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Rothana was a remote planet in the Rothana system located in Quiberon sector, near the edge of the Outer Rim Territories and Wild Space, most famous for being the headquarters of Rothana Heavy Engineering and the source of military materiel for the Grand Army of the Republic during the Clone Wars.

Description[]

A snowy world with arctic terrain, Rothana's wildlife was adapted to the freezing conditions. The Rothanian arctic horny whelmer had a wide, squatting, sturdy stance that was mimicked in the design of the RHE All Terrain Tactical Enforcer.[3]

As the headquarters of Rothana Heavy Engineering, a subsidiary of Kuat Drive Yards, the planet's economy was almost entirely based around shipbuilding and developing military vehicles. Rothana was surrounded by a vast honeycomb of orbital shipyards and drydocks for KDY's secret constructions. The planet was protected by a formidable KDY corporate-security starfleet.[2]

History[]

Rothana was discovered in Wild Space by hyperspace scouts in 800 BBY during the Golden Age of the Old Republic. Its location was sold to Kuat Drive Yards, which dispatched the noted engineer Quiberon Kuat to the system with thousands of workers and a fleet of starships. In his lifetime, Kuat used Rothana's great mineral wealth to create a dense network of shipyards, mines and factories that became Rothana Heavy Engineering, a subsidiary of KDY.[2]

Located far from the Core Worlds and isolated from corporate espionage, Rothana became KDY's primary site for pursuing secret projects. It was accessible only by a convoluted network of hyperlanes, the locations of which were issued to KDY personnel on a strictly need-to-know basis: KDY ships did not even receive Rothana's coordinates. Instead they jumped to one of several points beyond Molavar, the junction of the Triellus Trade Route and the Manda Merchant Route. There they downloaded encrypted hyperspace coordinates and an IFF signal from an RHE hyperspace beacon. Broadcasting the signal then temporarily deactivated the numerous mass-shadow mines placed along the Rothana Route.[2]

Such a convoluted security system caused tragedy in 311 BBY, when the star yacht carrying Ursela Kuat, KDY's principal director, was destroyed on the Rothana Route. This sparked the Kuati Succession Crisis, and only decades later did it come to light that Kuat had been killed by rivals on the KDY directorate.[2]

Rothana became surrounded by a vast network of shipyards. Due to its close proximity to Kamino, Rothana was chosen by the Kaminoans to manufacture the vehicles and vessels of the clone army they were growing for the Galactic Republic at the request of Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas. In 31 BBY, KDY principal director Onara Kuat received an immense, anonymous order to create a massive force of new military vehicles. In addition to the vast amount of credits KDY received in instalments for the order, it was also given billions more to blaze a new hyperlane from Rothana to Kamino, the Quiberon Line.[2]

Over the next nine years, Project Icefang saw the development of thousands of new military vehicles for the clone army. Ships traveled back and forth along the Quiberon Line for testing and training on Kamino. A handful of field tests were conducted elsewhere, but were so few that sightings of the new vehicles were dismissed as fantasies.[2]

During the Clone Wars, Rothana continued to produce equipment for the GAR and withstood repeated Separatist plots to discover its location. During the reign of the Galactic Empire, Rothana was host to several advanced Imperial ship-constructions, including the automated dreadnaught Eye of Palpatine. Rothana's location was mostly declassified, and the region around it became the Quiberon sector, though access remained heavily restricted and the planet strongly guarded.[2] The planet became an Imperial fortress world, but was abandoned by the Empire once the Rebel Alliance won the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY.[4]

During the Second Galactic Civil War, the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances believed Rothana would join with the Corellians purely to observe due to their shipbuilding rivalry.[5]

Inhabitants[]

Rothana's isolation created an insular culture among the Rothanians, who developed an elaborate system of etiquette far too complicated for outsiders to mimic. This provided an additional layer of security against corporate espionage. The Rothanians were considered insular and strange even by Kuati standards.[2][3]

Behind the scenes[]

Curtis Saxton mentioned in an interview with TheForce.net that Rothana was named in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones Incredible Cross-Sections after an intervention from George Lucas.[6]

Appearances[]

Sources[]

Notes and references[]

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