Bal'demnic

Bal'demnic was a planet of rocky tropical islands, located in the Outer Rim Territories' Auril Sector. The beautiful world was politically isolated, until its cortosis was discovered by the Commerce Guild towards the conclusion of the Clone Wars.

Description
Located in the Bak'rofsen system, which was in turn found within the Outer Rim Territories' Auril Sector, Bal'demnic was considered a planet of stark yet rugged beauty. Almost entirely covered by ocean, the world was pockmarked with small tropical beach islands; a feature that made the planet's climate and landscape desirable to foreigners.

The upper class Kon'me resided in large, bubble-like structures that were attached to ocean-side cliffs on the more prominent islands, whereas the lower class lived in thatched beachside dwellings. The cliffs of the larger mountains contained the rare cortosis ore&mdash; a property that would later make Bal'demnic a point of contention during the pan-galactic Clone Wars.

History
Inhabited by the native Kon'me, Bal'demnic would eventually play host to a variety of disparate structures built by the reptilians, dictated by class. Though Bal'demnic had the potential to be one of the galaxy's most sought after tourist destinations, the general nature of the Kon'me prevented such an enterprise from properly blossoming. Bal'demnic was removed from major galactic events on the whole until the advent of the Clone Wars, several years prior to the Declaration of the New Order.

Scouts from the Commerce Guild (a key player in the Confederacy of Independent Systems) were dispatched to Bal'demnic during the war. In the course of their expedition, they discovered trace amounts of cortosis, which was one of the few ores resistant to the blade of a lightsaber. The lightsaber being the weapon of choice for the Jedi Generals of the Galactic Republic, the Confederacy saw the occupation of Bal'demnic as vital to the war effort. Descending upon the ocean world, the Confederates ordered the native Kon'me to either allow cortosis mining operations to begin, or be destroyed. The upper-class cliff-dwelling Kon'me consented to Confederate occupation, and allowed the operations to begin. In spite of this, the beachfront Kon'me were outraged, and began to develop small pockets of resistance against the invaders.

Confederacy transmissions relevant to the Bal'demnic situation were eventually intercepted by the Republic. Jedi Master Mace Windu realized the potential danger of a Confederate monopoly on Bal'demnic's cortosis reserves&mdash;as a result, the Jedi Council dispatched a task force led by Jedi Knights Halagad Ventor and Sha Koon to investigate and sabotage the Confederate operation. The Republic force, however, found Bal'demnic in chaos. The Kon'me had risen up and cast off the yoke of Confederate rule, using high-tech weaponry that had been smuggled to them by war profiteers. With mounted weaponry in their bubble-like cliff dwellings, the Kon'me were pitted against the combined armor of the Confederate droids. The Confederacy, in turn, dispatched OG-9 homing spider droids to overrun the Kon'me positions. When Ventor and Koon's clone troopers landed, the situation only escalated, resulting in the natives firing on all offworlders, regardless of affiliation. Due to the unusual and unfamiliar island terrain, both the Confederate and Republic forces retreated. With the Confederacy no longer able to harvest the cortosis, the Republic left an orbital fleet above Bal'demnic, to dissuade any further incursions from their adversaries.

Kon'me
The reptillian Kon'me were the only known sentient species native to Bal'demnic. Their disposition was notorious offworld for being abrasive and isolationist, and they had a class-structure defined by location of residence. As a result, the upper-class Kon'me resided in more opulent structures on larger islands than their lower-class counterparts. The cliff-dwelling Kon'me would make planetary decisions, such as the acceptance of a Confederate invasion during the Clone Wars, wheras the lower-class would have to bear the brunt of such decisions. As a result, a rift grew between the two classes during the war, with the beach-dwellers establishing a resistance against the Confederates that their upper-class counterparts had welcomed.

Behind the scenes
Bal'demnic first appeared in "Chapter 22", an episode of Star Wars: Clone Wars. It was shown fleetingly in a montage of Confederacy of Independent Systems invasions across the galaxy. It was later named, and elaborated on by Arthur Papadam, under the pseudonym "Arf Maul," through StarWars.com's Hyperspace feature, "What's the Story?" Bal'demnic was later referenced by Abel G. Peña in his final draft of Underworld Appendix: Swoops, Spice, and Wretched Rogues, but was cut out of the final release.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Clone Wars
 * "Chapter 22"