Jelucan was a planet situated within the Outer Rim Territories region of space. During the era of the Clone Wars, this planet aligned itself with the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Subsequently, in the Age of the Empire, the Galactic Empire forcibly took control of Jelucan through annexation. Notably, it served as the homeworld for Thane Kyrell and Ciena Ree, two individuals whose destinies intertwined tragically as they found themselves on opposing sides of the Galactic Civil War.
A cold and rocky planet with many mountainous regions, Jelucan could be found in the Outer Rim Territories, specifically along the Hydian Way trade route. Both humans and various alien species called this world home. The population was split into two distinct groups: the First Wavers, a community of humans residing in the planet's isolated valleys, and a second-wave of settlers, consisting of both humans and aliens, who inhabited urban areas like Valentia. Economic disparities existed between these groups, with the second wavers generally enjoying greater prosperity. This led to mutual distrust, as the second wavers viewed the valley dwellers as unsophisticated, while the valley dwellers considered the second wavers greedy. Furthermore, Jelucan was the native habitat of the muunyak species, non-sentient creatures frequently used for transporting goods across the challenging terrain.
Jelucani fogstone, a mineral unique to the planet, was a resource used for sculpting statues. Due to the planet's rocky landscape, ridgecrawlers were a prevalent mode of transportation.
Jelucan's settlement occurred relatively late in the broader context of galactic history, around 511 BBY. The First Wavers, having been exiled from another world for remaining loyal to their king, arrived with very little, yet they managed to establish a life for themselves. Approximately 350 years later, a second-wave of settlers came to Jelucan, establishing mining operations and regarding the customs of the initial settlers as outdated. The profits generated from mining allowed the second-wave settlers to amass wealth and become aristocrats, while the first wave settlers remained in a state of relative poverty.
During the Clone Wars, Jelucan was aligned with the Confederacy of Independent Systems. However, following the Confederacy's defeat and the conclusion of the war, Jelucan was initially granted independence. This independence was short-lived, as the Galactic Empire soon annexed the planet in 11 BBY. A large ceremony was held on the planet, attended by Grand Moff Tarkin himself. During this event, Tarkin struck up a friendship with two local children, Thane Kyrell, a second-waver noble, and Ciena Ree, a valley dweller, encouraging them to enlist in the Imperial Navy upon reaching adulthood. After the ceremony concluded, most Imperial ships returned to their Star Destroyers in orbit, but some went to the newly constructed Imperial facilities located on the southern plateaus. Due to Jelucan's history as a Separatist world, the Empire prioritized recruiting Imperial cadets from the more populated worlds of the Inner Rim, limiting the number of Jelucan recruits.
Five years later, ridgecrawlers introduced by the Empire started replacing the native muunyak as the primary means of transport. A few years before the Battle of Yavin, Thane and Ciena gained acceptance into the prestigious Royal Imperial Academy on Coruscant, which they saw as a step towards realizing their dream of serving in the Imperial Navy. Shortly before the Battle of Yavin, both cadets graduated and joined the Imperial Navy during the Galactic Civil War. However, Thane became disillusioned with the Empire's brutality and eventually defected to the Rebel Alliance.
By the time the Galactic Civil War was underway, Jelucan was suffering from severe pollution caused by the Empire's extensive mining operations. The inhabitants of Jelucan began adopting similar styles of dress, blurring the lines between the first and second wavers. The planet's legislative building was seized and repurposed by the Imperial Military.
Following the Battle of Hoth, Lieutenant Commander Ciena Ree returned to her homeworld after her mother, Verine Ree, was wrongly accused of embezzling funds from the mine where she worked. Despite the fabricated evidence, Verine was found guilty and sentenced to six years of hard labor. During this visit, Ciena reconnected with Thane, and they shared an intimate moment despite being on opposing sides of the conflict. By the time of the Battle of Jakku, which signaled the conclusion of the Galactic Civil War and the Empire's final defeat, Jelucan remained under Imperial control. This prevented Thane, who mistakenly believed that Ciena had perished during the fighting at Endor, from offering his condolences to the Ree family for their daughter's presumed death. However, during the fighting at Jakku, Thane and Ciena encountered each other once more, leading to Thane forcibly rescuing Ciena from the Star Destroyer Inflictor before it crashed onto the planet's surface.
During the era of the New Republic, Jelucani fogstone was used in the construction of a statue honoring the rebel hero Senator Bail Organa at the New Republic senatorial complex on Hosnian Prime. This statue was later destroyed in 28 ABY by the Amaxine warriors during the Napkin Bombing.
Jelucan made its debut in Claudia Gray's 2015 novel, Lost Stars, which was part of the Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens multimedia project. The planet received its first visual representation in the reference book titled Star Wars: Galactic Atlas. Gray revealed that she named Jelucan as a tribute to Jean-Luc Picard, a character from the Star Trek franchise. In an interview, she explained that rearranging the letters of Jelucan, specifically by moving the middle three letters to the end, spells "Jeanluc," which she included as one of several Star Trek easter eggs in her Star Wars works.