Ta'laam Ranth

Ta'laam Ranth is a female Gotal, senator of Antar 4 to the New Republic and head of the Senate Justice Council (Ranth's sex is debated).

During the Yuuzhan Vong invasion of the galaxy, Ranth oversaw the investigation of Viqi Shesh that led to Shesh's deposition. Ranth in person questioned Shesh.

Later, after the Fall of Coruscant, Ranth managed to reach Dac, where the New Republic regrouped. Due to the death of the Chief of State of the New Republic, a new campaign to choose a Chief of State began, and Ranth was nominated as one of the candidates along with Cal Omas, Fyor Rodan and Cola Quis. Ranth got a great deal of partidaries, but it was obvious that she did not have enough support to become Chief of State. Other senators, including Triebakk worried that Ranth was building support only to withdraw at the last moment and give her votes to another candidate in exchange for political favors. Both Fyor Rodan and Cal Omas tried to get Ranth's votes.

The initial results gave 35% of the votes to Rodan; 28% to Omas; 18% to Ranth and 10% to Quis (There was an amount of abstentions and votes scattered among other minor candidates, surprisingly including Pwoe). Triebakk (as Omas' representative) tried to convince Quis to give his votes to Omas, as it was clear that Quis couldn't win. Rodan also tried to get Ranth's votes. Ranth, however, when asked to give her votes, asked for more time, hoping to get more floor votes to show her value as an ally; she would ask for a seat on the Advisory Council for herself, plus places in the government for some allies.

Ranth increased her percentage to 22, being then able to deliver the election to one of the main candidates, while Quis dropped out of the race when Omas promised to name him chairmanship of the Commerce Council plus midlevel ministry jobs for several of his friend, and an office of the Kellmer Institute for Ryloth.

But the following vote gave Omas a 46% and Rodan only an 24%. Ranth had a 20%. Then, Omas promised Ranth a position on a commitee overseeing the actions of the Jedi Knights, and Ranth supported Omas. Omas became the new Chief of State with an 85%, thou Rodan and a few of his partners refused to make the vote unanimous (and three loyalists voted for Pwoe). Ranth got a seat on the High Council as one of the six non-Jedi, New Republic representatives. Apparently, Ranth was not a great supporter of the Jedi, and considered that this place was useful to stop the Jedi from being too autonomous from their government. However, she did worked for the people in the galaxy, doing what she thought best. She opposed to the use of Alpha Red from the very beginning.