Qina

Qina was a cool, lush moon that orbited the planet Hanchin of the Outer Rim Territories' Moddell sector. It featured forests, mountain peaks, and river valleys on its surface and was home to the creatures known as dochinie, pech, and rujo. Qina was inhabited by approximately two million Humans as well as members of the Ayrou and Vashan species, and Qinan landholders kept herds of the local pechs and rujos.

Each year at mid-winter, the moon's population nearly doubled when Vashan pilgrims traveled there from their homeworld Vasha. The penitents trekked on foot to the remote Inicus Mont, which was a holy site in the Vashan religion. At Hanchin-set, a ritual took place wherein Vashan bodhis, who resided in Inicus Mont's caves, appeared in the cave-mouths and expectorated stones known as sin-bullets from their antestomaches. The Vashan pilgrims would then fight over the sin-bullets, the consumption of which was believed to absolve the penitents of the prior year's misdeeds.

At some point by 3 ABY, the Vashan caste theocrat Dochi At-Rial, who had in his possession the artifact known as the Ayrou Tessent, fled to Qina after being confronted over it by a group of treasure hunters on Vasha. The group followed At-Rial to Qina, where it retrieved the artifact and subsequently hired the bodhi Brixbrax Ux-rox to confirm the Tessent's authenticity via psychic reading. During the visit on Qina, the treasure hunters also engaged in space combat against the starships of their rivals.

Description

Qina^[2] was a terrestrial moon that orbited the gas giant–type planet Hanchin,^[3] a part of the Qina system. It lay within the Inner Moddell systems area of^[2] the Moddell sector,^[1] one of the subsectors making up the Inner Zuma Region^[2] within the Outer Rim Territories' Zuma sector.^[1] It was connected via hyperlanes to the Kuna's Tooth, Thonner, and Trindello systems.^[2]

Qina's local year lasted three hundred local days, each of which was twenty-one standard hours long—though the moon was washed in the eerie light of Hanchin, which rendered the natural satellite's nights short to non-existent.^[3] On the rare occasions where a part of Qina's surface did not receive light from Hanchin, the resultant brief period of darkness was known by the moon's native inhabitants as a Hanchin-set.^[5] The moon was both purplish-blue^[3] and green in color,^[4] and it appeared very small against the backdrop of the gas giant planet's glowing green bulk. It had standard gravity, a breathable Type I atmosphere, and a cool climate, with winter being one of the moon's seasons^[3] and a Hanchin-set regularly occurring at mid-winter.^[5]

A wild and rugged yet beautiful world, Qina had forests, jagged mountain peaks, and steep-walled valleys through which tumbled rivers and which were overflowing with lush vegetation, including fruit. Qina's native fauna included the^[3] predators^[4] known as pechs and the eight-legged, feathered, predatory gliding creatures known as dochinies. In addition, the moon was home to a surefooted variety of the rujo, a docile quadruped from the Moddell sector's capital planet Annaj.^[3]

History

At some point by 3 ABY,^[6] in The Abyss mine on the planet Vasha, Vashan miners discovered the Ayrou Tessent, a chalcedony idol that was one of the two Tessent artifacts and which, according to a legend, held encoded coordinates for a treasure vault the Ur-Chapterhouse of the il Madri religious tradition of the Ayrou species had hidden in one of the Kuna systems. Eventually, a group of treasure hunters visited The Abyss and confronted both Dochi At-Rial, a Vashan caste theocrat who had the Tessent in his possession, and the Vashan swordsman Poina Tuc-shol—who, due to religious reasons, was wary of any non-Vashans obtaining the Tessent. The former, however, managed to flee with the Tessent for the Vashan holy site of Inicus Mont on Qina, in the process discarding the necklace of shrunken Ayrou heads that helped off-worlders distinguish the theocrat from other Vashans.^[4]

The treasure hunters pursued At-Rial to Qina, which at the time was experiencing one of its regular seasons of Vashan pilgrimages to Inicus Mont, and were in turn tailed by Tuc-shol. The group then retrieved the Tessent from the Vashan theocrat, who had taken up refuge in Inicus Mont's Cave of the Sanctuary, and visited the Cave of Memory. There the treasure hunters hired the Vashan bodhi Brixbrax Ux-rox to perform a psychic reading on the Tessent in order to confirm the artifact's authenticity. The group's rivals in the hunt for the Tessents also arrived in the cave at that time, leading to a tense situation. At some point during the treasure hunters' visit on Qina, the local guide Groex Gal lent the quartet of Z-95 Headhunter starfighters he maintained on the moon to the service of the group's cause, and the fighters eventually saw use in combat against the starships of the rival treasure hunters.^[4]

Inhabitants

Qina was home to a population of approximately two million Humans as well as members of the Ayrou and Vashan species. Qinans governed themselves through a democracy, and they had access to space-level technology. Landholders on Qina kept herds of the local pechs and rujos, and the Qinans exported fruit as well as meat and hides obtained from pechs and rujos. In return, foodstuffs and technology was imported on Qina from off-world. By the time of the Yuuzhan Vong War, addiction to the Rokna Blue drug, which was also brought onto Qina from elsewhere, had become a growing problem among the moon's inhabitants.^[3]

Each year at mid-winter, the moon was visited by around two million Vashan pilgrims, which consisted of members of all Vashan theocratic castes.^[3] The penitents were transported by the thousands from their homeworld Vasha aboard freighters that landed on Qina every hour, only taking the time to unload the passengers and refuel before taking off for Vasha again.^[4] The pilgrims would subsequently gather below the caves of the holy site known as Inicus Mont.^[3]

During Hanchin-set, the Vashan bodhis residing there appeared in the cave-mouths and expectorated the stones known as sin-bullets from their antestomaches. The Vashan pilgrims would then fight over the sin-bullets, with any penitent who managed to obtain one immediately consuming it and crushing it in their true stomach—a ritual that was believed to absolve the Vashan of the prior year's misdeeds. Qinans viewed the religious ceremony as slightly unusual yet still profited from it: Ayrou and Human traders attended the crowds of pilgrims in order to sell them sustenance, rent beds, and provide other necessities in exchange for remuneration.^[3]

More than a decade prior to^[4] 3 ABY,^[6] the Ebranite scout and mountaineer Groex Gal came to reside on Qina, intending to establish an Ebranite colony there. Although that endeavour failed, Gal remained on the moon, working as a scout and an unofficial tour guide for the Vashan pilgrims and over the years becoming well-known and trusted among many of them. Gal loved his work, and when the Vashan pilgrims were not visiting Qina he was willing to journey into Qina's mountains for the price of his expenses alone.^[4] Gal kept working as a tour guide on Qina into the early years of the existence of the New Republic,^[7] which was formed in 4 ABY.^[8]

Locations

Qina housed a single standard-class spaceport^[3] known as Qina spaceport. During the time of the Vashan pilgrimages, it broadcast a public service announcement to all starships arriving on Qina. In the announcement, which described Qina's spires as "blissful," a brief description and coordinates were provided for four of the most-visited caves of Inicus Mont.^[4] Docking fees at the facility soared every mid-winter due to the heavy influx of pilgrims.^[3]

The pillar-shaped^[9] limestone spire known as Inicus Mont, which was a holy site^[3] in the religion of the Vashan species,^[4] was situated in a remote corner of Qina's landmass.^[9] The way from the Qina spaceport to Inicus Mont was exhausting and treacherous, winding both through valleys with tree-covered crags, amid which wild pechs preyed upon any mammalian travelers among the Vashan pilgrims, and across rushing rivers where the loss of footing could lead an individual to be swept over a waterfall. Despite the perils of the journey, the route intentionally did not make use of such modern conveniences as a repulsorlift taxi system—and not even simple bridges across the rivers—since the Vashans found attempts to make the trip easier that way to be insulting to their religion and were known to attack anyone using a starship to travel directly to Inicus Mont.^[4]

Inicus Mont was riddled with tunnels as well as^[9] forty-two caves,^[4] inside the latter of which Vashan bodhis prayed and meditated, creating in their antestomaches polished stones known as sin-bullets as part of the prayer-drone process.^[3] The swords of ancient Vashan heroes were preserved in the Cave of the Blade, and, according to legend, the most venerated artifacts of Vashan religio-archaeology were kept in the Cave of the Image. In addition, the tour guide Groex Gal worked from a small cave enclosure on the eastern slope of the foothills of Inicus Mont. The Ebranite maintained a quartet of refitted Z-95 Headhunter starfighters—originally envisioned as a defense force for an Ebranite colony on Qina—in a hidden cave near his enclosure.^[4]

Behind the scenes

Race for the Tessent

Qina first appeared in the roleplaying adventure "Race for the Tessent," which was published for use with Wizards of the Coast's Star Wars Roleplaying Game in the ninth issue of the Star Wars Gamer magazine^[4] on February 22, 2002.^[10] Within the magazine, it was also described in the Star Wars Roleplaying Game source article "Endor and the Moddell Sector." In that article, the moon was consistently referred to as "Mina"^[3]—a spelling that carried over to several entries in 2008's The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia.^{[5][7][9][11][12]} The 2009 reference book The Essential Atlas once again used the spelling "Qina,"^[2] with Jason Fry, co-author of both that book^[13] and the Star Wars Gamer 9 articles,^[3][4] confirming it as the correct variant of the moon's name.^[13] The Essential Atlas placed Qina in grid square H-16.^[2]

Instead of featuring a set plot, "Race for the Tessent" presents several settings in the Moddell sector that the player characters may visit during their search for one of the two artifacts known as the Tessents. For each of the settings, the adventure also suggests possible circumstances for a Tessent being hidden there. This article assumes that as much of the non-contradictory information presented in the adventure as possible is canonical with respect to the Star Wars Legends continuity. Therefore, it is assumed that the Ayrou Tessent was hidden on Vasha and that the player characters visit The Abyss, where they confront both Dochi At-Rial and Poina Tuc-shol. At-Rial is assumed to have then fled to Qina with the Tessent.^[4]

"Race for the Tessent" suggests that, if the player characters attempt to confront At-Rial anywhere else but in The Abyss, the theocrat immediately escapes to Qina with the Tessent. Alternately, if the player characters don't visit Vasha at all, they can still be drawn to Qina by rumors that Vashan miners have uncovered the idol and shuttled it to the moon for safekeeping it at Inicus Mont's Cave of the Image. The adventure also suggests that, if he is not actively pursuing the player characters, Tuc-shol may be lurking near the Cave of the Blade on Qina while waiting for any disturbance to arise at Inicus Mont.^[4]

Cave of Memory ending

"Race for the Tessent" presents Qina's Cave of Memory as a possible site for an ending to the adventure. The adventure suggests that, while Brixbrax Ux-rox is reading psychic energies off a Tessent offered to him, the player characters' rivals in the hunt for the artifacts also arrive in the cave. It is left up to the gamemaster player's discretion to choose how Ux-rox reacts to the subsequent tense situation—the bodhi can keep the artifact in his antestomach where he is storing it during the reading; or he can either spit out the Tessent at the feet of whomever gave it to him or even expectorate the artifact out of the cave entirely and down into the amassed crowd of Vashan pilgrims.^[4]

In the case where Ux-rox proceeds to pronounce the result of his reading of the Tessent, the actions of the player characters' rival treasure hunters depend on which of the two idols has been thus identified. The xenoarchaeologist Doctor Follnor Callat is only interested in acquiring the Alsakan Tessent, being willing to do anything in his power to obtain it, and does not care at all about the Ayrou Tessent. The opposite is true for Tuc-shol, while the criminals known as the Kintan Gunrunners and the gang of the pirate Korraj both are only interested in the profit to be gained from selling the artifacts and are thus prepared to fight to obtain either of them.^[4]

In addition, if At-Rial sees an opportunity to steal either of the two Tessents during the fighting over them, he will do so and attempt to escape into the masses of Vashan pilgrims below the Cave of Memory. Finally, Ux-rox may also proclaim either of the Tessents to be a fake, in which case one of the individuals involved in the treasure hunt can slip away unnoticed with the real artifact. This article refrains from assuming any of the abovementioned details concerning the visit to the Cave of Memory are canonical; similarly, while the space combat involving Groex Gal's starfighters is indeed assumed to have occurred at Qina, the article does not assume the specific identities of the parties involved in the confrontation.^[4]

Appearances

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• "Race for the Tessent" — Star Wars Gamer 9 (First appearance)

Sources

• "Endor and the Moddell Sector" — Star Wars Gamer 9 (as Mina)
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia (as Mina)
• The Essential Atlas

Notes and references

External links

• Daniel Wallace's Geekosity — Endnotes for Star Wars: The Essential Atlas (part 5 of 5) on Blogspot (backup link)