Trymant IV

Trymant IV—also known simply as Trymant—was a terrestrial planet located in the Trymant system of the Outer Rim Territories and the Western Reaches that was situated in grid square L-20 of the Standard Galactic Grid. The world was located in the Galactic Republic's Galactic Frontier section of the Outer Rim and within the borders of the Nihil marauders' Occlusion Zone in the Frontier upon its formation in 230 BBY. The planet had two suns, including the Trymant system's second sun. Trymant IV was orbited by several moons, including Praknat 3, which was closest to the planet, along with Korbatal, Ost Molkar, Taz Molkar, and Trymant III, all of which were destroyed in 232 BBY. The world was connected to at least one hyperspace route.

Trymant IV appeared blue and green in color from space. The planet's richly forested surface was covered in towering green trees and plentiful ground vegetation. Many winding networks of rivers and several large lakes were present on the world, broad enough to be seen from kilometers above Trymant IV's surface. The lush planet also had a broad, cerulean blue ocean and a lower valley area. Trymant IV featured a temperate climate and a Type I atmosphere breathable to several species. The planet's fauna included white birds and cru creatures.

In 232 BBY, the gravitational balance of the Trymant system was misaligned upon the destruction of Praknat 3 and the rest of its moons, resulting in Trymant IV tilting closer to its second sun. Consequently, all aboveground water sources and plant life were decimated, and the world's climate shifted to be persistently hotter. The dust released into Trymant IV's air made the world's atmosphere Type II, no longer safe to inhale without a breathing mask. The planet's former forests were transformed into desert terrain, resulting in its surface and the haze in its air visually appearing red as winds stirred the ground's loose dust.

During the High Republic Era, the Galactic Republic designated a section of the Outer Rim—which included Trymant IV—as the Galactic Frontier, worlds considered far removed enough from the galaxy's center to send explorers to. Following many years of searching for a suitable planet to call home, the Council of Elders leading the nomadic Elders of the Path religious group settled on Trymant IV around 237 BBY. By this time, the sprawling settlement of Bralanak City and several other cities had been established on the world. The Elders of the Path—including two members of their Council of Elders—Elders Barbatash and Tromak—began living in a compound in Bralanak City with their Disciples.

Two child acolytes in the group—the human Krix Kamerat and the Mikkian Zeen Mrala, along with her pet cru Cham Cham—lived with their Elders in communal-style living, having been separated from their parents at a young age and instead raised by Elders. Kamerat and Mrala maintained their strong friendship while living on the world for several years, regarding the place as their homeworld. Tromak and the other Elders continued teaching the Elders of the Path's children to fear and avoid all usage of the Force, often telling them stories about how interacting with it always held bad consequences. Mrala—who was secretly Force-sensitive—kept her powers hidden from the Elders and Kamerat in fear of their reactions, hoping her inner turmoil and abilities would fade away once settled on Trymant IV.

At some point, the Nihil learned about the group residing on Trymant IV, intending to seek them out for knowledge regarding Force artifacts due to their organization having been formed from the Path of the Open Hand religious group, a sect that spawned both the Nihil and the Elders of the Path. Despite Barbatash's efforts to purge the Nihil influence from their ranks, the marauders' hold on the religious sect continued to grow. The marauders took a particular interest in Tromak due to his knowledge of where to find part of an ancient relic highly sought after by Eye of the Nihil Marchion Ro. The relic was capable of controlling Nameless creatures that fed on Force-sensitive individuals. He and the Nihil Storm Zagyar decided to visit Trymant IV and force Tromak to come with them after making trips to the celestial bodies Dalna and Jedha, two locations where parts of the relic had been used in the past.

In 232 BBY, Ro orchestrated a collision between the Byne Guild freighter Legacy Run and an obstacle that resulted in the Great Hyperspace Disaster, which spurred Emergences—pieces of hyperspace debris—emerging from space and impacting celestial bodies throughout the galaxy. While aboard Ro's ship, the Gaze Electric, Nihil captive and hyperspace savant Mari San Tekka determined one such Emergence would threaten several locations in the Trymant system—including Trymant IV—in the near future, which Doctor Kisma Uttersond reported to Ro.

Ro conversed with Zagyar and, after confirming the world had been on their list of locations to visit, resolved to kidnap Tromak from Trymant IV's surface before it was destroyed. Several Nihil relayed their leader's orders to change course to the vessel's captain, who promptly ordered the ship to jump to hyperspace. As they sped toward the Trymant system, Ro sent a hologram to the Gaze Electrics crew members, indicating that their secret journey would result in the Nihil gaining incredible powers over the Republic and their destiny awaited at their next destination. Ro and several other Nihil prepared to use the Squall Spider, a Spider Cruiser, to evacuate Tromak on the planet's surface.

Not long after, Republic Security Zone Monitoring Satellite 777B-Alpha—a Republic space station stationed in the Trymant system—detected the Emergence debris heading toward the system's celestial bodies. The station's captain issued a planetwide evacuation procedure and alerted the Starlight Beacon space station to the situation, with a Dug staffer noting they should flee afterward. Starlight Beacon relayed the message to the Padawan Academic Cruiser Star Hopper—the only Jedi or Republic vessel in range of Trymant IV—which then jumped to hyperspace to rush to the threatened world as a Republic rescue fleet was assembled. Jedi Masters Yoda and Torban Buck prepared the Padawans aboard their vessel for the impending rescue mission, while the droid PZ1-3 relayed the information available about their upcoming endeavor. Though the students were hesitant, Yoda insisted that they were the world's only chance of rescue.

As flaming chunks of debris began raining down on Bralanak City, some Elders called a meeting of their acolytes in a city meeting house. Meanwhile, Tromak met with several Nihil sent by Ro, intending to flee Trymant IV aboard the Squall Spider with them willingly. Mrala, Cham Cham, and Kamerat raced through the city's winding staircases, with the latter assuring his anxious friend he would keep her safe. Upon noticing the Squall Spider arriving from above, he indicated that the ship would save them. The pair encountered Tromak and attempted to board the Squall Spider with him but were rebuffed by the Nihil, who only intended to save the Elder. Mrala and Kamerat pleaded with the marauders to save more people, and Tromak similarly asked them to spare the lives of the two young Disciples.

Meanwhile, the Star Hoppers crew disembarked on Trymant IV to assist with the impending threat. Yoda and Buck resolved to handle the larger pieces of debris headed toward the planet's most populated city—Bralanak City—and assigned the ship's Padawans—Lula Talisola, Farzala Tarabal, Qort, and Bibs—to help disintegrate the smaller chunks and usher the civilian population to safety. The Jedi took several rescue speeders down to the world's surface, dodging several pieces of flaming debris rushing past them, which were hurtling toward Bralanak City's infrastructure. Farzala and Talisola used their rescue speeder to shoot a flaming chunk from the sky before it hit several civilians on a rooftop and spotted the Squall Spider from the air.

As the Nihil pointed their weapons at Mrala and Kamerat, the Star Hopper Padawans asked the marauders to borrow their cruiser to evacuate Bralanak City's civilians. The Nihil began attacking the Jedi in response as the two young acolytes ducked out of the way, with Mrala turning back to watch them in wonder, seeing other Force users with powers like hers using them for good. As the Padawans used their lightsabers to repel blaster fire, the Mikkian noticed a large piece of flaming debris and stepped toward Talisola to use the Force and slow its impact. As Kamerat looked on in betrayal at her usage of the Force, the similarly-shocked Padawans helped Mrala shift the debris away from them.

The Nihil surrounded the Star Hopper Padawans and Mrala, calling for them to give up. Yoda and Buck arrived shortly afterward, helping their students as the Jedi and Mrala fought against the marauders. Tromak ushered Kamerat away from the scene, claiming to the Nihil that he needed the young boy to be his assistant. Ro was unconvinced but eventually ceded to the Elder's claim that he needed the acolyte to help him acquire the information the Nihil leader sought. After the Jedi incapacitated several Nihil, Mrala pleaded with them to rescue Kamerat. With Buck intending to lead the Star Hoppers Padawans and the Mikkian to safety, Yoda defeated the last remaining marauder before departing to find the young boy with Cham Cham.

Upon realizing Yoda was on Trymant IV, Ro ordered the remaining Nihil to renew their forward assault to crush the Jedi on the world. When Tromak again pleaded with Ro to allow Kamerat aboard, he grudgingly agreed and prepared to leave the world aboard the Squall Spider. Yoda snuck aboard the Spider Cruiser and gave Kamerat a holoprojector to contact Mrala with, indicating that he could use it to contact her when he was ready. Feeling betrayed by Mrala, the young acolyte warned the Nihil of Yoda's presence aboard, forcing him to flee the vessel before it took off. As they departed, Cham Cham consumed the limbs of several Nihil, sending several to the medical bay before their cruiser lifted off Trymant IV.

In the skies above Trymant IV, Jedi Vectors assembled a blockade to prevent the Nihil from escaping the system and to escort a medical frigate to the world's surface. Meanwhile, the Padawans fought against another wave of Nihil with Buck on the ground until the Republic rescue fleet made their way down to save them. As the Padawans conversed with Buck about his nickname, "Buckets of Blood," Yoda returned Cham Cham to Mrala. He insisted the Mikkian return to Starlight Beacon with them, explaining that Kamerat had wanted to stay with the Nihil. Mrala agreed, as her community on Trymant IV considered her a heretic for using the Force.

Far above the world's surface, the Squall Spider fired on a Republic medical frigate arriving in the system. As the nearby Jedi Vectors converged on the vessel to assist it, Ro's Spider Cruiser flew through the gap in their blockade and fled to hyperspace. Though Kamerat was uncomfortable with leaving his homeworld behind, Ro berated him for his sentimental feelings regarding Mrala. Meanwhile, Mrala left Trymant IV with the Jedi and traveled to Starlight Beacon aboard the Star Hopper. She grieved the loss of her friend and world, having considered Bralanak City the only place she had ever called home.

Though Trymant IV was spared from being impacted by larger pieces of debris, its closest moon—Praknat 3—was directly struck by a piece of the Legacy Runs main hull. The world's other moons—Korbatal, Ost Molkar, Taz Molkar, and Trymant II—were all destroyed. Due to Praknat 3's destruction, the Trymant system's gravitational balance was shifted, moving Trymant IV closer to the system's second sun than before. As a result, all aboveground water sources were vaporized, and the ground vegetation and abundant trees coating the planet's surface were entirely wiped out. The dust released into the world's atmosphere altered it, making it unbreathable for many species without a breathing mask.

In the aftermath of the event, the Republic sent a fleet of drill freighters to search for underground water sources on the world beneath a lower valley area. Meanwhile, the Elders of the Path—who had been evacuated during the debris fall—returned to Trymant IV after the immediate danger had passed. Barbatash held together the remnants of his community as best he could, often admonishing younger members for praising the Nihil for saving them when it had been the doing of the Republic rescue fleet. The group continued to reside in the ruins of their Bralanak City compound, struggling to get by with dwindling supplies. News of Mrala's Force usage spread quickly, resulting in most of the acolytes regarding her as a traitor. Jedi Master Kantam Sy was made aware of the search for water sources on Trymant IV at some point after Talisola—their Padawan—returned from the world.

The Jedi Order kept a record of the Jedi mission to Trymant IV, including the rescue of Mrala and information detailing her relationships to Kamerat and Tromak. At some point after encountering the Nihil on the moon Wevo in 232 BBY, Jedi Knight Vernestra Rwoh reviewed the files of the Trymant IV disaster. Rwoh felt that the attack in the Trymant system did not match the marauders' standard raid patterns, similar to the skirmish she had participated in on Wevo, and resolved to investigate with her Padawan Imri Cantaros. After the Republic and the Jedi had discovered the Nihil were responsible for the Great Hyperspace Disaster—which had affected Trymant IV and many other celestial bodies—both groups resolved to work together to end their threat to the galaxy.

Using holoprojectors, Mrala and Kamerat conversed with each other about the disaster on their homeworld, with the latter expressing his feelings of betrayal regarding his friend's use of the Force. During her first week on Starlight Beacon, Mrala often gloomily reminisced in her quarters about their departure from Bralanak City despite the newfound acceptance she had found among the Jedi. Jedi Masters, including Yoda, Buck, Sy, Estala Maru, and Avar Kriss, briefly discussed whether Mrala could be returned to Trymant IV. After bringing the matter with Mrala's Padawan friends, Tarabal excitedly told a crowd of Jedi how she had saved their group of Padawans by moving flaming debris with the Force.

Maru argued for the Mikkian to stay on Starlight Beacon temporarily while her homeworld recovered, which the others agreed to. The Jedi Masters briefly discussed the irregular behavior of the Nihil who had attacked Trymant IV, suspecting the marauders had been on the world for a secret mission. At the request of her newfound Jedi colleagues, Mrala sent a message to Kamerat using the holoprojector, hoping to track the Nihil group's whereabouts using the device's transponder beacon.

Meanwhile, while Tromak refused to tell Ro the location of the Force relic his group had hidden, he entrusted the knowledge to Kamerat—that the object was located in the Kharvashark Ruins on the celestial body Vrant Tarnum in the Stygmarn system—indicating the information was the only reason the marauders had rescued him off Trymant IV. Kamerat proceeded to betray Tromak and reveal the information to Ro, forcing the Elder to escape from the Nihil and work with Yoda—who recognized the Gran from the Trymant IV battle—to try to recover the artifact before the marauders could acquire it. After arriving in the Stygmarn system, Kamerat sent a message to Barbatash on Trymant IV, informing the other Elder that Tromak was alive. Ultimately, the Jedi failed to capture Kamerat during a confrontation on the junk moon Quantxi, and Ro succeeded in acquiring the Nameless control rod he sought.

In 231 BBY, Sy, Talisola, and Mrala were instructed to travel to Trymant IV as part of an investigation into the Nihil. Mrala's feelings about returning to her homeworld were mixed, leading Talisola to comfort her. Rwoh contacted the trio via hologram, explaining that she had reviewed the files from the Trymant IV disaster. She tasked the group with learning more about the Nihil from the remaining Elders of the Path on the planet, indicating that Tromak may have had something to do with Yoda's recent disappearance. Upon entering the Trymant system, the trio was shocked at the dusty red desert planet before them in space. They donned breathing masks and made their way to Trymant IV's surface in a transport, with Sy explaining what had happened to the planet, though acknowledging they had not realized the extent of the ecological damage.

The two girls reflected on the world's desolate state while walking through downtown Bralanak City with Sy and encountered some Elders of the Path members on their way to the group's compound. The acolytes jeered at the newcomers and told them to leave until Barbatash approached, and Mrala introduced herself to him. When a Zabrak Disciple insulted Mrala for her usage of the Force, Barbatash insisted the Jedi had saved them during their world's disaster and forcefully shouted at the other members of his group until they fled the scene. The Elder then escorted them to a safer location in an atmosphere-sealed room.

After Barbatash and Mrala exchanged strained greetings, the former explained that the Nihil had slowly gained more influence over time in the Elders of the Path and told the Jedi group of Kamerat's last message to him from the Stygmarn system, which had informed those on Trymant IV that Tromak was still alive and that they had sought the other Elder out due to his knowledge of an ancient relic. The trio soon departed the desert planet and headed to Vrant Tarnum in the Stygmarn system to search for Nihil, but were ultimately unable to investigate further.

That year, while visiting the verdant planet Takodana, Mrala compared the world's landscape to the way Trymant IV used to look before the Great Hyperspace Disaster. Days later, her friend—the Valon Padawan Ram Jomaram—noticed she was sad and sought to cheer her up by having his droid V-18 gather holo-images of Trymant IV before the Emergence disaster to display for her, hoping to host a surprise party. When V-18 asked the Mikkian for help, Mrala instead asked the droid to find scenes from Jomaram's workshop on Valo. That night, Mrala and the other Jedi surprised Jomaram in the Mid-Tower Exquisite View Room, with the former informing him that V-18's inquiries about Trymant IV images had inspired her search for Valo images to remind him of home.

The following year, when the Jedi apprehended Kamerat—by then an established and ruthless Nihil cell leader—Mrala was reminded of his past promise to protect her years ago on Trymant IV. When she confronted him on the Star Hopper about his actions, she thought of the shrieks of terror and anguish the day her homeworld had been struck by hyperspace debris, regarding it as the day her life changed forever. As she left him behind, Mrala proudly defended her usage of the Force, indicating that their shared upbringing on their homeworld had forced her to hide parts of herself around everyone she knew. Talisola, who watched the interrogation via hologram in a room outside, contemplated how meeting Mrala on Trymant IV had changed both their lives forever.

Not long after, the same year, the Nihil destroyed Starlight Beacon and formed the Occlusion Zone—an area of space containing ten sectors in the Outer Rim's Frontier—behind a barrier preventing hyperspace travel. Weeks afterward, in 229 BBY, the Vurk Jedi Master Harli Cogra wrote a book titled Chronicles of the Jedi, which detailed the Jedi of the High Republic Era. In the fifth chapter of the book, Cogra mentioned Trymant IV in several sections dedicated to the Star Hoppers Padawans, as well as their instructors, Yoda and Torban Buck. The Jedi Master also included a section detailing the Trymant IV disaster and Mrala's origins on the planet before the Jedi had taken her in. A map in the first chapter of Chronicles of the Jedi depicted Trymant IV within the borders of the Nihil's Occlusion Zone.

By the time of the Galactic Empire's reign, records of the disaster in the Trymant system remained accessible in some databases. At one point by 3 ABY, journalist intern Parazeen Parapa reviewed the event's files and learned of the destruction of Trymant IV's moons while interviewing the bounty hunters Zuckuss and 4-LOM. Parapa wrote his findings into an article he was writing for the Galactic Digest magazine publication, which was later read and annotated by Chief Editor Droid TK-7 of the organization's Culture Desk.

During the High Republic Era, Trymant IV was the most populated planet in the Trymant system, and its most inhabited city was Bralanak City. By that time, the city's population consisted of species including Abednedo, Gran, humans, Mikkian, Mon Calamari, Onodone, and Zabrak. The world's residents spoke Galactic Basic. The nomadic Elders of the Path group took refuge on Trymant IV around 237 BBY.

Two of their young acolytes—Zeen Mrala and Krix Kamerat—came to regard the planet as their homeworld, with the former often thinking about the world after she departed. During the religious group's time on the world, they practiced a strict belief forbidding usage of the Force. Trymant IV's population struggled to survive on the world after the Emergence disaster due to a lack of supplies and resources within the planet's barren landscape. Some the Elders of the Path returned to the world after the event—including Barbatash—while others such as Mrala and Kamerat left.

Several cities on Trymant IV were perched within the world's many rivers and lakes. One of the world's cities was Bralanak City, a settlement bordering an ocean. The city's infrastructure consisted of numerous sand-colored buildings with cerulean blue roofs, many featuring winding staircases, arched doorways, and carved pillars. By the time of the High Republic Era, trees and ground vegetation had grown to surround Bralanak City's structures, including a meeting house. In the High Republic Era, the Elders of the Path lived in a compound in the city's downtown.

During the Trymant IV disaster in 232 BBY, several buildings in Bralanak City were struck by flaming hyperspace debris and damaged. By the following year, due to Trymant IV shifting closer to the Trymant system's second sun, the oceans, rivers, and lakes on the world had evaporated. As a result, the ground vegetation and trees on the world's surface died. By that point, many structures in Bralanak City were left in a dilapidated state, with their crumbling facades and decor left abandoned in the settlement's streets, by then dry and dusty.

Trymant IV debuted in the first issue of the 2021 comic series Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures, released as part of the Star Wars: The High Republic multimedia project's Phase I. The issue was written by Daniel José Older, illustrated by Harvey Tolibao, and released by IDW Publishing on February 3, 2021. Older first indirectly mentioned the world in an interview on October 8, 2020. On November 17 of that year, Trymant IV was first identified by name in a StarWars.com post announcing Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures, which also marked its first visual appearance in the form of uncolored pages from the first issue.

The title for the first issue of Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures, "Collision Course," was intended to be a pun of both Talisola and Mrala's first meeting on Trymant IV and the debris impacting the planet. In an interview, Older discussed his approach to developing planets in Star Wars works. He indicated that when creating Trymant IV, he sought to show that the world—initially tree-covered with many bodies of water—drastically changed from its initial appearance in comics to a decimated state in The High Republic: Race to Crashpoint Tower, so the stark contrast in its environment would be noticeable to the reader.

"STET!," a short story by Older in the anthology From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back, which was published on November 10, 2020, first introduced the Trymant system moon Korbatal and indicated that several of the system's moons—including Korbatal—had been destroyed in the Great Hyperspace Disaster. Older's comic story "Tales of Villainy: The Gaze Electric," which was published in the sixth issue of IDW Publishing's 2020 Star Wars Adventures series on July 7, 2021, marked the debut of the Trymant system celestial bodies: Ost Molkar, Taz Molkar, and Trymant III. On Twitter, Older confirmed his intent for the Trymant system celestial bodies mentioned in "Tales of Villainy: The Gaze Electric"—which included Korbatal, Ost Molkar, Taz Molkar, Trymant III—to be Trymant IV's moons and specified they were the ones mentioned in "STET" as destroyed.