The Mid Rim, also known as the Mid-Rim, Middle Rim, Mid-systems, or the Mid Rim Territories, was a region of the galaxy located between the Expansion Region and the Outer Rim Territories. With fewer natural resources—and therefore a smaller population—than many neighboring regions, the Mid Rim was a territory where residents worked hard for everything they had. Several planets built up impressive economies, and pirate raiders often hid in the relatively unexplored spaces far from major trade routes.
The worlds of the Mid Rim were more sparsely populated than the Core Worlds, and as a result its people tended to be less comfortable in dense living quarters. The Galactic Republic's expeditionary and colonial Outbound Flight Project required its planned complement of 50,000 passengers to live in tightly packed housing with little privacy aboard the six Dreadnaught-class heavy cruisers that would be joined together to form the Outbound Flight. The living arrangements at the project's Preparation Center were deliberately cramped to replicate those that the expedition would provide. As a result, many people native to the Mid Rim dropped out of the Outbound Flight Project prior to its launch in 27 BBY.
During the Pre-Republic era, the Wookiees of Kashyyyk were ruled by the galactic-spanning Infinite Empire of the Rakata, who terraformed the planet's surface for agricultural purposes. The collapse of their empire left the terraforming machines unattended, which resulted in the planet's abnormally large foliage. The Hutt Empire encompassed a number of Mid Rim worlds including Nal Hutta and Nar Shaddaa. However, the Bothans resisted Hutt expansion and carved up their own independent region of space, which evolved into the Bothan sector.
The Mid Rim politically developed as a consequence of a colonization boom in the Expansion Region during the Great Manifest Period (20,000–17,000 BBY). Profits from business ventures in the Expansion Region prompted several Inner Rim political systems and religious organizations to colonize and develop the worlds in the Mid Rim's portion of the Slice. This colonization boom attracted few corporations which chose to remain in the Expansion Region due to the region's business-friendly policies. Over the following millennia, colonization in the Mid Rim developed at a progressive albeit leisurely pace which provided successive generations of colonists with ample space to expand into. Due to the stronger presence of central government from Coruscant, there was less criminal activity in the region than in the more distant Outer Rim Territories. The crime-dominated Hutt Space bordered the eastern fringes of the Mid Rim.
Around 15,000 BBY, the factious Aqualish were discovered by the Galactic Republic following a violent first encounter which led to the Aqualish–Republic War. Subsequently, the Aqualish joined the Republic after agreeing to abide by Republic law. In 12,000 BBY, Ord Mantell was settled by Corellian colonists as a Republic military outpost. Circa 8000 BBY, the Republic established an outpost on Malastare, which was home to the sapient quadruped Dug species. In 7000 BBY, the reptilian Trandoshan species of Trandosha joined the Republic. In 4020 BBY, Kashyyyk was rediscovered by the Czerka Corporation, which renamed the planet G5-623 and subsequently Edean.
Circa 4000 BBY the Mid Rim was known as the Frontier or Galactic Frontier, as it was the limit of the then explored galaxy. Most Mid Rim colony worlds became dependent on low-cost manufacturing and agriculture as the basis of their economies. However, this prosperity attracted the attention of pirates who used unexplored space as a hiding place and staging ground for raids on colonies. This became a problem in the period following the Sith Civil War.
During the Mandalorian Wars, the Mandalorians considered invading Kashyyyk and using it as a training center for their troops but later abandoned such plans. Later, the Wookiee Chuundar seized power as Chieftain from his father Freyyr and banished his own brother Zaalbar. Chuundar actively collaborated with the Czerka Corporation by allowing them to exploit Wookiee slave labor in exchange for weapons. Freyyr went into self-exile to the Shadowlands of Kashyyyk. In 3956 BBY, Czerka's control of "Edean" was disrupted when the enslaved Wookiee populace, led by Freyyr and the former Jedi Revan, overthrew the local corporate headquarters and drove all outsiders off the planet, save from the Ebon Hawk crew.
Around 3951 BBY, the Grizmalltian Queen Elsinoré den Tasia sponsored an expedition by the Republic explorer Kwilaan who discovered the planet Naboo. The planet became notorious amongst big game hunters who favored the indigenous veermoks, although it would be five decades before permanent Human settlement. Eventually, in approximately 3900 BBY, Human refugees fleeing a violent revolution on Grizmallt settled in the mountains and great grass plains. Cultural differences between the Human colonists and the indigenous Gungans led to tensions and conflict over the millennia.
In 3700 BBY, the discovery of the Hydian Way encouraged colonization in the northern and southern arcs of the region. By this time, the region was organized into structured government-zoned settlement districts. Following the Great Galactic War, large portions of the Mid Rim came under the resurgent Sith Empire after the Treaty of Coruscant in 3653 BBY including loyalist worlds and species like Rodia and the Bothans.
The Trade Federation fleet blockade over Naboo in 32 BBY
During the New Sith Wars in 1800 BBY, Republic forces bombed the Ubese homeworld of Uba IV and exterminated all life on Uba I, II and V . This led to the near-extinction of the Ubese species who maintained an everlasting belligerence towards the Republic and the Jedi. Throughout this period, Gap Nine and Almas were the sites of battles between the Republic and various Sith factions. In the Light and Darkness War, the Brotherhood of Darkness invaded Kashyyyk and Trandosha. However, the Trandoshans slaughtered many of the troopers. The Sith retaliated by invading their world and burning the homes of the Trandoshans, leading the surviving Trandoshans to save themselves from death by pledging loyalty to the Brotherhood. In 1000 BBY, the lush world of Ruusan was the site of seven epic battles which culminated in the destruction of the Brotherhood. Following the campaign, the Republic enacted the Ruusan Reformations which increased the powers of the Galactic Senate while reducing the number of senators.
Circa 1000 BBY, Malastare was colonized by Gran colonists from Kinyen, which resulted in a bloody and violent war. Using their influence in the Senate, the Gran settled the conflict in their favor and established the colonial Gran Protectorate. The native Dugs were demilitarized and resettled on Malastere's western continent, where they were exploited by their Gran colonial masters over the millennia. Throughout the last centuries of the Republic, the Gran colonists dominated Malastare.
In 32 BBY, Supreme Chancellor Valorum increased taxation of Outer Rim trade routes, prompting the Trade Federation to blockade and occupy Naboo. With the support of the Jedi and the Gungans, the Naboo Queen Padmé Amidala regained control of the planet during the Naboo crisis. Meanwhile, Trandoshan terrorists attempted to assassinate the Wookiee senator Yarua in protest of their homeworld being directly represented in the Senate by Kashyyyk. In 23 BBY, further tensions between the two species led to a Wookiee blockade of Trandosha, and peace talks collapsed when it was revealed that the Trandoshans were seeking to obtain representation with Trade Federation backing.
In 22 BBY, the secession of various Republic worlds into Count Dooku's Confederacy of Independent Systems created a flow of Loyalist refugees from Separatist worlds. The Refugee Relief Movement organized the resettlement of these refugees on ten Mid Rim worlds including Naboo, Kalarba, Monastery, Cerea, Sneeve, Bimmisaari and Durkteel. The Aqualish government on Ando also joined the Separatists but were opposed by the rival Andoan Free Colonies, which remained loyal to the Republic. Due to Jedi intervention, the backwater world of Ansion remained within the Republic. Similarly, the Gran Protectorate on Malastare remained loyal to the Republic with its Senator Ask Aak serving on the Loyalist Committee. An organization called Dugs-for-Democracy opposed the Military Creation Act and fought for the civil rights of Dugs.
During the Clone Wars, control of the Mid Rim fluctuated between the Confederacy of Independent Systems and the Galactic Republic. The Confederacy took advantage of interspecies rivalry between the Wookiees of Kashyyyk and the Trandoshans by arming Trandoshan commercial raiders on attacks against Republic shipping. In 22 BBY, the Separatists launched their first offensive against Kashyyyk with Trandoshan support but were repulsed by Republic forces. During the Dark Reaper campaign, the Chiss mercenary Sev'rance Tann raided a Wookiee colony on Alaris Prime. Due to its vital fuel reserves, Malastare was targeted by Separatist forces, who were repulsed by local Dug forces and Republic reinforcements under Jedi General Anakin Skywalker, who accidentally awakened the Zillo Beast.
In 21 BBY, Separatist attempts to encourage the planets Junction V, Bezim, Delaluna and Vicondor to secede failed due to Jedi intervention. Republic forces under Anakin Skywalker also captured the Techno Union Foreman Wat Tambor on Metalorn and destroyed the Confederacy's cortosis battle droid project. In 19.9 BBY, Armand Isard—the Director of the Senate Bureau of Intelligence—deployed mutant stone mites on the backwater world of Orleon in response to rumors of Separatist biolabs. While such rumors were later proven false, the stone mites destroyed much of the planet's infrastructure; prompting the planet's entire population to emigrate offworld.
In 19 BBY, Separatist forces were repulsed at Azure. Towards the end of the war, most CIS forces were repulsed to the Mid and Outer Rims. Separatist forces also launched a massive invasion of Kashyyyk in an attempt to capture the Claatuvac Guild's secret archive of hyperspace routes. Republic reinforcements under Jedi Master Yoda crushed the droid army, but the Jedi were then targeted for extermination under Order 66. Under the Emperor Palpatine's new Galactic Empire, Imperial forces invaded Kashyyyk and enslaved the Wookiees with the collaboration of the Trandoshans, who profited in the slave trade.
The sectors of the Mid Rim circa 0 BBY, as reorganized by the Galactic Empire
Following the Declaration of a New Order, a series of Imperial academies were established throughout the Mid Rim. It was heavily patrolled by the Empire, which feared that it was ripe for the Rebellion to set up bases there. The region's interstellar markets also profited from favorable trading incentives.As the Empire withdrew from the Rim following their defeat at Endor, the Mid Rim remained one of the few places unquestionably under Imperial control. After the Battle of Endor, it housed many hidden Imperial bases and makeshift shipyards. Many rival Moffs maintained "private empires" in this region on the condition that they supply troops and taxes to legitimate Imperial fleets in the region. During the time of the return of Palpatine in 10 ABY, the Mid Rim was still a significant Imperial power base which kept their massive fleets supplied.
In 11 ABY, Palpatine's final clone body and spirit were destroyed during a battle at Onderon. Following his demise, the Alliance's successor state the New Republic recaptured much of the Mid Rim. By 19 ABY, the Empire had been pushed out of the Mid Rim into eighteen backwater sectors in the Outer Rim known as the Imperial Remnant. During the Caamas Document Crisis, the Bothan capital of Bothawui was the site of fighting between various pro- and anti-Bothan factions. With the appearance of Imperial forces, these disparate factions united to defeat a common foe. Shortly afterwards, the Imperial Remnant and the New Republic signed the Bastion Accords, which ended the Galactic Civil War.
During the Yuuzhan Vong War, much of the eastern Mid Rim was invaded by the extragalactic Yuuzhan Vong. In 25 ABY, Ithor was devastated by a Yuuzhan Vong bioweapon while New Republic and Imperial forces evacuated many refugees from Ord Mantell. In 26 ABY, the Yuuzhan Vong conquered and devastated much of the region as part of their campaign to secure the strategic Corellian Run. Several worlds including Sriluur, Druckenwell, Falleen, Ando Prime, Rodia and Ansion were conquered and occupied. Kalarba was destroyed by using the Yo'gand's Core tactic to draw down its moon Hosk Station while Rodian captives were "shaped" into Vagh Rodiek warbeasts. The Yuuzhan Vong also invaded Hutt Space, capturing Nal Hutta and Nar Shaddaa. However, they failed to penetrate the well-defended Bootana Hutta region. The region was also economically wrecked due to the collapse of the local economy and trade routes. A few worlds escaped invasion by aligning themselves with the collaborationist Peace Brigade only to be raided by New Republic forces during the later stages of the war.
With the end of the war and the recapture of the galactic capital Coruscant, those Peace Brigade worlds were unpopular with the Galactic Alliance government—the successor state to the Republic. Rejecting foreign aid, the Mid Rimmers rebuilt their worlds and established new trade routes, which brought a post-war boom to the region. Meanwhile, the slave-trading Senex and Juvex sectors encouraged the immigration of refugees. During the Second Galactic Civil War, Bothan Space, Bimmisaari, the Halla sector and Beris sided with the Corellian-led Confederation against the Galactic Alliance. Following a coup by Darth Caedus, Alliance forces attacked Kashyyyk for sheltering Jedi. Orbital bombardment of Kashyyyk's forests created a firestorm that engulfed much of the planetwide jungle and killed many Wookiees. In response, the Confederation redirected fleets from Kuat in the Core Worlds to help the Wookiees which led to the repulsion of Alliance forces. Despite Confederation assistance, the Wookiees joined the Jedi Coalition.
Following the Sith–Imperial War in 130 ABY, Darth Krayt's Galactic Empire seized control of much of the Mid Rim and sought to "divide and conquer" the various worlds and species. Viewing the Wookiees as a potential threat, the Sith Empire did not enslave the entire species as their predecessors but rather isolated Kashyyyk from the rest of the galaxy by destroying all spaceports and shipyards. No Wookiees were allowed to leave or visit Kashyyyk without an Imperial order and HoloNet transmissions to the planet were completely cut off. Supplies and traders still could come and go, after swearing under penalty of death not to provide Wookiees with information of the state of the rest of the galaxy, but the Wookiees themselves were completely isolated and largely left alone. In contrast, other species like the Trandoshans and Rodians prospered economically and militarily as "favored species." The Trandoshans prospered from the redirection of trade to their homeworld while Rodian bounty hunters claimed more Jedi bounties than their rivals.
The Mid Rim comprised over 160 sectors, and a region of free-standing subsectors on its southwestern flanks. Sectors located in the Mid Rim included:
- Phineas and Ferb: Star Wars