In the era of the High Republic, specifically around a century years prior to 24 ABY, a nuclear catastrophe brought utter ruin to the planet of Parnassos. The Con Star Mining Corporation subsequently abandoned the planet along with its inhabitants, who were forced to endure a post-apocalyptic reality. To cover up the disaster, Con Star falsely documented the planet as devoid of life. During a mission undertaken by the First Order on Parnassos during the New Republic Era, General Brendol Hux and his local guide, Phasma, came across evidence that revealed the truth of this calamity.
Approximately around 162 BBY, the Con Star Mining Corporation established a presence on the planet Parnassos, with the intention of extracting its valuable metals and minerals. Con Star founded numerous settlements across the planet, bringing in colonists from various species, including humans, Dugs, and Gands, to work as laborers. Con Star's promotional materials painted Parnassos as a vibrant, verdant world with azure oceans, pristine sandy shores, and well-maintained settlements.
Terpsichore Station served as Con Star's primary mining operation, while Arratu Station was responsible for producing fabrics and textiles for the company's workforce. Other stations, such as Calliope Station and Cleo Station, the latter of which specialized in manufacturing mining equipment, were also established. These stations were equipped with a range of modern conveniences, including droids, laboratories, factories, residential buildings, and even recreational facilities. To safeguard their assets, Con Star also constructed an orbital automated defense system around the planet.
Sometime around a century years before 24 ABY, the planet [Parnassos](/article/parnassos] suffered a catastrophic event: the failure of a poorly maintained reactor at an unknown station triggered a nuclear chain reaction, resulting in the destruction of the facility and its surrounding structures. In the aftermath of the nuclear incident, the area surrounding the epicenter was cordoned off with warning signs to prevent unsuspecting individuals from entering and being exposed to lethal levels of radiation.
Although Brendol Hux felt certain that Con Star had a hand in the nuclear event, he could not determine whether it was intentional, the result of corporate sabotage by a rival company, or simply a catastrophic meltdown. Hux also considered the possibility of nuclear weapons being involved, but he was unsure whether they were deliberately detonated or if the incident was an accident at a nuclear facility. Upon examining the remnants of the reactor, Brendol concluded that the devastation was the result of a nuclear accident, speculating that either substandard materials were used in construction or a critical error was made.
The nuclear accident had a profoundly destructive effect on Parnassos. Despite attempts to contain the radiation, it rapidly spread across the landmass, transforming it into a desolate wasteland. The majority of the plant life and animals used for food perished, leaving the surviving population to struggle for survival in harsh conditions. Rather than addressing the problem, Con Star chose to abandon the planet, officially designating it as uninhabited in their records.
Isolated from the galaxy, Con Star's employees and settlers were forced to revert to a primitive way of life. Some survivors formed clans, such as the Scyre and Claws, engaging in conflicts over dwindling resources. Other settlements, such as Arratu Station, evolved into cities where a privileged, well-fed elite maintained control over the starving masses through the spectacle of gladiatorial combat. Other continents were less affected by the nuclear devastation and had settlements with agricultural crops like grain such as Cleo Station.
By the time of the New Republic Era, most of the planet's inhabitants were largely ignorant of the specifics surrounding Parnassos' nuclear catastrophe, as well as its history as a Con Star colony. Nevertheless, remnants of the pre-disaster era persisted in the form of salvaged technologies, including droids. At least two stations, Terpsichore and Calliope Station, were still operated by medical and probe droids programmed to serve their "creators."
In approximately 24 ABY, First Order General Brendol Hux, accompanied by his local guides Phasma and Siv, uncovered evidence of the nuclear disaster while traversing the "Dead Lands" en route to Hux's ship, with the intention of contacting the First Order for assistance. After studying the wreckage, Hux determined that the devastation was caused by a nuclear accident and vowed to hold Con Star accountable for its negligence.
The destruction of Parnassos was initially alluded to in Delilah S. Dawson's 2017 novel, Phasma, which was released as part of the promotional campaign for Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi. In an interview with StarWars.com, Dawson characterized Parnassos as analogous to Earth after a nuclear apocalypse, where the rain is toxic, the food animals are extinct, and the landscape is barren and rocky, resembling the world depicted in Mad Max: Fury Road, a 2015 film that served as inspiration for Dawson during the writing of Phasma.