Morlana One

Morlana One, or just Morlana, was a planet in the Outer Rim Territories' Free Trade sector. The principal world of the Morlani system, it featured lowlands and oceans with coastal industrial cities. The Consolidated Holdings of Preox-Morlana Corporation operated out of Morlana One and governed the Free Trade sector, acting as an extension of surveillance for the Galactic Empire. In 5 BBY, the thief Cassian Andor visited a brothel in Morlana One's Leisure Zone to investigate a lead on a Kenari girl. He was harassed by two sentry guards from the Pre-Mor Authority Security Forces, leading to a fight which led to the guards' deaths.

The deaths were investigated by Deputy Inspector Syril Karn of the Pre-Mor Security Inspection team, who was able to trace the deaths to Andor on the neighboring planet Ferrix despite orders from Chief Inspector Hyne to leave the case and forge a story that made the Pre-Mor forces look better. Karn's attempts to arrest Andor on Ferrix led to the deaths of four Pre-Mor corpos and a civilian, prompting the Empire to step in and take permanent authority over the Morlani system. Most staff in Preox-Morlana were removed, save for a handful that help with the transitions of power.

Description

Morlana One,^[9] or simply Morlana,^[8] was a terrestrial planet in the first orbital position of the^[1] Morlani system^[4] within an intersecting portion of the Outer Rim Territories^[1] and the New Territories.^[2] It was situated in the Free Trade sector,^[4] a subsector of the Xappyh sector,^[3] at the coordinates Q-3 on the Standard Galactic Grid. The world also lay along the Hydian Way^[5] super-hyperroute^[10] between the Listehol and Ruuria systems.^[5]

Morlana One was the principal world in its star system,^[1] neighbored by the^[4] planet^[1] Ferrix and astronomical object Morlana Four. Appearing relatively blue-colored from afar,^[4] the world had a diameter of 11,236 kilometers (6,982 miles) and was orbited by one moon. Morlana One's landscape was characterised by oceans, coastal lowlands, and plains,^[1] along with its industrial waterfront cities.^[9] Considered by some to be a dreary planet,^[1] Morlana One had a Type I atmosphere^[6] breathable to humans and other species and its climate included rain and fog.^[4]

History

Corporate holdings

The principal world in the Morlani system, Morlana One grew an industry that dominated the world, with cities rising from commercial housing. By the time of the Galactic Empire, the planet served as the headquarters for the Consolidated Holdings of Preox-Morlana Corporation, a company that acted as a de-facto government and law enforcement agency for the Free Trade sector while being an extension of surveillance for the Empire.^[1]

The Coruscanti^[1] Syril Karn moved to Morlana One^[11] around 10 BBY^[12] and joined the Pre-Mor Authority Security Forces, eventually taking the position of Deputy Inspector of the Pre-Mor Security Inspection team.^[4] This was against the wishes of his mother, Eedy Karn, who believed staying on^[8] the Imperial capital planet of Coruscant^[13] had far more benefits.^[8] Another member of Pre-Mor Security, Kravas Drezzer, was demoted to a Sentry Corporal on Morlana One from being a squad commander on Morlana Four. Drezzer spent much of his off duty time in Morlana One's Leisure Zone, where he harassed and extorted people.^[13]

Double murder

In 5 BBY, Cassian Andor, a thief and salvager from Ferrix, visited a Preox-Morlana Corporate Zone on Morlana One at nighttime, parking a starship just beyond a causeway and making his way to a brothel in the Leisure Zone^[4] while trying to maintain a low profile.^[14] The man approached a hostess about information on a Kenari girl that had formerly worked at the place, whom he believed could be his sister Kerri. The hostess was unable to provide any information, and in the meantime, Drezzer and fellow sentry guard Verlo Skiff began trying to intimidate Andor. With Andor having deflected their comments, the pair chose to follow the man as he departed back to his starship.^[4]

Drunk by this point,^[15] Drezzer and Skiff stopped Andor in at a plaza entrance to the causeway and held him at gunpoint, making excuses to fine the man of his possessions. Andor then attacked the two, quickly subduing Skiff before wrestling Drezzer to the ground and taking his blaster. Skiff was dead by this point, and Andor dispatched Drezzer shortly afterwards despite the sentry guard's pleading. The thief then fled back to his ship and departed back to Ferrix.^[4]

Unsanctioned investigations

The Pre-Mor Security Inspection team probed the deaths of Drezzer and Skiff, and Karn made a report on the incident overnight, taking it to Chief Inspector Hyne in the Corporate Security Headquarters the next day and summarizing the situation to him. While Karn wished to solve the case, Hyne stopped the Deputy Inspector as he did not want to let the details get out of Drezzer and Skiff flouting rules, particularly as he was about to attend an Imperial Regional Command review to report on their crime rates. The Chief Inspector told his subordinate to instead make up a report that painted a better light on the Pre-Mor Authority's part.^[4]

Despite Hyne's orders, Karn proceeded to keep following leads on the murderer, Andor, and with an Astro-Traffic Control Officer he was able to spot a starship passing through Morlana One's checkpoints without identification on some starchart records. He had the control officer track the ships journey to Ferrix. Karn then liaised with three other officers to try and find a "Kenari male" on Ferrix. The officers could not find anything on the censuses, so he made them put out a bulletin, despite their doubts that the Ferrixians would help them.^[4]

The bulletin was responded to by the Ferrixian Floor manager Timm Karlo who turned in information on Andor over jealousy that he was getting close to his partner. The officers working with Karn processed the tip-off pulled up a file on Andor. The Deputy Inspector arrived with the hostess from the brothel to confirm that Andor was the man she saw on the night of the murder. With his suspect confirmed, Karn called in Sergeant Linus Mosk from Pre-Mor's Corporate Tactical Forces, the pair discussed the situation and put together a team of twelve corpos to find Andor on Ferrix.^[16]

Changes in power

Karn, Mosk and their team went to Ferrix on a mission to apprehend Andor,^[17] within just two days of Drezzer and Skiff's deaths.^[18] However, the mission went disastrously: four of the corpos as well as Karlo were killed, corporate and Ferrixian property was destroyed, and Andor managed to escape with a new contact, Luthen Rael.^[7] The Pre-Mor Security's embarrassing defeat quickly came to the attention of the Empire's Imperial Security Bureau (ISB), with the Free Trade sector's ISB Supervisor, Lieutenant Blevin, reporting what he knew of it during a meeting with the ISB Board on Coruscant.^[17]

The Empire moved in to the Morlani system the day after the incident on Ferrix,^[19] imposing permanent authority there,^[17] as well as the rest of the Free Trade Sector,^[13] and relieving the majority of the Pre-Mor Authority staff from their posts.^[20] Blevin personally dressed down Karn, Mosk, and Hyne at the latter's office making them sign off an ISB After Action Report detailing their involvement in the Ferrix incident and sending them to the transfer center to receive any personal possessions they were allowed to keep. While Karn,^[17] sent away with a full dishonour,^[11] returned to his mother on Coruscant,^[17] Mosk begun work at a smelter on Morlana One.^[20]

In the meantime, a handful of Pre-Mor Authority holdouts remained at the offices, helping with the Imperial transition there. One of them, a former partner of Mosk, was working at the headquarters night desk and learned from Imperial communications that Andor's mother had died and a funeral was being planned on Ferrix. Having been asked by Karn to pass on any information on Andor, Mosk contacted him from the smelter and passed on his suspicion that Andor would be attending the funeral.^[20] Karn subsequently met with Mosk and the pair attempted to find Andor at the funeral on Ferrix.^[21]

Inhabitants

By 5 BBY,^[4] Morlana One was home to 785 million people, including humans and other species. They were governed and policed by the Preox-Morlana Corporation, which provided all civil services to its citizens, known as employees, provided that they adhere to compliance directives and log their hours.^[1]

Locations

An industrial world,^[1] Morlana One was settled with industrial waterfront cities along its coasts^[9] that grew out of commercial housing, the Preox-Morlana Corporate Zone having a illuminated causeways that passed over bodies of water.^[1] There was also the Leizure Zone, a seedier part of the corporate zone that included brothels and attracted thrill seekers or those seeking information.^[13] Some areas were off limits to visitors.^[4]

Behind the scenes

Morlana One first appeared in "Kassa,"^[4] the first episode of the first season of Tony Gilroy's live-action Disney+ series Star Wars: Andor which aired on September 21, 2022.^[23] The world was teased beforehand in a sizzle reel for the season released on December 10, 2020.^[24] Concept art of Morlana One was created by concept artist Peter McKinstry.^[25] The very first sequence shot for Andor's first season was at the Morlana One brothel in "Kassa."^[26] The episode's opening on the Morlana One causeway was filmed on a pier extending from the Coryton Refinery across the River Thames in Essex, England. The shoot there went from 6pm to 3am at night.^[27]

Composer Nicholas Britell created an edgy, textural rumbling sound to match the dark and gritty atmosphere of Morlana One.^[22] The composer made a number of short "diagetic" music pieces to play from each club that Cassian Andor passed^[28] in the episode "Kassa."^[4] He also created the club music heard in the brothel^[22] in that episode^[4] as a longer track. That club music, and the piece "Morlana drop" were aimed at conveying an intensity and grittiness to the world. Britell then adapted the brothel club music as the "intergalactic hit" Niamos!, remixed in different contexts. The "Morlana Club Mix" represented a lounge version with elements of jazz.^[28]

Appearances

• Star Wars: Andor — "Kassa" (First appearance)
• Star Wars: Andor — "That Would Be Me"
• Star Wars: Andor — "Reckoning" (Mentioned only)
• Star Wars: Andor — "Aldhani"
• Star Wars: Andor — "Announcement" (Mentioned only)
• Star Wars: Andor — "Nobody's Listening!" (Mentioned only)
• Star Wars: Andor — "Daughter of Ferrix" (Screen only)
• Star Wars: Andor — "Harvest" (Mentioned only) (First identified as Morlana)
• Star Wars: Andor — "I Have Friends Everywhere" (Mentioned only)

Sources

Notes and references