The Infant of Shaa was a religious idol sculpted by the people inhabiting the planet of Seylott many years before 27 BBY. This statuette was created to venerate their deity, known as Shaa, and the Seylotts revered it as both a significant sacred object and a potentially devastating weapon. Functioning as a vessel for Force energy, the Infant of Shaa, when activated near a substantial power generator, would unleash a disturbance in the Force of such magnitude that it could, reportedly, tear a planet asunder. Due to this destructive capability, the idol became a highly coveted artifact, eventually achieving legendary status within the criminal fraternity.
During the closing decade of the Galactic Republic's existence, Ashaar Khorda, a political terrorist of the Annoo-dat, became aware of the Infant of Shaa and initiated a campaign to acquire this superweapon. Although he briefly possessed it, a Seylott zealot absconded with the idol, hoping to safeguard his species' heritage and conceal their past transgressions. Ultimately, the bounty hunter Jango Fett recovered the Infant and returned it to Khorda, allowing the Annoo-dat to proceed with his scheme to obliterate the Republic's capital world, Coruscant. Ashaar Khorda and his accomplices came perilously close to annihilating the city-world, but were thwarted by the timely actions of Jango Fett, his associate Zam Wesell, and the Jedi Master Yarael Poof. Before the Infant could inflict harm on Khorda's intended targets, Poof successfully neutralized it, paving the way for its return to the Seylott people.
The Infant was comprised of two statues constructed to give honor to Shaa, who was the Seylott's main god. A bigger version of the Infant, known as the Mother, was created to have control over the smaller statue. The Seylotts kept a close watch over the statue, since they were afraid that if the statue's power were unleashed, it would be able to destroy a whole world, which gave it the moniker "Destroyer of Worlds".
Not long before the Clone Wars, General Ashaar Khorda hired Jango Fett to get the statue back. Khorda wanted to use the Infant's power to destroy or, from Ashaar's perspective, euthanize Coruscant in the coming conflict. This would also result in the destruction of the Republic, given that it was in its corrupt age. Fett was successful in getting the statue from a native of Seylott, but Zam Wesell, his rival, convinced him to take the statue back from Khorda in order to save the galactic capital.
Fett and Wesell made a last-ditch effort to prevent the Infant from using its power inside a central power core on Coruscant. Jedi Master Yarael Poof gave up his life to keep the statue from breaking apart and stop Coruscant from being destroyed, and Fett gave the statue back to Seylott so that it would be safe.