Smaragdus-class Patrol Frigate

Smaragdus-class Patrol Frigate '''

History
Smaragdus-class Patrolfrigates''' were capital ships produced by the Foerost Shipyards beginning in 305 BBY in an attempt to win a Judicial forces contract for new frigates. While they did not win the contract they were designed fir they were widely used by the Techno Union security forces, the Foerost Defense Fleet and other local forces as well as a few Outer Rim Territories defense fleets, some of which joined Ranulph Tarkin's Outland Regions Security Force. A number of the vessels were also secretly sold to front organizations for black market arms dealers leading to the vessels becoming increasingly common in the hands of pirate bands and criminal interests leading to Smaragdus class ships serving on both sides of the Stark Hyperspace War.

While plans called for the vessels serving in the Foerost Defense fleet and local sector defense fleet to be replaced by the new Gatekeeper class Frigate by 30 BBY an increase in warship purchases by the Techno Union, the diversion of funding from the local defense budget to other programs, and their own interests by local senators, and a daring pirate raid on a Foerost satellite yard, later revealed to be aided by the manager of the yard, that seized a number of newly produced Gatekeepers combined to keep the ships in service until the Clone Wars, and in the later months of the conflict many of the early Smaragdus class warships which had been decommissioned were reactivated to reinforce the war fleets of the Confederacy of Independent Systems.

After the Clone Wars most surviving Smaragdus class frigates went sent to the surplus yards though some were purchased by the Corporate Sector Authority or the security fleets of smaller Imperial loyal corporations. Also a number of the vessels became pirate craft or joined Separatist holdout groups while some of the ships sent to the surplus yards were obtained by agents of early anti-Imperial resistance movements eventually leading to a handful of the ships being used in the early fleets of the Alliance to Restore the Republic or by Alliance allied Privateers.

When the Corporate Sector decommissioned its final Smaragdus class vessel in 16 ABY it seemed that the long history of the class had at last come to an end but in the dark days of the Yuuzhan Vong War some sector defense forces desperate for any ships that could both fly and fight brought a few members of the ancient class online for one final conflict.

Real World Background
I originally created both the Smaragdus class and the Gatekeeper class just as names mentioned briefly in the background of my character for a Separatist Clone Wars era campaign. The Gm knew I liked designing ships the most out of our group, and wanted some non-cannon designs, especially frigates and small cruisers to use in the campaign so he asked me to create a more detailed background and draw up stats for both classes. Than during a much later New Jedi Order era campaign it was one of the designs that our group had created which were from well before the Clone Wars that were picked to appear among some desperate Outer Rim local fleets which our party was trying to assist and I expanded the background to its current form. I suck at art so its very rare for there to be art for any of my designs