Welcome to Tatooine

Secrets of Tatooine Exclusive Sneak Peak

By JD Wiker

Tatooine rises from the darkness after the whirl of hyperspace, an awesome yellow planet with two moons, glowing in the black void. Tiny ships appear here and there, leaving or entering the desert world's atmosphere or just lurking in orbit -- pirate vessels patiently waiting for the unwary. But traffic is thin. The world may be a stopping place on a major hyperspace route, but that doesn't make it popular.

On closer approach, the bleakness of the planet becomes more obvious. Tatooine is a dry rock in space, a world drained of moisture and baked to dust by its twin suns. The daylight side is scorched, the night side frozen. But, somehow, life goes on.

From orbit, it's easy to see just how harsh a landlord the desert world is. The few settlements cluster in a tight group in the planet's temperate zone -- the "garden spot." All else is sand and rock, as far as the eye can see. Studies of the native inhabitants, Jawas and Tusken Raiders, show that they live in those wild areas, but their reasons for doing so are anyone's guess. There's simply nothing there but an endless sea of sand.

Dropping down into the atmosphere, the desolation grows even more evident. The spaceports are artificial oases, relief from the dullness of hyperspace and the drab desert. Commerce bustles. Ships come and go every so often, but more frequent are the cargo haulers that move goods around from city to city, building to building.

Everything is available on Tatooine, whether the authorities condone it or not. Easily half of what is bought and sold on these dusty streets is contraband, and most of the rest is never taxed, never recorded, and never reported. Tatooine is a frontier world and its "cities" frontier towns, and "the law" is an unwelcome and barely tolerated nuisance. Even a crime so heinous as murder goes not so much unsolved as ignored.

A quick pass over any Tatooine city reveals the squalor in which most of the residents live, though palatial mansions do stand out -- if only by virtue of their heavy security. The planet is ruled by nefarious activity, and the crimelords enjoy the fruits of their labors. Everyone else simply survives or is swept aside like the rest of the dust. No one remembers them. No one cares. As long as their passing enriches the living, the dead go largely unmourned.

Still, people choose to live here, some out of greed, others ambition, and still others desperation . . . or fear. Presumably, they call Tatooine their home because the harsh world offers them some kind of hope, a hope that life here is more bearable than life somewhere else -- or death anywhere else. Most see a fighting chance as better than no chance at all.

With the very first hot, dry breath searing the air in your lungs, Tatooine promises only this: a life of indeterminate length, characterized by squalid drudgery or dreary boredom, punctuated with occasional moments of adrenaline-filled fear -- one of which will undoubtedly be your last.

Need more on the desert planet so crucial to the Star Wars saga?

Check out Secrets of Tatooine, available May 2001!

Take a look at another important world in the Secrets of Naboo Campaign Pack!