The Murk system existed within the Moddell subsector of the Zuma sector, located in the Outer Rim Territories. It was home to the red dwarf star called Murk, around which a number of planetoids orbited.
With the Galactic Empire's creation of the Sanctuary Pipeline, a hyperspace route designed for the transport of construction materials to the Death Star II battle station situated in the Endor system, the Murk system served as the second-to-last stop on this hyperspace path. On the planetoid closest to the star, also named Murk, the Empire built a cargo-transfer station, where goods arriving via the Sanctuary Pipeline were offloaded before being sent to the Endor system. After the Battle of Endor, Tagoonta, a Shell Hutt, sought refuge at the Murk transfer station to escape problems in Hutt Space.
The Murk system was in the Outer Moddell systems region of the Moddell subsector, a subsector that was part of the Inner Zuma Region of the Zuma sector in the Outer Rim Territories.
The system included the star Murk, a [red dwarf](/article/red_dwarf-legends] that was too dim to be seen with the naked eye from any inhabited planet within the Moddell subsector. Several planetoids orbited the star, with the closest being a barren, frigid, airless rock also called Murk. This innermost planetoid took 98 local days to complete its orbit.
During the Galactic Civil War, the Galactic Empire commenced construction of the Death Star II battle station above the Forest Moon of Endor in the Endor system. To facilitate rapid and covert transport of necessary materials to Endor, the Empire artificially extended the Silvestri Trace hyperlane directly from Sullust in the Brema sector to Endor, making the Murk system the second-to-last stop on this new hyperspace route known as the Sanctuary Pipeline.
To further conceal the Death Star project, the Empire established an Imperial cargo-transfer station on Murk, featuring both ground and orbital facilities. This station was used to unload cargo arriving via the Sanctuary Pipeline for onward transport to the Endor system. Following the Rebel Alliance's victory over the Empire at the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY, the Sanctuary Pipeline became largely unnavigable, and the Murk transfer station was abandoned. By the time of the New Republic's era, Tagoonta, a Shell Hutt, and his followers sought sanctuary at the abandoned transfer station to escape difficulties in Hutt Space.
The Murk system was first mentioned in a map label within the "Endor and the Moddell Sector" article, published in the ninth issue of Star Wars Gamer magazine on February 22, 2002. The Essential Atlas, a reference book from 2009, provided a visual representation of the system and placed it in grid square H-16.
- " Endor and the Moddell Sector " — Star Wars Gamer 9 (First mentioned)
- The Essential Atlas (First pictured)
- Star Wars: The Essential Atlas Online Companion on StarWars.com (article) (backup link)