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- "The Emperor had a private storehouse. It was where he kept all of his private mementos and souvenirs and odd bits of technology he thought might be useful someday. One of the artificial caverns held a complete cloning facility."
- ―Mara Jade
Mount Tantiss was a mountain on the planet of Wayland that housed one of Emperor Palpatine's secret storehouses. It was considered a forbidden place by both the Psadan and Myneyrsh inhabitants. It came to house Grand Admiral Thrawn's secret cloning program during the Thrawn campaign.
Description[]
- "It's about halfway between the equator and the north pole. Near the eastern edge of the main continent. A single mountain, rising out of forest and grassland."
- ―Mara Jade, to Han Solo
Mount Tantiss on Wayland
Mount Tantiss was one of the largest peaks on the planet Wayland[6] located in the planet's northern hemisphere[7] halfway between the equator and the north pole near the eastern edge of Wayland's main continent.[1] The storehouse contained both objects and trinkets of unspeakable evil, as well as mementos from the conquests of the Empire. His most private treasures were hidden in a massive labyrinth designed by Garrbo V'Droz in the mountain's bottom chamber.
History[]
Construction[]
- "Supreme Chancellor Palpatine has instructed me to transport them secretly to an old underground fortress on Wayland that he recently reactivated."
- ―Kinman Doriana, to Darth Sidious
Mount Tantiss was originally the site of an underground fortress that was used as a laboratory facility by the mad genetic terrorist Zeta Magnus.[8] When Magnus pledged fealty to Darth Sidious, he granted the Dark Lord and his minions access to his Mount Tantiss facility. During the Clone Wars, Count Dooku would use the facility labs to experiment with dashta eel tissue samples for his JK-13 security droids and to experiment with creating a clone army of Morgukai warriors. During the attack on Cartao, Kinman Doriana managed to ram remotely-controlled Republic assault transport into the Spaarti facility, destroying the majority of it—and pinning the civilian loss of life on the Jedi Order. Several thousand of the cloning cylinders survived, because they were stored in a warehouse away from the main complex. Palpatine had Doriana take the surviving cylinders to the Mount Tantiss facility he recently inherited on Wayland.[3]
During the Imperial occupation of Wayland, the Imperial engineers hollowed out Mount Tantiss.[9] Meanwhile, the native Myneyrshi and Psadans joined forces in an attempt to defeat the invaders.[10] The Myneyrshi soon found out that their crossbows, while powerful, were not strong enough to pierce Imperial battle armor.[6] Dismissing the natives' primitive bows and spears, the Emperor's engineers began constructing a vast network of chambers deep in the bowels of the mountain[11] and set up a maze of internal defenses.[9] The Empire enslaved the planet's indigenous population and put them to work building an immense complex beneath Mount Tantiss.[10] With the project complete, the engineers then withdrew.[9]
Imperial secret storehouse[]
- "A private rat's nest. Sounds like him."
- ―Han Solo
The Imperial Court and stormtroopers were tasked with placement of Emperor Palpatine's treasures in the mountain.[9] The Emperor refused to attract unwanted attention with a defensive battalion of AT-ATs.[11] Instead, Palpatine put Mount Tantiss under the protection of a Dark Jedi Guardian,[2] and sealed the mountain. From time to time, the Emperor returned to add new treasures and to check on the Guardian. For years, the storehouse and the Guardian were left alone.[9] Eventually, according to the Psadan, the Guardian sought control over the natives of Wayland.[1]
The Emperor in the Throne Room Complex at Mount Tantiss in 3 ABY.
At some point, Emperor's Hand Mara Jade met with Palpatine inside the Throne Room Complex at Mount Tantiss.[1] In 3 ABY, the Emperor's apprentice, Darth Vader brought a box containing the severed hand of his son, Luke Skywalker and his lightsaber. They met in the throne room, where Vader explained to the Emperor about the battle in which he was able to acquire the hand and lightsaber.[12]
Just before the Battle of Endor, Palpatine locked his last treasures in the depths of Mount Tantiss.[9] The Imperial occupation of Wayland ended shortly after the Battle of Endor[10] in 4 ABY.[13] At some point prior to 9 ABY, Joruus C'baoth, the insane clone of Jedi Master Jorus C'baoth, arrived at Mount Tantiss and killed the guardian, along with taking up residence in it.[2]
The mountain also held the twenty-thousand Spaarti cloning cylinders which were used by Grand Admiral Thrawn to create a crew of clones for his new fleet of Dreadnaughts, and the schematics for the cloaking devices that he would install on those very same ships and would make their way into much of the Imperial Fleet as time went by.[1]
Destruction of the storehouses[]
- "The mountain is under attack, sir. Two different forces of natives, plus some Rebel saboteurs. And a group of Noghri..."
- ―Captain Pellaeon to Grand Admiral Thrawn just before Thrawn's death
The storehouse was destroyed at the end of the Thrawn campaign in 9 ABY by Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa Solo, Lando Calrissian, Talon Karrde, Chewbacca, and Han Solo after Luke and Mara Jade killed the clones Luuke Skywalker and Joruus C'baoth.[1]
Storehouse entrance
Several standard days[14] after the destruction of Mount Tantiss, the New Republic Xenoarchaeology Division[15] undertook an archaeological expedition known as the Mount Tantiss dig[16] that was led by the xenoarchaeologist Garv Debble and his assistant Milanda Vorgan. The New Republic search teams spent a few days recovering various artifacts from the ruins of Mount Tantiss.[14] The New Republic historian Voren Na'al later mentioned Mount Tantiss dig in[16] his[17] journal.[16] In the journal of Voren Na'al, Mount Tantiss was assumed by the New Republic search teams to have been honeycombed by the Imperial Engineering Corps. Additionally, Tantiss was believed to have been intended to be used by the Emperor as a major staging area; a large portion of the base's design was geared towards accommodating a large military force.[9] Though it was true,[18] New Republic researchers were unable to confirm Myneyrsh and Psadan tales of C'Baoth's killing the Guardian and they regarded these stories as mythic.[9] A well-regarded theory posited that the Guardian and C'Baoth were the same person.[7]
A theory held by some historians postulated that the Cloning Chamber inside Mount Tantiss may have already been located on Wayland and that Emperor Palpatine merely expanded the facility. The theory was considered controversial. Due to the incredible radiation levels, it was impossible to gain an accurate reading on the cloning facility's age after the mountain's destruction. However, the control components and fragments of the various computer systems had shown that the facility was considerably older than the technology present in other areas of the mountain, almost as if the computers and machinery had either been transplanted there from another cloning facility en masse, or that the cloning center had been in the mountain prior to the construction of the rest of the facility. The theory was supported by Han Solo and Lando Calrissian, who saw the Mount Tantiss installation firsthand while it was still intact. Calrissian supported the contention that the cloning facility was an intact cloning complex from the past.[15]
Later history[]
- "This alien was discovered near Mount Tantiss by one of the cleansing teams. He had been digging through the soil in the fault line area and had found six datacards. When the team attempted to take them from him, he claimed possession under the Debble Agreement."
- ―Cakhmaim to Leia Organa Solo
After the Thrawn campaign, Wayland joined the New Republic and some Noghri set up their settlement near the mountain. The Myneyrshi were in charge of the protection of the storehouse's ruins.[5]
Sometime before around 12 ABY, the smuggler Arthen Brutt rented a warehouse and stored in it a number of Old Republic artifacts that he had recovered from the ruins of Mount Tantiss.[19] In 19 ABY, an edited version of the Caamas Document was found there by information broker Lak Jit. Leia Organa Solo managed to catch him with the assistance of Talon Karrde. She recovered the document but this didn't prevent the Caamas Document Crisis.[5] In 24 ABY, Skywalker discovered the Book of Sith within the ruins of the storehouse.[20]
During the Yuuzhan Vong War, New Republic Intelligence had a safe house in remains of Tantiss, where Elan and Vergere were debriefed.[21]
Layout[]
The information concerning the layout and function of various rooms within the Mount Tantiss installation was speculation and educated conjecture, based on the progress reports of the New Republic Xenoarchaeology Division search teams who were involved in the Mount Tantiss dig, as little of the structure remained intact. It was estimated that it would have taken several years to sift through the remains of Mount Tantiss.[9]
Interior[]
Upper levels[]
Layout of the Mount Tantiss storehouse
The uppermost level of the mountain contained the Throne Room Complex, which was always kept in a state of constant readiness by order of the Emperor Palpatine. The throne room had two turbolifts and a single emergency stairwell.[15]
One lift was the Emperor's lift for quick access to the Royal Chambers complex, that was the personal residence of Palpatine when he was staying at Mount Tantiss. The complex took up a full three levels. The second turbolift, which was keyed to the Emperor's retinal scan, so only he could activate it, led to the Emergency Shuttle Hangar below the Royal Chambers, which was Palpatine's emergency escape route. This turbolift stopped at the throne room, but it also stopped at every other level of Mount Tantiss, including the crypts and "The Labyrinth." While it was readily visible at the throne room level, its presence was carefully hidden on all other levels, and did not even appear on any schematics of the facility.[15]
The Emperor's Private Studies and Access corridors were located below, a three-level area that served as the residence of the Emperor's servants and advisors, as well as his private study and work area. These levels also provided the only link between the rest of Mount Tantiss and Palpatine's private upperlevels. A number of the Emperor's treasure vaults, known as the Upper Vaults, were scattered throughout the upperlevels. The vaults themselves appear to have been hewn directly into the rock of the mountain and were huge, capable of housing Palpatine's vast collection of trophies.[15]
Middle levels[]
- "At the time, I remember saying to Han that the cloning complex looked like it had been picked up somewhere and dropped into the mountain, like it was relocated entirely. The computer system and wiring conduits were pretty vintage stuff, and I suppose it is possible that the Emperor simply expanded on an existing installation."
- ―Lando Calrissian
A main turbolift shaft connected the middle levels to the Upper Vaults and the Emperor's private levels, and maintenance droids had a number of service lifts that they could use to move around the mountain. There were a series of turbolifts that connected only the middle levels, such as the cloning chambers, and the lowerlevels, such as the military barracks.[15]
The Emperor's collection of Spaarti cylinders was housed in the immense cavern known as the Cloning Chamber at the uppermost level of middle levels. A series of nearly thirty Technology Vaults were present below, they possessed the same level of security as the upper treasure vaults. A number of airshafts and service crawlways twisted throughout the mountain, but the majority of them met in the middlelevels of the installation in the Service Areas. Air conduits, including the air intake system that Solo's group used to penetrate the mountain, ran the length of the middle levels. The maintenance tunnels, trash compactors, and ventilation ducts were all easily accessed from this level. Droid storage chambers were also common in this area, and MN-2E and SPD-R4 service droids were common at Mount Tantiss, as they are in other Imperial installations. Waste removal was handled in this section, with trash disposal chutes lining a number of the secondary corridors in the maze-like structure. Plastics, metal, food and water were all recycled and processed in the lower section of the mid-level. Non-recyclable products were crushed into small waste cubes by the trash compactors and disintegrated inthe mountain's fusion reactor. The Technical Areas of the mountain were quite extensive, housing a variety of laboratories and science stations, presumably to test and refine a number of the alien and exotic technologies stored at the facility. The labs were all located above the Service Areas. The Hangar Bay was also massive, containing the complete complement of vehicles and ships that the garrison commanded, and main hangar area acted as both the maintenance bay and garage. There were also a number of Security Stations scattered throughout. Each of these station rooms had a complete array of sensors for Mount Tantiss's corridors, and served as a checkpoint for individuals travelling through the mountain.[15]
Lower levels[]
The lower levels of the mountain housed military troops and their respective stations, as well as the vehicles and weapons necessary for defending the mountain. These levels contained food production facilities, an armory and a landing field, among other basic service areas. All evidence indicates that this area received minimal use until the arrival of Grand Admiral Thrawn. While this area of Mount Tantiss was clearly designed for waging military campaigns, it is clear that the Emperor chose not to run his battles from this facility.[15]
The uppermost of these lower levels was where the semi-circular chamber known as the War Room was located. The Command Wing was the hub of military operations at Mount Tantiss, much like the bridge of a Star Destroyer. All administrative duties were carried out in this section. The base commander's office was situated above the main sprawl of the command core, and overlooked the main floor through a massive mirrored viewport. A curving amphitheater-style chamber larger than the Cloning Chamber known as the Main Computer Core was a tremendous bank of computers that compiled and indexed all information that passed through Mount Tantiss's communications and data retrieval systems. The Main Security Section was probably the most utilized department in the entire facility, with the exception of the cloning. The Detention Block was similar to most Imperial holding areas, with row upon row of tiny cells crowded together for the imprisonment of political prisoners, criminals, agitators and the like, which ultimately never saw much use. The Barracks were designed to serve a full battlegroup's worth of soldiers and also all medical staff, technicians and military troops below officer level.[15]
Subterranean levels[]
The subterranean levels were located far beneath ground level, which were connected to the lower levels by a series of turbolifts and ladders; it is assumed that they housed Mount Tantiss's four massive powerful fusion reactors, although only three were operational when Grand Admiral Thrawn arrived. Each generator put out enough power to run an Imperial Star Destroyer, indicating that Mount Tantiss, when fully operational, required an immense amount of energy.[15]
Beneath the reactors lies what appears to be a massive maze secretly constructed by Palpatine and designed by Garrbo V'Droz known as "The Labyrinth." These chambers may stretch for kilometers below the surface and their purpose is unknown. A level below contained a hidden crypt, that contained ancient energy weapons, amulets, crystals, alien trinkets and religious idols, mummified bodies and countless other things. The New Republic is unaware of both "The Labyrinth's" existence and the hidden crypt.[15]
Behind the scenes[]
Mount Tantiss was created by the author Timothy Zahn and first appeared in the 1991 novel Heir to the Empire. The name "Tantiss" was intended by Zahn as a reference to Tantalus, a figure from Greek mythology who abused the privileges of the gods.[22]
Appearances[]
Non-canon appearances[]
- "An Apology" (Mentioned only)
Sources[]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 The Last Command
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Heir to the Empire
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2
"Hero of Cartao" — Star Wars Insider 68–70
- ↑ Dark Force Rising
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Specter of the Past
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Heir to the Empire Sourcebook
- ↑ 7.0 7.1
Wayland in the Databank (content now obsolete; backup link)
- ↑ SkyeWalkers: A Clone Wars Story
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 9.8 The Thrawn Trilogy Sourcebook
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Ultimate Alien Anthology
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 The Essential Guide to Planets and Moons
- ↑ "The Emperor's Trophy" — Star Wars Galaxy Magazine 11
- ↑ The New Essential Chronology
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 "Erasing All Traces" — The Last Command Sourcebook (also reprinted in The Thrawn Trilogy Sourcebook)
- ↑ 15.00 15.01 15.02 15.03 15.04 15.05 15.06 15.07 15.08 15.09 15.10 15.11 The Last Command Sourcebook
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 "Field Report" — The Last Command Sourcebook (also reprinted in The Thrawn Trilogy Sourcebook)
- ↑ The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, Vol. II, p. 351 ("Na'al, Voren")
- ↑ The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, Vol. II, p. 337–338 ("Mount Tantiss") This entry confirms objectively that C'Baoth did kill the original Guardian.
- ↑ "Rebel Jedi" (original article link) on Wizards.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
- ↑ Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side
- ↑ The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
- ↑ Heir to the Empire: The 20th Anniversary Edition