Mon Gazza

Mon Gazza
Astrographical information
Region	Mid Rim Territories The Slice
Grid square	Q-16
Trade routes	Corellian Run Llanic Spice Run
Physical information
Class	Terrestrial
Points of interest	Planetary outpost Ravi's palace Spice mines Zugga Challenge
Societal information
Major exports	Spice
Affiliation	Pyke Syndicate New Republic

"Osmo Che was an ambitious, upstart spice smuggler on Mon Gazza. He had a quick ship, a lethal crew, and an infectious smile. Unfortunately for Osmo, there was already a reigning drug kingpin by the name of Ravi. And when Ravi got wind of Osmo's operation, he put a bounty on his head that could pay for its own clone army."

―AD-W4, to Grievous

Mon Gazza was a Mid Rim Territories planet located on both the Corellian Run and the Llanic Spice Run. The site of spice mining and trading, the world was under the reign of the kingpin Ravi, who was murdered by the mercenary droid AD-W4 when he attempted to hire the droid to kill a rival. The Pyke Syndicate spice cartel controlled the bulk of Mon Gazza's spice mines by the time of the Clone Wars.

During the Galactic Civil War in 4 ABY, the New Republic began establishing a planetary outpost on Mon Gazza, although spice gang warfare continued in the meantime. The Galactic Empire's 204th Imperial Fighter Wing destroyed the outpost in 5 ABY. During the New Republic's reign, the Spice Runners of Kijimi carried out a heist on Mon Gazza and outran New Republic patrols using the local Zugga Challenge podracing course.

Description

Mon Gazza was located along the Corellian Run.

Mon Gazza was a terrestrial planet within an intersecting portion of the Mid Rim Territories and the Slice. Situated in grid square Q-16 of the Standard Galactic Grid, the world lay along the Corellian Run super-hyperroute between the astronomical objects Druckenwell and Herdessa. It was also an endpoint for the Llanic Spice Run, which connected it to the celestial body Yuw, and another hyperspace route that linked it to the planet Ando. Raw spice could be mined on Mon Gazza.

History

Underworld dealings

"When I went to Ravi to offer to relieve him of this new rival, he told me this bounty, copious as it was, was a drop in the bucket of his wealth. If I killed Osmo, I would have well-paying jobs in Ravi's employ for life. Ravi cried—oh how he cried—when I gutted him like a frella fish. And then I painted the interior of his garish palace red with the blood of his guards before taking his entire sum all for myself."

―AD-W4, to Grievous

AD-W4 (pictured) murdered Mon Gazza's reigning spice kingpin, Ravi.

During the time of the Galactic Republic, Mon Gazza was a key site of spice mining and trading in the galaxy, and an individual named Ravi became a wealthy spice kingpin there at some point before the Clone Wars between the Republic and the Separatist Alliance that began in 22 BBY. The startup smuggler Osmo Che became a competitor of Ravi's, possessing a fast starship and a lethal crew. When he learned of Che's operation, Ravi put a large bounty on the smuggler's head.

The mercenary droid AD-W4 at one point went to Ravi at the latter's palace on Mon Gazza, offering to hunt down Che for him. Ravi informed the droid that the pay would be "a drop" in his wealth and that well-paying jobs for the kingpin would follow. However, AD-W4 instead chose to murder Ravi, gutting him alive, massacring his guards, and stealing the kingpin's wealth for himself.

By the time of the Clone Wars, the Pyke Syndicate, the galaxy's main spice cartel at the time, controlled the bulk of the spice mining on Mon Gazza. Early into the war, the cyborg Separatist General Grievous offered AD-W4 a job to control the harvest of the energy from the Outer Rim Territories planet Hissrich. Insulted that he was being hired to "farm," the mercenary droid recounted his actions on Mon Gazza in order to highlight his interest in killing. By 10 BBY, the former pirate queen Maz Kanata marked Mon Gazza as a shadowport on a map that also included treasure caches, outlaw garages, and other points of interest. She included the map in a book that would become known as the Smuggler's Guide. In 3 ABY, a farmer from Mon Gazza was present in the Mos Eisley spaceport on the planet Tatooine at the same time the outlaw Kay Vess was visiting the world.

New Republic control

Soran Keize led an attack on the Mon Gazza planetary outpost, having visited beforehand.

In 4 ABY, during the Galactic Civil War between the New Republic and the Galactic Empire, the former government was establishing a planetary outpost on Mon Gazza. During the outpost's development, Imperial deserter Soran Keize, who went by the name "Devon Lhent," traveled to Mon Gazza and soon found himself caught in a war between two rival spice gangs. He moved on when the bloodshed began escalating. The New Republic's outpost on Mon Gazza had been finished by 5 ABY, and in that time, Keize had rejoined and taken charge of his old Imperial unit, the 204th Imperial Fighter Wing.

After the New Republic reported its victory over the astronomical object Andara, Keize wished to boost his unit's morale and chose Mon Gazza as a target, knowing about its outpost from his travels as Lhent. The 204th attacked the outpost shortly thereafter, leveling it with particle cannons and proton torpedos. The Imperials then surveyed the wreckage and corpses to make sure nothing had survived, with one anonymous Imperial pilot writing "FOR ANDARA" in the ashes of the outpost.

Later, during the reign of the New Republic, Mon Gazza was home to the Zugga Challenge podracing event. The gang known as the Spice Runners of Kijimi conducted a heist on Mon Gazza at some point and outran New Republic patrols along the Zugga Challenge course. The event became one of the gang's most famous heists.

Locations

Mon Gazza was home to spice mines as well as an opulent palace owned by the spice kingpin Ravi during the time of the Galactic Republic. The New Republic later established a planetary outpost there, with a podracing course also being present.

Behind the scenes

Mon Gazza was introduced into the current Star Wars canon through a map included in the 2016 Fantasy Flight Games roleplaying boxed set Star Wars: The Force Awakens Beginner Game. The world then first appeared in Shadow Fall, the 2020 second novel in Alexander Freed's Star Wars: Alphabet Squadron trilogy. The planet Mon Gazza originated in the Star Wars Legends continuity, first appearing in the 1999 LucasArts video game Star Wars: Episode I Racer.

Appearances

• The High Republic Adventures (2021) 1 (Picture only) (Based on correspondence between the galactic map and maps in other sources)
• Jedi of the Republic – Mace Windu 3 (Mentioned only) (In flashback(s))
• Star Wars Outlaws (Mentioned only)
• Alphabet Squadron (and audiobook) (Mentioned only)
• Shadow Fall (and audiobook) (First appearance)

Sources

• Star Wars: The Force Awakens Beginner Game (First mentioned)
• Where in the Galaxy Are the Worlds of Rogue One? on StarWars.com (article) (backup link) (Indirect mention only)
• Star Wars: Smuggler's Guide
• Collapse of the Republic
• Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: The Visual Dictionary
• The High Republic Free Digital Sampler (Picture only) (Based on correspondence between the galactic map and maps in other sources)
• "The First Order" — Star Wars Encyclopedia
• "Scarif and Other Planets in the Outer Rim" — Star Wars Encyclopedia
• "Exegol, the Unknown Regions and Wild Space" — Star Wars Encyclopedia
• Star Wars Galaxy Map
• SWCA 2022: 7 Things We Learned from the Lucasfilm Publishing Behind the Page Panel on StarWars.com (backup link)

Notes and references

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