Lirra, a planet situated in the Outer Rim, possessed a landscape characterized by mud flats and mineral-rich pools. This world, found in the Baxel sector near the boundary of Hutt Space, was initially settled by Human colonists. However, approximately a century before the events of 2 ABY, the Hutt clan known as Jhank Shel came to outnumber the Human population on Lirra.
By the year 2 ABY, Lirra had transformed into a resort destination where over a million Humans were held as slaves by the Hutts. Following the discovery of the Humans' enslaved status by an undercover news team, the Galactic Empire intervened, driving the Jhank Shel from Lirra and asserting control over the planet. Consequently, the Human inhabitants of Lirra were re-educated to become citizens of the Empire.
Lirra was a planet located in the Outer Rim Territories' Baxel sector within the Lirra system. Positioned close to Hutt Space inside of the Slice region, the planet was connected to the Outland Transit Station and the planet Teth via the Shag Pabol hyperlane. Lirra was known throughout the galactic society for its extensive mud flats and mineral pools that dotted its surface.
Almost a century before 2 ABY the year, Lirra served as a colony for Human settlers. Around that time, the Jhank Shel kajidic, a Hutt species clan that had been in disputes over settlement rights with Human inhabitants of the Baxel sector for centuries, relocated a sufficient number of its members to the planet, surpassing the Human population. Subsequently, the Jhank Shel initiated a plebiscite aimed at integrating Lirra into the Hutt domain.
Almost one hundred years afterwards, an investigative news team working undercover unearthed and then revealed to the Galactic Empire that there were over a million Human slaves living on Lirra as indentured servants to the Hutt clan. This information, in conjunction with Lirra's location within an Imperial-controlled sector near Teth, the regional Imperial power center, put significant pressure on the Empire to get involved in the Lirra situation.
Three months later, in 2 ABY, Imperial military forces under the command of Moff Heedra of the Baxel sector were dispatched to claim Lirra and a few nearby smaller star systems. During an address where he claimed Lirra, Heedra declared it a disaster planet. The takeover occurred over a weekend and was largely without conflict. The Imperial troops made the Jhank Shel relocate to Hutt Space.
By the date 37:11:9, when Colonial News Nets broadcasted a news report covering the Imperial takeover of Lirra, government relief assistance organizations were on their way to the planet to assist in retraining the Humans of Lirra to become Imperial citizens. The report stated that a governor was expected to be appointed by the Emperor's staff to oversee the reconstruction of Lirra's infrastructure. While the Hutt government had formally protested the takeover of Lirra, the Empire had not given an official response by 37:11:9.
Lirra was initially mentioned in the "Galaxywide NewsNets" section of West End Games' Star Wars Adventure Journal 12, which was released in February of 1997. The reference book The Essential Atlas from 2009 placed the planet in grid square U-12.