Kashi

Kashi was a terrestrial planet that once orbited the main star within the Kashi system, which was situated in the Phelleem sector of the Slice region of the Outer Rim Territories.

By the time the Galactic Republic was established in 25,053 BBY, the Kashi Mer culture had been present on Kashi for millennia. Prior to 24,500 BBY, Reda Jalooz, a student of the Force, pilfered a dark side talisman that was both a family treasure and a symbol of the Kashi Mer Dynasty, the ruling monarchy of Kashi. After realizing her wrongdoing, Jalooz returned the artifact to the planet to seek forgiveness from the Kashi Mer several months later.

However, shortly after Jalooz's arrival on Kashi, the Kashi system's sun suddenly exploded in a supernova, resulting in the destruction of Kashi and the rest of the system. Subsequent historians proposed the theory that the talisman may have been the cause of the catastrophe, even though the artifact itself survived the supernova and eventually fell into the possession of Xendor, an exiled Kashi Mer Force-sensitive. By 5000 BBY, the remains of the former Kashi system had become the Orixon Nebula.

Despite the destruction of Kashi leading to the extinction of the Kashi Mer culture, two entities managed to survive: Eleaor Propulsion and the Guardians of the Breath. The former was a vehicle manufacturing company established by Krispus Eleaor, a Kashi aristocrat, and originally based in the Kashi system. It remained in operation until around 3956 BBY. The latter was the primary Kashi Mer tradition of Force-users, originating from Kashi and remaining active, though scattered, by 990 BBY. In that year, a section of The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force, a guidebook for Jedi trainees authored by Restelly Quist, the Jedi Chief Librarian, mentioned both the Guardians of the Breath and the fate of their homeworld.

Sometime prior to 9 ABY, teachers at a school taught a group of New Republic agents about the destruction of Kashi. By that time, the cause of the disaster was still unknown, although the events that immediately preceded it were documented in a scandoc that was part of a collection of documents on ancient cultures compiled by Professor Oron, an archaeologist.

Kashi was the original home of the Kashi Mer culture, whose members were also referred to as the Kashi. The Kashi Mer possessed starships capable of traveling between stars, which allowed their culture, governed by the Kashi Mer Dynasty monarchy, to extend its influence beyond the Kashi system. Despite this, the Kashi Mer maintained an isolationist stance, even refusing to communicate with outsiders.

The culture was known for producing elaborate carpets, and their religion included belief in the dual triumvirate of deities known as Niman as well as the Force, which they referred to as "the Breath." The Guardians of the Breath, a hierarchical organization, preserved the lore of the Breath and the methods for utilizing it. They also employed Force visions to guide the Kashi Mer civilization as a whole. Each year, tens of thousands of Kashi Mer sought membership within the Guardians, but only a small fraction of the applicants ever progressed far within the organization.

Kashi was first mentioned in "Relic," a roleplaying adventure written by George R. Strayton for use with Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game by West End Games and published in the May 1995 sixth issue of the Star Wars Adventure Journal magazine. The reference book The Essential Atlas, published in 2009, placed the Kashi system, and consequently Kashi, in grid square S-7.

Both Strayton's 1996 roleplaying sourcebook, Tales of the Jedi Companion, and the 2008 publication The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia presented conflicting information regarding the timeline of Kashi's destruction. The former, set approximately 4,000 years before Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, provides information on the Kashi system as if it were still in existence at that time, despite "Relic" stating that the system was destroyed shortly after the formation of the Galactic Republic—an event that, by 1996, had already been established as occurring around twenty-five millennia prior to the events of A New Hope. This article assumes that the information from Tales of the Jedi Companion regarding the Kashi system instead pertains to the period before its destruction.

The entry for Reda Jalooz in The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia asserts that she stole the Kashi Mer talisman—an event that, according to "Relic," was followed by Kashi's destruction just months later—before the Republic's founding. The entry also claims that the artifact reappeared in the Corva sector—an event that "Relic" places shortly after the Thrawn campaign—only "a millennium" later. This directly contradicts The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia itself, which dates the establishment of the Republic to 25,000 BBY and the Thrawn campaign to 9 ABY. Furthermore, Jalooz's entry is contradicted by the entry for the Kashi Mer, which states that, around the time of the First Great Schism—dated by the book to 24,500 BBY—the culture had not yet been wiped out as a result of Kashi's destruction. Therefore, this article assumes that the destruction of Kashi occurred either during the First Great Schism or shortly before it.