet’s few cities and the larger rural Obroan population. Urban Obroans overwhelmingly work in education, administration or high end manufacturing. Although the cities are orderly law enforcement is limited, and only a few brave marshals would dare attempt to enforce urban law in one of the townships without first seeking the permission of the local mayor or council. Labour protections are robust and most urban Obroans only work for five days of the galactic week, although the younger generation has developed something described as ‘hustle culture’ which this treatise has insufficient space for. By and large urban Obroans would constitute the middle class of most worlds, working professional office jobs close to their places of residence.

Rural Obroans by contrast tend to make their living either from the land or the demands of their townships. Forestry, hunting, fishing, some mining and some tourism are the predominant sources of employment, although every town will have a couple blacksmiths, mechanics and other tradespeople. Children will usually follow in the vocations of their parents, but it is not uncommon to adopt others into a business to ensure a successor. Rural Obroans tend to work longer and harder than their city brethren, but have more control over when and how they do their work. Generally the view is that so long as the work gets done it’s nobody's business how and when that occurs. Of course, that no doubt contributes to the planet’s persistent crime problem.

Crime on Obroas-Skai

Much like its people, crime on Obroas-Skai is divided between the urban crime common to most galactic cities and rural crime which is…unusual in this author’s experience. In the cities, crime is limited and rarely organized. The higher quality of life and easy access to education and employment limits most crime to youths or malcontents. In the countryside however a lingering resentment of the cityies and the comparatively smaller amount of opportunities has allowed organized crime to flourish.

During my visit I was permitted an interview with a member of the planet’s premier organized crime group, ‘The Alpine Clan’. Although I was advised as to how many limbs I would lose if I used specifics, so forgive me for my generalities. The Clan is a loosely organized collective spanning the entire planet. They were founded centuries ago by disaffected rural Obroans who felt most of the planet’s wealth and spending was centered on its cities. The Clan therefore proudly states that it’s simply ‘taking what’s theirs’. Excellent woodsman with an unparalleled knowledge of the planet most of their wealth comes from smuggling as well as the sale of narcotics. While most rural Obroans don’t approve of the Clan, they are loath to report their activities to the cityfolk and the Clan in turn will often support rural communities in an uneasy but symbiotic relationship.

Local Traditions and Festivals

Obroa-Skai has a number of indigenous festivals that are celebrated planet wide, allow me to list a few below:

Rasos. A major holiday celebrated towards the end of the planet’s winter, Rasos dates back to the earliest settlement on the planet. Communities will construct a great bonfire, make wreaths and search for rare ferns in the forest. In the past the search for ferns was supposed to indicate the difficulty of acquiring knowledge and help train the younger generations in woodcraft, in the city’s now it is often used as an excuse for young couples to spend some private time together.

Zoline. Obroa-Skai has a brutal short growing period. But when it is finished at the end of summer this festival of harvest completion is marked. Locally grown plants and flowers are hung in public buildings and anyone who assisted in the growth of them throughout the year (farmers, horticulturists, tractor operators, those who transported the food to market, ect) are allowed to enter and take as much food as they can carry. The locals describe it almost literally as the fruits of their labours.

The Night of Ancient Lights. One of the oldest traditions on the planet, this night marks the time when the earliest settlers could not communicate with one another over the vastness of the planet. It’s said the Archivists took pity on them and hung a great fire from the top of the central Archives spire, its light was so bright that dozens of townships nearby could see it, and they in turn lit great fires. Throughout the night the light spread until every settlement on the planet was blazing with light. Depictions of the event from space are a common form of art on the planet. In modern times the fires are still lit, even at the Archives and rural and urban Obroans set aside their differences with many taking the day to visit distant family.

In Conclusion

Alas, there is so much more I could write. Of the semi-nomadic ice fishers who travel the frozen sea or the long simmering conflict between the rural people and the few mining consortiums permitted on the planet. But my time is short and I have just been told the Archives have granted my request. So for now I will humbly urge others to come and meet the peoples’ of this strange planet. I pray the force is with them.

-Fandon Nootgann