Taris"The prejudice, the rich spoiling themselves while the poor are crushed beneath them¡ªnot a pretty picture."
¨DCarth Onasi
Taris was an urban planet in the Outer Rim Territories. Its ecumenopolis quickly developing over a century of prosperity, the planet suffered from massive overpopulation. Once a galactic nexus, Taris' importance declined with the introduction of improved trade routes, and the planet rapidly fell into decay. The remainder of the planet's history was wrought with civil disorder and social unrest. As it turned to industry as a means of compensation for its economic troubles, its oceans became polluted, eliminating the planet's main food source. Famine spread among the lower classes while the rich hoarded what few supplies remained. The resulting strife led to the Tarisian Civil War, the start of lasting prejudices between the Humanocentric Tarisian nobles and the largely alien poor. The city became segmented, and the lower classes were banned from living in the upper levels of Taris.
During the Mandalorian Wars, Taris served as a crucial rallying point for dissident Jedi who had decided to fight against the invading Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders. As the lower classes were crushed beneath the rich, crime became rampant, and the Tarisian government did little in response. This caused a mining company which employed half of the planet's lower class in its operation, Lhosan Industries, to leave Taris. The millions left unemployed rioted against the government, kidnapping the planet's senator in the Galactic Senate as well as the local constable. This caused the local Jedi to leave Taris as well, leaving Taris in a state of anarchy, as the war raged on around it.
By the time of the Jedi Civil War, order had been restored, but swoop gangs and crime still held sway over the Lower City. During the war, Taris was conquered by the Sith Empire, which quarantined the planet in an attempt to capture Jedi Bastila Shan. As the search continued fruitlessly, the Sith leader Darth Malak, ordered the bombardment of Taris, killing countless civilians. This act had huge political repercussions for the Sith and changed the tone of the rest of the war, showing Malak and the Sith's true colors, the desire to achieve victory at any cost.
Over the next few millennia the planet managed to rebuild and recover from its devastation, though never reaching the extent of its former glory. Similar to other ecumenopoli like Coruscant and Nar Shaddaa, the upper levels were safe and secure, inhabited by the wealthy, the lower levels were frequently plagued by gang warfare, inhabited by thugs and the poor.
Description
Terrain
"Taris? The planet's all one big city..."
¨DCarth Onasi[src]
Taris was a ecumenopolis, at least in that all its landmasses were covered in a large city. However, unlike other ecumenopoli, Taris had an ocean that covered a part of the planet's surface. The ocean once possessed massive kelp farms that were used to sustain the planet's immense population. However, these farms were poisoned by pollution, leading to problems in the city.
The city itself was formed over a century of prosperity,[1] a remarkable feat considering other ecumenopoli such as Nar Shaddaa took many centuries[7], even millennia, to form, albeit these, for the most part, did not have massive oceans covering much of their surface. Nodding towards the planet's prosperity, the towers of the city were tall and gleaming, possessing a unique, universally-rounded appearance not found on other ecumenopoli. However, below the planet's initial pristine exterior lay the result of many years of lawlessness and oppression. In the Lower City of Taris, the largely non-human population lived in total poverty and desperation, prevented from entering the safer Upper City, almost totally inhabited by the rich. Following the bombardment of Taris at the hands of the Sith Empire, much of the city was left in ruins, and although much of the city would be rebuilt in the following centuries, many ruins remained, a grim reminder of how corrupt civilizations often ended up.
Flora and fauna
"And now that Taris is a smoking ruin, the only place to find tach is on Kashyyyk."
¨DGriff Vao
Being an ecumenopolis, Taris was relatively devoid of animal or plant life. There were however several important species.
In the upper levels of Taris there was a unique species used almost exclusively for pet use. These feathered dogs could be seen on leashes as their owners took them out on walks through the promenades of Taris. There were also large lizards that were domesticated and used to pull refuse through the Lower City.[4]
One of the only wild animals on Taris were the simian Tach. The Tach possessed a unique gland in their heads that, when powdered, could be used to make Tarisian ale, a major export on Taris.[1]
Arguably one of the fiercest and most terrifying species on Taris, the rakghoul, inhabited the Undercity. They were mutated humans that attacked anything on sight. Contact with these rakghouls caused a sentient to contract the rakghoul disease, a terrible affliction that would cause the victim to turn into rakghouls themselves.[1]
Although it is unknown if any plants inhabited the continents of Taris, it was known that large amounts of kelp were once harvested to provide food for the Tarisians. There were also several kinds of marine life in the oceans that were used similarly.
HistoryGrowth
"Taris was once a magnificent planet-wide metropolis of towering skyscrapers. But that was a long time ago."
¨DCarth Onasi
Circa 4,300 BBY, Taris was situated on a major hyperspace transport hub not far from the Hyperlane known as the Perlemian Trade Route, and was called the "Coruscant of the Outer Rim." Taris became an ecumenopolis, with all landmasses eclipsed with a world-spanning city. The city's grandeur was once said to rival the galactic capital, Coruscant, itself. However, the planet wasn't truly a planet-wide city, since it contained an ocean,[1] thus differentiating Taris from both Coruscant and Nar Shaddaa, another city-planet.[7]
Civil war and anti-alien prejudice
"A century ago rising levels of toxic pollution poisoned the oceans and famine swept the planet. The rich hoarded food for their own use, and the poor were left to starve and die. But the poor rose up against this tyranny and civil war engulfed the planet."
¨DRukil
Since there were no land areas dedicated to agriculture, the native populace harvested kelp and sea life from the ocean. However, industrial waste polluted this once pristine ocean, destroying the kelp farms and killing off the marine life. Famine swept the planet. Panicking, the greedy Tarisian nobles hoarded the remaining food for themselves. In 4,056 BBY, the starving lower-class, engaged the nobles in a massive civil war. Ultimately, the nobles triumphed, yet the Tarisian prisons couldn't hold all the rebels, so the nobles began the tradition of banishing criminals to the Under City. Also, because many of the rebels were aliens, the human nobles became prejudiced against non-Humans, and banished them from the Upper City, punishing any that dared to enter the upper levels without a permit. Thus began the long oppression by the Humanocentric Tarisian nobility of the non-human lower class.[1]
It was believed that the swoop bike first originated on Taris.[6][8] It was here that swoop racing captured the imagination of the galaxy around 4,000 BBY. Using an intricate system of hyperspace beacons, Tarisian race organizers broadcast the results of their swoop races throughout the galaxy which eventually gave rise to a huge and profitable gambling operation. Taris remained a hub for swoop racing for decades, becoming the center of the Galactic Swoop Racing Circuit.[1]
Decay
"They say Taris is the Coruscant of the Outer Rim. But this world is nothing but crumbling buildings and urban waste!"
¨DAn outraged Quarren
In 4,086 BBY Taris also received an extremely harsh review in Trampeta's Star Guide, as it was given the lowest possible recommendation. According to the author, T3 droids working in one of Taris' starports stole his baggage.[9] While probably not having any influence on the development of the planet itself, it was nonetheless a reflection of the decay that Taris was undergoing. Soon, new hyperspace routes rendered Taris largely obsolete in terms of its relevance to intragalactic trade.[1]
Mandalorian Wars
"Taris, this planet so close to the stalemated Mandalorian front¡ª"
¨DA Tarisian broadcaster
Around the year 3,964 BBY, Captain Saul Karath commanded the Republic fleet that protected Taris during the Mandalorian Wars. Due to Taris' close proximity to the Mandalorian War front, it had been granted Republic membership in 3,966 BBY and it became the heart of the Republic's defense for the region. The planet served as a staging point for dissident Jedi and their allies for campaigns against the Mandalorians.[4]
Meanwhile, Taris had compensated economically for its decaying importance to trade routes by negotiating with Lhosan Industries, which employed over half of the Lower City residents in its mining activities. However, due to increasing swoop gang activity, Lhosan was considering pulling it out, and going to a world that was safer domestically. The local authorities assured Lhosan Industries that they had the swoop gangs fully under control, and would take care of them with the assistance from the local Jedi. However, after a fugitive Jedi Padawan named Zayne Carrick was accused of murdering the entire graduating class of new Jedi Knights and escaped twice from Jedi custody in the Jedi Tower, Lhosan made its decision, and abandoned Taris.[4]
This left a massive amount of Tarisians unemployed, and angry citizens began rioting all over Taris, setting entire sections of skyline on fire. The riots soon spilled out into the Middle City, the Senator that represented Taris in the Galactic Senate disappeared, and the family of the planet's constable was kidnapped. Due to the political anarchy, the Jedi based on Taris were recalled to Coruscant, abandoning the Tarisians to their fates. Taris was also largely abandoned by the Republic military, maintaining only a small military base on the planet's surface. It was made largely apparent that neither the Jedi nor the Republic cared whether the Mandalorians invaded Taris or not.[4]
The Mandalorians did invade and made their first actual strike at the Republic. The planet managed to form a small resistance movement under Senator Goravvus and the swoop gangs such as the Hidden Beks made their own hit-and-runs.The chancellor on Coruscant became suspicious as to how Taris entered the Republic so quickly and sent Jedi Master Raana Tey to retrieve Goravvus. Jervo Thalien, head of Lhosan, became frantic since it was Goravvus who had installed Lhosan on the planet and Jervo had arranged a Senate seat for him in return. He hired Marn Hierogryph and the Moomo Brothers to get him, promising the former a reprieve of the Massacre charges and most of the bounties lifted, but also secretly ordered the latter to kill Goravvus, as he had become a liability.[8]
Gryph met up with the Beks and was soon reunited with Carrick, his "henchman." The Beks wished to hook up with the Resistance but had nothing of value to give. Luckily, Carrick found the constable's children, who were being held hostage by Brejik and Griff Vao. The Beks then took the kids to the Resistance, which their mother was part of. Together, they thought to take out the Mandalorian commander, Cassus Fett, who was using the Jedi Tower as his base. But he had abandoned it to take the fight to the Resistance, driving them into the Undercity.
The Jedi Civil WarBattle over Taris
Though the Republic held a small military presence on Taris, it had not been viewed with any military importance since the first First Battle of Taris. This changed when the Sith succeeded in overrunning nearly the entire Outer Rim, leaving Taris perhaps the last valuable planet in that region still under Republic control. The galactic senators decided to make a stand there and the ship Endar Spire soon arrived above the planet to bulk up the existing garrison.
In 3,956 BBY several important members of the Republic war effort were onboard the Endar Spire such as Carth Onasi, Bastila Shan, and an amnesiac Revan (who was currently under the impression that he was a Republic soldier). While on a mission over Taris, the Endar Spire was ambushed by Sith warship. While Bastila Shan was famous for her affinity to the Force and her skill with battle meditation, she was unable to use her powers during the ensuing battle. As a result, the Sith troops quickly overran the ship in an attempt to capture Bastila, in order to use her Jedi powers for their own goals. Bastila and several other crewman were able to escape the ships in escape pods, however. With Bastila gone, the Sith destroyed the Endar Spire.[1]
Several of the escape pods, including Bastila's pod, landed outside the Undercity of Taris, while others crashed in the Upper City. While many Upper City citizens gave over injured Republic soldiers to the local healer, Zelka Forn, the Black Vulkars, a swoop gang of the Lower City, swarmed over the Republic escape pods in the Under City, salvaging what was left of them. Bastila had been unable to exit her escape pod in time and was subsequently captured by the Vulkars. Revan and Carth Onasi's pod had landed in the Upper City and they were able to find an abandoned apartment to hide out in.[1]
Sith conquest
"We've been ambushed by a Sith battle fleet!"
¨DTrask Ulgo
Meanwhile, the rest of the Sith fleet had arrived above Taris, and began landing their troops on the planet. There was little to no resistance from the Tarisians, and the Sith were able to take the Republic military base without much trouble.[1]
Now master of the planet, Darth Malak, leader of the Sith armada, enacted a planet-wide quarantine, preventing any ships from landing on or leaving Taris. The Sith also programmed their orbiting fleet to auto-target any ships that attempted to do so. This was all part of Malak's plan to capture Bastila. Sith troops questioned the Upper City residents about the escape pods in the Upper City, searching for any surviving crew from the Endar Spire. Malak also sent Sith patrols into the Undercity to look for Bastila, using the rakghoul serum to protect them from a mutating disease spread by rakghouls, vicious mutants that made their home in the Undercity.[1]
Meanwhile, the quarantine kept many offworlders who were on business on Taris from leaving the planet. Since aliens were forbidden in the Upper City without a permit, off-world aliens were ordered into a slum while the quarantine was active. Although, when aliens did venture out into the city, it was obvious that the Sith did little to enforce this edict.[1]
Meanwhile, a local gang war between the Hidden Beks and the Black Vulkars further hindered the Sith's efforts to find Bastila. In an attempt to encourage recruiting into his gang and crush the Beks once and for all, the leader of the Black Vulkars, Brejik had a prototype accelerator stolen from the Beks, which would allow the Vulkars to win the swoop season opener on Taris, even offering Bastila up as a prize to raise the stakes.[1]
This was Carth and Revan's opportunity to rescue Bastila. Cooperating with the Hidden Beks, Revan stole back the swoop accelerator and won the Taris swoop championship. Brejik, unwilling to give up his prize, retracted Bastila from the competition. While Revan protested, Bastila freed herself and a brawl erupted. In the end Brejik was killed, and Revan escaped with Bastila.[1]
Canderous Ordo, a Mandalorian enforcer for Davik Kang, the local crime-lord and member of the Exchange, was impressed by Revan's skill and boldness during the race and the brawl afterwards. He approached Revan with a plan to escape Taris and told him where he could obtain a droid, T3-M4, that would be capable of bypassing security and allow him to break into the Sith military base to steal the codes necessary to bypass the Sith blockade. Canderous then took Revan and his company to Davik's estate, meaning to steal Davik's ship, the Ebon Hawk.
Destruction of Taris
Meanwhile, greater events unfolded in space. On his flagship, the Leviathan, Darth Malak, impatient with the search for Bastila and fearing her possible escape, ordered his fleet to bombard the entire planet, in what was arguably the most horrific event during the Jedi Civil War. Taris however was unnecessarily destroyed because Revan and his crew had escaped the bombardment. It is assumed that most of the upper city citizens were killed while only a few citizens, most notably Calo Nord, survived the destruction.
LocationsThe city of Taris was divided into four levels: the Upper City, the Middle City, the Lower City and the Undercity.[1] Each possessed unique inhabitants, lifestyles and problems.
Upper City
The Upper City was a beautiful area inhabited by rich and powerful people, dwelling in the highest reaches of the towering skyscrapers that dominated the planet's landscape. Here, the privileged classes surrounded themselves with the trappings of prosperity, oblivious to the suffering and oppression of those forced to dwell far below them. Although access to the Upper City was restricted, notable non-Humans found in the Upper City included a Twi'lek droid merchant Janice Nall, Ajuur the Hutt, and a Rodian duelist named Twitch.[1]
At some point prior to or during the Mandalorian Wars, the Jedi Order established a satellite training academy on Taris, ostensibly as a means of preparing its students for the more rigorous duties of patrolling the Outer Rim. Such was the mutually-beneficial relationship between the Jedi and the Tarisian authorities that the planetary constabulary sought in vain for even more Jedi to be stationed there. The pressing threat of the Mandalorians, however, rendered this wish untenable, with all enclave graduates earmarked for front-line combat duty. The academy¡ªunder the leadership of headmaster Lucien Draay¡ªwas partially destroyed during an attempt to kill Cassus Fett, by the Tarisian Resistance, in the midst of the Manadlorian invasion.[4]
The Upper City featured a cantina famous for its dueling ring owned by Ajuur the Hutt, and Zelka Forn's medical facility, which possessed a reputation for being able to heal all diseases but the infamous rakghoul plague. During the Second Sith War, a Sith military base was also established in the Upper City, and its roads were heavily patrolled by Sith troopers.
Middle City
The Middle City was the most populous level of Taris. It contained the middle class and working citizens of the planet's Human population. Many small business owners lived here, and most average people came to the Middle City to conduct business. Swoops and air speeders traversed through the air-traffic ways that cut through the many avenues of the Middle City towers. The Middle City was also the largest area, since a large portion of buildings were included in the jurisdiction of the "middle area". After the second escape of fugitive Jedi Zayne Carrick, massive riots rocked the Middle City, causing extensive damage. Although not entirely devoid of crime, the Middle City was more notably peaceful than other levels of Taris, though not to the extent of the Upper City.
Lower City
The Lower City was home to the lower class people who had not been born into the privileged classes of Tarisian society, and aliens were common here, as this was one of the few areas on Taris where they were legally allowed to live. A popular lower city attraction was Javyar's Cantina. Here, another Hutt named Zax placed bounties and rewarded successful bounty hunters on behalf of his de facto boss, Davik Kang. Control over the Lower City streets was the subject of rivalry between swoop gangs. Gangs whose pilots competed in swoop racing, a popular sport on Taris and some other planets (among them Tatooine and Manaan) since 4,000 BBY. The most notable swoop gangs were the Hidden Beks, led by Gadon Thek, and the Black Vulkars, led by Gadon's proteg¨¦ Brejik, who was characterized by Mission Vao as a traitor because he was a former Hidden Bek. Mission and Gadon believed Brejik to be responsible for the ongoing street war between the Beks and the Vulkars. Descending into the slums of the Lower City, the signs of urban decay became undeniable. Filth and refuse littered the streets, and burned out vehicles and shattered windows served as stark reminders of the violent wars of the swoop gangs fighting for control. Denizens of the Lower City struggled to survive amidst the urban wasteland.
The Under City
The Undercity, a village on the ground level beneath the immense skyscrapers of Taris, was a dark, wild area inhabited by the Outcasts¡ªpeople whose predecessors were banished from the city for their crimes. The Outcasts never saw the sky in their miserable lives, and nobody had hope that their lives would ever turn for the better¡except Rukil, an old man who was considered crazy by the rest of the village because of his stories about the Promised Land, a self-sufficient colony built long before the founding of the Undercity. Nobody believed in these stories, and most villagers considered them tales created with the purpose of giving people false hope. According to one account, the amnesiac Revan assisted Rukil in discovering the alleged location of the Promised Land, allowing a great number of the Undercity's people to undertake the dangerous journey.
The area outside of the Undercity village gate was extremely dangerous because of rakghouls, semi-humanoid beasts that could infect Humans with the rakghoul disease. The Outcasts had to keep infected people isolated from the rest of the society because they would inevitably mutate into rakghouls.[1]
Circa 4,000 BBY, Taris became a base of smuggling operations for the Exchange and its representative, the local crimelord Davik Kang. Davik was quick to send his personal bounty hunters¡ªamong them such notable figures as Calo Nord and Canderous Ordo¡ªto deal with those who could not pay what they owed him.
Culture
Taris was a very segmented society, naming the layers of the cities where each class of citizen lived, Middle City, etc. After the Civil War, the humans on Taris banned all but a select few non-humans from the Upper City, making it exclusive only for the wealthiest citizens. Most aliens that ventured into the Upper City without a permit were arrested. The Middle City had mostly humans in it as well, but had many aliens here too.[4] Conversely, the Lower City was mostly aliens, and crime was rampant. The Undercity was avoided at all costs, and only the outcasts dwelt there.
Justice was swift and harsh on Taris, and criminals were either executed, or banished to the Undercity, depending on the severity of the crime. The Lower levels, while heavily-crime stricken,[1] was occasionally patrolled by surveillance droids.[4]
The law-enforcing division of the government was known as the Taris Civil Authority, headed by a Constable. During the Mandalorian Wars, the Civil Authority had several patrol ships in orbit.[4]
One of Taris societies few reliefs was swoop racing. As the rumored birth place of the swoop bike itself, swoop racing was huge on Taris, and some of the best swoop racers came out of Taris. The Galactic Swoop Racing Circuit started on Taris with the Tarisian Season Opener. When Taris was bombarded by the Sith during the Jedi Civil War, some of the galaxy's best racers were killed, as most were present for the Season opener.
