During the High Republic Era, a violent rebellion erupted on Aaloth, a planet colonized by the Twi'lek. Aaloth had been suffering from a prolonged famine that lasted multiple seasons, which triggered widespread protests and riots by the starving population targeting the ruling family. Yudiah Dee, the Keeper of Aaloth, was against developing the economy of Aaloth through spice mining, but Lourna Dee, his daughter, thought it was essential to both feed and manage the discontented and hungry populace.
Bala Waleen, Lourna's boyfriend, who was a spicerunner allied with the Zygerrian Alliance, convinced Lourna to back a coup that he would orchestrate to overthrow her father. He promised that he would install Lourna as the new Keeper and that they would jointly rule Aaloth. Waleen detailed that rioters, working with the Palace Guard, would attack the palace that very night, and Lourna's family would be safely escorted to a secure room during the transition of power, ensuring their safety. Trusting Waleen's words, Lourna unlocked the doors to the secure room, but Waleen, despite his promises, instructed the guards to execute Lourna's entire family.
Kalla Secaria, the Captain of the Guard, addressed Waleen as "Keeper," a title Waleen had pledged to Lourna. Waleen and Secaria then demanded that Lourna sign a document that would relinquish her right to inherit the position of Keeper, thus installing Waleen in her place. Upon Lourna's refusal, Waleen used glitterstim to drug his girlfriend and subsequently sold her as a slave to Lady Vardem Kroleyic, a Zygerrian enslaver.
Aaloth was a planet that served as a colony of Ryloth, the homeworld of the Twi'lek. Like other Ryloth colonies, Aaloth was governed by a First family, with a Keeper at its head. While most of Ryloth's colonies built their economies on the trade of spice or slaves, Yudiah Dee, the Keeper of Aaloth, refused to allow either spice mining or the slave trade to operate on Aaloth.
Before the rebellion, Aaloth experienced a famine that persisted for at least three harvest seasons, resulting in widespread hunger and discontent among the population. The common people frequently organized demonstrations that sometimes escalated into riots aimed at the planet's ruling family. Lourna Dee, Yudiah's younger daughter, felt that her father needed to "control" the unhappy population. Haleena, Lourna's older sister, questioned how Lourna would control the people when they lacked food, to which Lourna responded, "then feed them!" However, the famine on Aaloth made this impossible. Lourna suggested mining the planet's ryll and selling spice to boost their economy, but her father dismissed the idea.
Bala Waleen, Lourna Dee's boyfriend and a Twi'lek spicerunner, had previously left Aaloth to explore other Ryloth-colonized planets. He had visited the Assembly building in Lessu, Ryloth's capital city, where he observed representatives of the Zygerrian Alliance making deals with the [Clan Assembly](/article/clan_assembly], Ryloth's governing body. The Zygerrians, known throughout the galaxy as enslavers due to their history of ruling a slaving empire, presented themselves as "legitimate merchants" while continuing to engage in the slave trade. Waleen aimed to introduce spice mining to Aaloth, receiving support from Zygerrian business leaders like Lady Vardem Kroleyic.
Sometime between around 272 BBY and 255 BBY, following demonstrations that Lourna described as riots against the First family, Waleen visited Lourna's family's palace. He kissed his girlfriend and advocated for starting spice mining on Aaloth. Waleen recounted his travels to Lourna, including his encounter with Zygerrian representatives on Ryloth. Lourna was surprised to learn that the Twi'lek government might support or ignore slave trafficking, but Waleen assured her that this was the new reality. He also removed a spice spider from Lourna's skin, noting that this spider species produced webs of pure glitterstim. He inquired where she might have found the spider, and she mentioned being at the Sal Plains earlier, leading them to identify the area as abundant in spice spiders.
Keeper Yudiah Dee appeared and briefly argued with Waleen, pointing out that the Clan Assembly had recently signed the articles of membership, making Ryloth and other Twi'lek planets members of the Galactic Republic. The Keeper asserted that the Republic would never permit slavery or spice trade on its member worlds, but Waleen claimed that neither the Republic nor the Clan Assembly would object as long as Aaloth paid taxes to Ryloth, and Ryloth paid taxes to Coruscant. Yudiah then instructed Kalla Secaria, the Captain of the Guard, to banish Waleen from the palace and forbade Lourna from using a comlink. Furthermore, Yudiah ordered his guards to burn the Sal Plains to eliminate the spice spiders.
Unbeknownst to the Keeper, the Palace Guard did not remove Waleen from the palace; they secretly supported him and had been planning a rebellion with the protesting commoners. Inun, Lourna's brother, secretly gave her a comlink that their father had forbidden, and Waleen called Lourna to explain his plan. The hungry commoners were likely to breach the palace gates soon, and Waleen and the guards believed they could speed up the rebellion by opening the gates. He informed his girlfriend that the rebellion would happen that night. Waleen promised Lourna that he and the Guard would install her as Keeper in her father's place, ensuring her family's safety; she only needed to allow the guards entry to the safe room in the palace where the first family would be kept during the rebellion.
Starving protesters reached the palace gates, and the Palace Guard opened them. Lourna's family retreated to a secure room within the palace. Haleena, Lourna's sister, found her suspiciously calm, unaware of Lourna's knowledge. Yudiah opened an arsenal to find blasters or lyaer'tsas for defense, but it was empty. Lourna then opened the door, and Palace Guards entered the safe room. Lourna met Waleen outside the room, where he ordered the execution of her family, enraging her. The guards killed her father, brother, and sister, and Lourna expected to be treated as Keeper. However, Secaria addressed Waleen as Keeper of Aaloth instead of Lourna.
After the execution of Lourna's family, Waleen took over as Keeper of Aaloth. He and Captain Secaria of the Guard demanded that Lourna give up her rightful claim to be Keeper to Waleen. Lourna refused, furious at the betrayal and deception. As a result, Waleen drugged his girlfriend with glitterstim and sold her into slavery to Lady Kroleyic of the Zygerrians. Lourna was fitted with a shock collar, labeled "grade one," designated "Unit 4978/7179," and marked for sale to the Hutt Cartel. With Waleen in control of Aaloth, the world quickly started producing and exporting glitterstim and spice.
Lourna Dee dedicated much of her life to seeking revenge on Waleen. Both Jedi and non-Jedi sensed her deep anger, though she rarely explained why she harbored such rage, even to friends. Lourna was later freed from enslavement and enrolled in the Republic's military academy on Carida. Lourna's anger towards Waleen led to her disrespecting the chain of command, despite her high aptitudes in other areas of her training at the academy. Eventually, Dee attacked two higher-ranked cadets and deserted the academy, stealing a starfighter and becoming a mercenary.
After Dee donned Mandalorian armor, she crossed paths with Waleen again, though he did not recognize her. He hired Lourna's mercenary services to protect shipments of glitterstim from Aaloth to the Hutt Cartel, where she led a counter-ambush against a Nihil raid on the cargo cruiser Tycoon Trader. She defeated and destroyed the forces of Jinnix, a Colicoid Cloud serving in Pan Eyta's Tempest before the Dowutin Tempest Runner boarded the Trader himself and took her captive. Lourna Dee had planned to betray Waleen after defeating the Nihil, so she made a deal with Eyta to help coordinate a raid on Aaloth where she killed Waleen and helped the Nihil gain control of Aaloth's mines. In the process, Dee joined the Nihil.
Following the Battle of Galov in 231 BBY, Dee and her Cathar Storm Tasia were captured by the Republic and taken aboard the space station Starlight Beacon. During periods of unconsciousness, Dee repeatedly muttered "Bala, Bala," prompting Tasia to ask who Bala was. Dee did not explain, but continued to harbor anger at her ex, even after killing him. Later, as a prisoner aboard the Restitution, Dee reflected on how Waleen's rebellion on Aaloth had stolen her life, and how others had forced her to change who she was for their own benefit.
The Aaloth rebellion was depicted in flashbacks in the 2021 audio drama The High Republic: Tempest Runner, written by Cavan Scott and performed by a full cast of voice actors.