Shu-Torun

Located in the Mid Rim, Shu-Torun was a volcanic planet rich in rare ores and minerals. Its surface was covered with oceans of lava, and much of the solid, rocky landmass was made up of erupting volcanoes, giving the planet a harsh climate. Its economy thrived on its mining industry, and the inhabitants made use of many large mining vehicles, including delving citadels and combat drills.

The planet harbored extensive underground cave networks, and had solid layers above its lower mantle. The ore lithoporoite, which could be found near this area, was known to be too weak to support Shu-Torun's drill equipment. Adamantine shoals were creatures that inhabited the lava oceans of the planet, and were thought to be blessed by the inhabitants.

Shu-Torun was settled by human explorers relatively early on during the days of the Galactic Republic. During this time, the Spike was constructed, stretching underground from the planet's surface to harness energy from the core's gravity fields, powering energy shields that were used to make areas habitable for mining. Despite the harsh environment of Shu-Torun, its inhabitants managed to survive on the planet, building up a monarchical society, led by the royal family. After the formation of the Galactic Empire, Shu-Torun became a mining world, supplying the Empire with resources. By this time, their technology was thousands of years old.

After the destruction of the Death Star, the world was visited by the Sith Lord Darth Vader, who was sent to ensure that the king and his people remained faithful and loyal servants of the Empire, and that the planet's ore-dukes met their quotas.

After the king showed his true colors as a traitor to the Empire, he, along with his guards and two eldest children, Prince Monthan and Princess Hollian, were killed by Vader's assassin droids, 0-0-0 and BT-1. The Dark Lord crowned the king's surviving child, Princess Trios, as the new Queen of Shu-Torun. After promising her the support of the Empire to keep the ore-dukes in line, Vader left her alone in the throne room with only the warning that she should not forget that she and her people served the Empire.

Some time after Vader's mission, the ore-dukes began to rebel against the Imperial rule of the planet, and Emperor Palpatine ordered Vader to deal with them with the help of Doctor Cylo. Vader led the destruction of a rebellious delving citadel, and Baron Rubix responded with an attack on the Shu-Torun royalty's Ancestral Retreat. Vader, Trios, and Cylo commanded the Shu-Torun Loyalist/Imperial Delving Fleet towards Rubix's delving citadel, but Vader's combat drill had been sabotaged by Cylo, veering off its course and into a lithoporoite seam. Vader's drill landed within a trap, surrounded by Rubix's men.

While Vader fought back, Cylo attempted to call off the attack, but Trios refused to. Aiolin and Morit Astarte, two of Cylo's apprentices, betrayed Vader, but during the resulting duel, Morit also betrayed his sister, throwing her into lava. Vader returned to his combat drill, where Triple-Zero and Beetee had convinced Rubix's men to surrender by claiming their battle droids could leech blood.

Trios led an attack on Rubix's citadel, joined shortly afterwards by Imperial forces. Rubix and his daughter Bixene attempted to flee, but were confronted by Vader, who forced the ore-duke's surrender. Trios' soldiers executed Rubix, and the queen gave Bixene her father's rank. As Vader left Shu-Torun, Trios requested support, being left with a stormtrooper captain. Some time later, Vader returned, requesting that Trios send her specialists to help the mining effort on Jedha, then infiltrate the Rebellion and bring about the destruction of their fleet. To do so, she supplied them with resources from Shu-Torun, and helped them build up their fleet during the mutiny on Mon Cala, gaining the trust of Leia Organa. However, Trios sabotaged the Shu-Torun systems the starships were equipped with, allowing the Empire to launch an attack on their Mako-Ta Space Docks.

After narrowly escaping the attack on Mako-Ta and being forced to hide on the moon of Hubin, Leia Organa began to form plans to strike back against Shu-Torun. Once she regrouped with the Home One, she revealed these plans to Admiral Gial Ackbar, as well as her team of rebels. To carry out her plan, she recruited the Clawdite Tunga Arpagion, the Partisans from Jedha, and Meorti, an engineer with knowledge of slicing. At the same time, the Central Isopter cult arrived on Shu-Torun, having sensed destruction in the near future through the Force.

On Shu-Torun, Organa revealed her plan for the mission—to use access codes they gained during Trios' betrayal at Mako-Ta to take down the planet's infrastructure, allowing them to destroy the Spike. In order to use the codes, they needed an eye scan of Trios, so Arpagion infiltrated a party in the Abyssal Rooms in the disguise of the ore-duke Lord Or-Tar. The team successfully Trios' eye, and left the Abyssal Rooms, heading for the Ancestral Retreat, where the master controls for Shu-Torun were located. At the retreat, Arpagion impersonated Trios, getting the building's staff out of their way, allowing Meorti to slice into the controls, disabling the entire security system.

With the security systems disabled, Luke Skywalker was able to infiltrate the Spike with Benthic, leader of the Partisans. However, Queen Trios learnt of their loss of control when a guest was unable to leave her party, and panicked, seeing no way to reactivate the planet's security. Inside the Spike, Benthic planned to stray from the mission, sabotaging the Spike so that its destruction would instead cause the planet to be torn apart, as revenge for what the Empire had done to Jedha.

Trios managed to break out of the Abyssal Rooms using a mining drill attached to a transport vessel, and took several soldiers to the Ancestral Retreat. Commander Kanchar of the Empire, on his Star Destroyer Tributum, was alerted to the rebel attack, heading to Shu-Torun in his ship. As Trios and her forces stormed the retreat, Kanchar arrived above Shu-Torun, preparing to bombard the rebels from orbit.

The cultists of the Central Isopter watched as the Ancestral Retreat was bombed, and the rebels escaped from the battleground. Trios contacted Kanchar, informing him of her location, and of the importance of the Spike. Kanchar continued to bomb the retreat, and Trios entered the castle's throne room, dueling with Organa. Trios was fatally wounded in the fight, but not before revealing to Organa the imminent destruction of the planet. Organa promised to put a stop to the plan, but Benthic and the Partisans had already succeeded in overloading the Spike's systems, initiating events that would cause Shu-Torun to be destroyed.

Shu-Torun's hostile appearance was contrasted by the aristocratic and elegant culture of its human inhabitants. The planet's ore-dukes enjoyed the ceremonies that were held for them, which kept them from considering to rebel. The Shu-Torun counter-bore waltz was a dance performed on Shu-Torun, and the magnetite ballets of Shu-Torun were known to the actor Tunga Arpagion, who complimented them while impersonating Imperial Moff Tan Hubi. Individuals arriving on Shu-Torun had to first pass by a guard, who interrogated them on their reason for visiting the planet.

While the environment above-ground was volcanic and hostile, the inhabitants of Shu-Torun built grand structures in the small surface area that they had, including the Shu-Torun royal palace and the Ancestral Retreat, a sacred site of the Shu-Torun royalty. The Spires were a group of towers located above the surface, where the ore-dukes brought the minerals that they excavated.

The underground caverns of Shu-Torun also held structures, including the Abyssal Rooms, a building used for celebrations and parties. It could be accessed via the Abyssal Approach, a series of tunnels that led from the surface to the Rooms. The Spike, the first structure built on Shu-Torun by early settlers, stretched down into the core of the planet, draining energy from its gravity fields. Delving citadels were present underneath Shu-Torun's surface, owned by the ore-dukes of the planet.

Shu-Torun first appeared in Darth Vader Annual 1, written by Kieron Gillen, penciled by Leinil Francis Yu and published on December 16, 2015. Its name was originally capitalized as "Shu-torun," but, following Darth Vader (2015) 18, the name was spelt as "Shu-Torun." In Marvel's solicitations, the planet's name was varied, with spellings such as "Shu-Torin" and "Sho-Turun."

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