Shel Du

Shel Du was a planet in the. A member world of the Golden Empire, it was a perennial source of frustration to the Empire's leadership due to ancient and enduring conflict between its two sentient species, the Selff and the Vimesk.

Geography
Much of Shel Du was dominated by rich plains and forests. The fertile soil was suitable to growing a wide variety of both native and exoplanetary crops. In addition to the Selff and Vimesk, Shel Du was home to millions of species of fauna, both on land and in its broad, deep, and warm oceans.

Due to the relatively fast axial rotation of Shel Du (despite its distance from its giant sun, Shel Du had a day which lasted on sixteen standard hours) and the normally cool air mixing with oceans warmed by volcanic vents, the planet had frequent and strong winds. Though the native species of Shel Du were evolved to adapt to this condition, many offworld visitors found it uncomfortable.

Due to their volcanic activity, the oceans of Shel Du ranged from warm to uncomfortably hot. Its lakes and rivers, however, tended toward more moderate temperatures better suited to land-going crreatures.

Society and culture
"Can't we just kill them all and be done with it?"

- Tariun Sakaros, about the Selff and Vimesk

The avian Vimesk and the land-dwelling Selff had a heated rivalry which defined most other aspects of Shel Du's culture. After Shel Du's incorporation into the Golden Empire, the Royal Consul and his sizable detachment of security forces were generally able to prevent open violence, but the Selff and Vimesk continued their antagonism in local politics and incessant litigation against one another.

Due to both its "acquired taste" climate and the tension between its native species, Shel Du generated comparatively little tourism revenue relative to most of its fellow member worlds of the Golden Empire. Its wide tracts of land, however, were used for growing foodstuffs for other worlds in the Empire.

History
The conflict between the Selff and Vimesk had dominated Shel Du since time immemorial, and xenobiologists speculated it traced back to a time before either species had evolved sentience.

As technology developed and societies expanded around the world, the two species had several periods of arms races. Both species developed different countries and city-states across Shel Du, sometimes leading to multiparty conflicts pitting one faction of a species against both another factor and the other species. The deeply-rooted hatred transcended the point when resources became generally available and competition for them was no longer a motivating factor.

In 120 ABY, the Golden Empire invaded and forcibly brought both species under its dominance. Such was the contempt between species that both continued to despise one another more than their conquerors. Indeed, they imported Royal technology with a passion. Some of both Selff and Vimesk, tired of the inescapable conflict, moved offworld to seek their fortunes elsewhere in the Empire.

Tension between species continued, with occasional gang violence or rebel militias forming before being crushed by the Consul and his sizeable force of peacekeepers. In 134 ABY, however, the Consul's security detachment was overwhelmed and open war broke out between an alliance of Selff and one of Vimesk. The conflict, which became known collectively as the "Second Battle of Shel Du", lasted for three weeks before Legate Torin Saedrin led a massive Royal battle group to forcibly pacify the rebels. Rin Sakaros's abilities allowed her to dispatch Legate Sorrik to narrowly avert a second uprising in 140 ABY.