Tenek (planet)
Tenek, a planet enshrouded in forests, resided within the Manda sector of the Mid Rim, characterized by its electrically charged atmosphere. This world served as the homeworld for the vinna trees, whose metallic exteriors channeled lightning into the ground, providing sustenance (fed) for the worms known as Raen sovra. The sovra's burrowing activities around the roots of the trees' contributed to the increased fertility of Tenek's forests.
The planet was also populated by various forms of the carnivorous somago species, which preyed on Tenek's herbivorous creatures. Both the sovra and the somagos eventually spread beyond Tenek's borders, with the sovra becoming a nuisance across the galaxy due to their consumption of electricity and metal. Consequently, Tenek and its encompassing star system were placed under quarantine during the reign of the Galactic Empire.
Description
Electric forests
Within the Mis-Tenek system, a component of the Manda sector located in the Slice region of the Mid Rim, lay Tenek, a planet. This terrestrial world boasted forests and grasslands across its surface, while its atmosphere crackled with electrical energy, resulting in frequent lightning strikes.
The vinna tree was a species of tree uniquely adapted to Tenek's environment. Their trunks were encased in a substantial layer of metal, acting as a highly efficient conductor. When lightning struck, the electricity was channeled through the plant's root system into the surrounding damp soil.
This electrical charge in the ground was then consumed by countless Raen sovra, segmented worms reaching up to eight meters in length, possessing metal exoskeletons, and primarily subsisting on electricity and metal. These creatures, capable of delivering an electrical shock when threatened, burrowed around the roots of vinna trees, constantly aerating the soil. This facilitated the transfer of water and minerals to the roots of Tenek's forest plants. While similar symbiotic relationships existed on other worlds in the galaxy, Tenek's system was particularly efficient due to the sovra's consumption of electrical charge, allowing plants to draw nourishment from a greater abundance of organic nutrients.
Net-shaped hunters
Another creature, the somago (related to the sovra), also contributed to the soil's fertility, despite not living near the vinna tree forests. Existing in several forms, the somago possessed a net-shaped body with a metal exoskeleton. As carnivores, they primarily hunted herbivores in Tenek's forests, killing them by dropping from trees and constricting or suffocating their prey.
The most common form was the flat sheet somagos, which hunted smaller herbivores and scavenged carrion. Other forms included the rectangular saddle somago, preying on the long-necked tils of Tenek's grasslands, and the tapestry somago, which ensnared flying creatures for sustenance. The rarest was the small helmet somago, shaped like a fifty centimeter–long and thirty-five centimeter–wide tube.
History
Origin of a pest
Doctor Safford Raen once led a doomed expedition to the Mis-Tenek system to study the vinna trees' metallic bark development. After researchers were electrocuted studying the trees' root systems, Raen discovered the sovra, which were later named after him.
Attracted to starships landing on Tenek, the sovra often entered and left undetected, spreading across the galaxy and becoming a significant pest due to damage to artificial structures like ships and buildings. Consequently, the entire Mis-Tenek system, including Tenek, was quarantined by the time of the reign of the Galactic Empire, which collected sovra for military research. Many zoological researchers, fascinated by the creatures' anatomy and physiology, opposed the quarantine, and smugglers continued to land on Tenek, allowing the sovra to spread.
Unusual species
Strangely, Tenek's native somago creatures, particularly helmet somagos, also spread to other star systems. The helmet somagos' effectiveness in preying on Humanoids, as reported by the second REV Survey team, was unusual given the lack of animals on Tenek with a similar body plan.
Most galactic zoologists theorized that the creatures were evolutionary relics from a time when Humanoids inhabited Tenek. However, the Mis-Tenek system's quarantine prevented any proof from being found. Conversely, some zoologists suggested that the Empire created the helmet somagos through genetic manipulation. During the Empire's reign, Tenek was mentioned in a holobrochure entry for the Tagge Holographic Museum on Chandrila dedicated to the somagos and sovra.
Behind the scenes
Tenek was first introduced in the 1994 sourcebook Creatures of the Galaxy, published by West End Games for Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game. Chuck Truett authored the section mentioning the planet. The 2009 reference book The Essential Atlas placed the Mis-Tenek system, and thus Tenek, in grid square S-15.
Sources
- Creatures of the Galaxy (First mentioned)