Shawken Spire

The Shawken Spire was a skyscraper located on the planet Shawken. Construction of the Spire took over nine millennia to complete, by which time the skyscraper had reached a low-orbit altitude. The Spire became a popular Core Worlds tourist attraction before its destruction in 18,780 BBY. Thousands of years later, in 10,000 BBY, the historian Vicendi included the Spire in his list of the Twenty Wonders of the Galaxy. By 43 ABY, the skyscraper had been rebuilt with more modern components.

Description[]

A particularly tall skyscraper on the Core World Shawken, the Shawken Spire reached an altitude equal to low orbit by the time of its destruction in 18,780 BBY. By 43 ABY, it had been reconstructed with materials considered modern for the time.^[1]

History[]

The Shawken Spire was located on Shawken,^[1] a planet home to one of the galaxy's most splendid civilizations.^[2] The skyscraper was erected over a period of approximately nine millennia. By 18,780 BBY, the Spire had reached low-orbit altitude^[1] and was a popular Core Worlds tourist destination.^[3] However, it was in that year that the Spire was destroyed.^[1]

Despite the skyscraper's destruction, the historian Vicendi placed the Shawken Spire in his list of the Twenty Wonders of the Galaxy, a compilation of galactic wonders created by sentient beings that was released in his work Arturum Galactinum in 10,000 BBY. By the end of the Second Galactic Civil War in 43 ABY, the Shawken Spire had been rebuilt with materials contemporary to the time.^[1]

Behind the scenes[]

"I thought it was fun to imagine how an ancient culture would have built what is essentially a space elevator using 'primitive' materials."

―Daniel Wallace^[4]

The Shawken Spire was first mentioned in The Essential Atlas, a third-generation Essential Guide written by Daniel Wallace and Jason Fry and released on August 18, 2009. The image of the Spire found in the Atlas was illustrated by Chris Trevas.^[1]