The Arkanian Legacy, a colossal capital ship, functioned as the central mobile base for The Adasca BioMechanical Corporation of Arkania, also known as Adascorp, during the Mandalorian Wars era. Initially conceived to relocate corporate operations away from the dangers of the Great Sith War, it later transformed into a hub of Arkanian culture, featuring a university, an art museum, a concert hall, and extensive scientific and medical labs. During the Mandalorian Wars, the Arkanian Legacy also became the stage for CEO Arkoh Adasca's scheme to achieve galactic dominance. He planned to sell the devastating power of the massive exogorth species to the highest bidder, effectively determining the war's outcome. Consequently, Adasca invited representatives from the Galactic Republic, Mandalorians, and Jedi Order to the Arkanian Legacy, hosting a twisted auction among the warring factions. However, as Adasca grasped control of the galaxy's fate, his scheme unraveled when Arkanian Offshoot prisoner Gorman Vandrayk, the scientist manipulating the exogorths, unleashed the colossal space slugs upon the Arkanian Legacy amidst a battle that erupted on the ship. Adasca met his death, and the ship's remains were left beyond repair, adrift in contested space at the Mandalorian Wars' front lines.
The enormous capital ship Arkanian Legacy originally served as the mobile headquarters for The Adasca BioMechanical Corporation of Arkania, more commonly known as Adascorp. It accommodated as many as 104,079 individuals and also functioned as a research hospital, arboretum, conservatory, one of the largest art museums in the galaxy, a university, and an observatory with a domed roof that also functioned as a concert venue.
The Arkanian Legacy employed a proficient crew of 5,000 and was defended by an arsenal comprising four light and twelve medium turbolaser batteries, along with twenty-four starfighters and eight shuttles, excluding Lord Arkoh Adasca's personal vessel. Furthermore, numerous research, transport, passenger, and visitor spacecraft were typically housed on board the Arkanian Legacy at any given moment. Equipped with a navicomputer and a class 2 hyperdrive with a class 8 backup, the Arkanian Legacy could store up to 10,000 tons of cargo, 100,000 passengers, and consumables sufficient for two years.
Among its various features, the Arkanian Legacy included a crow's nest fitted with numerous holoscreens, which Adasca's cybernetically-enhanced Duros assistant, Eejee Vamm, used as a workstation. From this location, Vamm could access video recordings and broadcasts from across the galaxy and perform retinal scans on individuals within those recordings. Additionally, the crow's nest had access to hundreds of security cameras within the Arkanian Legacy itself. The Arkanian Legacy's hospital was a comprehensive facility, complete with quarantine care centers and extensive scientific laboratories. In line with Adascorp's mission, significant medical and biomechanical research was conducted on the ship, both in the laboratories and in the Arkanian Legacy's numerous libraries. The ship's opulent facilities centered around its spacious atrium, anchored by a large fountain. The atrium connected to a series of elaborately furnished private quarters frequently used to accommodate important guests. For less distinguished guests, the Arkanian Legacy also featured its own brig, guarded by a security battalion.
Initially conceived during the Great Sith War as a means for Adascorp to maintain its headquarters safely out of harm's way, the Arkanian Legacy was initially the brainchild of Adasca's grandfather, Argaloh, and was ultimately completed by Argaloh's son, Alok. The Arkanian Legacy was officially launched at the ceremony where Arkoh Adasca, Alok's son and the eighth Lord of the House of Adasca, inherited his position as the head of Adascorp, the galaxy's foremost bioengineering firm. As the heir to a prominent industrial dynasty, Adasca gained immense popularity among pureblood Arkanians as the Chief Executive Officer of Adascorp. However, he harbored ambitions that extended beyond merely leading a major corporation. During his grandfather's tenure at the company, an exceptionally talented Arkanian Offshoot scientist named Gorman Vandrayk had discovered how to establish contact and control the minds of the exogorths, a species of enormous and enigmatic space slugs found in various regions of the galaxy. Recognizing the incredible destructive potential of these creatures, Argaloh planned to weaponize the exogorths, but Vandrayk, horrified by the prospect, fled, taking his crucial knowledge with him.
By 3963 BBY, the galaxy was embroiled in the Mandalorian Wars, a conflict between the Galactic Republic and the Mandalorian warrior clans. Recalling his grandfather's vision for the exogorths, Adasca devised a plan that could potentially transform Adascorp into a galactic power. The company had discovered a cluster of dormant exogorths near the dying star Omonoth, and Adasca believed that if Adascorp could seize control of these creatures, he could sell their services to the highest bidder, effectively determining the war's victor. However, because he would maintain operational control over the exogorths, whichever side he selected would be compelled to pay him tribute. Despite the grandeur of Adasca's ambitions, his plan was doomed to fail without Vandrayk, as Adascorp lacked the knowledge to control the exogorths on its own. Adasca prioritized tracking down Vandrayk and enlisted his cybernetic assistant, Eejee Vamm, to utilize the observational capabilities of the Arkanian Legacy's holoscreen crow's nest to search the galaxy for him. Vamm eventually identified Vandrayk in a recording from the planet Telerath, and a retinal scan confirmed the identity of the fugitive scientist. The Duros immediately notified Lord Adasca, assuring him that he had found what the head of Adascorp had been seeking.
It took some time before Adasca could bring Vandrayk aboard the Arkanian Legacy, but he managed to capture the elderly Offshoot when he was compelled to return to Arkania for medical treatment. With the assistance of Vandrayk's friend Jarael, whom Adasca manipulated into trusting him, Adasca learned the location of Vandrayk's ship, The Last Resort, and promptly located and tractored it onto the Arkanian Legacy. After finally securing Gorman Vandrayk, Adasca determined that the time was ripe to seize power. The Arkanian Legacy was filled to capacity, with the majority of the 100,000-plus occupants being pureblood Arkanians. However, as the ship embarked on its lengthy journey to the Omonoth system, Adasca quietly began transferring residents who were unaware of his plan to other assignments off the ship. The ship first made a stop at a deep-space refueling station, where the ailing Vandrayk was rushed to the on-ship hospital, despite his Mandalorian friend Rohlan Dyre assaulting several security guards. However, Adasca managed to appease Dyre by granting the inquisitive Mandalorian access to the ship's research facilities, thereby eliminating another potential obstacle.
As the Arkanian Legacy continued its journey to Omonoth, Adasca and his assistant Vamm occupied themselves by sending invitations to representatives from the Galactic Republic, the Mandalorians, and the Jedi Order. Upon reaching its destination, the visitors began to arrive: a small contingent of Republic survivors from the Battle of Serroco, led by Admiral Saul Karath; Mandalore the Ultimate, the leader of the Mandalorians, accompanied by a large complement of warriors; and Alek, the second-in-command of the Jedi Order's Revanchist faction, which advocated Jedi intervention in the Mandalorian Wars. They were soon joined by a surprise guest, Jedi Master Lucien Draay, an old acquaintance of Adasca's and a member of the secret Jedi Covenant, a group of seers, who had deduced that Adasca was plotting something. Unwilling to accommodate a situation he had not anticipated, Adasca had Draay poisoned and confined to the ship's brig alongside Republic prisoner Zayne Carrick, Draay's former Jedi Padawan who had been on the run from the Covenant after being falsely accused of a crime.
Once all the interested parties were on board, Adasca took his seat in the Arkanian Legacy's atrium and began overseeing a chaotic auction. Although the factions were nominally under a flag of truce, Alek attempted to attack the Mandalore, nearly sparking an armed confrontation between the Republic and Mandalorian representatives. After demonstrating the exogorths' destructive capabilities, Adasca began soliciting offers, the most enticing of which was the Mandalorians' promise to make Adasca their sole weaponsmith and chief scientist, which would grant him immense power and influence in a Mandalorian-dominated galaxy. However, Carrick and Draay, normally adversaries, began plotting their escape from the brig to thwart Adasca's plans. Together, they overpowered their guards, reclaimed Draay's lightsaber, and freed themselves. After venturing to the ship's crow's nest and discovering the unfolding events through the ship's security cameras, they encountered Lieutenant Carth Onasi, a member of the Republic detachment and an acquaintance of Carrick's. After retrieving his lightsaber from Onasi, Carrick acquired a spare set of Mandalorian armor from Rohlan Dyre and staged a fight with Onasi on the floor in front of Adasca, creating a diversion to free Jarael, whom Adasca was holding hostage to compel Vandrayk to continue his work on the exogorths, and confront the Adascorp CEO.
With a full-scale battle raging between Adasca's security force and the Jedi and Republic representatives, the Mandalorian contingent retreated to the Mandalore's private shuttle. Adasca was unable to contact Vamm for assistance, unaware that the Duros, along with the Arkanian Doctor Suprin, had been murdered by Dyre before the firefight erupted. Vandrayk, confined to an orbital exogorth control station, received word that Jarael was free and immediately unleashed the monstrous beasts upon Adasca. After transmitting a mocking message to the Lord of House Adasca, Vandrayk ordered the exogorths to attack the Arkanian Legacy itself. Carrick, Jarael, and the Republic and Jedi contingents managed to escape in the chaos, leaving Arkoh Adasca to perish with his plans and his headquarters. After the exogorths tore through the ship, the Arkanian Legacy was left derelict and listing in contested space. Amidst the Mandalorian Wars, Republic forces were unable to ascertain whether any survivors remained on board and ultimately decided against launching a rescue and recovery mission. The Galactic Republic Defense Ministry ultimately deemed the ship unsalvageable.
Officially, the destruction of the Arkanian Legacy was attributed to a Mandalorian raid that claimed Adasca's life. As Adascorp was a vital corporate entity within the Republic, all mention of Adasca's schemes and the true events on the Arkanian Legacy were suppressed from public knowledge. Saul Karath was solely credited with saving the Republic forces in the battle and repelling the Mandalorian raid, significantly enhancing his public image. Later in the war, a Republic force led by Karath and Alek managed to retake Omonoth long enough to salvage the remnants of the Arkanian Legacy. Among their discoveries, the Republic outfit recovered the mutilated corpse of Eejee Vamm in one of the ship's labs.
Conceived by his grandfather Argaloh, the Arkanian Legacy passed to Arkoh Adasca upon his assumption of leadership at Adascorp. As the company's CEO, Adasca oversaw all operations on Adascorp's mobile headquarters, utilizing the hundreds of security cameras positioned throughout the ship to monitor all events that transpired on the Arkanian Legacy and his extensive information network to observe much of what occurred in the galaxy beyond. Adasca's unwavering focus was to locate Gorman Vandrayk and implement his plan for galactic dominance, and his search generated a vast amount of data within the Arkanian Legacy, compelling him to employ a cybernetically-augmented Duros aide, Eejee Vamm, to assist in managing all the information. Although Vamm was one of the few non-pureblooded Arkanians among the well over 100,000 crew and passengers aboard the ship at its peak, he was fiercely loyal to Adasca, as were the numerous doctors, scientists, and researchers on the ship, led by the Arkanian Doctor Suprin. While nearly all the regular inhabitants of the Arkanian Legacy were Arkanians, not all were privy to Adasca's plans, and the CEO of Adascorp transferred those who were unaware off the ship during the journey to Omonoth. Among the Arkanians who remained on the ship were Adasca's armored security team, who wielded stun batons and were supported by a contingent of HK-24 assassin droids.
The Arkanian Legacy made its initial brief appearance in Knights of the Old Republic 13, an issue of the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic comic book series, authored by John Jackson Miller and released in 2007. While the ship's first appearance only showcased its holographic crow's nest, the remainder of the ship debuted several issues later in Knights of the Old Republic 16. The Arkanian Legacy subsequently became the primary setting for the Nights of Anger and Daze of Hate story arcs. Artist Brian Ching designed the ship, dedicating "a lot of time" to developing its appearance, according to Miller. During its appearances in Knights of the Old Republic, the ship was also illustrated by Harvey Tolibao and Bong Dazo. The Arkanian Legacy and the story that unfolds aboard it were at least partially inspired by Archie Goodwin's portrayal of The Wheel during the original Marvel Comics Star Wars comic run. Miller derived the ship's capacity from that of Neyland Stadium, the football stadium for the University of Tennessee, Miller's alma mater.