Yar Togna, an Outer Rim Territories planet, served as the homeworld for the sentient Tognath species. This world, characterized by intense gravity and a thick atmosphere lacking sufficient oxygen, was dominated by a vast volcanic mountain range. These volcanoes released substantial amounts of sulfur and ash into the air. Large, airborne creatures called float-jellies consumed these airborne particles, effectively preventing Yar Togna from becoming a frigid world.
The Tognath were an ancient insecto-mammalian species that had deficient hearing and balance. To compensate, they often used cybernetic enhancements, especially when venturing beyond their planet. On Yar Togna, most Tognath were employed as miners, extracting and trading crystals essential for the creation of sensor arrays. They also practiced agriculture on the backs of the float-jellies, where they farmed mosses, molds, and mushrooms, which were valuable exports to the broader galaxy.
The Galactic Empire launched a severe conquest and occupation of Yar Togna in 18 BBY, motivated by the planet's strategic crystal resources. Those Tognath who did not escape during a mass exodus, including the eggmates Benthic and Edrio, were enslaved by the Empire. Consequently, the majority of Tognath joined anti-Imperial resistance movements.
Within the Outer Rim Territories and the [Trailing Sectors](/article/trailing_sectors], one could find the planet of Yar Togna. It occupied grid square P-18 on the Standard Galactic Grid and was connected to Idaflor and Pastoria via a hyperspace route.
The high-gravity conditions on Yar Togna resulted in intense fault-line pressure, leading to the formation of unique crystalline elements. These crystals were crucial for the construction of sensor arrays. Sometime in its past, continental subduction processes on the planet gave rise to a massive volcanic mountain range, complete with lava channels and nearby mountain springs. The surface of Yar Togna also included flatlands, and its flora was home to the nursery tree.
For countless years, the main volcanic chain on Yar Togna released large quantities of sulfur and ash into its unusually dense, high-pressure, and oxygen-deficient atmosphere. This made the air foul-smelling and filled with toxic fumes. The atmosphere's density kept particles suspended, which would have caused a deep freeze if not for the float-jellies. These massive, floating, gasbag-like creatures ate the volcanic ash. The secretions on the float-jellies' backs created a fertile soil where farmers of the native Tognath species grew mosses, molds, and mushrooms.
Around 32 BBY, the Tognath eggmates Benthic and Edrio were born on Yar Togna. Later, Count Denetrius Vidian, an expert in industrial efficiency, persuaded the Galactic Empire that nationalizing the planet's crystal-mining industry would boost its output. Consequently, in 18 BBY, the Empire conquered Yar Togna, launching a series of devastating attacks. This led to the planet's ruin and a mass exodus of its population, with Benthic and Edrio fleeing their homeworld as refugees. Due to an unusual atmospheric reaction caused by the ionized disruption from the Empire's initial orbital bombardments, the Imperial forces resorted to using clubs and rifle butts to attack civilians and destroy property. The Empire then occupied Yar Togna and enslaved the remaining inhabitants.
Even those Tognath who managed to escape Yar Togna felt imprisoned due to their separation from the planet's nursery trees, which were vital for their reproductive cycle. Almost all Tognath resented the Empire for their treatment and the destruction of their homeworld, and most became involved in anti-Imperial resistance groups.
At some point, Yar Togna was mentioned in an entry within an artist's journal dedicated to the Tognath. This entry was part of a section describing sentient species from arid environments. The journal was restored, expanded, and put on display at the Graf Archive sometime after 34 ABY. The historian Beaumont Kin also discussed Yar Togna's fate in his book The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire in 35 ABY.
The Tognath, a unique bipedal insecto-mammalian species, called Yar Togna their homeworld. They were an evolutionarily ancient people, possessing genetic markers that hinted at a distant relation to the Gand and the Kel Dor. These are sentient species originating from the Outer Rim planet Gand and the Expansion Region world Dorin, respectively. The exact cause of this genetic link, whether due to evolution or experimentation, remained unknown.
The Tognath had underdeveloped nervous systems. To compensate for their deficient hearing and sense of balance, especially when adapting to life away from Yar Togna, they often used cybernetic enhancements that fit into recesses on their scalps. They also used artificial lenses with their compound eyes to improve their processing of the spectrum.
When traveling offworld, Tognath needed pressure suits and respirators that processed oxygen to mimic their homeworld's atmospheric conditions. Because their vocal cords were adapted to Yar Togna's dense air, their deep voices were often too faint for other species to hear without technological assistance. The Tognath spoke a language that shared the same name.
Tognath began their lives as larvae that hatched from clutches of egg. Six months after birth, the young Tognaths were taken by their parents to one of Yar Togna's nursery trees. There, the young would spin a cocoon and undergo metamorphosis. To withstand the high gravity and atmospheric pressure of their homeworld, the Tognath offspring developed both an endoskeleton and an exoskeleton. After several months inside the cocoon, the youngling would emerge as a child-sized Tognath.
Tognath lived in homes built on stilts near Yar Togna's main mountain range, where they had access to springwater. Many of the planet's inhabitants worked as magma skimmers or miners, extracting crystals that, before the Galactic Empire's nationalization of Yar Togna, were sold to corporations like Fabritech and Idellian Arrays. Other Tognath farmed the rural flatlands or worked as float farmers, utilizing the float-jelly creatures to produce mushrooms, molds, and mosses that were considered delicacies throughout the galaxy. Under the reign of the Empire, the Tognath on Yar Togna were subjected to slavery.
Yar Togna was created as part of the backstory for Edrio "Two Tubes," a character conceived for the 2016 film, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. It was mentioned in a description of Edrio displayed at a Rogue One costume exhibit during San Diego Comic-Con in July of that year. This description was also posted on the official Star Wars Facebook page on July 21, 2016. The planet was later mentioned in the July 27, 2016, episode of The Star Wars Show YouTube video series, where the host Andi Gutierrez mispronounced its name as "Yar Tonga."
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