Rings of Coruscant

"The rainbow bridge will appear and disappear. And the gods will make it seem that they are the authors of a great conflict. When the eclipse of the sun will then be, the divine omen will be seen in plain sight. Quite otherwise will one interpret it, for when a menacing stranger appears at the portal, look close at hand for the amphistaff that will send the stranger on its way."

- The Shamed One Onimi recites a prophetic passage that Supreme Overlord Shimrra Jamaane claimed to have heard

The Bridge, also known as the Rainbow Bridge or the rainbow bridge, was a planetary ring around the world of Coruscant, created in 27 ABY by the Yuuzhan Vong species after they captured the world. The invaders destroyed the planet's largest moon via gravity-manipulating dovin basals, and used the resulting debris to fashion a ring that orbited Coruscant, which the Yuuzhan Vong had renamed Yuuzhan'tar. The resulting planetary ring appeared rainbow-like from the surface of the world. However, two years later in 29 ABY, the Bridge was heavily damaged when the sentient hyperspace-capable planet Zonama Sekot arrived in the orbit of Coruscant, sundering the Bridge in the process. Despite this, the planetary ring was still in place around the planet a hundred years later.

Description
"Magnificent, isn't it?"

- Vergere, on the Bridge

The Bridge, also referred to as the Rainbow Bridge or the rainbow bridge, was an artificially created planetary ring that orbited the planet of Coruscant in the Core Worlds. Angled seventeen degrees away from the ecliptic of Coruscant, the ring consisted of dust, gravel, and lumps of hardened magma. Viewed from the surface of Coruscant, the Bridge took up almost a third of the sky, and appeared as a vibrant rainbow of colors to those who viewed it; the light from the rings outclassed the reflected light from most moons at night. The sun of Coruscant would also set the Bridge ablaze in the day, making it appear jeweled like.

History
"The planet appeared out of darkspace and hurtled into the Yuuzhan'tar system, Fearsome One. It nearly grazed the holy world, sundering the rainbow bridge and scattering the moons&mdash;the innermost of which nearly struck Yuuzhan'tar as it was outward bound. It is a catastrophe of epic proportions, Warmaster."

- Supreme Commander Saluup Fing reports the sundering of the Bridge to Warmaster Nas Choka

In the year 25 ABY, the extra-galactic Yuuzhan Vong species invaded the galaxy, engaging governments like the New Republic in the Yuuzhan Vong War. The invaders captured the New Republic's capital planet of Coruscant in 27 ABY, and wishing to change the planet into a replica of the destroyed Yuuzhan Vong homeworld Yuuzhan'tar, began the process by obliterating Coruscant's largest moon with the help of gravity manipulating dovin basals linked via the telepathic capabilities of yammosk creatures. The Bridge was created out of the resulting debris as it was organized into a planetary ring by the dovin basals to mimic the ring that once orbited Yuuzhan'tar. With Coruscant terraformed into an image of Yuuzhan'tar, the captured planet was named after the Yuuzhan Vong's homeworld.

For the Yuuzhan Vong, who had taken the new Yuuzhan'tar as their home, the Bridge became symbolic of the communications between them and their high god Yun-Yuuzhan. However, in 29 ABY, as the Galactic Alliance&mdash;the successor state of the New Republic&mdash;and its allies mustered their forces to recapture Yuuzhan'tar, the sentient world Zonama Sekot, capable of hyperspace travel, made a hyperspace jump that landed it in the orbit of Yuuzhan'tar, sundering much of the Bridge in the process. After the breaking of the ring, with the Galactic Alliance assaulting Yuuzhan'tar, Supreme Overlord Shimrra Jamaane claimed to have heard a prophecy that foretold of the destruction of Bridge before an eventual Yuuzhan Vong triumph, and used this revelation to help spur on his forces in an attack on Zonama Sekot. Despite this, the Yuuzhan Vong were defeated as Coruscant was reclaimed by the Galactic Alliance.

Though the Bridge's integrity was compromised by the Zonama Sekot incident, the planetary ring was still in place around Coruscant a century later, at the time of Emperor Roan Fel's reign.

Behind the scenes
The Bridge first appeared in Matthew Stover's Traitor, a 2002 novel part of The New Jedi Order series. The planetary ring later appeared in two more books of The New Jedi Order, The Final Prophecy and the The Unifying Force, written by Gregory Keyes and James Luceno respectively, with both released in 2003. In 2008, the Bridge received an entry in The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia. Though the Encyclopedia clarifies that the Bridge survived the incident and was in existence when the Rings of Coruscant orbited the planet, there is no confirmed connection between the two. Additionally, no source states which of Coruscant's four moons were destroyed.

Appearances

 * The New Jedi Order: Traitor
 * The New Jedi Order: The Final Prophecy
 * The New Jedi Order: The Unifying Force