Kashi

Kashi was a terrestrial planet that at one point orbited the primary star of the Kashi system, a part of the Phelleem sector in the Slice portion of the Outer Rim Territories.

By the time of the establishment of the Galactic Republic in 25,053 BBY, the Kashi Mer culture had existed on Kashi for millennia. The student of the Force Reda Jalooz stole a dark side talisman that was an heirloom and symbol of the Kashi Mer Dynasty, the monarchy of Kashi, at some point by 24,500 BBY. Several months later, after having realized her misdeed, Jalooz returned the artifact to the planet in order to ask forgiveness from the Kashi Mer.

However, soon after Jalooz arrived on Kashi's surface, the Kashi system's sun suddenly exploded in a supernova, destroying Kashi and the rest of the system. Later historians theorized that the talisman could have been the cause of the catastrophe, although the artifact itself survived the supernova, eventually falling into the hands of the exiled Kashi Mer Force-sensitive Xendor. By 5000 BBY, the Orixon Nebula had formed out of the former Kashi system.

Although the Kashi Mer culture was rendered extinct by Kashi's destruction, it was survived by two entities, Eleaor Propulsion and the Guardians of the Breath. The former was a vehicle manufacturing company that was founded by the Kashi aristocrat Krispus Eleaor, was originally based in the Kashi system, and survived up until around 3956 BBY. The latter was the dominant Kashi Mer tradition of Force-users, which hailed from Kashi and remained active, albeit scattered, by 990 BBY. That year, a section of the Jedi trainee guidebook The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force authored by the Jedi Chief Librarian Restelly Quist mentioned both the Guardians of the Breath and the fate of their homeworld.

Many years prior to 9 ABY, the school teachers of a group of New Republic agents taught them of the destruction of Kashi. By that year, the cause of the disaster remained unexplained, although the events immediately leading up to it were noted in a scandoc that formed a part of the collection of documents on ancient cultures gathered by the archaeologist Professor Oron.

Kashi was the homeworld of the Kashi Mer culture, members of which were also known as the Kashi. The Kashi Mer had access to starships capable of interstellar travel, and as a result the influence of their culture, which was ruled by the monarchy known as the Kashi Mer Dynasty, spread beyond the Kashi system. Despite that, the Kashi Mer remained isolationist, going so far as to refusing to speak to outsiders.

The culture produced exotic carpets, and its religion included belief in the dual triumvirate of deities known as Niman as well as the Force, which was known to the Kashi Mer as "the Breath." The hierarchical organization known as the Guardians of the Breath kept the lore of the Breath as well as the methods for using it. They also utilized Force visions to inform the Kashi Mer civilization as a whole of the path it should follow. Ever year, tens of thousands of Kashi Mer applied for membership among the Guardians, although extremely few of the applicants ever advanced far in the organization.

Kashi was first mentioned in the roleplaying adventure "Relic," which was authored by George R. Strayton for use with West End Games' Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game and published in the May 1995 sixth issue of the Star Wars Adventure Journal magazine. The 2009 reference book The Essential Atlas placed the Kashi system, and therefore Kashi, in grid square S-7.

Both Strayton's 1996 roleplaying sourcebook Tales of the Jedi Companion and 2008's The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia introduced several contradictions regarding the dating of Kashi's destruction. The former work, set approximately 4,000 years before the events of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, presents information on the Kashi system as if it still existed at that time, despite "Relic" stating that the system had been destroyed shortly after the formation of the Galactic Republic—an event that had already been established by 1996 to have occurred around twenty-five millennia before the events of A New Hope. This article assumes that the information from the Tales of the Jedi Companion regarding the Kashi system instead applies to the time period preceding its destruction.

The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia entry for Reda Jalooz claims that she stole the Kashi Mer talisman—which, per "Relic," was followed by Kashi's destruction mere months later—before the Republic's foundation. The entry also claims that the artifact resurfaced in the Corva sector—an event that "Relic" places shortly after the Thrawn campaign—only "a millennium" later. This comes into direct conflict with The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia itself, which dates the establishment of the Republic to 25,000 BBY and the Thrawn campaign to 9 ABY. Furthermore, Jalooz's entry is contradicted by the entry for the Kashi Mer, which states that, around the time of the First Great Schism—which is dated by the book to 24,500 BBY—the culture had not yet gone extinct as a result of the destruction of Kashi. This article therefore assumes that the destruction of Kashi occurred at some point either during the First Great Schism or shortly before that event.

• Tales of the Jedi Companion
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
• The Essential Atlas
• The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force