Dac

Mon Calamari (known as Dac in Mon Calamarian and Quarrenese, and sometimes also called Calamari) was the home planet to a wealth of sentient species: the Mon Calamari, the Quarren, the Moappa, the Amphi-Hydrus, and the Whaladons. Mon Calamari was the name given to the planet by Human explorers from the Galactic Republic who first discovered the world to the rest of the Galaxy. The native species referred to the planet as Dac. The planet was a shining bluish-white orb from space, due to its ocean-covered surface. It was home to 27.5 billion Mon Calamarians and Quarren, as well as surrounded by impressive shipyards.

Early millennia
The Mon Calamari lived comfortably on the surface and below while the Quarren lived in the depths of the oceans. The massive Whaladons meddled little in governmental affairs, swimming in their pods and protected from hunting by law.

In 4,500 BBY, the Quarren made war on the Mon Calamari, but the Mon Calamari won the war, resulting in the near-extinction of the Quarren. The Mon Calamari raised the next generation of Quarren themselves, teaching them Mon Calamari values.

The planet was discovered circa 4,000 BBY. In 532 BBY, many Quarren and Mon Calamari were taken as laborers to Lamaredd. The planet was one of many where podracing became popular.

Choppy waters


The planet was represented in the Galactic Senate by the corrupt Tikkes, who allowed Thalassian slavers to operate in Calamari Sector for a share of their profits. He was exposed in 22 BBY. He escaped Republic custody on Coruscant and fled to Geonosis, where he became a member of the Separatist Council as leader of the Free Dac movement, which sought to cut ties between Mon Calamari and the Republic.

During the Clone Wars, the world was attacked twice by the Confederacy of Independent Systems. First, Count Dooku devastated the world with the Dark Reaper. Later, the Techno Union-member Quarren Isolation League attempted to overthrow the Mon Calamari Council. The League was defeated by Kit Fisto and the Mon Calamari Knights. It was discovered by Kit Fisto that the League was allied with the Moappa, whom Kit discovered were also sapient. Kit informed the Mon Calamari that they needed to make peace with and respect the sapience of the Moappa.



Many members of the Free Dac movement fled Mon Calamari, settling on the CIS worlds of Pammant and Minntooine, where the Free Dac Volunteers Engineering Corps created shipyards. Using designs based off Mon Calamari Shipyards blueprints stolen by the CIS as a basis, these yards created Recusant-class Light Destroyers at Minntooine and Providence-class carrier-destroyers at the Pammant Docks for the Separatist fleet.

There were also Separatist Mon Calamari, led by the heroic Commander Merai, backed by Passel Argente and the Corporate Alliance. Without the approval of Count Dooku, the Mon Calamari led an effective assault during the First Battle of Kamino, using their amphib fighters and Merai's personal assault ship, the Shark. Ultimately their assault failed, as Dooku betrayed them. Most of the Mon Calamari forces were able to escape the disaster due to the sacrifice of Merai, a true hero to the end.

After the Republic loyalty of the planet was cemented, the Loyalist inhabitants agreed to a new arrangement: dual representation in the Senate, with Tundra Dowmeia representing the Quarren and Meena Tills representing the Mon Calamari. Meena Tills was held hostage on Coruscant by Korunnai terrorists, but rescued by Republic Commandos. Both Senators were signatories of the Delegation of 2000's petition, resulting in their arrest upon the Declaration of a New Order.

Imperial era
The planet was represented in the Imperial Senate by Timi Rotramel until harshly subjugated by the Galactic Empire, which saw the people of Mon Calamari as natural slaves whose industries and resources could be used to power the Imperial war machine in the Outer Rim Territories. The Galactic Empire propaganda put as an excuse of the repression of Mon Calamari the disloyal act known as the signation of the Petition of 2000 by the planet's previous senatorial representatives. The Imperials were aided during the ocupation by the sabotage of the planetary shields by Quarren saboteurs such as Seggor Tels, swiftly conquering the planet.



During the Imperial occupation of the planet and its system, the Mon Calamari started a resistance movement, which was unsuccessful at first. Eventually Emperor Palpatine ordered three of the planet's floating cities to be destroyed in reprisal. Regardless, the Imperial attack did not succeed in breaking the Mon Calamari spirit but instead of extinguishing the resistance, it pushed the world's natives into open rebellion when Mon Calamari joined the Quarren against the invaders, into a grand and secret military effort which finally repelled the imperials and pushed them off their planet, their system and the whole sector. Shortly after the uprising, while preparing the planet to join efforts with the Rebel Alliance, the Imperial Senator Timi Rotramel himself attempted to bring other species and systems into the Rebellion against the Galactic Empire; unfortunately for Rotramel, shortly after failing to convince the Tiss'shar to join a Sector rebellion, he was killed on Tiss'sharl by Darth Vader, who discovered his secret rendezvous with Tiss'shar President Si-Di-Ri.



The Imperial propaganda did not wait to attempt to discredit the Mon Calamari, as the Imperial sentientologist Obo Rin, working under the direction of Lord Vader, wrote the Catalog of Intelligent Life in the Galaxy, Revised Edition. This work included falsified claims that the first contact between the Mon Calamari and galactic civilization occurred during the reign of the Galactic Empire. This was accepted as truth by many citizens of the Empire, further angering the Mon Calamari.

After Mon Calamari's revolution against the Galactic Empire, the Mon Calamari and the Quarren joined with the Rebel Alliance, proving to be an invaluable asset in the Galactic Civil War. The Mon Calamari, masters of starship construction, supplied the Alliance with badly needed capital ships constructed in the Mon Calamari Shipyards. Prior to joining the Alliance, the Mon Calamari had only built passenger liners and deep space exploration vessels because of their peaceful ethos, but by heavily retrofitting these vessels, they were able to create capital ships that could take on the Galactic Empire's ships of the line. By the time of the Battle of Endor, Mon Calamari Star Cruisers were extensively used by the Alliance, playing a major role there in the hands of Mon Calamari Admiral Ackbar, which put them to good use in this decisive battle.

Anchor of the New Republic


Mon Calamari was a founding member of both the Alliance of Free Planets and the New Republic. Ackbar represented the planet on the New Republic Provisional Council. The New Republic defeated the Imperial Remnants thrice at Mon Calamari: the first time against the Whaladon hunting submarines of Emperor Trioculus; the second against the World Devastators of the clone Emperor; and the third against the Star Destroyers of Admiral Daala. These three battles caused many cities to be destroyed and members of all the indigenous sapient species suffered loss of life. During the battle against Daala, Leia Organa Solo discovered that the Mon Calamari Ambassador Cilghal, Ackbar's niece, was Force-sensitive. Cilghal was the first Mon Calamari to join the New Jedi Order. The planet was later represented in the New Republic Senate by Q-Varx, who was revealed as a traitor and replaced by Cilghal.

Birth of the Galactic Alliance
During the Yuuzhan Vong War, the planet was represented by both the Quarren Pwoe and the Mon Calamari Gron Marrab. After the fall of Coruscant to the Yuuzhan Vong, the remaining senators and politicians of the new Republic government fled to Mon Calamari, which had not been taken by the Yuuzhan Vong. The world's massive shipyards, large defensive fleet, and isolation from the front lines made it a desirable location. Pwoe tried and failed to usurp the New Republic presidency and eventually joined the Ylesian Republic on Ylesia. Marrab, however, remained loyal, and represented his homeworld in the Senate. Following the election of Cal Omas as the new Chief of State, the New Republic was reorganized into the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances, or Galactic Alliance. The Alliance was formed on Mon Calamari, which served as its original capital until the end of the Yuuzhan Vong War.

Fauna



 * Amphi-Hydrus
 * Cowell
 * Dac dolphin
 * Demonsquid
 * Giant squid
 * Keelkana
 * Krakana
 * Moappa
 * Whaladon

Old Republic and Imperial Representatives

 * Tikkes (?–22 BBY)
 * Tundra Dowmeia (22 BBY–20 BBY)
 * Meena Tills (20 BBY–?)
 * Timi Rotramel

New Republic and Galactic Alliance Representatives



 * Ackbar (5 ABY–7 ABY)
 * Q-Varx (7 ABY–at least until 13 ABY)
 * Cilghal (?&mdash;c. 23 ABY)
 * Pwoe (c. 23 ABY–27 ABY)
 * Gron Marrab (27 ABY&mdash;?)

Behind the scenes


This planet has been called at least three different names throughout the Expanded Universe (EU) saga.

A 1982 issue of Bantha Tracks provided a preview of the Mon Calamari and named their home planet Dac (Notice that this was on 1982, before the Mon Calamari and Quarren made their first canonical appearance in Return of the Jedi). Later EU sources, such as Dark Empire and the Jedi Academy Trilogy, refer to the planet as Calamari. However, in following years, most EU sources began to call the planet Mon Calamari. To add to the confusion, the novel Assault at Selonia refers to it as Mons Calamari.

Despite its appearance in early sources, canonicity of the name "Dac" was initially disputed. The roleplaying game supplement Geonosis and the Outer Rim Worlds brought Dac back into canon, noting that Dac was the name used by the natives in their own language for the world; some newer EU material has begun to refer to the planet by this name, where appropriate. Additionally, other recent EU literature has adopted the name Dac when referring to Quarren CIS members.

"Mon Calamari" can be literally translated in Italian as "my squid".