Nattirb

Nattirb (//) was a planet in the and a member world of the Golden Empire. It was the home planet of the Whirths.

Geography
Nattirb was unusual in several ways. Its star, Thenyl Kethkar, was a which had collapsed after blossoming into a  and annihilating all the planets in its system. Astronomers believed that what would ultimately become Nattirb had started as a comet, passing through the system and acquiring debris from the asteroid belts formed by Thenyl Kethkar's expansion. Nattirb assembled sufficient mass to become trapped in the star's gravitational pull, evolving over billions of years into a new planet, the only one in its system.

Nattirb also had an unusual lack of color on its surface. Much of its water was murky white, due to heavy concentrations of various proteins and minerals in the liquid, and many plants were white or off-white as well. The native Whirths and many other fauna also displayed pale coloration. Many aliens incorrectly believed Nattirb was cold, but the planet was generally of temperate climate.

Surface water covered over 70% of Nattirb.

Society and culture
The Whirths were the dominant culture of their homeworld, but they adapted to offworld influence immediately. Because many plants on Nattirb were white or shades of white, other colors—in the form of dyes or paints—were very rarely seen. The Whirths themselves saw in the infrared spectrum, and so they took little notice of the paucity of color, but many alien visitors commented on it, and the Whirths eventually started marketing their homeworld as a curiosity tourist destination, arranging tours through particularly jarringly-colored landscapes.

Most Whirth art before the arrival of alien visitors was statuary, as they could not easily distinguish colors on two-dimensional artworks. Alien technology allowed the Whirths to create flat images with different heat signatures, sparking an artistic renaissance on Nattirb.

History
Alone in its system, orbiting a dwarf star, Nattirb attracted little notice from galactic civilizations until the Exploration Corps stumbled upon it by accident in 99 ABY. Representatives of the Golden Empire made contact, but the Empire became embroiled in the Great Liberation shortly after, and only returned in 103 ABY after the Tetrarchy of Mezlagob had been vanquished. The Whirths were pleased to have been left out of a sector-spanning conflict between space age societies, and joined the Empire willingly.