Taris/Legends

"Wipe this pathetic planet from the face of the galaxy!"

- Darth Malak

Taris is a desolate planet in the Outer Rim.

Description
Taris was once situated on a hyperspace transport hub, called the "Coruscant of the Outer Rim". It was a city world, whose grandeur was once said to rival the galactic capital Coruscant itself. However, the planet's landmass was not completely covered with an urban sprawl, and some surface water was present, so, from space, Taris looked quite different from both Coruscant and another ecumenopolis, Nar Shaddaa.

In 4,156 BBY, the planet suffered a civil war. The war resulted in non-humans being banished from the Upper City of Taris. It was believed the swoop bikes first originated on Taris, where swoop racing captured the imagination of the galaxy circa 4,000 BBY. Using an intricate system of hyperspace beacons, Taris race organizers would broadcast the results of the swoop races throughout the galaxy which eventually gave rise to a huge and profitable gambling operation. Taris remained a hub for swoop racing for decades, despite opposition from the Hutts and other criminal organizations. Formerly an important galactic presence, at the time of the Jedi Civil War, 3,956 BBY, the world was decaying rapidly, with much of the once magnificent metropolis having fallen into ruin and disrepair.

Infrastructure and business
The city of Taris was usually divided into three levels: the Upper City, the Lower City and the Undercity.

The Upper City
The Upper City was a beautiful area inhabited by rich and powerful people, dwelling in the highest reaches of the towering skyscrapers that dominated the planet's landscape. Here the priveledged classes surrounded themselves with the trappings of prosperity, oblivious to the suffering and oppression of those forced to dwell far below them. Access to the Upper City was restricted to non-humans, although notable non-humans found in the Upper City included a Twi'lek droid merchant Janice Nall, Ajuur the Hutt, and a Rodian duelist Twitch. The Upper City featured a cantina, which was famous for its dueling ring owned by Ajuur the Hutt, and Zelka Forn's medical facility, which was famous for being able to heal all diseases but the infamous rakghoul disease. During the Jedi Civil War, a Sith military base was also established in the Upper City, and its roads were heavily patrolled by Sith troopers.

The Lower City
The Lower City was home for poor people not born into the privileged classes of society, and non-humans were common there, especially in Javyar's cantina. Another Hutt, Zax, placed bounties and rewarded successful bounty hunters on behalf of his de facto boss, Davik Kang. Control over the Lower City streets was the subject of rivalry between swoop gangs—gangs whose pilots competed in swoop racing, a popular kind of sport on Taris and some other planets, among them Tatooine and Manaan. The most notable swoop gangs were the Hidden Beks, led by Gadon Thek, and the Black Vulkars, led by Gadon's adopted son Brejik, who was characterized by Mission Vao as a traitor because he was a former Hidden Bek. Mission and Gadon believed Brejik to be responsible for the ongoing street war between the Beks and the Vulkars. Descending into the slums of the Lower City, the signs of urban decay became undeniable. Filth and refuse littered the streets, and burned out vehicles and shattered windows served as stark reminders of the violent wars of the swoop gangs fighting for control. Denizens of the Lower City struggled to survive amidst the urban wasteland.

For those living beneath the planet's surface—the Outcasts—life was even harder. Those driven into the dark and sunless world of the Undercity had to band together in small villages in a wretched, never-ending struggle to survive.

The Under City
The Undercity, a village on the ground level beneath the immense skyscrapers of Taris, was a dark, wild area inhabited by the Outcasts &mdash; people whose predecessors were banished from the city for their crimes. The Outcasts never saw the sky in their miserable life, and nobody hoped that their life would ever turn for the better&hellip; except Rukil, an old man who was considered crazy by the rest of the village because of his stories about the Promised Land, a self-sufficient colony built long before the foundation of the Undercity. Nobody believed in these stories, and most villagers considered them tales created with the purpose to give people false hope. Many died from starvation and disease, and the rakghouls killed even more.

The wilderness around the Undercity village was extremely dangerous because of rakghouls, semi-humanoid beasts that could infect humans with the rakghoul disease. The Outcasts had to keep infected people isolated from the rest of the society because they would inevitably mutate into rakghouls.

Taris was a base of smuggling operations for the Exchange and its representative, the local crimelord Davik Kang. Davik was quick to get rid of his debtors who were unable to pay their debts, sending his personal bounty hunters—among them such notable figures as Calo Nord and Canderous Ordo—to deal with them. The bounty hunters, the only ones permitted to meet with Davik himself, kept Taris in terror.

During the Jedi Civil War


Although Taris was not officially a member of the Galactic Republic, both the Republic and the Sith understood the importance of controlling the planet. Prior to the Jedi Civil War, Republic scientists developed a serum which was able to cure the rakghoul disease, to prepare Republic soldiers for operating in the surface wilderness.

However, the Republic's plans were disturbed by the Sith, who invaded the planet and established a military blockade around it, letting no ships leave the planet. The Sith ravaged the Republic facility researching the rakghoul disease and "liberated" the serum, which was then used to protect Sith patrols venturing around the Undercity.

In an attempt to break through the blockade, the Republic dispatched a fleet bolstered by Bastila Shan's Battle Meditation. However, Bastila's ship, the Endar Spire, was unexpectedly ambushed and boarded by the Sith. Bastila had to leave in an escape pod; Carth Onasi and memory-wiped Revan (whose true identity was unknown to himself and everyone on the ship except Bastila) followed her some time later, moments before the ship exploded.



Bastila's pod landed outside the Undercity; the Black Vulkars were the first to reach her, capturing her (at least they thought so) and putting her as a slave and a prize for the swoop racing champion. Revan and Carth landed in the Upper City; cooperating with Mission Vao and her Wookiee friend Zaalbar, they managed to discover what happened to Bastila. Revan participated in the swoop race, and a prototype engine accelerator developed by the Hidden Beks allowed him to win. Brejik, however, accused Revan of cheating and refused to release Bastila, but she easily broke out of her cell herself, using the Force, and helped Revan to eliminate Brejik and his Vulkar guards.

Seeking a way to escape the planet, Revan contacted Canderous Ordo, who came with a plan to infiltrate the Sith base and steal the launch codes which could allow a ship to safely bypass the military blockade. Revan was able to accomplish this using Janice Nall's newest utility droid, T3-M4, to break through the base security gates.

Meanwhile, Darth Malak, Dark Lord of the Sith, concerned about the search for Bastila taking too long and fearing that she could escape Taris, ordered Admiral Saul Karath to "wipe this pathetic planet from the face of the galaxy". The Sith fleet was regrouped and began massive artillery bombardment of the planet's surface.

Canderous led Revan to Davik Kang's secret estate, where the crimelord kept his ship, the Ebon Hawk. To get to the ship, Revan and Canderous had to kill Davik and severely injure Calo Nord, who was left for dead. The Ebon Hawk left the hangar just before Davik's estate was destroyed with the rest of the Taris city.

Shortly after their escape, Taris's surface was completely annihilated during the Sith's Base Delta Zero operation. Though it's believed the Outcasts in the Undercity might have somehow survived the Sith's orbital bombardment, everyone on the world's surface was killed, save for Revan, his comrades, and the notorious bounty hunter Calo Nord.

In the millennium following the planet's devastation, Taris was resettled by human colonizers. These settlers were famed for their ship building. The settlers rebuilt some of the planet's former cities, though much of the surface was left in ruins. Historians attempted to excavate ruins across the planet, looking for proof that the swoop bike originated on Taris. By 3 ABY, much of the planet had been rebuilt, but the scar left on the planet by Darth Malak would never go away.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic: Commencement
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
 * Empire at War