Metalorn, a planet situated within the Mid Rim Territories, rose to prominence as a renowned industrial world during the High Republic Era. It became home to Skakoans who had immigrated there, including Wat Tambor, who would later become the foreman of the Techno Union merchant guild. During the Clone Wars from 22 BBY to 19 BBY, Metalorn was a crucial world for the Techno Union and was under the control of the Separatist Alliance, supported by the Skakoan inhabitants. In the final year of the war, the Galactic Republic launched an attack on Metalorn.
Following the Clone Wars, the Republic transformed into the Galactic Empire. As punishment for their support of the Separatists, the Empire enslaved the Skakoan population of Metalorn, leading some of them to join the Rebel Alliance. Metalorn continued to be an important industrial center for the Empire, and the Alliance considered it as a potential target throughout the Galactic Civil War. By 5 ABY, the New Republic had gained control of the world, using it to produce probe droids for their government.
Located at the intersection of the Mid Rim Territories and the Slice, Metalorn was a terrestrial planet with a harsh environment. Its coordinates were R-8 on the Standard Galactic Grid.
Metalorn had achieved fame as an industrial world by the time the High Republic Era arrived. In 200 BBY, Jedi Master Mostima informed her apprentice, Sean, about the Aakaash system in the Oplovis sector, noting that its industrial output had surpassed Metalorn's, a planet renowned for its industry, in the previous year. By the time the Clone Wars erupted in 22 BBY between the Galactic Republic and the Separatist Alliance, Metalorn was a critical world for the Techno Union technology merchant guild. Given the Techno Union's affiliation with the Separatist Council, Metalorn became a Separatist world.
During the Clone Wars, the Separatists detained numerous prisoners at Unreal City, a private prison located on Metalorn. Metalorn also formed a part of the Foundry of the Confederacy, a region encompassing several Separatist factory worlds situated within the Slice and extending across sections of the Mid Rim and Outer Rim Territories. The Techno Union defended Metalorn using a diverse fleet composed of surplus and prototype starships, including starfighters, contributed by its member corporations and design firms like SoroSuub Corporation. Large numbers of Hardcell-class interstellar transports were also deployed in the defense of Metalorn. As the Clone Wars approached their conclusion, the Republic initiated its Outer Rim Sieges campaign, with the 12th Sector Army targeting the Foundry of the Confederacy, including Metalorn. General Linwodo, a super tactical droid, spearheaded the Separatist defense when the Republic attacked Metalorn.
Following the end of the Clone Wars and the transition of the Republic into the Galactic Empire in 19 BBY, the Empire disbanded the Techno Union and took control of its assets, including Metalorn. During the Galactic Civil War fought between the Empire and the Rebel Alliance, this manufacturing world stood as a crucial industrial site for the Empire.
In 3 ABY, the Alliance's 61st Mobile Infantry launched assaults on several Imperial logistical hubs with minimal defenses to weaken the defenses surrounding the Kuat Drive Yards, the Imperial Military's primary center for manufacturing and repairs, in preparation for a final assault—an operation known as Operation Ringbreaker. While Alliance Intelligence provided remote oversight of the campaign, Alliance General Crix Madine, encouraged by the early success of Operation Ringbreaker, created a galactic map highlighting other significant Imperial [shipyards](/article/shipyard], drydocks, and mining centers that the Alliance could target if Operation Ringbreaker proved successful. This proposal was presented to Mon Mothma, the Alliance's Commander-in-Chief. Metalorn was identified on the map as a target with medium production and security levels. The 61st ultimately abandoned Operation Ringbreaker before reaching the Kuat Drive Yards.
After achieving a decisive victory against the Empire at the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY, the Alliance evolved into the New Republic. Metalorn soon came under the control of the emerging Republic, which, by 5 ABY, had forced the Empire to fragment into scattered remnants across the galaxy. To locate the hiding place of the majority of the Empire's remaining forces, the New Republic deployed probe droids that were produced on Metalorn and the planet Troithe.
Metalorn's inhabitants were members of the sentient Skakoan species, humanoids who were native to the Core Worlds city-planet Skako. Most Skakoans who ventured off-world were typically technological industrialists. Wat Tambor, a Skakoan, departed Skako early in his life to pursue a career in technology on Metalorn, eventually becoming the foreman of the Techno Union and representing the organization within the Republic's Galactic Senate. The Skakoan population on Metalorn generally supported the Separatists, although the Techno Union officially declared neutrality during the Clone Wars. Tambor, along with other Skakoan business interests, also sided with the Separatists out of concern over Republic overreach, providing them with indirect support.
Tambor's expansionist tendencies turned the Republic against Skako, and after the foreman's assassination and the dissolution of the Separatists, the Empire inherited the Republic's prejudice, with the Skakoans being ostracized as enemies of Emperor Palpatine. The Empire subjected Metalorn's Skakoan population to slavery as punishment for their support of the Separatists. Consequently, some Skakoans joined the Rebel Alliance to avenge their fallen comrades, while others joined recognizing that hiding from the galaxy would not protect them or their homeworld.
Metalorn received its initial mention in the current Star Wars canon within the 2016 reference book Star Wars Character Encyclopedia: Updated and Expanded, authored by Pablo Hidalgo. The planet Metalorn originated in the Star Wars Legends continuity, where it debuted in the thirtieth issue of Marvel Comics' 1977 Star Wars comic run, written by Archie Goodwin, illustrated by Carmine Infantino, and released on September 25, 1979.