Battle of Mustafar (Great Sith War)

The planet Mustafar was once a lush green world where the Jedi Order maintained many temples used to cultivate their abilities and train their students. In 3996 BBY, during the Great Sith War, a conflict between the Galactic Republic and Exar Kun's Sith Empire, the Jedi discovered a magnificent and colossal crystal that was deeply connected to the Force. However, the Sith soon discovered the existence of the crystal and assembled an army to invade and conquer Mustafar.

As the Sith invasion fleet arrived in the system, the Jedi decided to use the power of the crystal to battle the Sith As the Sith warships entered Mustafar's atmosphere, the Jedi Masters began channeling the Force through the crystal while the younger Jedi led the troops in battle. The strategy worked perfectly as the Jedi on the battlefield could use more powers than ever whereas the Sith could barely use theirs.

However, as the battle was raging, the crystal suddenly began to crack. Nevertheless, the Jedi Masters refused to stop channeling the Force and the crystal exploded. The result was catastrophic as it sent the planet itself out of its orbit and wiped out all of the Sith and Jedi. Furthermore, the gas giant Lefrani was tugged out of its orbit and entered into a gravitational detente with the gas giant Jestefad and Mustafar was caught in the middle of these untenable gravitational forces. Immense tidal stresses roiled the planet's molten core, inundating the crust with lava and decimating all surface life.

The battle indeed ended with the sudden death of every belligerents. The only person who survived the explosion of the crystal was Jedi Master Erg Krow, the elder of the masters, who managed to shield himself from some of the destruction. The fatally injured master discovered large shard of the crystal that still contained tremendous power. Clinging onto life, Krow decided to use his last remaining energy using the Force to put a protective shield around the crystal to make sure that no other Force-sensitive could never sense its presence. The Jedi finally died from his injuries but he successfully hid the dangerous artifact for millennia.

After several thousand years, the shield created by Jedi Master Erg Krow to protect the crystal shard had diminished and attracted the attention of the Dark Jedi Vartonis. After the Battle of Yavin, a group of spacers guided by the Force ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi defeated Vartonis and his Brotherhood Mortalis and finally destroyed the crystal once for all.

The battle that turned Mustafar into a hellish world was first mentioned in Star Wars Galaxies: Trials of Obi-Wan the third expansion pack for the video game Star Wars Galaxies. The Essential Atlas eventually placed the battle in 3996 BBY, during the Great Sith War.

• Star Wars Galaxies: The Complete Guide: Prima Official Game Guide
• The Clone Wars Campaign Guide
• The Essential Atlas
• The Official Star Wars Fact File (2013)Part 2
• The Official Star Wars Fact File (2014)Part 2
• Special Modifications