The Meseren (/mɛ'zɛr.ɛn/), a portmanteau of the Lehonese Rakata words meren meaning "temple" and seren meaning "star,"[1] was a converted Kwa star temple that held the distinction of being the oldest building on Mure and one of the oldest freestanding structures in the galaxy. Along with the Prime Temple on Dathomir, the Meseren was one of only two remaining Kwa star temples to survive into the Golden Age of the Old Republic. In 15 ABY, the Obroan Institute for Archaeology listed the Meseren as the two hundred and ninety-third oldest relic of the pre-Republic era.
The Murese star temple was originally built by the earliest civilization present on Mure, the Kwa of Dathomir, who built the structure to contain and protect their Infinity Gate technology. The Rakata of Lehon, whose Infinite Empire conquered and razed Mure in 34,129 BBY, spared the temple from their orbital bombardment in the hopes of accessing and studying the Infinity Gate technology stored within.[2] Though its gate was destroyed by the Kwa when a Rakata victory appeared certain, the temple was converted into a palace stronghold for the Predors of Mure. Though the Predors of the First Predorate preferred to occupy the Temple of Inexorable Victory in downtown Sferastotazisiv, the Predors of the Second Predorate reigned from the Meseren precinct following the fall of the Infinite Empire in 25,200 BBY until 13,137 BBY. The Meseren was subsequently occupied by the Murese Predors of the Third Predorate after its founding in 9,443 BBY.
History[]
The Meseren was among the first structures constructed on Mure after the completion of the planet's reconstruction by Celestial astroengineers. The Celestials had leased the newly terraformed world to their client species, the Kwa, who traveled vast distances across the galaxy via the application of their Infinity Gate technology.[3] The Murese Infinity Gate was contained within a star temple, a pyramidal stronghold that surrounded and protected the Gate. The Murese star temple, thereafter known as the Meseren, was constructed of a mixture of durasteel and stone and covered with an aesthetic outer coat of polished white marble.
Following the conquest of Mure in 34,129 BBY by the Infinite Empire, the Murese star temple was converted into a stronghold palace for the ruling Predors of Mure, around which the city of Sventoveruozas was built. Though the city and the Meseren were initially constructed with the intention of serving as the capital and capitol respectively of the Murese First Predorate, they were supplanted by the unforeseen growth of the prairie city of Sferastotazisiv. The majority of the Rakata predors resided in the roomier Temple of Inexorable Victory in the downtown district of Sferastotazisiv, with the Meseren serving as a resort location and retreat from court life in the capital.
With the fall of the Infinite Empire in 25,200 BBY[4] and the Rakatan loss of Force-sensitivity due to a plague,[5] the Murese Rakata found themselves with a Red Sith slave revolt on their hands. The subsequent War for Liberation saw the death of the Predor Bala'zar on the steps of the Temple of the Ancients and the orbital bombardment of Sferastotazisiv in an attempt to destroy the Sith occupation force. Severed from the Empire, the independent Predors of Mure, having reorganized themselves into the Second Predorate of Mure, moved their capital to Sventoveruozas and took up permanent residence in the Meseren, which became their capitol until the Second Predorate's fall in 13,137 BBY at the end of the Long Defeat.
The Meseren was subsequently occupied first by the Murese grafasikut of Sventoveruozas (Murese Sith word for the rulers of city-states, literally "counts" or "dukes"[6]) during the Murese Premodernity and subsequently by the Predors of the Murese Third Predorate after the start of the Murese Modernity period in 9,443 BBY. A symbol of Murese history and an important part of the Murese cultural heritage, the Meseren was a frequent subject of state commissioned art and adorned the back of gold Finas coins, the Third Predorate's physical currency system.
Sources[]
- Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void
- Dawn of the Jedi: The Prisoner of Bogan 4
- "Seren" on Wiktionary, the Free Dictionary
- Sith (language) on Starsider wiki (Unavailable as of 5/27/18)
- The New Essential Atlas
- The New Essential Chronology
- The Unknown Regions