The Black Star Chapter 2: Addendum: Deeply Religious, a star wars fanfic

Addendum to the first chapter - BybloPedia and HoloPedia articles on Deeply Religious.

Deeply Religious
(from BybloPedia, the source of free knowledge in the Galactic Empire from the Byblos University)

Deeply Religious is a band that the members of Imperial Youth should not be listening under any circumstances; because their music is loud, full of expletives and libellous in nature. The band's music was banned by the decree no 1039/20AE and anybody caught in possession of their work is to be prosecuted.

The band is composed of two filthy semi-sentients, Anra Renek and Koobalt Nubes and a Human traitor, a reject-all-Imperial and a son of a former revolutionary, Charon San Valorum.

The responsible Imperial Youth is hereby encouraged to notify COMPNOR of any sightings of Deeply Religious; as well as to report all HoloNet outlets playing their music.

Deeply Religious
(from HoloPedia, the real HoloNet encyclopaedia provided by the Rebel Alliance)

Deeply Religious is a Nubian pronk band from the outskirts of Nuba City, Nubia. Throughout its run, the band has been a trio with a constant line-up composed of the Ortolan percussionist Koobalt Nubes, nicknamed Master Koobs, Duro bassoon player Anra Renek and Human singer and quetarra player, Charon San Valorum; all of whom were born in Ronto, near Nuba City in 9 Gr:S.

Deeply Religious were originally part of the prolific pronk scene in Nuba City's famous 1337 Club, located at the 1337 Corellia Day Street. Their first two records, Angry Teenagers and Growing Pains were released with the independent label RontoRiot Records. The later sold surprising 50 million copies around Nubia and the rest of the Corellian Sector.

At the point their major label debut, Poodoo! was released Galaxy-wide on Teta Tunes in 31 Gr:S, Deeply Religious were already an established and popular act on the local scene. Poodoo! was both a critical and chart success, selling ten billion copies and resulting in the band's first Galactic tour.

After their first Galactic tour, Deeply Religious released a self-titled compilation of selected songs from their first two albums, to which The Imperial Board of Culture reacted by placing their work on the infamous list of Scarlet works.

The band subsequently released two albums on their own label. Advanced Explosives Handbook and Emperor of Air and Darkness are both known as bold anti-Imperial statements, with a lot of the songs namedropping the Imperial authorities, including Emperor Palpatine himself. Shortly after the rlease of Emperor of Air and Darkness, the whole of Deeply Religious' back catalogue was banned from selling in the HoloNet digital stores, on open markets and other places by the Imperial Board of Culture, due to their music being "fast, loud and dangerous". The physical copies of their albums have been destroyed in a raid.

Despite the negative publicity surrounding them, Deeply Religious are often cited as one of the bands that contributed to reviving pronk in a new, contemporary form, next to other Nubian acts, The Younglings, Rimmers and Force Rejects.

History

Formation and RontoRiot years

In 24 Gr:S friends Charon San Valorum and Anra Renek, 15 years old at the time, formed a band they named Deeply Religious, the prominent starship designers' son Koobalt Nubes joining them on drums after having been the only being to answer the ad they wrote on pieces of flimsi all around their Design School.

Unlike Nubes, Valorum and Renek did not come from rich families. Pulott Valorum was murdered in a battle between an early anti-Imperial faction and the Imperial troops long before his son became a musician. Seemingly, Anra Renek is a Clone Wars orphan, adopted by a Human family in Ronto.

There are a couple of stories so as to how the band name came to be, but the prevalent opinion of the music critics nowadays is that it's a play on one of the common insults towards the Force sect that Valorum's deceased father was rumoured to be a supporter of, though himself not Force-sensitive.

The newly-formed band first performed at now-famed Shorn Stabilizer cantina, where Valorum's mother used to work as the chief of staff. Ten standard days later, they were offered to record an album on the independent label RontoRiot, led by the local DIY pronk scene legend, Seemor Starwatcher. Their first two albums, Angry Teenagers and Growing Pains were released on the label spanning two standard years inbetween; and most of their early songs deal with girls and finding one's place in the world.

At some point prior to the release of Growing Pains, Nubes family provided the younglings with new instruments and their touring starship, a beat-up old Nubian which Valorum named "Sticks". At the end of this tour, Valorum also got into a fist fight with the Steamy Hot Wasaka Stew frontman Antonio Nokaarbe, whom he had previously mocked in one of the first Deeply Religious songs,Nokaarbe Is Not Handsome.

Poodoo! and Galactic Breakthrough

After the Nokaarbe incident made headlines of the newsflimsi around the Galaxy and Nokaarbe himself claimed he was "assaulted by a tiny madman" to the notorious sludge reporter Yilda Lami; Deeply Religious caught the attention of the Empress Teta-based major label Teta Tunes. A representative then invited the band to Cinnagar to sign a contract; and though they had previously refused offers by Corellian Sector's major labels, they jumped on Sticks and travelled to the Deep Core planet. Antares Dain, a previously unknown producer specialising in heavier, quettara-dominating music was assigned to work with them

Deeply Religious' major label debut, Poodoo! was released Galaxy-wide on Teta Tunes in 31 Gr:S, accompanied by holovideos for Cloudcity [sic], Garbage Disposal (Dianooga, Eat Me!) and Get Away. Poodoo! was both a critical and chart success, selling ten billion copies in the first year from its release. During this time, the band had a brief rivalry with their fellow Nubian pronks, The Younglings, notably with their leader, Rexon Froz, otherwise a xenobiologist. Froz was quoted as saying that Deeply Religious lacked the true pronk sensibilities and that their work had no traces of activism, with most of the songs being about finding oneself and dealing with females.

The release of Poodoo! was followed by the band's first-ever Galactic tour, including some stops that were deemed to be controversial by general public, such as Dac. Deeply Religious were famously denied landing on Kashyyyk; with the official version of the decree stating that they could not have performed for non-sentients such as Wookiees and that there was no sufficient Human population to perform for.

Decline, Ban and Exile

One standard year after Poodoo! was released, Deeply Religious have opted for a different sound and a different direction in their career. In an interview with Beat, Charon San Valorum stated that having such a large audience is a privilege and that he and his band mates wanted to make sure that, now their voice is heard, they will focus on social issues in the Galactic Community; as opposed to the confessional, self-loathing songs that marked their earlier work and resulted in their rise to stardom.

Following this, the band released a self-titled compilation consisting of selected songs from their first two albums. The Galactic community, otherwise unaware of Angry Teenagers and Growing Pains, was thus introduced to their more politically-charged early works, with titles such as Twi'lek Dancing Girls dealing with slavery and exploitation of non-Humans. The Imperial Board of Culture reacted by placing both the Deeply Religious compilation and the Poodoo! Album on their list of Scarlet works.

Deeply Religious responded by self-releasing two politically-charged albums, Advanced Explosives Handbook and Emperor of Air and Darkness. This resulted in a raid of Teta Tunes warehouses, destruction of the physical copies of their albums; as well as the brutal COMPNOR-arranged murder of Seemor Starwatcher, the man who discovered Deeply Religious, while he was taking a trip to Coruscant. Teta Tunes officials were pressured into dropping the band off their label and publicly denouncing all of their work for being "fast, loud and dangerous", in order not to suffer Starwatcher's fate. The band's work was also removed from all widely-known HoloNet stores and placed on the Imperial Board of Culture's list of Banned works.

It has long been speculated that the band's multi-species nature was another factor that contributed to their ban and that Valorum received an ultimatum, asking him to replace Renek and Nubes with a Human bassoon player and a drummer; which he refused; claiming that the two men suggested as replacements were COMPNOR agents.

Currently, Deeply Religious have been rumoured to be touring independent clubs all around the Core. If you're interested in seeing them live, contact your local independent promoters and make sure you're using the known HoloNet blockers if you're holostreaming their music. Pronk's not dead and you know it.

Discography

Angry Teenagers (RontoRiot, 27 Gr:S)
Growing Pains (RontoRiot, 29 Gr:S)
Poodoo! (Teta Tunes, 31 Gr:S)
Deeply Religious (Teta Tunes, 32 Gr:S) [compilation]
Advanced Explosives Handbook (Self-released, 35 Gr:S)
Emperor of Air and Darkness (Self-released, 37 Gr:S)

Angry Teenagers