Domus Renking was a politician of human descent, specifically a male Lothalite, who held the position of senator representing Lothal in the Imperial Senate. This service occurred during the reign of the Galactic Empire. A man of questionable ethics and morals, Renking's primary focus was self-aggrandizement through wealth and power accumulation, regardless of the consequences for others. He exploited the difficult situation of the Pryce family, manipulating Arihnda Pryce into relinquishing her family's business, Pryce Mining, to the Empire, thereby securing a portion of the company's earnings for himself.
Subsequently, Renking deliberately instructed Arihnda to deliver a datacard containing deliberately false information to Moff Ghadi. Following the failure of this scheme, Renking used Pryce as a scapegoat, leading to her dismissal. These actions fostered a deep-seated animosity within Pryce, which ultimately contributed to Renking's ruin after she rose to become the Governorship of Lothal. After closing Pryce Mining, Pryce tricked Renking into bribing Governor Sanz during a bidding war with Kintoni to host Imperial Navy facilities. This act exposed his corruption, resulting in his arrest for bribery.
During the Imperial Era, Domus Renking served as the Senator representing the planet Lothal. His senatorial duties involved advocating for Lothal's interests on the galactic capital of Coruscant and providing assistance to Lothalite citizens working in the mines of Coruscant. He frequented Coruscant, but made regular trips to his home planet for short breaks and meetings with Governor Ryder Azadi and other prominent figures in politics and industry. He was a rival to Governor Azadi, and the two constantly competed for authority and control over Lothal's mining resources.
Following Governor Azadi's false accusation of Elainye Pryce for embezzlement as retaliation for her daughter Arihnda Pryce's refusal to grant him a controlling interest in Pryce Mining, Senator Renking persuaded Pryce to shift the blame onto Pomi Harchmak, the Lutrillian manager of heavy equipment inventory operations. With Governor Azadi's determination to seize Pryce Mining due to the presence of a valuable doonium vein beneath the [Pryce Mine](/article/pryce_mine], Senator Renking convinced a hesitant Pryce to sell her family's company to the Galactic Empire as a means of preventing Azadi from acquiring the mine.
In return for the loss of Pryce Mining, Senator Renking offered Arihnda a position as an aide at one of his citizen support offices on Coruscant. He also proposed relocating Pryce's parents, Talmoor and Elainye, to Batonn, where their mining skills were in demand. Faced with limited options, Pryce accepted Renking's conditions.
For a year, Arihnda Pryce was employed by Senator Renking as a staff member at the Bartanish Four Sector supplementary citizen assistance office. During her employment, Renking prohibited his staff from residing or sleeping in their vehicles after Wapsbur's arrest for spice use in a public parking area. Senator Renking also provided little to no assistance to his employees, including Pryce, in finding housing. Despite Renking's lack of support, Pryce successfully secured an apartment in the Bartanish Four Sector.
During the Ascension Week festivities, Senator Renking socialized with various Imperial officers, including Colonel Wullf Yularen of the Imperial Security Bureau, as well as Senior Lieutenant Thrawn and Ensign Vanto from the Imperial Navy, within the ballroom of the [Alisandre Hotel](/article/alisandre_hotel] in Coruscant's Federal District. Pryce and her friends Driller MarDapp and Juahir Madras joined them there.
After recounting Thrawn's accomplishments during the Dromedar hijacking, Senator Renking assigned Ms. Pryce the task of delivering a datacard to Moff Ghadi. He instructed Pryce to have Ghadi load the files into a secure datapad, download the information, and return the card. Renking also instructed her to deposit the card in the designated slot upon its return. However, Renking withheld the information that the data card contained falsified data.
Pryce followed her employer's instructions. Unfortunately, Ghadi recognized Senator Renking's scheme and sprayed her with an illegal spice known as polstine spice. Ghadi then threatened her with arrest unless she placed the fraudulent data-card in the slot in Renking's desk safe. As a consequence of Pryce returning the card, Senator Renking's office became implicated in several financial and corporate irregularities, forcing him to close seven offices, including Pryce's Bash Four office.
In private, Senator Renking reprimanded Arihnda Pryce for allowing Moff Ghadi to intimidate her. When Pryce confronted him for exploiting her, he demanded the return of her airspeeder key and informed her of her eviction from her apartment. When Pryce accused him of betraying her trust, he argued that she was mistaken to believe trust existed in politics and sarcastically suggested she would be happier back on Lothal.
Some years later, the Galactic Empire dismissed Governor Azadi for his support of the Bridger family's illicit broadcasts. Although Renking sought the Governorship of Lothal, his former employee Pryce convinced Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin to grant it to her in exchange for revealing the insurgent leader Nightswan's spy ring on Coruscant and Moff Ghadi's scheme to use the Higher Skies Advocacy Group's stolen information on Tarkin against him. Pryce's appointment as Governor of Lothal was part of her strategy to seek vengeance against Senator Renking and Governor Azadi, whose rivalry had resulted in her family losing their mine.
A year after Pryce assumed the role of Governor of Lothal, she returned to her home planet. After learning from the Industrial Minister Maketh Tua that Senator Renking had depleted the doonium vein in the Pryce family mine, leading to a 20 percent decrease in output, Pryce closed the mining company under the pretext of it no longer being profitable. Pryce then instructed Tua to summon Senator Renking to inform him of the news.
Later that evening, an enraged Senator Renking stormed into her office and protested the closure of his mine. When Pryce pointed out that the Empire owned all mines on Lothal, Renking countered that he had negotiated an agreement with the Empire to retain 10 percent of the profits. Pryce remained unmoved and reiterated that the doonium vein had been exhausted. Renking threatened to bring his own mining experts to prove that the Pryce mine was still productive. However, Pryce called his bluff and reminded him that she was protected by powerful friends and patrons. Acknowledging defeat, Renking stormed out of Pryce's office.
In secret, Pryce knew that the Pryce family mine still contained doonium on the opposite side of the vein. As a slight to Renking, she allowed one of his business rivals, the Anx Eccos, to continue extracting the remaining doonium on the other side.
Some months later, Governor Pryce initiated a bidding competition to secure Imperial Navy facilities on Lothal. Facing strong competition from the planet Kintoni, Pryce visited Senator Renking on Coruscant and requested that he persuade Kintoni's Governor Sanz to withdraw her proposal. Renking accomplished this by bribing her to sabotage her own presentation. Consequently, Lothal won the contract to host Imperial Navy facilities.
Following the bidding competition, Governor Pryce met with Senator Renking to "congratulate" him. However, Major Hartell of the ISB discovered his actions and arrested him for bribery. Renking appealed to Pryce for assistance, but Pryce retorted that she had instructed Renking to "persuade" Sanz, not to bribe her. Pryce also revealed that she had recorded her conversation with Renking. As he was being led away, a disheartened Renking gave Pryce a look of disbelief and hatred.
With the downfall of Senator Renking, Pryce gained absolute control over the planet Lothal. She oversaw the consolidation of Imperial rule on Lothal, resulting in many farmers losing their lands to Imperial mining and industrial projects. The Spectres rebel cell and Ryder Azadi's Lothal resistance group challenged Governor Pryce's rule. Following a prolonged insurgency, Pryce died during the rebels' Liberation of Lothal in 0 BBY, which ended Imperial rule over Lothal.
Domus Renking was a human male characterized by fair skin, brown hair, and brown eyes. Renking was a politician defined by corruption and a lack of scruples, with a singular focus on personal enrichment. He was notorious for exploiting others, including Arihnda Pryce, who served as an aide in one of his Coruscant citizen assistance offices. He showed minimal concern for his employees and provided little support in finding them housing.
As a rival to Governor Azadi, Renking aimed to gain control of Lothal's mines and ultimately secure the Governorship. When Governor Azadi attempted to seize Pryce Mining, he capitalized on the Pryce family's predicament to gain control of the mine by persuading Arihnda to sell it to the Empire. As part of an agreement with the Empire, Renking retained ten percent of the profits for his own benefit. To gain leverage over Arihnda, he was prepared to frame Pomi Harchmak for embezzlement in order to exonerate Arihnda's mother, Elainye.
Renking's unethical dealings led him to send Arihnda to deliver a data card containing fraudulent information to Moff Ghadi. However, Moff Ghadi recognized Renking's scheme and instead blackmailed Arihnda into returning the card. Unwilling to accept responsibility for his own actions, Renking instead scapegoated Pryce and dismissed her. This resulted in Pryce's deep-seated resentment.
Renking's actions would ultimately come back to haunt him after Pryce secured the Governorship of Lothal by gaining the favor of Grand Moff Tarkin. Seeking revenge for exploiting her family, Pryce dissolved Pryce Mining, diminishing Renking's revenue. Although Renking attempted to intimidate her, Pryce reasserted her authority by emphasizing that she had the support of influential friends.
Knowing Renking's inclination towards corruption, Pryce orchestrated his downfall by persuading him to "persuade" Governor Sanz to sabotage her planet Kintoni's bid to host Imperial naval facilities. Renking fell into the trap, which led to his arrest for bribery.
Domus Renking's initial appearance was as a supporting antagonist in Timothy Zahn's 2017 novel, Thrawn, which served as a rebooted Canonical origin story for the titular character.