Coruscant/Legends

Coruscant (known as Imperial Center during the reign of the Galactic Empire, and Yuuzhan'tar after it's conquest by the Yuuzhan Vong) is the political center of the galaxy, and has been for millennia.

Coruscant was the capital of the Old Republic, the Galactic Empire, the New Republic, and the Yuuzhan Vong occupation at various times. It is generally agreed that Coruscant is the most important world in the galaxy, evidenced by the fact that its hyperspace coordinates are (0,0,0). A large number of the galaxy's trade routes -- including the Perlemian Trade Route, the Corellian Run, the Metellos Trade Route, the Koros Trunk Line, and the Leisure Corridor -- went through Coruscant, making it one of the richest worlds in the galaxy.

Overview
The entire surface of Coruscant has been covered over throughout the thousands of generations of galactic history by sprawling skyscrapers and cities, some of which reach up into the lower levels of Coruscant's atmosphere. The planet's oceans have all been drained and kept in vast underground caverns for future reuse. The only body of water visible is the Western Sea, a body of water left alone by the workers to be preserved for tourists and natives alike. The Western Sea has many artificially created islands floating on it, used by tourists on holidays. The only other piece of Coruscant's landmass that has been left untouched are the Manarai Mountains, twin peaks that stick up out of the ground near the famous Imperial Palace. Many floating restaurants revolve around the Mountains, giving patrons a unique view of the natural wonders.

Since there are no bodies of water available to feed and water its trillion inhabitants, Coruscant's architects along many others from around the galaxy worked together to build a self-contained eco-system in the massive buildings set all over the planet. Engineers also developed a complex series of huge pipes that polar ice is pumped through to the cities of Coruscant. Almost everything on the planet, from clothes to packaging and machinery is recyclable. Another problem for a world like Coruscant is the unimaginable amounts of carbon dioxide that its trillion being population generate each day, so atmospheric dampeners were put into place in orbit to remove it. Galactic Standard Time was developed on Coruscant and revolves around the hours Coruscant has in a single day, which is 24 hours, with 368 local days a year.

Galactic City is divided into several thousand quadrants, with each quadrant subdivided into numbered sectors. Some of these numbered sectors received colloquial names. For example, H-46 is also called Sah'c Town, named for the family that owns much of it. Some areas were specifically designated senatorial, governmental, financial (including banking zones), commercial, and residential. Larger areas of the planet were designated for industrial or manufacturing use only. The largest of these areas is known colloquially as "The Works". The Works had manufactured spacecraft parts, droids, and building materials at an astonishing rate for hundreds of years, but as construction in space became more efficient, The Works fell in disrepair. It has gained the reputation as a hub of high criminal activity and many locals stay away from it. Another area of Coruscant shown is CoCo Town (short for "collective commerce"). Many diverse species live here and work in manufacturing.



History
There was a huge city covering the entire planet of Coruscant (an  ecumenopolis), as early as 100,000 BBY. New buildings were built on the old. As a result, there was virtually no exposed land. In the forgotten underlevels of the city, there was darkness, pollution and crime. Higher up, there were government offices and penthouses owned by the elite.

Most xenoarchaeologists believe that the Human race first evolved on Coruscant, but they have yet to find undeniable proof. Coruscant is also the homeworld to the long dead Zhell and Taung species. The Zhell were dominant until the Taung conquered them. The Taung became known as the Dark Warriors, and in the middle of their epic battle against the Zhell, an erupting volcano that wiped out the major Zhell city helped their efforts. The Taung then systematically destroyed all remaining Zhell camps and took the name Dha Werda Verda, or in Basic, "Warriors of the Shadow." The Taungs were extinct by the time Galactic City covered Coruscant, though their descendants may have become the Mandalorians.



Coruscant was the capital of the Galactic Republic for twenty five thousand years. During the Great Hyperspace War in 5,000 BBY, a Sith fleet assaulted Coruscant. During the battle, the capital world was successfully defended by a team of Jedi Knights led by Memit Nadill. A thosuand years later, Coruscant was the site of the Great Droid Revolution. During the conflict, Jedi Master Arca Jeth discovered techniques for disabling machines through the use of the Force.

During the Sith War in 3,996 BBY, a Krath force under the command of the former Jedi Knight Ulic Qel-Droma, Aleema Keto, and Mandalore the Indomitable invaded the capital in an attempt to overthrow the Republic and install a new Sith Empire. During the battle, Ulic Qel-Droma succeeded in capturing the Republic command center. However, a team of Jedi including Nomi Sunrider and Cay Qel-Droma combined their Force powers to overwhelm the Sith Lord. With the capture of Ulic, the Krath forces retreated from the capital world.

During Ulic's trial in the Republic Senate Hall, the former Jedi Knight was sentenced to death for his crimes against the Republic. However, Ulic was rescued by Exar Kun. Using the powers of the Dark Side of the Force, the Sith Lord hypnotized the senators and manipulated the President of the Senate. The Jedi Master Vodo-Siosk Baas was also killed by Exar Kun.

During most of the Clone Wars, Coruscant was subject to frequent Separatist terrorist acts and assassinations of leading Republic figures. This prompted the Republic to implement numerous changes on Coruscant in the name of increased security. Huge stretches of the cityscape were transformed into military staging areas, and clone troopers were seen everywhere. Yet, the Confederacy of Independent Systems succeeded in making a raid on Coruscant. Using secret hyperspace routes through the Deep Core provided by Darth Sidious, a Separatist fleet under the command of the dreaded General Grievous made a raid on the city planet. While the Separatist fleet engaged the Republic fleet, an army of battle droids landed on Galactic City. The invasion distracted the defending Jedi and clone forces while General Grievous and a squad of his elite MagnaGuards captured the Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. However, Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi succeeded in rescuing the Supreme Chancellor from the infamous Separatist flagship Invisible Hand. The battle eventually turned to the Republic's favour and most of the Separatist fleet was destroyed.

Under the Galactic Empire, Coruscant was renamed Imperial Center and Galactic City was also renamed Imperial City. Non-human species were also compelled to live in segregated parts (also known as "ethnic neighborhoods") of Imperial City, such as Invisec. The greedy Palpatine began to shape Coruscant with his own designs, and this included the installment of thousands of surveillance systems throughout the ecumenopolis. Massive shield generators were placed all over Coruscant, and where they overlapped, powerful storms took place, giving the planet a gothic look, which mirrored the utter desperation of many of its inhabitants as they choked under Palpatine's iron rule. The Emperor also had the Palace of the Republic rebuilt and renamed the Imperial Palace. The Imperial Palace was a massive pyramidal structure and was the largest construction project in Coruscant. Other distinctive structures of the Old Republic, such as the Galactic Senate and the Jedi Temple, were either destroyed or eclipsed by newer buildings. The Emperor also commissioned top Imperial engineers to design and manufacture massive Construction Droids that were the size of skyscrapers. These gigantic automatons would "eat" an old, decrepit building by using its many smelters, conveyer belts and mechanical arms. From the recycled parts of that old building, they would construct a new building.

After the death of Palpatine, a series of the Emperor's warlords including Isard ruled the Imperial Centre. Ysanne Isard's reign over the Imperial Centre was plagued by the threat of rival warlords and the expanding New Republic. Before she left the Imperial Centre, she contaminated the city's water supply with the deadly Krytos virus that only affected non-human species. Eventually the New Republic destroyed the virus and liberated Imperial Center, returning it to its original name of Coruscant. Then Ysanne Isard used her Super Star Destroyer Lusankya to tear off a large part of the cityscape and escape into hyperspace in the process killing millions.

Eventually the New Republic rebuilt the planet and made Coruscant once again the ruling planet for their government. During those years, Leia Solo gave birth to her and Han's first two children, Jacen and Jaina Solo. However, Coruscant was again under attack by the dreaded Grand Admiral Thrawn who bombarded Coruscant with about twenty asteroids in an attempt to create confusion among the New Republic and retake the Core Worlds for the Imperial Remnant, but his plan was thwarted.

A year later the remaining members of the Imperial Inner Circle succeeded in recapturing Coruscant from the New Republic. After defeating the New Republic forces, the Imperial warlords began fighting among themselves. Coruscant was devastated during the conflict, with half of the Imperial Palace destroyed, many toppled buildings and with billions of deaths. The space around Coruscant was littered with countless starship wreckage that would not be cleared for years. Little did they know that they were being manipulated by the reborn Palpatine to achieve his everlasting rule over the galaxy.

After Palpatine's final death, the New Republic retook the planet and made a massive effort to clean up the world and restore it to its original beauty. Billions more flocked to live at the bright center of the galaxy, replacing those that were lost in the bloodshed surrounding the horror of the reborn Palpatine. Imperial Admiral Daala also planned to crash one of her Star Destroyers into the planet in an attempt to rip it apart, but was stopped by Kyp Durron and the Sun Crusher.

At the peak of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, the extragalactic Yuuzhan Vong overwhelmed the Republic defenses in three attack waves and took over Coruscant. The Yuuzhan Vong designated it "Yuuzhan'tar", after the name of their species and their chief deity Yun Yuuzhan, and terraformed it to overwhelm the city covering its surface and restore a natural ecology. In order to get Coruscant to match their homeworld, large dovin basals pulled the planet closer to Coruscant Prime and biological processes were set forth to create the jungle. One of the moons was also destroyed, creating an asteroid belt, known as "The Bridge", that they were familiar with. The Senate Building became the location of the World Brain, which was in charge of the terraforming of the planet.

The vast majority of the planet's non-Yuuzhan Vong population was shipped offworld in massive refugee ships, though some people did stay behind in the substructure of the city. The Galactic Alliance eventually retook Coruscant from the Yuuzhan Vong during the Battle of Coruscant.

The Galactic Alliance and the Yuuzhan Vong then signed a peace treaty thus ending the Yuuzhan Vong invasion. It was decided that Coruscant would be rebuilt as the capital of the Galactic Alliance. However, the World Brain would still remain in the Senate Building. A new Jedi Temple was also constructed. A large park called Unity Green was also constructed to symbolize the treaty between the Yuuzhan Vong and the Galactic Alliance.

Literary Precedent
The concept of a city covering an entire planet is not entirely new. The planet Trantor in Isaac Asimov's Foundation novels is probably the first fictional planet to be totally urbanized, but it was not the last. Indeed, one of the draft names of Coruscant was "Jhantor", in homage to Asimov's work.

The name itself is literary English (coruscate) meaning "sparkling" or "glittering" and probably refers to the night side of the planetwide city. Traditionally pronounced with a hard 'c' - ko'-rus-kant' - the word is pronounced Ko'-ru-sant in the Star Wars Universe.

Originally the planet, which was then called "Alderaan", was to appear in the first Star Wars film, but the budget wouldn't allow, so a lot of action on Alderaan was moved to the Death Star and Alderaan became the name of Princess Leia's home planet which is destroyed. The concept of seeing the Empire's home world, renamed "Had Abbadon", came up again in the Return of the Jedi, and the concept of the entire planet being a city came up for the first time. However, realizing such a city on screen was impossible at the time so the idea was abandoned.

The planet first appeared in the Expanded Universe and was called "Coruscant" for the first time in Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire. Coruscant wasn't originally seen on screen until The Phantom Menace. It was seen on screen in the 1997 Special Edition release of Return of the Jedi. There is a speeder chase through the skies of Coruscant in Attack of the Clones that eventually leads to a nightclub in the bowels of Coruscant's Uscru Entertainment District. Coruscant is yet again seen in Revenge of the Sith as part of the Battle of Coruscant near the end of the Clone Wars.

In various novels, characters aligned with the Empire refer to Coruscant as "Imperial Center". Within the stories, this is explained as an administrative renaming undertaken to emphasize the differences between the Old Republic and the Empire.

Inconsistencies
In the large volume of material that exists relating to Coruscant, there are conflicting statements about the ecumenopolis.

The population is variously stated as 176 billion, 1 trillion, or 1 quadrillion. The smaller figures are illogical, but usually stated. The official figure in the Inside the Worlds of The Phantom Menace is 1 trillion.

The assumption that Coruscant was made up of many layers of buildings on top of each other, supported by Expanded Universe works such as the Young Jedi Knights series, was not supported by the appearance of the planet in The Phantom Menace. The canonical interpretation was revised for The New Jedi Order. Now, Coruscant is essentially two planet-spanning cities: one on the surface and one underground. The underground city takes the status of "lower levels" from the retconned covered-over buildings. Incidentally, this new interpretation makes Coruscant much more like Trantor, the imperial capital in Isaac Asimov's Foundation series. It also explains why the surface seen in Attack of the Clones was not nearly as dismal as the lower levels in YJK: they were below the surface in the book.

Most sources, including all illustrations, show Coruscant as having negligible surface water. However, the Black Fleet Crisis Trilogy states that Coruscant has two continents, a large one that contains Imperial City and a smaller one. More than half of this version of Coruscant is ocean. No other source follows this version.

The intro of the 1994 game Star Wars: TIE Fighter shows an orbital view of Coruscant, very faithful to the appearance of the prequel movies as will be seen 5 years later. However the Collector's edition, which features a remade intro, shows Coruscant blue with clouds.

It is unclear whether the Manarai Mountains district, visible from the Imperial Palace, is an actual mountain range or just a region with that name.

Appearances

 * Tales of the Jedi: The Golden Age of the Sith
 * Tales of the Jedi: The Fall of the Sith Empire
 * Tales of the Jedi: The Freedon Nadd Uprising
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords(flashback)
 * Star Wars Battlefront II
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
 * HoloNet News
 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
 * Honor Bound
 * Yoda: Dark Rendezvous
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
 * Evasive Action: Recruitment
 * Shadows of the Empire
 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
 * Marvel Star Wars 60: Shira’s Story
 * Marvel Star Wars 61: Screams in the Void
 * Heir to the Empire
 * Dark Force Rising
 * The Last Command
 * Dark Empire
 * New Jedi Order
 * Mission to Myrkr
 * The Joiner King