Kizav was a planet in the Unknown Regions. It was the homeworld of the insectoid Skavik and their predators, the mysterious Veracht, along with a cornucopia of non-sentient wildlife. The Reawakened arrived at Kizav in 148 ABY and turned it into the main base of their campaign of devastation in the Golden Empire. Months into the Nightmare War in 149 ABY, Kizav was destroyed when Rin Sakaros tore apart its star with the Force.
Geography[]
Kizav's landmasses were divided almost evenly between grassy plains and swamps. Regular evaporation led to both a warm, humid climate and almost perpetual cloud cover. Nights were very dark, although many phosphorescent chemicals in Kizav's swamps gave off blue and yellow glows which were more prominent in darkness. Some of Kizav's swamps were little more than wetlands, while others were thick with trees, mist, and overhanging foliage. Similarly, some of its plains were flat, while others were rolling hills.
Kizav's mountains had at least some mineral deposits, as the Reawakened were able to find natural red crystals which some of them put in their lightsabers.
Much of Kizav's surface water was in its swamps, although it also had large oceans and numerous lakes and rivers.
Society and culture[]
Kizav's two native sentients had markedly different cultures. The Skavik were ruled by a Queen and existed in cities and city-states called hives. The Royal Hive, where the Queen and her administration lived, was occupied by hundreds of millions of Skavik; outlying hives had anywhere from millions to hundreds of denizens. Hives often neighbored each other closely and were spread over Kizav's plains, although some were built onto mountains. The Skavik had a caste system of governors, warriors, artisans, farmers, and merchants, as well as the extra-caste priests.
The Veracht, by contrast, existed in small groups called clutches. The largest clutches numbered only in the hundreds and each was led by a single alpha male. The Veracht preferred to keep to the swamps, leaving only to feed on Skavik or other prey.
History[]
The Veracht and Skavik evolved as predator and prey, and early Skavik created societies and fortifications to protect themselves against the Veracht. At some point, however, the Veracht began taking more care to be secretive and became myth to their prey. The two societies grew and developed side-by-side as the Skavik became increasingly unaware of the neighboring danger.
Kizav was large and its resources abundant, and the Skavik spread the planet over, building new hives along the way. The Veracht spread with them, clutches splitting and migrating as more and more prey became available. The Skavik Queens began sending their daughters out to govern provinces, as it was becoming increasingly difficult to effectively govern the entire species from the Royal Hive.
In 148 ABY, the Reawakened arrived at Kizav. Sacco Vyrak and Karshi Saan persuaded the Skavik Queen to pledge her species to their service, and Vyrak, Ador Hentral, and Voara Culee won the allegiance of the Veracht clutch-by-clutch until word of them spread and the species as a whole agreed to serve them. Kizav became the base of operations for the Dark Jedi, along with the weapons foundry at Awpierh. When Vyrak was slain during the Defense of Daispin, Desha Marad began using Kizav's vast swamps as a fertile liquid medium to grow clones of the dead Anzat.
In late 149 ABY, Rin Sakaros brought the Prime Fleet to Kizav. Using the Force, she ripped apart the system's primary, and the resulting shockwave of energy vaporized everything still in the system, including Kizav.