Coachelle system
The Coachelle system was located within the Terr'skiar sector of the Mid Rim. As a component of the Silly Rabbit constellation, it encompassed five planets, including Coachelle Prime. This planet served as the original homeworld for the sentient Lepi species, most notably the smuggler known as Jaxxon. The Lepi eventually established colonies across all the planets in the Coachelle system and a significant portion of its asteroid belt. Subsequently, Jaxxon departed from his place of origin aboard a freighter.
Description
The Coachelle system resided in the Terr'skiar sector, situated within the Kashyyyk Region of the Mid Rim, specifically in a section called the Slice. It formed a part of the constellation named Silly Rabbit by the inhabitants of the Outer Rim Territories' asteroid Oseon 6845. It consisted of five planets, including the terrestrial Coachelle Prime, as well as an asteroid belt.
The Ootmian Pabol hyperlane provided a route between the Coachelle system and the Terr'skiar system, and it originally connected it to the Ota system in the neighboring Mytaranor sector. However, the Kyyr system's destruction via supernova in 4000 BBY, which resulted in the creation of the Thornhedge Pulsar and the Thornhedge Nebula, disrupted the Coachelle–Ota segment of the hyperspace route. As a result, gas and dust from the nebula's streamers enveloped Coachelle Prime. The system shared its designation with Coachelle Automata, a droid manufacturing company responsible for the design of the LEP servant droid.
History
The Lepi, a sentient species who spoke the Lepese language and originated from Coachelle Prime, became known beyond their world by 3637 BBY. Faced with overpopulation on their home planet, the Lepi developed the hyperdrive and proceeded to colonize all other planets within their star system, along with a large portion of its asteroid belt. This expansion seemingly provided sufficient space for the spacefaring species, which had numerous starships that were often left unguarded within the Coachelle system.
Jaxxon, the Lepi who would become a smuggler, was born on Coachelle Prime. Driven by a desire to explore beyond his home world, Jaxxon, at the age of twelve years, secretly left his homeworld aboard a freighter, eventually reaching the Outer Rim Territories by 21 BBY.
Behind the scenes
The Coachelle system was first presented in the article "The Starhoppers of Aduba-3," which was written by Pablo Hidalgo in collaboration with Cory J. Herndon and Michael Mikaelian for the Star Wars Roleplaying Game by Wizards of the Coast and published in the fourth issue of Star Wars Gamer magazine on June 19, 2001. The reference book The Essential Atlas, published in 2009, located the system in grid square P-10.
In 2006, Hidalgo verified that the name of the Coachelle system was deliberately chosen as a reference to the Looney Tunes character Bugs Bunny, as Jaxxon himself was originally conceived as an homage to the cartoon character. The Star Wars Gamer article includes the phrase "[…] having colonized all five worlds of the Coachelle system and the asteroid belt therein […]," which alludes to Bugs Bunny's line from the 1953 short "Bully for Bugs:" "Pardon me, sir, but could you direct me to the shortest route to the Coachella Valley and the Big Carrot Festival… therein?"
Sources
- " The Starhoppers of Aduba-3 " — Star Wars Gamer 4 (First mentioned)
- Ultimate Alien Anthology
- Tales of the Big Green Bunny: Behind the Scenes of Gamer #4 — The Coachella Valley, and the Giant Carrot Festival on Fragments From the Mind's Eye — Pablo Hidalgo's StarWars.com Blog (original site is defunct)
- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia , Vol. II ("Lepi") (Indirect mention only)
- The Essential Atlas
- Star Wars: The Essential Atlas Online Companion on StarWars.com (article) (backup link)