The Flamewind was a unique radiation storm that, once a year, bathed the Oseon system in bright, shifting colors and served as a major tourist attraction. The Flamewind caused significant interference on electronic systems, forcing those in the system to stay in place for the duration of the three-week phenomenon, which was observed with constant revelry from Oseon natives and visitors alike. The storm also had unique hallucinatory effects on onlookers, especially those passing through the storm on starships, that could even be observed in droids.
Noted for its wild, shifting colors, the "Flamewind" was the name given to a spatial irregularity that passed through the Centrality's Oseon system annually, cutting off the system to all outside trade and communications. The Flamewind manifested as an unpredictable radiation storm that filled space with all kinds of vibrant colors—picturesque to watch from one of the Oseon's asteroids, but highly dangerous to traverse in a starship. The increased radiation noise from the phenomenon was known to accelerate electronic decay and scramble sensors and gauges, requiring pilots to fly by the seat of their pants through a hazardous asteroid belt.
The Flamewind was known to be overwhelming to direct observers, especially those viewing the radiation storm for the first time, and those caught directly in its fury could suffer symptoms such as vomiting and loss of hair and skin. The Flamewind also appeared to have hallucinatory effects on sentients—and even some droids—that observed the phenomenon, while also causing mood shifts corresponding with different colors. The exact cause of the Flamewind was unknown as of the Imperial Period, though some scientists speculated that it had something to do with solar flares.
Although the Oseon had hosted populations of miners for some time, the unique Flamewind phenomenon did not become widely known until the system was visited by former circus ringleader and explorer Gadfrey Oseon, who once found himself trapped in the system for three weeks while refueling his starship on an asteroid. Oseon decided to stay after coming up with the idea to put a luxury hotel and casino in the asteroid belt, where guests could come to observe the Flamewind and gamble away their credits in the meantime. Oseon's dream helped turn the system that would take his name into one of the wealthiest in the galaxy, and the Flamewind into an in-demand tourist attraction that attracted crowds of all species to the system to revel for weeks underneath the shifting lights.
As a new economy began to grow up around Flamewind, measures were taken to protect the system's denizens and visitors, as all commerce and travel between the Oseon's asteroids was legally banned during the phenomenon. However, some daring smugglers used Flamewind as cover to run illegal goods such as the banned narcotic lesai—in one case, gambler Lando Calrissian survived a treacherous journey from Oseon 6845 to Oseon 5792 at the height of Flamewind in 3 BBY. With so many people in confined spaces over the course of the three-week celebration, a noticeable jump in the Oseon's Human birthrate was routinely observed nine months after Flamewind. It also began to take on its own mythology—observers told stories that the phenomenon was actually a legion of ghosts, a soul-train belonging to a long-extinct species, or that the Flamewind itself had transmitted messages to people and sent them on missions throughout the galaxy.
The Flamewind appears in, and is the namesake of, Lando Calrissian and the Flamewind of Oseon, written by L. Neil Smith and released in 1983.
- "A Campaign Guide to the Centrality" — Star Wars Gamer 5
- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia