After Xanatos' failed attempt to destroy the Jedi Temple on Coruscant in 44 BBY, the Dark Jedi fled to Telos IV after having successfully convinced the citizens that he and his father Crion had been innocent of instigating the Telosian Civil War years earlier. Moreover, Xanatos was lauded as Telos's number one citizen for his philanthropic contributions, such as the Xanatos Institute for Healing in the capital city of Thani.
Qui-Gon fights his former Padawan.
Qui-Gon Jinn and his former Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi traveled to Telos to confront Xanatos, though their mission was not approved by the Jedi High Council. Both Jedi were dumbfounded by the turn of events on the planet. Jinn and Kenobi were further perplexed by the attitude of the populace. The once-peaceful citizens had become obsessed with a violent spectator game called Katharsis. Ostensibly, the game was sponsored by the government as a way to earn the necessary funding for the maintenance of Telos's Sacred Places, including the Park of Sacred Pools and the Mirror Caverns.
During their investigation of Xanatos's activities, the two Jedi met Andra, the leader and sole member of POWER, a political organization opposed to the exploitation of Telos's national parks, and her comrade Denetrus, a small-time criminal. With the help of the two Telosians, Jinn and Kenobi uncovered that Katharsis was controlled by UniFy, a front for the Offworld Mining Corporation, owned by Xanatos. In addition, the quartet gathered evidence that Telos's Sacred Places had in fact been violated by extensive Offworld mining operations. Jinn and Kenobi exposed Xanatos to the citizens of Telos and rather than face justice for his crimes, Xanatos chose to commit suicide by jumping into a pool of acid. With his death, the citizens removed corrupt government officials and reclaimed their national treasures.
Xanatos commits suicide
However, the damage had already been done, and the conservation efforts following the defeat of Offworld did not last long. Special interest groups representing industrial companies began to settle on Telos, and in a matter of only a few years had effectively become the ruling body of the planet. The manufactories built by the industries polluted the once-pristine world to such an extent that all of the national parks and Sacred Places were damaged beyond repair. In 39 BBY, a group of Telosians, appalled by their ruined homeworld, left the planet aboard the experimental ship, BioCruiser. These individuals, including Andra and Denetrus, traveled around the galaxy and slowly expanded their group by accepting anyone who wanted to leave their own devastated planet.
- The Official Star Wars Fact File10