When the Galactic Empire established the Sanctuary Pipeline hyperlane, Murk and its star system became the penultimate stop on the route before it terminated at the Endor system. A cargo-transfer station was established on the planetoid, where, in the light of the red dwarf, Imperial crews unloaded shipments arriving via the Sanctuary Pipeline for further transportation to Endor.
Murk was a red dwarf–type star located within the Murk system. It lay within the Outer Moddell systems area of the Moddell subsector, one of the subsectors making up the Inner Zuma Region within the Outer Rim Territories' Zuma sector.
Murk was orbited by several planetoids, the innermost of which, an airless, frigid, barren rock, was also named Murk. The latter took ninety-eight local days to complete an orbit around its sun. When viewed from the planetoid, Murk's light was dim maroon in color and was not brighter than a moon of an average planet of the galaxy. In fact, Murk was so dim that it was invisible to naked-eye observers on all of the inhabited planets of the Moddell subsector.
Murk became notable among red dwarf stars due to its strategic location on the Sanctuary Pipeline.
During the Galactic Civil War, the Galactic Empire began the construction of the Death Star II battlestation over the Forest Moon of Endor, in the Endor system. To allow for expeditious—and secret—transportation of necessary materials and components to Endor, the Empire artificially extended a hyperlane, subsequently known as the Sanctuary Pipeline, directly to Endor, with the Murk system becoming a penultimate stop on the new hyperspace route. As a result, the system's star emerged from the obscurity characteristic to most red dwarfs and became relatively notable.
To add another layer of secrecy to the Death Star project, an Imperial cargo-transfer station was established on the planetoid Murk. In the dim light of the planetoid's sun, Imperial crews of the station unloaded cargoes of raw materials and components from deep-space haulers and superfreighters traveling along the Sanctuary Pipeline for further transportation to the Endor system. Following the Imperial defeat by the Rebel Alliance at the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY, the Sanctuary Pipeline became largely unnavigable, and the Murk transfer station was abandoned.
The star Murk was first mentioned in the article "Endor and the Moddell Sector," which was authored by Craig Robert Carey, Daniel Wallace, and Jason Fry, and was published in Star Wars Gamer 9 on February 22, 2002. The 2009 reference book The Essential Atlas, illustrated by Chris Trevas, provided the first visual depiction of the red dwarf and placed it in grid square H-16.
- "Endor and the Moddell Sector" — Star Wars Gamer 9
- The Essential Atlas