Plawal Rift was a valley located on the world of Belsavis. Nestled between towering cliffs of red-black rock, the tranquil and humid settlement of Plawal thrived. Leading the community was Chief Person Jevax, a Mluki. While rock "benches" provided a limited foundation for dwellings and orchards along the cliff walls, the majority of structures were prefabricated units tightly packed together due to the valley's limited space. Buildings in the older part of the city were constructed directly atop geothermal springs. This resulted in a dense, sulfur-scented fog that reduced visibility to just a few meters.
The Plawal Rift's plant life included starblossoms, sweetberry vines, aphor trees, orchids, hanging moss, spider plants, shalamantrees, ferns, and Wookiee-beard. Animal inhabitants consisted of mooklas, salamanders, phosphor bugs, frogs, pittins, pellata birds, manolliums (brought from Ithor), watch-critters, and kretch insects, which infested Plawal's tunnels.
Jedi Master Plett established a home and laboratory within the Plawal Rift, offering a sanctuary for Children of the Jedi seeking refuge from the Great Jedi Purge. In 18 BBY, Palpatine ordered the Eye of Palpatine battlemoon to eliminate the Jedi enclave, but the vessel never reached its destination. Palpatine's small backup force of interceptors bombed Plawal, but Belsavis' Y-wings destroyed them. The Jedi then secretly departed, erasing all traces of their presence from the minds of the city's inhabitants. After their departure, Brathflen, Galactic, and Imperial/Republic arrived to enclose the valley with domes and cultivate vine-coffee and vine-silk. Around this time, Nubblyk the Slyte began constructing landing pads on the surrounding glaciers, initiating a period of intense smuggling activity. The small tariff police force left by the region's Imperial Governor proved ineffective against the smugglers. Before the Battle of Yavin, Brathflen constructed the first light-amplification domes over Plawal (based on Plett's original design). The three companies then collaborated with Kuat to install a central computer system. Approximately one year after the Battle of Endor, the Slyte vanished and was replaced by his associate Bran Kemple, leading to a decline in Belsavis' smuggling industry.
In that same year, Roganda Ismaren, an Emperor's Hand, arrived in Plawal. Eight years after the Battle of Endor, Han Solo and Leia Organa Solo journeyed to Belsavis and discovered Roganda Ismaren's scheme to create a military alliance with the Senex Lords.