Ando/Legends

"It's certainly not Mon Calamari, but at least Ando is familiar. The moist air and open waters, shallow as they are, do my heart good."

- Sissalik

Ando was an oceanic planet located in the Ando system of the Mid Rim. It was the homeworld of the Aqualish species.

Description


Ando developed a single sentient species known as the Aqualish early in galactic history. Originating from the sea which covered 95 percent of the world, they began to establish permanent settlements on what little land remained and supplemented it with sailing ships that doubled as mobile homes. The Aqualish developed into three subspecies, the Aquala, the Ualaq and the Quara. The majority of the world's islands were sustained by a decaying swamp ecosystem and covered in steamy mist.

Ando and her colonies were together known as the Spiverelda, which throughout its history was alternately ruled by the Aqualish and the distantly-related Harch of nearby Secundus Ando. The government tended towards turbulence and violence.

Early history
The Aqualish evolved into three races which were constantly at war with each other: the Aquala, the baseline race of the oceans, the Quara of the wetlands, and the Ualaq of the caves and dark rain forests. Each race believed they were the dominant branch, leading to the Aqualish Civil War. Beginning with allegations leveled by the Aquala that the other two races caused a decline in the harvests of fish, the war ultimately ended in a treaty which saw the unification of all three races. After the war ended, a group of Human settlers stumbled upon the world and were killed by the startled and aggressive Aqualish. Confiscating the ship which brought the supposed invaders to the world, the Aqualish extrapolated the secrets of space travel from the exploratory craft and set forth on a campaign of conquest to the neighboring world of Andando. Not long after the landing, Andando was left a smoldering ruin, rendered inhospitable by the barbarous Aqualish.

Galactic Republic
Discovered by the Galactic Republic during the Great Manifest Period, envoys attempted to make contact with the inhabitants of Ando and were rebuked with hostile fire. This quickly led to the Aqualish–Republic War that, while bloody, quickly ended in the defeat of the Aqualish. Defeated, Ando joined the Republic in 15,000 BBY, the beginning of the Kymoodon Era. During the Great Sith War, Ando was attacked an conquered by the Sith empire as part of the Krath Holy Crusade. While the Empire was defeated and Ando returned to the Republic, it was claimed by the Brotherhood of Darkness during the New Sith Wars. Following the Ruusan Reformation, Ando returned to the Republic again.

In 102 BBY, the Aqualish colonized Andosha II and and numerous other planets in the Lambda sector. From 57 BBY, however, the colonies attempted to declare independence of the Spiverelda government based on Ando, forming the Andoan Free Colonies. Backed by Secundus Ando, Ando attempted to regain its colonies in the Andoan Wars until the Galactic Republic intervened in 39 BBY. The two sides were separated, but due to the constant violence erupting across the world, the Republic dispatched the Ando Demilitarization Observation Group to ensure the de-escalation of violence; Master Jorus C'baoth of the Jedi Order served as one of the group's primary observers.

Clone Wars
Represented in the Galactic Senate by Po Nudo before the Separatist Crisis, the memory of the defeat in the Andoan Wars was still raw on Ando, and the world seceded in 23 BBY along with Sy Myrth, a move contested by the Andoan Free Colonies, which retained representation in the Senate under Gorothin Vagger. Under the leadership of Ualaq Senator Po Nudo and First Minister Daragi Hoba, Ando touched off a string of secessionist worlds that would later form the Confederacy of Independent Systems in 22 BBY. Nudo became a prominent Separatist leader and a member of the Separatist Council. As the war spread across the galaxy, a civil war broke out across the world between both Nudo and Vagger's factions. Assisted by the Grand Army of the Republic and Jedi Master Shaak Ti, the battle ended in a Separatist victory.

Imperial era
"As we say on Mon Calamari, swim where you want, but excrete in your own pool. The Empire's been excreting into the Aqualish pool for years, and if my guess is right, they might have a revolt on their hands soon."

- Sissalik.

After the rise of the Galactic Empire, former Separatist worlds suffered heavily from intense Imperial scrutiny. Appointing an Aquala Senator to replace the recently murdered Nudo, the Senator served until the disbanding of the Imperial Senate in 0 BBY. Establishing an Imperial garrison on the world, the Imperials ravaged the worlds natural resources, using them to further the Empire's war machine. Following the death of Emperor Palpatine, Ando joined the New Republic only to fall into the sight of one of Grand Admiral Mitth'raw'nuruodo's feint attacks in preparation for his attack on Ukio. Sending the Bellicose in 9 ABY, the world was taken by the Empire.

Yuuzhan Vong War
"They've gone mad. They're destroying droids all over the city!''" "''They aren't mad. They're just frightened. The Yuuzhan Vong are on Ando, and may well conquer the planet."

- A 3D-4 droid and Dorsk 82

During the Yuuzhan Vong War, Ando was attacked by the invaders but was issued an ultimatum: surrender a member of the Jedi Order and destroy all droids on the planet and the Yuuzhan Vong would leave in peace. The Aqualish quickly turned on visiting Jedi Knight Dorsk 82, but this was ignored by Warmaster Tsavong Lah and an invasion and occupation of their planet ensued, enslaving the race to the foreign invaders. After the war's end, the Yuuzhan Vong abandoned the planet, thus freeing the Aqualish from occupation.

Ando remained independent and disunited, and therefore never joined the Galactic Alliance. As of 137 ABY, Ando was a member of Darth Krayt's Galactic Empire.

Behind the scenes
The PC game Star Wars: Rebellion mistakenly places Ando in the Fakir sector of the Galactic Core. The Fakir Sector is actually located in the Inner Rim. Moreover, Star Wars: Rebellion: Prima's Official Strategy Guide includes an appendix of all sectors and planets appearing in the game, but where the planet Ando would otherwise be included, the strategy guide strangely refers to the planet "Abdrim" instead of Ando, which is not a planet that appears in the game.