High Republic Era

title: The High Republic Era

The High Republic Era, alternatively referred to as the age of the High Republic, was a period spanning from approximately 500 BBY to 100 BBY. This epoch marked what was believed to be the peak of the Galactic Republic's influence, a time when the galaxy experienced a period of relative peace, and the Republic saw significant advancement in terms of expansion, discovery, and scientific progress, with the Jedi Order having a far greater presence throughout the galaxy.

Description

The High Republic Era, or the age of the High Republic, occurred long after the Fall of the Old Republic and represented the pinnacle of the Republic Era, starting around 500 BBY and concluding in 100 BBY. It was characterized by the Galactic Republic's push for expansion and exploration, most notably as a time of tranquility. The Galactic Republic was viewed as a successful symbol of hope and prosperity, aiming to extend its influence beyond the Core Worlds and the Colonies into the vast Outer Rim Territories. This unexplored region of the Outer Rim was known as the Galactic Frontier, an area marked by hardship and scarcity due to the Republic's absence. To address this, the Republic established the Office of the Frontier, allowing individuals and planets within the Frontier to request aid from the Republic or the Jedi.

The Jedi Order flourished during this golden age, demonstrating exceptional openness, diversity, and inclusivity. While maintaining their independence from the Galactic Republic, they collaborated and supported the Republic's efforts, remaining committed to their central mission of preserving peace. Their influence was widespread, with numerous outposts established across the galaxy. During this period, Barash Silvain, a Jedi, initiated what became known as the Barash Vow, permitting Jedi to withdraw as isolated hermits, dedicating themselves to reconnecting with the Force. The Jedi Order also sanctioned the role of Wayseekers, Jedi who operated independently of the Jedi Council, guided solely by the Force. Furthermore, hyperspace prospecting gained considerable traction due to the largely unexplored Outer Rim. The San Tekka clan and the Graf family became prominent figures through their successful hyperspace prospecting ventures during the Great Hyperspace Rush.

However, communication during this era was notably unreliable, especially within the Galactic Frontier, where a structured comms system was lacking. The mysteries of the frontier fostered numerous myths about strange planets and formidable creatures. Piracy was also rampant due to the Republic's limited reach, with many pirates operating freely in the Frontier. Among them was the renowned Pirate Queen Maz Kanata, who welcomed numerous pirates and scoundrels at her castle on the planet Takodana, along with her crew. Dexter Jettster, a well-known prospector, largely spread tales of her and the pirates of Takodana Castle. The rise of the Nihil and their conflict with the Republic and Jedi tarnished the High Republic's reputation as a peaceful era.

History

Beginning

The High Republic Era, a golden age, commenced around 500 BBY. By this time, the Sith Order had faced destruction in a battle fought over 500 years prior. Although the Sith secretly persisted through the Sith Lord Darth Bane, who restructured the Sith under the Rule of Two, mandating the existence of only a Sith Master and a Sith apprentice at any given time, the Jedi learned of Bane's existence and came to believe that Bane's rule was destroyed at their hands, contributing to the dawn of the golden age without the Sith. However, the Sith Order lived on in secrecy through the Rule of Two.

A unified galaxy

In the year 382 BBY, Kyong Greylark and Orlen Mollo jointly served as Co-Chancellors of the Galactic Republic. Greylark took on a more active role in politics, primarily remaining on Coruscant to manage the daily operations and political affairs of the government, while Mollo traveled to the Republic's outer regions to oversee its activities. In an effort to unify the galaxy, they collaborated with the Jedi Order to deploy Republic Outer Rim Exploration Teams to the remote areas of the Outer Rim. These teams were tasked with discovering new hyperspace routes, establishing contact with isolated planets, and creating a communications network throughout the Outer Rim. Typically, these teams consisted of a pilot, a Jedi Master, a Jedi Padawan, a medic, an EX droid, and a GT droid. EX comms droids aided in discoveries, transmitting messages back to the communications teams who assisted Pathfinders, often traveling through space to deliver these messages.

During the same year, the Path of the Open Hand, an extremist cult that opposed the use of the Force due to its perceived devastating effects on the galaxy, gained prominence. They exploited the Eiram and E'ronoh War to recruit members and expand their influence, intentionally fueling the conflict. Operating from Dalna, the Path expanded its reach using its flagship, the Gaze Electric, led by a figure known as the Mother. She acquired a living weapon called a Nameless, capable of harming Force-sensitives, referring to the creature as the Leveler, with the assistance of hyperspace prospector Radicaz "Sunshine" Dobbs. This led to intense conflicts between the Path and the Jedi Order on both the sacred moon Jedha and Dalna.

Jedha was regarded as a symbol of harmony, cooperation, and enlightenment during the High Republic Era. It housed numerous Force sects that largely coexisted peacefully. By 382 BBY, a Convocation of the Force had been newly established on Jedha to foster greater collaboration among different sects. It comprised representatives from various groups who made decisions affecting all of them and the Force. However, their attempt to co-opt the Season of Light and transform it into the Festival of Balance inadvertently heightened tensions and diminished support. Amidst rising tensions, the planets Eiram and E'ronoh selected Jedha as the venue for signing their peace treaty, owing to its reputation for peace and unity. Simultaneously, the Path of the Open Hand petitioned the Convocation for membership and sought to outlaw the use of the Force based on their beliefs. Upon the rejection of both requests, the Herald, a leader within the Path, incited the already strained sects and civilians into a riot. The riot spread to the location of the peace treaty signing, disrupting the ceremony and igniting conflict between the two planets. This culminated in the Battle of Jedha. During the battle, the massive statue of a Jedi outside the Holy City, known as the Final Protector, collapsed.

The Path collected numerous additional Nameless from their homeworld, Planet X. However, Bokana Koss, a member of the Path, experienced a Force vision of the Under-Dwellers while on the planet and realized that they were fulfilling the creatures' desires, predicting that they would spread as a blight across the galaxy, destroying the Force itself. Ignoring Koss's warning, the Path team escaped with the eggs, despite the efforts of a being Koss identified as "the protector" to prevent their departure. The Path and the Jedi engaged in their final battle on Dalna during the Night of Sorrow. However, Marda Ro survived and used the Leveler to kill the Mother, redirecting her focus to freeing the Force by establishing the Nihil. Following the dissolution of the Path after the Night of Sorrow, its members splintered into various descendant groups, such as the Elders of the Path.

Having joined forces to assist the Jedi in their fight against the Path, the peoples of Eiram and E'ronoh transitioned into a cold war. Azlin Rell, a Jedi, was driven mad with fear following his encounter with a Nameless on Dalna and documented the creatures in a journal, which he entrusted to his friend and fellow Jedi Arkoff before leaving the Order. Arkoff left the journal under the protection of his droid ZZ-10 on the planet Banchii.

As the High Republic Era progressed, with the Core Worlds and Colonies becoming overcrowded, many impoverished citizens migrated to the perilous Outer Rim Territories, where the Galactic Republic aimed to expand its influence. Under the leadership of Supreme Chancellor Lina Soh, and through her Great Works initiatives, the Republic supported the aspirations of its citizens, promoting the idea that every citizen represented the government. Although the government was not without flaws, it garnered support from the various species under its governance. In times of conflict or crisis, the Salvation-class Republic medical frigate Panacea, one of the earliest Great Works, was deployed to provide assistance. During this era, the galaxy was less settled than it would be during the Galactic Civil War, with regions like the Outer Rim being dangerous and difficult to navigate. To address this, an immense space station called the Starlight Beacon, another of Chancellor Soh's Great Works, was constructed at great cost and effort and positioned in the center of the dark zones. The station emitted a signal that served as a beacon, guiding travelers.

During this period, the Galactic Society of Creature Enthusiasts was founded by a group of scientists and adventurers who were keen on studying and cataloging the numerous new species discovered on the Republic's frontier worlds. The group began with small dinner gatherings and a monthly newsletter. Over the centuries, the group grew into a major advocate for wilderness preservation and education. The group also produced a wide range of educational programs on the HoloNet. The Society commissioned Serv-O-Droid, Inc. to build Safari droids for assignments in hazardous environments. These droids were programmed to independently document and interact with wild creatures and report back to the Society.

Disaster in hyperspace

A devastating transportation incident known as the Great Hyperspace Disaster also occurred during the High Republic Era, triggered when the Freighter Legacy Run disintegrated in hyperspace, causing massive debris to be ejected from hyperspace at near lightspeed, abruptly pulling numerous starships across the galaxy out of hyperspace. The debris primarily threatened the Hetzal system, a major supplier of foodstuff in the Outer Rim, and the lives of billions of its inhabitants. Many Jedi, largely aboard the starship Ataraxia, arrived to provide assistance.

Avar Kriss, a prominent Jedi Master of the time, earned the title "Hero of Hetzal" for her leadership in rescuing civilians during the Great Hyperspace Disaster. Kriss prevented a massive tank of liquid tibanna from colliding with the Hetzal system's largest star by utilizing her unique ability to create a network through the Force, connecting Jedi across the system and the galaxy to collectively move the tank. By altering the tank's trajectory, they averted the system's potential destruction. However, the Great Disaster led to the Emergences, a series of calamities in which fragments of the Legacy Run's wreckage continued to emerge from hyperspace across the Outer Rim Territories, colliding with planets and other astronomical objects, resulting in billions of deaths. The danger posed by the Emergences prompted Supreme Chancellor Lina Soh to restrict hyperspace travel in several regions of the Outer Rim.

The marauder group known as the Nihil were soon identified as the perpetrators of the tragedy. Using their powerful Path engines, which enabled them to navigate hyperspace in unconventional ways, one of their Stormships crossed paths with the Legacy Run in hyperspace, orchestrated by Marda's descendant, the Eye of the Nihil Marchion Ro. This act culminated the Ro family's plot for revenge against the Jedi and Republic, Ro had his personal history with the Jedi and thus wanted to destroy them. He also hated the Republic, believing it did not offer true freedom, which was a common sentiment among the Nihil. Being able to know when the next emergences would appear, several groups of Nihil attempted to extort planets that they knew would be hit by offering to stop the debris in exchange for money. Marchion Ro and the Nihil also staged a raid on the planet Elphrona, kidnapping the Blythe family in order to lure the Jedi stationed on the planet to the planet's outpost in order to capture at least one of them. Ro successfully captured Jedi Master Loden Greatstorm, though the other Jedi, including his Padawan Bell Zettifar, believed him to be dead.

In response to the disaster, the Republic and the Jedi collaborated to confront the Nihil at the Kur Nebula, marking the first military action undertaken by the Jedi in generations. Joined by forces from the planet Eriadu, the Republic and the Jedi defeated the Nihil in what became known as the Battle of Kur. However, Marchion Ro had secretly deliberately only sent one section of the Nihil, known as a Tempest, to the Nebula, that being Tempest Runner Kassav Milliko's Tempest. As Ro had planned, this convinced the Jedi that the Nihil had been defeated, when in reality just a third of them had been sacrificed. After the battle, the hyperspace lanes in the Outer Rim were then reopened. The Dedication of Starlight Beacon then occurred, and the station was opened to the galaxy.

Infestation on the frontier

As a consequence of the Great Disaster, an ancient species of amorphous sentient carnivorous plant-like creatures known as the Drengir were accidentally awakened aboard the Amaxine space station on the Galactic Frontier when travelers forced out of hyperspace were forced to stop at the station. Both the Jedi and the Nihil fought the Drengir aboard the station, with the Jedi even decompressing the entire station to suck the Drengir out into space. While the Jedi believed they had seen the last of the Drengir, the events on the Amaxine station awakened many sleeping Drengir across the Outer Rim and Hutt Space, causing a crisis. The Jedi of Starlight Beacon were sent to confront the Drengir on many planets and save lives. The Jedi even joined forces with the Hutt Cartel to fight against the Drengir after the Jedi conducted a mission to a Hutt world called Sedri Minor to investigate the Drengir and came face to face with Hutt leader Myarga Anjiliac Atirue. The Hutts agreed to the alliance because their homeworld of Nal Hutta had been devastated by the Drengir as well as many planets of theirs in Hutt Space.

After the Jedi fought alongside the Hutts against the Drengir on many planets across the Outer Rim, Jedi Knight Keeve Trennis was able to discover the location of the Drengir leader, the Great Progenitor, on the Wild Space planet Mulita after reaching into the Drengir's hive mind. This led to the Assault on Mulita, where the Jedi of Starlight Beacon, many from the postings across the Outer Rim, and the forces of the Hutt Clan engaged in an all out assault against the Progenitor, until she was finally captured and put in stasis. However the alliance between the Jedi and the Hutts was broken over a moral quarrel over whether or not to kill the Progenitor.

Crisis amid peace

Concurrently with the Drengir crisis, the Nihil resurfaced, revealing that they had not been defeated as the Jedi and Republic had believed. The marauders had assisted in spreading the Drengir across the Outer Rim as a diversion from their true target: The Valo Republic Fair. The Republic Fair was another one of Chancellor Soh's Great Works meant to unite the galaxy and show that they had recovered from the Great Hyperspace Disaster and the Emergences. Representatives and showpieces from all over the galaxy were present at the fair, including the Togruta government, who the Republic wished to recruit into the Republic. However, the Nihil destroyed and devastated the fair, killing hundreds of thousands. The marauders had also disabled communications on the planet so that they could not call for help. The Nihil also targeted a research vessel that was a showpiece at the fair called the Innovator. Which was created by the Cyclorrians for the Republic as a symbol of progress. However, the vessel sank in Lake Lonisa during the Nihil attack. The Nihil also spread a giant War cloud of toxic gas across the entire fair and destroy sky islands known as the World Pavilions that represented the different planets of the Republic.

After communications were restored by Jedi Padawan Ram Jomaram, the Nihil were eventually stopped by the Jedi, Republic, and Trogruta forces, but were not defeated, as many escaped. This included the Tempest of Pan Eyta, who would later attacked the Cyclor shipyards with the intention to further damage the power and the respect of the Republic. But the Galactic Republic and the Jedi helping them were prepared and retaliated against the Nihil, completely decimating and defeating Pan Eyta's Tempest. The Jedi were able to locate the Nihil's base on Grizal after placing Jedi stowaways aboard a Nihil ship, allowing them to activate a homing beacon upon their arrival on the planet. Once the signal was received, Jedi Master Stellan Gios and his Red Group departed the ongoing Second Battle of Cyclor, arriving at Grizal and assaulting the base. During the attack, Jedi Padawan Bell Zettifar was briefly reunited with his thought-dead Master, Loden Greatstorm, who had been a prisoner of the Nihil. However, Marchion Ro unleashed a living weapon called the Great Leveler against the Jedi, killing Greatstorm and traumatizing Zettifar. In the aftermath, the Jedi assumed that the Twi'lek Tempest Runner Lourna Dee, who had escaped the battle, was the true leader of the Nihil. As a response to the attack on the fair, the Republic launched a campaign called Operation: Counterstrike to wipe out the Nihil.

During Operation: Counterstrike, the prestigious Graf family partnered with the Nihil, specifically Tempest Runner Lourna Dee, to develop hyperspace technology. To pursue their efforts, the Nihil offered to give scientist Chancey Yarrow access to the hyperspace 'oracle' Mari San Tekka so that she could develop the gravity well projector that she had always wanted to develop. Yarrow successfully developed her gravity well projector in the form of a space station known as the Gravity's Heart in the Berenge sector. The station had the ability to pull starships out of hyperspace from all over the galaxy and bring them to the Berenge sector, and did so on a few occasions. After the station was discovered by a group of Jedi and destroyed by the Republic Defense Coalition, Yarrow took up work for the Grafs, who still wished to experiment with hyperspace.

As part of the military campaign designated Operation: Counterstrike, the forces of the Republic, alongside the Jedi Order, confronted the Nihil across various theaters of war, notably on the planets Carlac and Magaveene, as well as within the expanse of the Dreighton Nebula. In the Galov system, the Republic and Jedi also engaged in combat with the Nihil, who were attempting to seize control of the strategic space station known as Relay Post Epsilon One. Despite securing a victory and mistakenly believing they had eliminated Lourna Dee, the Nihil's leader, the Republic and Jedi watched as the Nihil successfully destroyed the station. Defying the directives of the Jedi Council, the Jedi stationed at Starlight Beacon initiated a clandestine operation to infiltrate the Nihil ranks, tasking Jedi Knights Keeve Trennis and Terec with going undercover. However, their cover was blown on the planet Xais when their former ally, Myarga the Hutt, exposed their true identities after being captured. During their attempted escape, the Jedi were confronted by a very much alive Lourna Dee, who unleashed the devastating power of the Great Leveler, a living weapon, against them. A rescue mission was launched from the Ataraxia, which arrived at Xais to extract Trennis and Terec, but the team was unsuccessful in capturing Dee, who managed to evade capture. Furthermore, the Jedi mounted a defense against a Nihil assault, ultimately repelling the attackers, but not before the Jedi Temple on Takodana was destroyed in a catastrophic explosion. This particular attack was orchestrated by a Nihil cell under the command of Krix Kamerat, whom several Jedi from Starlight Beacon had been actively pursuing for some time. Eventually, the Jedi of Starlight Beacon were able to trace the headquarters of Krix Kamerat's Nihil cell to the planet Dol'Har Hyde. A battle ensued between the Republic and Jedi against the cell in the skies above Dol'Har Hyde, culminating in a ground assault led by a group of Jedi, which resulted in the capture of Krix Kamerat.

The success of Operation: Counterstrike, coupled with numerous subsequent missions and battles, led to the widespread fragmentation and defeat of the Nihil by the Jedi and the Republic, forcing them into a state of disarray. One such example was the Nihil Tempest Runner Kara Xoo, whose entire tempest was reduced to the crew aboard her vessel, the Poisoned Barb. In an attempt to bolster the Nihil's ranks and instill a fervent dedication to their cause, Kara Xoo initiated a campaign of child abduction from the planet Dalna. However, her efforts were uncovered and thwarted by Jedi stationed on Dalna, including Jedi Knight Vernestra Rwoh. In a separate incident, a Nihil scientist named Zadina Mkampa activated a crystalline power matrix of her own design, which was linked to Dalna's crust, triggering the planet's volcanic systems and causing a series of devastating groundquakes and volcanic eruptions that threatened to obliterate the planet. As a direct response to both this catastrophic event and Xoo's attack on the Dalnan Capital city of Saludad, the Dalnan evacuation was set in motion. During the Dalnan evacuation, Starlight Beacon was towed to Dalna, primarily by the MPO-1400 Purgill-class star cruiser Halcyon, with assistance from other vessels, to facilitate the evacuation of all of Dalna's citizens to the station before they could be killed by the disasters caused by the Nihil. This operation was organized by Jedi Padawan Imri Cantaros. The evacuation proved to be a success, with the vast majority of the population being rescued. During this period, the planet Eiram also suffered a catastrophic cyclone natural disaster that caused widespread destruction across the planet. Subsequently, Starlight Beacon was towed once again to the planet to assist in the recovery and rebuilding efforts.

With the Nihil largely dispersed, Master Avar Kriss assembled a team of Jedi to pursue the Nihil Tempest Runner Lourna Dee, whom they incorrectly believed to be the Eye of the Nihil. Utilizing a Nihil path engine recovered from the Battle of Grizal, the Jedi team journeyed aboard the Jedi starcruiser Ataraxia to the Great Hall of the Nihil located in No-Space, the Nihil's primary stronghold. In an uncharacteristic move for Jedi, they launched an unprovoked assault on the Hall, catching the Nihil completely off guard. They then boarded the Hall and engaged in intense combat with the numerous Nihil stationed there, including Tempest Runner Zeetar, whom Kriss eliminated by deflecting his flamethrower fire back at him. The Jedi were dispatched throughout the hall to secure various strategic points, while Kriss set out to locate Dee. In a desperate attempt, Lourna Dee ordered the Nihil stormships to fire upon the Hall, forcing the Jedi to scramble to save themselves and many Nihil from being ejected into the vacuum of space. During the confrontation, Master Kriss confronted Lourna Dee, attacking her with unrestrained fury and engaging her in a fierce lightsaber duel, ultimately defeating her. Jedi Keeve Trennis intervened to prevent Kriss from executing the defenseless and defeated Dee in a fit of rage. Kriss successfully apprehended Dee and detained her aboard the Ataraxia, with plans to transport her back to Starlight Beacon. The Jedi departed from this pivotal battle with numerous Nihil prisoners in tow, mistakenly believing that they had effectively dismantled the organization.

Fall of Starlight Beacon

A falling star

Ro acquired additional Nameless creatures from Planet X. A series of events of paramount importance during the High Republic Era commenced when Ro launched a series of aerial assaults on the planets Aleen, Yeksom, Japeal, and Tais Brabbo. These attacks triggered a refugee crisis, as many inhabitants fled those planets seeking refuge at Starlight Beacon and various Jedi Temples, precisely the outcome that Marchion Ro had intended. The Nihil targeted numerous Jedi temples that were housing refugees in order to send a message, including the Chespea Temple. Subsequently, Ro dispatched a team of three Nihil zealots on a mission to Starlight Beacon with the specific objective of sabotaging the station and releasing powerful creatures known as the Nameless, which were of the same species as the Great Leveler and served as living weapons by disrupting the Jedi's connection to the Force. The presence of the Nameless on the station successfully disrupted the Jedi's connection to the Force, significantly weakening them and preventing them from detecting the impending danger.

The plan unfolded as intended, and the infiltrators successfully triggered an explosion on Starlight Beacon, which devastated its engineering section and released an immense amount of radiation, effectively dividing the station into two distinct halves: upper and lower. Those on the lower half managed to establish communication with the outside world with the help of the small starship called the Vessel and its crew. The explosion caused Starlight Beacon to begin drifting towards the surface of Eiram, the planet it was orbiting, which was still recovering from a devastating natural disaster. After the explosion, the Nameless were unleashed onto the station, weakening the Jedi and limiting their ability to assist. Many Jedi were attacked and killed by the Nameless, transforming into calcified husks, similar to what happened to Jedi Master Loden Greatstorm. However, Jedi Master and Starlight Head of Operations Estala Maru singlehandedly held the two halves of the station together with the Force, until Master Avar Kriss arrived and activated her network, connecting the Jedi on the station to assist Maru. Meanwhile, Kriss's team of Jedi, who had just returned from the Battle for No-Space, helped rescue people on the top half of the station by leading them to the cruiser Ataraxia or to escape pods. Eventually, the Jedi lost control of the Ataraxia when it was hijacked by an escaped and rogue Lourna Dee.

Shortly after, despite the heroic efforts, the top half of the station inevitably separated from the lower half, and when it did, it rapidly plunged into Eiram's atmosphere and disintegrated, killing all those who remained on board. On the lower half of the station, disputes and conflicts erupted among the various groups of people, each with their own ideas on how to escape, leading to violent confrontations and exacerbating the chaos. However, Padawan Bell Zettifar managed to rig an explosion to detach the medical tower from the rest of the station, and get all of the patients in it to an Eiram medical vessel. Meanwhile, two former Nihil prisoners on the station, Chauncey Yarrow, an engineering and technological genius, and Nan, a talented spy and informant who previously worked for Marchion Ro, discovered that they could prevent the station from crashing on Eiram by activating its thrusters. The two accessed the controls and Yarrow managed to begin to use them to activate the thrusters. However, Chauncey Yarrow was killed by Jedi Master Elzar Mann, who mistakenly believed that Yarrow was a Nihil saboteur. This prevented any hope of the station not crash landing on Eiram, and forced Jedi Master Stellan Gios had to manually control the thrusters so that Starlight Beacon would land in the ocean and not on the city. Many had received word of the disaster to the communications from the Vessel and had arrived to help, but were left helpless to watch the destruction of the station. Even though Master Gios sacrificed himself to have the station crash land in the ocean of the planet Eiram, enormous waves still rattled the coastal areas and the water purification plant was destroyed again, but the complete destruction of the city was prevented. The Jedi who had made it to the surface and survived helped with the rebuilding effort of the coastal areas of Eiram and its cities.

Operation on Corellia

Concurrently, Marchion Ro tasked Krix Kamerat, and subsequently one of Kamerat's collaborators, Sabata Krill, with a long-term scheme that commenced with leading a Nihil contingent to the core world of Corellia. The Nihil gradually expanded their influence on Corellia, bringing an increasing number of Nihil to the planet and spreading their ideology among the population with the assistance of Corellian elites such as Nomar Tralmat. Sabata Krill and the cell deliberately instigated a union dispute on Corellia's moon Gus Talon by fabricating attacks by protestors, successfully drawing the Corellian Jedi and Corellian Security Forces away from Corellia. The ultimate objective was to await the destruction of Starlight Beacon and then seize a fleet of MPO-1400 Purgill-class star cruisers and Republic Longbeam cruisers under construction in the shipyards of Coronet City. Their plan was to then travel in them to Starlight Beacon to appear as if they were Republic arriving to offer help, but then actually bomb the station more.

However, a team of Jedi dispatched to Corellia to investigate the Nihil presence uncovered this plot through undercover operations and espionage, and they joined forces with Corellian citizens to combat the Nihil and thwart their plan. When the Nihil unexpectedly encountered this resistance, their plan shifted from bombing the Beacon before it crashed to bombing the crashed wreckage and surrounding areas of the Beacon's crash. However, the Jedi and the contingent Corellian citizens that they gathered fought the Nihil in a long battle. The Jedi and Corellians eventually managed to defeat the horde of Nihil that had been secretly brought to and infiltrated Corellia, and disabled or destroyed the star cruisers and Longbeams that the Nihil planned to steal. With the leaders of the Nihil on Corellia dead or captured in the aftermath of the battle, and a large amount of the Nihil fighters killed, the Nihil cell on Corellia fell apart and scattered.

Reign of the Nihil

Following the destruction of the beacon, Marchion Ro revealed himself to the galaxy in a broadcast in which he told the galaxy that he was the leader of the Nihil and outlined his goals. Chancellor Lina Soh sought to retaliate against the Nihil after the destruction of the beacon and requested assistance from the Jedi Council. However, the Jedi declined, as in response to the Nihil's weaponization of the Nameless aboard Starlight Beacon, the Jedi sent out a recall beacon, urging all Jedi to leave the Outer Rim and come to Coruscant to keep them safe from the uniquely targeting threat. Even though the Jedi could not help them, Soh and the Republic did send the Republic Defense Coalition Outreach Fleet to strike back against the Nihil and limit their power and influence in the Outer Rim. But unbeknownst the Republic, Marchion Ro had developed technology known as stormseeds. They had the power to destroy starships traveling in hyperspace through certain designated areas of the galaxy that they were activated in. Ro successfully used them against the Republic Defense Coalition Outreach Fleet and destroyed it. Ro managed to use the stormseeds to cut off ten Outer Rim sectors from the rest of the Republic. This changed the face of the galaxy, restricting Republic interference and presence in the Outer Rim and establishing the Nihil as the absolute controlling power in the region during this time.

In pursuit of the journal Anzlin Rell had written about the Nameless, Ro allied with former Path-hired mercenary Vol Garat and ordered the Nihil to attack Banchii. Digging through the ruins of the Banchii Jedi temple, the Nihil and Garat found the journal after Ro departed, but the still-active ZZ-10 sent a distress call to the now-Jedi Master Arkoff while distracting Garat with the story of how they had found the journal. Arkoff arrived with Savina Besatrix Malagán and recovered the journal and ZZ-10. The blight foretold by Bokana Koss was spreading randomly across galactic planets by 228 BBY.

Late High Republic Era

In the late High Republic Era, Count Dooku was born and taken in by the Jedi Order. Near the end of the High Republic Era, Dooku passed his Initiate Trials and was taken in by Yoda as his Padawan. At this time, stories were told among Jedi Initiates about Klias Teradine, who was a Padawan who lived during the High Republic Era and also discovered the Archive of Forbidden Artifacts.

Legacy

The First Battle of Geonosis was the largest deployment of Jedi since the High Republic Era. During the ensuing Clone Wars, General Grievous attempted to steal High Republic artifacts from the Stellar Rise light cruiser.

During the Imperial Era, Jedi Knight Cal Kestis discovered the remnants of a High Republic Era Jedi presence on the planet Koboh. This included the droid ZN-A4 and High Republic Jedi Knight Dagan Gera, who Kestis freed from being held in stasis in a bacta tank. He learned of Master Santari Khri and Gera's attempts to navigate the Koboh Abyss during the era from ZN-A4 and discovered that they were successful and had established a temple on a planet called Tanalorr within the Abyss that was attacked by the Nihil. After Kestis freed him and learned of the Order's fall, Gera turned to the dark side and began a quest for power, forcing Kestis and his crew to stop both him and fallen Jedi Bode Akuna. Afterward, Kestis and his friends decided to use the temple on Tanalorr for the Hidden Path, an organization that protected and smuggled Force-sensitives and Jedi.

In 3 ABY, during the Galactic Civil War, aspiring Jedi Luke Skywalker discovered a damaged lightsaber pike from the High Republic Era in an outpost on Tempes. When searching for more history and relics of the Jedi, Skywalker visited the Living Sea of Gazian, a vergence in the Force that contained the consciousnesses of many Jedi including High Republic Jedi Elzar Mann, who spoke to and advised Luke. Archaeologist Doctor Chelli Aphra and Sana Starros also explored the wreckage on Dol'har Hyde left by the battle fought there during the High Republic Era between the Jedi and Nihil in search of a Nihil Path engine.

While on the search for the legendary Kezerat convoy, Skywalker and his compatriots attempted to use an old Path engine from the High Republic era Nihil marauders to find it, but ultimately ended up briefly stranded in the Nihil's old headquarters in No-space, the Great Hall of the Nihil. Much later in his life, Skywalker and the galactic explorer Lor San Tekka traveled to a Jedi outpost on the Outer Rim planet Elphrona, located on the edge of the Unknown Regions. Given its distance from the Core, San Tekka speculated that the outpost could have been built during the High Republic Era.

In the aftermath of the Battle of Exegol, the Resistance historian and academic Beaumont Kin wrote in the in-universe history book The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire that the High Republic era was remembered by later generations as a period in galactic history when the Galactic Republic aimed to be a unifying force. He wrote that slogans such as "We are all the Republic" and "For Light and Life" were used to motivate ordinary citizens and the Jedi to move the galaxy forward. Kin criticized some historical studies on that period for focusing too much on idealism and overlooking the erosive agendas of certain senators and the Republic's initially lackluster response to the Nihil pirate groups, who caused significant civilian casualties before they were defeated. Despite these shortcomings, Kin argued that the High Republic era showed that the galaxy and its various institutions could be rallied against "emerging menaces." The idealism and unifying elements of the High Republic were used to inspire efforts to reform the Galactic Republic and the galaxy in successive centuries.

Behind the scenes

The High Republic Era was first mentioned in the 2019 audiodrama Dooku: Jedi Lost, but it was not identified until the 2020 comic The Rise of Kylo Ren. It first appeared in a flashback in the comic "The Lost Stories, Part 1," published in Star Wars Adventures (2017) 30. The era was created for the Star Wars: The High Republic multimedia initiative which began in 2021 with the novel The High Republic: Light of the Jedi. The era made its first on-screen appearance in the animated television series Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures. The 2024 live-action television series The Acolyte is set during the era, as is the upcoming game Star Wars Eclipse. The era played a major role in the 2023 game Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, a story set during the Imperial Era yet with High Republic Era characters and ruins, as well as flashbacks set during the time.

A High Republic Era Jedi named Maya Ranna was featured via hologram in the non-canon LEGO comic "The Battle Against Grievous," which was released within LEGO Star Wars 109 on May 17, 2024, in Germany. Within, the later Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker shows Ranna's hologram after discovering it in the Jedi Archives, intending to learn a spinning move from her recording.