The Open-Closed War was planetary war between the Open and the Closed, two rival factions of humans who lived on the planet Carnelion IV. Both sides blamed the other for the conflict and were determined to annihilate each other, yet their continuous fighting had ruined conditions and technology on their world. One individual, a female scavenger named Sera, hoped to end the conflict, but her method involved the death of the adults involved, hoping to start things fresh with the young of both factions.
The war between the Open and the Closed first broke out many generations before the outbreak of the Clone Wars in the Galactic Republic. A vicious series of battles, it was believed, in fact, by the wider galaxy that everyone on the planet of Carnelion IV had destroyed themselves in the fighting. The planet was surrounded by a dense debris field which made entry by any vessel extremely difficult. In fact, a civil war continued to rage, yet the destruction of technology caused by the war meant that nobody involved with the war had the technical means to contact the outside galaxy.
The Open and Closed were bitter enemies who blamed each other for the conflict. The Closed blamed the Open for poisoning their world and cities with the Celadon Sea. By contrast, the Open blamed the Closed for starting the war and claimed that they were the only ones preventing the planet from falling into chaos. The two factions fought each other with airships, some of the few remaining technology still functioning on Carnelion IV. What little technology that remained was salvaged from Carnelion's ruined cities. While the Open were interested in pre-war technology, the Closed were suspicious of it.
Due to the poisonous Celadon Sea, the Open and Closed retreated to mountain sanctuaries like the Fortress-Home of the Open. Those that remained in the poisoned cities on the surface degenerated into mutated beings known as Fishers. Visitors to the surface below the Celadon Sea had to wear breathing masks in order to survive.
While the Open and Closed fought each other in a never-ending war, an elderly woman named Sera devoted her life to salvaging remnants of "the world that was" from the "dead lands" outside her fortress museum. Sera also sent kites containing art to remind young people of the "world that was." While Sera believed that the adult Open and Closed could not be saved, she believed that the younger people could be changed. Both the Open and Closed sought to hunt down and kill Sera because she reminded them of everything they had lost.
Sera was also inspired by legends of the Jedi, which she had gleaned from holo-records of great warriors wielding "swords of light". Hoping to enlist the Jedi's help in destroying the adult Open and Closed so that she could reeducate the young, Sera sent a communications signal to the Jedi Order using a faulty transmitter she had managed to reactivate. This signal was picked up by Jedi Master Yoda, who dispatched the Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi and fledgling Padawan Anakin Skywalker to investigate Carnelion IV.
Kenobi and Skywalker traveled to Carnelion IV in a T-6 shuttle, which sustained significant damage while traveling through the dense debris field around the planet. Kenobi and Skywalker survived the crash-landing and stumbled into the middle of a battle between Open and Closed airships. Kenobi and Skywalker saved an Open female leader named Mother Pran and an adolescent girl named Kolara.
After downing a hostile Closed airship, Kenobi saved one of the crew members, a man named Grecker. Kenobi managed to mediate peace between Kolara and Grecker. Kenobi enlisted Kolara and Grecker's help in helping them to track down the location of the distress signal. Working together, the group repaired a damaged airship and traveled into the Celadon Sea.
While traveling through the Celadon Sea, Skywalker impressed Pran and Kolara with his ability to repair technology. The travelers also encounter a kite carrying art from an enigmatic individual known as the Scavenger. When a group of Fishers attacked the airship, Pran took the opportunity to kidnap Anakin and escape on a glider, seeking to use his technological expertise to aid them. Master Pran also blew up the airship in an attempt to kill Master Kenobi and Grecker.
Kenobi and Grecker survived their crash-landing. Kenobi also used the Force to convince the Fishers not to attack them. After escaping a Carnelian dragon, Kenobi found shelter with Sera, who wounded Grecker to prevent him from warning the Closed of her whereabouts. She told Kenobi that she had contacted the Jedi with the hope of ending the war, purging the Open and Closed, and re-educating the young. Meanwhile, Pran brought Anakin back to the Fortress-Home of the Open where she enlisted his help in repairing their Mech walkers. She also tricked Anakin into revealing the coordinates of the distress signal, seeking to kill Sera as well.
Anakin managed to convince Kolara and the other Open youth to help him save the Scavenger and to reunite him with his Jedi master. The Closed subsequently lay siege to Sera's fortress museum, seeking to kill the Scavenger. They were attacked by the Open, who had brought Mech walkers and airships. In the midst of the battle, Skywalker arrived with Kolara and the other Open youth. Despite Sera's pleas, the Open youth joined their older brethren in the fight. Kenobi enlisted Anakin's help in repairing the transmitter and sending a distress signal to the Galactic Republic, which sent Judicial Forces and the Jedi Order to force an end to hostilities.
Following the Republic–brokered ceasefire, Kenobi informed Anakin that he had managed to convince the Republic to dispatch forces to Carnelion IV by claiming that the planet's atmosphere had high concentrations of tibanna gas. While the Republic conducted their gas exploration, they did not allow any fighting to occur. As a result of his experiences on Carnelion IV, Skywalker realized that being a Jedi meant being connected to something greater and decided to continue his apprenticeship under Kenobi.
The war between the Open and the Closed is the subject of Star Wars: Obi-Wan and Anakin, a series of comics released by Marvel Comics depicting an early mission of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker.
- Ultimate Star Wars, New Edition
- Skywalker: A Family at War
- Star Wars: Timelines