Despayre, which was initially called Horuz, existed as a planet within the Horuz system, situated in the Outer Rim Territories. It functioned as a massive prison and slave labor camp for the Galactic Empire. Additionally, it served as the final construction site for the first Death Star after it had been moved around several times to avoid detection by the Alliance to Restore the Republic.
Sometime between 15,000 BBY and 8000 BBY, during the Kymoodon Era or the Rianitus Period, the planet saw its first colonization efforts.
When the construction of the Galactic Empire's ultimate weapon was relocated from Geonosis to Despayre, the shipyard there became the central hub of the Imperial war effort. Almost every major corporation in the galaxy supplied components to this planet, and the penal and slave colonies provided the necessary labor. Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin frequently visited the system to supervise the construction, bringing enslaved Wookiees from Kashyyyk in the Kashyyyk system shortly after the Empire's formation.
The arrival of Darth Vader signaled the beginning of the end for Despayre. Emperor Palpatine sent Vader to speed up construction, and Vader personally oversaw numerous executions to push the project forward. The Imperial Navy imposed strict restrictions on starship traffic within the Despayre system, allowing only official military vessels, prison ships, and armed commercial freighters delivering starship components to enter. The surface penal colony and the orbital stardock facilities were managed by separate governing bodies.
Once the decision was made to begin construction in the planet's orbit, the Imperial convict labor force was inevitably doomed. Upon completion of the Death Star, the construction process left a field of industrial debris in orbit, making travel to and from the surface nearly impossible. This outcome was planned; Despayre was to be declared off-limits, and the prisoners and slaves were expected to survive on their own until their supplies ran out or the jungle reclaimed them. However, the convicts were spared this slow death. After repeated and costly errors, Tarkin determined that they were an ineffective workforce, lacking training, physical capabilities, and mental stability. Rather than hoping for improvement, Tarkin decided to eliminate the problem and ordered the immediate execution of the entire work crew. Subsequently, mostly Wookiee conscripts were used for construction.
Despayre itself was also destined for "execution." To celebrate the completion of the Death Star, Tarkin decided to test its superlaser weapon on Despayre, destroying the planet shortly before they destroyed Alderaan, which took three waves of fire. Admiral Conan Antonio Motti, one of his close advisors, attempted to warn him about the potential political repercussions of this action, but Tarkin dismissed his concerns. In his view, the planet's population consisted solely of Imperial alien slaves and criminals sentenced to life imprisonment, none of whom would ever return to civilization and all of whom placed an unnecessary burden on Imperial resources. Furthermore, he was unwilling to deploy his station into battle without first verifying the effectiveness of its primary weapon.
When Tarkin issued the order, the superlaser was operating at only one-third of its projected maximum power. Nevertheless, the initial shot was sufficient to eradicate all life on the planet. The atmosphere ignited, triggering a chain reaction that damaged and sterilized the entire planetary surface. The physical damage was catastrophic, with groundquakes and volcanic eruptions occurring alongside massive waves caused by tectonic plate shifts on the ocean floor.
The second shot, fired seventy-five minutes after the first to allow the capacitors to recharge, created massive cracks kilometers wide across the planet. Molten core material surged to the surface through numerous new volcanoes. While the weapon recharged for another seventy-nine minutes for a third volley, the chain reaction continued, reducing the planet to little more than a cinder. The third and final shot shattered that cinder into billions of fragments. The gravitational forces within the Horuz system shifted as Despayre, one of the system's gravity wells, was eliminated.
After learning the Death Star's location from the captured frigate Priam, the Rebel Alliance sent the Ethar corvette group, consisting of two CR90 corvettes, Ethar 1 and 2, to investigate. The Alliance ships discovered only the remnants of Despayre and an Imperial trap. Both corvettes were captured by the Empire.
Despayre's surface comprised a single large continent and a considerably larger ocean. The continent was primarily covered in jungle, and the planet supported a diverse range of species. The planet's low gravity, less than 0.75 standard gravity, and erratic orbit created tidal forces that caused harsh seasonal gales. This influenced the evolution of life on the planet, resulting in a challenging ecological system. These species were presumably wiped out when the planet was destroyed.
To cope with the environmental challenges, the jungle flora developed dense, interconnected growths with deep roots, forming impenetrable patches of rainforest in some areas. Most plant life on Despayre possessed poisonous thorns, barbs, or burrs. Specific known species include:
The animal life on Despayre adapted by becoming slender and serpentine, which allowed them to move more easily through the dense vines and tree trunks. Examples of animal life on Despayre include poisonous crustaceans, small winged lizards, and a manta-like creature with a unique life cycle that began in the ocean and ended in the jungle. Generally, most creatures possessed fangs and some form of venom. Specific known species include:
The Rebellion Era Sourcebook mistakenly refers to Despayre as "Horuz," confusing it with the system's name.
According to Leland Chee, early versions of Revenge of the Sith depicted the Death Star being constructed over a planet. Had this made it into the final cut, that world would have been Despayre.
The PC game Star Wars: Rebellion, which starts the day after the Battle of Yavin, incorrectly shows the planet intact.