Tapani Sector is located in the Colonies on the Shapani Bypass, a trade route which is an offshoot of the Rimma Trade Route. The sector captital is procopia, though the world of Tallaan is actually as important, because the main Imperial regional depot is located here.
Though Tapani isn't in the Core, it might as well be; it is a vastly wealthy sector with political thumbs in almost every Imperial pie. Its noble families, most ardent supporters of the Emperor, have sent their sons and daughters into the most elite Imperial institutions — private schools, the Academy, the Navy, and the halls of power on Coruscant. And the results are starting to pay off — house members now captain Star Destroyers, command worlds as Moffs and governors, and sit in council with the Emperor himself.
Having invested so much in the Empire, Tapani sector is able to maintain a certain level of independence; while surrounding sectors are ruled directly by Imperial-appointed administrators, Tapani sector is permitted to choose its own leaders. This is a delicate situation that might change at any moment.
The sector economy is booking, which helps the Tapani lords afford their fine estates and huge luxury star cruisers. Tapani has a large population of highly educated workers, and its research facilities rank among the most productive in the Empire (especially those at Mrlsst Academy).
There are about 70 systems in the sector, roughly a fifth of which have inhabitable worlds which are heavily settled. Other systems have settlements, but much smaller ones: reseach stations, military outposts, mining facilities, and so on.
Tapani has a large number of temperate worlds within it, and an abundance of raw materials ripe for mining, including some which are relatively rare in the rest of the galaxy (Tapani mining companies have been shipping trillions of tons of valuable ore to the Core annually for several thousand years). Tapani sector is one of the closest major sources of rawmats to the Core. This gives it an edge when competing with sectors further out which must raise their prices to cover higher transportation costs.
Geographically, Tapani sector lies a bit off the Rimma Trade Route. The Rimma run, as it is known in trader slang, ranges from the Core all the way out to the remote Kathol sector. It used to be quite a way off the beaten path, but centuries ago some Republic scouts blazed a big short cut right through the sector that cut days off the Rimma run. The new bypass brought Tapani sector into a major trade route, and that livened the place up a bit. On starcharts, the shortcut is called the Shapani Bypass, but most folks call it the Bacta Run or the Bacta Bypass instead, since it was established to get bacta into the Core faster; Thyferra, the major production center for the Empire's bacta, is just a few days travel away (though not in Tapani sector itself).
There are two distinct parts to Tapani sector: the Expanse and the Freeworlds Region. The Expanse is an ore-rich area of space under the control of noble houses — the remnands of the small stellar empire which once ruled the sector centuries ago. It is made up of seven provinces which make up specific house holdings. The sector capital, Procopia, is an independent world which, by tradition, is governed by the ruling coalition.
Slowly encroaching on the Expanse is the Freeworlds Region, a series of systems on the border of the sector. The Freeworlds Region, which was once the backward fringe of the sector, has become powerful thanks to its position on two major trade routes, the Shapani Bypass and the Giju Run (an ancient Herglic trade route). Because most Expanse ore must pass through the Freeworlds, there is a lot of bickering about the high tariffs the Freeworlds place on Expanse shipping.
Despite its distance from the Core region, by tradition the Tapani sector is considered a part of the Core community. The Tapani nobles are constantly going to and from Coruscant, partly to attend to business there, but mostly so the Emperor can keep an eye on them, and they on him.
Barnaba Province
| Cadriaan Province
| Calipsa Province
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Mecetti Province
| Tapani Sector
| Melantha Province
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Pelagia Province
| Reena Province
| The Freeworlds Region
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