Kaikielius

"The Kaikielii had been a key power at the dawn of the Republic, and its governors accepted homage from numerous colony planets — Ruan, the moons of Jonsior, even Foerost. But over the millennia, these achieved full membership and shifting fate left the hub behind."

―Dr. Gabrel Treon, "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Praji: A Cartel of Genes," Byblos Journal of Historical Science, 104 ABY^[4]

Kaikielius was a planet in the Kaikielius system of the Core Worlds.^[1] A regional power before the rise of the Republic and a Core Founder,^[4] it was situated on the Koros Trunk Line, just outside of the Deep Core.^[2] The planet was the homeworld of the influential political dynasty House Praji.^[4]

Description[]

"If Coruscant was the galaxy's urban center, the reimagined Kaikielius was a cookie-cutter suburb."

―Dr. Gabrel Treon, "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Praji: A Cartel of Genes"^[4]

Kaikielius was located on the Koros Trunk Line between Foerost and Ruan, linking Coruscant to the carbonite-producing worlds of the Deep Core.^[3] The planet occupied a strategically vital position that throughout history made it a target for fleets seeking to conquer Coruscant, whether from the Deep Core or from the Corellian Run via the Agricultural Circuit.^[4]^[2]

Historically, Kaikielius was a rural and pastoral world, with the planetary capital based at Kesipli. The planet was heavily urbanized after 5000 BBY in a desperate attempt to compete economically with the Empress Teta system, and became known for poverty, pollution, and urban decay. "Ring-cities" developed as mayors walled off city centers in an effort to contain crime while construction continued to expand in concentric rings of development.^[4]

Following the Kaikieli Reconquista of 4225 BBY and the destruction of most of the planet's criminal elements, Kaikielius was largely restored and became described as the gentrified suburb to Coruscant's urban center.^[4]

History[]

Pre-Republic era[]

The planet was settled sometime between 25,200 BBY and 25,053 BBY by Humans after the fall of the Rakatan Infinite Empire. The locals were known as Kaikielii. An aristocratic world, Kaikielius was ruled by the noble Great Houses, of which the oldest and most prominent were the Triad of House Praji, House Vahali, and House Juoni, with lesser houses vying for patronage. Before the rise of the Galactic Republic, Kaikielius had held suzerainty over Ruan, the moons of Jonsior, and Foerost.^[4]

An early ruler of the planet was Governor Tyler Sapius Praji, who was a signatory of the Galactic Constitution, bringing Kaikielius into the Galactic Republic as a Core Founder.^[4]

The early Republic[]

The Triad had a powerful voice on Coruscant in the early years of the Galactic Republic, with the Prajii having the most influence. During the Alsakan Conflicts, Kaikielius sided with Coruscant, and House Juoni lost virtually all of its power after it sided with Alsakan during the First Alsakan Conflict of 17,000 BBY: its Expansion Region holdings were destroyed by orbital bombardment, and Kaikielius was left to the control of the Prajii and the Vahalii.^[4]

Kaikielius slowly faded from galactic political importance in the years after the Corellian Interregnal, and its colonies became full Republic members in their own right. From 11,000 BBY it rivaled Koros for influence in the Core Worlds, but infighting in the Koros system, and between the Great Houses on Kaikielius, prevented either from gaining an advantage. In 5000 BBY, however, the nine planets of the Koros system were unified by Empress Teta, and she subsequently gained much favor with Coruscant for her actions in repelling the Sith Empire during the Great Hyperspace War. Kaikielius suffered an attack by Naga Sadow's fleet in this war,^[2] and within a hundred years of the war's conclusion, Koros had eclipsed it in power and influence.^[4]

Decline[]

In a frantic attempt to compete with Koros, Kaikielius underwent rapid urbanization, which devastated the countryside and left ancient city cores neglected, decayed and abandoned. Wealthy citizens abandoned the city centers in favor of the exurbs or left the planet altogether. Corrupt Neimoidian developers and Hutt criminal cartels moved into the poverty-stricken city centers, while mayors walled off the city cores and cut off utilities in a desperate effort to contain crime and poverty. Kaikielius' ring-cities became infamous as the city cores were abandoned to anarchy while construction continued to expand in concentric rings of development.^[4]

Kaikielius suffered devastating groundquakes during the Quake Years around 4800 BBY, after which House Praji decamped to Coruscant, leaving rule of the increasingly ungovernable planet to House Vahali. The Vahalii soon dominated all aspects of Kaikielius' government, but the system was effectively under the control of Hutt kajidics and became a haven for pirates: the approach to the Kaikielius system on the Koros Trunk Line became known as "Butcher's Alley" for the death toll. The Prajii were content to let their rivals destroy themselves before they moved in to pick up the pieces. Indeed, Emppu Praji-Barck, who served as a Republic Minister of State for sixty years, continually filibustered Senate debates on intervention in the Kaikielius system.^[4]

Recovery[]

It was not until 4225 BBY that the Jedi Order on Ossus sent a task force to end the Hutts' domination over the planet: the Republic had discovered that the Odominic kajidic had been supplying weapons to both sides in the war between gangs and police on Kaikielius. Now a matter of Republic security rather than one of law enforcement, the planet's criminal elements were ousted through the military might of a joint Republic-Jedi expedition known as the Kaikieli Reconquista. The Jedi Padawan Derrica Praji was one of the commanders of the expedition, to the fury of his relatives. During the course of the Reconquista, Derrica discovered evidence in Kesipli that his great-aunt, Emppu Praji-Barck, had committed sedition in urging the Odominic to supply both sides of the gang war. For the sake of his family, Derrica destroyed the evidence, though House Praji's objective of seizing sole power on Kaikielius had come to naught.^[4]

In the aftermath of the Reconquista, Kaikielius was rebuilt with Republic aid, becoming a prosperous, "cookie-cutter suburb" to Coruscant's urban center. The Prajii left the Vahalii to rule Kaikielius while they further solidified power on Coruscant.^[4]

Over the millennia, Kaikielius was attacked by Exar Kun in the Great Sith War, again by the Sith Emperor during the Great Galactic War, and by Skere Kaan during the New Sith Wars, all seeking to claim the approach to Coruscant.^[4]

The Clone Wars[]

The Separatist General Grievous took the world as part of Operation Durge's Lance during the Clone Wars.^[4] A footnote to the Kaikielius campaign was the curious case of the "Mad Clone of Kaikielius," an aberrant clone trooper who suddenly went berserk during the battle and turned his blaster on his squadmates, who he later insisted had been replaced by Separatist battle droids.^[5]

Refugees from Kaikielius displaced by the Separatist invasion were resettled on Byss in the Deep Core. Nominally a recolonization effort, the planet in fact became the secret retreat for Emperor Palpatine and his Dark Side Elite under the Galactic Empire, and the colonists were slowly drained of their life energies to sustain the Emperor and his adepts.^[4]

The Galactic Civil War and after[]

Following the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY and the formation of the New Republic, Kaikielius surrendered to Gial Ackbar's fleet as it entered the Core Worlds in 6 ABY in preparation for the Core Campaign.^[4]

In 10 ABY, Kaikielius was attacked by Imperial forces led by Commander Nahdonnis Praji, advancing out of the Deep Core as part of the Reborn Emperor's reconquest. House Vahali's skyhook was destroyed by Praji's fleet and he placed the planet under martial law. This battle, along with a strike against Metellos, persuaded the leaders of the New Republic that they could not hold the capital on Coruscant. The New Republic's command staff abandoned the galactic capital for the Outer Rim.^[4]

The clone Emperor appointed Praji Governor-General of the world.^[4] Soon after, commanders loyal to the Imperial Ruling Council recaptured Coruscant, but disagreements between commanders sparked the bloody Imperial Civil War, laying much of the capital to waste.^[1] Nahdonnis Praji, convinced that the Reborn Emperor had succumbed to delusions of grandeur, requested Kaikielius as a personal fief and left the Imperial Military, restoring House Praji's ancient connection to the planet.

During the Yuuzhan Vong War, Kaikielius was invaded by Yuuzhan Vong forces. The Praji Estate on Coruscant was destroyed when the Yuuzhan Vong captured the planet, and in the aftermath of the war House Praji relocated their holdings to Kaikielius, returning to their homeworld.^[4]

Inhabitants[]

Kaikielius' Human inhabitants were known as the Kaikielii. The planet was traditionally ruled by an aristocracy of Great Houses, of whom the greatest were the Triad of House Juoni, House Praji, and House Vahali, with many minor houses vying for power around them. Of the Triad, only House Praji achieved galactic importance, becoming a prominent political and banking family on Coruscant, with members in the Bank of the Core, the Coruscant Ministry of Ingress, and Emppu Praji-Barck even becoming a Minister of State.^[4]

Of the other two Houses, the Juonii went extinct shortly after losing all their power in the First Alsakan Conflict. The Vahalii went on to control Kaikielius after the Prajii fled after the Quake Years, and became the sole power on the planet in the aftermath of the Kaikieli Reconquista. Their space stations were destroyed by Nahdonnis Praji's fleet during the Galactic Civil War, and they were forced to flee into space. The Vahalii later re-established themselves on Denon.^[4]