Star Wars_ Edge of the Empire Rule Book

Wild Space and the Unknown Regions

Ilild Space and the Unknown Regions represent
Withe vast interstellar unknown reaches of galactic
space. They are the true frontier. However, just be-
cause they are largely unexplored, that doesn't mean
they are uninhabited. Based on the number of spe-
cies and other civilizations already known through-
out the galaxy, it is a good bet that there are likely
millions more. The Unknown Regions alone could be
hiding expansive interstellar empires of its own. The
term Unknown Regions most often applies to the un-
explored western side of the galaxy, naturally barred
from normal hyperspace travel. Wild Space refers to
areas that have been at least nominally explored,
though it may have been centuries in the past. These
areas are usually scattered around the edges of the
Outer Rim, but there are also pockets within what is
normally regarded as Known Space.

WILD SPACE

Wild Space has long been the term for minimally ex-
plored areas at the fringes of Known Space. Due to
continuous efforts to explore and colonize system af-
ter system, Wild Space is the ever-changing edge of
the map. Wild Space represents great opportunities
to independent, corporate, and government scouts.
Discovering a new civilization to trade with, or a new
world rich in precious metals and ore, can make the
discoverer famous. While the scouts might get a sub-
stantial bonus for a great find, the real credits are to
be made by the traders and developers to follow.

Wild Space is dangerous. Just getting into Wild

Space can be tricky due to nonexistent or outdated

astrogation data. Initial contact with a new species

rarely goes smoothly, and most scouts aren't fully

equipped diplomatically or officially to deal with the

situation. Plenty of these worlds may be registered as

uninhabited or unknown, but scouts never know when

a lost colony, smuggler's den, or underworld base

might suddenly appear. Such settlements are rarely

happy to be discovered.

During the Clone Wars, Wild Space made for conve-

nient hiding places and staging areas for the Separatists.

With their ties to megacorporations and the various in-

dustrial and mining guilds, they had a wealth of propri-

etary scouting information unavailable to the Republic.

Both during the war and in the dark times afterwards,

desperate refugees sometimes fled into Wild Space.

Initially, the Empire pursued the Separatist refugees

and performed reconnaissance in force to eliminate

some of the larger hideouts and settlements. Now

that the Empire's military and bureaucratic control

over the galaxy has stabilized, it organizes official ex-

ploration missions deep into Wild Space.

THE UNKNOWN REGIONS

Historically, Unknown Regions is the term for unex-

plored space beyond the known worlds. As such, this

area continually shrunk in size as civilization, and the

Republic in particular, expanded through the ages.

The Unknown Regions remain the source of outra-

geous tales and sinister threats. Galactic civilization

views the area as a combination of romantic frontier

and a source of unexpected horror. It is a place that

has produced new threats and reinvigorated old en-

emies for millennia. Before the establishment of the

Republic, in the earliest days of Coruscant, the Raka-

ta Infinite Empire ruled important worlds across the

galaxy, from their home world deep in the modern

day Unknown Regions. During the time of the Old

Republic, Sith and Mandalorian foes long thought

destroyed would periodically reemerge and wreak

havoc on the galaxy.

The modern day boundaries of the Unknown Re-

gions were established with the discovery of a great

tangle of hyperspace anomalies, forming a barrier

that splits the galaxy virtually in two. The tangle

makes hyperspace travel extremely difficult or im-

possible. Though its origins are debatable, it has

been a natural obstacle to galactic exploration and

development for millennia. Survey missions and

other efforts to find reliable routes are at best slow

and dangerous.

However, passage is not completely impossible. The

Republic sent a well-supported, long-term expedition

in the form of the Outbound Flight project. Like the

majority of such efforts, it ended in disappearance

and disaster. Travelers also occasionally arrive from

the other side, though their appearance is often vio-

lent and aggressive.

During the Clone Wars, official exploration efforts

largely ceased, with Republic scouts distracted by

the war. Government-sponsored exploration began

anew with the Empire, in an effort to expand Imperial

space, exploit new resources or worlds, and search

for any sign of rebel activity. Rebel efforts to use the

Unknown Regions as a base of operations are mini-

mal, due to the resources and time needed to find

suitable locations.

THE GALAXY

EDGE OF THE EMPIRE