TATOOINE

While Tatooine is not well known at all, it is one of the most important places in the galaxy, for reasons which are not reflected by it. Tatooine was home to Anakin Skywalker, Luke Skywalker, and Obi-Wan Kenobi, the three most important figures in Galactic Civil War history. Strangely, Tatooine is not a pleasant planet at all. The deserts which span its face are littered with decaying beasts, crashed starships, and dangers. Because of its close proximity to two suns, it is a burning planet, with desert like conditions all year round. However, for the citizens on the planet, Tatooine can be anything they want, a hiding place, an escape, and for the most unusual, a retreat. There are few cities and habitable places on the surface of Tatooine, which is fortunate for those who inhabit the dark alleys and bars in Mos Eisley.

Mos Eisley is the one major spaceport in Tatooine. A dirty city, it is literally filled with bars, small shops, and businesses. The most popular place in Mos Eisley itself is the Mos Eisley Cantina, which caters to the criminals and brave of Mos Eisley. There are a few other small towns and villages on Tatooine, but settlements are rare, and far apart. While Mos Eisley caters to those rich enough to afford shelter and shops, the sands of Tatooine (also known as the Dune Sea) house the Jawas, Sand People (Tusken Raiders), and innumerable other creatures, including the feared Krayt Dragon.

The most profitable business on Tatooine, aside from smuggling, is moisture farming. Many of the citizens of Tatooine use moisture vaporators to earn their fortunes, though it is a slow business. Because of a peculiar combination of magnetic fields in the planet's mantle, along with highly concentrated magnetic rays in the sky above Tatooine, moisture gathers on the grounds, and is collected by the vaporators every day, which can then be sold to anyone who needs water at high prices. This peculiar combination of magnetic fields and rays is also the reason than Tatooine is inhabited in the first place. Tatooine relies on moisture vaporators for most of its water supply, though places where moisture can be gathered are getting smaller and fewer.

Aside from the Dune Sea, there is one other mark on Tatooine's surface, and that is the Jundland Wastes. The Jundland Wastes are rocky areas which afford travelers some shade, but the shade comes at a price. The Jundland Wastes are patrolled somewhat by bands of Jawas, and, more importantly, Tusken Raiders. The only other important landmark on Tatooine is the Great Pit of Carkoon, which houses the Sarlacc, the one creature rumored to take 1,000 years to digest its victims.

Tatooine is filled with diverse life forms ranging from Banthas to Dewbacks. Tatooine is also home to a crime lord, Jabba the Hutt, who lives in his own palace on the surface of Tatooine. Aside from the Mos Eisley Spaceport, tourists who stumble onto Tatooine by mistake can visit Anchorhead, or the Tosche station. One of the most surprising aspects of Tatooine is that it does receive a fair number of visitors each year. Tatooine is on several hyperspace routes throughout the galaxy, which is, perhaps, the only reason it has done so well for a desert planet. The first home to some of the greatest people in the galaxy, and home to thousands of other people, Tatooine is definitely going to remain an integral part of the galaxy.