Columus/Legends

"Xendor died at Columus, as the Jedi and the armies they'd beguiled closed in."

- Arden Lyn

Columus was a planet in the Core Worlds's Columus system and the homeworld of the Columi species. A low-gravity, geologically-stable planet, Columus lacked any geographic features and possessed a shallow soil layer, causing its native plants to form horizontal root systems. The Columi species evolved to sentience remarkably early in the history of the galaxy, achieving interstellar travel by the year 100,000 BBY. However, the Columi were disappointed by their failure to contact any other species with intelligence on par with their own, and they retreated to Columus and remained in isolation on their homeworld. Around 24,500 BBY, during the First Great Schism, Columus was the site of the pivotal Battle of Columus between the Jedi Order and the Legions of Lettow, a battle in which the Legions' leader General Xendor was slain. Columus later joined the Galactic Republic and its successor state the Galactic Empire, though the Columi's decision to join the Empire was motivated by a desire to maintain their isolation.

Description
Columus was a planet in the Columus system of the Core Worlds and the homeworld of the Columi species. A planet with extremely low gravity, Columus was geologically stable&mdash;a property that prevented the formation of mountains, rifts, or other similar geographic features, and gave the planet a low atmospheric pressure. As a result, Columus was a flat, muddy planet with weak winds and a shallow soil layer. Because of the lack of erosion, water settled into the soil, though the bedrock of the planet had relatively few cracks. Despite this, the plant life of Columus developed in an immense variety. The planet's larger plants and trees developed root systems that extended horiontally through the soil, covering wide areas and providing themselves a solid support structure. Columus was covered by swamps and forests, and the cities of the Columi, among them Bailee, rose above the treetops on pylons and were dependent on heavily automated factories.

History
"At Columus, Pina's armies cut off Xendor and his vanguard from the bulk of his forces, and Pina's Jedi Knights advanced on my love as one."

- Arden Lyn

Thousands of years before 100,000 BBY, a species of four-legged herbivorous lizards with a buoyant belly evolved to walk on their hind legs on Columus. A few thousand years later, those herbivores began to lay their eggs in trees in order to protect them from predators, and the Columi began to live entirely in trees shortly afterward. They developed hands instead of claws and a prehenisle tail, and they soon learned to use tools after only a few centuries. The Columi underwent a series of rapid evolutionary changes over the next few thousand years, losing their tails and becoming truly sentient, and they began to mine metals and other materials so they could build cities, becoming a technological civilization. Over the next several thousand years, the Columi advanced their technology to the point where they were capable of interstellar travel by the year 100,000 BBY. Shortly afterwards, the Columi visited a number of planets&mdash;including Coruscant and Duro, the homes of the Human and Duros species, but they returned to Columus in disappointment because they considered the species they had encountered to be too primitive. The Columi soon gave up interstellar travel and remained on Columus, content to remain in isolation.

Around 25,000 BBY, Human scientists from Corellia developed the modern hyperdrive, linking Corellia, Coruscant, Alderaan, Columus, and many other Core Worlds together. Around 24,500 BBY, Columus was the site of the Battle of Columus during the First Great Schism between the Jedi Order and the Legions of Lettow, a group of Dark Jedi. Nearly thirty Dark Jedi, including the Legion's leader, General Xendor, attempted to trap a number of Jedi in one of Columus' rare ravines, and both groups annihilated each other &mdash;though the Jedi Awdrysta Pina escaped after killing Xendor, the only other survivor, a Padawan named Danzigorro Potts, recorded his thoughts on the battle in what later became known as the Columus Data Card before he died on the plains of Columus.

Around 22 BBY, the Columus Tourist Board started a marketing campaign that extolled the health benefits of Columus' low-gravity environment to severely overweight beings. However, a number of health officials, including Doctor Gidoo Zehow of the Rhinnal State Medical Academy, criticized the campaign and presented evidence that their claims were false. Columus was one of four planets, with the others being Khomm, Lur, and Arkania, that were exempt from Decree E49D139.41, which prohibited all non-military cloning of sentients during the Clone Wars between the Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems; Columus was permitted to continue therapeutic medical cloning with the appropriate license.

When the Galactic Empire replaced the Republic as the primary government in 19 BBY, the Columi quickly passed a resolution to entier the Empire in order to maintain their isolation, though some Columi departed their homeworld to join the Alliance to Restore the Republic or to become criminals. The Imperial sentientologist Obo Rin claimed in his Catalog of Intelligent Life in the Galaxy that the Empire had made first contact with the Columi on Columus, as he did with the Mon Calamari species of Dac. In 17 ABY, Imperial Admiral Natasi Daala attacked the New Republic as part of an campaign by the Imperial Remnant. However, her forces were routed by the New Republic Fourth Battle Group under Garm Bel Iblis. Daala attacked Bel Iblis at Columus, though her forces were routed again and her own warship forced into a blind hyperspace jump.

Inhabitants
The primary inhabitants of Columus were the Columi, who ruled their homeworld in a participatory democracy&mdash;every Columi had an equal voting share in the Columi government. The Columi lived in their extensive cities atop pylons iin the forests of Columus.

Behind the scenes
The Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side mistakenly labels an image of the Battle of Columus as Corbos, which was the site of a battle in the Hundred-Year Darkness.

Appearances

 * Republic Commando: True Colors
 * Star Wars: Dark Times 7: Parallels, Part 2
 * Star Wars Missions 15: Voyage to the Underworld
 * Star Wars: Dark Times 7: Parallels, Part 2
 * Star Wars Missions 15: Voyage to the Underworld