Ord Mantell/Legends

"Ord Mantell. Just one big junkyard. With a couple of cantinas to keep bored spacers entertained between lightspeed jumps."

- Col Serra

Ord Mantell was a planet in the Bright Jewel Cluster. It was located near Anobis in the Mid Rim. It was originally settled in 12,000 BBY as an Ordnance/Regional Depot.

Geography


Ord Mantell was known as the Heart of the Bright Jewel since it orbited the blue star Bright Jewel at the center of the Bright Jewel system. The planet was famous for its thick, outer cometary cloud, which glowed with a pinkish cast when viewed from space, ensuring its place as the site of the Blockade Runners Derby for nearly 100 years.

Two large moons and thirteen other satellites orbited the planet (to which was added the Jubilee Wheel), and the cloud cover was tinged with pink when viewed from the planet's surface. This collection of natural wonders made Ord Mantell something of a tourist attraction, despite its seedier side. It was also the homeworld of the Mantellian Savrips and Mantellian flutterplumes, whose sapience was largely unnoticed or ignored.

Mountains and islands were the distinct features of Ord Mantell's terrain. Almost every land mass on the planet was dotted with mountain chains. Ord Mantell's continent of Worlport boasted a sprawl of cities along its southern shore and it is this part of Ord Mantell that many spacers regarded as a safeport, famous for casinos and for tourists, of which it attracted almost one billion annually. Other metropolitan areas lacked address markings and were considered not intended for outsiders. The thinking behind this was that if you don't know where you're going, then you don't belong here.

Outside of the urban sprawl, the narrow equatorial band of starports and the volcanic islands, Ord Mantell remained largely rural and low tech. Its extreme reliance on fossil fuels kept the planet quite barren, huge robotic coal yards remained to fuel the planet's cities and an immense junkyard littered a large portion of the planetscape.

History
"What is it with this place and bounty hunters?"

- Han Solo



Ord Mantell was settled circa 12,000 BBY by Corellian colonists as an advanced military outpost for the Galactic Republic in the Outer Rim. It was one of several Ordnance/Regional Depots, lending to its 'Ord' name. The settlers became mostly farmers.

Over time, more wealthy planets and better hyperspace routes diminished Ord Mantell's strategic importance, and it became something of a free port for all manner of freighters and cargo ships. Despite the planet's diminishing stature, it remained a popular stop for traveling ships.

Old Republic
During the Cold War in 3,653 BBY, a corrupt admiral sold off the local fleet, and so the military all but abandoned the planet, leading to the lawlessness Ord Mantell eventually became known for, and the haven for mercenaries, exiles, murderers and smugglers coming from the Hydian Way on the galactic west. After the Treaty of Coruscant, the corrupt local government decided to stay loyal to the republic, however separatist residents attempted to break away. This lead to an armed civil war in an attempt to achieve independence, and a military buildup assisted by local government supported crime syndicates and Galactic Republic forces destabilized the world further.

Galactic Republic
Circa 37 BBY, Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi were assigned to investigate a missing cargo ship. The investigation led them to Ord Mantell, where they encountered a ruthless land baron named Taxer Sundown, who controlled much of Ord Mantell's moisture farming properties. The intervention of the Jedi forced Sundown to try and flee Ord Mantell, though the resulting chase ended in a crash that broke Sundown's neck. This led to the discovery of a mind-control device being employed by Sundown, which, in addition to lightsaber-wielding enforcers, had convinced Mantellian farmers that he was a Jedi.

Before the start of the Clone Wars, Jedi Knight Pablo-Jill brought peace to the lawless world. Afterward, Ord Mantell was one of the planets used as a weapons storage facility, clone trooper barracks and fleet support by the Grand Army of the Republic and Republic Navy during the Clone Wars. Ord Mantell was where the GAR regrouped after the Battle of Geonosis. During the war, Anakin Skywalker's fleet was ambushed by Separatist forces while making a supply run to the planet.

Galactic Empire
"Well, the bounty hunter we ran into on Ord Mantell changed my mind."

- Han Solo During the Imperial era, Renegade Squadron, Han Solo, and Chewbacca rendezvoused on the planet to repair damages sustained to their fleet. It was here that the squadron and Solo were attacked by IG-88 and Imperial forces in the Ord Mantell junkyards. However, the Rebels managed to escape. Although the planet claimed to be free of Imperial interest, Han Solo and Luke Skywalker, while on a different mission, discovered an Imperial fleet on maneuvers there.

Before returning to the Echo Base on Hoth, it was here that Han had his run in with the bounty hunter Skorr. It was also at a starship scrapyard on Ord Mantell that Dash Rendar&mdash;working to locate information on Han Solo's whereabouts for Lando Calrissian after the debacle at Cloud City&mdash;ran into IG-88D and other bounty hunters trying to intercept Boba Fett, who was transporting Han Solo's frozen body to Jabba Desilijic Tiure. Rendar defeated IG-88D in a battle in the Ord Mantell junkyards.

New Republic


Ord Mantell was admitted into the New Republic in 9 ABY. It was subsequently attacked by Grand Admiral Thrawn in the Battle of Ord Mantell in 9 ABY as part of a tactic to keep the New Republic distracted.

During the Disciples of Ragnos crisis, information had surfaced about a large stockpile of Rebellion-era weapons caches hidden in the wastes of the planet. Jaden Korr moved there to destroy the stockpiles so they didn't fall into the wrong hands; during the mission he battled Boba Fett, who wished to capture the weapons for himself.

Han Solo returned to Ord Mantell between 23 and 24 ABY aboard the Millennium Falcon to act as a judge in the Blockade Runner Race. During this visit, they encountered Anja Gallandro, who believed that Solo had murdered her father. Gallandro used this to try and coerce Solo in mediating a violent dispute between miners and farmers on her home world of Anobis.

Yuuzhan Vong War
During the Yuuzhan Vong invasion of the galaxy, Ord Mantell was approached by the New Republic to help alleviate the overwhelming rush of refugees fleeing the battle zones. Like many refugee worlds early in the war, it was eventually overrun by the Yuuzhan Vong who also caused severe damage to the orbiting space station, the Jubilee Wheel. The planet was eventually liberated by a band of soldiers wearing Mandalorian armor. It was believed that their leader was none other than Boba Fett himself, although only Han Solo had any evidence to support this rumor.

Behind the scenes
The PC game Star Wars: Rebellion mistakenly places Ord Mantell in the Dufilvan sector (a misspelling of the true Dufilvian sector) of the Outer Rim Territories. The Dufilvian sector is actually located in the Mid Rim.