Malastarian council



The Dug Council was one of the two governments of the planet Malastare during the Clone Wars. It governed the Dug species while the Gran Protectorate represented the planet in the Galactic Senate. In 22 BBY, it ratified the Treaty of Malastare with the Galactic Republic which allowed the latter access to Malastare's substantial reserves of fuel in return for the elimination of the gargantuan Zillo beast and Republic protection from the Confederacy of Independent Systems.

History
During the last decades of the Galactic Republic up to the Clone Wars, the Dug Council governed the Dug species; providing defense and conducting bilateral relations. It is unknown whether the Council represented Malastare in the Galactic Senate since that was occupied by Gran senators from the Gran Protectorate. In 22 BBY, the Confederacy of Independent Systems invaded Malastare with a massive droid army. As a key Republic Loyalist world, Malastare's substantial reserves of fuel made it a target for the resource-hungry Separatists.

The Dugs appealed for Republic assistance and the Republic dispatched Clone troopers and Jedi reinforcements. However, the Republic reinforcements and their Dug allies were still outnumbered two-to-one by the larger Separatist Droid Army. When it appeared that the Republic would lose, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine authorized the deployment of the prototype superweapon the Electro-Proton bomb which immobilized the droid forces rapidly, wiping out resistance.

However, the blast opened a crater where Jedi Master Mace Windu and Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker discovered a slumbering Zillo beast, a gargantuan ancient species which had preyed on the sapient Dug natives in ancient times. The Dug leader Doge Urus ordered his troops to kill the beast by dropping fuel and bombs dropped into the crater. However, their actions provoked the beast which emerged from its crater and rampaged the emaciated Republic and Dug forces.

Fearing an apocalyptic doom, the Dug Council refused to ratify the treaty unless the Republic destroyed the Zillo beast. Believing that this would lead to the death of an innocent life form, Windu refused but was overruled by Palpatine who publicly agreed to destroy the monster. However, he and Skywalker secretly connived to immobilize the beast and then arrange for it to be transported to an undisclosed Outer Rim world for scientific research. Using a stun tank, the Jedi knocked out the beast with a well-placed energy beam which rendered it unconscious while making it appear to be dead.

With both the Separatists and the Zillo beast eliminated, the Council convened and granted permission for the Republic to use Malastare's fuel reserves to power its expanded star fleet which was engaged against Separatist forces across the span of the Galaxy. In reality, the Zillo beast was not dead but had been shipped to the galactic capital Coruscant to be studied under a contained environment following a change of plans. Still, the treaty afforded Malastare's place as a key Republic member-world throughout the Clone Wars and the subsequent Imperial Period.

Behind the scenes
The Treaty of Malastare was first introduced in "Zillo Beast", an episode in the 2009-10 Second Season of the The Clone Wars television series. It served as a major plot element in confirming Malastare's role as a key Republic member world during the Clone Wars. However, the cartoon episode's portrayal of a governing Dug Council capable of providing defense and conducting foreign relations contradicts several other sources which place the immigrant Gran and their Protection as the governing class and de-facto government of Malastare respectively. These sources also stated that the dominant Gran disenfranchised and stripped the indigenous Dugs of political power.