Rim

The distinction between the Core and the Rim originated the most ancient times of the Galactic Republic, when the Republic space encompassed an area similar to the Greater Core while the rest of the galaxy was already known as the Rim. Hence, inhabitants of the Core often considered themselves superior and more civilized than the Rimmers. The earliest incarnation of the Rim, during the Expansionist Era, was in fact equivalent to the modern Inner Rim, that was later included in the Greater Core. Intensive colonization of the Rim began during the Great Manifest Period. The contrast between the safe Core and the dangerous Rim, dominated by the Hutts and the Tionese, pushed many Rim worlds to join the Republic and accelerated its galactic expansion.

Millennia later, during the Pius Dea Crusades (c. 11,000 BBY), the Rim was ravaged by the Republic controlled by the Pius Dea sect. Following the crusades, the tensions between the Core and the Rim persisted throughout galactic history. Furthermore, the Rim would be widely neglected by galactic governments. At the beginning of the Mandalorian Wars, the Rim was attacked by the Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders without causing any response from the Republic. During the New Sith Wars, the Republic had lost control of the Rim to the Sith and separatist forces. At that time, the galactic government was not even able to maintain the HoloNet communications network to the Rim.

In 1000 BBY, following the end of the New Sith Wars, the Ruusan Reformation dissolved Republic Armed Forces to promote the development of local sector forces. The reform was less popular in the Rim since poor remote Rim sectors were unable to compensate Republic forces by their own. In the last centuries of the Republic, the authority of the Galactic Republic declined progressively in the Rim. In 124 BBY, the Republic declared the entire Outer Rim Territories and parts of the Mid Rim a free-trade zone in order to foster economy and rebuild ties between the Rim and the Core. For many reasons, the project was a failure. Later, the taxation of Rim trade routes prompted separatism. By the final decades of the Republic, large portions of the Rim were abandoned to the Hutts or exploited by corrupt senators. At that time, the Galactic Senate was divided between the Human-dominated Core Faction and the non-Human-supportive Rim Faction. During the Clone Wars, the Fourth Constitutional Amendment gave more voting power to planets of the Core Worlds, Colonies, and Inner Rim, prompting the secession of Rim worlds into the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Near the end of the Clone Wars, the Separatists reinforced their positions within the Rim territories. After the war, the newly-formed Galactic Empire struggled to reconquer the Separatist holdouts strongholds in the Rim.

During the Imperial Period, the Empire prohibited slavery in the Rim. During the Galactic Civil War, the Alliance to Restore the Republic was more supported in the Rim than in the Core. Immediately after the Battle of Endor, countless worlds joined the New Republic, most of them in the Rim territories.

Decades later, during the Yuuzhan Vong War, the New Republic defense forces were blamed for abandoning the Rim to the Yuuzhan Vong.

• A Guide to the Star Wars Universe, Second Edition, Revised and Expanded
• Star Wars Encyclopedia
• A Guide to the Star Wars Universe, Third Edition, Revised and Expanded
• The New Essential Chronology
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
• The Clone Wars Campaign Guide
• The Essential Atlas
• The Essential Guide to Warfare