Ryloth

A hot and humid world, Ryloth was located far out in the Outer Rim Territories, at grid square R-17 on the Standard Galactic Grid. Situated near the Corellian Run Super-hyperroute, far beyond the planets Tatooine and Geonosis, Ryloth sat towards the boundaries of Wild Space. It was orbited by five moons, whose gravitational pull affected the planet dramatically. The second in the three-world Ryloth system, Ryloth was located in the Gaulus sector.

Ryloth's geology was nothing if not diverse, possessing a multitude of mountain ranges, snow plains, lush temperate forests, and deserts, including the Jixuan desert, all of which were occupied by the planet's indigenous wildlife. A portion of the planet some distance from the Jixuan desert acted as breeding grounds for the gutkurr species. Much of Ryloth's wildlife was lethally dangerous and forced the native Twi'lek species to live in enclosed cave systems or in easily defended locations.

Ryloth was an important world due to the fact that it was the homeworld of the influential Twi'lek species. For centuries, the planet and its people were exploited by the Hutts and their criminal enterprises; it served as a key world for the spice trade, which utilized the Twi'lek residents as slave labor to produce goods. Ryloth was one of many worlds that fell under the control of the Zygerrian Slave Empire before the Jedi Knights destroyed the regime. For generations, the clans of Ryloth also fought each other in a series of civil wars. Ultimately, the history of Ryloth was one filled by civil war, rebellion, and general turmoil. During the High Republic Era, Ryloth had central leadership in the form of the Clan Assembly.

At some point, a clan stole a small gem from another clan due to its religious significance with the hope it would spark a civil war between that clan and another. Future Jedi Masters Creighton Sun and Char-Ryl-Roy undertook a mission to establish a peace and uncovered the truth, finding the religious heirloom during their first day on-world. However, Roy ended up dropping the heirloom off a cliff. Much of the remaining mission consisted of the two Jedi undertaking a long search to re-discover it. During the mission, Sun became so annoyed he wondered if he should just let the clans fight the conflict out. In what Sun would later claim was mostly Roy's doing, with Roy agreeing at the time before later giving his friend more credit, the Jedi managed to establish a peace. Despite the stress it caused them at the time, the two later came to laugh about the mission. The Twi'lek Drave came from a clan on Ryloth that greatly benefited from the policies of Supreme Chancellor Kyong Greylark.

In the years preceding the Clone Wars, Count Dooku secretly backed coups on Ryloth as part of larger political attempts to seed discontent in the galaxy's Outer Systems during the Separatist Crisis. Some time after the mission to Thule, Jedi Tualon Yaluna undertook a mission to Ryloth in pursuit of a target, trying Glabos while on-world.

The Separatist Alliance led a planetary-wide invasion of Ryloth under the command of Techno Union Emir Wat Tambor, establishing a space blockade around the planet, which was commanded by Neimoidian Captain Mar Tuuk of the Separatist fleet. However, a Republic fleet under Admiral Dao of the Republic Navy had attempted to provide support and protection for Jedi General Ima-Gun Di and the clone troopers of the Outer Rim garrison. The Jedi General and troopers had been backed by a group of Twi'lek freedom fighters led by General Cham Syndulla. During the attempts to defeat the Separatist fleet, the Republic Venator-class Star Destroyers' fuel, power, and ammunition began to diminish, but held out long enough for Di to contact the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, asking to send relief supplies to the suffering inhabitants and dwindling clone troopers. While speaking with the Jedi Order, the Republic ship's deflector shields were subsequently disabled, resulting in the fleet's obliteration.

Trapped within the walls of a mountain range, the remaining clones of the garrison made a final stand along a passageway so that the Twi'lek freedom fighters could escape with their families. However, the entire Outer Rim garrison had been destroyed, resulting in the deaths of both General Di and Clone Captain Keeli, but not before blockade runners of the Republic secretly bypassed the Separatist blockade and delivered relief supplies. This followed a lengthy debate on Toydaria between Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan, Representative Binks of Naboo, and Senator Lott Dod of the Trade Federation, who had been ordered by Count Dooku to interrupt the negotiations with the Toydarian King Katuunko.

When the Republic returned to Ryloth, Generals Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Mace Windu worked with Syndulla's freedom fighters and successfully led the Republic and Twi'leks to retake the planet from the Confederacy. However, as Syndulla had feared, the Republic launched its own occupation of Ryloth to maintain its control, although there was no resistance force mounted against this new effort. Though Republic forces suffered a defeat at Ryloth at some point after the Second Battle of Geonosis, the Republic was able to remain in control, with its occupation even persisting past the end of the Clone Wars. Over the course of his many months on Ryloth, Clone Captain "Howzer," himself a veteran of the Battle of Ryloth, helped defend the Twi'lek people from the Confederacy.

After the end of the Clone Wars in 19 BBY, Ryloth officially became a protectorate of the Galactic Empire, with Imperial forces constructing a doonium refinery and simultaneously required all Twi'leks to turn over their weaponry. Soon after, the Bad Batch arrived on Ryloth's third moon to sell weapons to a group of Twi'lek insurgents, led by General Syndulla and Gobi Glie. When Imperial Vice Admiral Edmon Rampart arrested Syndulla and his wife for suspected involvement in rebel activity, Clone Force 99 returned to Ryloth at the request of Hera Syndulla to help free them. While Ryloth was classed as free and independent, its title did not reflect reality. Many isolated settlements did not even know of the Empire's existence until they were raided and their populations forced into slave labor. As a result, the former Twi'lek Resistance, initially formed to fight the Separatists during the Clone Wars, became the Free Ryloth Movement and instigated a new rebellion against the Empire.

By 14 BBY, the planet was overseen by Moff Delian Mors, who lived on a moon orbiting the planet. That same year, Darth Sidious and Lord Vader became trapped on the planet after the destruction of the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Perilous over the planet in an attempt to assassinate the Empire's political leadership, a move designed by the Free Ryloth Movement. The attempt failed to kill the Emperor and his apprentice. The Partisans carried out a raid in Lessu at one point.

By 3 BBY, Imperial TIE bombers based on an orbiting Quasar Fire-class cruiser carrier were used to bomb Ryloth. Cham and the Free Ryloth movement wanted to destroy the carrier in order to demonstrate their strength. However, his daughter Hera Syndulla, who had become the leader of the rebel cell known as the Spectres, disagreed with her father's plan. She convinced him and his companions, Numa and Glie, to steal the ship for the Phoenix Cell, which desperately needed a carrier to house its starfighter squadron. During the mission, the two rebel cells also managed to destroy an Arquitens-class command cruiser, an act which boosted the morale of the Ryloth resistance.

In 2 BBY, the Chiss Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn was dispatched by the Empire to deal with the Free Ryloth movement. By studying Twi'lek art, culture, history, and philosophy, Thrawn was able to devise successful counterinsurgency tactics that led to the capture of Tann Province, which included the Syndulla residence. Imperial control of the region forced Cham Syndulla to flee. After the capture of Hera and Ezra Bridger, Thrawn chose to relinquish command to Captain Slavin to observe the rebels' behavior. Cham's forces and the Spectres managed to escape; however, Hera resorted to destruction of the family residence to secure their escape. The bold actions of the rebels showed Thrawn how far they were willing to go. The Grand Admiral had also taken possession of the Syndulla family's Kalikori, which Hera and Bridger failed to retrieve during their mission.

At some point before the Auction for Han Solo, the Black Sun and one of its bosses, Gyuti, were involved in an incident on Ryloth that embarrassed the entire organization. When she saw Gyuti prior to the auction, Doctor Chelli Lona Aphra noted that Gyuti had his head still, which suggested to her that the syndicate had recovered.

In the year 5 ABY, the Galactic Empire abandoned their garrisons on Ryloth. After the planet gained its independence, the rebel fighter Yendor became the planet's ambassador to the New Republic, the government that had been established by the Alliance to Restore the Republic.

Following the Galactic Concordance, Ryloth did not join the New Republic, instead opting to remain independent. About six years before the destruction of the Hosnian system, Ryloth's economy and independence came under threat from the Nikto crime lord Rinnrivin Di's cartel, which had become a major spice dealer and smuggling group. Rinnrivin's cartel exacted a heavy toll on Ryloth's offworld shipping due to sporadic enforcement of New Republic financial regulations, infrequent patrols of the shipping lanes, and rampant bickering within the Galactic Senate. Emissary Yendor traveled to the Galactic Senate on Hosnian Prime to raise his planet's plight to the Senate.

In response, Senators Leia Organa and Ransolm Casterfo traveled to Bastatha and Ryloth to investigate Rinnrivin's syndicate. Over the course of their investigation, the two senators discovered that a mysterious entity was channeling funds to Rinnrivin's cartel through a militia group called the Amaxine warriors as part of a conspiracy to destabilize the New Republic. While visiting the Ryloth archives, Leia and her entourage discovered that Rinnrivin was formerly a lowly spice dealer who had rapidly risen to become the leader of a powerful criminal cartel. Organa and her allies eventually defeated Di and the Amaxine warriors, but she believed there was more going on, which made her form the Resistance.

Despite being an independent planet, after the rise of the First Order, many Twi'leks feared an occupation of Ryloth would be inevitable, so they swore allegiance to Organa's Resistance. However, the Ryloth government itself did not support General Organa.

In the aftermath of the Resistance's losses in the Battle of Oetchi and the Battle of Crait, Organa realized Ambassador Yendor of Ryloth could help the Resistance survivors. Organa and other members of her movement were aboard the Millennium Falcon, and, when they approached the planet, Lessu command contacted the freighter. However, operations were taken over by the Ryloth Defense Authority, a philosophical descendant of Cham Syndulla's Free Ryloth movement, that was autonomous from Lessu, although the capital allowed their existence. Yendor, who was a member of the RDA, allowed the Falcon to arrive, and the ship landed at a base in a cave. Yendor met with Organa and intended to speak to Lessu about aiding the Resistance. He understood that Chancellor Drelomon and General Ishel would not want it, and he feared the First Order would attack if they learned what was happening; however, he believed helping the Resistance refugees was the right thing to do.

The Resistance was allowed to set up in the RDA base, but Yendor and Organa later learned that the First Order had arrived in Lessu. The First Order had given the five days to tithe before they blockaded the shipping lanes. Despite this shortened time frame for staging an operation, Organa stuck to her plan of having reinforcements arrive on-planet. After Commander Poe Dameron, the rest of Black Squadron, Inferno Squad, and other gathered allies arrived, the Resistance sent teams to Bracca and Corellia. However, while the missions occurred, someone in Lessu betrayed the Resistance, and the First Order attacked the base.

During the assault, a member of Phantom Squadron and Yendor's daughter, Hahnee Brethen, were both killed. After Hahnee's death, Organa used her rifle and fought side by side with Jedi Padawan Rey. Organa informed Yendor about his daughter's death, and, while he told Organa he planned to die directing a cannon, she offered for him to fly the fallen Phantom Squadron pilot's X-wing starfighter. Yendor accepted her offer, and the Resistance starships evacuated Ryloth. Afterwards, the Resistance gathered at a location supplied by the Collective, and Dameron believed the events on Ryloth showed that nowhere they gathered would be safe for them.

Ryloth first canonically appeared in the opening newsreel of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars first season episode "Jedi Crash," and made its first proper appearance in "Storm Over Ryloth" later in the same season. The planet originated in the Star Wars Legends continuity and was first mentioned in 1987's The Star Wars Sourcebook.

The 2021 StarWars.com article "Star Wars Inside Intel: Twi'lek Culture" depicted Ryloth using an image that had previously been used to depict Radnor in the twenty-seventh issue of the Star Wars: Build the Millennium Falcon magazine.

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