Restoration Zone

"I always feel a sense of calm when I walk the surface of Telos. The Ithorians are truly amazing in their work."

- Bao-Dur describes one of the Restoration Zones

The term Restoration Zone referred to one such zone in a network of similar areas that were erected during the Telosian Restoration Project on Telos IV and overseen by the Ithorians in the years following the Jedi Civil War. Under their careful management, the zones prospered at first, however, once Czerka Corporation began to take over various sections through a combination of legal maneuvering and outright thuggery, they began to fall under mismanagement and disrepair. Eventually, thanks to the intervention of the Jedi Exile and her companions, the project was able to get back on its feet. The restoration efforts ultimately succeeded, the surface of Telos was restored, and the zones were dismantled.

Description
Each Restoration Zone was surrounded by giant shield walls that honeycombed across the surface of Telos that was being restored, forming self-contained sections that contained a wide variety of terrain as well as assorted species of flora and fauna that had been imported from across space.



Terrain
The terrain of the various zones reflected what had been the surface of Telos before its devastation via orbital bombardment. This included grasslands, natural cliff formations, terraces, narrow passes, grassy hills, and sandy beaches that surrounded restored lakes and other bodies of water. However, beyond the translucent walls of the outer zones, the ruins were still visible in the form of scorched earth and acrid smoke clouds.

Flora and fauna
Once the various zones had been cleansed of toxins, the Ithorians filled them with many species of plant and animal life. Grasses of all kinds were planted as well as small, scraggly trees. Several species of herbivores were then imported and released into the wild zones, with predatory animals also introduced to keep their populations in check, including cannoks from Onderon. However, within the zones that had fallen under control of Czerka Corporation, the monitoring of the ecosystem that the Ithorians so carefully maintained was cut off; as a result, the cannoks devoured the herbivores en masse.

History
In the aftermath of the orbital bombardment of Telos by the former Republic Admiral Saul Karath in 3,959 BBY the surface of that world was devastated, its land left scarred and the atmosphere had been turned into an inhospitable morass of acidic vapor clouds that produced a toxic chemical rain. After the defeat of the Sith Empire under Darth Malak three years later, the Galactic Republic, in an effort to inspire a general sense of galactic recovery and to help spur the galactic economy, began funding the efforts of an Ithorian herd who wished to restore Telos to something approaching that world's former glory. As a result networks of Restoration Zones were created, overseen by workers on Citadel Station, a titanic orbital structure that covered nearly a quarter of Telos's surface.

Construction
As part of this network massive intersecting lines of shield walls were erected, which divided much of the surface of Telos in the shadow of Citadel Station up into interconnected zones managed by a single computer network. These zones would then be detoxified, cultivated and monitored on an individual basis by Ithorian and droid technicians working from land-based science stations. The process involved many steps and stages, from first isolating and containing the chemical pollutants, to introducing hearty specimens of plants and later animals into each zone. Examples of flora and fauna were taken from multiple worlds across the galaxy, including Onderon. The remains of abandoned or partially-destroyed Republic military bases could be found in a number of these zones, though they were largely left untouched by the Ithorians.

Mismanagement
By the time the Jedi Exile arrived on Telos in 3,951 BBY, the Telosian Restoration Project was in considerable jeopardy. In addition to the cutoff of fuel supplies to the station in orbit thanks to the destruction of the Peragus Mining Facility, many of the formerly Ithorian-run Restoration Zones were steadily being taken over by the local branch of Czerka Corporation, who used loopholes written into Telosian law, lobbying before the Telosian Council and a variety of underhanded and strong-arm tactics to wrest control. Led by Jana Lorso, this branch of Czerka sought to maximize profits at the expense of the project itself by focusing on the salvaging of the old defense installations that had been damaged or destroyed during the initial Sith bombardment instead of general recovery. Czerka would defend these installations from prying eyes by hiring a large force of mercenaries, some of which were stationed on Citadel Station itself; however, their salvage teams would run into trouble as some of the defenses were still active.

Intervention
"With this terminal I can gain access to the entire shield network&hellip;"

- Bao-Dur attempting to locate the Ebon Hawk

Once she had done all that she could on the orbital complex itself to aid the Ithorians and thwart the machinations of Czerka, including putting a stop to an attack on the Ithorian compound by Czerka's mercenaries, the Exile and her companions Atton Rand and Kreia secured transport from Chodo Habat, the leader of the Ithorian herd responsible for the project, to the surface of Telos to continue their search for the stolen Ebon Hawk. Unfortunately for them, Czerka executive Corrun Falt learned of this, taking measures to prepare Restoration Zone RZ-0031, which was the site of one such seemingly abandoned military base, for the Exile's arrival. These measures included reinforcing the mercenary group already stationed there. On their way to the surface, the Exile's shuttle was shot down by an air defense tower; after the resulting crash that nearly killed them, the Zabrak Bao-Dur arrived to pull her, Atton and Kreia from the wreckage. The tech specialist, who had known the Exile from their mutual service in the Republic fleet during the Mandalorian Wars, agreed to aid the group in finding their starship so that they could finally leave the planet.

After hacking their way through a herd of cannoks and several bands of mercenaries and battle droids, the group was able to find where the Ebon Hawk had been taken to. This proved to be the least of their problems, however, because the ship had actually been taken to a previously hidden zone that had been constructed along the polar regions of the planet. While slicing into the shield network in order to locate the Ebon Hawk, Bao-Dur found that a much older shuttle was still to be found inside the nearby underground base; the Exile and her companions proceeded to enter the not-so-inactive base, fighting against even more droids all the while, in order to secure the shuttle, restore power to the facility to open the massive hangar bay doors, and get the activation codes in order to actually use the small vessel; even then, a huge tank droid attempted to stop them. Once this was accomplished and the facility cleared, the Exile left RZ-0031 behind for good. Their respite was short-lived, however, as they were shot down again while approaching the polar irrigation system, having been tracked there by a band of HK-50 assassin droids.

Future
"Under the care of the herds of Ithor, the surface of Telos will bloom again, and its golden fields shall again harbor scientists and thinkers. And complacent and peaceful, it shall forget the time that Saul Karath orbited it and brought fire to its skies. But it shall be a homeworld again to others, who will stretch out across the galaxy and bring life."

- Darth Traya to the Jedi Exile at Malachor V

According to Darth Traya, who used her abilities in conjunction with the Force-nexus at the Trayus Core on Malachor V to predict the future, she told the Exile that the Restoration Project would ultimately succeed, due in no small part to her and her companions' actions while on Telos; this would lead to the eventual deconstruction of the many restoration zones. She went on to elaborate that the world would eventually forget that the bombardment had even occurred.

RZ-0031
One of the many Restoration Zones that had been handed over to the control of Czerka Corporation from the Ithorians by the Telosian Council, RZ-0031 featured many different examples of the terrain that had once graced the surface of Telos, including grassy areas, a beach at the edge of a large body of water, and several small canyons that had been carved out of the landscape as well as a narrow pass through a hilly area. Under Czerka's control, the formerly Ithorian science station had been converted for salvage operations; to defend the post the mercenaries had erected an air defense tower as well as setting several spotter droids and squads of guards to patrol the area. Due to their focus on salvage, however, the ecosystem of the zone degraded, and the cannoks living there soon devoured all other non-sentient creatures.

Abandoned military base
Within RZ-0031 the Czerka salvage teams had unearthed the entrance to a military base that had, before the bombardment, been a part of the Republic's planetary defenses. Much of the underground bunker, which was quite large, had been damaged, with cave-ins blocking off some of the hallways. Much to their dismay, the Czerka salvagers discovered that many of the seemingly-deserted base's defenses were still active. These included automated defense turrets, poison gas traps, and still-active war droids. Several of these teams had been wiped out entirely, leaving the facility strewn with bodies to go along with the skeletons of those Republic troops who had died in the original attack.

Polar Irrigation System
Located at the upper polar region on Telos IV, this zone, while not officially part of the network of shield walls that divided up the other Restoration Zones, played host to a secret facility. While the Telosian Restoration Project was being constructed, the Jedi Master Atris furtively set up her Jedi Academy within the hub of the irrigation system. Described by Bao-Dur as being similar to the planetwide system found on Coruscant, it served as a near-perfect hiding place for Atris's academy. The Zabrak engineer was only able to find it because this secret zone had been subtly drawing power from the rest of the network; using his skills as a slicer and technician he was able to trace this "random flux" back to its source. It was here that the Ebon Hawk had been taken by Brianna, one of Atris's Handmaiden Sisters.

Inhabitants
There was little actual habitation within the Restoration Zones by sentient beings; though a number of Ithorian and Human technicians worked within the areas alongside their droid assistants, they were typically shuttled to and from Citadel Station via orbital shuttles; these small ships did not have hyperdrives and were suited for little more then back-and-forth ferry flights, taking the living workers back to residential modules when not engaged in their tasks. On the other hand, many of the Czerka-controlled territories held a semi- or permanent garrison of the corporation's mercenary guards. These were posted primarily to guard salvage sites, keeping them from prying eyes by any means necessary.

Behind the scenes
The Restoration Zone was first seen in the video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords and was created by Chris Avellone and the developers at Obsidian Entertainment.

If the player takes the dark path throughout the game, siding with Czerka Corporation and doing their work in regards to the Telosian Restoration Project, then Darth Traya will predict that Telos becomes a cold world of machines, and that, never forgetting the Sith bombardment, it will learn to defend itself and never fall again.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords