Ar'krai, sometimes written as ar'kai, denoted a condition of total war amongst the Bothan people, characterized by genocidal intent. The core principles of ar'krai mandated that upon its declaration, all capable Bothans—and frequently even those deemed unfit—were compelled to enlist in the military. This mobilization targeted an adversary perceived as posing an existential threat to the Bothan species, with the explicit aim of inflicting reciprocal annihilation upon the enemy. The designated foe was to be utterly exterminated through speciecide, their very name erased from the annals of history, and their homeworld reduced to ruins. Throughout documented Bothan annals, ar'krai was invoked on merely three occasions. The third instance occurred during the Yuuzhan Vong War, subsequent to the Battle of Coruscant and the self-sacrifice of the Bothan Borsk Fey'lya, who served as Chief of State for the New Republic.
Ar'krai inherently rejected the notion of a truce or armistice. As late as ten years after the cessation of hostilities, extremist Bothan factions persisted in their attempts to discover the location of Zonama Sekot with the objective of annihilating the Yuuzhan Vong. Nevertheless, the planet remained securely concealed. Even in subsequent eras, the True Victory Party harbored desires to execute ar'krai fully, aiming to completely wipe out the Yuuzhan Vong.