Battle of Cathar

The Battle of Cathar was a battle that took place early in the Mandalorian Wars before the invasion of the Galactic Republic, as the Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders under the leadership of Mandalore the Ultimate conquered worlds just outside of the Republic space. It resulted in the virtual extinction of the Cathar species.

History
During the early days of Mandalorian aggression that had begun in 3,976 BBY, the fighting had spread closer to the Outer Rim Territories worlds, including the planet Cathar. Their reputation as fierce warriors appealed to the Mandalorian sense of honor, and so they sought to test themselves against this world. Mandalore the Ultimate's primary strategist, Cassus Fett, devised the plan of attack, promising to punish the Cathar for having fought against Exar Kun and the Mandalorians during the Great Sith War.

Their military forces converged from space, bombarding the surface, first destroying all interstellar communications relays and orbital spacedock facilities, and then descending to the surface and slaughtering most of the planetary population while they slept or as they fled. Cassus Fett's Basilisk war-mounts decimated the more primitive Cathar settlements.

However, because they had stood against the Mandalorians in the past, the Cathar realized why they'd truly been targeted, and that there would be no mercy for their species or their world in the end. And because the Cathar were not members of the Galactic Republic, they were left to fend completely for themselves.

The final act of the Cathar race was to pack the last able-bodied survivors who were able to withstand spaceflight into what few ships remained, sending them off into the void as quickly as possible. Juhani's family escaped aboard one of these refugee flights, and landed on Taris.

The Cathar species itself, though, was nearly rendered extinct as a consequence of the Genocide of Cathar. By the Clone Wars, however, they had rebuilt their populations and had returned to Cathar.

When the full details of this massacre came to light several years later, in 3,963 BBY, it proved to be the catalyst for many Jedi to officially enter into the Mandalorian Wars beneath Revan.

Behind the scenes
The New Essential Chronology says that the Battle of Cathar was the event that prompted the Jedi to join the Mandalorian Wars. If it is taken at face value, and the battle is placed in 3,964 or 3,963 BBY, this would dramatically reduce Juhani's supposed age in the game, as she was a baby when Cathar was attacked.

When Alek and the unknown hooded Jedi were shown in Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 15: Days of Fear, Part 3 on what looked like the pre-devastation Cathar, it prompted some Dark Horse forum users to suspect that John Jackson Miller, the comic writer, had repeated the error made in The New Essential Chronology. Miller, however, has said on the Dark Horse forums that he is "aware of the situation".

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic