Bacta

Bacta, like Thyferra itself, is the very lifeblood of our civilization. We've built a strong Empire, but like anything great, it needs occasional renewal, and that renewal literally and figuratively comes from Thyferra. Keeps us strong, helps us survive injuries that should maim or incapacitate, helps us to overcome adversity and strife. The bacta flows out from our factories to every corner of the Empire, the very blood of our prosperity.

-Moff Kyl Ransen

Properties

Material Characteristics

Bacta is a compound of carefully-formulated resins and bacterial cultures suspended in a gel matrix. It is slightly denser than water and has a translucent hue, which is red in its raw, freight-ready state and blue in its medical-grade, commercial state. The compound has an oily or waxy texture to it, smells of a pungent herbal extract, and conducts warmth easily.

Origin & Source

Bacta ready for medical use, known as "blue" bacta, is a combination of alazhi bacteria--gleaned from the Xoorzi fungus--and kavam--resin structures generated by the Vratix and Knytix. It is then suspended in a gel matrix known as ambori, a sanitary distillate produced on many industrial worlds throughout the galaxy.
Bacta which has not yet been cut with ambori is known as "red bacta". Almost all shipments of bacta are delivered in the red form, since red bacta can be processed and mixed with ambori in any medical factory throughout the galaxy, while the components of red bacta are essentially exclusive to Thyferra.

History & Usage

History

Bacta originated on the planet Thyferra, and is almost exclusively produced there. It began as a more holistic remedy used by the native Vratix and shared as a biological anomaly to Republic settlers who charted the world in 4000 BRS. For a long time it remained an effective remedy only for the indigenous people, but eventually the Republic figured out how to refine the Vratix remedy with ambori to make a compound useful for almost every species in the galaxy to treat any sort of wound or malady.
It didn't take long for Thyferra to become an economic powerhouse thanks to its control of the bacta trade. But as the Republic's need for the miraculous panacea grew, the planet's factions became more and more desperate to control the one-true industry on Thyferra. Dozens of gangs, cartels, and unions began to vie for direct and indirect control of each other's assets in the production pipeline of bacta. The Republic began to move refining and ambori mixing off-world, preferring to keep more of the bacta pipeline off of the volatile world, but even so too much reliance on Thyferra met unpredictable market demand to create sometimes devastating shortfalls in galactic supply.
This came to a head in 60 BRS, when unrest on Thyferra contributed to galactic plague due to bacta shortage. The Republic began to seriously invest in synthetic bacta options, despite historically disastrous attempts in this field. They also began to regulate and consolidate Thyferra's cartel system. By the time the Empire consolidated its power, control of Thyferra was given over completely to the two sole bacta cartels, Xucphra and Zaltin, that the Emperor had sanctioned to supply the galaxy with bacta.

Manufacturing & Products

Bacta begins with alazhi bacteria, which is cultured in off-site fields of massive fields of Thyferra flora known for its delicate and distinctive protuberances, which grows alazhi bacteria in abundance. Cartel workers harvest the bacteria and load it into tanks on the backs of heavy lift speeders, which in turn take the alazhi to bacta processing plants in the city. The alazhi is then screened through a coarse filter and purified in petri sluices.
At the same time, the resin kavam, is gleaned from herds of knytix and hormonally-enhanced Vratix workers. Culled into bins and then shipped to bacta processors' holding bins, the kavam is then sifted before being boiled in massive vats. It is then cooled through a touch-less still.
At this point the kavam and alazhi are combined and loaded into unified tanks. A double centrifuge system mixes the chemicals, removing substrates to get a refined mix of industrial-grade transport bacta. This red bacta is then kept in tide-tanks until ready for loading into special cargo tanks used for shipping off-world.
Once the red bacta arrives at various distribution centers throughout the galaxy, ambori is added and mixed with the supply to give the bacta its distinctive translucent blue color and render the solution fit for medical application.

Hazards

The biggest hazard of bacta comes from it's industrial-grade shipping material, red bacta. Red bacta is highly mutagenic and carcinogenic, making it a potent biohazard in the loading and unloading of cargo tanks. Spills during these steps represent a significant hazard to the surrounding environment, and concerns over its volatility has historically kept the cartels from expanding operations around Thyferra. It's simply much easier to contain accidents to the confines of Zalxuc city's plants and spaceport.
Blue bacta itself is not traditionally hazards, even in large quantities. But blue bacta is sensitive to stress, including g-forces, tibanna exhaust, and electrical discharge. The tanks used to store and administer the bacta to patients are thoroughly shielded against these forces, but the technology is prohibitively expensive at cargo-scale, leading to reliance on red bacta as the most economic option to disseminate bacta supplies across the galaxy.
Another hazard of bacta is Runaway Regeneration Syndrome, or "Bacta Burn" as it is colloquially known. A rare but dangerous condition arising from bacta use, RRS must be treated within days of contracting the condition. Failure to do so may result in death at worst, and even if attended to right away RRS will present chronic ailments for the rest of the user's life.

Environmental Impact

The bacta industry has a whole has negligible impact on Thyferra's environment. Indeed, because the galaxy's supply of bacta depends almost exclusively on Thyferra, the entire planet has been assigned sanctuary status for thousands of years. Thyferra's industrial development, waste disposal, deforestation, and population levels are strictly controlled to maintain a status quo on Thyferra that is best for indefinite bacta production.
Bacta's component materials, alazhi and kavam, are no hazard on Thyferra--indeed, they're essential and ubiquitous parts of the ecosystem. But out of Thyferra's unique conditions, kavam tends to cure poorly and spoil the traits that make the bacta compound, and alazhi decays at such extreme rates that it present spore and bacterial infection hazards. These two reasons have kept bacta production almost entirely on Thyferra.
Ambori itself presents little hazard to local environments. As a gel-based fluid medium and distillate, in large quantities it can present a threat to water tables and hydrographic coverage, but this is usually easily cleared up through natural processes.

Type

Biomaterial

Color

Red/Blue

Game Mechanics

Cost: Blue - 40cr/lb. 100cr/L. 80,000/ton.
Red - 12.5cr/lb. 31.25cr/L. 25,000/ton.
Weight: 2.5 lbs/L. 800L/ton. Speculative Pricing: Blue - Agri world +1, Poor world +1.
Red - Non-industrial world -2.
Use: Fieldpac - +2 to First Aid skill and heals 2HP upon success.
Bacta-tank - HT+2 roll, heals 1HP per 12 hours of full immersion, consuming 1L of bacta. Eliminates chance of infection, limb rejection, or radiation poisoning for patient. Requires a tank full of 300L of bacta.