Carrion Plateau

"What is the Carrion?"
"A place that teaches you the meaning of survival."

The Carrion Plateau, known simply as the Carrion, was an area of wilderness on the planet Eriadu. It was owned by the Tarkin family and was used as a site for male Tarkins to prove themselves against the wilderness.

Description

The Carrion Plateau was an area of Eriadu that acted as a preserve for the planet's original ecosystem. The plateau was harsh and unforgiving and contained many species of dangerous native fauna such as the vicious felines and a species of veermok. The plateau was made up of grasslands and seasonal lakes as well as flat- topped mesas and more forested areas that had skinny deciduous trees, including some that were thousands of years old. Monolithic ruins and cliffside petroglyphs were also located in the area. The Tarkin family owned the plateau and used it to initiate family members. Initiates were required to survive for a period of time in the deadly environment, learning the merciless values of the Tarkin family.^[1]

History

"I will say this much, however: This place, this plateau is what made me."

―Wilhuff Tarkin^[1]

Over the years, the Tarkin family made use of the plateau to train its family members into showing no mercy. Jova Tarkin underwent the initiation and decided to remain in the plateau, turning its wilds into his home and training future Tarkins, such as Wilhuff Tarkin.^[1] In 14 BBY,^[2] Wilhuff—by that point the first Grand Moff of the Galactic Empire—lured his enemy Berch Teller into the Carrion Plateau and left him with a broken ankle in a pit with Jova's help. The two Tarkins decided to let Teller live, figuring that, if he managed to escape, Teller's continued actions would serve as a good motivator for Wilhuff.^[1]

At some point in the Imperial Era, Wilhuff Tarkin took Imperial officers Ellian Zahra, Beldin and Hannevik to the Carrion Plateau to find a protégé. When Tarkin's ship, carrying the three young officers and Tarkin himself, arrived to the area, Tarkin gave the three officers a lecture about the Carrion Plateau and how they were the first non- Tarkins in many generations. He later ordered them to hunt an albino veermok in twelve hours and show him its head or else he would leave the area without them. Before long, Zahra showed Tarkin its head and remarked how the other officers sent to hunt the creature were "unworthy." Impressed, Tarkin took Zahra to his ship and left the area.^[3]