World Brain

After the Yuuzhan Vong species departed from their galaxy, they carried with them genetic samples of entities called dhuryams from their ancient homeworld, Yuuzhan'tar, maintaining them for millennia. These dhuryams, related to yammosk war coordinators, were fully-sentient telepathic supervisors capable of mentally integrating various elements to guide the worldshaping of a planet. In 28 ABY, the Yuuzhan Vong subjugated Coruscant within the galaxy and sought to reshape it to mirror their former homeworld. To accomplish this, they required a dhuryam to serve as the planet's World Brain, overseeing the world's transformation. Thirteen dhuryams were bioengineered on the Seedship while it was en route to Coruscant, carrying the necessary resources to reconstruct the planet in Yuuzhan'tar's image. Under the supervision of Master Shaper Ch'Gang Hool and Executor Nom Anor, the thirteen dhuryams were placed in the Nursery aboard the Seedship. Each was assigned a domain and a group of slaves to control telepathically. The dhuryams were tasked with coordinating the ecological development of their domains to the best of their abilities. Ultimately, one dhuryam would be chosen to become the World Brain, while the others would be eliminated. Aware of the consequences of failure, the creatures were highly motivated to succeed. To prevent sabotage among them, Yuuzhan Vong warriors were stationed around the lake where each dhuryam's hive-island was located. One particular dhuryam encountered a defiant slave in Jacen Solo, a young Jedi Knight captured by the Yuuzhan Vong at Myrkr. Like all slaves controlled by this dhuryam, Solo had a Yorik-Kul implanted in his body, allowing the dhuryam to inflict intense pain until he complied with its demands. However, unlike the other compliant slaves, Solo refused to submit, enduring the pain instead. Solo's stubborn master initiated a bitter conflict with its defiant slave, subjecting the young Jedi to relentless pain for days. When it realized this had no effect, the dhuryam used the implants to induce jerking spasms in Solo's body, but still could not fully control him. The dhuryam's focus on its vendetta against Solo led to the neglect of its other duties, causing its dominion to fall into disrepair and become the least cultivated of the thirteen domains. Realizing this belatedly, the dhuryam made a tacit agreement with Solo, allowing him to act as he wished as long as it did not hinder the development of the dhuryam's domain. Solo's medical assistance to injured slaves resulted in a more productive workforce, and the domain began to flourish, becoming a lush and thriving expanse. Solo believed that it had surpassed its rivals and that his dhuryam was the most deserving of selection. The dhuryam and Solo, once bitter enemies, began to develop a rapport. Unable to communicate with Solo through language, the pain from the Yorik-Kul served as their only means of communication. The creature sent occasional twangs of affection and encouragement, guiding the young Jedi to medicinal flora and providing him with other slaves as assistants. However, occasional tension arose. When Solo began treating injured slaves belonging to the dhuryam's rivals, his master resumed its conflict for a day, but Solo remained unyielding. Their bond strengthened, and Solo could convey images and emotions to the dhuryam, and vice versa.

On the eve of the tizo'pil Yun'tchilat—the ceremony for selecting the triumphant dhuryam—Solo and the dhuryam reached another agreement: Solo would eliminate the rival dhuryams if, after being selected as World Brain, his own dhuryam would ensure the survival of the thousands of slaves aboard the Seedship during the seedfall onto Coruscant. Hidden caches of rudimentary weapons were secretly stored in the domain for the slaves to use in the attack on the rival dhuryams. As the selection ceremony began, a shreeyam'tiz was brought to the Nursery to disrupt the dhuryams' telepathic links with their slaves, preventing any last-minute sabotage. However, Solo's dhuryam trusted the Jedi's ability to fulfill his duty. Effectively blind and deaf, the twelve other dhuryams waited in fear and anxiety, desperately hoping to awaken as the chosen World Brain. Solo's dhuryam, however, waited in anticipation, ready to strike when Solo disabled the shreeyam'tiz. The shreeyam'tiz used the Yorik-Kul implants to conveniently gather the slaves around the coraltree basal of their respective domain while teams of Yuuzhan Vong shapers and warriors assessed each dhuryam's work. Solo defied the Yorik-Kul's pain to resist, and, using his newly-discovered Vongsense to utilize the Nursery's creatures as weapons, attacked the shreeyam'tiz and its guards. When Solo killed the shreeyam'tiz, each dhuryam was reconnected with their slave-links. While his brethren were disoriented by this unexpected awakening and the chaos Solo had caused, Solo's own dhuryam quickly organized and armed its slaves with the hidden weapons. Sacworms filled with sparkbee honey were used as incendiary grenades, and the entire Nursery descended into chaos as Yuuzhan Vong warriors clashed with hordes of slaves. The other dhuryams called their slaves to the hive-island for defense, but Solo's dhuryam sent armed slaves in teams of five to create distractions while Solo and his team moved towards the hive-island. Solo murdered each of the rival dhuryams before turning on his own with bloodthirsty intentions. The dhuryam, accustomed to compliance, was unprepared for betrayal and utterly defenseless. Just before Solo could strike the fatal blow, he was confronted by Vergere, a Fosh and former Jedi-cum-Yuuzhan Vong ally who had served as Solo's unwanted mentor aboard the Seedship. Vergere tried to dissuade Solo from killing his friend, but Solo, determined to sabotage the Yuuzhan Vong's plans to Vongform Coruscant, decided to kill the dhuryam regardless. Vergere was forced to intervene and paralyze him. The dhuryam, having survived the Nursery, was chosen as the World Brain. The panicked Shapers, desperate to regain control, immediately granted the surviving dhuryam control of the Seedship. It was declared World Brain of the new Yuuzhan'tar—Pazhkic Yuuzhan'tar al'tirrna in Yuuzhan Vong—with little ceremony. The new World Brain quickly broke off much of the Seedship as it neared Coruscant, sending each piece down to the planet to sprout and spread the Vongforming seeds. Despite Jacen Solo's failed betrayal, the dhuryam kept its promise, ferrying the slaves planetside on the individual seedships before the Yuuzhan Vong could execute them. The immobile dhuryam was installed in the Well of the World Brain on Coruscant, in the former location of the Senate Building. The World Brain was situated at the heart of a mountain of impenetrable yorik coral that had enveloped the building, resistant to concussion missiles and orbital bombardment. The Yuuzhan Vong claimed that only planetary destruction could kill the World Brain. Besides Nom Anor and Ch'Gang Hool, only a select few were permitted to enter the well. The World Brain rapidly transformed the urban metropolis of Coruscant, replacing it with organic Yuuzhan Vong constructs. It received a constant stream of information from across the planet, which it used, along with its own judgment, to determine the necessary actions. Despite Ch'Gang Hool's claims of authority, the dhuryam truly controlled Coruscant, shaping the planet's topography as it desired.

Jacen Solo was on Coruscant, claiming to have defected to the Yuuzhan Vong and converted to their religion, but the Yuuzhan Vong denied him access to the World-Well. Solo was given an opportunity to enter the World Brain's home when the Yuuzhan Vong held a large ceremony outside the former Senate Building, during which Solo claimed he would sacrifice his fellow Jedi Ganner Rhysode, a Yuuzhan Vong captive. Instead, Solo and Rhysode infiltrated the World-Well and sealed it off from pursuers. While Rhysode fended off the Yuuzhan Vong attacks, Solo attempted to communicate with the World Brain. The dhuryam enveloped Solo in its tentacles, drawing him close and baring its fangs, not having forgotten his betrayal. Solo used their connection to convey his compassion and understanding, emphasizing their bond and arguing that killing the other would be self-destructive. The World Brain listened as Solo urged it to conspire against the Yuuzhan Vong. Rather than direct opposition, Solo wanted his friend to ensure that the Vongforming process on Coruscant was plagued with persistent glitches and minor setbacks, forcing the Yuuzhan Vong to compromise and adapt. The World Brain, having forgiven Solo's betrayal, agreed, and Solo fled Coruscant with Vergere. The World Brain remained in telepathic contact with Solo, even off-planet, and diligently carried out its new mandate, creating an itching plague that affected the skin of nearly every Yuuzhan Vong on Coruscant. Although Yuuzhan Vong custom dictated that they ignore the discomfort, many members of the Elite succumbed to the plague's effects. The plague was first noticed on the day of Supreme Overlord Shimrra's arrival, adding to the Yuuzhan Vong's frustration. Shaper Nen Yim eventually developed an anti-fungal balm, but it only killed the fungus on contact and had a high risk of re-infection, leaving the plague widespread for over a year. The World Brain also targeted specific times of importance to the Yuuzhan Vong, seeking to sabotage them. Hundreds of high-profile captives were scheduled to be executed in a ceremony at the Square of Sacrifice attended by Shimrra, Warmaster Tsavong Lah, and High Priest Jakan, but the World Brain disrupted it. It caused the maw luur that processed the area's sewage to regurgitate its contents into the square, repulsing the Yuuzhan Vong and halting the ceremony. The World Brain sabotaged several more ceremonies in the same manner. Harvesting was disrupted by overheating lambent crystals, causing fires. Defective lungworms began emitting harmful hydrogen sulfide instead of oxygen. Several times, transport envelopers absconded, causing panic among their carers. It engineered a surplus of stink-beetles, which splattered onto many of Coruscant's newly-Vongformed buildings. The dhuryam had become a bane to the Yuuzhan Vong, creating discord on Coruscant. The malfunctioning Vongforming process contributed to the disillusionment of many low-ranking Yuuzhan Vong and to the subsequent Jeedai heresy. It was assumed that the World Brain was ill. Ch'Gang Hool was held responsible and executed, but his replacement, Yal Phaath, could not stop the problems created by the World Brain and was soon replaced by Qelah Kwaad. A team of shapers was tasked with bringing the dhuryam into line, but they had little success and faced increasing pressure from an irate Shimrra. The situation was so dire that the priest Harrar suggested that Shimrra may have engineered the Jeedai heresy crisis and the emergence of the dissident prophet Yu'shaa to distract from the World Brain's failures, although this was not the case. Solo chose to continue the small-scale disruption he and the World Brain had planned, his compassion for the Yuuzhan Vong preventing more drastic action.

Supreme Overlord Shimrra became a rival for the World Brain's attention, maintaining direct contact with it. Shimrra came to view the dhuryam as an unruly child, capable of being influenced but not fully controlled. Gradually, he was able to appease the World Brain, and several sacrificial ceremonies were conducted without incident. The Vongforming of the planet progressed significantly, and the Yuuzhan Vong began to cautiously trust the dhuryam. Nom Anor suspected that Shimrra was deceiving the World Brain, making it believe that retaining the sewage in the maw luur was necessary for the planet's development. In reality, Jacen Solo was in the Unknown Regions, and his link with the dhuryam diminished and eventually disappeared, allowing Shimrra to influence the dhuryam until, by 29 ABY, it was firmly under his control. Soon after the World Brain acquiesced to Shimrra, the sentient, mobile planet Zonama Sekot arrived in the Coruscant system, altering Coruscant's orbit and causing volcanic eruptions and groundquakes. Galactic Alliance forces—including Jacen Solo—subsequently launched an attack on the planet. Shimrra had the World Brain set Coruscant ablaze to deter any attempts to occupy the world, convincing it that this would prevent damage from Zonama Sekot's close passage. However, the brain became internally conflicted, as it was damaging its own creations and reneging on its agreement with Solo to disrupt the planet's development in moderation. It considered ignoring Shimrra's commands and rectifying the situation, but having grown accustomed to working with a partner, it was unable to break free from Shimrra's influence. Jacen Solo's arrival on Coruscant and the re-establishment of their bond saved the World Brain from its mental turmoil. Distracted by the chaos on Coruscant, the World Brain initially did not notice Solo's presence. When it did, it desperately pleaded for a constructive course of action, and Solo pledged to help. He began to coax his friend into siding with the New Republic against Shimrra, but the dhuryam was difficult to persuade. Solo's parents, Han Solo and Leia Organa Solo, arrived in the World-Well with the turncoat Yuuzhan Vong priest Harrar and forced Master Shaper Qelah Kwaad to attempt to placate and communicate with the dhuryam. Kwaad, unaware of Solo's contact, assumed only Shimrra could communicate with it, but endeavored to try. Before she could, the dhuryam, in constant contact with Solo, made its decision, siding with Solo against Shimrra. It reigned in the Tu-Scart and Sgauru biots that were impeding Solo's path to Shimrra's Citadel. The World Brain had Tu-Scart and Sgauru assist Solo and his cohorts in reaching the Citadel, and shook the building's foundations. Like the Jeedai heretics, the World Brain had begun rebelling against its Yuuzhan Vong masters. Luke Skywalker killed Shimrra, Solo killed his puppet-master, Onimi, and the Sekot Accords ended the war. During discussions between Yuuzhan Vong Warmaster Nas Choka and Galactic Alliance Admiral Traest Kre'fey, the issue of the World Brain was raised. Kre'fey requested that Choka order Yuuzhan Vong shapers to persuade the dhuryam to reverse some of the Vongforming and help restore Coruscant to its previous state. Kre'fey had no objections to retaining the World Brain's presence on Coruscant, viewing it as a symbol of compromise. The dhuryam was initially reluctant to alter its work, but Jacen Solo intervened and won over his friend.

On Galactic Alliance-controlled Coruscant, the World Brain performed as agreed, reversing much of the Vongforming process. However, remnants of the Yuuzhan Vong's biological alterations remained in 40 ABY, over a decade after the Sekot Accords. Unfamiliar with such a foreign creature, some Coruscanti viewed the World Brain on their homeworld as a beast. Solo maintained infrequent visits to see his friend, sometimes years apart. The dhuryam established telepathic connections with some of the savages of the Coruscant underworld, known as Ferals, who carried out its commands. When Solo became head of the Galactic Alliance Guard, a newly formed secret police, he augmented his spy network with the World Brain and its Ferals. Soon, Solo's old friend and its allies were providing him with far more intelligence than any of the GAG's other assets. During the Second Corellian Insurrection in 40 ABY, Solo had the World Brain spy on Corellian terrorist cells on Coruscant. Concurrently with the Corellian crisis, a group of Bothans formed the True Victory Party, advocating for circumventing the Sekot Accords to resume the Bothan species' genocidal war against the Yuuzhan Vong. The remaining Yuuzhan Vong had been relocated to Zonama Sekot in the Unknown Regions after the war, making the World Brain a prime target for the Bothans, a fact the dhuryam was aware of. It grew increasingly paranoid about the Bothan threat, eventually leaving the World-Well and relocating to the heart of Coruscant's underworld. Here, the dhuryam was constantly surrounded by its Ferals, becoming known as "It." The World Brain continued to provide Solo with information about the Corellians, but shortly after its relocation, Solo paid a secret visit to his old friend. The dhuryam was deeply concerned about its safety, and Solo's assurances that he had the situation under control did little to reassure it. Their meeting was tense, with Solo angry at the dhuryam for leaving the World-Well and the dhuryam wanting Solo to expel all Bothans from Coruscant, something he could not do. The dhuryam suspected that Solo had been followed and sensed an assassin in the building. In reality, it wasn't a Bothan, but Alema Rar, formerly of the New Jedi Order, who planned to kill Solo to avenge her grievances with Solo's mother Leia. Rar used a blowgun to fire a poisoned dart at Jacen Solo, but the Dark Lady of the Sith Lumiya, who had also been trailing Solo, Force pushed him out of the dart's path. Instead, it struck the World Brain's huge eye, sending the dhuryam into frenzied convulsions. Rar fled, and Solo, distraught and furious at his friend's pain, was only prevented from giving chase by Lumiya, who insisted they help the dhuryam. The poison proved fatal. The dosage was enough to kill a Human within minutes, but the much larger World Brain suffered a more protracted agony before succumbing to the toxins. The Ferals, lacking the impulse control provided by the World Brain, began to riot. Solo was dismayed and, believing the True Victory Party responsible for his friend's death, began a bloodthirsty vendetta against suspected members of the party, carrying out assassinations against Bothan politicians on Coruscant. Ultimately, the World Brain's death contributed to Solo's descent into becoming Darth Caedus, Sith Lord.

Matthew Stover created the character of the World Brain for The New Jedi Order: Traitor (2002), part of The New Jedi Order series of novels. The World Brain was a major character in Part One of the novel and reappeared briefly in Part Three. It was subsequently mentioned in several later works in The New Jedi Order before appearing in the series' final installment, James Luceno's The New Jedi Order: The Unifying Force (2003). It also played a minor role in the subsequent Star Wars: Legacy of the Force series, with brief mentions in Aaron Allston's Legacy of the Force: Betrayal and Karen Traviss's Legacy of the Force: Bloodlines, both in

The character's demise was depicted by [Troy Denning](/article/troy_denning) in the initial chapter of _Legacy of the Force: Tempest_ (2006), which was released in [2006](/article/2006). Further, Allston made a short mention of the character in _Legacy of the Force: Fury_, which came out in [2007](/article/2007).

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