Republic Transport Cruiser: Just off the coast of New Anar, Anara III

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History and Structure of Anara III
by Qwanaten Information Rescouces
as authorized by Qwanaten Security Guild

The Penalty for changing this Document is 50 Cycles at the Royal Yarcu.

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OVERVIEW

The planet of Anara III is a watery world consisting of many small islands, one large island, and a continent island.

The continent island is the birthplace of the mighty Anaran race, who millenia ago overcame their natural fear of the sea enough to venture onto their island neighbors. These islands became colonies of various richness, supplying profit to the House that populated them.

At the time of the discovery of New Anar, the four Houses of the Anar were ruled by Ruenam House and its powerful Traders Guild, which forcefully conscripted the most able-bodied to risk living on the treacherous sea in order to amass more profit than any other House.

When The Civil War ended with the Qwanaten and Tanaken Houses defeating Ruenam, the Ruenam were rightfully divested of all holdings and New Anar made joint property of Qwanaten and Tanaken.

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Anaran Social Structure

BASIC HIERARCHY

KING/QUEEN
ASSESSORS/INQUISITORS
ROYAL MINISTER/ HOUSE MINISTER/ COLONIAL MINISTER
QWANATENS
GOVERNORS
HOUSE DIRECTORS
DIVISION DIRECTORS
DIVISION WORKERS
HIRED EXTERNALS

ROYAL FAMILY--------------RULE OVER ANAR, ANARAN COLONIES, AND TERRITORIES

ASSESSORS-----------------KING/QUEENS TABULATORS OF VALUE

INQUISITORS-----------------BRANCH OF ASSESSORS THAT INVESTIGATES HIGH CRIMES

MINISTERS--------------------ORGANIZE AND DIRECT HOUSE INFORMATION

GOVERNORS----------------QWANATEN MEMBER CHOSEN TO OVERSEE COLONISTS

HOUSE DIRECTORS-------OVERSEE DIVISION DIRECTORS WITHIN THEIR HOUSE

DIVISION DIRECTORS----OVERSEE DIVISION WORKERS WITHIN THEIR HOUSE

DIVISION WORKERS------WORK TO PAY THEIR HOUSES' AND PERSONAL DEBTS

HIRED EXTERNALS---------LOWER HOUSE WORKERS ON TEMPORARY EMPLOY

LAW

Laws are made by the Ministers and signed into being by the King. There are two kinds of crimes:

(a) High Crimes: Treason, Murder, Assaulting a member of a High House, Robbing a member of a High House, False Testimony that aids or abets a High Crime

(b) Low Crimes: Assaulting and/or robbery of a Low House member, False Testimony

High Crimes are judged by the appropriate Minister with the attendance of all Head Directors. High Crimes committed by Qwanatens against Qwanatens are judged by the King with no other House present. Those found guilty of a High Crime are executed by firing squad.

Low Crimes are judged by the next highest supervising body, depending on the status of the victim(s) and accused. Attendance is open to any who care to witness the trial.

MARRIAGE

Matches must be from in-House only and be approved by that House's highest authority. Matchmaking is done by the fathers; however, the couple can refuse the pairing. Refusal can mean no other choice will be offered to the young man or woman thus jeapordizing their chance to continue their line.

QWANATEN HOUSE ("A" entwined by the "Anaran Eye" flowering vine sprouting from Crown.)

Anaran House comprising those of royal blood:

Royal Family (King, Queen, children)
Ministers (younger siblings)
-internal affairs
-external affairs
Assessors (uncles, aunts)
Governors (cousins)
Servants (misc. relations)

Most powerful of the four Houses of Anar. Membership is strictly hereditary. Position is determined by which family group is on the throne. All close servants are Qwanaten. Wield 4 Full-Council votes.

TANAKEN HOUSE (hands grasping and exchanging tools and knowledge)

Anaran House comprising those of skilled knowledge:

Scientist
- zoology
-engineering/metalogy
-botany
-geology

Trader (assumed from Ruenam House after Civil War)
-cartography/navigatioon
-strategist
- communication

Second most powerful of the four Houses of Anar. Membership is hereditary; however, members of lower Houses can be "adopted" in if sponsored by a Tanaken and with the approval of the House Directors. Position is determined by the Directors. Wield 3 Full-Council votes.

UNAKA HOUSE (knife, food products, soil, and a swimming fish)

Anaran House comprising common workers:

Hunter
Fisherman
Farmer

Third most powerful of the four Houses of Anar. Membership is hereditary. Extended family work groups are referred to as "yarcus". Family elder leads each yarcu. Wield Two Full-Council votes.

RUENAM HOUSE (Anaran Red & Black surrounding a blank field) After Civil War RUENAM HOUSE (Royal 'A', crown, and linking flowers. Strategy board and compass) Pre-Civil War

Anaran House comprising unskilled and property-less workers.

Fourth of the four Houses of Anar. Wield one Full-Council vote. Semi-organized leaders chosen by vote.

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WARNING!

You must study all documentations CAREFULLY. Failure to do so may result in imprisonment or death. Ignorance of our laws will not excused regardless of the lawbreakers lack of intelligence.

Visitors and Foreign Dignitaries must check in with Qwanaten Security regarding any travel plans. A quarter Cycle notice is required for approval. A quarter Cycle notice is required for requesting changes. No exceptions.

Remember your place as an inferior species.
Enjoy your stay.

For further documentation on Rules and Behavior we require you contact the Qwanaten Information Resources.

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Nick shut off the data pad Qui-Gon had given him to peruse and rubbed his tired eyes.

For 18 hours now, their well-shielded transport had been hiding beneath the ocean's surface just off the coast of the second largest island on Anara III. The elder Jedi had immediately sent out a secured audio message to his contact in the colony's Science Complex. The reply had been very concise: Wait. Now they were just waiting for a another message back, hoping that Jinn's contact would see them. It was a risky proposition for the man, as the Qwanaten had made it plain years before that they were no longer tolerant of 'visitors' to their world.

While they waited, Jinn had thoughtfully given him the data pad of information that had been required reading by all aliens back during the brief period when the ruling House had actually allowed aliens on their planet. Nick growled as he contemptously pushed the data pad aside. If he had to read one more of the 'Official Documents Needed For Review Before Being Granted Permission To Walk Anaran Soil' he was going to go back to Coruscant and *beg* the Council to kill him! No doubt about it---- these Anarans were born bureacrats. Stuffed shirts obsessed with power, profit, and appearances. Control freaks with a capital 'C'. He smirked. LaCroix would have probably fit in with the behind-the-scene string pullers; whereas Janette would have loved the the pomp and costumery of the Royal court. At one time, so would he. Now he cared little for such displays of finery and self importance. The Anaran disrespect of everything but themselves sickened him. To have reduced a quarter of their population into abject poverty for centuries? Obliterated whole forests and animal species without the least bit of regret whatsoever? The sooner he found Ayar's K'tlysa and he got off this world, the better.

Nick looked over to where Jinn and Kenobi were occupied with their breakfast of cereal and fruit; the older eating everything laid out in an orderly fashion in his bowl; the younger happily mixing ingrediants in haphazardly. He addressed the elder, "How ever did you stand living with these insufferably arrogant sons of b...people?"

The Jedi Master slowly swallowed a biteful of segregated melon before replying. "I wasn't there very long. And you mustn't judge the entire race by just those documents;---- believe it or not, there are actually some decently polite Anarans." He cocked his head in a thoughtful gesture, adding: "Few and far between, but there *are* some."

"Like this scientist we're going to see."

"Botanist. His name is Aven Anders-Unaka Tanaken, and he is, or *was*---I have not contacted him since I left--- Assistant Director of Botany studies on New Anar."

Nick frowned, recalling the last document he had just read. "Unaka Tanaken? Aren't those the names of two different Houses?"

"Indeed. Aven was born to the Unaka, but was orphaned and adopted by the Anders hereditary branch of Tanaken House." Finished with his fruit, Qui-Gon carefully wiped his beard clean with his napkin and settled back into his chair. Kenobi unabashedly took the remaining fruit and dumped it into his cereal, mixing it together thoroughly into mush. His master's lips thinned in disapproval of his student's eating habits, but he said nothing. "As an adoptee and not a pure Tanaken, his name must reflect that lower status despite his high standing."

"If the Anarans are such bigots, how did he get such a lofty position?" Nick wondered, remembering how on Earth second-class citizens were rarely allowed decent jobs, but usually regulated to the manual labor few others cared to do.

"Aven is a brilliant researcher. But you're right in that intelligence isn't enough,"---Qui-Gon eyed Nick carefully as he continued---"however, his adopter was the third most powerful man of the Tanaken House: Doctor Pohl Anders."

A sharp bolt of fear shot through Nick, making him hiss as he drew a sharp breath through clenched teeth. He shuddered.

Obi-Wan half got out of his chair. "Are you alright, Nick?"
[[ Master? ]]

++ Let him be, Padawan. He will be fine. ++

Nick rubbed his arms--- a nervous expression he had picked up somehow. "I don't really know. I suddenly got a very nasty feeling. This Pohl... he was the one you purchased Ayar from." Nick growled softly as the barest silouette of a memory ghosted through his mind. "He didn't treat Ayar very well, did he?" {{ Calm down. Relax. I have to learn to be still. Don't let what I can't change upset me so. }}

"No. He didn't," Qui Gon agreed, showing no outward hint that he had noticed Nicholas' momentary distress. "Dr. Pohl is a rather ruthless scientist, obsessed with getting knowledge regardless of the consequences to others. Do you wish to know the details that Aven gave me back then?"

Nick considered. He wasn't keen on it--- just hearing the man's name made him want to jump out of his skin, but... {{ Know thy Enemy. }} "Not really, but where ignorance may be bliss, I'd feel safer knowing what I'm up against should I run into this guy."

"It's been many years--- probably in his 60's now. He may not even be alive or living on New Anar anymore. His father's health was not the best when I last saw him so he might have chosen to retire with him to the main island.

"And he might not."

Qui-Gon nodded. "Indeed so. He's not the type to abandon his power base for even such a close House tie. Well... since we do seem to have time before Aven can prepare something for our coming, I will tell you what I know--- which, admittedly, isn't much and all hearsay."

"Tell away." Nick settled back in his chair. Obi-wan, too, stopped eating to listen as he had never heard his master recount this adventure before.

"Briefly then. Back when Aven was still a small boy at Northern Yarcu a remote farming community," Jinn began, "he accidently helped Pohl capture a supposedly mythical creature called Kievet that named himself, K'yer. The capture itself was short lived, but its effect on Pohl and Aven was not: the result was Aven's adoption and the Doctor's becoming obsessed with the Kievet. He hired one of the Unakan leaders, the accomplished hunter, Matek Aka Unaka, to track it down having no clear idea where to start looking. After all, the creature was supposed to have been extinct, and there was little to go on other than vague children's tales and obscure references in an early Ruenam captain's log book. Complicating the search was the Qwanaten Security Guild's sudden interest in Pohl's research activity. He had to work in secret for almost a decade before the Inquisitors left him alone. Not much afterwards, Matek discovered the narrow passage into the mountains the Kievet had come through. It took several trips--- Anarans are as unloving of snow as they are of sea travel--- but he finally found the Kievet."

"They found K'yer?" Nick felt a chill. He shrugged it off.

"More. They eventually found an entire village. However, the Kievet proved less docile than legend implied---- at least this 'K'yer' did. He trapped the Anaran party into retreating out of the mountains, but not without a prize: a young male that Pohl had forced the Kievet to impregnate for him. In fact, from what Matek told Aven, it was that very act that set the formerly mild K'yer off.

"Whoa--- hold on! Back up. Impregnate a *male*?!" Nick gave the Jedi a disbelieving look.

Qui-Gon smiled. "The Kievet are not human, Nick. They are not even of the order of mammalia. According to Aven, the male first impregnates the female, who later in the mating returns the favor. Either sex could end up with the fetus. When it's the male that actually carries the premature fetus to maturity, he nurtures it by feeding it first from the abdomenal pouch and then via the shoulder duct." He smiled at the other's stunned look of dismay and unconscious hand over his belt area. "Don't worry, *Ayar* didn't inherit any of *those* characteristics. At least, not yet."

"Oh, thanks. That's a relief--- for *now*," Nick snorted with mild sarcasm. "I like the idea of having children of my own some day, mind, but I don't really relish the idea of playing a mother kangaroo."

"Excuse me?" Obi-Wan asked. "What's a 'kangaroo'?"

"It's a big animal with a pouch and a mean left hook." He chuckled at their confusion, remembering his first visit to Australia. "Never mind. You had to have been there." Nick could still see LaCroix's surprised expression as the large marsupial had bowled the ancient vampire over with the unexpected move. His master was never particularly fond of the animals after that first encounter. And he had threatened Nick with suspending him to a euclyptus tree via a stake through his chest if he ever related the tale to anyone else.

"Back to the story... " continued Qui-Gon once Nick had settled down. "Pohl took the fetus-carrying male, 'K'tay', I think was the name Aven said, back to the Science Guild and somehow got the rescources to have the developing fetus injected with his own DNA. The result was Inav Ayar."

"What happened to K'tay?" Obi-Wan asked.

"Aven wouldn't say, other than it got away soon after the birth."

The captain of the Cruiser chimed in at that moment. "Message coming in, Master Jinn. It says only "Living Sky/Center Hour". Do you want me to reply back, sir?"

"No. The less communications, the better," Jinn advised him. "We will be departing shortly."

"Very well, sir. I'll steer her in as close as I can."

"Thank you, Captain."

Qui-Gon switched off the commlink, then fastened his serene eyes on Nick. "Aven has accepted the risk, and is willing to meet us. Ready to go for a swim?"

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End of Episode Two: Part One