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.::. Planetary Information .::.

Located in the Bright Jewel Systems Cluster, the planet Ord Mantell was founded 12,000 years ago by Corellian colonists as an advance Republic military and scout base. It is one of several Ords -- Ordnance/Regional Depots -- from this era.

Ord Mantell can be said to be in the middle of nowhere -- convenient for those wishing to lay low. But at the same time, it is located close to some major hyperspace trade routes, making it a thriving port. The combination of these two factors have made Ord Mantell a smuggler's haven. The planet also hosts a lucrative gunrunning business, as weapons are smuggled to the nearby war-torn world of Anobis.

Ord Mantell is called the Heart of the Bright Jewel. From orbit, pink clouds cover 70 percent of the planet's surface, shielding the pinpricks of city lights and the yellow soil of open land. Dark, placid seas reflect the warm glows of its twin moons, and 13 lesser satellites. Ord Mantell has a 26-hour day, and a population of 4 billion. Wildlife on Ord Mantell includes the Mantellian savrip, and the Ord Mantellian flutterplumes.

A world of varied terrain, Ord Mantell's continent of Worlport boasts a sprawl of cities along its southern shore. It is this part of Ord Mantell that many spacers regard as a safeport, free of Imperial patrols. Wolport's cities have all sorts of casinos and vice-peddlers. The most well known of Ord Mantell's casinos are the opulent Imperial Palace Casino Hotel, the Naweenan Fate Rooms, the Pink Sky Casino, and the Fifteen Moons Casino. These casinos, no matter how sleazy, do not allow weapons past their doors.

Much of this part of Ord Mantell has become a tourist resort. Ord Mantell attracts about a billion tourists annually. Outside of the sprawl, and a narrow equatorial band of starports, much of Ord Mantell remains very rural and low tech. Most of the structures in Ord Mantell's metropolitan areas beyond the casinos lack address markings. The philosophy behind this is that if you don't know where you're going, then you don't belong there. These parts of Ord Mantell are not intended for tourists.

Despite Ord Mantell's attempts to be contemporary and on par with the Core Worlds, its pollution from use of fossil fuels has kept it quite barren. The planet maintains huge robotic coal yards used to fuel the planet's cities. An immense scrapyard dominates some of Ord Mantell's landscape.

Chole was in the midst of being reminded why she hated this planet.

It wasn't that the work sucked; she was quite attached to her day job and her better-paying career. It definetly wasn't the people; the scum of the Galaxy only made her name more prominent. It most certainly wasn't the lack of vice.

It was the atmosphere. She took a deep breath, working hard to keep herself from doubling over in a coughing fit in the process. Certain parts of this planet were more.. accomodating.. than others.

She glanced around her, taking in the large buildings, billowing smoke, and other industrial landmarks. She had wandered far from the quaint, brisk inner city where she worked her dealing job.

The sun was beginning to set when she finally stopped for a break on a nearby hill. A pair of conveniently-placed benches caught her eye, and Chole slumped across one.

She ran a hand through her dark, clean hair, waiting for any sign of action. These parts were infamous for arresting drunk tourists who had gotten lost; with any luck, she'd be able to witness a drunk fight.

Chole was not a morning person. She never felt good in the morning, she never looked good in the morning, and she most certainly never acted good in the morning.

This morning was no exception.

The feeling of Nyx waking her up was bad enough; but on a day she had off from work... that was nothing short of blasphemous. After making several flailing attempts at knocking down her makeshift alarm clock, Chole pulled herself upright and slumped against the bench she had fallen asleep on.

She rebuked Nyx with an affectionate glare as she attempted to smooth out her hair.

"That's sunshine, to you.." she quirped back.

"-- which means I'm going to be working extra hours. Great," Chole answered flatly. "I was hoping to get some time off. You know, to do stuff..."

Chole's voice was littered with sarcasm. She knew that every year she was stuck working counters. The least the Hotel could do was allow her to run a gaming table. That way she could earn some extra cash on the side...

She shook her head and accepted Nyx's comb-and-compact offer, snapping the portable mirror open in order to smooth out her flyaway hair. She cast a pair of eyes back at the woman adjacent to her.

"So what'd you come here for?"

The mention of a job update caught Chole's attention.

There were several ways of getting a bounty hunter to drag in the goods... send out a public appeal, offering the reward to the first who snatches it, or contact a hunting ring itself and request for a singular individual to execute your wishes.

In this case, the specific Hunters made more money.

Chole liked money.

She returned Nyx's mischevious grin and held out a hand in a nonvocal plea for help standing upright again.

Nyx dug through dozens of folders, idly glancing through them for the printed files she was looking for. She completely understood why all files weren't stored on the central processing units that stood against the wall, but having this many files was nothing short of ridiculous.

She finally found what she was looking for, and slapped the folder onto the table that Chole sat at.

"Don't rip it."

Nyx coughed. The last person who had been in this room must've been applying makeup and perfume, for the muggy scents still clung to the air. She wrinkled her nose and stepped aside to open a window.

"You like traveling," Nyx pointed out. "And I doubt you've ever been to Talus..."

A smirk was evident on Nyx's face, and bright, crystalline blue eyes sparkled in humor.