Quethold was a terrestrial planet located in the Quethold system of the Unknown Regions. The planet, which contained several mines, was the homeworld of the insectoid Quesoth species, which spoke the Quesoth Common Speak and Soldier Speak languages. The Quesoth lived periodically in three cities: the Black City, the Red City, and the White City. The three settlements were ruled by three Queens of the Quesoth which changed and died once their rule had lasted for a number of years. The inhabitants of each city then would travel to the next one.
In ancient times, the Quesoth engaged in a series of wars with the Stromma species that became known as the latter's Expansion Period. The Stromma suffered heavy losses, and made peace with the Quesoth, eventually becoming their allies. In 8 ABY, the Storm-hair Warlord Nuso Esva and thirty of his warriors, the Chosen, arrived at the Red City and Esva allied himself with the ruling Queen of the Red. Both planned to murder the Queen of the White so the Red monarch could rule Quethold forever while the Storm-hairs could use the White City's starships manufacturing facilities to leave Quethold and attack their enemies. However, the Empire of the Hand blockaded Quethold so that Esva could not escape, and attacked the Red City to eliminate the warlord. Imperial stormtroopers sieged Quesoth Soldiers and Chosen while attacking aircraft bombarded Storm-hair defenses. Fearing she was a traitor, Esva murdered the Queen of the Red, prompting her Soldiers to kill him.
Quethold was a terrestrial planet located in the Unknown Regions' Quethold system. The insectoid Quesoth species were native to Quethold. The world featured the Dreaming Waters, a water body located to the north of the Red City, and several mines.
Former smuggler Jorj Car'das (pictured) suggested Thrawn visit the Quesoth.
Long before 8 ABY, the Stromma species engaged in wars against Quethold's Quesoth that were known as the Stromma Expansion Period. The former suffered significantly before they surrendered and became Quesoth allies. As such, the Stromma were given a residence in the Red City's Dwelling of Guests building.
In 0 ABY, the Chiss Senior Captain Thrawn confronted the Storm-hair Warlord Nuso Esva in the Outer Rim Territories' Poln system. While the Storm-hair's Eastern Fleet prepared to kill Thrawn, Esva revealed what the fate of all his allies was: being tools. The Chiss had anticipated such a comment, and using the comm of his DeepWater-class light freighter Lost Reef, relayed the warlord's comment into the Unknown Regions, where both Quesoth and Stromma— species Esva hoped to "ally" with—could hear. Esva did not care about them hearing his words, instead attempting to defeat Thrawn's Imperial forces; however, the Galactic Empire's Death Squadron fleet arrived, shattering Esva's fleet, whose leader fled. In the aftermath of the destruction of the Eastern Fleet, an ally of Thrawn's, former smuggler Jorj Car'das, suggested that Thrawn should visit the Quesoth.
Eight years later, in 8 ABY, the Red City's Queen of the Red allied herself with the Storm-hair warlord. While the Storm-hair promised to murder the White City's Queen of the White, who would succeed the Red monarch, the Queen of the Red would grant him access to the White City's shipyards so that Esva and his thirty Chosen warriors—who took the Stromma's place in the Dwelling of Guests after they arrived in Quethold's Red City—could flee Quethold and assault their enemies.
The "star caravan" Admonitor blockaded Quethold in an attempt to prevent Esva's escape.
The Empire of the Hand, which now-Grand Admiral Thrawn led, learnt of Esva's presence on Quethold and saw it as an opportunity to end him and his realm of destruction. Blockading Quethold with the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer Admonitor, the Empire of the Hand ensured Esva could not leave Quethold. One month after the warlord's arrival, the member of the Quesoth Midli caste—which oversaw the Workers caste—Trevik became the Queen of the Red's bowlcarrier, carrying a bowl of nectar from which the monarch drank. Trevik accompanied the Queen's entourage to the Dwelling of Guests, where Esva and the Queen discussed their goal: the destruction of their common enemy, Grand Admiral Thrawn of the First of the Chiss of the Empire of the Hand.
Over Quethold, aboard the Admonitor, a council of high-ranking members of the Empire of the Hand discussed if and how they would deal with Esva. Stromma Council Liaison Nyama, who spoke for the Stromma government of the Stromma council, was confident that Esva would not be leaving Quethold alive, and the Imperial stormtroopers and TIE/LN starfighter pilot believed they would be strong enough to destroy the Quesoth Soldiers and Esva's remnant of Chosen; Nyama did not believe they would be. Thrawn required information, and Nyama suggested that they could plant a holocam on one of the Quesoth who was displeased with the Quesoth–Storm-hair alliance. The Chiss thought that if the Quesoth could record the artwork Esva had surrounded himself with in the Dwelling of Guests, he would know that the Storm-hair's tactics would be in the upcoming engagement.
Unbeknownst to any Imperial, Nyama was a traitor who was working for the Queen of the Red and indirectly for Esva. The Stromma Council Liaison had been instructed to make Thrawn think that the artwork indeed represented Esva's tactics although they did not, as the paintings had been picked by the warlord just to confuse the Grand Admiral. Trevik's brother, Jirvin, had one of the Queen of the Red's advisors and breeders, a Circling, intercept the bowlcarrier on his way home that night. The Circling brought Trevik to Jirvin, who instructed him with recording Esva's artwork. The bowlcarrier did as ordered, and the attack on the Red City was programmed to happen the next day at midmorning.
Nyama, who gave the recordings to Thrawn, also translated several of the Queen of the Red's orders spoken in Quesoth Soldier Speak, which the Grand Admiral recorded. Esva prepared his defenses, with his Storm-hairs commandeering the Stromma cannons in the Red City to use them as defenses against the Imperial fighters. The warlord, the Queen, and her bowlcarrier then met in the Dwelling of Guests, where the allies prepared to lead the Quesoth and Storm-hair sides of the battle. Thrawn sent nine juggernauts along the City's Setting Sun Avenue and several transports in the settlement's outskirts. Empire of the Hand A-racks carried three squads of stormtroopers while TIE fighters scouted for the Chosen and their defenses, several of which were hidden in the homes of the Quesoth Workers and Midlis.
The Chosen (pictured) fought the Imperial stormtroopers on Quethold.
Nearly four thousand Quesoth sieged the stormtroopers, reaching the nine juggernauts in an attempt to capture them to use them in the siege of the White City; however, the Chosen discovered that the vehicles were empty, driven by droids and equipped with no weaponry. The TIEs destroyed the speakers transmitting the Queen of the Red's commands to the Quesoth Soldiers while Imperial Baron Soontir Fel used one to transmit a command in Quesoth Soldier Speak: "Go through the Dwelling doors. Surround and protect the Guests." Esva did not know what the command was ordering the Soldiers to do, and seeing them rushing to enter the Dwelling of Guests, feared that the Queen was a traitor, killing her. The warlord killed all Quesoth present but Trevik, who he tasked with delivering a message that warned Thrawn that although Esva was dead, his followers would find the Chiss, wherever he tried to hide, and kill him. The Storm-hair was then killed by the Soldiers and the Chosen died as a result of the stormtroopers' laser fire.
As the Red City had been damaged during the attack, the Empire of the Hand offered assistance in rebuilding it. The empire's leader, Thrawn, believed that the Chosen were too scattered and too few to ever be a threat without Esva, dismissing the threat. Shortly after, the Admonitor left for the Chaos Triangle, where it was to cleanup what Thrawn referred to as Esva's "legacy."
The inhabitants of Quethold, the Quesoth, were divided in three castes. The Circling caste was made of breeders and advisors of great quality; the Quesoth Soldiers fought; the Midli caste oversaw the Workers. The Queen of the Black ruled the Black City, the Red City was under the rule of the Queen of the Red, and the White City was ruled by the White monarch, the Queen of the White. The Quesoth lived in one of the cities until a city's ruler had ruled for a number of years, when the monarch would die in the process known as the "changing of air" and the settlement's inhabitants would travel to the next city. The Quesoth spoke the Quesoth Common Speak and Soldier Speak—which could only be spoken by the Soldiers and their Queen—tongues.
The Black, Red, and White cities were all located on Quethold. The Red City contained a palace, several Midli, Worker, and Soldier homes, as well as the Dwelling of Guests. The Stromma diplomatic enclave was located at the edge of the Black City.
Quethold first appeared in the novella Crisis of Faith, written by Timothy Zahn and published in 2011 as part of the 20th Anniversary Edition of the 1991 novel Heir to the Empire.
- The Essential Reader's Companion