Between 39 BBY and 36 BBY, a colonial war was fought on the moon Alaris Prime between a group of Wookiee colonists, the Trade Federation, and the moon's population of gundarks, a predatory species. Alaris Prime was a lost resource-rich world in the same system as the planet Kashyyyk, from which Wookiee explorers had rediscovered it twenty years prior to the war. A petition was brought to the Senate of the Galactic Republic for the rights to colonize the moon, and after two decades of debate, the rights were awarded to the Wookiees, who embarked towards the moon under the leadership of Chieftain Attichitcuk, while the Trade Federation sent its Droid Army to secretly claim Alaris Prime. Attichitcuk's first settlement was attacked by gundarks, and the constant threat of the creatures prompted both factions to plan to exterminate them at the gundarks' nest.
With the help of Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn, the Wookiees trained a small group of soldiers, which Chewbacca, Attichitcuk's son, led to the nest. There, they discovered Trade Federation battle droids slaughtering the gundarks. The droids tried to fire upon the Wookiees next but were destroyed. The Wookiees began intensifying their military training to defend against the Trade Federation, and while on a reconnaissance mission, Attichitcuk was nearly killed by Trade Federation Battle Droid Beta Versions. Chewbacca took command of the Wookiee colonists after rescuing his father and, with Jinn's help, he worked towards further offensives against the Trade Federation.
Chewbacca trained Wookiees to attack a Trade Federation outpost, defended an attack on his camp, and destroyed a Trade Federation listening array. Finally, Chewbacca decided to rid Alaris Prime of the Trade Federation presence, organizing a large assault on the Trade Federation's main base with the help of Jinn, his recuperated father, and cousin Shoran. In what was known as the Battle for Alaris Prime, the Wookiees destroyed the Trade Federation's fortress, ending the war and securing their control of the moon. Alaris Prime became a thriving technological hub for the Republic and attained economic success under Chewbacca's leadership.
Alaris Prime, where the colonial war took place
Alaris Prime was a small but resource-rich moon of the planet Alaris in the Kashyyyk system. Sometime after a skirmish there during the New Sith Wars in 1002 BBY, Alaris Prime disappeared from galactic view, hidden by the large size of Alaris. Wookiee explorers from the planet Kashyyyk rediscovered Alaris Prime between 59 BBY and 56 BBY and petitioned the Senate of the Galactic Republic to give them the rights to lead a colonization effort on the moon, represented by Chieftain Attichitcuk.
During the negotiations, the galactic company known as the Trade Federation expressed interest in Alaris Prime, intending to use it as a trade center between planets such as Kashyyyk, Kessel, and Bimmisaari. The company also planned to launch secret manufacturing operations there among other remote worlds, which the Sith Lord Darth Maul volunteered to participate in, although his master, Darth Sidious, who was secretly manipulating the Trade Federation for the Sith Grand Plan, rejected his proposal. After two decades of deliberation, the Republic gave the rights to Alaris Prime to the Wookiees, who named Attichitcuk the leader of the colonists in honor of his political service.
The Thalmussen travels to Alaris Prime.
The Wookiee colonists embarked for Alaris Prime in the transport ship Thalmussen and three other colony ships sometime between 39 BBY and 36 BBY. Among the travelers were Chewbacca and Shoran—Attichitcuk's son and nephew, respectively. Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn was also sent by the Jedi Council to advise the Wookiees and remotely instruct them in gathering resources and exploring. Despite being denied colonial rights, the Trade Federation secretly sent its Droid Army to Alaris Prime along with its allies, Trandoshan slavers led by Pekt. The Federation reached the moon before the Wookiees did and began establishing bases there. One power core was built and subsequently attacked by predatory creatures known as gundarks, which drove the Federation away from that area, leaving the power core damaged but intact.
Once the Wookiee vessels landed, Attichitcuk was the first to disembark and explore Alaris Prime. He established a small camp north of the landing site, leaving behind markers so that the other Wookiees could easily find him. Shoran also began exploring and left behind markers of his own, but he halted upon encountering the damaged Trade Federation power core, as he was unsure of its origin. Chewbacca then left the ships and, following both Shoran's markers and Jinn's remote guidance, also reached the power core. Acting on Jinn's advice, the two Wookiees fired at the power core with their bowcaster projectile weapons until it was destroyed and then followed Attichitcuk's markers that led to his camp.
The early battles of the war were fought to repel gundark attacks.
Attichitcuk's camp was then attacked by four gundarks, which were defeated by the three Wookiees. Shortly afterward, a Trade Federation B1-Series battle droid named OOL-2 discovered the remains of the power core destroyed by Chewbacca and Shoran and reported it to the Trade Federation Viceroy Nute Gunray, attributing the destruction to the gundarks. Gunray ordered OOL-2 to locate the gundarks, eradicate them, and deliver their pelts to the Trandoshans.
The Wookiees began building more bases, with their next one being a command center manned by three Wookiee workers. Jinn aided the workers by instructing them on how to gather resources such as food, carbon, nova crystals, and ore, all essential for the colony's survival. The Wookiees also practiced a drill in case of an attack by the gundarks where they would retreat into the command center and use its turret to fire at the beasts. Two more workers also arrived at the base to assist in gathering resources along with Chewbacca. When four gundarks suddenly attacked the command center, the workers followed the protocol set by the drill and fought off the gundarks with the help of Chewbacca. After the Wookiees had gathered a set threshold of resources, Jinn decided that the gundarks needed to be exterminated for the Wookiees' colonization effort to succeed.
At another base led by Chewbacca, Jinn had the workers gather resources for a short time before instructing them to build a troop center to train bowcaster troopers. Concurrently, the Trade Federation sent a squad of Battle Droid Beta Versions to kill the gundarks at their nest. Once at least ten troopers had been trained, Chewbacca led them to attack the nest but encountered the Trade Federation finishing off the gundarks. When all the creatures were dead, the battle droids attacked the Wookiees, who fought back and destroyed all of the droids. The attack at the nest rendered the gundarks extinct on Alaris Prime and alerted the Wookiees to the Trade Federation's presence on the moon, which defined the direction of the colonial effort going forward.
Attichitcuk was ambushed by the Trade Federation.
Attichitcuk began a scouting expedition along with two other Wookiees to learn more about the Trade Federation's presence. At another base run by Chewbacca, Jinn instructed the Wookiees on further techniques on gathering food, mainly through building farms and animal nurseries, as well as helping them improve their level of technology. As Attichitcuk headed for the base, he was stopped by a group of Battle Droid Beta Versions commanded by DRN-38, who shot the Wookiee chieftain and killed his two companions. Jinn sensed through the Force that Attichitcuk had survived and told Chewbacca to train more bowcaster troopers and build a medical droid to rescue the cheiftain. A force of eleven Wookiees, including Chewbacca, marched towards Attichitcuk's position, destroying all battle droids in their path. After Attichitcuk was found and healed by the medical droid, the Wookiees returned to their base, also fighting off three droidekas sent by DRN-38 in reprisal.
With his father needing time to recover from his wounds, Chewbacca stepped up to lead the colonists and, with Jinn, he began planning the removal of the Trade Federation from Alaris Prime. Hoping to intimidate them through a show of force, Chewbacca's first target was a Trade Federation outpost commanded by GWC-04, which contained a troop center where B1 battle droids were produced. After two HummBike scouts located the outpost, Chewbacca trained eleven other Wookiees, including bowcaster troopers, dragon troopers, and grenade troopers. The Wookiees traveled to the outpost and attacked it, with the bowcaster troopers defeating the B1 battle droids there and the dragon and grenade troopers destroying the defensive walls and the troop center.
Chewbacca organized Wookiee strikes on Trade Federation bases.
Following the attack, Chewbacca was present at a settlement near another camp run by Shoran. Chewbacca set his workers to gather resources while Jinn instructed him to build a spaceport to exchange goods with Shoran using Corellian HoverFreighters. Shoran discovered a Jedi holocron within his camp, which Jinn sought to retrieve for the Jedi Order. He contacted the Jedi Council for permission to build a Jedi temple on Alaris Prime to store the holocron, a request which the Council granted. Jinn sent his Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi to the newly constructed temple to retrieve the holocron.
Shoran then spotted a strike force of beetle droids and Battle Droid Beta Versions that was heading for Chewbacca's camp under the command of LUH-989. He warned Jinn about the invaders, and between five and six Wookiees, including Chewbacca, two bowcaster troopers, and a dragon trooper, rallied at the edge of the camp and successfully repelled the droids. Afterward, Kenobi brought the holocron to the Jedi temple, and Shoran discovered a nearby Trade Federation listening array, also run by LUH-989, that was being used to spy on the Wookiee communications. Chewbacca gathered a force of between eight and thirty Wookiees and, combined with Shoran's forces, they stormed the listening array and destroyed every droid and transmitter there.
The Battle for Alaris Prime ended the war.
Recognizing the effectiveness of Chewbacca's strategic decisions, Jinn requested permission from the Jedi Council to personally participate in the Wookiees' final assault on the Trade Federation's main base in what was known as the Battle for Alaris Prime. The Council agreed on the condition that the Wookiees construct a fortress in one of their bases. Chewbacca, Shoran, and a recuperated Attichitcuk gathered at the base and directed workers there to gather more resources and construct more buildings to support their military, including the fortress. The Trade Federation commander SRAM-13 sent a group of beetle droids and a droideka to attack Wookiee sentry posts outside the base.
Once the fortress was built, Jinn landed at the Wookiee base, spotting several unusual ships near the Trade Federation base and correctly suspecting that they belonged to Trandoshan slavers that had arrived to capture the Wookiees. Subsequently, SRAM-13 sent a trio of light droid starfighters to scout the base, prompting the Wookiees to increase their air defenses with anti-air missile turrets. Using an airbase and a Heavy Weapons Factory, the Wookiees manufactured ten Agr starfighters, three Heavy Blade bombers, and three energy pummels. With those forces, along with five Sentinel mechs and five heavy bowcaster troopers, Jinn and the Wookiee leadership marched towards the Trade Federation base, intent on destroying its fortress. The bombers and fighters destroyed the defensive turrets and picked off any droids left in the base, after which the ground troops marched in and the pummels demolished the fortess, removing the Trade Federation from Alaris Prime.
Qui-Gon Jinn on Alaris Prime after the war
Pekt had been in the Trade Federation fortress at the time of its destruction but escaped aboard one of his transport ships, promising that he would return to the Kashyyyk system as long as Wookiee pelts remained valuable. On Jinn's final transmission to the Jedi Council, he reflected on the skills he had passed on to Chewbacca, believing the Wookiee was ready to find his place in the galaxy. Darth Sidious was exasperated at the outcome of the war, as he believed the Neimoidian leaders of the Trade Federation had carelessly allowed their manufacturing operations on Alaris Prime to be exposed. Having lost Alaris Prime, Nute Gunray directed the Trade Federation's attention to the planet Naboo, launching an invasion there in 32 BBY in accordance with Sidious's designs.
The Alaris Prime colony became a thriving technological hub for the Republic and experienced economic success under Chewbacca's leadership. Wookiees were still living on the moon by the time of the Clone Wars between the Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems in 22 BBY. The Trade Federation continued to attack Wookiee colony worlds for two decades, and battles on Alaris Prime occurred into the Clone Wars, where the Trade Federation joined the Confederacy. The Wookiee colonists on Alaris Prime were enslaved by the Separatists during the Dark Reaper crisis and were freed by the Republic in the battle on Alaris, although they were attacked again during the Hunt for the Decimator.
In 19 BBY, the Trade Federation bypassed Kashyyyk's colony worlds to besiege the planet directly in the Battle of Kashyyyk. That same year, Sidious fulfilled the Grand Plan and transformed the Republic into the Galactic Empire. Pekt collaborated with the Empire to fulfill his plan to profit off of the Wookiees, becoming a major slaver on Kashyyyk. He was ultimately stopped by Chewbacca, who had traveled the galaxy in the intervening years and become one of the greatest heroes of the Rebel Alliance. The war for Alaris Prime, particularly Jinn and Kenobi's involvement, was also acknowledged in a chronicle of galactic history published in 36 ABY.
The menu to the Attichitcuk tutorial campaign of Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
The Alaris Prime colonial war was created for the LucasArts video game Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, which was released on November 11, 2001. The war was first mentioned in Prima Games' strategy guide for the game by Steven L. Kent, which was published on November 7 of the same year. The colonial war serves as the overarching conflict of the game's Attichitcuk tutorial campaign, which consists of seven levels in which the player controls the Wookiee forces. Qui-Gon Jinn narrates the events of each level and provides instructions and teaches the game's mechanics to the player. The player can automatically lose any level if one of their hero units, which include Chewbacca, Shoran, Attichitcuk, and Jinn, is killed.
- Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds: Prima's Official Strategy Guide
- Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith Incredible Cross-Sections
- The New Essential Chronology
- Star Wars: Complete Cross-Sections
- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
- "Han Solo: The Early Years" — Star Wars Insider 106
- Star Wars: Complete Vehicles