The corrupt dictator of the planet Romin some years prior to the Clone Wars was Roy Teda. Being an associate of the galactic criminals Granta Omega and Jenna Zan Arbor, he consequently became an adversary of the Jedi Order.
Precisely how Teda ascended to power on Romin remains unclear; however, it's plausible that he secured his position with assistance from Senator Sano Sauro, whose viewpoints he fervently championed. Once he gained control of the planet, Teda proclaimed Romin a sanctuary for galactic criminals, shielding them from arrest warrants in exchange for substantial fees. With the immense wealth he amassed, Teda ostensibly crafted a utopian existence for his lawless constituents, while simultaneously plunging the planet's innocent workers and children into destitution. These actions fostered a robust underground resistance movement against his governance.
Being the egotistical individual he was, Teda commissioned the construction of numerous monuments and structures dedicated to himself, such as the Teda Landing Platform, perched high above Romin's capital of Eliior. Other landmarks bearing his name included Teda Park, the Teda Institute for Advanced Study, and the Roy Teda Colored Fountain of Lights. Gigantic laserboards, scattered across the countryside, displayed the monumental image of a noble-looking Romin in profile, broadcasting "Great Leader" Teda's great "progressive" benevolence, protection, and love for his people.
Around 25 BBY, the criminal scientist Jenna Zan Arbor sought asylum on Romin, having fled the Jedi on Vanqor. Teda, who had extended the invitation, welcomed Zan Arbor warmly (eager to collect her payments), and the two forged a close partnership. Through Zan Arbor, he was introduced to Granta Omega, who had also recently clashed with the Jedi. Together, the trio initiated plans for a significant assault on the Galactic Republic.
Approximately six months after Zan Arbor's arrival on Romin, the Jedi located her. Obi-Wan Kenobi, Siri Tachi, and their respective apprentices, Anakin Skywalker and Ferus Olin, were compelled to infiltrate Romin, disguising themselves as criminals seeking refuge. However, before they could apprehend Zan Arbor and Teda, a civil war erupted. The underground movement launched its initial attempt to overthrow Teda, and despite efforts to maintain a non-violent uprising, it devolved into a bloody conflict. Amidst the chaos, Zan Arbor and Teda escaped, even abandoning key members of Teda's government to be taken as hostages.
Mistaking the Jedi for genuine criminals, Zan Arbor and Teda contacted them, seeking safe passage off-world. However, upon meeting the Jedi, they uncovered their true identities when Zan Arbor recognized Anakin from their previous encounter. Teda ordered his forces to capture the Jedi, but a Jedi team led by Mace Windu intervened and arrested him and Zan Arbor. To negotiate with Joylin, the leader of the citizen rebellion against Teda, they were required to release the hostages; however, they knew that releasing them would also allow the two criminals to lead them to Omega. Zan Arbor successfully bribed Joylin to release her and Teda, and they fled the planet, unaware that Skywalker had placed a tracking device on their ship.
After escaping Romin, Teda and Zan Arbor sought refuge on Falleen, where Zan Arbor and Omega had already established the Blackwater Systems Facility. The two criminal masterminds were now able to mass-produce and mass-transmit Zan Arbor's drug, the Zone of Self-Containment, thereby expediting their scheme to attack the Republic. Tracking them to Falleen, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker investigated the Blackwater factory, which resulted in Teda fleeing Falleen, and Zan Arbor and Omega being forced to destroy their extensive Zone-production and transmission facility through a massive triggered implosion.
Teda made his way to Coruscant, where he presented testimony before the Galactic Senate in its Hearing Chamber on behalf of Senator Sano Sauro, who orchestrated a group of anti-Jedi politicians, headed by Senator Bog Divinian. Through falsehoods and half-truths, they sought to discredit the Jedi Order by portraying them as disloyal to the Republic or as immorally interfering in galactic political affairs. Teda asserted that the events on Romin weeks prior demonstrated the Jedi's attempts to overthrow the governments of "innocent" worlds, implicating the Jedi as the orchestrators of the plot to remove him from power, distorting the events of the citizens' uprising of 24 BBY, when he was ousted.
In arriving on Coruscant to deliver his testimony as a key witness against the Jedi, Roy Teda believed he would be reunited with Jenna Zan Arbor and Granta Omega, who had also recently arrived on Coruscant to finalize preparations for their long-planned catastrophic attack on the Republic. Through the unwitting inhalation of an airborne form of the Zone of Self-Containment, the Senate would be lulled into an intoxicated, apathetic, almost comatose state. This would facilitate, at least in Sauro's view, achieving a majority consensus for the adoption of the Anti-Jedi petition, as well as the acceptance of Divinian's nomination of Sauro to the Supreme Chancery. Most critically, for Omega and Zan Arbor, it would enable them to utilize an army of seeker droids pre-programmed with vital information on specific targets to assassinate not only Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, but thousands of Senators and their advisors—leading to the utter destruction of Republic governance as it was then known, as well as (due to its close association with the Senate) the utter decimation of the power and galactic influence of the entire Jedi Order.
The Grand Convocation Chamber served as the location of the attack on the Senate Building, which, although incurring casualties, was ultimately thwarted by the Jedi. Twenty-one Senators, along with 14 Senate aides and guards, were killed. Unbeknownst to Teda, however, Omega and Zan Arbor no longer had any use for him, and a seeker droid assassinated him. At the moment the fatal blaster bolt struck him, Teda was in the process of attempting to assassinate the Supreme Chancellor: Teda realized he'd been betrayed by Omega, and was intent on, since he'd been marked for death, bringing down Palpatine with him.
Roy Teda was described as a short Romin man (which meant very short indeed, as the Romin were a short humanoid species to begin with) with chubby fingers. He dressed in flowing multicolored robes, and his manner of speech was flowery and redundant. Many there were, including Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi, who assessed the Romin dictator as not being "very bright."
But what Teda lacked in brightness, he made up for in cruelty. At an extravagant reception he staged at his grand palace for the world's wealthy denizens, he brutally struck a server across the knees with an electro-jabber—a violent action performed with such casualness that it even shocked Kenobi, who was there present in an undercover capacity.