Aduba-3

Astrographical information

Suns

1: Aduba^[3]

Orbital position

3^[3]

Moons

1^[3]

Grid square

U-11^[1]

Trade routes

Triellus Trade Route^[1]

Rotation period

22 standard hours^[3]

Orbital period

343 local days^[3]

Physical information

Class

Terrestrial^[3]

Atmosphere

Type I (breathable)^[3]

Climate

Arid to temperate^[3]

Gravity

Standard^[3]

Terrain

Deserts^[3]
Plains^[3]
Steppe^[3]

Points of interest

Flora

Dune-cactus^[5]

Fauna

Societal information

Other species

Primary language(s)

Galactic Basic Standard^[4]

Government

Anarchy^[3]

Population

2 ABY: 3 million (estimated, mostly transients)^[3]
25 ABY: Less than 1 million^[1]

Major cities

Major imports

Criminal wares^[3]

Major exports

Foodstuffs^[3]
Criminal wares^[3]

Affiliation

Tenloss Syndicate^[3]

"I've stuck on Aduba-3 all my life, and if I don't get off it, I'm gonna go nuts!"

―Jimm Doshun^[5]

Aduba-3 was an isolated planet on the Outer Rim that became a haven for criminals and spacers with nowhere else to go. Originally settled by colonists from the Sacred Way religion, Aduba-3 became saturated by outsiders after a bogus chromium rush—this scam, run by the criminal Tenloss Syndicate, led to the planet's sole city of Tun Aduban becoming a shadowport by the era of the Galactic Civil War. Tun Aduban was the center of society on Aduba-3, as most of the rest of the planet was barren desert spotted with lightly settled grasslands. By 0 ABY many still lived in the Sacred Way's original small farming villages on these plains, which mostly grew maze-stalk.

Located along the Triellus Trade Route galactic east of Hutt Space, Aduba-3 became a hotspot of activity in 0 ABY. This stemmed from the visit of Rebel hero Han Solo, who traveled to the world to lie low after the Battle of Yavin. On Aduba-3, Solo was famously caught up in a dispute between the small village of Onacra and a local swoop gang called the Cloud-Riders, putting together a posse known as the Star-Hoppers of Aduba-3 to put an end to the gang's threats. Solo's exploits on Aduba-3 soon became legend throughout the galaxy, inspiring a popular holo-doc by 2 ABY.

Description[]

"That hunk of rock and sand wasn't much—but it was home sweet home for a little while. When you've a price on your head like we do... that's as much as you can expect of any place!"

―Han Solo^[8]

Highhound — High-hounds attempting to prey on a maze-stalk crop on Aduba-3.

An isolated world in the Outer Rim Aduba system, Aduba-3 was little-known and on few star-charts. There was a reason for that: Aduba-3 was a barren planet lacking in valuable resources, one that the Galactic Republic, Galactic Empire, the Hutts and the Trade Federation all ignored as not worth their time.^[3] This was despite the fact that Aduba-3 was located along the Triellus Trade Route, not far from Hutt Space. The third planet orbiting the star Aduba,^[3] Aduba-3's society centered around the spaceport of Tun Aduban, with numerous small farming villages scattered in the lands surrounding the city.^[6] Tun Aduban itself gained a reputation as a shadowport, a haven for some of the most down-on-their-luck and desperate spacers on the Outer Rim. Much of the rest of the planet was desert, but those barren lands were covered in some places by peaceful grassy plains that supported agriculture. Days on Aduba-3 lasted 22 hours and a year lasted 343 days. The planet had one moon.^[3]

Aduba-3 was a largely lawless world and much of its economy revolved around criminal activities, although it also exported a fair amount of foodstuffs such as maze-stalk. Maze-stalk was the favored crop of most Aduban farmers, who grew it on the hardy grasslands that were fed by underground rivers. The patches of vegetation scattered around Aduba-3's surface were generally thorny, protecting themselves from local herbivores. However, as maze-stalk was an imported crop, it lacked the protective mechanisms of the local plants, leaving it highly susceptible to native predators such as the fearsome high-hounds. Highly intelligent avians with Human-like faces, high-hounds were migratory beasts who were among Aduban farmers' most difficult challenges. Omnivorous, they would often prey on the settlers themselves aside from just their crops, and were even known to engage in cannibalism when other food was scarce.^[3] Banthas were also commonplace on Aduba-3, being used by local villagers as pack animals and for transportation.^[6]

History[]

A den of iniquity[]

"Begone, defilers of the Sacred Way!"

―Pera, a Sacred Way priest on Aduba-3^[4]

The Behemoth from the World Below, created by the Sith Lord Seviss Vaa on Aduba-3.

Although Aduba-3 was initially colonized by pilgrims from the religious faith known as the Sacred Way, the settlers were not the first to trod upon the planet's surface. During the New Sith Wars between the Jedi Order and Dark Lord of the Sith Skere Kaan, a Sith Lord named Seviss Vaa journeyed to Aduba-3, which at that time was known by a different name. Fascinated by Naga Sadow's alchemical teachings, Vaa dreamed of creating his own dark side creatures and reviving the lost art of Sith alchemy. Vaa chose Aduba-3 as one of his test worlds, and began testing his ancient arts on local wildlife. Vaa took a local lizard and mutated it into a hulking, monstrous brute designed specifically to target Jedi, reacting to the energies given off by their lightsabers and attacking them with a lightning beam projected from its forehead. The creature was powerful, yet flawed an unstable—an early experiment, but to Vaa, it was certainly one worthy of revisiting. Vaa put the creature into suspended animation in an underground cave as he moved onto other projects, but was soon afterward killed in the Ruusan campaign, leaving his creature slumbering beneath the surface.^[3]

After the arrival of the Sacred Way, society on Aduba-3 took shape as an agricultural colony governed in accordance with the Way's teachings. Small villages soon began to dot the planet's grasslands—one of these communities, Onacra, was settled almost on top of the resting place of Seviss Vaa's monstrous creation. A Force-sensitive villager somehow learned of the beast's existence, and thus the local legend of the "Behemoth from the World Below" was born, as the villagers told stories of how the creature would protect the village in its time of need. This pastoral existence was eventually interrupted in the latter years of the Galactic Republic, when miners discovered highly valuable chromium in the planet's crust, leading to a massive rush that brought a large amount of outside investment and activity. The mines were dry within a year—eventually, it was discovered that the only decent chromium in Aduba-3's surface had been planted, likely by the Tenloss Syndicate-affiliated Modirin Mining Concern. The scam's explosion left hundreds of offworlders ruined, and lacking even the credits to haul off their equipment, they left behind dozens of abandoned factories and mines.^[3]

However, the disaster proved to be a major, convenient opportunity to the Mining Concern, which bought the discarded equipment at a steep discount and sold it off for a massive profit. Modirin left the mining towns intact after selling off the machinery, and Tenloss began renting the remaining buildings around the planet's principal spaceport to locals who eventually facilitated the town's transformation into Tun Aduban, a shadowport catering to a highly transient population of spacers and criminals. But while the Tenloss Syndicate remained essentially in control of the planet, they maintained little presence on the planet, only periodically sending a ship to collect rent on the buildings it owned. Aduba-3's lawless society allowed it to be a breeding ground for swoop gangs—by 0 ABY, one of the most fearsome of these was the Cloud-Riders, who targeted the small farming villages in the plains west of Tun Aduban. Led by a former professional swoop racer named Serji-X Arrogantus, the Cloud-Riders earned a notorious reputation for stealing crops and women, and committing acts of violence against anyone who resisted.^[3]

One of the Cloud-Riders' favorite targets was a village called Onacra, conveniently located closest to the gang's camp in the hills. Onacra's annual tithe was set at 9,000 credits a year, a very steep price for the small and poor community. It took only three years for Onacra to grow tired of this arrangement,^[3] and in 0 ABY, a villager named Ramiz made his way to Tun Aduban to find a champion to defend his village.^[5] Who he found was Han Solo, the smuggler and Rebel hero who had stopped on Aduba-3 after participating in the Rebel victory at the Battle of Yavin. Solo and his Wookiee companion Chewbacca had gotten in a massive brawl almost immediately after landing in Tun Aduban, as they defended the local Sacred Way priest, a Verpine known as Pera, from an angry mob who attempted to stop him from granting a proper funeral to a cyborg. After fighting off their attackers, Solo and Chewbacca walked to the local cantina,^[4] where Ramiz asked him to help Onacra.^[5]

The adventures of the Star-Hoppers[]

"Yeah, that's how Chewie and I wound up on this hellhole called Aduba-3, all right – agreeing to protect a bunch of peasants from a bandit type named Serji-X Arrogantus."

―Han Solo^[6]

Battleaduba3 — The Star-Hoppers and the Cloud-Riders battle the Behemoth and each other.

Solo heard Ramiz's plight and agreed to help him, deciding to put together a posse drawn from some of the other spacers lurking around Tun Aduban.^[5] Out of several dozen applicants, Solo chose six to join himself and Chewbacca: Hedji, a rare Spiner who used his naturally grown quills as deadly weapons; the quick-triggered hired gun Amaiza Foxtrain, an old acquaintance of Solo's; Don-Wan Kihotay, an old man who dubiously claimed to be a Jedi Knight, but who wielded a Jedi lightsaber; Jaxxon, a rabbit-like Lepi smuggler with a hot temper; and finally, "the Starkiller Kid" Jimm Doshun, a native of Onacra who saw the group as a potential vehicle off the planet, and who brought along his truculent droid, FE-9Q.^[5] That crew became known as the Star-Hoppers of Aduba-3, and their exploits over the next several days would become legendary.^[3]

Together, the eight journeyed to Onacra, arriving at the village in time to fight off a high-hound attack that threatened the community's maze-stalk crop. But upon reaching Onacra, events took a turn Solo did not predict. The smuggler was approached by the a local mystic, known only as the "Old One," who told him of the legend of Seviss Vaa's monster and claimed to have the ability to summon the beast to fight the Cloud-Riders. Solo brushed the old man off as senile, and soon afterward, the Cloud-Riders swooped down upon Onacra and met the Star-Hoppers in pitched battle. Although the Star-Hoppers more than held their own, they seemed hopelessly outnumbered, and they lost two of their ranks early in the fight when the droid FE-9Q was destroyed and the would-be Jedi Kihotay was incapacitated by a blaster shot. But when things seemed most desperate for the Star-Hoppers, the din of the battle was pierced by strange chanting, and it became apparent that the Old One's claims were true.^[6]

Suddenly, a massive green monster burst forth from beneath the earth,^[6] joining the fray of battle. Seemingly under the control of the Old One, the monster focused its attacks solely on the Cloud-Riders, quickly decimating their numbers. Realizing this, Arrogantus made a run on the Old One in his skyspeeder, which ended up killing them both when the behemoth crushed them with a single stomp. The death of the man controlling the monster led it to go berserk, attacking all it saw indiscriminately. However, Solo managed to get the situation under control, taking up Kihotay's lightsaber and stabbing the beast through the chest. The lightsaber caused the behemoth's energies to go haywire, resulting in Seviss Vaa's monster disintegrating entirely.^[7] Those few surviving Cloud-Riders soon scattered, fighting over what little loot remained at camp,^[3] and with the beast dead, Onacra was saved. Their job done, Solo and Chewbacca left Aduba-3 behind.^[8]

However, Aduba-3 hadn't seen the last of the Star-Hoppers. Several months later, Jaxxon and Foxtrain—who had gone into business together—were targeted by a deranged bounty hunter named Beilert Valance, who was obsessively searching for an unnamed "farmboy" who had been involved in the Rebel rescue of Princess Leia Organa from Imperial captivity. Mistakenly believing the farmboy to be Jimm Doshun, Valance followed Jaxxon and Foxtrain to Aduba-3, as the pair went to warn their old partner that he was in danger. When Valance and his crew arrived, Jaxxon and Foxtrain lured their pursuers into a trap in the plains outside Onacra. Once the hunters had hit the ground, Doshun and the villagers stampeded their banthas, trampling and killing many of Valance's men. Valance escaped being run over and glimpsed Doshun long enough to realize that he wasn't the farmboy he was looking for. Laughing uproariously at the irony, Valance left Aduba-3 posthaste to continue his search.^[9]

By 2 ABY, the events surrounding the battle between the Star-Hoppers and the Cloud-Riders had already become legend, bolstered by Solo's rising celebrity. That year, Tri-Nebula Entertainment released a holo-doc entitled Eight for Aduba-3: The Saga of the Starhoppers, which became a moderate success. Dubious of the holo-doc's story—the idea of a giant monster rising from the ground shooting a laser beam out of its head seemed too ridiculous to be believed—Rebel historian Voren Na'al ventured to Aduba-3 to unravel what really happened. Although Na'al managed to meet with several people who had encountered Solo during his stay on Aduba-3, he ultimately encountered a morass of conflicting stories, many of which resembled the holo-doc. Na'al left Aduba-3 frustrated, believing that the true story of Solo's trip to Aduba-3 would yet remain untold.^[3]

Inhabitants[]

"I have said that they are devils, master Solo... and there is no other word that fits them so well."

―Ramiz to Han Solo, regarding the Cloud-Riders^[5]

Aduba-3 was originally settled as an agricultural colony by followers of the Sacred Way, who did much to clear and tame the planet's harsh plantlife and began farming their own transplanted crops such as maze-stalk. However, Aduba-3 soon played host to hundreds of offworlders who rushed to the planet in search of valuable chromium. Those miners and entrepreneurs were gone nearly as soon as they arrived, to be replaced by an ever-shifting population of transient spacers that totaled an estimated 3 million by 2 ABY. However, despite the presence of the thousands of seedy characters and criminals who sought refuge on Aduba-3, the Sacred Way still maintained a presence on Aduba-3 up through the era of the Galactic Civil War. By 0 ABY, that presence was personified in Tun Aduban by a Verpine priest known as Pera, who ran the local mission in Tun Aduban.^[3]

Although Pera found few converts among the denizens of the shadowport, he earned widespread respect through his maintenance of Spacer's Hill, a makeshift cemetery for spacers located just outside the town. Life also continued fairly normally in the small religious villages outside of the city, although the Followers of the Way frequently had to deal with attacks from swoop gangs and high-hounds. The most fearsome of those swoop gangs was the Cloud-Riders, who targeted small villages in the plains west of Tun Aduban. Led by the psychotic former swoop racer Serji-X Arrogantus, the Cloud-Riders tormented the community of Onacra before Han Solo's Star-Hoppers and Seviss Vaa's "Behemoth from the World Below" permanently put an end to their reign of terror.^[3]

Locations[]

"Well, here we are, Chewie-- home sweet home for a while... that is, if the locals have any employment for a couple of incognito planet-jumpers."

―Han Solo, upon landing in Tun Aduban^[4]

Life on Aduba-3 was centered around the spaceport Tun Aduban, a hardscrabble town filled with desperate spacers and characterized by rampant crime, especially shipjacking. In its early years, Tun Aduban wasn't a proper port at all, just a single control tower that directed ships to land in the desert. After the end of the chromium rush, Tun Aduban became home to a population of spacers who gave it a reputation as a den of iniquity where one could indulge their vice for cheap. Local landmarks included the popular cantina Locru's Central Saloon, the House of a Higher Power run by the Sacred Way priest Pera, and the Spacer's Hill cemetery that Pera maintained outside the city.^[3]

Outside of Tun Aduban were scattered dozens of small farming villages that were set up in accordance with the teachings of the Sacred Way. Over time, some communities began to drift away from the more rigid tenets of the Way, leading some to secede entirely. One of these villages was Onacra, which became a hotspot of battle during 0 ABY. Onacra was notable for having a dark secret concealed beneath it: the resting place of the Behemoth from the World Below, the Sithspawn monster that rose to battle the Cloud-Riders during Han Solo and the Star-Hoppers' defense of the village.^[3]

Behind the scenes[]

The planet Aduba-3 first appeared in Star Wars (1977) 7, written by Roy Thomas and released in 1977.^[4] The world went on to be one of the primary settings of several Marvel Star Wars comics.^[5]^[7]^[9] During the planet's comic appearances, Aduba-3 was illustrated by Howard Chaykin,^[4] Tom Palmer, Alan Kupperberg,^[7] Carmine Infantino^[8] and Walt Simonson.^[9]