F'tral, a waterworld situated in the Calaron sector of the Outer Rim Territories, was a noteworthy planet. Its landscape was predominantly composed of freshwater oceans, with scarce landmasses existing as volcanic island chains, which served as habitats for mainly predatory or parasitic plants. The oceans of F'tral were dominated by cephalopods, notably the sentient Iyra.
The Iyra inhabited submerged cities and employed undersea volcano heat to smelt ores. This allowed them to pioneer cutting-edge technologies, including corrosion-resistant alloys, hydraulic, magnetic, and fusion technologies, as well as starship manufacturing. Eventually, the Iyra's starship construction enabled their proliferation across the galaxy as traders. Despite spending much of his early life away from F'tral, the sentientologist Tem Eliss hailed from this world.
F'tral, a large planet whose name translates to "Water" in the language of the Iyra species native to it, was located in the F'tral system. This system is found within the Calaron sector, a region of the Slice in the Outer Rim Territories. It orbited the blue-white star known as F'la Ren. The planet's surface was largely covered—ninety-three percent—by pristine freshwater oceans. These oceans reached depths of eleven kilometers in some areas, while in others they resembled expansive, shallow tidal pools.
F'tral exhibited tectonic activity, with both underwater and above-water volcanoes releasing sulfurous fumes into the planet's sparse atmosphere, which consisted of oxygen and carbon dioxide. Chains of volcanic islands, characterized by marshes, swamplands, and abundant flora, emerged where F'tral's tectonic plates met.
The scarcity of organic enzymes in the islands' soil prompted most land plants on F'tral to adopt predatory or parasitic strategies to acquire essential proteins and other nutrients. Examples included the fisher plant, which ensnared aquatic creatures using tendrils extending from the island shores; the seducer plant, which employed a fragrant nectar to lure prey before strangling it with its vines and stems; and various cannibal plant species, capable of moving to and consuming stationary plants or extracting nutrients from their root systems.
Due to intense competition for nutrients among F'tral's plant life, the most sophisticated animal life on land consisted of insects and reptiles, including snakes. Fish also inhabited inland waters, and the planet's swampy regions were home to the small, five-limbed aquatic creature known as the sensor star. Mammals never evolved on F'tral. Instead, the ecological role typically filled by advanced vertebrates was occupied by muscular, warm-blooded cephalopods, including a species that eventually gave rise to the sentient Iyra. Cephalopods quickly became the dominant life form in F'tral's oceans, with the Iyra ultimately becoming the dominant cephalopod species.
The Iyra sentientologist Tem Eliss entered the world on F'tral sometime at least several decades before 1 ABY. Although Eliss did spend a portion of his early time on his homeworld—later recounting some of his experiences from that period to his students at the University of Sanbra—he was primarily raised offworld. Consequently, Eliss did not fully assimilate into Iyra culture and developed friendships with members of other species, which led to disapproval from the broader Iyra community.
During the reign of the Galactic Empire, Iyra individuals were among the aquatic species seeking refuge from the Empire on the Mon Calamari Space asylum moon Krinemonen III. The sentientologist Obo Rin included F'tral and the Iyra in his Catalog of Intelligent Life in the Galaxy. In this work, Rin detailed the sentient species he deemed most significant in the galaxy and of greatest interest to the Empire. F'tral also received a mention in a holobrochure entry for the Tagge Holographic Museum of Chandrila, specifically in a section dedicated to sensor stars.
F'tral served as the homeworld for the sentient Iyra species. These boneless beings, equipped with at least five tentacles and a corresponding number of eyes, dominated the cephalopod population of F'tral. They lived underwater but could also breathe and move on land. Iyra society was structured around a strict caste system determined by the number of tentacles an individual possessed.
The Iyra harnessed the heat from F'tral's underwater volcanoes to smelt ores, which ultimately facilitated the development of advanced technologies, including those necessary for interstellar travel. To maintain a hydrosphere aboard their constructed starships—rather than simply filling them with water, which would make them too heavy to escape planetary gravity wells—the Iyra filled the ships' cabins with a special mixture of gases rich in water vapor. This vapor allowed the gas mixture to freely transfer through the epidermal cells of the on-board Iyra. Furthermore, to mitigate the stresses caused by extreme accelerations during spaceflight, which posed a threat to their boneless bodies, the Iyra equipped their starships with sophisticated gravity manipulation systems. These systems maintained a constant gravitational acceleration and compensated for inertial disturbances.
The Iyra became widespread interstellar traders, favoring planets with marine docking facilities. Shortly after the Battle of Yavin, the wider galaxy highly valued the corrosion-resistant alloys and hydraulic, magnetic, and nuclear fusion technologies developed by the Iyra. However, their traditional disdain for beings with fewer than five limbs led to their perception as arrogant and pompous by other species.
The Iyra of F'tral dwelled in extensive cities on the ocean floor and operated facilities for starship construction. Twice a year, males and females of the same Iyra caste engaged in mating rituals at a designated location known as the breeding grounds.
F'tral first appeared in Galaxy Guide 4: Alien Races, a 1989 sourcebook by Troy Denning for use with West End Games' Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game. The 1990 roleplaying game source article "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, How I Wonder Where We Are," published in Voyages SF 13, misspelled the planet's name as "F'Tral" and incorrectly placed it in the Tau Sekar sector. Given that this article was released independently of the Lucas Licensing process, its canonicity within the Star Wars Legends continuity was never confirmed.
David Plunkett provided the initial depiction of F'tral in the 1994 sourcebook Creatures of the Galaxy, while the planet made its full debut in the 1998 video game Star Wars: Rebellion. In that game, the image representing F'tral was also used to depict ten other worlds. Subsequently, the 2009 reference book The Essential Atlas located the F'tral system, and thus the planet, in grid square T-9. The StarWars.com Online Companion to the book later superseded the Voyages SF placement by confirming that the system was situated in the Calaron sector.