Council of Elders' building

A building on the planet Cerea was used by the Cerean Council of Elders to meet and hold presentations from beings wishing to address them as a group. It consisted of three towers topped with a diamond shaped construct on which large amounts of plants grew.

Description
The building consisted of three separate towers which were joined by a large hollow diamond shaped construct at the top of the towers centred over the middle tower. The towers continued to rise through the inside of the diamond and the two outer towers reached it's top, however the middle tower ended with a smaller diamond shaped structure at the centre of the larger diamond which was also hollow. Large numbers of plant's grew between and on the towers within the two diamonds as well as on top of the stepped outside of the diamond. An entrance to the building was located at the base of the middle tower which was marked by a large golden plaque above the door which showed the Aurebesh letter Grek between a pair of wings. A river ran between two of the towers which was large enough for a small sailing vessel to sail through.

Within the building there was one area which consisted of semi-circular raised area accessible by steps at either end and with a rail build around the inner edge. It was on this platform that the Council of Elders would stand when listening to presentations which would be made by individuals standing on a much smaller raised circular platform in centre of the circle. Behind the speakers platform was an are where a gallery of other observers could view the presentation from which was sectioned off by another rail. A separate location in the building had a similar layout but lacking the speaker's platform and with a viewscreen built below the area on which the elders would stand. Another room in the building contained a large communication device above a table which the Elder's could use to communicate with beings not on Cerea.

History
In the year 33 BBY, during the period in which the Galactic Republic controlled much of the the galaxy, the building was used by a Twi'lek Representative of the Republic named Silais to give a presentation to the Council of Elders, a body of Cereans whom ruled Cerea. The purpose of the presentation was to convince the Elders to bring Cerea into the Republic so that it could benefit from it's technological and scientific advances. The council was persuaded to refuse Silais and his offer however by the Jedi Knight Ki-Adi-Mundi, whom had also viewed the presentation from a gallery of other citizens. After the presentation the Elders were so swayed by Mundi's argument, which pointed out the pollution that the Republic's technology would cause on Cerea, that they deemed it not even necessary to vote on the matter. Mundi was later brought back to the building on the same day after being accused of murdering an attendee with his Lightsaber at a Pro-tech rally he spoke in opposition at. The Jedi was cleared of the accusation using technology provided by Silais whom attended a meeting with Mundi and a member of the Council named Nar-Somo-Dali within the building. Dali informed the other Cerean that he was to preform his duty as a Jedi and apprehend the true culprit, a pro-tech youth named Maj-Odo-Nomor, although without his lightsaber as it was being kept as evidence.

Dali later contacted Mundi from with in the building as the Jedi was pursuing the Chevin smuggler Ephant Mon on board his freighter. Mon had aided the murder Nomor in evading the law and escaping Cerea as well as providing the pro-tech gang he was associated with, the Techrats, with Swoops which were outlawed on the Cerean homeworld. Dali informed Mundi that Mon had been working with another member of the Council of Elders named Dorr-Femi-Bonmi to smuggle in illegal off-world technology and support the pro-tech movement. Bonmi's part in the plot was discovered thanks to a Ortolan informant named Ydde that Mundi had previously spoken to, although Ydde had been killed to prevent him blackmailing the Elder and it had been notes he left that were discovered by the informants wife which revealed he had overheard Bonmi and Mon discussing their crimes. Finally Dali informed Mundi that the swoops which Mon had provided the Tech-rats with had been sabotaged to kill the youths riding them and prevent them informing others of the Chevin's. Mundi was forced to allow Mon to escape from the freighter after the smuggler killed Nomor, although he still held the murder's companions Twin and Mundi's own daughter Sylvn. Mundi tracked the trio to the planet Tatooine where he rescued the two girls but failed to apprehend Ephant Mon. Afterwards he returned to Cerea and visited the building again to see Dali who informed him of strange events taking place in the Core Worlds region of the galaxy including senators going into seclusion and Silais being recalled. Sensing trouble brewing the Elder advised the Jedi to spend time with his family while he could.

Behind the scenes
The Council of Elder's building first appeared in the first issue of the Star Wars: Republic comic series in the Prelude to Rebellion story arc. The issue was published on December 16 1998 by Dark Horse Comics and was written by Jan Strnad and illustrated by Anthony Winn. It then appeared again in the second, fifth and sixth issues of the comic book series all in the same arc published in the following year. The building isn't named at any point in the series although a number of scenes take place there. Each of the issues the building appeared in where collected with the rest of the prelude arc into a trade paper back book released on May 30 2000 and then were included in the omnibus book Rise of the Sith released in January 2009.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Republic 1: Prelude to Rebellion, Part 1
 * Star Wars: Republic 2: Prelude to Rebellion, Part 2
 * Star Wars: Republic 5: Prelude to Rebellion, Part 5
 * Star Wars: Republic 6: Prelude to Rebellion, Part 6