Not-Hoth, officially designated Kopan VI by the wider galaxy, is a remote, ice-covered planet located far from established interstellar travel routes. It belongs to the Kopan binary-star system and is considered an undesirable destination by most spacefaring civilizations.
Galactic classifications identify Not-Hoth as a Class C planet, generally regarded as uninhabitable. Despite this designation, the planet supports a complex native ecosystem and several intelligent populations.
Its inhabitants call the world home, regardless of how inhospitable it appears to outsiders.
Not-Hoth has two small suns and two moons, one larger than the other.
A planetary year lasts approximately fifteen Earth months. Its inhabitants measure time through the changing seasons, generations, and significant community events.
The two recognized seasons are:
Bitter Season: The comparatively mild season. Temperatures remain extremely cold, but conditions are generally more manageable. Bitter season lasts approximately five months.
Brutal Season: The longer, more dangerous season, lasting approximately ten months. Heavy snowfall becomes nearly constant, temperatures plummet, and prolonged exposure can be deadly.
Snow can fall throughout the year, including during bitter season. Neither season resembles a temperate Earth's summer.
Not-Hoth is believed to be experiencing a planetary ice age.
Much of its surface is buried beneath deep snow, ice, and glaciers. Powerful storms, freezing winds, and dangerous temperature changes make travel difficult.
During brutal season, the air can become so cold that breathing causes physical discomfort.
The atmosphere also contains a substance toxic to species that have not adapted to the planet.
Humans and most other non-native species cannot survive indefinitely without a khui, a living symbiotic organism that allows its host to tolerate the planet's atmospheric conditions and extreme cold.
Without this adaptation, an unprotected newcomer will become increasingly ill and eventually die.
The khui is fundamental to life on Not-Hoth.
This living symbiont inhabits the hearts of native animals and intelligent species, supporting their survival in the planet's extreme environment.
Khui-bearing creatures typically possess glowing blue eyes with darker blue pupils.
The khui provides increased body heat, improved healing, and protection against the atmosphere's toxicity. Other effects include extended longevity and changes to certain senses.
Khui also influence reproduction through a phenomenon known as resonance.
Not every relationship is determined by resonance, however. Individuals can develop affection, companionship, and lasting partnerships independently of it.
The biological processes, transmission, limitations, and effects of resonance are covered in separate lorebook entries.
Not-Hoth has three known continents, although the established communities occupy a relatively small portion of the planet's equatorial region.
The inhabited mainland contains enormous snowfields, rugged plateaus, glaciers, mountain ranges, caves, and rocky coastlines.
Two particularly distinctive mountain ranges are known:
A range characterized by purple, glass-like crystalline ice.
A granite-like range containing cliffs, caves, and extensive rocky formations.
The planet experiences considerable tectonic and volcanic activity. Earthquakes have reshaped settlements, while volcanic heat creates hot springs and unusually warm environments.
Glaciers advance and retreat with seasonal changes, sometimes altering familiar routes.
The Great Salt Lake is not an ordinary lake but an enormous green ocean. Its coastline provides access to fishing grounds, beaches, and other natural resources.
The mainland also contains pink-leaved trees, an unusual feature of its otherwise sparse vegetation.
Historically, a volcanic island supported a warmer environment and substantially more abundant greenery than the frozen mainland.
The island suffered devastating volcanic destruction, permanently altering its landscape and displacing its inhabitants.
Not-Hoth is inhabited by several intelligent populations with distinct histories and cultures.
Sa-khui: Descendants of ancient Sakh travelers whose spacecraft became stranded on the planet over a thousand years ago. Generations of adaptation transformed their ancestors into the modern sa-khui.
The People: An indigenous intelligent species whose history predates the arrival of the Sakh. Their ancestors developed settlements and traditions of their own.
Island Clans: Descendants of Sakh and the People who formed separate communities on a historically warmer volcanic island. Their descendants possess several distinct inherited physical characteristics.
Humans: People originally taken from Earth by extraterrestrial slavers. Survivors established new lives among the planet's existing inhabitants, forming families and contributing knowledge, customs, and skills.
Other Aliens: A smaller population of non-native extraterrestrials, including former captives and stranded travelers, also resides on Not-Hoth.
These populations interact through family relationships, trade, shared survival, cooperation, and occasionally cultural disagreements.
Two major settlements serve as centers of community life.
Croatoan Village: An ancient settlement rediscovered and occupied following the destruction of the original tribal caves. Located at the bottom of an enormous sheltered crevice, Croatoan contains stone houses, cobblestone pathways, communal facilities, and spaces for daily life.
Icehome Village: A coastal settlement established near the Great Salt Lake. Its population includes humans, sa-khui, former islanders, and other aliens. Wooden huts and communal structures provide shelter along the beach.
The Croatoan Tribe and Icehome Tribe maintain their own communities while remaining connected through family ties, cooperation, and shared history.
Other inhabited locations and surviving communities exist elsewhere in the known lands.
Not-Hoth supports an ecosystem adapted to extreme cold.
Its wildlife includes large grazing animals, dangerous predators, flying creatures, aquatic species, and unusual life forms found near geothermal environments.
Native animals depend on khui for survival.
Wildlife supplies food, hides, bones, and other materials essential to everyday life. Hunting requires knowledge of animal behavior, seasonal migrations, and the hazards of the landscape.
Plant life is comparatively limited on the mainland, although sheltered locations, geothermal regions, and unusual growing environments support additional vegetation.
Food preservation, gathering, fishing, and hunting are vital to the survival of the communities.
Not-Hoth's inhabitants primarily rely on practical tools, handmade clothing, constructed shelters, hunting weapons, and locally available resources.
However, the planet also contains remnants of advanced extraterrestrial technology.
Ancient spacecraft, damaged machinery, and abandoned installations remain scattered across the known lands.
The Elders' Cave is particularly important: it is actually the surviving wreckage of the ancient Sakh spacecraft Se Kilahi.
Some technological systems remain functional, although their operation and repair require specialized knowledge.
Interstellar visitors are exceptionally uncommon. Most inhabitants cannot simply leave the planet, and outside assistance is neither reliable nor readily available.
Ice Planet Barbarians: A New Beginning takes place after the major events of the Icehome storyline.
The original tribal caves are no longer an inhabited settlement. Croatoan and Icehome have become established homes for their respective communities.
The island's volcanic destruction is part of the world's history, and its survivors have adapted to new lives.
Families have grown, younger generations are being raised, and the cultures of humans, sa-khui, islanders, and other inhabitants continue to influence one another.
Despite these developments, much of Not-Hoth remains unexplored.
Ancient ruins, dangerous wildlife, forgotten passages, harsh weather, and the possibility of new arrivals create opportunities for adventure.
The world is not frozen in the events of the original novels. Its inhabitants continue living independently, making decisions, forming relationships, and responding to changing circumstances.
Players may explore, build homes, join communities, form relationships, hunt, craft, investigate mysteries, or establish entirely new lives.
Not-Hoth is a living world, not a predetermined story.