Carida: Heavy Duty

Planet Hoppers: September 2003

By Cory Herndon
Welcome to "Planet Hoppers," a new feature on the Star Wars Roleplaying Game website. Each month,
we'll bring you a set of articles on a particular world in the Star Wars galaxy that a Gamemaster can use
separately or as a linked series of events.
This month, we'll hit the books -- and the bunkers -- for an intense year of combat training at the Imperial
Academy on Carida and meet a pair of especially distinguished students. Be sure to check back each
week for the next installment!
Part 1: Weight Training
In which a future TIE pilot transfers to the Carida Imperial Military Academy for her final year of study.
Part 2: Boot Camp
In which the fourth-year cadets take part in combat exercises designed to cull the weak from the Emperor's forces.
Part 3: War Games
In which cadets Davani and Brie take the new MT-ST out for a crawl in the mountains of Carida.
Part 4: Cadets Gone Wild
In which cadets Davani and Brie have a wild night on a two-day pass before they graduate.

Part 1: Weight Training

Though Carida, like Alderaan, eventually became one of the few worlds actually destroyed outright by one of the Emperor's
superweapons (albeit at the hands of a disturbed Jedi apprentice), the planet maintained a peaceful existence within the Republic for
thousands of years. A high gravity world populated by an intelligent species with a thriving mercantile economy, Carida exported little to
the rest of the galaxy but raw minerals and a few local food stuffs, and the rest of the galaxy rarely stopped by longer than it took to load
a freighter.
Two centuries before Palpatine's rise, the Republic Senate passed legislation mandating a central academy for centralized training of
the many separate planetary defense forces that kept security on most worlds. The Caridans were happy to oblige the Republic with
vast acreage upon which to build the new academy, which soon began turning out graduates that raised the quality of defense forces
throughout the Republic. The planet's heavier-than-normal gravity provided the perfect crucible for trainees, who emerged from the new
Republic Defense Academy stronger and far more experienced in all forms of combat, crowd control, and survival.
Once the galaxy erupted into full-scale chaos, first with the Clone Wars and then the Rebellion conflict, the Empire formally took control
of the Carida academy. The rechristened Imperial Military Academy soon began churning out battle-hardened troops to replenish the
voracious Imperial war machine.
Planet: Carida
Planet Type: Terrestrial
Climate: Temperate
Terrain: Forest, desert, glacier
Atmosphere: Breathable
Gravity: Heavy (1.98 Standard)
Diameter: 18,324 km
Length of Day: 25 standard hours
Length of Year: 357 local days
Sentient Species: Caridans, Humans
Language: Caridan, Basic
Population: 25 million
Species Mix: 75% Caridan, 23% Human, 2% droids
Government: Council of Merchants/Military administration
Major Exports: Military personnel, military technology, industrial equipment

Major Imports: Foodstuffs

System/Star: Caridan
Planets

Type

Moons

Andra

Molten rock

Bedara

Barren rock

Orline

Methane seas

Carida

Terrestrial

Carida's Blade Asteroid belt

Cari

Gas giant

14

Andinri

Gas giant

20

Carida's Helm Frozen debris belt -

Though Carida Academy soon gained a reputation as a "stormtrooper factory" during the Rebellion era, the Academy also expanded its
officer training program, which ranked number one in the Empire at the time of Carida's destruction, and takes on part-time students for
specialized combat studies.
No matter where you were destined to serve in the Empire's forces, odds are it required at least a semester on Carida -- as Cadet
Myrette Davani, a future TIE Fighter pilot, learned when she transferred from flight school on Coruscant for a final year of study at the
Academy. Davani transmitted the following message six months after the Battle of Yavin.
This background file excerpt is reprinted with permission from the New Republic Intelligence Ongoing Investigation Division.

HoloNet Message Transcript

Sent To: Nils and Haryette Davani [Node ID: Beheboth-DavNH-3779G5003]
Sent From: Cadet Myrette Davani [Node ID: Carida-DavanM-8789753-J7Y5]
Subject: One Year to Go
Despite your direst predictions, Dad, I've safely piloted the personnel shuttle to Carida. My entire class made it in one piece, and I didn't
even nick the paint. Think you can drop that formal protest with the Coruscani Pilot Institute and Commandant Mogurk now? They
chose me for the honor of flying the class here because my marks were so high. And because Shira refused. And that's fine. It's no
shame to be second-best to Cadet Brie. She's the finest pilot I've ever seen behind the stick, and I'd say that even if I didn't know her so
well. At first I suspected she'd refused so that I could have the job, but I don't think that's it. I don't think she's been getting much sleep.
And now, Carida. The final year of my training. The Academy. You know, the area around the main campus is a lot like home -- rocky,
dry, mountains like dragon's teeth -- but coming into orbit, I saw green patches bigger than the Bothehl Desert. And oceans. Real
oceans, not those anemic patches that dribble up from Emperor knows where on Coruscant. I have to admit I took the longest approach
vector the regs allowed just to get a good long look at the polar regions. It's a wonder there's any water left to make it rain, but it does
that too (right now, in fact).
Oh, and the gravity. It's as bad as you said, Dad. But I'm strong; if I wasn't, I wouldn't be here. Look at it this way -- someday I'll come
back to the farm, and I'll be able to do the work of ten binary load lifters.
I know you've gotten flack about your daughter running off to join the stormtroopers. You know it's really not going to be like that. But it's
sure not going to be CPI, either. First, they'll run us through the same boot camp as the other new arrivals, and then the rest of the first
two semesters is almost nothing but tactics, strategy, and survival, "in no particular order." (That was Mogurk's joke -- I'm going to miss
that old crank.)
Personally, I reckon survival's going to be part of every course.
-- Myrette

Part 2: Boot Camp

Some of the best information available on life at the Imperial Academy on Carida comes from the New Republic's records on Imperial
agent Shira Brie. This file is extensive, considering the lengths to which Darth Vader himself went to ensure that no one discovered
Brie's identity while she was undercover. Much of the information on Brie -- recently discovered to be at large and operating under the
name "Lumiya" -- came from an investigation carried out by Luke Skywalker in an effort to clear his name after he was falsely accused
of murdering Vader's operative. But another source uncovered by spies monitoring the HoloNet includes messages from Imperial Cadet
Myrette Davani, who was not only Brie's bunkmate but also her friend when the two attended pilot school and the Imperial Academy
together. Alliance Intelligence originally declassified these messages for distribution to all personnel a few months before the Battle of
Endor, when Brie was briefly believed deceased.
This background file excerpt is reprinted with permission from the New Republic Intelligence Ongoing Investigation Division.

HoloNet Message Transcript

Sent To: Nils and Haryette Davani [Node ID: Beheboth-DavNH-3779G5003]
Sent From: Cadet Myrette Davani [Node ID: Carida-DavanM-8789753-J7Y5]
Subject: What a Planet
Sorry it's taken me so long to write. Things have been -- well, not difficult, but definitely challenging. Don't worry, though: Brie is
watching my back. These past two months, I've never seen such a change in a person. Maybe it's the gravity. Me, I'm just sore and
have a headache that won't go away. Shira and I have been putting in extra hours in the simulator, and not just practicing flying. We've
been trying out a new vehicle that's going to crawl all over Bantha Squad in the next war game, and I doubt anyone else on the field will
be able to match us.
These first two months have been nothing like flight school on Coruscant. And that was strange enough for an Outer Rim girl like me.
First, we went through boot camp with the first-year stormtrooper cadets. It's simply the hardest thing I've ever done, and I can only
imagine what it's like to go through the full four-year program. I know you think she's a snob, Mom, but I don't know if I'd make it through
this without Shira's help. I like to think she's getting the same support from me. I want to tell you about one time she helped me out of a
tight jam.
It was during our third day of boot camp. And they really meant "camp" -- after a few days of brutal physical conditioning at the
barracks, we'd been sent on a two-hundred-kilometer hike through a mountainous wasteland. We were each allowed regulation
stormtrooper backpacks and fitted with training armor (stormtrooper cadets don't get fitted armor with all the trimmings until third year),
and told we could pack as much extra weight as we liked.
It was Shira who pointed out what the instructors were trying to do. I had crammed my third extra water bottle into my pack when she
asked me if I was crazy. Of course not, I told her, but we were going into a desert. If I had permission to take extra water, I had every
intention of doing so.
"Are you scared?" Shira asked.
"No, just practical," I replied.
"That's where you're wrong, 'Rette," Shira said. "This isn't a test of our physical condition. We wouldn't be here if our bodies weren't up
to the task. They're testing our spirit."
Shira first pointed out a small monitor next to the door of the barracks. The readout indicated the gravity in the Academy itself was
artificially lowered -- not to standard, but certainly a half-step lower than Caridan normal. "They're fooling us into thinking it's not as bad
as it is. Making us focus on the wrong things," she said. "The only thing we need to worry about is the gravity and getting to the end of
the hike. The supplies will be enough." She held up her pack. "This is the same unit the sandtroopers use, probably even the ones on
Beheboth. And you know how far those guys can range on foot. They want to see who's so intimidated by the task, so distrustful of the
equipment, and so frightened they'll be left in the desert alone that they forget the most important factor."
"The weight," I said.
"You got it, Cadet Davani," she replied.
We were among twenty students, out of two hundred, who made it to the end of the hike. I got a little thirsty, and my legs still ache, but I
made it, thanks to her help. Since then, I've made that trek twenty times, and never once failed to complete the journey.
-- Myrette

Part 3: War Games

At the Imperial Military Academy on Carida, all students received extensive training in ground combat, including the use and operation
of both heavy war machines and light scout craft. (Starship pilots like cadets Davani and Brie also received hours of additional training
in flight simulators). To test the abilities of Academy students, the faculty scheduled frequent war games that doubled as field tests for
weapons research laboratories. This combination of experimentation and education led to more than a few "tragic battlefield accidents"
over the years.
An incident midway through Davani's year of study on Carida provides a telling look into Imperial training techniques, and the effects
that Darth Vader's personal instruction was beginning to have on cadet Shira Brie's psyche. Rebel Intelligence cryptographers
reconstructed this information from the heavily censored original.
This background file excerpt is reprinted with permission from the New Republic Intelligence Ongoing Investigation Division.

HoloNet Message Transcript

Sent To: Nils and Haryette Davani [Node ID: Beheboth-DavNH-3779G5003]
Sent From: Cadet Myrette Davani [Node ID: Carida-DavanM-8789753-J7Y5]
Subject: The Toughest Day Yet
Hello! Your elusive daughter has found time for a short message. Training is becoming more intense than ever, but I'm still handling
everything they've thrown at me. I'm getting a little concerned about Shira, though. Remember last letter I told you we'd been simming a
new vehicle? We finally took them out into the field for this week's war games against Bantha squad.
We dropped into an area called "Tarkin's Teeth," a jagged stretch of dry mountain range about three hundred kilometers from the
Academy. Desolate as hell and completely abandoned -- but then, it's been a war games range for a few hundred years. The new
walkers were waiting for us when we landed (in an actual combat situation, they'd be sent in via their own drop pods, but in this case
the prototypes were flown in by drop ship, too).
I have to admit the things looked a little creepy from the outside after spending so much time in the simulated cockpit. The official
designation is the Mountain Terrain Scout Transport, but they look like giant, six-legged bugs. They're about as long as a good-size
speeder, with room for one pilot and a tiny cargo hold that made me think these things would never be landed without heavier support.
Our squad had them all up and running in under five minutes, and we crawled out into the Teeth to hunt down the Banthas. We knew
they had to be within a few dozen kilometers, but other than that we were on our own.
Shira made first contact with the opposing squad. We'd each taken a long, looping recon route, the only two bug walkers to go out
alone while the rest of our squad remained in pairs, guarding our assigned perimeter. I heard Shira transmit a single message -- "Found
them, zone 3, eight targets, opening fire." -- and I immediately vectored toward her position. The MT-ST might look like a bug, but those
six legs can pump pretty quickly, even at almost two gees.
Turns out she didn't really need my help. By the time I got there (in under two minutes, I'm happy to say) Shira had single-handedly
decimated Bantha squad. Normally, this would have meant that the training lasers in her MT-ST had scored hits on her targets, and
automated sensors would have shut the target vehicles down. But Shira's bug walker hadn't been equipped with training lasers. Her
vehicle had been fully armed. She'd killed half a dozen of our fellow students and totaled twice as many MT-STs when I found her, and
she was laughing.
I think she may have snapped. But no one in authority has done anything about it! Her charged weapons were blamed on "instructor
error," the deaths have been "regrettable casualties," and Shira hasn't talked to me about the situation at all. In fact, she's behaving as
if nothing strange happened, and no one else -- not even the survivors of Bantha squad -- seem that disturbed by any of it.
If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I'd be willing to let it go. But I think my friend Shira's got a darkness in her, and I'm going to keep a
closer eye on her.
-- Myrette

Game Notes: The "Bug Walker"

Craft: Mountain Terrain Scout Transport (MT-ST)
Class: Walker [ground]
Size: Huge (7.2 meters)
Passengers: 0
Cargo Capacity: 30 kilograms

Speed: 40 m
Max Velocity: 100 km/h
Cost: Not available for sale
Crew: 1 driver, Skilled +4)
Initiative: +2 (-2 size, +4 crew)
Maneuver: +2 (-2 size, +4 crew)
Defense: 12 (-2 size, +4 armor)
Shield Points: 0
Hull Points: 50 (DR 5)
Weapon: Twin blaster cannon (fire-linked)*; Fire Arc: Turret (full); Attack Bonus: +6 (-2 size, +4 crew, +4 fire
control); Damage: 4d10; Range Increment: 200 m.

Part 4: Cadets Gone Wild

Cadet Myrette Davani's last message home reflects a strong young woman about to step into a much larger galaxy, but still hoping to
save a troubled friend in need. This message, like those before, has been reconstructed by Alliance Intelligence cryptographers for the
Shira Brie intel file.
This background file excerpt is reprinted with permission from the New Republic Intelligence Ongoing Investigation Division.

HoloNet Message Transcript

Sent To: Nils and Haryette Davani [Node ID: Beheboth-DavNH-3779G5003]
Sent From: Cadet Myrette Davani [Node ID: Carida-DavanM-8789753-J7Y5]
Subject: Ladies' Night Out
One last message before I see you both at graduation. You are still coming, right? Be sure you get the discount rate I set up through
the Academy!
I wanted to give you some idea what to expect when you get here. The Humans aren't so bad -- Humans are Humans, like they say -but the Caridans can take a little getting used to. Dealing with a Caridan merchant is a lot like trading with a nomadic water-seller on
Beheboth. You'll get what you pay for, but only just, and you'd better check your purchase for sand lice.
Shira still hasn't discussed the bug walker incident, and I've stopped pressing her. Nothing like it has happened since. She still spends
a lot of time in "private tutoring" that she won't tell me about, though. Frankly, I think she's heading into intelligence. It would explain
why more of a stink wasn't made about the accidental deaths of six students, and it would explain her mysterious private training, which
always happens at night.
Yet in many ways, she's still the same woman I've known for years. Same sense of humor, same brilliant mind, and the same love of
practical jokes. But that darkness inside her keeps growing. Earlier this week, we decided to use the two-day passes we'd earned for
our consistent high scores and head into the Caridan district just outside the Academy. I'd hardly spent any time among the natives at
all, and you know I've always found aliens of any kind fascinating, growing up where I did.
The district is wild, like Hebofyrd on festival night, but with five times the chaos. Caridan sidewalk merchants are everywhere, and the
streets are really only suited to foot traffic (though that doesn't stop the rickshaw droids from tearing through the crowds). The first place
we hit was a bit of a dive (after a while I learned they were all dives), but Shira talked the proprietor into two-for-one drinks and an hour
at the dejarik table for free. I'm not really sure how she did it, but she made some pretty intense eye contact with the Caridan behind the
bar, and I wasn't going to argue.
The night almost turned ugly about four dives into what was rapidly becoming an old-fashioned cantina crawl. A group of burly
Caridans, big even for those guys, insisted on buying us a round. For some reason, this struck Shira as insanely funny, because she
just stared the leader of the group down and said, "Not interested." And then, as I live and breathe, the Caridan froze solid for just a
second, and dropped dead on the spot.
Shira just winked at me. I started to get up, but she waved me down with one hand while gesturing behind her with the other. The guy
on the floor let out a low groan. So he wasn't dead. But somehow, she'd knocked him flat with a look and a wave.
Maybe she's not the same person after all.
Well, that took a grim turn! Sorry, I've been dwelling on Shira, and she's still not forthcoming with any information. But I look forward to
seeing you so much. Be sure not to miss your transport, and Mom, remember to bring some of your harza cake!

-- Myrette

Game Notes: Caridans

The natives of the planet Carida evolved in a high-gravity environment and have surprising physical strength considering their lanky
frames. Their mercantile culture has adapted well to the continued presence of the Empire, and many Caridan-owned industries provide
equipment and machinery for the Academy. They see the Empire not as an occupying force, but as a long-term customer. The Imperial
policies against non-Humans became even harsher after the Battle of Yavin, however, and caused friction between the Empire and the
Caridans for the first time.
Caridans average well over 2 meters in height, with long eyebrows and three-fingered hands. Their long, spindly looking legs are
composed almost entirely of wiry muscle and end in two-toed, semihoofed feet. Few Caridans ever left their homeworld before its
destruction, though a few traveling Caridan merchants may yet survive in the galaxy at large, and a few more survive within the ranks of
the New Republic military.

Species Traits

Due to their planet's high gravity, Caridans have +6 to Strength and -6 to Dexterity.
Caridans have Caridan and Basic as automatic languages.
Caridans gain a +4 bonus to Appraise checks.
Caridans gain a +2 bonus to Fortitude saves.

Caridan Commoner: Init -3; Defense 7 (-3 Dex); Spd 10 m; VP/WP -/10; Atk +3 melee (1d3+3, unarmed strike) or -3 ranged; SQ
Species traits; SV Fort +2, Ref -3, Will -1; SZ M; FP 0; DSP 0; Rep +0; Str 14, Dex 5, Con 10, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 11.
Equipment: Personal belongings.
Skills: Appraise +4, Knowledge (any one) +2, Profession (any one) +2, Read/Write Basic, Read/Write Caridan, Speak Basic, Speak
Caridan.