Acrolis

"No, I've never been to Acrolis. Maybe one day, I'll get rid of Zirátæ and take over his precious planet."

- Darth Sidious

Acrolis was a small planet located in the Acrolian Sector in the Outer Rim territories, mostly known as the homeworld of galactic figure Drewika Zirátæ. It played a major role in the years prior to the fall of the Old Republic and the rise of the Galactic Empire. It was known for its artistic similarity to its neighbor Naboo, but it too possessed a military bent courtesy of the Mandalorians who had colonized the planet. Populated by both the jet-black skinned, red-eyed Acroyali and the descendants of the Mandalorians, the planet was proud of its history while shunning other cultures viewed as "uncultured," or "uncivilized." For this reason, Acrolian civilization was considered to be xenophobic in nature.

Description
Acrolis was a small, moon-sized terrestrial world in the Outer Rim, close to its ally Naboo. It was the only planet in its system, which possessed a yellow, mid-sized sun, and a massive belt of asteroids. These asteroids were all that remained of the other four planets of Acrolis's system, and were used by the Acrolian security forces as ideal locations for the secret bases and dockyards of the Acrolian navy. Acrolis's geography was comprised of fourteen main tree- and mountain-covered islands, each with a walled capital city created in the "Acrolian" style, similar in architectural style to Naboo, with domes and arches



of marble. Other, smaller "satellite" communities outside of the cities were to be found inside limbs and foliage of the massive brownwood trees, similar to Wookiee cities, but with an architectural style of their own. These were largely hidden from outside eyes by the dense foliage of the brownwood species, unlike their Wookiee counterparts. These cities were known for the ethereal singing of their inhabitants, which was amplified by the natural acoustics of the trees. The planet lacked a molten core, much like Naboo, but unlike its neighbor's core, Acrolis had a solid core, which made the planet very dense. The planet was described as being very beautiful, with gorgeous beaches, calm bright blue seas, and mountain lagoons of lush vegetation. However, off-worlders were largely kept off the planet and on the planet's moon, Magna Luna, which was eventually covered by a massive spaceport and city during the years of the Old Republic. Magna Luna was referred to as the "Coruscant of the Outer Rim," for its moon-wide cityscapes. Very few outlanders were allowed on the planet's surface, and those few who did set foot on the grass of Acrolis had to be sponsored by a "patron," a citizen of the planet who could vouch for them.

Colonization
Around 30,000 BBY, a small group of Taungs returning from a raid on Carida became separated from the main convoy on the way back to their home-planet of Mandalore. The party's leader, a warlord named Teloris Zirátæ, eventually landed his party on a small planet in the Outer Rim. Populated by art-loving natives called Acroyali, or "rock people" in their native language "Lanacro," the planet was perfect for colonization, made up mainly of heavily forested, mountainous islands, rich in natural resources. At first, the natives were wary of the "men from the heavens," but when Teloris offered to teach them his "god-like" ways, the people fell to worshiping the Taungs. Teloris was eventually deified by the Acroyali after his death, for being the one who laid the groundwork for a powerful civilization.

Eventually in the millennia following the first colonization of Acrolis, many Mandalorians came and settled on Acrolis, teaching the Acroyali the art of war. Dubbed "Mandoyali" or "Mando people" by the natives, the Mandalorians brought elements of their culture and language to Acrolis, which resulted in a cultural revolution within the society. Within a few centuries, the two cultures, though distinct, developed a singular culture that was referred to as "Acrolian." This odd mix of the stereotypical Mandalorian war-loving mentality and the Acroyali love of the arts mixed seamlessly, resulting in a culture that was artistically brilliant and simultaneously militant. This "Acrolian" culture was further refined by other human immigrants, coming from Corellia and Naboo, which added other unique aspects to the already distinct cultural blend.

Acrolian Republic
Around 1300 BBY, the Mandalorian and Acroyali sub-cultures formed a constitutional republic to represent their interests, which lasted until 22 BBY, with the unanimous consent of the Acrolian people to elect Drewika Zirátæ as the first Emperor of the new Acrolian Star Empire. The Acrolian Republic joined the Galactic Republic several years after its formation, and faithfully supported the Republic until Zirátæ's takeover. The Acrolian Republic was based off of the Galactic Republic, with a senate and chancellor, who was elected by an electoral college. The senate was retained when the Empire came into being, a check that Drewika Zirátæ kept to prevent himself from being corrupted by absolute power.



During the Galactic Republic
During the first year of the Clone Wars, the Acrolian populace felt ill-protected by its government and by the Republic itself. After an ill-planned Separatist attack on their homeworld, the Acrolians decided to entrust emergency powers to an individual who could protect the larger Acrolian interests. Drewika Zirátæ, the planet's foremost public figure in the galaxy, was chosen to fulfill this mission. A few months later, Drewika was unanimously voted by the senate and people of Acrolis into the office of Emperor of the new Acrolian Star Empire. Many historians noted the parallels between Zirátæ and Chancellor Palpatine and the emergency powers entrusted to both during the last days of their respective republics. Zirátæ, unlike Palpatine, did not desire power, and was voted into the throne at the behest of the Acrolian populace.

After withdrawing the planet from representation in the Galactic Republic due to the Republic's criticism regarding the "unconstitutional nature" of Acrolis's new government, Zirátæ undertook the first move to strengthen his planet's defenses. He added the Consortium fleets under his control to the Acrolian fleet. The influx of hundreds of new Keldabe battleships, Crusader gunships, and Aggressor destroyers boosted the morale of the Acrolian military, and sent a powerful message to any would-be attackers. The National Guard, Acrolis's black armored, symbolic equivalent of a police force, was retrained and augmented by new recruits, and became Acrolis's powerful military. The Senate guard were renamed the Imperial Guard and were given new, dashing uniforms. These men were hand-picked for their bravery and military prowess. While the National Guard carried conventional blaster rifles and wore armor crafted like that of their ancestors, the Imperial Guard wore exact representations of the originals, down to a sword-shaped vibroblade and bronzium shield. The military was furthered strengthened during the second year of the Clone Wars by the recruiting of the National Guard Commandos, units who wore armor similar to that of the Senate Commandos of the Republic, but with a black hue and a more Acrolian helmet. These units were deployed on newly captured ASE worlds to subdue any remaining threats to Acrolian rule.



As the Clone Wars raged across the galaxy, the Acrolian Star Empire was free to expand in the Outer Rim. Armed with the newly retrained military and a massive space fleet, the Empire grew into the Mid Rim, taking planets inside the Galactic Republic. This was much decried in the Galactic Senate, but no action was taken, as the Clone armies were spread thin across the galaxy. Zirátæ managed to downplay the controversy in the Senate by promising that if the Republic intervened in "internal" Acrolian affairs, the ASE might be tempted to throw its guns behind the Separatist cause. Though Zirátæ continued to be criticized, his bold strategy succeeded in removing any remaining obstacle to the growth of his empire. The planet Arbra was named as the new provincial capital, and was settled by Acroyali colonists, who were attracted to the planet's beautiful terrain. With so many planets now under Imperial control, the Acrolian Star Empire became the regional hegemony in the Outer Rim, equal in size to the Hapes Consortium. The Empire remained a reliable ally of the Republic's until the second year of the war, when Drewika Zirátæ, at the behest of the Imperial Senate, withdrew Acrolis's alliance to the Republic. However, because of Drewika's status as one of the Republic's best clone generals, the ASE did send military supplies to aid the struggling Jedi generals in the field, from time to time. For the remainder of the war, Acrolis stayed out the conflict, fighting off both physical attacks and political advances from the CIS. The Empire's growth was stunted when Palpatine took over and declared the beginning of the Empire, but it remained a power in its respective sphere of influence.

In the second year of the War, Zirátæ ordered a seemingly impossible task to be fulfilled: to collect the floating debris of the Star Forge over Rakata Prime and to rebuild the superweapon in the Acrolis system. While this move was debated in the Imperial Senate, and largely opposed, Drewika was able to force his will. The pieces were collected over a course of several months, and were reassembled using a holo of the Forge found at the University of Coruscant. The move was largely unknown to the Republic and CIS at the time, until the weapon's test on Arbra's sun. It was completed too late in the war for it to be of any use, and it left Acrolis only three times before the Great Jedi Purge, to the planets Arbra and Ruusan. Its epic manufacturing capabilities were used to churn out massive amounts of battleships and starfighters, as well as a small batch of lightsaber crystals and Cortosis-weave Mandalorian armor for Drewika's Immortals. During the Empire's reign, it was used to create custom Star Destroyers for the Acrolian 3rd Fleet, which eventually gained a fearsome reputation during the New Republic era.



During the Galactic Empire
Following the Great Jedi Purge and Palpatine's conquest of the galaxy, Acrolis and its Empire remained allied to the Sith Lord, due to Zirátæ's friendship with Palpatine. Despite the Empire's anti-alien policies, the Acroyali, near-humans like the Chiss, were able to achieve some standing in the Imperial legions. Many of them worked as naval officers in the Empire, and one, Helos of Agra, Drewika's former Secretary of War, became an admiral in the Imperial Navy. Ziratae, because of his status as Military Executor in the Empire, was able to keep Palpatine's hands out of the ASE's affairs, as well as prevent the establishment of an Imperial garrison on the planet. During the [starwars:First Galactic Civil War|Galactic Civil War]], a few voices in the Acrolian Senate suggested sending aid to the Rebels, but this was shut down by Emperor Zirátæ. Some Acrolians fled their homeworld to serve in Rebel ranks, and gave the Alliance their first reliable naval officers. Eventually, Zirátæ joined the Alliance himself, following the Battle of Endor, and personally assisted the Rebellion's efforts to conquer Coruscant during the Battle for Coruscant, which saw the largest turn-out of Acrolian ships since the early years of the Clone Wars.

The New Republic and Beyond
The Acrolian Star Empire was instrumental in the establishment of the New Republic, and remained a loyal ally until its reorganization into the Galactic Alliance, which, in Drewika's words, was "a complete failure that a Hutt would balk at." When the Yuuzhan Vong invaded the galaxy, the Acrolian Star Empire was as surprised at their technology as the rest of galaxy. The Acrolians though, far away from the galactic center, were of little importance to the Vong, though the planet was hit by repeated attacks. The Vong encountered much resistance from Imperial units, yet the Empire refused to send any aid to any other nation except Mandalore.



The Empire largely retreated within its own borders during this time, as it had done during the Swarm War, and did not emerge until the weeks before the starwars:Second Galactic Civil War. Drewika himself had largely been involved in public life following the defeat of the Vong, and he brought Acrolis out from under the rug to support Corellia. The Alliance tried to secure Acrolian neutrality, but Jacen Solo launched an unexpected attack on Acrolis, which devastated the planet. Angered by his actions, the ASE threw its massive military might behind Corellia and the Confederation. When the war erupted into a several way fight between the Alliance, Confederation, Jedi Coalition, Imperial Remnant and Hapes Consortium, Zirátæ declared war on all but the Consortium, and sought to utterly eradicate the Jedi as a faction, the way he had during the Great Jedi Purge. Though this was largely unsuccessful, the Empire had thrown its weight around, and attracted the attentions of the Hapes Consortium, to which the ASE later allied. Towards the last year of the war, the Acrolian Star Empire retracted its support of the Confederation, and the conflict became a six way conflict. With the Star Forge churning out thousands of ships and droid starfighters, the ASE emerged as the dominant power. When the Jedi Coalition emerged victorious, and defeated the Remnant and Confederation, the ASE and the Hapes Consortium refused to work with the Alliance, and the ASE began an aggressive conquest of Alliance planets in the Mid Rim. Zirátæ, still angry at the damage Solo had done to his planet, ordered the utter elimination of all Alliance personnel of the conquered planets. The Acrolian Scourge, as it was called, lasted for little more than a month, but it held terrible consequences for the Alliance.

When the Alliance turned against the Jedi later, the Acrolians gleefully assisted in the so-called "second Order 66," which eventually allowed for the rise of the One Sith 86 years later. By then, Drewika was a very old man, and most of his old friends and allies were long dead, so he ordered the defense of the Imperial borders, and died several years later. His final words concerning Acrolis to his successor Draevus Octavianus Ziratae were, "Keep the borders secure." Draevus, not as charismatic as his father, did this, but failed to expand the border to any significant degree. The following emperors of the Acrolian Star Empire were nothing like Drewika, but in their successive attempts to live up to his legacy they were able to keep the ASE's hegemony intact for many millennia afterward.

Culture
The joint culture brought about by two largely different societies was often called "Acrolian." While the native Acroyali of Acrolis and the Mandalorians from Mandalore both shared a love of war, the two societies formed a fascinating culture of working contradictions, strangely complimenting each other in various ways.



Early Acroyali Culture
The native black-skinned, red-eyed Acroyali (meaning "rock-people") were a relatively civilized people prior to the arrival of the Taungs around 30000 BBY. The natives, though scattered across a vast sea on medium sized islands, already had a centralized government and a standard language, Lanacro. The caste system was in effect, with a political class, warrior caste, worker caste, servant caste, and chattel caste. Historians noted the lack of a religious caste and standardized religion in early Acroyali culture. The arts were highly respected in Acroyali culture, with bards, artists, and especially musicians receiving honors in individual warlord's strongholds. When the Taungs arrived at Acrolis, the Acroyali learned to fight in units and legions rather than in vast free-for-all battles that had scarred Acrolis's surface. The Taungs also brought with them early projectile weapons, which were at first ignored by the honor-loving swordsmen of the Acrolian armies, but were later taken and refined. Many millenia later, when the Mandalorians arrived to colonize in force, the Acroyali grew as a military force on their planet. Though they respected their ancient tradition of armor and sword, they embraced the conventional weapons of the day.

Modern Acrolian Culture
Several millennia after the arrival of the Mandalorians, the culture known as "Acrolian," emerged as the dominant culture of Acrolis. Though the Acroyali and Mandalorian sub-cultures remained separate in respect for each one's past, they also shared an often-contradictory culture between them. While Mandalorians were often viewed as being savages, without any philosophy or arts besides that of war, the Acrolian culture they were a part of was very artistically minded, particularly in the realm of music. For instance, the Acrolian Republic required all toddlers born to Acroyali and Mandalorian citizens to be subjected to a "musical and artistic aptitude" test that comprised a fifteen minute testing of the infant for specific musical or other artistic gifts. If the child possessed an aptitude for a particular instrument, he was required to undertake lessons for seven of his childhood years. The Mandalorian sub-culture actually supported this practice, while still relishing the stereotype the galaxy had placed upon them.



Because of the devotion to each sub-culture, intermarriage between Acroyali and Mandalorians, while physically possible, was often looked down upon as a violation of societal distinctions. The offspring resultant from such a union possessed black skin, the dominant gene in Acroyali genetics, but lacked the red-eyes of the Acroyali. These were looked down upon as disgraces to the Acrolian culture, which seemed to revel in the unity in division it brought about. As a result, many of these "atrocities" were exiled from Acrolis and the parents deprived of citizen status. The Acrolian Republic attempted to halt the problem by refusing to validate any marriages between Acroyali and Mandalorian parties.

The Acrolian culture was very concerned with fidelity in marriage and the maintaining of large families, which was largely viewed as being the cornerstone of a healthy, powerful society. Deriving much from the Mandalorian view of marriage as a way to raise warriors, as well as the Acroyali view of honor in fidelity, the typical Acrolian family (both Mandalorian and Acroyali) was very healthy, which was unseen in the sibling culture on Mandalore, where sexual scandals abounded. The typical male took much time to select his life-mate carefully, and long expressions of love and courtship over years were common. State officials presided over the ceremony, and large after-parties between the newly joined families were common. The family was expected to raise warriors and public figures for Acrolis, and divorce was rare, and only acceptable in extreme cases. Homosexuality, though acceptable on neighboring Naboo, was punishable by death on Acrolis as the ultimate level of perversion of state ideals.

Education was essential to raising the best stock of warriors, and as a result, many schools and universities popped up in important cities. While the arts were emphasized, science and mathematics were also studied so as to give a well- rounded education. East Point Academy was Acrolis's first military academy, and garnered a reputation for its well-trained officers and public servants. While Galactic Basic was taught as the main language in Acrolis, almost all Acrolians learned the official language, lanacro, a mix of Mando'a and the native language, mixed with bits of Huttese and Bocce. The language was particularly lovely to listen to, and was often referred to by off-world composers as the best language for use in choral pieces.



The Acrolian culture was largely xenophobic and elitist, viewing its own contradictory culture as supreme. As a result, very few outsiders of the the thousands who converged on Acrolis's moon to beg passage to the surface were allowed to leave on one of the three transports. Thus, many in the galactic community saw the Acrolians as arrogant and aloof from the galaxy, which was not the motive of Acrolis's xenophobia. It was precisely because the Acrolians had such an interest in galactic affairs that they blocked themselves from the galactic stage, seeing their own "supreme" culture in danger. Though early Acrolians allowed tourism to flourish on their planet, later citizens banned it altogether, and the rare visitor to the planet who possessed the connections to secure a spot was looked upon with suspicion, if not outright hostility, even on the part of the security forces. Passage to the surface required lengthy preparations on the part of the tourist and his "patron," the citizen who sponsored the visitor. Though such visits were rarely repeated, a journey to the islands of Acrolis was a once-in-a-lifetime experience to be remembered.

Behind the scenes
Acrolis was based off of the Greek states from the ancient world, incorporating elements of Greek language and culture, down to names and armor. Roman influence also can be seen in certain parts of Acrolis, including Acrolian legions and cohorts with legionary eagles to serve as rally points. The black-skinned and red-eyed Acroyali were based off of the Chiss, and their name originated in a Yanni song of the same name. The language Lanacro is an actual language developed by Andrew Eissen, the planet's creator, and bears resemblance to German, Latin, Greek, and Mando'a, with an alphabet incorporating Greek and German runic characters. The planet had its origin in the author's love of both the planets of Naboo and Mandalore, so he decided to merge the two into a super planet, which was first called Acroyali, but was eventually changed to Acrolis. The world was at first a small, dark, and dangerous world like Korriban, but eventually was changed to bear more similarity to Naboo and Arbra.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Rising Force
 * Star Wars: Coruscant Vice