The Galactic Empire's clandestine initiative, known as Project Harvester, was an Inquisitorius operation. Its aim was the capture of young individuals with Force-sensitives abilities. These individuals were then converted into Imperial operatives, skilled in the dark side of the Force. Simultaneously, the project sought to hinder the Jedi Order's efforts at recovering. The project's base of operations was a concealed facility situated on the planet Arkanis, connected to both the planet's Imperial command center and the Arkanis Academy.
The genesis of Project Harvester can be traced back to the Clone Wars that engulfed the galaxy-spanning. These conflicts were orchestrated by Darth Sidious, the Dark Lord of the Sith, as a means to eradicate the Jedi Order and establish the Galactic Empire. In 21 BBY, Sidious engaged the services of bounty hunter Cad Bane. Bane's initial task was to break into the Jedi Temple and pilfer a Jedi holocron. Bane successfully acquired the kyber memory crystal held by Jedi Master Bolla Ropal, which contained a comprehensive list of Force-sensitive children known to the Jedi. During the Battle of Devaron, Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker was coerced into opening the holocron so the crystal could be read. Subsequently, Sidious instructed Bane to select four children from the list for abduction and transportation to his secret facility on Mustafar. After Bane's capture on Naboo while attempting to kidnap the third child he had chosen, Skywalker and his Padawan Ahsoka Tano uncovered the location where Bane had taken the two children he had kidnapped by examining his starfighter, the Xanadu Blood. Skywalker and Tano rescued the two kidnapped children, but the facility's destruction prevented the Jedi from identifying the ultimate mastermind behind the operation.
Legend has it that, in the early years of the Imperial Era, the Grand Inquisitor abducted several Force-sensitive children from an orphanage on Gaaten. However, Kira Vantala, a survivor of Order 66, intervened and, with the help of a Force-sensitive orphan named Elish, repelled the Inquisitor, preventing further abductions.
In 14 BBY, Eeth Koth's daughter, was taken from her mother after her father was hunted and killed by Darth Vader, became a victim of the project. The infant was immediately placed in the care of two nursemaids. Later, Zare Leonis's sister, Dhara, was also kidnapped by the Grand Inquisitor as part of the project. To locate her, Leonis decided to simulate Force-sensitivity in order to be recruited into the project. Following the Grand Inquisitor's death, Dhara remained largely unattended in her cell until her rescue, unaware that the terrifying figure who had tortured her was no longer alive.