Any free Info/Aventure on Ilum?

Depends on your time frame. According to the book Ashoka right about the time the Rebellion was formed Ilum was being strip mined for Kyber crystals to power the Death Star laser. The Empire apparently was using an enormous mining ship that was actually stripping the crust of the planet in huge wedges that could be seen from 4-500,000km away. I'm sure a bold adventure could built around that.

The planet gets covered in the Nexus of Power sourcebook, which provides some history on the planet, game info about the Temple and trial to obtain an Ilum kyber crystal, as well as its current status as of the Rebellion era.

My crew is there right now. They buried an imperial outpost in an avalanche, got inside the Jedi temple to acquire their lightsaber crystals, and are making their way out a secret exit out the back ala Last Jedi, where the Empire is waiting...

I think i'll start in media res next time incarcerated on a Star Destroyer, looking out a viewport as one of those miners showing up, let them thwart the plans. Thinking of using a World Devastator as a visual model for my mining ship.

started editing accidentally deleted all my text DOH!! Move along

16 hours ago, FuriousGreg said:

Depends on your time frame. According to the book Ashoka right about the time the Rebellion was formed Illum was being strip mined for Kyber crystals to power the Death Star laser. The Empire apparently was using an enormous mining ship that was actually stripping the crust of the planet in huge wedges that could be seen from 4-500,000km away. I'm sure a bold adventure could built around that.

Well, that adds more credence to the idea that Ilum became the superweapon in Force Awakens (other than just map position).

12 minutes ago, Darzil said:

Well, that adds more credence to the idea that Ilum became the superweapon in Force Awakens (other than just map position).

Yep, which essentially puts Ilum completely off limits by that era.

2 hours ago, Darzil said:

Well, that adds more credence to the idea that Ilum became the superweapon in Force Awakens (other than just map position).

There area few problems with the theory and I think SKB isn't Ilum, but that doesn't mean they didn't use another, smaller planet in the same system. It's more likely IMO that the Empire continued to mine the planet up until the destruction of the second Death Star then left the equipment there when the war ended. Some of the units behind the New Order likely knew of it's existence and used that equipment and the remaining crystals to fund the creation of the New Order and construct Star Killer Base. This idea, or something like it would make sense and eliminate the problems of the different size and environment between what we know of Ilum from legends and cannon and what we see of SKB. I don't think we're likely to get a cannon answer but who knows. In any case you could have an adventure there but if you want to maintain some continuity I'd go with not destroying the mining facility which is likely to be even larger than the one described in Ghosts of Dathomir.

12 minutes ago, FuriousGreg said:

There area few problems with the theory and I think SKB isn't Ilum, but that doesn't mean they didn't use another, smaller planet in the same system. It's more likely IMO that the Empire continued to mine the planet up until the destruction of the second Death Star then left the equipment there when the war ended. Some of the units behind the New Order likely knew of it's existence and used that equipment and the remaining crystals to fund the creation of the New Order and construct Star Killer Base. This idea, or something like it would make sense and eliminate the problems of the different size and environment between what we know of Ilum from legends and cannon and what we see of SKB. I don't think we're likely to get a cannon answer but who knows. In any case you could have an adventure there but if you want to maintain some continuity I'd go with not destroying the mining facility which is likely to be even larger than the one described in Ghosts of Dathomir.

Actually, according the the latest stats for the Starkiller Base. It has the same exact measurements as the planet Ilum (660 Km in diameter). This, added to having the same location and environment, and being a world originally rife with Kyber Crystals, all point to Ilum becoming Starkiller Base. There are just too many similarities for them not to be the same planet.

6 hours ago, Tramp Graphics said:

Actually, according the the latest stats for the Starkiller Base. It has the same exact measurements as the planet Ilum (660 Km in diameter). This, added to having the same location and environment, and being a world originally rife with Kyber Crystals, all point to Ilum becoming Starkiller Base. There are just too many similarities for them not to be the same planet.

That's an insanely small planet to support an atmosphere (about 0.5 earth mass is needed, but there are a heck of a lot of other factors), and since the volume of a sphere is 4pi/3*r^3, an earth density planet half as massive as the earth would have a diameter of 10,113km, so unless you accidentally left off a zero that thing is over the top insanely dense. It must have a huge heavy metallic content, I wonder what the effect of all those kyber crystals are on density. More likely that this is an instance of artsy type writers not bothering to do the math, or doing the math wrong, or not even caring about having a physically consistent universe.

2 hours ago, EliasWindrider said:

That's an insanely small planet to support an atmosphere (about 0.5 earth mass is needed, but there are a heck of a lot of other factors), and since the volume of a sphere is 4pi/3*r^3, an earth density planet half as massive as the earth would have a diameter of 10,113km, so unless you accidentally left off a zero that thing is over the top insanely dense. It must have a huge heavy metallic content, I wonder what the effect of all those kyber crystals are on density. More likely that this is an instance of artsy type writers not bothering to do the math, or doing the math wrong, or not even caring about having a physically consistent universe.

Things just work differently in the Star Wars galaxy.

Why else would there be sounds in space and space ships fly like aeronautical fighter planes?

16 minutes ago, OddballE8 said:

Things just work differently in the Star Wars galaxy.

Why else would there be sounds in space and space ships fly like aeronautical fighter planes?

I'd read a surround sound speaker system explanation, it was pseudo sound in cockpits to increase pilot situational awareness. But why do ships fly the way they do (people can relate to it so intuitive design I guess)

Star Wars is a movie, if I was writing TFA and for some reason wanted to have the super weapon of the day be built from a planet then Ilum would be high on my list. If I wanted it hidden as well then Ilum is the perfect choice to avoid adding some new place filled with kyber crystals.

@EliasWindrider - whilst you are correct I would never apply real science to a fantasy, just causes you headaches

Otherwise loads of people would be running round with lightsabers!

3 hours ago, Random Bystander said:

@EliasWindrider - whilst you are correct I would never apply real science to a fantasy, just causes you headaches

Otherwise loads of people would be running round with lightsabers!

There are... most of them are called PC's.

I tend toward the idea that Ilum is in the same system as Starkiller, but a different planet. The planetary scale strip mining made Ilum itself too unstable, so they shipped the materials one world over and built it in a more viable foundation.

2 hours ago, rogue_09 said:

I tend toward the idea that Ilum is in the same system as Starkiller, but a different planet. The planetary scale strip mining made Ilum itself too unstable, so they shipped the materials one world over and built it in a more viable foundation.

Read the write up on Starkiller Base again. The base was built out of a planet that they heavily strip mined for kyber crystals, just as had been done to Ilum.

The very fact that Ilum was gutted for its kyber crystals, just as the Starkiller base planet was, as well as their being in the same location, have the same diameter, and same environment pretty much establishes Ilum as Starkiller Base.

Stands to reason other planets in the system would also be kyber rich.

34 minutes ago, Tramp Graphics said:

Read the write up on Starkiller Base again. The base was built out of a planet that they heavily strip mined for kyber crystals, just as had been done to Ilum.

The very fact that Ilum was gutted for its kyber crystals, just as the Starkiller base planet was, as well as their being in the same location, have the same diameter, and same environment pretty much establishes Ilum as Starkiller Base.

I'd say that is very compelling evidence but hardly definitive, given that the odds of another planet of the same size and composition being in the same region of space are not astronomically [sic] low! There are Quntickazillian planets in the galaxy.

2 minutes ago, rogue_09 said:

Stands to reason other planets in the system would also be kyber rich.

Or, knowing the little bit of astrophysics that I do, the entire area could be kyber-rich as a result of some ancient cataclysm, perhaps the same cataclysm that makes the entire Unknown Regions hard to navigate via hyperspace? Ahh, the rampant speculation is such fun!

5 minutes ago, themensch said:

I'd say that is very compelling evidence but hardly definitive, given that the odds of another planet of the same size and composition being in the same region of space are not astronomically [sic] low! There are Quntickazillian planets in the galaxy.

The chances of two identical planets in the same exact spacial coordinates, with the same exact diameter, chemical and geological composition, the same environment, both being gutted, is beyond unlikely to be a virtual impossibility. There are too many matches between them for them to not be the same planet.

1 minute ago, Tramp Graphics said:

The chances of two identical planets in the same exact spacial coordinates, with the same exact diameter, chemical and geological composition, the same environment, both being gutted, is beyond unlikely to be a virtual impossibility. There are too many matches between them for them to not be the same planet.

I'm afraid I don't draw the same conclusions from the same evidence:

1. Exact same spacial coordinates? It looks very close, but that's not "exactly." Space is quite big!

2. We know it looks kinda similar and has kyber crystals, but can we really say it has the exact chemical and geological composition? I'm not convinced.

It's entirely possible like you say, even highly likely, but it is not proven without the shadow of a doubt. However, mathematical considerations yield a high likelihood that there could in fact be another similar planet nearby. Given supernovae distribute ejecta across a broad swath of space spanning the space of countless star systems, it isn't so far-fetched.

That said, until they tell us, we'll never actually know. I'm not as confident the evidence points to a conclusion, but far be it for me to tell anyone else not to come to conclusions!

I know I'm being pedantic here but 90% is not 100%, "almost certain" is not "incontrovertible truth" - unless it is actually stated, then even a wink and a nudge from Pablo himself still won't convince me.

They changed the planet's stats from Legends, Ilum used to be almost 6000km, and the planet shown in the Clone Wars is obviously larger than 660km which is about the distance between San Francisco and Los Angeles. The Moon is 3500km and if I remember my astronomy is like the second or third densest object in the Solar System and it still only has .1 gravity. Even Star Killer Base can't really be that small from just looking at it visually in TFA, the horizon would look like you were standing on a giant beachball and a sneeze would be enough to reach escape velocity, assuming you could survive in a near total vacuum. All this shows is that JJ or whoever came up with those stats haven't f'n clue what they are talking about.

But it's a fantasy after all... The thing is the original films, heck even prequels, didn't stray so far from science that it made no sense at all. But JJ and the new cabal at the Mouse House aren't even trying anymore. So I don't buy into the fan theory but I can't put it past them for it to be so.

Maybe it's half Ilum, half Ilum II crammed together. That explains the Crevasse of Planetary Sadness across the middle.