Coruscant Information

[Omni]

Coruscant

Home of the Empire, this sprawling city covers an entire Verse, constantly growing in all directions. Currently, there are seven tiers from top to bottom. After arriving from the Nexus gate on Tier One, you can take a sky-taxi through the always-clear sky to view the skyscrapers, parks, and imperial palace. Public Dataverse terminals are easy to find and use, although strictly monitored. For those with Omnilium in excess, you can buy a house or headquarters here – all construction is done by government-approved bodies, to be in keeping with the city’s image. The gates to the Vasty Deep and Endless Dunes both reside on Tier One.

Emperor Palpatine resides and governs from his central tower, the tallest in the city. He leaves this tower rarely, and is always accompanied by his personal guard. Nearby is the imperial palace, where the imperial council acts. They are somewhat perfunctory however, as any decisions of importance are made by the emperor. The official face of the council is King Bradley, a title bestowed of respect rather than an official one - he is known as Wrath only to his very, very close friends or enemies.

Stormtroopers patrolling the streets are one of the most endearing images of Coruscant. Law enforcement in the city is led by Judge Dredd, who endows all enforcers to act as both judge and executioner. Judge Dredd has countless other Judges who work beneath him and oversee various parts of the city but that doesn't stop him from being seen 'in the field' or responding to high-profile crimes.

The first and third tier are accessible by hundreds of elevators/lifts, each watched by cameras. There are also hatches large enough to allow transport vehicles to traverse between the tiers.  Past the third tier, there are elevators but also many other passages; enormous stairwells and even secret ducts that are able to lead to various floors, even the surface. There are thousands of meters between the upper tiers, though the lower tiers are somewhat more cramped.

Reminders: Coruscant is a military police state.  All of the Gates that lead to and from the verse are militarized and secured.  Anyone going through will be scanned.  Trying to not comply with this can result in a bounty, or at least getting put on the 'watch list' by the Empire.  Anyone attempting to go through the scanners disguised will set them off and have to answer yet more questions.  Please remember that the Empire, particularly Tier 1, is almost Orwellian when it comes to Big Brother stuff.  They will be watching you.

Status

Although the lower levels are constantly plagued by crime and organized state- and anti-state-terror acts, Coruscant recently destroyed the Copper Eye.  A terror organization operating out of the Dataverse and Tiers 5 and 6, the remnants of the group fled to those tiers and the Endless Dunes to escape complete extinction.

Sub-zones

[anchor=TierOne]Tier One[/anchor]

Images
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Tier One is the envy of the Omniverse--opulent and beautiful. Sparkling skyscrapers dot the horizon as far as the eyes can see. Hover cars race around on invisible floating highways, and gorgeous parks abound. As mentioned above, Tier One contains the bureaucracy of Coruscant, and it is also where the commercial and industrial sectors have their headquarters. While there are plenty of places for people to live, most of Tier 1 seems designed for tourists--there are countless parks, restaurants, and extravagant hotels. Unfortunately, the beauty is only skin deep, for anyone who bothers to pay attention to their surroundings would see the sad truth. The imperial presence here is suffocating--storm troopers patrol the sky highways and sidewalks, always fully armed. Cameras and other bugging equipment are present everywhere, and all commercial activity is heavily monitored. The reaction to crime is swift and final, with most criminals dead or behind bars before they have had a chance to blink. Even still, Tier 1’s outward beauty always attracts visitors and tourists from both other verses and the lower tiers, who usually never linger long enough to see the rotten truth.

[anchor=ImperialPalace]The Imperial Palace[/anchor]
At the very heart of Coruscant stands the Imperial Palace, a symbolic watchtower that stretches into the sky. Made of adamantium and Omni-knows-what other materials, it is invulnerable to outside attack and can only be accessed from an elevator at the very bottom. This elevator is guarded directly by a group of twelve marines with special power suits that remove the need for either sleep, rest, or outside influence. They guard the tower every hour, every minute, every day. If one should ever die, they will be replaced by a new guard, usually summoned or modified by the Emperor himself to be exactly alike in every way, unless they die of their own failing, in which case the new marine shall contain no traces of the old.

Accessing the elevator requires the DNA of the two Shieldbearers, who are unmarked and known only to the twelve marines themselves. This is the only known way to access the elevator and ascend to the Imperial Palace, where the Emperor resides. Few enter, few leave.

[anchor=LibraryOfCoruscant]Library of Coruscant[/anchor]

The Great Library of Coruscant, created and presided over by Rex Libris, is a towering spiral-shaped building of glass and steel nestled within the great city at its highest tier. Over sixty floors high, it holds a collection of thousands upon thousands of books on every topic that the rich citizens of Coruscant could ever desire. Aside from the physical books, the library itself holds enormous databases, all linked to the dataverse, able to perform complex mathematical and scientific tests and calculations. Row upon row of digital interface stations allows users to connect directly to the dataverse, enjoying a wide range of educational, research focused or entertaining software and virtual experiences. The entire six bottom floors of the complex are one gigantic, cavernous dome of colored glass, serving as the hub and general meeting place of the library’s countless visitors. It is, in essence, an intellectual’s paradise.

The contents of the library are carefully screened to only contain information or fictional stories that are sanctioned by the empire as ‘safe’ or ‘productive’. While Rex is less than pleased with this, he accepts this one rule that is forced upon his library in exchange for total control over the inner workings of the library itself.

The following non-player characters are centered on Tier One: Emperor Palpatine, King Bradley, Rex Libris

[anchor=TierTwo]Tier Two[/anchor]

Tier 2 Stock Photo (w/ fake ass, synthetic sky)
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The second tier of the city is still considered a very nice place to live, despite the lack of a real sky. A synthetic sky is present to give a feeling of night and day. While not as large as Tier 1, Tier 2 is still vast, stretching down a few thousand meters, giving it enough space to stimulate Tier 1’s appearance of a floating city. It might even be considered arguably a nicer place than Tier 1; many individuals prefer Tier 2 due to the less suffocating imperial presence, although monitoring is still very common. Like Tier 1, the architecture here is beautiful, with lots of shining steel and curved skyscrapers that add to the mystique. Many businesses keep main offices here, due in no small part to the fact that most of Coruscant’s upper-middle class live on Tier 2 and commute to jobs on Tier 1.

[anchor=TierThree]Tier Three[/anchor]

Tier 3 Stock Image
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This is where much of the active development has been in recent years. Tier Three contains many of the amenities of the upper floors, but the presence of soldiers is more uncommon than on Tier Two. This keeps crime down without resulting in the stifling of liberties present on the upper tiers. This is based mostly on their vanity, as the beautiful, futuristic city would still shock and awe most travelers. Tier 3 is still tall enough that most people opt for flying cars, even if you can also find people using actual streets as well. Because of recent development, there is a lot of money to be made on Tier 3 through land speculation, real estate, and construction. People with legitimate blue-collar jobs on Tier 1 and 2 (such as bartenders and construction) often live here. It's affordable and relatively crime-free, though the rich residents of Tier 1 might balk at the thought of entering somewhere so unprotected.

[anchor=TierFour]Tier Four[/anchor]

Tier 4 Stock Photos
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This is where the balance between law and chaos starts to tip in the favor of the latter. Even so, Tier 4 is not as violent as the lower tiers. This is where you'll see the rich and seedy gather to take part in illegal gambling and other "attractions". Neon lights illuminate the entire tier, and one can’t go more than a block without seeing a massive neon billboard trying to convince them to buy products. Organized crime has a foothold here, with mercenaries and ‘protection’ rackets being common. While stormtroopers are present, the ones in Tier 4 are often on gang payroll, willing to turn a blind eye to illegal activities. Corruption is common enough that the weather is privatized, so it is often nighttime (to best highlight the vibrance). The most famous attraction here is the F-Zero Series, where racers compete in high-stakes races in both anti-gravity and gravity vehicles. Betting on these competitions is very common, and victors often become instant celebrities. Viewers should be cautious, as vehicles can occasionally lose control and enter the crowds (although for some, this is part of the thrill). For a price, you can get almost anything you want here, including but not limited to: sex, slaves, drugs, mechanical implants, genetic augmentation and alteration, and banned species' eggs.

[anchor=TierFive]Tier Five[/anchor]

Tier 5 Stock Photos
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Tier Five is where Coruscant starts to dip into depression and decay. In many ways, this tier has all the appearances of a large city from a pre-digital age. Architecture ranges from mute and mundane to some art deco skyscrapers. The tier contains a small upper class, mostly individuals rich through seedy businesses. Tier 5 is largely run by gangs, with very few true Imperials ever setting foot there. Graffiti and trash litter the streets, which are usually congested with cars. A subway system is a quicker way to get around, but it is essentially 'owned' by gangs and violence on the subway is extremely common. Most of the advanced technology on Tier 5 is from the black market, brought up from Tier 6 to fuel the vices of apathetic upper class businessmen and street urchins alike.

[anchor=ArchivesOfUltan]Archives of Ultan[/anchor]

Not happy to settle for being denied the existence of books he considers invaluable treasures, Libris Rex created a smaller, yet sprawling, archival building in the fifth tier of the Shining City- the Archives of Ultan. Rex’s only secondary, a caretaker and archivist by the name of Ultan (for whom the archives are named) watches over the archives and serves as a librarian for the few researches brave enough to venture deep into the bowels of the city.

The archives feel like a rat’s nest, musky and filthy all throughout the long twisting shelves and corridors, even with some rats breeding amongst the books themselves. Here is contained thousands of books not considered fit for the shining library above. Some appear to be older than civilization itself- little more than carved stone tablets, and some are glittering books that would fit in more at the glorious library above. The archives, though mostly devoid of more common literary pieces, are open to the many poor folk of the lower levels, though they may never borrow books. Occasionally an incident has occurred, typically desperate urchins trying to steal priceless books to sell in the underground, but each time Rex himself has mysteriously appeared to quell the problem by force.

[anchor=TierSix]Tier Six[/anchor]

Tier 6 Stock Phoots

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The bottommost bastion of society is Tier Six, and even then, this is limited to the Community Center and a few lifts under surveillance. A ghetto the size of a full-fledged city, Tier 6 is where most exiles (political or otherwise) go to lay low or vanish from the world. The only people who might consider living there are those who've been forced to run from debts, the Empire, or those who wish to use it as a base of operations. The streets are frequently the scene of violence between rival gang and smugglers, who often use Tier 6 to store their inventories. Because of its non-existent Imperial presence and the porousness of transit, there is no better place to stash hoards of drugs, weapons, tech, and money than Tier 6. The Community Center, a collection of numerous buildings fused together, is a veritable fortress the size of a city block, guarded by a solitary ultra marine. Those outside of the Community Center face a life worse than that of many refugees in war-torn nations. Motorball, a vicious fusion of gladiatorial combat and speed skating, is a common way for people to forget the woes of their everyday life. Competitions are held in small, cramped stadiums that often lack proper protection for spectators.

The following non-player characters are centered in Tier 6 - Private Hiberius

[anchor=TierSeven]Tier Seven[/anchor]

[spoiler]Just picture like, a bunch of smog- and waste-belching factories, scrap yards, waste fields, etc.  It's hell.  The fuck are you here for?
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Tier Seven is more akin to a sewer than a city. The cramped, smelly, and sweltering ‘basement’ of Coruscant is filled with industrial parks, landfills, sewage and massive junkyards littered with wreckage. Even hardcore gang-bangers have very little reason to go as far down as Tier 7, and many would be traumatised by the things they see down here. Most of its denizens are insane or mutants, wandering the dead cityscape lit only by what filters down from Tier 6. Sometimes unfortunates addicted to chems and tech implants are forced to go down here at the behest of gangs, in order to scavenge.

Some of the factories are still in operation, pumping out smog and industrial waste. The massive junkyards are littered with old remnants of wars, and the stories go that many robots--sentient and mindless--wander the twisted graveyards. There are a few xenomorph hives down here, which only add to the splendor of Tier 7. This doesn't mean that the Imperial facilities here are not defended but most people assigned to Tier 7 are being punished in some way or another.

Roaming NPCs

Judge Dredd - The head of Imperial Security can often be found working the streets where the imperial presence is heaviest, but he is also known to make occasional visits to the more lawless parts of the verse.

[Omni]

Faction Quests

The Empire
Hand of the Empire OR There Are No Lines OR Empire Justice (must choose one)
Requirements: Not affiliated with the Kingdom, Pokemon Liberation Front or Rebels.
Difficulty: Moderate (5000-10,000 words dependent on writing quality)
Reward: Increased Influence with the Empire, 10% OM increase on Coruscant bounties

Hand of the Empire
Location: Coruscant, any tier
To prove your loyalty to the Empire, you will be required to work as part of the Empire Peace Division (EPD), a gigantic organisation in the Empire whose work ranges from military to domestic peacekeeping and enforcement. You must prove that you can be an asset to the Empire and carry out your tasks without showing doubt or hesitation. While day-to-day gangsters aren't too much trouble for stormtroopers, it's the Primes who make life most difficult. Find one of the Prime gangsters or dangerous revolutionaries in the lower levels of the city and take them into Empire custody where they can be interrogated (or deal with them in a more permanent manner). You have the jurisdiction to eliminate any who stand in the way of your objective. Do this and you will be granted more freedom and respect within the Empire - expect stormtroopers to salute as you pass - but know that you may also be targeted in other verses as you go about keeping the peace. Targets for this quest may be NPCs or PCs.
Unique Reward: Access to Stormtrooper or Imperial Officer uniform; allowed to request special Imperial Military quests

OR

There Are No Lines
Location: Coruscant, Tier 1
Empire Research and Development is one area of the Empire that is constantly being harangued for new ways to improve the city and help the EPD. Another way to assist the Empire is to help them with their experiments. Primes are difficult subjects to acquire, and all are unique and extremely valuable due to their ability to regenerate from any wound. If you are willing to submit your body to some ... tests in the name of the Empire, you will be sure to impress the Emperor. The specific nature of the testing will vary depending on your unique abilities, but expect to be pushed to your physical and mental limits. Do not fear the pain - ultimately, you will emerge from the testing a more powerful servant of the Emperor, and your loyalty may make you privy to secrets that ordinary citizens would not know.
Unique Reward: Access to Empire Research & Development; allowed to request special Empire R&D quests

OR

Empire Justice
Location: Coruscant (Various)
The Empire does not take an individual at face value. Your word is only as good as the actions used to back it up. Perhaps the official route is too much red tape for you. Maybe you're not a fan of eggheads or the shady science that goes on behind closed doors. Maybe you're just someone looking for a paycheck who sees a police state bursting at the seams with OM and you know where the goods can be found. Either way, you know that you want a piece of the Imperial pie. Earn it. Prove your willingness to serve the Empire in the here and now. Make a statement in some manner that shows where your allegiances lie. Join the Empire. Join the Future.

***

Imperial Disarray
Location: Tiers 5 and 7
Requirement: Must not be affiliated with The Empire or Imperial Navy
Difficulty: Moderate (5,000 to 10,000 words, dependent on quality) + Risk of Imperial Bounty
Reward: Entrance into an anti-Empire revolutionary cell, Rebel Comm. Key (Flavor Item – allows encrypted DV connection with your group); allowed to request special Rebel quests
 
The bottom ‘half’ of Coruscant is rife with unrest.  If it isn’t your run-of-the-mill thugs and sociopaths making life hard for regular people, it’s the Empire’s crackdowns on any sort of ‘off the books’ trade exchanges that go on between citizens in the lower tiers.
 
Whether you’re a lover of liberty, a foe of ‘the establishment,’ or just someone looking to make some money out of a shady situation, there are various ‘organizations’ in the lower tiers that seek to profit from a weakening of the central bureaucracy.  Through whatever means, you stumble across a representative from one such agency.  In pursuit of ‘liberty and freedom,’ they require some means to fight back against the Empire.
 
Your group may have plenty of plans for you to pick from.  Perhaps there is a factory down on Tier 7 needs to… be repossessed, even if it just long enough to steal it all and burn it down.  Perhaps they want you to be the ‘front man’ and strike some sort of Imperial target before their ‘clean up’ crew arrives.  Maybe there's a politico on the lower tiers who's a little too flush with Imperial blood money. Maybe a business owner has been preaching the word of the Empire just a little too much.  Either way, meet your revolutionaries, do their dirty work.  You'll be congratulated with some OM and the respect of these revolutionaries once you finish.
 
Quest Stipulations – Make contact with anti-Empire group down on Tier 5.  Receive assignment.  Complete assignment.  Return to Tier 5.

Repeatable Quests

Twisted Metal (Co-Op Optional)
Location:  Tier 4 (Coruscant)
Requirement: Recommended for 2-4 writers, but can be done solo.
Difficulty: Moderate (5,000 to 10,000 words) to complete, Hard (10,000 to 20,000 words) to win (Judge/Storyteller involvement required)
Reward: Completing the quest nets you access to your specific vehicle outside of the city (flavor item); Victory grants you increased fame in Omniverse and the Twisted Metal Trophy
 
F-Zero races have always had a specific niche.  In an effort to branch out, the owners of the shell corporation running the majority of the races have decided to create a whole new type of race that many claim is motivated by the success of the Dante’s Abyss in bringing in a waterfall of revenue to a previously unknown company.
 
In these new ‘races,’ the F-Zero machines used will be bigger, stronger, and equipped with weapons. Vehicles can have anywhere from one to four operators. The race track is gone, and in its place, they’ve created a large mockup of Tier 5, complete with the intersection of 7th Street and Broadway Avenue at its center.
 
You are no longer trying to win the race by beating your opponents around the track.  The goal here is to disable your adversary’s F-Zero machines by whatever means feasible.  Each machine has its own built in weapons, and there are various additional weapons and ammo littered around the ‘race area.’  Do what you have to do to win.  Be wary of Sweetums—a former convict whose F-Zero machine is a derelict-looking ice cream truck packed to the brim with enough firepower to level a city block.

Gun Running
Location: Coruscant (Tier 5, 6, and/or 7)
Requirements: Must not be associated with Imperial Military
Difficulty: Moderate (5,000 to 10,000 words, dependent on quality) + Risk
Reward: Access to secret underworld hideouts in lower tiers, recognition and more quest access with Imperial Underworld and/or Rebels

Tiers Five and Six are rife with crime and gangs . There is also a rich 'culture' of gun and tech smuggling. Mobsters and would-be thugs are constantly looking for cheap labor to transport contraband material, usually between tiers. The work is never safe and may result in altercations with rival groups and central authorities (a bounty).

Unique Quests

These quests are not repeatable, but they will trigger at least one new quest upon completion, dependent upon the results. Be creative, we will work with you!

Rebel Yell
Location: Tiers 5 and 2
Requirement:  Must not be affiliated with The Empire or Imperial Navy, Must have Completed Imperial Disarray, Must be at least Level 3
Difficulty:  Hard (10,000 to 20,000 words, dependent on quality) + Imperial Bounty
Reward:  Unlock Rebel Base on Tier 5 (w/ Recall, Teleporter – Nexus, Dataverse)
 
The group you’ve joined requires your services for something a little more… drastic.
 
The Dataverse is a common staging ground for clandestine operations.  It allows for individuals to move materiel a little more securely and underneath the radar, especially between verses.  Your group has just received a large shipment of magic-based munitions from Camelot, and they want you to be point-man on their recent operation.
 
With a group of other operatives, you’re to head up to Tier 2, where you’re going to disrupt a fundraising event between a bunch of the Empire’s bigwigs. These events are where a bunch of rich, entitled bureaucrats sit around and discuss how they can keep down the little people, so it’s your job to sock it to them right in the eye.

Your crew will plant the explosives.  It’s up to you to trigger them and deal with whatever happens afterwards.  There will be police response, but your group was smart enough to plan this on a day when Dredd is gummed up with staff work.  He won’t appear, but you still may have to contend with space marines.  Escape.  Once you’re out, your group will contact you and Recall you to their base.  For your success, they’ll give you access to some of the features of their HQ.
 
Quest Stipulations – Must be contacted by revolutionary group.  Must receive instructions and meet group members.  Must collect munitions.  Must ensure crew plants explosives night before event.  Must trigger bombs.  Must escape chaos to follow and get back in touch with group.  You will have to fight your way out and you will receive a bounty.  You may also have to report back to HQ to deal with 'circumstances' or lose your access.


A Day in the Life
Location: Tier 2
Requirements:  Must have completed There are No Lines or Hand of the Empire, must be Level 3, Must have collected or helped collect a bounty for Coruscant
Difficulty: Hard (10,000 to 20,000 words, dependent on quality)
Reward: Imperial Cross + Imperial Blaster (Flavor item or may be fashioned into a Move)
 
As an established member of the Empire’s ranks, you’ve been invited to a public fundraising event on Tier 2, where many bureaucrats and middle-tier politicos will be present.
 
You arrive and immediately become something of the darling, regardless of how much you may or may not love being the focal point of a social gathering.  People who spend most of their days working in stuffy offices or swapping gossip at the water cooler love nothing more than to be exposed to someone with a track record as exotic as yours.  Live a little.  Enjoy some martinis.
 
Sometime during the desert phase, when people are trying to enjoy their post-dinner café con leche, a bomb goes off.  There is instantly a torrent of gunfire overhead.  People start to die.  It’s some kind of terrorist attack, and it’s up to you to be the hero.  Fight back.  Chase the ‘bad guys’ down and stop whatever other plans they may have had.  They’ve been planning this for a while, they’ve got a few.
 
In the aftermath, you’ll have a personal meeting with King Bradley, who will give you a medal (the Imperial Cross) and an elegant blaster to wear, signifying your status.  From this point forward, you have access to meetings with Bradley.
 
Quest Stipulations – Must receive invite to fundraiser.  Must attend.  Must be sociable and merry.  Must enjoy dinner.  Terrorists attack during desert/digestif.  You must repulse them and pursue them.  You must discover and foil any other schemes they have in place in Tier 2.  Afterwards, you must go to meet with King Bradley to receive his commendations. 


Stars over the Omniverse
Location: Tiers 1 and 3
Requirements: Must have completed There are No Lines or Hand of the Empire
Difficulty: n/a
Reward: n/a

Through the grapevine, you’ve heard of the star pieces. You also heard that something happened in Coruscant at the same time. As a result of curiosity, you set out to Coruscant to investigate. Unless you are on their payroll, you can expect to be turned back at the doors of the security HQ on Tier 1. If you are a member of the empire, than they will send you off to acquire some reports from Tier 3. When you come back, they’ll usher you into a closed room. At this point, the Storyteller will reveal to you a dark secret related to the star pieces.

Quest Stipulations - Character must go to security HQ on Tier 1.  Character must run down to Tier 3 for some private documents and return to Tier 1.  Quest may be done more than once but no cannot be repeated by the same character.

The Rejected
Location: Coruscant (Tier 7)
Requirements: None
Difficulty: Moderate (5,000 to 10,000 words, dependent on quality) + Risk of Imperial/Rebel Bounty depending on involvement
Reward: Increased faction recognition (or affiliation, if none) with The Empire or Rebels, depending on involvement; access to Serenity Serum flavor item (may be purchased as unique move or power-up).

The most evil, violent offenders in Coruscant are the subjects of horrible Imperial science experiments. When they are broken in body or mind, rejected by citizens and government alike, they are sent to a holding facility called Serenity Retreat in the darkest parts of Tier-7. Now Serenity Retreat, part prison part experimental medical ward, is rioting.

The prisoners have taken over half of Serenity Retreat, under the direction of a charismatic leader. They have weapons. They have hostages. And they want to go free. You are either involved in stopping them, or helping them, depending on your unique situation.

One Hundred Problems
Location: Tier 2
Requirements: None
Difficulty: Moderate (5,000 to 10,000 words, dependent on quality) + Risk of Imperial Bounty
Reward: Access to Coruscant High Society contacts in Tier 2.

James Hamilton is a very busy bureaucrat working for a lovely, lucrative company headquartered on Tier 2. A family man and a company man, he is a model citizen. A man with a hard work ethic and drive for bettering himself, he’s also a man with more than his fair share of issues. Chief among those is an old mistress, Jennifer Mills, who he’s had to pay to keep quiet about their sordid past.

Always one to frequent social establishments, Hamilton has been putting out ‘feelers’ in a search for someone to ‘help him out.’ Take that however you wish.

The Hive
Location: Coruscant (Tier 7)
Requirements: must not have an Empire bounty
Difficulty: Challenging (10,000 to 20,000 words, dependent on quality)
Reward: Increased recognition with the Empire, Unique Move/Item based on Xenomorph biology

The bottom tier of Coruscant is a lawless place, only the harshest, the most ruthless or the most desperate secondaries dare to spend more than a few hours in the underbelly of the metropolis. Yet even so, Imperial command is growing concerned with the state of the bodies that patrols are turning up with increasing regularity. Gaping chest wounds do not normally come from inside the victim.

Lt. Oliver Bass of T-5 HQ has put out a reward for concrete information on the threat. The Empire has deemed Tier 7 to be an “inefficient use of resources” so don’t expect a squad to back you up here. Your mission is to determine the nature of the threat, obviously with a sample that Imperial HQ can analyze. Your goal is to survive.

Stipulations: must receive instructions from Lt. Bass in T5. Must travel to T7, and successfully locate the Xenomorph hive. Must bring evidence back to Lt. Bass of the threat that Xenomorphs pose to Coruscant

[Alex]

Coruscant FAQs (last updated 6-29-18)

Q: “How Star Wars-y is this place?”

A: Tier 1 is pretty much what you’ve seen in the movies, albeit with some extra buildings and whatnot.  Also, remember our Palpatine is from like, the middle of Episode III (not deformed).  There are ‘sith’ in Coruscant and its military (with a few serving as high-ranking officers), but they receive no preferential treatment because they are sith.  ‘Jedi’ are just one of many weird cults outlawed in the Empire, along with Scientologists and a few others.  Coruscant’s military uses primarily Star Wars tech and Star Wars armor/gear, from the Clone Wars and the Empire era.  Most beat cops are Stormtroopers, for example.  In the military, you’ll find that the ‘armor type’ varies by Legion and even within Legions (usually armor is modified to fit the purpose of the unit).  Other examples of Star Wars tech are that tie fighters are used to patrol Tier 1 and Tier 2 from time-to-time and AT-ATs often serve as riot suppressants.  While not the majority, a large percentage of stormtroopers are ‘tube grown’ (clone troopers).

Q: “What is life like in Coruscant? Are people happy?”

A: Let me answer this in two ways:  On the top few tiers, most people are ‘content’ or even completely ignorant of any shady that might be going on in their verse (or the Omniverse, for that matter).  That’s usually because they’re affluent and/or have enough influence or power to get away with the type of life they want to, whether they work directly for the Empire or for a corporation of some kind (most Tier 1 employees work directly for the Empire).  These people don’t care so much for the ‘woes’ of the people on lower Tiers and often will respond to complaints about those matters with the whole ‘bootstrap’ ideology.  I mean… you need to realize that most of these people were made (directly or indirectly) by Palpatine.  They have zero reason to not be loyal.

On the lower tiers, people usually focus on simple survival.  The lower tiers are prone to many migrant populations and outcasts from other verses.  Some denizens manage this fairly well through legal means (not everyone on Tier 4/5/6 is some angry peasant).  Many live down there mainly because, at the end of the day, it’s no worse or unpredictable than any other place in the Omniverse.  The more ‘disgruntled’ and ‘desperate’ elements of society may become ‘rebels’ or criminals.  Much like in the Kingdom, there is very much an upper-, middle-, and lower-class in Coruscant.

Q: “What does it mean to join the Empire? What’s the EPD?”

A: Those involved in serving the Glorious and Mighty Empire™ can complete one of the various faction quests (there are three different flavors).  Completing them grants you status as a member of the Empire Peace Division (EPD), which essentially just means you’re a prime who works for the Empire.  There is an unspoken pledge of allegiance in serving the EPD and violating that will cause you to be Blacklisted in Coruscant.  As a member of the EPD, you can essentially serve in whatever capacity you (the writer) would like, whether that be military (be a solider or officer), law enforcement (be a cop), public service (fire fighter, first responder), a scientist/engineer (usually called R&D).  While you can become a spec-ops type person, be aware that once you join the Empire, you have joined the Empire.  

Q: “Can you give more information on like, police force and the military.  Are they not the same thing?”

A: No, they’re not.  There’s a military ‘branch’ with its own bigwigs, and there’s ‘local’ law enforcement.  Yes, there is bleed over, and it has become more common for marines (the military) to be dispatched to deal with renegade primes.  Further muddling the fact is that both the foot soldiers of the military and your beat cops are stormtroopers, although cops often forgo their full armor while in the precinct.  At the top of the law enforcement hierarchy are ‘the Judges’, who are often assigned to oversee multiple precincts.  The chief Judge (and the de facto head of Coruscant Law Enforcement) is Judge Dredd.  It’s also worth mentioning that the police force in Coruscant is also the ‘judiciary’.  There are no appeals courts and even the basic police officer is endowed to make binding judicial decisions in the field.

Q: “So cops are judges, jury, and executioner – what happens if I get in trouble with the law?”

A: High-profile nonsense will warrant a Storyteller intervention.  But if you want to know for the sake of like, a plot you’re writing or even a secondary’s adventures, there are prisons.  Tiers 2, 3, and 4 house various prisons.  There’s also Impel Down in the Vasty Deep, where some of the worst or least ‘recondition-able’ offenders go.  While the Empire will not shy away from public executions, it prefers to rehabilitate most secondaries.  This may be done through jail-time followed by community service.  Secondaries who can’t be rehabbed are executed.

Primes who run afoul of the Empire are often treated harshly.  Running from authority or resisting arrest will result in summary execution for primes.  Serious crimes may result in Blacklisting, which means authorities are to banish the prime on sight.  Repeat offenders may be imprisoned, but given the nature of primes, this can often be unideal.  Imprisoned primes are often simply placed in a coma (in some manner) and then frozen in carbonite.  They are then unfrozen for interrogation or rehabilitation and the process is often repeated until the Empire gets what they want or the prime finds a way to die/dies from the process.

Q: “You haven’t mentioned Bradley or Palpatine.  How does this place even operate?”

A: …you didn’t ask?  Did you even read those excellent NPC bios I wrote?  Emperor Palpatine is the head of state and the head of the government (for you… British people, he’s the Queen and the Prime Minister).  Even so, most of the day-to-day operations of Coruscant fall to King Bradley, who is the de facto head of government.  Bradley is often the public face of the regime, given his wealth of charisma.  While he has authority over all branches of Coruscant, he primarily focuses on the political/administrative aspects.  

Oh you want more?  Okay.  Coruscant is broken up into hundreds of administrative ‘districts.’  These districts are in turn run by locally elected councils.  These elections are often hotly disputed, and it’s not uncommon for foul play to be involved.  A group of 4-8 districts is called a precinct (yes, the same precincts mentioned in the last question), and each precinct nominates one Senator.  These Senators meet on Tier 1 as part of the Imperial Senate, which is essentially a rubber stamp organization with close to zero actual political influence.  But Palpatine obviously remember how the plutocrats and aristocrats gobbled this stuff up in his galaxy far far away.

Q: “What are the ‘Rebels’ and ‘Criminal Agents’ that operate in the Lower Tiers?”

A: Let’s break this apart.

Q: “Rebels?”

A: A ‘rebel’ is a terrorist (or I guess a freedom fighter, depending on your angle) whose aims are loosely associated with the degradation or destruction of the Imperial state.  They tend to be organized into ‘cells’ that function like military units.  Many are militarized and some even manage to steal tech from the Empire.  There is no single ‘unified’ rebel faction, because they often distrust one another (the Empire has slaughtered various rebel cells through espionage and subterfuge).
Success? – While there have been no high-profile assassinations or like, mass-scale rebel assaults on the upper tiers, it’s due to the ‘rebels’ that the Empire has more or less ‘backed off’ of Tiers 5 and 6.  The cynic would argue that this has allowed the Empire to treat those two tiers as glorified ghettos.

Q: “Criminals/Gangs/Organized Crime and Vigilantes”

A: Organized crime is a big element in Coruscant, particularly Tiers 4 and 5.  Unlike ‘rebels’, these criminals have no glorified objectives of ‘liberation’ from ‘tyranny’.  They’re out for their own gain.  Their gains often come through extortion, raquetering, smuggling, and selling various sorts of contraband.  Most high-profile criminal sects operate out of Tier 5 and have storehouses and/or safehouses down on Tier 6.  Crime syndicates come and go as often as the seasons, with turf wars often destroying entire swaths of the lower tiers.

Q: “What’s illegal in Coruscant?  It’s a police state, isn’t it?”

A: Anything that’s normally illegal (murder, kidnapping, assault and battery, drug dealing etc) in a civilized society.  The following “crimes” are also illegal in Coruscant and can result in a bounty or armed response – vagrancy, begging/panhandling, sedition (spreading anti-Imperial propaganda or thoughts), substance use, vandalism, vigilantism.  These offenses are heavily enforced in the top three Tiers in the sake of preserving Coruscant’s glorious culture and society.  Below Tier 4, you’re more likely to get away with illicit activity for a longer period of time.

Q: “How do people get their news? Is it censored?”

A: News is heavily monitored.  There is a Coruscant News Network with anchors and talking head opinion pieces.  Just think of North Korea’s news network or, like, Fox News or something.  While Dataverse access is free in the top tiers, it’s censored, much like the internet in China.  The HoloNet is another state propaganda piece.  The Omniverse News Network (ONN) is often ‘pirated’ throughout Coruscant.  Ron Burgundy isn’t flagrantly anti-Empire, so there isn’t a terrible amount of effort taken to suppress.  Various rebels run radio networks (for real) in the lower Tiers.  

[Q: “Imperial relations with other verses and factions?”

A: The Empire is in a state of proxy war with the Kingdom.  There are covert clashes and proxy wars fought between the two factions across the Omniverse.  The Empire has spies in various factions and performs espionage outside of Coruscant.  This isn’t saying they’re actively seeking to undermine other factions, but they do like to keep tabs on what goes on at large.  Beyond Coruscant, the Empire’s focus is mainly in the Vasty Deep, where it operates the Imperial Navy.  Costa del Sol and many of the outer lying islands are popular tourist and vacation spot for the citizens of Coruscant.  Every now and again, elements from other factions may wind up in Coruscant and whip up trouble, but more often than not, these are rogue elements.  

Q: “Diablo?”

A: The Empire is well-aware of the pervasive influence of Diablo in the Omniverse.  While they won’t go out of their way to exterminate an individual (they’re likely to try and manipulate them more than anything), they have been known to covertly eradicate ‘Diablo cells’ even as far down as Tier 6.  Whether these various cults are actually in touch with Diablo can be left to speculation.

Q: “Pepsi?  Syntech?  What are these proper nouns that pop up?”

A: Those are two beloved examples of the various corporations that operate within the second Tier of Coruscant.  Syntech has a branch office, while Pepsi-Co has its headquarters on Tier 2.  There are various other corporate entities that exist in Coruscant, but those are the two that frequently pop up, but I wouldn’t bat an eye if someone wanted to say that the Weyland Corporation had offices in Coruscant, for instance.  The Gold Cross – an inter-verse aide organization – has a building in Tier 2 as well as a field office in Tier 5.

Q: “Are there frequent ‘incidents’ on Tier 1 involving fresh primes?  I read a few.“

A: Oh snap, you read old threads?  Good on you.  In the past, there have been various incidents on the top two tiers relating to primes (new or otherwise) trying to skirt Imperial authority.  Most have ended poorly.  Canonically, there are likely a few of these incidents each month.  Maybe some of those primes that joined the site and then vanished did naughty stuff in Coruscant or to the troopers stationed near the Fountain.  We’ll never know, but assume it’s one of those things that happens behind the scenes, like the hordes of middle-management throughout Coruscant.

Q: “Empire stances on diversity? ‘Xenos’?

A: While the core leadership of the Empire is not as much, the Empire as a whole is a very diverse institution – far more than the Kingdom or any of the homogenous factions that exist in the Greens, Fields, or Steppes.  Just because the Empire is a police state doesn’t mean they round up all the purple-skinned people and place them in camps or ghettos.  The Imperial bureaucracy as a whole is going to be multi-species, and they don’t really discriminate any races or species any harsher than others.  You a criminal with blue skin, you gonna get just as many bullets as a criminal with red skin or white skin.

Q: “I read about Space Marines?  So like, 40k stuff?”

A: Space marines are any Imperial soldier outfitted in ‘power armor’ (whether that’s Fallout, 40k, or some other science fiction franchise).  Regardless of similarities to 40k or other scifi franchises, all the marines you find in Coruscant, who work for the Empire, are native to the Omniverse (ie – designed and created by Palpatine) – it’s the Omniverse, you’ll get used to it.

Q: “What do they do?”

A: The oldest of these is the Imperial Royal Guard.  Clad in red power armor, Palpatine is rarely seen without two of these silent, foreboding sentinels.  Just imagine if you took Palpatines Royal Guard from Episode III and fused them with a 40k-style marine.  A second sect of space marines, dubbed ‘ultra-marines’, also resemble something from 40k and are used in high-profile policing activity, especially when a marine or a squad of them can get a job done quicker and more efficiently than a squad of storm troopers.

Q: “What’s the infrastructure like? (lighting, pollution, etc)”

A: The first three tiers are pretty much flawless, although people sometimes complain about ‘noise pollution’ in the more centralized parts of Tiers 1, 2, and 3.  Pollution of all sorts starts to become an issue starting in Tier 5, as many places operating down there are able to get away with shoddy standards for disposal and waste filtration.  Tier 7 (the small portion that is ‘habitable’) is one large industrial park.  Smog, chemical waste, and radiation make it nearly impossible for secondaries or even primes to stay down there for long (outside of the insulated structures).  Starting with Tier 5 and worsening in Tier 6, you have issues with under-quality roads, plumbing, and lights.

Q: “Food? Water? Public Works?  Entitlements”

A: The first four tiers have state-sponsored hydroponics farms and water generation and purification facilities.  Tier 5 and Tier 6 have to either purchase from facilities on other Tiers or ‘fend for themselves’.  The Tiers have various parks and public institutions (public houses, orphanages, etc).  Since being a vagrant is criminalized on the upper tiers, most people who wind up in those institutions are transferred down to a lower tier after a period of time.  Coruscant also has various social security-style programs and unemployment programs.  

Q: “Does Coruscant have Zoos?”

A: Yes!  They also have museums and most other things you’d find in a big city.  There are zoos to be found throughout the first three Tiers.  The most famous of these if the Coruscant Metropolitan Zoo on Tier 1, which covers over a hundred acres and features wildlife from across the multi-verse.  The zoos on Tier 2 and 3 are humbler, and there are various ones that double as zoological, biological, and xenological research facilities.  Most of these zoos are free to the public, even if you have to pay for parking.

Q: “Native Wildlife?”

A: On the first three Tiers, you’re likely to find very little outside of birds, and even then, avian wildlife only flourishes outside the massive ‘downtown’ areas of those two Tiers.  Mice and other ‘vermin’ species are actively exterminated on the first three tiers.  Once you reach Tier 4, there’s less institutionalized effort but obviously private businesses exist (you know, exterminators).  Starting on Tier 4, you can find rabbits, mice, and squirrels, cats, dogs, as well as more varied bird species, like pigeons and crows.  Tier 5 is home to coyotes and other small feral predators.  Tier 6 barely supports humanoid life, let alone animals other than roaches and rats.  Tier 7 has very little life, given the activities that go on down there, although there is a ‘xenomorph’ infestation.

Q: “What was Coruscant like before?”

A: I would have thought you’d have gone and read and devoured all that lovely information in the NPC bios by now.  Shake my head.  Anyway, Coruscant was a pretty lush and beautiful place long, long ago.  Not Tangled Greens-level lush but comparable to Camelot or the pre-Fouling Pale Moors.  The city that was to become Coruscant grew quickly—explosively, even.  There are secondaries who may remember the growth of the city, but it had consumed the whole verse before the arrival of any additional primes.  Nowadays, even what can be seen beyond the edges of Tier 1 is mostly just bare earth.  Elements of the ‘original Coruscant’ can be viewed in museums, and there are many parks and gardens on the first three Tiers that are decorated/designed to be homages to Coruscant's past.