Elomin

The Elomin are tall humanoids with thin heads crowned by four distinctive horns. Away from their homeworld, they are occasionally mistaken for Zabraks, who are more common across the galaxy. The Elomin have large, pointed ears and nearly solid-colored, bright eyes of a wide variety of hues. Their skin color ranges from black to brighter shades of red. Their fingers have small sharp, claw-like nails.

Despite long involvement in the Republic and the Empire, many Elomin prefer working on their own or with other Elomin whenever possible. These xenopho￾bic tendencies also play into their dealings with the Eloms. However, in spite of their insular societal ten￾dencies, many individual Elomin are driven by a thirst for knowledge that takes them into the wider galaxy.

The Elomin live in politically divided lands, with countries and cities. They actively participated in galactic society and were members of the Republic long before their discovery of the Elom. Joining the former Republic advanced Elomin technology to a very advanced space age in a short time. The Elomin pursue patterns of logic and puzzle out the ways of the universe. They are capable of reordering their thinking when presented with enough evidence, but they can stubbornly hold to previous ideas and ignore new discoveries or advances until it is overwhelming. This dogged adherence to a well-established order cemented the Elomin stance after the initial discovery of the Eloms. The decree recognizing the Eloms’ sentience forced the Elomin to formally acknowledge the reality. It has taken years of Imperial abuse for the Elomin to acknowledge that they now must turn to their underground neighbors for assistance so that both species can survive.

Elom is a frigidly cold desert world. Elomin settlements and cities dot the surface. Their cities are as technologically advanced as those found on most Imperial worlds. The planet is best known as a source of lommite, which is used in the manufacture of transparisteel windows for starships and other craft. Originally an industry contracted out to offworld mining operators, it is now controlled by the Empire. Whereas the original agreements tried to preserve and respect the planet’s environment, the Imperials place efficiency and production well above local concerns. The steady, continued destruction of vast areas of their world trouble and anger both the Elomin and Eloms. Both have been powerless to slow it down, let alone bring it to a halt.

Elomin cities and towns are clustered in the more hospitable environments around the harsher deserts. Mining operations are farther afield, given that mines close to the oldest cities were depleted long ago. Imperial interests and operations focus on the mines. Imperials in the cities have no qualms about forcing Elomin into service as miners. Banishment to the mines is a common and cruel form of punishment for anyone who opposes the Empire or offends the wrong Imperial official. However, reasons for hauling someone away are just a formality, and the Elomin understand that anyone could be next.

The Empire has largely ignored the Eloms’ deep cities, located far below the planet’s surface. The cities have varying levels of technology, depending on the location and even the neighborhood within a settlement. Most advanced technology is imported from the Elomin and sometimes beyond. Many cities, remote caverns, and dwellings are connected by natural and Elom-constructed tunnels. The tunnels range in size from those requiring single file passage, to more sophisticated varieties with paved floors and reinforced roofs. Some are large enough to allow for speeder traffic. Many of the cities and tunnels are so far underground that the Imperials have difficulty detecting them, let alone setting up surveillance. The cities are largely home to just the Eloms. However, some t Elomin rescued from Imperial mining efforts have been allowed to live among the Eloms indefinitly.

The Elomin speak a language much closer to Basic than the Eloms, and most Elomin struggle to learn the language of their neighbors The few Elomin who make the effort to learn Elom are usually those who end up living with the Eloms after rescue from the mines or seek out Elom enclaves to learn more about them.

The Elomin are much more motivated to fight the Empire, especially those who escape forced labor in the mines. However, many who are willing to fight the Empire are unable to join up because they are trapped on Elom.

When a world has a vitally important resource for the Imperial military industrial complex, the Empire takes a great and active interest in that resource’s unhindered acquisition and production. Elom is but one of many worlds that suffers under Imperial production edicts and quotas. The Empire took control of Elom’s important lommite mines and production sites years ago. They enslaved many of the Elomin to work in the mines. The never-ending, demanding quotas require a relentless pace of work. Imperial officials continually squeeze more efficiency out of the entire process. These brutal methods have cost innumerable Elomin lives.

The Elomin struggle hasn’t gone unnoticed. The Eloms quickly learned over the years that they were sometimes in a position to aid their neighbors. What likely started as a relief effort eventually turned into wholesale rescue operations to whisk Elomin away from the mines and into the Eloms’ tunnels. The Eloms must take great care in finding a balance between freeing as many Elomin as they can while avoiding being made an example of Imperial power. Wisely, the Eloms don’t want the Empire to seek out their enclaves and make an all-out assault against their underground civilization.

Since the Empire mostly ignores the Eloms until they prove to be a threat, losing a few workers on occasion usually only prompts a localized response. Imperial governors order expeditionary forces to attack Elom settlements that are near the surface when larger breakouts or highly public shows of resistance occur. In areas of recurring trouble, the Imperials deploy probe droids on a regular basis to discover and map the Elom’s underground warrens. There is an ongoing low-level war between the Eloms and the probe droids, which attack any life-form they encounter in the caves on sight. For their part, the Eloms draw the droids into uninhabited cavern complexes to trick or destroy them.

The Rebel Alliance supports the Eloms’ efforts largely in spirit. The Rebellion has agents and operatives among both the Eloms and Elomin, but little in the way of an organized or effective resistance operation. Individual agents recruit and resist, always seeking ways to maximize their effectiveness. Elom agents freely use the Elom underground cavern networks. However, winding underground travel is never as direct as overland or air travel. The difficulty of moving between cavern networks is a major weak link. It has the potential to expose secret entrances to each cavern, and forces agents into the open, however briefly.

Elomin agents have greater access to Imperial plans above ground, frequently witnessing the Empire’s efforts firsthand. Their movement on Elom is much more limited, but the information they learn is often more important to the wider Rebellion and other resistance efforts. Elomin agents also have an easier time of transmitting or transferring intelligence offworld.