The rakghoul pandemic represented a widespread emergence of the rakghoul plague, taking place approximately ten years following the conclusion of the Great Galactic War as brought about by the Treaty of Coruscant.
The genesis of the pandemic can be traced to the crash landing of the Republic cruiser, the Stardream, on the Outer Rim planet of Tatooine. Aboard the vessel was an animal carrying the infection, which subsequently transmitted to the crew and passengers. The crippled spacecraft came down in the Dune Sea region of the desert planet, and the survivors, upon dispersing, infected both the Tusken Raiders tribes and the indigenous wildlife. The lethal disease also infiltrated densely populated settlements, such as Mos Ila and Anchorhead, which led to Republic and Sith Empire authorities imposing a planetary quarantine and enacting galactic travel limitations the galaxy. Despite these measures, determined adventurers journeyed to and from Tatooine, striving to control the virus's expansion while inadvertently spreading it further. This necessitated quarantine teams to apprehend infected individuals attempting to board space stations under both Republic and Imperial control.
A significant outcome of the Tatooine crisis was the formation of THORN. The organization was created because the children of its founder, Addalar Hyland, died during the outbreak, spurring the wealthy CEO to dedicate resources to combating the disease.
Later, a resurgence of the Rakghoul plague was documented on Alderaan. Initially reported as mysterious animal attacks by the HoloNet News, the growing presence of G.S.I. weaponry, THORN operatives, and multiple meetings between Addalar Hyland and Alderaanian officials suggested a different reality. THORN officially declared a level-2 emergency, and quarantines were established to prevent the plague from spreading off-world.
Within the context of the Alderaan Civil War, House Organa pointed to the outbreak's concentration near King's Pass as proof of a conspiracy between House Thul and the Sith Empire to deploy the plague as a biological weapon. House Thul countered by accusing House Organa of instigating the plague to frame them. Additionally, House Ulgo was suspected of releasing the plague to escalate tensions between the other houses, weakening them for Ulgo's eventual takeover. Due to the nature of the conflict, the true origin of the disease's spread might never be revealed. Regardless, THORN enlisted skilled volunteer emergency personnel to travel to affected regions to fight the plague's spread within the newly discovered rakghoul tunnels.
THORN representatives Doctor Aleea Ressel and Tralie Masoon were sent to coordinate Republic and Imperial volunteers at Thul Palace and Castle Organa. The initial task for the volunteers was to fight through plague carriers, driven mad by the infection and attacking anyone they encountered. After navigating past these mind-affected individuals, the volunteers then administered vaccinations to infected individuals in the early stages of the disease. Subsequently, volunteers were dispatched into the aforementioned underground tunnels in King's Pass, descending with the aid of the Spike. To mitigate tensions between Imperial and Republic forces, volunteers were assigned to either the Operations Command Center for Imperials or the Crisis Command Center for the Republic. Volunteers were then assigned a variety of tasks. These tasks included capturing rakghouls born within the tunnels rather than through infection, known as raklings, investigating rakghoul cultural artifacts, gathering mutagenic samples from recently infected Killiks and Joiners, re-establishing navigational markers deployed by the Spike to map the tunnels, obtaining tissue samples from newly discovered fungal rakghouls, and, most importantly, reducing the rakghoul population. After gaining the trust and prestige of THORN, volunteer groups were recruited to hunt down massive rakghouls called the Eyeless in their lairs.
Additional tunnels were discovered on Tatooine, near the Stardream crash site, and in the Labor Valley on Corellia.
The Rakghoul pandemic outbreak was an event featured in the video game Star Wars: The Old Republic, commencing on April 15, 2012. The Alderaan Rakghoul Resurgence Event then took place from January 21 to January 28, 2014.