SWG Resource Research

I made a pass through the Completely Unofficial Star Wars Encyclopedia looking for information from the existing continuity that might apply to chemistry and botany, two announced skills of particular interest to me. The CUSWE also contains a massive amount of detail on mining operations and geology, which leads me to hope that mining might include some geology (as a research component of the skill). The following essay describes some highlights of what I found; this essay is by no means a complete review of all Star Wars resources, but rather an overview of a selected few that I was able to find which seemed like a good match for the Galaxies setting.

Locally-Available Resources: [ Naboo | Yavin 4 | Tatooine | Endor | Corellia ]
Imported Resources: [ Durasteel | Spice | Medicine | Military | Light | Earth-Like | Other ]

Resources In Your Back Yard

Botany and More on Naboo

Cambylictus: a tree native to Endor's forest moon and as well as Naboo; its leaves and bark can be crushed into a paste and used as a medicine, specifically in effective bandages made from the bark.

Millaflower: described as providing a soothing, even tranquilizing extract, gathering or growing these plants and carefully extracting the essence should yield an elixer that could be used either as a mental restorative or, in a higher concentration, a weapon that could be slipped into a victim's drink or even injected to induce stupor.

Treeman's Herb: useful as a preservative or medicine, this herb would be prized by botanists mostly for healing physical wounds, although it would be nice to think that unpreserved foodstuff would go bad (as it did in the classic game Nethack), thereby providing another important use for this plant.

Rominaria: a flower noted for beauty, these would be raised for sale to the discerning PC or NPC home decorator.

The sap of the rutiger tree (found in the swamplands) and blades of saago grass (found in the deserts and beaches) of Naboo are combined to make cloth and even light armor. The sap is used to boil the leaves, which become softer and stronger and make natural protection suitable for soldiers.

Splinter Fern: useful as an alternative medicine, the needles of this plant are used in acupuncture (and as a cooking spice).

Suma: the Gungans crush this plant's petals to make ink, which might mean that it lends itself nicely to a mission for an amateur botanist.

Woosha: a bioluminscent plant used by the Gungans as medicine.

For animal hanlers, the aquatic creature called the blarth, often kept as Gungan pets, are noteworthy for their saliva (CUSWE: "the drool of the blarth was also collected and used in the production of skin lubricants, perfumes, and cleaning solutions"). This unusual resource is also combined with the bubble spore to create bubble wort. Bubble wort is a material concocted by Gungans and used to make their bubble buildings, through a secret distilling process.

Another prized animal found on Naboo is the jaboon, a large, slow-moving creature which can be used as a mount, and whose skin provides excellent leather.

The beetle-like kreetle, found on Tatooine, Naboo, and elsewhere, is trained and used by Gungans to open containers (and clams!). Farmed kreetles are a popular Gungan snack.

Nuna is a flying reptile found on Naboo, enjoyed as food by Gungans but useful only as a poison to Rodians and Twi'leks.

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What about those cool energy balls the Gungans use? The famous Naboo plasma energy that powers the human and Gungan civilizations (and is notably used in Gungan war machines) is extract from the planet's core by the huge locap plant, although this seems to happen without requiring any interaction. The gas sogthane, chemically created from xosha grass, is also used in the unique Gungan technologies.

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Botany and Geology on Yavin 4

Kibo flower: a botanist named Baji is researching this plant, which has the potential to restore eyesight to the blind. With an associated NPC already present in the continuity, this is particularly appealing as a potential mission, and there may be no other way to cure blindness.

Massassi tree: the flowers of these trees can reduce fever, a useful benefit for the mentally drained adventurer, or a victim of poisoning or disease.

Nebula orchid: known primarily, amazingly, as a source of powerful string. Their vines contain a fluid that causes the vine to tighten its hold when it is cut. It seems possible that a garotte-like weapon or a snare could be created using such string, as well as more practical uses around the house.

Touch-not: the leaves of this plant are poisonous on contact (especially for Mon Calamari), quickly causing blisters and burns.

For the miner, corusca gems are found here as well. These precious stones are used in the manufacture of lightsabers.

Resources on Tatooine

The precious Durindfire Gem is found only on Tatooine. It is so valuable that the Empire uses it to fund many projects, and so rare that the Rebellion can actually monitor the movements of the gemstones to track Imperial projects.

Blue Milk is a nutrituous beverage used to fortify the diets of those who inhabit Tatooine and other desert planets where nutrients are scarce. It also may be useful as a medicine.

The "dew" or sweat on the back of the dewback has medicinal qualities.

The kreetle insect, discussed previously, is also found on Tatooine.

Botany and Mining on Endor's Forest Moon

The deadly poison Rokna Blue is found on Endor as well; in tiny quantities, it can induce a state of bliss, but larger doses cause memory loss, rapid aging, and death.

Beyond that, extensive information is available about the moon generally (including the fact that it does have a significant ore mining operation), but not about its resouces.

Botany on Corellia

Other Resources Affecting Likely Crafts

Dura-armor and Durasteel

Some of the imported resources include those needed to create dura-armor: neutronium (found on Koratas, a moon of the fascinating planet Dathomir), zersium (found on the ocean planet Alluuvia and the moon Koratas mentioned above), and lommite (found on Dorvalla, Elom, and Koratas).

These same resources are also needed to create durasteel, along with the primary component meleenium, found only on the planet Af'el. Cubirian is considered one of the few metals suitable as a substitute for meleenium.

Lommite is also used to make transparisteel, which may just be a variant of durasteel but is needed for spaceship windows and can even be used to build a sort of cloaking device. Other Star Wars metals, some of which are probably variants of durasteel, are discussed but poorly documented regarding the resources involved; they include alosteel, ceramisteel, crystasteel, flexsteel/flexi-steel (used in fibercord), Impervium (used in stormtrooper armor -- read on to learn why it's so inneffective in the movies...), link-steel, plasteel/pasti-steel, plexisteel (for droids), protosteel, quadanium steel (used in TIE fighters and other spacecraft), steelhide (for blaster holsters), and many others.

Zersium, mentioned above in the manufacture of durasteel, also has another use: as extra insulation, likely useful in very cold or hot climates.

Spice

Several CUSWE entries discuss the wide variety of spices in the galaxy, some of which come from plants and some of which are byproducts of animals (notably the spice grub of Kessel and the spice worm of Sevarcos).

The Twi'lek homeworld Ryloth is the source of the mineral that yields the spice ryll, and one can find on Krann the spice eldratz, both of which are extremely addictive and deadly, but popular as recreational drugs and likely candidates for smuggling runs. Of clearer benefit is andris spice (from Ord Mantell and Sevarcos); while addictive it has the benefit of heightened senses, which might be enough to bring many players under its spell. Also from Sevarcos comes carsunum, a rare black spice which confers at least the feeling of heightened abilities as well as prevention of hive viruses (although these are largely eliminated in our time period), but which leaves the user at the risk of death from withdrawal. For the particularly brave, high profits reward the risk of dragon-slug caves on Hoth which contain Lumni-spice, the rarest spice.

Avabush spice, found on Baros, is used as a truth serum and would be popular with the Empire and Hutt leaders for use in torture of Rebels and other enemies.

Finally and perhaps most importantly, the famous glitterstim spice, found on Kessel, Bridin Anchorage, and Mon Gazza (and perhaps elsewhere?), actually heightens latent mental powers, although it has the side effect of blindness or even insanity from overuse.

Take Two And Call Me In The Morning...

Aside from bacta, many other resources are mentioned as having healing properties. One is lu-ramin oil, found on Ebra and used to make Ebranite Lu-Ramin Oilmead, a medicinal beverage. This might be a handy cure for a bartender to keep under the counter. Another plant with medicinal uses is pommwomm, from Sif'krie, which when used within 30 hours -- time-critical materials are great for smuggling missions! -- is a popular flavoring as well as an ingredient in many medications. Finally, dola, found on Aruza, has flowers that can be harvested for a thick juice that is processed into an antibiotic, a procedure that no doubt involves both botany and chemistry.

Weapons and Armor

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How are blasters built? A blaster, which is the common generic term for hand-held laser weapons ranging from tiny sidearms to rifles, typically has a small power pack that generates coherent (laser) light aimed through a barrel, with adjustable power for various effects on the target. The technology is essentially the same for all varieties of laser weaponry, including turbolaser cannons: when fired, the blaster releases gas through the Heter valve into a conversion chamber ("Xciter") which exposes the gas to the energy from the power cell. The excited gas then passes to the actuating module, which converts the gas into light and energy. The galven pattern, an electronic circuit lining the blaster barrel, then modulates the light and energy into the deadly beam, and soon thereafter the target says "ow!". (Thanks to the CUSWE and the OSWD.)

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Eleton gas (found on Caraaz) is used in weapon fuel cells. Tibanna gas, for which Cloud City above Bespin is the best source, is a blaster enhancement as well as a hyperdrive coolant. Another blaster component found on Bespin (as well as Justa, a moon of the "safari planet" Mutanda) is prothium gas. Hyperbaride, found on Goroth Prime and elsewhere, is used in turbolasers.

On defense, dura-armor is obviously an important product, but many others are worthy of discussion. Ionite (found on Bandomeer) can "cancel out" electronics. Hibridium (from Garos 4) is a cloaking material controlled by the Empire. Cortosis ore, from Obredaan and Suarbi, can be used to make armor; the shell of Ando's Andoan mineral-fish is also used for armor, with the significant benefit that the fish creates the shell/armor incredibly quickly from valuable minerals and ore (zoology, anyone?). The Empire uses doonium, found in the Verde and Thrugii asteroid fields and Alluvia, in their war machines and also in acid mines.

Light Sources

Alternately, you could send in a droid ahead of you, provided your droid has eyes...and eyes, built using photoreceptors, rely on corthel gas or cortheum, from the planet Nurstin.

A Few Familiar Names...

Last But Not Least

And don't forget the soothing effects of Santherian tenho-root, a favorite of your average Galactic stoner.

Endnote