Crytal Nest

Crytal Nest was a terrestrial planet located in the Crytal Nest system of Wild Space.

By 22 BBY, members of the Shashay sentient species that was native to Crytal Nest had already traveled offworld. For many years during the existence of the Galactic Republic and its successor, the Galactic Empire, Shashay starships explored nearby star systems and carried out low-profile trading with small settlements. Approximately a decade before the Battle of Yavin, the Shashay became more prominent in the wider galaxy after a Shashay scout was forced to land her damaged ship on the Mid Rim planet Kashyyyk and set into motion events that led to the Shashay becoming highly sought-after as singers throughout the Empire.

Eventually, the Shashay became more reclusive. Rightfully fearing that the Empire would exploit Crytal Nest if it was discovered, the Shashay kept the planet's location a closely guarded secret. Very few Shashay were allowed to travel offworld, and Crytal Nest's coordinates were never written down or recorded into memory banks of navigation computers; instead, Shashay navigators manually entered them from memory. The Shashay had such strong communal ties to their homeworld that every member of the species would die before divulging Crytal Nest's location. For many years, that attitude protected the planet from being discovered by the Imperial Survey Corps.

A few months before the Battle of Yavin, the Rebel Alliance decided to seek the aid of the Shashay in its struggle against the Empire. The Shashay initially politely resisted the Alliance's advances, but the natives of Crytal Nest became more receptive as the atrocities committed by the Empire continued to grow in scope. Around the time of the Battle of Yavin, the Alliance and the Nestmothers of the Shashay had nearly concluded negotiations for a treaty of mutual support. The terms of the treaty provided for the establishment of a Rebel base on Crytal Nest—a facility that the Alliance believed would be completely secure due to the planet's secret location. However, the Nestmothers still wished to be convinced of the Alliance's good faith, resourcefulness, and ability to defeat the Empire.

Chief Administrator Braig Farool of TransGalMeg Industries, Incorporated and his brother Nak, Special Assistant to Imperial Moff Nile Owen of the Outer Rim Territories' Rayter sector, devised around that time a plan to simultaneously and publicly discredit the Rebel Alliance and Owen. To that end, they had Crying Dawn Singer, a famous Shashay performer, kidnapped while he was performing in the Rayter sector. When Zeke Rondel, the commander of the Alliance base on the celestial body Berrol's Donn, tasked a team with finding and retrieving the singer, he informed them of the importance of the mission to the ongoing negotiations over establishing a Rebel facility on Crytal Nest.

Around that time, Nak Farool arranged for the production and sequential public transmission of a group of holographic recordings that implicated the Alliance in the abduction of Crying Dawn Singer. In one of the recordings, the pirate Yearo Seville claimed to be an Alliance leader holding the performer hostage and demanded that, in return for Crying Dawn Singer's release, the Shashay support the establishment of a Rebel base on Crytal Nest. Farool also sent Owen a message reporting on the operation's progress involving the kidnapping—with the Moff being led to believe that its ultimate goal was the discreditation of the Alliance and the alignment of the Shashay with the Empire. In the message, Farool expressed his confidence that the Imperials' actions would shortly result in the Crytal Nest system coming under the Empire's control.

Unbeknown to Owen, the recordings ordered by Farool also included a news report on a supposed rescue of Crying Dawn Singer by an elite force organized by TransGalMeg Industries, Incorporated. In that recording, Braig Farool claimed that he and the "liberated" Shashay performer were preparing to meet with the leaders of Crytal Nest in order to negotiate a treaty that would bring the Shashay under Imperial protection. That holotransmission, however, was never sent due to Rondel's Rebel team capturing the Imperial II-xC Maintenance/Broadcast Ship responsible for the transmissions.

Later, the Rebel agents confronted Braig, who was holding Crying Dawn Singer captive, on the planet Narg. By that time Owen, who had learned of the Farools' plot, had executed Nak and arrived in Narg's orbit in his personal Imperial Star Destroyer, the Impending Doom, to rescue the Shashay singer and arrest and kill Braig as well. Being aware of those facts, Farool had become delusional and, armed with a blaster rifle, demanded that the Rebels "destroy" Owen and the Impending Doom and take him and Crying Dawn Singer to Crytal Nest. There, Farool expected to negotiate a treaty that would render the Shashay a part of the Rayter sector and the Empire—an accomplishment for which he further believed that Galactic Emperor Palpatine would richly reward him.

The Rebel team eventually rescued Crying Dawn Singer and returned to the Alliance. The agents were subsequently among the delegates chosen to travel to Crytal Nest, where they observed ceremonies and the ratification of the treaty between the Alliance and the Shashay.

Crytal Nest was the homeworld of the sentient Shashay species, which had evolved from birds. At some point, the Shashay acquired the ability of space travel, and their avian brains easily adapted the skills necessary for three-dimensional terrestrial flight to deal with the intricacies of hyperspace, allowing for members of the species to become excellent astrogators.

The Shashay spoke a language other than Basic, organized their society around Nestclans, and were governed by the Nestmothers of the Shashay. Although life on Crytal Nest was regimented, most Shashay were content to remain on their homeworld, with the exception of those who sought adventure and excitement and accordingly became offworld traders. The highly individualistic Shashay Crying Dawn Singer also did not enjoy living on Crytal Nest, and since he was a talented singer even among the Shashay, the Nestmothers allowed him to leave the planet in order to perform in the wider galaxy—also reasoning that the profit Crying Dawn Singer would earn through his performances would be beneficial to his entire species.

Crytal Nest was introduced in The Abduction, a 1992 roleplaying adventure authored by Chuck Truett and published by West End Games for use with Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game. The 1998 West End Games sourcebook Alien Encounters consistently misspells the planet's name as "Crystal Nest." The 2009 reference book The Essential Atlas placed the Crytal Nest system, and therefore the planet itself, in grid square H-20.

In The Abduction, if the player-characters fail to rescue Crying Dawn Singer, Moff Nile Owen attempts to force the Shashay to reveal the location of Crytal Nest. In the process, Crying Dawn Singer is killed and his species breaks off all relations with the Rebel Alliance, essentially dooming its operations in the Rayter sector. This article assumes the events of the adventure play out as described.

• Alien Encounters
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, Vol. III