Rugosa/Legends

"Let me propose a neutral meeting ground. Shall we say&hellip; Rugosa, yes? Three days' time. The coral moon shall do."

- King Katuunko

Rugosa, sometimes known as the coral moon, was a temperate-climate moon near the planet Toydaria but located in the Outer Rim Territories. It was once covered in oceans, but when these dried up, expanses of coral were exposed, leaving the world covered in forests and crevasses of coral formations. Rugosa was home to small neebrays that flew between the coral forests. During the Clone Wars, it was selected as the site for negotiations between the King of Toydaria and representatives of the Galactic Republic. However, when Separatists intercepted communications arranging the meeting they ambushed the Republic forces. A small group of survivors, including Jedi Master Yoda, made it to the moon and further engaged the Separatists, eventually defeating their forces and gaining the allegiance of King Katuunko.

Description
"Beautiful, this moon, is. Amazing, the universe, is."

- Master Yoda

Rugosa was a temperate moon orbiting a blue planet and was located in an Outer Rim system proximate to the planet Toydaria. The moon had once been covered by vast oceans, in which massive coral formations and reefs grew; however, the moon dried up, exposing the coral forests across the moon as well as fossil remains of native species. The massive coral formations varied in color, from green to blue to purple, and included various forms, from large fan-shapes to antler shapes, to porous spheres. Some were large enough that starships such as the Thief's Eye could comfortably land on them. Fauna on the moon included the diminutive neebray. These flying creatures lived in amongst coral.

History
During the Clone Wars, the moon was chosen by King Katuunko of Toydaria as a neutral meeting place to negotiate with an envoy from the Galactic Republic. Katuunko requested a Jedi as the Republic envoy, and Jedi Master Yoda was chosen to open the negotiations with the King. However, this plan was intercepted by a Confederacy of Independent Systems listening post on the Mid Rim world of Ruusan, and reported to the Confederacy leader Count Dooku. In order to disrupt the plan, Dooku dispatched his disciple Asajj Ventress to convince or coerce the Toydarian King to become a Separatist ally instead. Yoda was ambushed en route, but still managed to crash land on the moon with three clone troopers. Ventress made a bet with Katuunko that if Yoda could make it to the King alive, the Republic could gain allegiance of the moon; if not, Toydaria would become an ally of the Separatists.

Despite Ventress' best efforts, Yoda, together with the three clone troopers, survived to reach the King. Attempting to go back on her deal, Ventress was ordered, by Dooku, to kill the King. She swung her lightsabers in a killing strike but they were halted at the last instant by Yoda's Force grip. Ventress subsequently fled the moon, and King Katuunko, impressed with Yoda's deeds, signed a treaty with the Republic, allowing them to establish an outpost in his territory.

Behind the scenes


Rugosa featured in Ambush, the first episode of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars series, and was the primary location for the episode's action. Inspired by the Flash Gordon series, the moon was designed to offer a unique terrain; in previous Star Wars movies, desert, ice, jungle, and forest planets had already been presented, and so the design team settled on a coral design to offer a new environment. The word "rugosa" itself is an extinct order of coral. The moon was initially designed with a reddish color palette; however, when it was decided to release the episode first, rather than later in the series as originally planned, Supervising Director Dave Filoni realized the color would be too similar to that of "Rising Malevolence," the second episode to be released. Filoni then decided to modify its color scheme to blue and green hues to create a distinct look.

Appearances

 * The Clone Wars: Prelude

Notes and references
Rugosa Rugosa