500 Republica/Legends

500 Republica was an exclusive residential tower in Galactic City on Coruscant, home to some of the most wealthy and famous individuals in the Galactic Republic and Galactic Empire. One of the tallest buildings on Coruscant, 500 Republica was a mountainous structure holding more technology and people than some entire worlds. From the square kilometers of machinery at its base that kept it running, to the spire at its pinnacle above the clouds, 500 Republica featured fifty-three skydocks, hundreds of private turbolifts, a security staff the size of a small army, and a large number of security armaments including plasma weapons in its crown.

Celebrities, businessmen, and Senators of the most privileged classes made their homes in 500 Republica. Among its inhabitants were Jheramahd Greyshade, Simon Greyshade, Padmé Amidala, Bail Organa, Raith Seiner, and Jenna Zan Arbor. Palpatine kept his residence at 500 Republica for over a decade, during his time as Senator, Supreme Chancellor, and Galactic Emperor. It was there that he met with his Sith apprentice Darth Maul, convinced then-Queen Amidala to call for a Vote of No Confidence in Finis Valorum, and kept a hidden command center in the building's depths during the Clone Wars. Valorum spoke with Bail Organa about opposing Palpatine's moves towards tyranny in Organa's 500 Republica residence.

Republic Intelligence and the Jedi tracked Palpatine's alter ego, Darth Sidious, to the building's basement in 19 BBY, at the end of the Clone Wars. While the Jedi were distracted by the battle breaking out above the planet, Captain Dyne of Intelligence located Sidious' lair, but he and his team were killed. The building was attacked by Separatist General Grievous during the battle, as part of his strike to kidnap Palpatine.

Description
500 Republica was located in the Ambassadorial Sector of Coruscant, a prestigious area of the Senate District, and was considered to be the crowning jewel of both. A mountainous structure, 500 Republica was taller than any of its neighbors and one of Coruscant's tallest buildings, rising above the clouds in an organically stepped fashion, and topped with a ring of penthouses and a narrow spire at its apex. Plasma weapons were concealed in the crown of the building. The "steps" that made up 500 Republica could mass as much as whole buildings in the Senate District, and were topped in a variety of ways, some flat and some rounded; several atria decorated the building as well. The massive structure was supported by the towers around it, allowing it to reach the size it had. Its foundations covered square kilometers. The building was large enough that weather patterns formed around its upper reaches.

500 Republica contained more technology than many worlds in the Outer Rim. Hundreds of private turbolifts ran the height of the building, from the very top penthouses down to the deepest sublevels. Other sets of turbolifts were used to transport waste and supplies. The building was fitted with fifty-three skydocks, large enough to accommodate everything from private vessels to Coruscant's largest air taxis. A maglev train line stopped at 500 Republica as well. Palpatine's apartment had a secret turbolift running down to a mid-level skydock, used in case of an evacuation. A repulsorlift speeder running through a deep network of tunnels linked 500 Republica, as well as a number of other important government locations, with the Chancellor's hardened bunker in the Sah'c District. The building's lowest east and west skydocks, located at the bottom of Coruscant's urban canyons, connected by tunnel to the level-one sub-basement. A series of tunnels linked the sub-basements of 500 Republica with the LiMerge Power building in the Works that the Sith used as their lair in the days of the late Republic.

Below the lowest levels lay 500 Republica's sub-basements. The level-one sub-basement lay a hundred meters above the Coruscant Underground proper, and two hundred meters above the planet's bedrock. While many of Coruscant's larger buildings sat on top of older structures that they used for support, Republica's foundations ran down to Coruscant's actual bedrock. Ferrocrete and durasteel made up the building's supports, and the rest of the sub-basement was filled with a plethora of machinery that supported, stabilized, climate controlled, secured, and provided water and power to the building above. A large staff of custodial and maintenance droids were kept on hand in these depths.

The lowest levels of 500 Republica were virtually unexplored. Deep underneath the building, below the level-one sub-basement, Darth Sidious kept a secret installation during the Clone Wars. A shaft fifty meters deep and four wide, covered by a hydraulic lift, provided access to the underground facility, created from a maintenance node of an ancient building that had once stood at that site. A large metal door leading from the node's corridors opened into a command center, filled with computers and holoprojectors for monitoring data that Sidious sought to keep an eye on.

Occupants
500 Republica was a home to thousands of Coruscant's wealthiest individuals, from Senators to celebrities to shipping and media barons. It held more people than some planets. From the very top, the most privileged of individuals could literally look down on Coruscant. 500 Republica became a symbol for the disenfranchised classes of the galaxy of the excess of Coruscant and the Galactic Senate. 500 Republica had its own security staff, the size of a small army, and the building was protected by many discrete security armaments.

As Senator, Supreme Chancellor, and Galactic Emperor, Palpatine kept his quarters in 500 Republica. Palpatine's senatorial apartment was located high in the building. The walls and floor were decorated in red, and the Senator filled every spot he could with works of art, mostly from the galaxy beyond Naboo, a sign of the Senator's worldly view. It was a modest dwelling, compared with those of other Senators. Palpatine allowed few outsiders into his home, and it remained the domain of his most trusted confidants. The Senator used his apartment to meet with his Sith apprentice as well. As Chancellor, Palpatine owned a penthouse suite at the top of 500 Republica; though it was publicly known that Palpatine lived in the building, the exact location of his quarters was a well-kept secret. Red Guards kept watch outside. Like his senatorial home, Palpatine's apartment as Chancellor was decorated with unique statuary and holoart. As Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious, he also had his command center in the depths of 500 Republica, which he staffed with Geonosian guards and assassin droids.

Besides Palpatine, several other Senators owned apartments in 500 Republica. Jheramahd Greyshade, Senator of the Commonality, kept a dwelling in the building. After he was killed by an assassin, his position and home were given to his cousin Simon Greyshade. Bail Organa of Alderaan had a residence of his own in the building. Padmé Amidala kept an apartment there, as well, in her tenure as Senator for Naboo.

History
500 Republica was built centuries before the rise of the Galactic Empire. From its beginning, it was a majestic building, constructed in the classical style. Republica grew over the years, with terraces and towers and roofs being built bit by bit on top of the old structure. Surrounding towers buttressed the growing edifice, allowing it to rise above all its neighboring buildings, until eventually it topped out in a spire far up in the clouds of Coruscant.

Senator Palpatine's dealings
Senator Palpatine of Naboo took up residence in the building when he lived on Coruscant. In 32.5 BBY, Palpatine spoke with the newly-elected Queen of Naboo, Padmé Amidala, by holocomm. Amidala informed him of the death of her predecessor, Veruna, under mysterious circumstances, and spoke to Palpatine about providing him additional security; they then discussed the upcoming vote on the taxation of the Republic's Free Trade Zones, on which Palpatine promised to vote in the interests of Naboo and the Republic. The taxation vote passed, but the resulting uproar led the Trade Federation to blockade, and eventually invade Naboo under the orders of Palpatine's alter ego Darth Sidious. When Sidious learned Amidala had escaped, he met with his apprentice Darth Maul at 500 Republica, on his own balcony. Sidious ordered Maul to track down Amidala and kill her Jedi protectors, then bring her back to Naboo.

Maul failed, and soon Amidala and her retinue arrived on Coruscant to speak to the Galactic Senate about the invasion. The Naboo party and Palpatine retired to Palpatine's 500 Republica apartment to prepare for the Senate hearing. There, Palpatine expounded on the corruption of the Republic and inefficacy of Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum to Amidala, warning her that the Senate might not hear her plea. Palpatine counseled that she could call for a Vote of No Confidence in Valorum, paving the way for the election of a stronger Chancellor who would listen to her; the only other way, he said, would be the slow process of the courts. Amidala went before the Senate later, but Palpatine's warning had proven true; the Senate wanted to call a committee to look into the matter, and Amidala, angry that her people would continue dying while they deliberated, called for the Vote of No Confidence in Chancellor Valorum. While the Senate voted, she returned to 500 Republica. There, her traveling companion Jar Jar Binks told her how his people, the Gungans, had an army of their own that they could use to fight off the invaders. When Palpatine returned with the news that he was in the running for the Chancellery, Amidala decided to wait no longer and return to Naboo to fight the Federation herself. With the help of the Gungans, the Naboo were able to drive the Federation off, and Palpatine won the election, becoming Supreme Chancellor.

Intrigues and assassinations
In 24 BBY, Senator Jheramahd Greyshade was killed by the assassin Tsian in his apartment in 500 Republica. The body was thrown off the building from his quarters, causing a massive and fatal pile-up in the traffic outside the building, and launching an investigation by the Senate Guard. Jheramahd Greyshade's constituency, the Commonality, appointed his cousin Simon Greyshade to fill in the late Senator's position. Simon Greyshade was given Jheramahd's apartment as well, and to prevent any assassination attempts on him, two Jedi&mdash;Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker&mdash;were appointed to guard the Senator. That night, Greyshade spoke with Venco Autem, Tsian's employer, who was now threatening Greyshade to vote the way Autem wanted him to on a critical Financial Reform Act. Greyshade, however, would not comply. As Greyshade left his office to speak with the Jedi, the apartment's protocol droid suddenly revealed a set of concealed blasters and opened fire on the Senator. The Jedi moved to defend him, but even with a second assassin droid coming in through the window, they were able to stop the attack. The Jedi were able to discover that the droids were under Tsian's control, and herself in Autem's employ, and the plot against Greyshade was foiled.

Within the next three years, the state of the galaxy changed as the Clone Wars broke out across the Republic. In 21 BBY, Finis Valorum returned from his two years of seclusion to visit Bail Organa at his apartment in 500 Republica. Valorum was concerned at how much power Palpatine had been gathering, and he believed that the Supreme Chancellor was shaping himself into a tyrant. Valorum believed Palpatine to be behind several assassinations of his opponents, even an assassination attempt on Organa himself. The former Chancellor warned Organa that Palpatine was going to push a security act through the Senate, a resolution that Organa had opposed for its removal of the Republic's freedoms. Organa vowed to act against it, and asked Valorum to stay; Valorum intended to leave Coruscant as soon as possible, however, and he left Organa's residence. Unknown to either man, Palpatine had had their conversation monitored through a cleaning droid. Only days later, Valorum was killed while leaving Coruscant, by a bomb detonated on his transport. His death gave the Senate its push to pass the security act.

The pursuit of Sidious
Near the very end of the Clone Wars, Mace Windu and a squad of clone troopers discovered a passageway in the sub-basements of 500 Republica that led to a building in the Works.

When Confederacy forces led by General Grievous attacked Coruscant, they knew exactly where to go for their target. On the same day as the Separatist attack on Coruscant, Republic Intelligence had discovered the shocking truth that the Sith mastermind behind the Clone Wars was operating right from the very heart of the Republic, and was traced back to 500 Republica.

Behind the scenes
500 Republica was first named in Inside the Worlds of Star Wars Episode I by Kristin Lund. It was identified with the building in which Palpatine's apartment in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace was located, and illustrated with a shot from the movie indicating which building this was&mdash;in the film, the shot of it precedes an interior shot of Palpatine's apartment, but the two are not explicitly connected. The image from The Phantom Menace and the description of Inside the Worlds have been the main inspiration for almost every portrayal of 500 Republica, including the comic series Star Wars Republic: Honor and Duty, which bases its illustration of 500 Republica directly off the building from The Phantom Menace.

However, there are a handful of anomalous portrayals of the building. Star Wars Republic 61: Dead Ends includes a shot of 500 Republica that is very different from the other version, more resembling Padmé Amidala's apartment&mdash;though not the same building, as Bail Organa occupies the penthouse in that comic, while Amidala occupies her building's penthouse, as seen in works such as Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. 500 Republica is consistently stated as a single building, but whether Dead Ends ' tower is the same spire seen in other sources, with allowances made for artistic license, or whether it is meant to be a tower projecting from the rest of the building, is unknown. A different erroneous depiction occurs in The Official Star Wars Fact File 32. This describes 500 Republica as another building seen in The Phantom Menace, in the "air taxi" scene appearing only on the DVD version of the film. In this scene, Padmé Amidala and her entourage are shown flying through the skylanes of Coruscant to Palpatine's apartment. The scene ends with them approaching the building identified by the Fact File, but it is not shown that this is their destination.

The Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith novel mentions Padmé Amidala having an apartment in 500 Republica, in which Anakin Skywalker presents his Padawan braid to her. This is not, however, Amidala's apartment as seen in Attack of the Clones and the movie of Revenge of the Sith; the scene described in the Revenge of the Sith novel is seen in Star Wars: The Clone Wars&mdash;with some differences&mdash;and the setting of it does not resemble Amidala's apartment in the films. Leland Chee has confirmed that Amidala's apartment building is separate from 500 Republica.

Appearances

 * Cloak of Deception
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace / novel / comic / junior novel
 * Star Wars Republic: Honor and Duty
 * Star Wars: Clone Wars
 * Republic Commando: True Colors
 * Star Wars Republic 61: Dead Ends
 * Labyrinth of Evil
 * Reversal of Fortune
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith novel
 * The Last of the Jedi: Death on Naboo
 * The Last of the Jedi: Against the Empire
 * The Last of the Jedi: Master of Deception
 * The Last of the Jedi: Reckoning
 * Millennium Falcon

Notes and references
500 Republica Дом 500 по Республиканской улице