What am I looking at here?"
"An old crime boss called Nirama had his hideout here, back during the Clone Wars. This whole belt saw a lot of action back then. It's been deserted for maybe twenty years.Han Solo and Perla
The Cularin asteroid belt was a thin asteroid belt in the Cularin system. Its asteroids were the remnants of Oblis, the jungle homeworld of the Oblee. The asteroid belt laid between the orbits of Almas and Genarius. One of the stranger asteroids in the belt was known as the Crystal Snare, a remnant of the large crystal deposits in Oblis.[3]
The Cularin asteroid belt was used as a hiding place by smugglers working for Nirama. Nirama's criminal organization itself was based on the largest asteroid, over 400 kilometers in diameter.[3] He also controlled other asteroids, including repair station Darkside, which received its name for being always in the shadow of other, bigger asteroids.[6]
It was also used as a hiding place and ambush point for groups of pirates, in the other part of the belt. Ships had to leave hyperspace to pass further in-system, which made it an ideal place for the pirates to prey.[3]
History
At some point, the Czerka Mining Corporation established a mining outpost, CMC-3, there.[4]
In 188 BBY, former Padawan Kibh Jeen, who had fallen to the dark side due to the Almas Sith fortress, used his mind powers to control the pirates in the asteroid belt and to attract other minions, creating an army that he would use for seven years in the Dark Jedi Conflict: Jeen and his troops, based in the asteroid belt, attacked the planets and the transports in the systems, and disappeared among the asteroids so that no-one could find them. Jeen was eventually killed by a local, Jedi-led armada, but the pirate presence remained in the belt.[3]
In 32 BBY, Colonel Jir Tramsig, a Thaereian officer assigned to protect Cularin system, reacted to the pirate ambushes on civilian ships, by sending military cruisers through that same route; in one ambush, his cruiser destroyed five pirate ships, and discouraged the tactic among the pirates.[3]
In 31 BBY, the Blood Raptors organized a race through the tunnels of Eskaron. The first racer to leave the moon could choose the path for the reminder of the race: Either go through the Cularin asteroid belt and back, and then to the starting point, Tolea Biqua; or visit the dangerous Nub Saar before returning to Tolea Biqua. Expert Raptor racer Gael Kinner preferred the asteroid belt.[13]
Soon afterwards, The Cell, a faction of Nirama's organization that conspired against him, wrestled with Nirama for the control of some strategic asteroids, including the space station Darkside and the main weapon storage facility Rothe Gate. Nirama eventually defeated the rebellion.[6][11]
One local pirate gang known as the Red Fury Brotherhood had its base in asteroid L-7, although most of the gang almost evacuated L-7 annually to go to the SoroSuub party of the city of Tolea Biqua, in Genarius.[8]
Around 31 BBY, Nirama's agent Len Markus obtained a Sith artifact called Darkstaff in the Cularin asteroid belt and attempted to leave the system with it. One decade later, Markus's agent Phylus Mon, who was holding the Darkstaff, tried to hide his ship, Animiasma, in the belt. The Darkstaff then tried to modify the galaxy around it to its image; however, it only managed to turn the ship, and not the belt, into a dark side nexus.[14]
Explorer Jag Murrock discovered Adegan crystal extracts in parts of the Cularin asteroid belt around 22 BBY.
Appearances
- "Head Trip" (original article link) on Wizards.com (content now obsolete; backup link) (Mentioned only)
- "Eye of the Sun: A Cularin Presence" – Living Force campaign (First mentioned)
- "The Price of Business" – Living Force campaign
- "Between the Worlds: TopWorld" – Living Force campaign
- "Between the Worlds: MidWorld" – Living Force campaign
- "Between the Worlds: UnderWorld" – Living Force campaign
- "Clouds of Genarius: Into the Storm Clouds" – Living Force campaign
- "Broken Orbits: Depths of Dorumaa" – Living Force campaign
- "Operation Blue Star" – Living Force campaign (Mentioned only)
- "Coruscani Dawn" – Living Force campaign (Mentioned only)
- "Shadows in Green" – Living Force campaign (Mentioned only)
- "Below the Belt: Philanthropy" – Living Force campaign
- "Below the Belt: Philosophy" – Living Force campaign
- "Below the Belt: Philology" – Living Force campaign
- "Looking In: Outward Bound" – Living Force campaign (Mentioned only)
- "Belted In: Incursion" – Living Force campaign
- "Belted In: Excursion" – Living Force campaign
- "Who Goes Thaere?" – Living Force campaign (Mentioned only)
- "Belted In: Recursion" – Living Force campaign
- "Jedi Code: The Way of the Force" – Living Force campaign
- "Jigsaw: In the Name of the Maker" – Living Force campaign (Mentioned only)
- "Martial Arts" (original article link) on Wizards.com (content now obsolete; backup link) (Mentioned only)
- "The Replacements" – Living Force campaign
- "A Mon Alone" – Living Force campaign
- "Disapproval" (original article link) on Wizards.com (content now obsolete; backup link) (Mentioned only)
- "Polarization: Revelations" – Living Force campaign (Mentioned only)
- "Polarization: Showdown" – Living Force campaign
- "For Every Action: Preemptive Strike" – Living Force campaign
- "Living Force: From the Cradle to the Grave" (original article link) on Wizards.com (content now obsolete; backup link) (Mentioned only)
- "Living Force: Last Stand" (original article link) on Wizards.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
- "EndTimes: The Heart" – Living Force campaign (Mentioned only)
- "EndTimes: The Hand" – Living Force campaign
- "EndTimes: The Eye" – Living Force campaign (Mentioned only)
- Star Wars (2013) 11
Sources
- Living Force Campaign Guide
- "Creature Feature: Cularin Space Slug" on Wizards.com (content now obsolete; backup link) (First identified as Cularin asteroid belt)
- "Troop Movements" on Wizards.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
- "Gang War" on Wizards.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
- "Discussions With Lanius" on Wizards.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
- "A Dark Cult" on Wizards.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
- "A Friendly Face" on Wizards.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
- "Dark on Dark" on Wizards.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
- "The Cell Revisited" on Wizards.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
- "A Changing Galaxy" on Wizards.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
- "Living Force 2003 Preview" on Wizards.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
- "That Is Nirama's Word" on Wizards.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
- "Asteroid Belt" on Wizards.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
- "Cularin System" on Wizards.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
- "Genarius" on Wizards.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
- "Burnout" on Wizards.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
- "Life's Memories" on Wizards.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
- "The Darkstaff" on Wizards.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
- "News of the Wyrd" on Wizards.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
- "False Horizon" on Wizards.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
- "Double Cross" on Wizards.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
- "Displacement" on Wizards.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
- "The Oblee" on Wizards.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
- Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force
- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia (Mentioned in multiple entries, but without own entry)
- The Clone Wars Campaign Guide
- The Official Star Wars Fact File Part 56 (SOL 9-12: Han Solo)
Notes and references
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Star Wars: The Essential Atlas Online Companion on StarWars.com (article) (backup link)
- ↑ The Essential Atlas
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 Living Force Campaign Guide
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "The Replacements" – Living Force campaign
- ↑ "Belted In: Incursion" – Living Force campaign
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "Between the Worlds: MidWorld" – Living Force campaign
- ↑ "Below the Belt: Philology" – Living Force campaign
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Clouds of Genarius: Into the Storm Clouds" – Living Force campaign
- ↑ "Between the Worlds: TopWorld" – Living Force campaign
- ↑ "For Every Action: Preemptive Strike" – Living Force campaign
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Between the Worlds: UnderWorld" – Living Force campaign
- ↑ Star Wars (2013) 11
- ↑ "The Price of Business" – Living Force campaign
- ↑ "A Mon Alone" – Living Force campaign