Bethlamore

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Please note that this location is used by the Allegiance Battle Group, and due to timeline complexity will reflect only information related to the ABG's storylines, as opposed to the mainstream RS storyline.

Bethlamore
Bethlamore
Astrographical
Region Outer Rim
Sector Greeop Sector
System Baphomet system
Suns 1: Baphomet
Moons 1: Monitor
Physical
Diameter 12,101.4 km
Planetary class Terrestrial
Atmosphere Type I (Breathable)
Gravity Standard (1.0474g)
Surface water 40% Standing water
Climate Tropical
Primary terrain Tropical forests; mountains
Length of Day 28 standard hours (1.17 Standard Days)
Length of Year 387.23 Standard Days (331.91 Local Days; 1.05 Standard Years)
Points of interest Mt. Ayrid Observatory, Old Town, Bethlamore Medical University, Adrin Luto Grand Port Hanger, Academy of the Force (Temple of Adhe Zion), Evil Forest, Black Pit (Ruins of the Temple of the Shadow Vines), Great Jungle, Glittering Hills, Herdship Mother Jungle, Mt. Ilum, Adiemus University, Corellian Sector Spaceport, Haight-Ashbury, Capital District, Talor Island, Sea of Takoi, Sea of Bendon (the Equatorial Ocean)
Societal
Population 179,436,000
Native species Fear Beasts
Immigrated species Humans, Ithorians, Zabrak, Duros, many others
Official language Basic, Ithorese; formerly Rakatan, Ancient Sith
Major cities Adiemus; Ayrid Hai Spaceport; Takoi'edo
Government Sovereign Confederation of Bethlamore / New Republic
Affiliation Infinite Empire; Sith Empire; Galactic Republic; Galactic Empire; New Republic
Exports Medical products
Import Foodstuffs, Jedi Training Equipment

The second planet from the star Baphomet in the Baphomet system, Bethlamore is the base of operations for the Assembly of the Force. Bethlamore is also the charge of the Allegiance Battle Group, a Rebel Squadrons task force made responsible for guarding the Baphomet System, which is part of a backdoor Hyperspace route into the Greeop System.

Description

Bethlamore, despite its age and presence of standing water, was a planet void of life until six hundred years ago. Ithorian cultivators and terraformers transported an entire herdship to Bethlamore in hopes of giving life a jumpstart by having the herdship's buildings and civilized architecture removed to transform the floating city into a floating jungle. A large temple was built in the center of the ship that was used both as a symbol of accomplishment and a defined object to be used to measure the jungles growth outward since placed on Bethlamore. The jungle took, and for six hundred years jungle life has slowly crept through the nearest of valleys, providing Bethlamore with an area of breathable air.

The temple is now used by Jedi trainees, training in an environment to push their skills to the limit, so that one day these Jedi will be ready to become protectors of peace and justice, as was their past. However, there are rumors that these new orders of Jedi are not the first Force users to call Bethlamore home. Legend tells of a powerful Sith warrior who was trapped and buried beneath the herdship.

Several small seas dot the otherwise dull brown spatial view of Bethlamore. Most likely shaped by meteors, these seas provide a life source for the jungle since they are often heated to the point that storms are common. However, all recorded bodies of water larger than the streams running through the jungle are lifeless, having no oxygen to support any.


Terrain

Covered in vast tropical rainforests covering sweeping landscapes, Bethlamore is a rugged jungle world, with tall, steep mountains; vast plateaus; deep depressions; and a multitude of hills. The planet is roughly half-land and half-water; the landmasses are primarily seperated into two massive continents: Dened, the northern continenent, and Ror, the southern continent. The majority of the planets population is focused on Ror, with the cities of Adiemus, Takoi'edo and its suburbs, Ayrid Hai, and Chesed City all scattered throughout Ror's ancient, thick jungles. Dened is less populated by far, its only major city is Geruvah, and its jungles are younger as well. Most of the Deneb jungles are closer to the original species found on Bethlamore prior to the Sith arriving.

Major landforms include, amongst other things:

Major bodies of water include:

  • the Sea of Bendon, also known as the Equatorial Ocean; it lies between Deneb and Ror, true to its name
  • the Great Sea, which is the south polar sea; it is the second largest body of water
  • the Polar Sea on the northern pole, surrounded by Deneb
  • the Sea of Takoi in the eastern half of Ror, the province of Takoi surrounds the sea.
  • Lake Talaar in western Dened
  • the Chias River in eastern Ror, runs into the Great Sea

Locations

Society

Government

A liberal, democratic confederation formed in 21 BBY by disenfranchised elements of Bethlamore's political process and the Galactic Republic as a response to the current government of Bethlamore, the Federation of Bethlamorian States, seceding from the galactic government and joining the Confederacy of Independent Systems. When it was formed by the exiled governments of the Takoi Province, the city-state of Adiemus City, and the city-state of Chesed City. Although not a true confederation of Bethlamorian states at the time, they were posed to take over control of Bethlamore. Within weeks of the start of the Bethlamorian Civil War, several provincial governments-in-exile joined the union, and by the end of the civil war the entire planet was unified under the new government, the Sovereign Confederation of Bethlamore, more commonly referred to as the Bethlamorian Confederation.

The Bethlamorian Confederation has a very liberal, democratic form of government, with the people of each province having a great deal of say in the way their government works. The economy is run as a mixture of free market and socialism, and the government provides a great deal of 'safety net' programs such as welfare, unemployment, pensions for the elderly, planetary healthcare, et cetera. The planetary government also runs many industries or heavily regulates them; the government runs the utilities (power, water, communications, et cetera) as state-run industries, and their weapons industries, for example, are heavily regulated. They also have state-run companies which compete with corporations and other companies to attempt to better control the forces of the market.

The city-states have a great deal of autonomy with which to work with on many issues, so long as they hold true to the laws set by the planetary government. Still, the city-states have a great deal of freedom on matters of commerce, local government, environmental standards, and other matters. Provinces and territories, however, don't have the same autonomy as the city-states and, as such, are subject to stricter Confederation control.

The Confederation is made up of the city-states of Adiemus City, Ayrid Hai Spaceport, Chesed City, and Geruvah City; the provinces of Takoi, Ty Rae, Rhode, Wyoming, Moda, and Tarmi; and the following herdships: River of Hope, Sugar Magnolia, New Sytas, Beloved Jungle, Ocean of the Sky, Glittering Jewel, Light of Bethlamore, Purity of Nature. and Holy Nature. The Confederation runs the following federal territories: the Northeast Province, the Northwest Province, the Southeast Province, and the Southwest Province.

History

See main article

Overview

Timeline of Bethlamore

  • c. 32,000 BBY:
    • The Rakata stumble across Bethlamore, a lifeless world with large, oxygen-rich seas. They jumpstart the processes of life, and begin terraforming Bethlamore into a florishing jungle world.
  • c. 30,000 BBY:
    • Theories commonly hold that during this time period the Infinite Empire of the Rakata built an experimental gate connecting Carrackoon, a world on the opposite side of the galaxy, with Bethlamore.
  • c. 25,200 BBY:
    • Bethlamore is abandoned during the plague and civil war which rips through the Infinite Empire, but not before the Rakata, as well as the flora and fauna of Bethlamore, are infected. The planet and it's jungles survive, but barely. Life struggles onward, untampered, for the next twenty millenia.
  • c. 5,500 BBY:
    • It is theorized that, around this time, the ancient Sith species stumbles across Bethlamore by accident, using a gate built by an ancient race which links the Sith world of Carrackoon with Bethlamore. The two worlds are on opposite sides of the galaxy. They build a shrine around the gate, which would later become the location of a Sith temple.
    • The Sith colonize Bethlamore, tending to the jungles for a time before the harsh life on Bethlamore wipes out the Sith colony.
  • 3,914 BBY:
    • The Ithorians stumble across Bethlamore and begin to seed the jungle and tend to it. Under the Ithorians the struggling jungle florishes as they introduce or genetically engineer new species of flora and fauna.
  • c. 3,800 BBY:
    • The first non-Ithorians since the Sith stumble across Bethlamore and begin to settle at the northern end of the valley in a community that would prove to be the precursor to the Ayrid Hai Spaceport.
  • 3,478 BBY:
    • The Ithorians, after observing the planet of Bethlamore for over 400 years, embed a specially constructed herdship into the Ayrid Hai Valley. They use this herd ship to introduce some native flora and fauna from Ithor, as well as some genetically engineered flora and fauna they had created for Bethlamore.
  • c. 2,000 BBY:
    • On Bethlamore a flourishing city, known by the Ithorians as Sytas, exists in what is now modern-day Ayrid Hai Spaceport.
    • Meanwhile, a dark sider gathers together a group of Humans and Zabraks and disappears into the jungle with them.
  • c. 1,500 BBY:
    • Three Sith, hunted by Jedi, flee to Bethlamore with their slaves. Their transports crash into the surface, but they adapt and begin carving out an empire there. Essentially cut off of the rest of the galaxy by it's obscurity, these Sith lords fall into infighting. Each lord founds their own kingdom and declares war on his rivals.
  • 1,483 BBY:
    • Sytas, the city at the foot of Mountain Ayrid, is conquered by the Sith of Bethlamore. The city is demolished and its people are killed or enslaved by the Sith.
  • c. 1,480 BBY:
    • The Ithorians of Bethlamore are enslaved and their terraforming program becomes defunct. For the next 500 years, life on Bethlamore grows and evolves unchecked...
  • c. 1,025 BBY:
    • The Sith warlord, Herite, conquers the entirely of the Ayrid Hai River Valley, and unites all of Bethlamore's Sith under one banner. He orders construction of the Black Temple of Herite (A.K.A. the Temple of the Shadow Vines), on the location of an even more ancient dark side shrine.
  • 1,005 BBY:
    • The planet Bethlamore is captured from the forces of the local Sith lords by the Jedi Order's Army of Light. They raze the jungles and most of the Sith temples, making their residence in the Great Temple of Adhe Zion. The Jedi begin to set up an academy of the Force in the Great Temple of Adhe Zion.
  • 1,004 BBY:
    • The cities of Ayrid Hai and Adiemus are founded by the freed slaves of the Sith. The large majority of the slaves go to Adiemus, but the ones that found Ayrid Hai on the site of Sytas go on to build Bethlamore's first spaceport.
  • c. 1,000 BBY:
    • The Ithorians and the Jedi begin working together to cleanse Bethlamore's environment of the taint caused by the Sith. The terraforming process is not resumed, but the Ithorians and the Jedi attempt to 'weed' the garden that is Bethlamore.
    • A golden age begins on Bethlamore, with Ithorian scientists and Jedi healers making great discoveries about the medicinal properties of Bethlamore's flora and fauna.
  • 952 BBY:
    • The Republic colony of Bethlamore replaces its Ithorian-dominated colonial government with a democratically elected (though still Ithorian-dominated) government, the Federation of Bethlamorian States. The first Governor-General is Ithorian scientist Tyri Endire, and the first Prime Minister is Roron Talorn, an Ithorian nature priest who later died in a fire.
  • 813 BBY:
    • The city of Takoi'edo is founded on the shores of the Sea of Takoi by human settlers. It would grow to become one of the largest metropolitan areas on Bethlamore, though not the largest single city.
  • 491 BBY:
    • The Jedi Order removes all of it's Jedi, save one, from the Bethlamore Temple. That one Jedi takes an apprentice and passes stewardship of temple to her when he dies. This tradition continues and the Temple of Adhe Zion remains a Jedi possession for another 200 years.
  • 412 BBY:
  • c. 290 BBY:
    • The Jedi Order withdraws the last Jedi from Bethlamore, leaving the temple abandoned.
  • 24 BBY:
    • Bethlamore's conservative parties seize control of the planetary government in a rigged special election. The planet becomes polarized between the conservative and the liberal coalitions, and passing legislation becomes nigh impossible.
  • 23 BBY:
    • Both sides, frustrated with the polarized political process, begin arming secret militias. The conservative government of the Federation enters talks with the Seperatist factions for protection and assistance, while the liberal coalition strengthens their ties with the Republic.
    • The pro-Republic People's Liberation Army (PLA) is formed. They would grow to become the main pro-Republic rebel cell during the Clone Wars.
  • 22 BBY:
    • The conservative government begin talks with the Confederacy about full secession from the Republic. Tensions between the two factions worsen following the Battle of Geonosis.
  • 21 BBY:
    • The government closes borders to any further refugees and forces pro-Republic refugees off-world. The pro-Republic rebels attempt to assassinate the Prime Minister, but fail. Afterwards, the government secedes from the Republic and cracks down on civil liberties; they join the Confederacy soon after and begin hunting down opposition leaders.
    • Members of the liberal coalition flee Bethlamore, alongside the Bethlamorian Rangers and members of the Planetary Security Agency, seeking refugee on Corona, where the Republic helps organize them into a government-in-exile, the Sovereign Confederation of Bethlamore, also known as the Bethlamorian Confederation. They also work to train and equip the military side of the new government.
    • The Corona Treaty is signed, creating the foundation on which the Bethlamorian Confederation was based. This document legalized them in the eyes of the Republic as the de jure government of Bethlamore.
    • The Confederacy moves a droid army and fleet into the Baphomet system, led by a rogue Jedi Master, General Carius Dali and his Padawan, Lieutenant Jace Starkiller. Bethlamore is secured under Seperatist political and military control, and Eden is invaded and occupied. General Dali uses Bethlamore as his home base as he stages raids all across the Greeop Sector, hoping to weaken Republic forces there and capture worlds for the Confederacy. He is wildly successful.
    • A month after it begins, the Republic counters the Seperatist offensive by sneaking a small army onto Bethlamore, along with the government-in-exile, to attempt and retake the planet. They join up with the People's Liberation Army and attack the Bethlamorian capital of Adiemus, thus starting the Bethlamorian Civil War. Adiemus falls, and next a Republic fleet moves in to take the Baphomet system. On Bethlamore's surface, the war rages...
    • After nearly a month and a half of slowly winning the war on Bethlamore, the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), the Bethlamorian Confederation, and the other rebels suffer a set-back as Seperatist reinforcements arrive and recapture the system. The GAR is driven off-world and the Seperatists recapture much lost territory.
    • Half a month later, the Republic assaults Bethlamore again. They capture the Baphomet system and begin making major gains on the surface, alongside the rebels. Within 17 days the planet of Bethlamore is free of Seperatist presence, and the surviving members of the Federation of Bethlamorian States go into hiding. The Bethlamorian Confederation takes over and the Republic reduces troop levels on planet, though the civil war still goes on.
  • 20 BBY:
    • The remnants of the Federation of Bethlamorian States and the conservative militias merge into the United Bethlamorian Nationalist Party. The People's Liberation Army divides into two legitimate liberal parties, both with an armed faction attached. The civil war seems to be dying down.
    • The Seperatists, led again by General Dali, reinvade and recapture the planet, driving the Bethlamorian Confederation into exile once more. They Confederates brutally hunt the rebels this time, trying to prevent pro-Republic forces from assisting the Republic, should they attempt to recapture the world.
  • 19 BBY:
    • The Galactic Republic reinvades and, after a short campaign, recaptures the world. The Seperatist puppet government surrenders and the civil war officially ends, though conservative diehards continue fighting well into Imperial rule.
    • The Bethlamorian Confederation, though wary of the anti-Jedi position of the new Galactic Empire, welcomed them to their world. They soon regretted it, as they shredded the civil liberties of the average Bethlamorian once more and enslaved portions of the planets alien population. Armed resistance started spreading slowly across the planet, with former enemies joining forces in the face of the Empire.
    • Just after the end of the Clone Wars, a constitutional convention was called into being. After over four months, the beings of the Third Bethlamorian Constitutional Convention sent the Articles of Confederation to the general populace to be approved. Only requiring a 2/3 majority to pass, 3/4 of the planet's population approved the document. The Sovereign Confederation of Bethlamore becomes the de jure government of Bethlamore in the eyes of its people and not just in the eyes of the Republic and the Empire which followed.
  • 18 BBY:
    • The People's Liberation Army reforms from its descendant political parties, with members of the planetary government becoming members in secret. They join up with the predecessor organization to the Alliance to Restore the Republic, known as "The Resistance". They declare a hidden war against the Empire, fighting from the jungles of the planet.
  • 11 BBY:
    • The Takoi Massacres take place, with Imperial forces killing nearly 3,000 Bethlamorian citizens during an anti-Imperial rally at the University of Cartus. Riots rip across Bethlamore, and before it's all over, 1,000 more are dead and 10,000 wounded.
  • 4 BBY:
    • PLA "terrorists" destroy an Imperial supply base on Bethlamore. There is much secret rejoicing.
  • 0 ABY:
    • Emboldened by the success of the Rebel Alliance at Yavin, open war once again starts on Bethlamore as the Bethlamorian Confederation allies with the People's Liberation Army and a Greeop Sector rebel cell known as the Rebel Squadrons.
  • 3 ABY:
    • The peoples of Bethlamore throw off the yoke of their Imperial masters, winning their war to free the planet. The Empire blockades the planet.
    • The Rebel Alliance comes to the aid of the Bethlamorian Confederation, helping them drive the Empire out of the system. Bethlamore officially joins the Rebel Alliance, and they begin rebuilding their world.
  • 6 ABY:
    • Bethlamore becomes part of a New Republic special administrative division known as the Republic Shield, known locally as the Rebel Squadrons due to the origin of much of the Republic Shield's armed forces. Bethlamore continues to be considered a regular member of the New Republic, but it comes under direct protection of the Rebel Squadrons' military.
    • A Jedi student is attracted to the Baphomet System in the Greeop Sector. He arrives on Bethlamore and founds the Assembly of the Force in the Great Temple of Adhe Zion soon after. He begins attracting other Force users to him and learning from them while teaching them what he knows.
    • An Imperial faction known as the Emperor's Hammer re-invades the Baphomet system: they capture Eden and blockade Bethlamore. The EH wishes to use the system as a stepping stone into the Greeop system, where RS headquarters are located, using a Hyperspace backdoor into the central system of the RS.
    • The RS forms the Allegiance Task Force to counter the Imperial threat.
  • 7 ABY:
    • The Allegiance Task Force attacks the Baphomet system: a starfighter squadron known as Lancer Squadron liberates Eden, while the main task force defeats the EH task force and recaptures the system. The blockade of Bethlamore ends.
  • 9 ABY:
    • The Bethlamorian Confederation comes to look to the Assembly of the Force to help them maintain order on Bethlamore, a task which the Assembly reluctantly agrees to do, at first.


Flora & Fauna

See main article

Communications

Defenses

Bethlamore's planetary space defenses include: two defense platforms, Baphomet Command and Juhani; the satellite defense screen, which includes a mixture of heavy turbolaser emplacments, laser cannon emplacements, and a few ion cannon emplacements; and of course the fleets in orbit. Bethlamore is also working on construction of planetary turbolaser and ion cannon emplacements, as well as a planetary shield, but these projects are roughly a year from completion. The Imperial threat near the Baphomet system, in addition to the threat of the Clans and an increase in space piracy in the Greeop Sector and surrounding sectors, have pushed the usually peaceful Bethlamorians into fortifying their world.

Allegiance Battle Group

The Allegiance Battle Group maintains a fleet in orbit around Bethlamore, using the platform Baphomet Command and the two Baphomet system repair yards, RepYard I and RepYard II, in orbit above the planet as their primary command and repair facilities. Their mission is to defend Bethlamore and the other worlds of the Baphomet system from Imperial incursion, to prevent the Empire from being able to use a backdoor hyperroute into the Greeop system.

Bethlamorian Planetary Defense Force

The planetary defense force is a large (for Bethlamore's population) military organization, divided into space naval, sea naval, army, and special forces compartments. The two largest divisions of the BPDF are the space navy, the Bethlamorian Defense Fleet, and the army, the Bethlamorian Armed Forces; the two divisions which are best-trained are the special forces compartment, the Bethlamorian Special Forces, and the Bethlamorian Defense Fleet. The sea navy, the Bethlamorian Navy, is largely ceremonial and serves more as a coast guard than a combat organization.

The Bethlamorian Defense Fleet is primarily in control of Bethlamore's defenses, and they operate the platform Juhani and the satellite defense screen, and field a fleet and starfighter corps.

Bethlamorian Rangers

A paramilitary policing agency, the Bethlamorian Rangers serve both as the planet's federal police agency, their forest rangers, and the city-state's and province's militias. In their triple role as protectors of peace, protectors of nature, and protectors of order and justice, the Rangers are a group few wish to come up against. They, like the BPDF and PSA, are extremely well-trained at what they do, and the last thing any law-breakers on Bethlamore want to see is a task force of Rangers and PSA agents coming down on them.

Planetary Security Agency

Whereas the Bethlamorian Rangers protect the planet from internal crisis, the PSA protects Bethlamore from external crisis. They work closely with New Republic Intelligence, the Rebel Squadrons, the Greeop Sector government, and the Bethlamorian Rangers to prevent interplanetary and intergalactic crime from taking root on Bethlamore. Serving both as a policing agenct and a spy agency, the PSA, based in Adiemus City, is a shadowy, well-trained group of investigators, infiltrators, code breakers, and more. Little comes in or out of Bethlamore that they don't know about, and they work very closely with port security.

Primary Military Facilities

Primary Civilian Facilities

  • Ayrid Hai Spaceport

Adjective of Bethlamore

Sources

Bethlamorian History 101: A work-in-progress, a basic overview of Bethlamore's troubled history.

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