Undercity

"I hope you like mutants, freaks, and disease, Intern, 'cause our way off Taris takes us to the Undercity!"

- Marn Hierogryph to Zayne Carrick

The Undercity was a village on the ground level beneath the cities of Taris. In 3,956 BBY. It was a dark, wild area inhabited by the Outcasts&mdash;people whose predecessors were eternally banished from the surface as a form of criminal punishment.

History
"A Century ago rising levels of toxic pollution poisoned the oceans and famine swept the planet. The rich hoarded food for their own use and the poor were left to starve and die" Rukil to Revan

Abandoned by the Republic, the Tarisian industrialists began to use the power source of their wish, which was some form of toxic waste. The pollution poisoned and killed most of the oceanic fauna and flora, and so the planet was swept with famine. The Tarisian elite hoarded the remaining food and wealth for themselves, far more than they needed while the poor were left to starve and die.

The Tarisian poor, disgusted at what the rich had done, rebelled, beginning the Tarisian civil war. Millions of innocents died and large sections of Taris were destroyed or abandoned. It was during this time that the self sufficient colony was lost to the Tarisians. The rebellion was crushed in the end and the thousands of remaining disarmed rebels were imprisoned. But the jails could not hold them all, so they were instead banished to the Undercity, unable to return to the surface under penalty of death.

"The rebellion was crushed in the end, thousands were taken prisoner. The jails could not hold them all, and so the practice of banishing all prisoners to the Undercity was born." Rukil to Revan

Dirty, dark, and infested with rakghouls, the Outcasts had never left their prison during their unhappy existence, and there was little hope for their future, or that of their children amongst them. With the exception of Rukil. Rukil was an elderly Outcast who fervently studied and believed in the existence of the mythical Promised Land, a self-sufficient colony (built in an unspecified location) which had been filled with provisions and droid attendants but then forgotten by the rest of Taris long ago. If they could discover the location, said Rukil, they could escape their miserable existence and live in comfort for the rest of their days. Nobody believed in these stories, and most villagers only thought they served to give false hope.



The mechanical wilderness around the Undercity village was extremely dangerous because of rakghouls, semi-humanoid beasts that existed apparently only to attack nearby Humans and infect them with the rakghoul disease. The Outcasts had to keep infected people isolated from the rest of the society because they would inevitably mutate into rakghouls. Dangerous sewers located in the Underlevels were infested with rakghouls and Gamorrean slavers, who used the area for a base.

Arrival of Revan
"You are marked, upworlder. Even my dim old eyes can see the mantle of destiny that cloaks you. Perhaps old Rukil knows you better then you know yourself."

- Rukil to Revan on Taris.

When Revan first came to the Undercity, he was first greated by Shaleena, a member of the outcasts who lived in that village. Shaleena told Revan, to find and talk to the leader of the village Gendar and if he wanted to, to talk to Rukil. Shaleena told Revan of Rukil stories, of the promised land. Revan first visited Gandar, then immediately went to see Rukil.

At Rukil's behest, the amnesiac Revan sought out the journals of Malya, Rukil's father, and Rukil's grandfather, and brought them to the old man while he was trapped on Taris during the Jedi Civil War. Rukil had reached the century mark by then, having survived in the Undercity for a hundred years. Once presented with Revan's findings, he pieced together the journals' clues, finally discovering the location of the Promised Land. He shared the information with Gendar, the village leader, who stated that although the journey would be long and perilous, involving the crossing of rakghoul-infested territory, supplies were high. Faced with choosing to continue their dreary, hopeless lives or pursuing the light of hope that the journals presented, the outcasts departed for the Promised Land. As a final act towards the outcasts, Revan was also able to save the Outcasts from the rakghouls by giving a rakghoul serum vial (which he found on the remains of a Sith Trooper) to an Upper City doctor, Zelka Forn. Forn was able to reproduce it the serum, and used it cure the Outcasts of the disease. Whether or not the trek proved successful was unknown; the orbital bombardment ordered by Darth Malak some time later left little evidence of the journey.

Legacy
By at least as early as 3 ABY the Taris Undercity had been rebuilt but never again had it become a banishing place for criminals. As for 40 ABY, Boba Fett went to the Undercity seeking out information about stolen cloning information so that he can be cured from a serious disease.

Behind the scenes
The possibility of the survival of the Undercity during the destruction of Taris by Darth Malak remains open to speculation, as it has not been mentioned in canon. According to the canonical Light Side ending of KOTOR, the Outcasts had already escaped to the Promised Land by the time of the bombardment, so their future (if there was any) continued elsewhere.

It is unknown if it was the same Undercity in the Old Republic era or it was a rebuild in the last days of the Rise of the Empire era (in 1 BBY). However in Star Wars: Empire at War the land battle was on only one level and looked quite new. It is possible that whaever was left of it after the bombarbment was demolished and rebuilt by the Human Colonist.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2: Commencement, Part 2
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 3: Commencement, Part 3
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 25: Vector, Part 1
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 26: Vector, Part 2
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
 * Star Wars: Empire at War
 * Bloodlines