Shoriya

"You? From Shoriya? Ha! The only thing that comes from Shoriya is fish, and you don't look like any fish I've ever seen."

- Kala Wren, speaking to Ezgi Deshra

Shoriya was a small town, located on the Outer Rim world of Mandalore. Situated along the coast of the planet's northern continent, Shoriya had been a fishing town since its founding in the years preceding the outbreak of the Mandalorian Wars. As time passed, subsistence fishing turned into an industry, with fish from Shoriya being shipped to cities and settlements all across Mandalore, and to neighboring worlds like Kalevala and Mandallia. What was once a village of a few dozen Mandalorians hailing from aquatic worlds grew into a small city, as shops, cantinas, and modern housing of stone and permacrete sprung up in and around clusters of traditional vheh'yaime that had been inset in the land.

In 49 BBY, the Mandalorian mercenary Edeema Deshra was overseeing a job in Shoriya on behalf of a friend. While visiting a local tapcaf for lunch, a chance encounter led to her introduction to the New Mandalorian merchant trader Caul Itera, and the two soon entered into a brief but heated affair that resulted in the birth of a baby girl they named Ezgi. Deshra and Itera left Shoriya soon after their daughter's birth, though they did so separately, and eventually grew apart.

Decades later, during the extra-galactic Yuuzhan Vong's invasion of the known galaxy, Shoriya fell victim to the aliens' assault on Mandalore. In retaliation for covertly working against them during the early stages of the invasion, the Yuuzhan Vong struck the Mandalorian homeworld in 29 BBY with devastating singularity ordnance and overwhelming waves of amphistaff-wielding Vong warriors. Much of the city was destroyed by the Yuuzhan Vong's bombing efforts, and many of those who managed to survive fell victim to their warriors before a contingent of Mandalorian Protectors arrived to reinforce the ravaged coastal town. The Yuuzhan Vong were ultimately defeated—driven from Mandalore by the Protectors, before finally surrendering to the Galactic Alliance later that year—but nearly a third of Mandalore's populace had perished during the battle, and Shoriya had been reduced to little more than a crater that was soon filled in by the sea. Despite such losses, a number of Mandalorians returned to the bay that had arisen in Shoriya's place to fish once more, building new vheh'yaime just as their ancestors had thousands of years ago.

Behind the scenes
The town of Shoriya created and developed by writer Mia Mesharad as a key element in the backstory of Ezgi Deshra, the main character and reader companion in her 2017 online tour piece, " Welcome to Mandalore ." The name of the city is derived from the Mando'a words sho'cye and oriya, meaning "ocean" and "city," respectively.

Appearances

 *  Welcome to Mandalore