Reference Book: Star Wars Saga Edition Web Enhancements (Planet Hoppers)
See also: Galactic Gazetteer
A World Under Pressure
Skako is a rich and heavily populated planet in The Core. A world-spanning city covers it's surface, and the planet is a major source of microelectronics, starship engineering, and cutting-edge manufacturing techniques. Visitors to Skako find a highly efficient, if joyless, world with technology that is slightly ahead of the galactic norm.
Skako, and thus the Skakoans, are among the most influential members of the Techno Union, a huge megacorporation with several well-known subsidiaries such as Baktoid Armor Workshop, Hoersch-Kessel Driveworks, Inc., and Balmorran Arms. Preceding the Clone Wars, the Skakoan foreman Wat Tambor pledged to support the Separatists under Count Dooku, resulting in the expulsion of the Techno Union from representation in the Galactic Senate. After the time of the Empire, the Imperials dismantled the Techno Union, and the xenophobic Skakoans pulled away from the rest of the galaxy.
Skako Statistics[]
Region: The Core
Climate: Temperate (Urban)
Gravity: Standard
Moons: 2
Length of Day: 27 Standard Hours
Length of Year: 384 Local Days
Sapient Species: 100% Skakoan (Native)
Government: Corporate
Capital: None (Planetwide)
Major Exports: Technology
Major Imports: Foodstuffs, Medicinical Goods
| DC | RESULT | |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Skako is the home planet of the Skakoan, a Species that has major influence in the enormous Techno Union. | |
| 15 | The Techno Union has representation in the Galactic Senate and wields tremendous political power. | |
| 20 | Like Coruscant, the surface of Skako is completely covered in a single, massive city. The planet's atmosphere is incredibly dense, meaning that few Skakoans leave, and few other sentients visit. Those that do require special Skakoan Pressure Suits to survive. |
| DC | RESULT | |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Skakoans are cold, calculating, and extremely logical in their thinking. Their written language is similar to engineering schematics, and their speech is close to Bocce and Binary. | |
| 15 | Skakoans dislike many other Species, especially Humans, and have a sympathetic view toward separation from the rest of the Galactic Republic. | |
| 20 | Skakoans are very afraid of suffering a horrible death due to asphyxiation or explosive decompression. Those that leave the planet are considered incredibly brave or foolish by the rest of the Species. |
Ecology[]
Skako's atmosphere is a methane gas base mixed with other exotic chemicals, and it is heavily pressured. This combination means that most sentient beings can survive on the planet only by wearing specialized Skakoan Pressure Suits or by remaining in specific zones that are depressurized and filled with regular air.
Skako is an ecumenopolis- a planet completely covered by a single worldwide city. Comparisons have been made to Coruscant, though Skako lacks much of the aesthetics, art, and vibrancy of that world. Most of the buildings are drab and functional, akin to the Skakoans themselves. The unique atmosphere also means that few sentients visit the planet and thus bring fewer influences, leaving a single monolithic culture.
Hardly any of Skako's original ecology survives, except for creeping vines that twist their way in and around older buildings. Some of these vines can grow to incredible thickness and length- up to a hundred feet thick and a thousand miles long. Besides the Skakoans, the largest animals on the planet are the Octuptarra, tall creatures with eight eyes and a gasbag-shaped head whose many legs allow them to clamber along vines. Many Skakoans keep small Octuptarras as family pets, and the Octuptarra Combat Tri-Droids were inspired by their shape and movement.
Points of Interest[]
An area known as the Power Mounds is the most sacred site of Skako and factors heavily into the complex religion of the Skakoans. It is the resting place of the Book of the Boolmide, kept and read by the Elders of the religion. Chosen individuals who travel to this place and read from the book can open the Gates of Grontessiant, a supposedly mythical realm.
Adventure Hooks[]
Here are some ways to incorporate Skako into your adventures.
- The heroes are sent to Skako to meet with key officials about the Techno Union's ties to the burgeoning Separatist Movement. After the Skakoans do their best to reassure the heroes of their intention to remain within the Republic, the heroes return to their quarters. An hour later, their pressure regulators and atmospheric scrubbers seemingly "fail," and the heroes must escape before they are crushed and/or asphyxiated.
- After the Empire fell, the Skakoans barred entry to the planet to outsiders. However, word reaches back to the Jedi Council about a non-Skakoan child on the world who bears the signs of a powerful connection to The Force. Unfortunately, the child and her parents are trapped in one of the many sublevels of the city-planet and can neither leave nor reveal their presence to the Skakoans. The heroes must somehow find a way onto the planet, survive the toxic and crushing atmosphere, and rescue the child and her parents.
Additional Skako Planet Data[]
Reference Book: Star Wars Saga Edition Clone Wars Campaign Guide
Skako Statistics[]
Region: The Core
Climate: Temperate (High-Pressure)
Gravity: Standard
Moons: 2
Length of Day: 27 Standard Hours
Length of Year: 384 Local Days
Sapient Species: 100% Skakoan (Native)
Government: Guild
Capital: None
Major Exports: Technology
Major Imports: Foodstuffs, Raw Materials, Water
| DC | RESULT | |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | The surface of the planet Skako, like Coruscant, is covered by one massive city. | |
| 15 | Skako's atmosphere is one of methane-based gasses and extremely heavy pressure, making it a hazardous place for Species not adapted to its stresses. | |
| 20 | Though most of Skako is covered by urban sprawl, some examples of the planet's original ecosystem have been preserved in the form of vast fields of sprawling vines. |
| DC | RESULT | |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | The Techno Union, while not a specifically Skakoan organization, is largely controlled by the Skakoan Species. | |
| 15 | Skakoans are unable to leave their homeworld unless they wear specially designed pressure suits that allow them to survive in environments with standard pressures and atmospheres. | |
| 25 | Skako's indigenous inhabitants are similar in appearance to sickly, gaunt Humans. Because of the dangers of decompression away from their homeworld, few Skakoans willingly travel away from Skako. |