Chespea was a forest world that was the location of a Jedi temple. In 230 BBY, the Nihil attacked the temple, destroying it and all the Jedi within and shocking the Jedi Order with their blunt anti-Jedi tactics. The event, coordinated with an attack on the planet Banchii, drew Galactic Republic forces away from their Starlight Beacon space station and caused Chancellor Lina Soh to realize that the Nihil still posed a serious threat. During the Imperial Era, Chespea was mentioned on a list of Jedi locations in the possession of aspiring Jedi Luke Skywalker.
Chespea was a thickly forested, terrestrial Galactic Republic planet that was located several hyperspace jumps away from the Eiram system and housed the Chespea Temple of the Jedi Order.
In 230 BBY, during the High Republic Era, the temple on Chespea was headed by Jedi Master Imgree. The Jedi Knights of the temple were more independent than on other worlds; Imgree had never contacted the Jedi Temple on the planet Coruscant in her life. However, Nihil marauders arrived above the planet to destroy the Chespea Temple below in order to send a message to the Jedi that they would show no mercy toward them.
The attack on Chespea dismayed Chancellor Soh (pictured).
The attack was coordinated along with a similar attack on the planet Banchii, with the Nihil trying to draw support away from the Republic's Starlight Beacon space station as the worlds were several hyperspace jumps away from it. Imgree had her Padawan contact Coruscant for the first time to inform them not of the danger but of their own demise, barely getting it done before the temple was destroyed and all Jedi present were killed. Around one hundred other beings who lived on Chespea saw the Nihil starships arrive above them, but since the Nihil had no interest in them, they were spared.
The news of Chespea reached the desk of Chancellor Lina Soh, who was dismayed and realized that the Nihil were still a serious threat as a result. The Jedi High Council responded by making sure that other temples were aware of the attack and were prepared with defenses in case they were next. Stellan Gios, the Jedi marshal of Starlight Beacon later learned that there was coordination between the attacks on Chespea and Banchii, grasping that the choice of worlds was not random. Shortly after, Jedi Master Elzar Mann was forced to deprioritize Chespea, setting aside those who had fallen to instead focus on taking care of Starlight Beacon's issues: he felt that they should focus on refugees from Nihil attacks who were staying on the station, while Padawan Bell Zettifar was more concerned with a disturbance in the Force that the Jedi had been sensing. When discussing Nihil attacks within the publication Chronicles of the Jedis seventh chapter in a section dedicated to the crisis at the world Eiram and abroad in 229 BBY, Jedi Master Harli Cogra mentioned the attack on Chespea.
Centuries later, at some point between 3 ABY and 4 ABY, the rebel and aspiring Jedi Luke Skywalker had acquired an Aurebesh list of possible Jedi locations from the Galactic Empire, whom he assumed had destroyed and ransacked all of them. The list included Chespea, which was crossed out.
Chespea was first mentioned in a hologram in the nineteenth issue of Marvel Comics' Star Wars comic series, which was written by Charles Soule and published on December 8, 2021. The planet later made its first appearance in the 2022 novel The Fallen Star, authored by Claudia Gray as part of the Star Wars: The High Republic multimedia project's Phase I.
- Star Wars: The High Republic: Chronicles of the Jedi
- Star Wars: Timelines