902 BBY

902 before the Battle of Yavin (BBY) was a year in the era known as the Great Peace of the Republic. The time period began nearly one hundred years earlier and featured the Galactic Republic's settlement into previously unexplored regions of the Outer Rim Territories. Around 902 BBY, the millennia long Barabel War, a bloody conflict for hunting grounds, escalated to the entire Barabel population of the planet Barab I. The intervention of Jedi Knight Noga-ta brought an end to the dispute.

Proem
Around 4,500 BBY, stemming from a dispute over prime hunting grounds, a bloody civil conflict known as the Barabel War erupted on Barab I, homeworld of the Barabel species. The war continued for millennia, until a peace agreement was settled by passing Jedi, around 902 BBY. In 1,000 BBY, the New Sith Wars, fought between the Jedi and the Sith, came to an end. Then-current Supreme Chancellor Tarsus Valorum reorganized the Galactic Senate through the Ruusan Reformations, and the Jedi Order became a branch of the Republic Judicial Department.

The galaxy in 902 BBY
By 902 BBY, the Great Peace of the Republic, the era that began with the Ruusan Reformation, was nearly one hundred years in the making. The Republic expanded further into the galactic Deep Core and unexplored Wild Space regions that were later reorganized into the Outer Rim Territories.

Around 902 BBY, in the final stages of the Barabel War, the population of Barab I was divided into two opposing camps, supporting the hunters of two of the larger clans disputing the rights of access to certain choice hunting grounds. The disagreement threatened to erupt into full-scale butchery, as the entire species was destined to join the coming battle. The clans formed two armies that were each bent on the ultimate destruction of their enemies, but before the final battle, a group of passing Jedi Knights intervened. The Jedi, including the Ithorian Jedi explorer Noga-ta, listened to both sides and passed a fair judgment. In accordance the Jedi decree, clans always had to share hunting grounds, and a clan's largest kill of the night had to be given to the head of another clan. They settled a peace agreement that ended the Barabel War.

Impact
"I call on Jedi for judgment."

- A Barabel, disputing with a Rodian

The Republic continued its expansion, and the Great Peace of the Republic lasted for nearly nine hundred more years. Later in the era, economic forces began to shape the Republic, as companies bought Tingel Arm star systems to establish the Corporate Sector. The Jedi explorers did not record Barab I in the galactic registry, so the planet remained uncharted, until the scouts of the Planetary Safaris, an Imperial corporation organizing exotic hunting expeditions, discovered the Barabels.

The Barabels never forgot the Jedi decree and never again fought over hunting territory. They developed a rich mythology around the "great warriors from beyond the clouds," although the different stories mentioned sometimes a band of Jedi, sometimes a single Jedi with companions. Noga-ta was immortalized on pots and wall carvings which were discovered by researchers hundreds of years later, although some Barabels&mdash;who believed that outsider's meddling into the sacred past would rouse the spirits of the dead&mdash;made their efforts much harder.

When the first Imperial scouts arrived at the planet, the Barabels treated them with respect, believing the Jedi heroes of their legends had returned "from beyond the clouds." During the reign of the Galactic Empire, even in face of persecution, many Barabels refused to denounce the Jedi or the Force. They referred to the legend of the Barabel War, when the Jedi stopped thousand years of slaughter. From that event, the Barabels had a deep respect for the Jedi, and accepted the judgment of a Jedi in any dispute great or small.

Notable events

 * Around 902 BBY, Jedi explorer Noga-ta ended the Barabel War by settling a peace agreement over hunting grounds. c.

Behind the scenes
The year 902 BBY was only indirectly mentioned in various sources describing the Barabels: the second edition of Galaxy Guide 4: Alien Races placed this event "many generations" before the classic movies; The Essential Guide to Planets and Moons mentioned "centuries ago;" The Essential Guide to Alien Species and the Geonosis and the Outer Rim Worlds placed it in the Barabels' "distant past;" the Alien Anthology and the Ultimate Alien Anthology placed the event to "countless centuries ago." In 2006, The New Essential Guide to Alien Species stated that around 4,500 BBY, a civil war erupted on Barab I and Jedi "mediated a truce that is never broken." However, in 2008, The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia stated that Noga-ta settled the dispute "about 900 years before the Galactic Civil War," which began in 2 BBY. In 2009, the Galaxy at War solved the discrepancy by stating that the civil war lasted for millennia and was settled "centuries before the Empire."