Polis Massa/Legends

Polis Massa was once an arid, barren planetoid and the origin of a colony of resulting asteroids. It was originally the homeworld of the little-known Eellayin civilization, who dwelt in underground cities such as Wiyentaah, but the world was fractured by a mysterious cataclysm. This natural disaster formed a field of asteroids which remained known as Polis Massa, especially the largest of them. The Eellayin civilization disappeared.

History


About 519 BBY, the Kallidahin from Kallidah, another world in Subterrel sector, abandoned their homeworld and under the leadership of the Archaeological Research Council of Kallidah settled Polis Massa Base. They sought to prove the Eellayin were the ancestors of the Kallidahin through cloning tissue samples recovered in their digs. The most important find was the lost city of Wiyentaah (not far from the Research Base), discovered 59 BBY, began an archaeological mining project on this planetoid, to uncover the mysteries of the cataclysm and the native species it destroyed. The Local Dig was established over Wiyentaah. Such was the length of this project, the Kallidahin became known as Polis Massans themselves.

Excavations on the largest Polis Massa asteroids uncovered many prize artifacts, mostly from deep within the planetoid. The Polis Massans analyzed these artifacts for organic tissue suitable for cloning. Though the aliens frequented the Subterrel Sector, they had little contact with the galaxy and as a whole, the Polis Massa outpost remained remote and hidden.

The gravitational pull on the rocky colony was just strong enough to be harmful to those who walked the surface without the proper equipment or protection. However, the facilities built on the asteroids were especially gravity-controlled inside and so suitable for living in.

Polis Massa was technically a loyal part of the Galactic Republic and friendly to the Jedi. Far from any major trade route, the remote settlement served as an emergency sanctuary for the Jedi after Order 66, during the rise of the Empire and Palpatine's Great Jedi Purge. The colony also housed the medical facilities in which Padmé Amidala Skywalker gave birth to the twins Luke and Leia, and subsequently died because she lost the will to live. It was here that Bail Organa chose to adopt Leia into his family. When Yoda arrived with Bail, he was visited by the specter of Qui-Gon Jinn who offered to tutor Obi-Wan Kenobi in the art of surviving one's death with the consciousness still intact.

Not long after the formation of the Galactic Empire, the Inquisitors Malorum and Sancor began investigations of Polis Massa, discovering much information to be sent to Lord Vader. In a fateful run-in with Obi-Wan Kenobi at the Research Base, Sancor lost his life.



Galactic Civil War
"By the time of the raid in Polis Massa, the men of the 501st were starting to get sick of the so-called Rebellion. These Rebels were different. They were organized, they were growing and they were everywhere."

- Diary of the 501st.

During the first days of the Alliance to Restore the Republic, a movement that started in 2 BBY, the Rebel command mounted a secret base on Polis Massa. The base was crewed by beings of different species, including Human troopers, Wookiee archers and Bothan spies; and they were equipped with FX-series medical assistant droids and AAC-1 hovertanks. The Alliance launched many operations from their Polis Massan base, although the Rebel Alliance did their best not to disturb the nearby Kallidahin excavations. The Empire raided this base repeatedly but the base survived these attacks.

In 0 BBY, the Polis Massan Rebel base received an important transmission from other Rebels: the plans of the Empire's new armored battle station. Knowing that the transmission had been made, Darth Vader ordered his agents of the 501st Legion to recover the plans and destroy the Rebel outpost. The Bothan spies, knowing that the Empire would have tracked the transmission, secretly forwarded the plans to another Rebel outpost, the Tantive IV starship, and prepared a forgery to trick the Imperial forces as much as they could. The Empire discovered the deception during the attack, but was slow in issuing new orders to the 501st. Eventually, the 501st obliterated the Rebel presence on Polis Massa and found a new trail to follow, tracking Princess Leia Organa's corvette orbitting over Tatooine.

Polis Massa did not attract the attention of the Yuuzhan Vong and remained unscathed during the Yuuzhan Vong War.

Behind the scenes
It is possible that the name Polis Massa was inspired by the word polis (Πόλις, meaning city in Ancient and Modern Greek) and massa (a large mass) to mean a "city-mass" or "city of great mass".

In the DVD commentary for Revenge of the Sith, John Knoll explains that George Lucas specifically designed the look of Polis Massa to be an homage to the look of the Clavius moon base in the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith comic
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith novel
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith junior novel
 * Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
 * The Last of the Jedi: The Desperate Mission
 * The Last of the Jedi: Dark Warning
 * The Last of the Jedi: Underworld
 * The Last of the Jedi: Death on Naboo
 * Star Wars: Battlefront II
 * Dark Nest III: The Swarm War

Non-canon appearances

 * LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
 * Old Wounds

Notes and references
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