Hudrel

Hudrel was a planet in the Mezlag sector of the. A founding member of the Tetrarchy of Mezlagob, it was the homeworld of the Near-Mezzel Hudrelans.

Geography
"If there's a resource the Hudrelans haven't exploited on Hudrel, it's only because they haven't found it yet."

- A Tetrarch

Though not a complete like  or Mezlagob, Hudrel was close. Towering skyscrapers and cloudcutters reached kilometers over the surface of the planet, and industrial districts stretched for kilometer after kilometer. Much of the planet was polluted; the industrial areas usually had a layer of smog, and the sky would appear unusual colors. Atmospheric scrubbers were in place to deal with some of these issues, though residential and corporate districts received more care than labor and lower-class areas.

Oceans were similarly toxic in some areas, though the Hudrelans had taken steps to purify them. Most of Hudrel's landmasses were connected, and surface water appeared largely as seas, lakes, and rivers. The polar ice caps had melted partially before Hudrel got a serious handle on its pollution, and some formerly occupied areas were underwater by the time of the Great Liberation.

Hudrel initially boasted numerous large mineral deposits, including many ores which could easily be refined for droid manufacture. These resources were diminished over the millennia; by the time Hudrel changed hands from the Tetrarchy to the Golden Empire, all surface deposts and most known subterranean deposits had been exhausted, leading to frequent deep-sea and far underground mining operations.

Hudrel's primary, also called Hudrel, was a. This both required the planet Hudrel's close orbit and was involved in theories used to explain the divergence of Hudrelans from mainstream Mezzels (Mezlagob had a yellow star).

Society and culture
Hudrelans dominated their homeworld and occupied all senior government positions, except the Consulship under the Golden Empire. They also tended to fill most of the corporate boards, especially of Hudrel Robotics and Android Corporation, although occasionally very influential alien agents or those who had proven their talents would make their way up to leadership positions. Hudrel had a prominent reputation of being a Hudrelan's planet; aliens were not unwelcome, but were rarely treated as equal to the Hudrelans themselves. This attitude usually meant that the aliens who immigrated and succeeded were very driven, very wealthy, or both.

Hudrel Robotics and Android Corporation was the largest single employer on Hudrel. It was often shortened to simply "the Corporation" in conversation, reflecting its prime place in Hudrel's economy and culture. Its droid exports generated much of Hudrel's wealth, particularly during the reign of the Tetrarchy. Hudrel's Tetrarchy governors were often approved by the Corporation's Board of Directors, or even were former directors themselves. Two CEOs of the Corporation even wound up as Tetrarchs. Under the Empire's rule, the Corporation lost much of its influence over government, though it remained the planet's largest private employer.

Droid servants tended to the needs of most families; those without at least one droid were considered very poor. The Corporation's presence on Hudrel made droids readily available and cheaper than they were offworld. Droid labor was used for most manufacturing and construction on Hudrel, resulting in a relative lack of employment for unskilled laborers. In order to account for this, most Hudrelans and resident aliens worked in service sector or design jobs, and Hudrelan schools prepared their students for such careers.

History
Mezzel explorers from Mezlagob arrived at Hudrel in roughly 5,600 BBY through the use of primitive technology. Unable to return to Mezlagob, the Mezzels settled onto the new world, established a colony with prefabricated technology. Exploring their surroundings, they quickly discovered Hudrel's mineral deposits carried those metals required for the manufacture of droids. The Hudrelans and their small included force of droids began mining operations at once.

The prefab colony included a small ore processing chamber and a droid factory, and the newly harvested resources were quickly turned into more droids. Droid production steadily expanded, and construction droids added to the initial colony while mining droids increased resource harvesting. Over time, most of the manual labor on the planet was shifted to droids. Time also saw the Mezzel explorers and their descendants form the distinct Hudrelan species.

Around 600 BBY, more explorers from Mezlagob arrived, armed with substantially evolved hyperdrives and the dream of a galaxy-spanning Empire. The Mezzels and Hudrelans united, combining Mezzel spacefaring technology with Hudrelan droids. Mezlagob and Hudrel soon recruited Ommol and Telacia into what became known as the Tetrarchy of Mezlagob.

Hudrel garnered fantastic wealth for itself due to its prime position in the Tetrarchy. The Corporation sold droids to every world, and even after the Tetrarchy took its generous cut of those profits, Hudrel became a rich world. Hudrelans often served government careers on other member or vassal worlds, then retired in wealth to Hudrel. The influx of wealth also allowed the creation of still more droids, further eliminating the need for (or job opportunities in) unskilled labor.

As a vital member world of the Tetrarchy, Hudrel was staunchly loyal during the Great Liberation. After initial success in the Xoquon sector, the Golden Empire suffered a calamitous defeat at Hudrel. The Prime Fleet retreated to its own territory and Hudrel was the hero of the Tetrarchy. After the Battle of Tizgo V, however, the tide turned. The Empire went on to capture the Vall`to sector, and its acquisition of the Vall`to Sector Bank caused an economic collapse throughout what remained of the Tetrarchy.

Struck by skyrocketing inflation, Hudrel's economy floundered. The severe reduction in the market caused by the Empire's capture of Tetrarchy systems, as well as reduced purchasing power among Tetrachy citizens due to inflation, put Hudrel Robotics and Android Corporation into the red for the first time in centuries. Recognizing the inevitable defeat and growing discontent among its own populace, Telacia offered preemptive surrender. Mezlagob recalled its fleet back to defend the capital, leaving only a token force to protect Hudrel. The Empire's Armada made short work of that and, threatened with mass orbital bombardment, Hudrel surrendered.

Hudrel languished in its first years under the Empire's rule. Much of its surplus wealth was confiscated by the Empire and issued as restitution to vassal worlds, as well as being used for infrastructure offworld. The Corporation not only had many of its accounts seized, but also its entire force of battle droids, as the Empire viewed these as unfit for civilians and a threat to peace. Many neighboring systems were only too happy to see Hudrel suffer after years or centuries of oppression, and the other Tetrarchy loyalist systems had their own problems.

In time, however, Hudrel began to recover. Even with competition springing up on other worlds (subtly encouraged by the Royal government), Hudrel remained the Empire's primary producer of droids, and the sale of protocol, astromech, and security helped the economy recover. Its insulated position in the Mezlag sector, away from the Empire's borders, also protected it from the Empire's wars over the subsequent decades, allowing Hudrel to thrive in relative peace, facing at worst wartime taxes instead of actual war.