The Holodisc message was grainy at best; and the image of the sender was nearly indistinguishable. The voice was warped, thus making it all the more suspicious. No less it spoke your name. [as follows]

"Neiki, I know this is odd; but this must be sent to you in this manner. There are eyes everywhere. I can't explain more. About your newest awaiting mission, you are not alone. There is help my friend. Seek out the cantinas on Dantooine. Once there, look for Kryysta. I know you won't trust this.. but please. There is safe and secure passage being made for you as I speak. The Force be with you."

And that was all, leaving nothing more to be had of it other than the looping, repeating message should you choose to listen to it again.

Pre-Republic era


Dawn of Time

The Big Bang occurs, creating the universe.
c. 13,000,000,000 BBY

The galaxy is formed.
c. 5,000,000,000 BBY

Life emerges on Goroth Prime.
c. 10,000,000 BBY

The planet Esseles undergoes a period of high volcanic activity.
c. 3,000,000 BBY

The planet Vinsoth is struck by an asteroid that wipes out nearly all life on the planet. The survivors eventually evolve into the Chevin species.
c. 2,000,000 BBY

The Wookiee species begin evolving on the planet Kashyyyk, becoming a species of tree-climbers.
c. 1,000,000 BBY

An ancient aquatic civilization thrives on the planet Jerrilek, but eventually goes extinct in the following millennia.
The semi-intelligent ancestors to the Gorothites emerge on Goroth Prime.
c. 600,000 BBY

By this point, the cephalopod-crustacean hybrids known as ibliton have evolved on Randorn 2, leaving fossil records that are later analyzed by the Tyberious Institute of Xenobiology hundreds of thousands of years later.
c. 200,000 BBY

The Zhell, the early ancestors of the Human species, battles the Taung species for control of their mutual homeworld Notron (later known as Coruscant). Despite a loss at the city of Great Zhell that inspires the epic poem Dha Werda Verda, the Battalions of Zhell succeed in driving the Taung offworld.
c. 100,000 BBY

Roughly around this time, the Celestials accomplish a number of feats: the construction of Centerpoint Station using the Killiks, the subsequent construction of the Corellian system using Centerpoint, the Vultar system and its Cosmic Turbine, the Hapes Cluster, and the Kathol Rift. The Maw black hole cluster was also constructed with Centerpoint during the Celestials' era of power to contain the Force entity known as Abeloth.

The Columi species achieves interstellar spaceflight and surveys the "primitive" people of Duro and Notron, known by that point as Coruscant. However, they are disappointed by the developing Human and Duros civilizations and return to their homeworld of Columus in isolation.

Around this time, the Sharu expand out from the Rafa system and the Centrality, planting their indestructible pyramids on planets such as Aargau. However, the Sharu bury their cities and revert to a primitive state in an attempt to avoid the attention of the Celestials.

The winged thrantcills are first recorded flying south for winter on Coruscant.
The Muurshantre Extinction occurs, destroying the Taurannik Codex and scattering its remains.
c. 90,000 BBY

The metropolis eventually known as Galactic City has grown to the point where new levels are built atop old ones, beginning the trend of upward building that continues for thousands of years.
57,000 BBY

Humanoid colonists arrive on the planet Utapau.
c. 53,600 BBY

The Quake, a series of intense groundquakes that last for centuries, begins on the planet Quesh.
c. 53,300 BBY

The Quake comes to an end as Quesh becomes geologically stable.
36,453 BBY

By this time, the few Kwa who remain on the Deep Core world of Tython have died out, and the Kwa as a whole have retreated to their homeworld of Dathomir in fear of the Rakata. The Kwa taught the Rakata how to use the Force, but conflict ensued when the Rakata tried to take the Kwa's Infinity Gate technology.

The Tho Yor—eight great pyramid starships scattered across the galaxy—activate, calling Force-sensitives to them. The pilgrims board the Tho Yor, which proceed to visit numerous worlds and acquire Force-sensitives of many species before traveling to the Deep Core world of Tython.

The arrival of the Tho Yor at the ninth and largest Tho Yor is heralded by an enormous Force Storm, and the Tho Yor scatter their passengers across Tython. The Tythans soon form the Je'daii Order, a group of Force-users who strive for balance between the light and dark sides of the Force which they know as Ashla and Bogan.
c. 35,000 BBY

The Rakata, having developed technology powered by the dark side of the Force, establish an Infinite Empire that begins to expand throughout the Unknown Regions and into the western galaxy.
33,598 BBY

The central control system of the Infinite Empire's terraforming computer on the planet Kashyyyk receives its last communication from its builders.
33,357 BBY

The terraforming computer on Kashyyyk malfunctions, causing a hyper-acceleration in the growth of the planet's forests and giving rise to the enormous wroshyr trees.
c. 30,000 BBY

The Infinite Empire of the Rakata reaches its peak, spanning dozens of worlds across the galaxy. They annex the holdings of other spacefaring species such as the Gree and the Kwa.

The Killiks of Alderaan attempt to invade the planet Korriban, but are repelled by the Sith species.

The Killiks vanish from Alderaan, Alsakan and the galaxy at large, having been relocated to the Unknown Regions; modern scholars believe that the Celestials are responsible.
c. 28,000 BBY

King Adas begins his reign over the Sith on Korriban.
c. 27,700 BBY

The Sith species on Korriban are visited by the Rakata of the Infinite Empire, but King Adas leads his people in driving the Rakata offworld after realizing they intend to conquer the planet.

Korriban is devastated by the Rakatan attack, turning it into a wasteland and causing most Sith to relocate to the forested world of Ziost. Korriban becomes the species' holy tombworld.

Using Rakatan Force-driven hyperdrive technology, the Sith spread out among the planets of the Stygian Caldera, and the planet Tund becomes a place of exile for heretics among the Sith.
c. 27,500 BBY

The Human natives of Coruscant begin to launch sublight sleeper ships over the next fifteen hundred years, seeding a number of worlds with Humans. These include Kuat, Metellos, Csilla, Alderaan, Koros Major, Rendili, and the Tion Cluster. The Humans also launch the Kuat Explorer, which colonizes the planet Alsakan.
c. 27,000 BBY

The Gossam Courivers, a group of Gossam explorers using the tumble hyperdrive, visit the planet Felucia and start a trend of Gossam colonization for the world.

The Devaronian species also experiments with the tumble hyperdrive around this time.

Human colonists arrive in the Tion Cluster on sleeper ships.
c. 26,053 BBY

The Morodin species colonizes Varonat.
c. 26,000 BBY

By this time, Kuat has launched their own colonization ships and seeded Axum, Tepasi, and Humbarine with Humans.

In the aftermath of the fourth in a series of devastating planetary conflicts, the early Nikto discover the M'dweshuu nova and form the religious Cult of M'dweshuu. The Cult quickly takes control of the entire planet of Kintan and rules for three decades.

The Verpine species colonize the Roche system.
25,805 BBY

Queen Hadiya of Shikaakwa tried to conquer the whole Tython system, igniting the Despot War.
Queen Hadiya is killed at the Battle of Tython, ending the Despot War
25,793 BBY

The Force Wars on Tython begin between the followers of Ashla and the followers of Bogan.

Tatooine was conquered by the Infinite Empire.

The Infinite Empire launches a campaign of conquest against the Je'daii Order and the Settled Worlds.
c. 25,200 BBY

The Infinite Empire is struck by a mysterious plague that strips the Rakata of their ability to use the Force, prompting slave revolts across the galaxy and the Empire's collapse.

The Tionese nobleman Xer VIII is born around this time.
c. 25,150 BBY

Xer VIII begins the Cronese Sweeps, the subjugation of pocket kingdoms around the Tion Hegemony.
25,130 BBY

Xer's son Xim takes the throne of the Kingdom of Cron, and he begins a campaign to conquer the Livien League.
25,127 BBY

Xim the Despot begins to expands his kingdom, having conquered the Livien League and the Tion Cluster.
25,126 BBY

Xim begins to absorb the Thanium Worlds.
25,125 BBY

Xim's empire begins to flourish in the Tion Cluster.
25,120 BBY

Xim begins to conquer the Kiirium Reaches to the southwest of his empire.
25,116 BBY

Xim's conquest of the Thanium Worlds comes to a close.
25,102 BBY

Xim attacks the planet of Ko Vari, instigating a conflict between Xim and the Hutts.
25,100 BBY

The conflict between Xim and the Hutts reaches its peak; Kossak Inijic Ar'durv lures Xim into fighting the First and Second Battles of Vontor.

Kossak convinces the Klatooinians, Nikto, and Vodran species to sign the Treaty of Vontor, securing their allegiance and their aid in the Third Battle of Vontor.

Xim is captured at Vontor and imprisoned in Kossak's dungeons on Varl, though the Tionese are unware of Xim's survival.

Borte Belgoth is commissioned to construct a set of hyperspace beacons, one of which becomes known as Belgoth's Beacon. Belgoth's Beacon bears the faces of a Columi, a cacodemon, and a molator, and sits along the Perlemian Trade Route. (Approximate date)
25,096 BBY

Xim's empire completes the conquest of the Kiirium Reaches, despite the loss of its ruler.


Expansionist Era

25,053 BBY
With the Rakatan hyperdrive having been reverse-engineered by Corellian scientists, the inhabitants of the Core Worlds begin to expand outward and settle the known galaxy.

The Galactic Republic is founded with the signing of the Galactic Constitution, and Coruscant becomes the new government's capital.
25,000 BBY

The Perlemian Trade Route is founded, linking Coruscant with Ossus and the Tion Cluster.

The Corellian Run is mapped, ensuring the economic dominance of Corellia in the forming Republic; the Corellian Run forms the southern border of the Slice.

Republic scouts make contact with the Jedi Order on Ossus, and Jedi Master Haune Tiar accompanies the scouts back to the Republic. After conferring for several weeks, the Order pledge themselves to the Republic's service.

With the development of the hyperdrive, Queen Rana allows for a wave of colonization to embark from Duros; one of the colony worlds is the planet Neimoidia, which is colonized by a group of Duros led by Chla C'cHaan. (Approximate date)

The Jedi Sar Agorn takes on a Padawan in Cope Shykrill, but Shykrill falls to the dark side of the Force and is struck down. (Approximate date)
24,500 BBY

The First Great Schism erupts in the Core Worlds between the Jedi Order and the Legions of Lettow, members of the Jedi Order who seek to use the dark side against the Order's wishes. The Legions' leader Xendor originally asked for permission to create an academy for the study of Force techniques outlawed by the Jedi, and after their refusal he founded the Legions on Lettow—prompting the Order to declare war on them.

The Schism sees Xendor's death at Columus, and the conflict ends not long afterwards as the Order invaded Lettow.
24,000 BBY

The Tionese War begins: the Tionese unite as the Honorable Union of Desevro & Tion and attack the Republic, storming down the Perlemian. The Republic begins producing warships at Core shipyards, but the Tionese push into the heart of the Republic and bomb numerous worlds. The Republic ultimately repels the Tionese with a desperate counterattack by numerous Core systems, sparking a series of offensives and counteroffensives that last around a century.
23,900 BBY

The Tionese War comes to an end as the Republic devastates the worlds of the Tion Cluster, though the Republic's sterilization of Desevro prompts the Jedi to break with the Republic.

The Republic negotiates with the Jedi, who eventually agree to serve as the Republic's watchmen.
c. 23,643 BBY

The planet Uphrades experiences a period of significant volcanic activity, resulting in especially fertile soil tens of thousands of years later.
c. 22,800 BBY

A Jedi scout follows the Force's call into the Unknown Regions, discovering the crystal world of Ilum. Ilum soon becomes an important religious world for the Jedi Order.
c. 22,000 BBY

The planet Nubia is settled.
20,100 BBY

By this time, most of the Colonies and the Inner Rim have been settled.



Great Manifest Period

20,000 BBY
The Great Manifest Period begins, sparking an era of expansion for the Galactic Republic and the widespread colonization of the Slice.

Etti IV is settled by Republic dissidents fleeing corruption in the Core Worlds. (Approximate date)

The planet Metellos attempts to establish a hyperlane known as the Metellos Trade Route that connects it with Coruscant and points westward to Orooturoo.
Roni von Wasaki is born. (Approximate date)
c. 19,997 BBY

The planet Neona undergoes a dramatic climate change that submerges the planet's surface, driving the native species to extinction.
c. 19,000 BBY

The planet Kamino undergoes abrupt climate change, which causes the planet's glacial reserves to melt; all of Kamino's landmasses will be completely submerged within two hundred years.
18,780 BBY

The Shawken Spire, a massive spire that touches low orbit and was constructed over the course of nine thousand years, is destroyed.
18,000 BBY

The Bureau of Ships and Services has been formed by this time.



The Indecta Era

17,018 BBY
The Indecta Era begins.

The First Alsakan Conflict begins, sparking fourteen thousand years of conflict between Alsakan and Coruscant. Alsakan leads its supporters, the Axis worlds, in blocking the Grand Companies of the Spin from expanding south, and the trading conglomerates are backed by Duros merchant barons and the Coruscant-dominated Republic.

Republic forces conquer the planet Virujansi.
17,012 BBY

Alsakani forces liberate Virujansi.
c. 17,000 BBY

Rogue Arkanian scientists transplant a number of Xexto to the Quermia system, where they terraform the planet Quermia into a paradise and genetically manipulate the Xexto, resulting in the evolution of the Quermian species.
16,921 BBY

The Battle of Kes, the only direct armed conflict between the Republic and Alsakan during the early Alsakan Conflicts, occurs.
16,820 BBY

The First Siege of Porus Vida occurs.
c. 16,800 BBY

The Siege of Belasco occurs.
16,782 BBY

The Celebratus Archive is founded on the planet Obroa-skai
c. 16,700 BBY

The First Alsakan Conflict ends as the Bureau of Ships and Services forces a peace—the Bureau threatens to withhold access to the hyperspace beacons.[27]
c. 16,200 BBY

The Second Alsakan Conflict begins.
c. 16,100 BBY

The Second Siege of Porus Vida occurs.
c. 16,000 BBY

The Second Alsakan Conflict's Gizer Campaign occurs.
c. 15,600 BBY

The Core Campaigns, part of the Second Alsakan Conflict, take place.
15,500 BBY

The Duinuogwuin Contention: Republic scouts encounter the Duinuogwuin, or Star Dragons, near Murkhana and incur the leviathans' wrath. The Star Dragons attack Coruscant, sparking mass panic, but Supreme Chancellor Fillorean contacts the attackers and, upon discovering they are sentient, negotiates a peace with the philosopher Borz'Mat'oh.

Fillorean and Borz'Mat'oh collaborate to found the University of Coruscant.
15,480 BBY

The Strontium Raid on Abhean occurs.
c. 15,400 BBY

The Second Alsakan Conflict comes to an end.



Kymoodon Era

c. 15,000 BBY
The Kymoodon Era begins.

The Anomids of Yablari join the Republic.

The Hutt Cataclysms come to an end; by this time, the Hutt homeworld of Varl and the other colony worlds are lifeless wastes, forcing the Hutts to relocate to Evocar.

The Galactic Senate heeds calls for the reestablishment of the Republic Navy.

The Cremlevian War, which sees the Yuuzhan Vong conquer many of the planets in their galaxy before turning on themselves, comes to an end, and their homeworld Yuuzhan'tar strips the species of their ability to use the Force.

The Aquala and Quara species fight a civil war, but unite when an offworld exploratory vessel lands on Ando. The united Aqualish species kill the explorers and take their ship, learning to reproduce it.

A few decades later, the Aqualish embark on a campaign of conquest, but are quickly stopped by the Republic.

Dahrtag, later known more commonly as Necropolis, is first settled by a religious order who are appalled by the way that Core cultures have grown more similar to each other. They set aside parts of the world for each culture, and invite any culture to inter their dead on the planet in their specific tradition.
14,743 BBY

The Herglic Crush occurs; one of the casualties of the event is the Caliginous Automaton on the planet Tomo-Reth.
c. 14,500 BBY

The Third Alsakan Conflict begins with the Commenor Run Campaign.
14,450 BBY

The Cleansing of Rucapar occurs, a battle that sees the Alsakan Mosaics in the city of Rucapar destroyed by Republic forces.
14,300 BBY

The Third Alsakan Conflict comes to an end; during the final stages of fighting, the Duros Red Credit Brigade is defeated.
Nikato's Bootheel is established around the planet Raxus Prime.
c. 14,000 BBY

A number of Sith establish a library-temple on the world of Krayiss Two where they slumber and their spirits haunt the temple for the next 10,000 years.

The Korden family first appears.

Duros scouts discover the planet Sneeve and the Sneevel species in the Expansion Region.
c. 13,800 BBY

The Fourth Alsakan Conflict begins.
13,649 BBY

The Defense of Drogheda takes place.
13,220 BBY

The Conquest of Manaan occurs.
c. 13,200 BBY

The Fourth Alsakan Conflict comes to an end.
c. 13,050 BBY

The Fifth Alsakan Conflict begins.
c. 13,000 BBY

The Herglic Trade Empire joins the Republic, sparking development around the Hidakai Pool route.

The planet Ailon becomes a member of the Republic.
12,980 BBY

Admiral Hirken defends Alsakani colonies in the Northern Dependencies, a campaign that was a major turning point in the conflict.
12,720 BBY

The planet Pelagon in the future Tapani sector is first settled by large colony ships, and the colonists soon settle other worlds in the region.
c. 12,700 BBY

The Resistance on Cyrillia occurs.

The Fifth Alsakan Conflict comes to an end.
c. 12,293 BBY

An expedition led by Doctor Beramsh conducts the first surveys of the planet Tandun III.
c. 12,000 BBY

Ithorian herdships make first contact with the Republic.

The planet Ord Mantell is settled by explorers and colonists from Corellia, and the planet becomes an Ordnance/Regional Depot that later serves as a basis for the Seventh Pius Dea Crusade.

Starting from the planet Gyndine, scouts start to establish the Ootmian Pabol route, bridging the gap between the Republic and Hutt Space.

Haddius Korden, a successful merchant from Corulag, turned his family business into Korden Outfitting and Surveying, which supplied a wide variety of equipment to colonists headed for the farthest frontiers of the known galaxy.



Pius Dea Era

11,987 BBY

Supreme Chancellor Pers'lya is impeached by the Pius Dea, a religious sect who install the Human adherent Contispex. Contispex's election begins the Pius Dea Era.
11,965 BBY

Contispex I sanctions a military invasion of Hutt Space—the First Pius Dea Crusade. The crusade is the first of a series of Pius Dea Crusades that are military crusades against alien species by the increasingly-Pius Dea Galactic Republic.
11,947 BBY

Contispex I steps down as Supreme Chancellor and is succeeded by his son Contispex II.
11,939 BBY

Contispex II sanctions the Third Pius Dea Crusade, yet another invasion of Hutt Space.
11,933 BBY

The Jedi Order retreats to Ossus and severs all ties with the Pius Dea–dominated Republic, beginning their Recusal. A number of Jedi who are loyal to the Pius Dea form the Order of the Terrible Glare and settle on the planet Garn.
11,920 BBY

The Fourth Pius Dea Crusade begins against the Hutts.
11,884 BBY

The Seventh Pius Dea Crusade, also known as the Great Northern Crusade, begins against the Zabrak and other species native to the northern region of the galaxy.
c. 11,820 BBY

The Sixth Alsakan Conflict begins as the Alsakani ally with the Duros, Herglics, and the Hutts against the Pius Dea-controlled Republic; however, the conflict ends with a Republic victory.
11,791 BBY

The Tenth Pius Dea Crusade, also known as the Crusade of the Wilds, begins.
11,708 BBY

The Colonial Era of the Tapani sector ends, beginning the Twelve Kingdoms Era.
11,707 BBY

The Eleventh Pius Dea Crusade against the Herglics begins.
11,660 BBY

The Twelfth Pius Dea Crusade occurs.

Republic forces conduct an orbital bombardment of Zarracina III known as the Destruction of Zarracina III, turning its surface into an irradiated wasteland and forcing the native Zarracines into a nomadic existence.

The Teirasans of Teirasa are outraged by the attack on Zarracina, prompting the Republic to attack Teirasa.
11,600s BBY

Republic citizens fleeing the Pius Dea settle the planet Prefsbelt IV.
11,591 BBY

The Fifteenth Pius Dea Crusade against the Baragwin begins.
11,198 BBY

The Twenty-Third Pius Dea Crusade against the Bothans and the Lanniks begins.
c. 11,100 BBY

The Inquisitions begin in the Core Worlds and the Colonies, and the Jedi Order end their Recusal.
11,057 BBY

The Thirty-Fourth Pius Dea Crusade against the Hutts begins.
10,970s BBY

The Renunciate Admiral Pers Pradeux discovers Prefsbelt IV and makes it a retreat for Renunciate naval officers in their efforts to overthrow the Pius Dea.
10,967 BBY

The Renunciation: The Renunciate movement, a splinter faction of the Pius Dea that has renounced their faith, reveals itself and allies with the Alsakani, Caamasi, and the Jedi Order. This splits the Pius Dea faith from within, pitting the Faithful against those who have abandoned the faith, and signals the start of the Seventh Alsakan Conflict.

Renunciate forces clash with Faithfuls at Fondor, Ixtlar, and Cyrillia, supported by the Jedi, Alsakani, Duros, Herglics, and Hutts.
10,966 BBY

The Bureau of Ships and Services seed the Republic Navy with rogue navicomputer codes, which forces the Pius Dea's ships to jump randomly to hyperspace and become lost forever.

At the Battle of Uquine, the Renunciate forces annihilate the remaining Pius Dea ships. The Jedi capture Contispex XIX aboard the Flame of Sinthara, taking him to Caamas where he stands trial and is imprisoned.



Ductavis Era

10,966 BBY

Grand Master Biel Ductavis assumes the position of Supreme Chancellor; his ascension heralds the end of the Pius Dea era and the start of the Ductavis Era.
10,000 BBY

The historian Vicendi compiles a list of the Twenty Wonders of the Galaxy for his Arturum Galactinum, a work commissioned for the Republic's anniversary.

Ryloth enters the Galactic Republic. (Approximate date)

The Gran species begin to record their history. (Approximate date)

Ammuud is settled as a religious retreat by colonists from Thokos. (Approximate date)

The Kumauri Empire comes into conflict with the Republic, deploying planet-busting battleships with mass drivers, though they are defeated. (Approximate date)

The planet New Plympto and its Nosaurian inhabitants are discovered by Corellian traders. (Approximate date)

Madilon is discovered and becomes a principle component in hyperdrive manufacturing. (Approximate date)
9757 BBY

The Republic rocket-jumpers participate in the Second Herglic Feud.
9400s BBY

Planetary shielding begins to see widespread use across the galaxy.
9349 BBY

The Korden family officially becomes the noble House Korden.
9200s BBY

Planetary turbolasers are first commonly deployed around this time.



Rianitus Period

9000 BBY

The Rianitus Period begins.

Jiroch-Reslia joins the Galactic Republic. (Approximate date)



Subterra Period

8000 BBY

The Subterra Period begins.

Beginning of the Meri-Teltior War.

The planet Malastare becomes a member of the Republic.

Elrood is colonized by the Galactic Republic.

Goroth Prime is discovered by Corellian pirates.

The star Colu expands, swallowing the planet Clak'dor I. (Approximate date)
7811 BBY

The Waymancy Storm occurs—a conflict between the Galactic Republic and the Waymancy Hollow, the government of Waymancy. The victorious Republic reverse-engineered the Sisters of the Machinesmith's power generator technology to develop far more powerful turbolaser weaponry.
7700s BBY

The Verpine master crafter Lyns Skutroo pioneers the squintpipe process for power generators, having reverse-engineered the Waymancy Storm technology. As a result, shielding technology become important in combat, evolving from simply protection against environmental phenomena.
7500s BBY

Further refinement of the squintpipe process allows for increases in shield power and regeneration.
7348 BBY

The Twelve Kingdoms Era of the Expanse comes to an end as the warlord Shey Tapani begins the Unification War to unite the worlds of the region.
7328 BBY

The Unification War ends at the battle of Shindra's Veil, and Shey Tapani unites the Expanse under the banner of the Tapani Empire. He establishes his new government on Procopia, and also dedicates the Shey Tapani University on Estalle Island shortly after the Empire's founding.
7308 BBY

The Tapani Empire establishes a university system on the planet Mrlsst, which was recently discovered by Republic and Tapani scouts.
7003 BBY

The Second Great Schism occurs as a number of Dark Jedi split from the Jedi Order.



Manderon Period

7000 BBY

The Manderon Period begins.

The Meri-Teltior War ends. (Approximate date)

Trandosha joins the Galactic Republic.

Dathka Graush initiates a period of civil war on Korriban upon ascending to the throne.

The Hundred-Year Darkness begins in the aftermath of the Second Great Schism.

The Taung Mandalore the First leads his followers from the planet Roon to a new world, which his followers rename Mandalore in his honor. (Approximate date)

Republic scouts discover the Quermian system, where the Quermians have settled numerous worlds; within a few decades, the Quermians are active participants in the galactic community.

The Sith library Veeshas Tuwan is established on Arkania.
6950 BBY

Dathka Graush's reign comes to an end with his death at the hands of assassins.
6900 BBY

The Hundred-Year Darkness comes to an end with the Battle of Corbos. The defeated Dark Jedi are exiled from the Republic.

Ajunta Pall becomes the first Dark Lord of the Sith.

The Exiles discover the Sith Empire on Korriban, which they quickly conquer and transform into a Force-using magocracy.
6740 BBY

The crystal world of Mygeeto is discovered by the Republic.
6700s BBY

The Mandalorians drive the Fenelar species to extinction after raiding the planet Fenel, and they arm themselves with Fenelar technology.
6100s BBY

The planet Tlön is depopulated and its surface largely incinerated by this time after centuries of conflict between the Mandalorians and the Tlönians.
6100 BBY

The planet Saleucami is first colonized.
c. 6000 BBY

The planet Ession has been settled by this time.

Intelligent life appears on the planet Altiria in the form of the Altiri and Anarrians.
5975 BBY

The planet Dorin, home of the Kel Dor, joins the Republic.
c. 5500 BBY

The Rimma Trade Route is established by Sullustan pilots and Givin theorists, ushering in widespread colonization of the southern galaxy.

The Corellian Trade Spine is fully established, extending the ancient hyperroute that links Corellia and Duro all the way out to the edge of the galaxy.
5451 BBY

The Pathandr Fury occurs as the Mandalorian Crusaders raid Republic settlements.
c. 5300 BBY

The Jedi Order establishes a training center on the planet Mustafar.
5130s BBY

The Nakat Incursions, a border conflict instigated by the Mandalorians, occurs.
5103 BBY

The child Tenebrae kills his father, Lord Dramath, and embarks on a conquest of Nathema.
5100 BBY

Dark Lord of the Sith Marka Ragnos appoints Tenebrae ruler of Nathema, granting him the title of Lord Vitiate.
5010 BBY

Teta ascends to the throne of the planet Koros Major, and soon begins the Unification Wars in an attempt to unite the seven worlds of the Koros system under her rule.



Post-Manderon period

5000 BBY

The Unification Wars come to an end, with the Koros system united under Empress Teta's rule.

Belsavis enters an ice age. (Approximate date)

Marka Ragnos dies, prompting a duel between the rival Sith Lords Ludo Kressh and Naga Sadow, who both seek to succeed Ragnos. As Ragnos's spirit looks on, Sadow emerges victorious and is anointed the new Dark Lord of the Sith.

The Great Hyperspace War—a galactic conflict between the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire—erupts when two young hyperspace scouts, Gav and Jori Daragon, accidentally make contact with the Sith.

The Manderon Period ends.

Sadow instigates the Great Hyperspace War in hopes of conquering the Republic, invading major Republic worlds such as Coruscant and the Koros system along the Daragon Trail hyperlane.

The Dark Reaper is constructed. (Approximate date)

King Adas's holocron is lost on the planet Ashas Ree following the death of its owner, Lord Garu.

Sadow's forces are ultimately driven back when his forces are revealed to be largely illusions, and Sadow flees back to the Sith Empire, where he is confronted by Ludo Kressh.

Sadow escapes after destroying Kressh's fleet just ahead of a Republic fleet pursuing him, and ultimately finds refuge on the moon of Yavin 4.

The Sith starship Omen crashes on the remote planet Kesh, stranding its crew as the Lost Tribe of Sith, while its sister ship Harbinger is thrown into the future and arrives around 41 ABY.

Supreme Chancellor Pultimo orders an invasion of the Stygian Caldera to wipe out the remains of the Sith Empire.

A supernova occurs in the Moddell sector, forming the Din Pulsar. (Approximate date)

Duros scouts discover the planet Adnerem. (Approximate date)
Csilla undergoes an ice age, blanketing its surface with glaciers and forcing the Chiss species to move underground. (Approximate date)

The symbol of the Academy of Carida is carved into the moon of Carida, earning it the name of the Mascot Moon. (Approximate date)
The Star Cabal is founded. (Approximate date)
4999 BBY

Vitiate calls the remaining Sith Lords of the Empire to his homeworld of Nathema, where he binds their wills to his own and conducts a powerful ritual of Sith magic. The Ritual of Nathema strips the Force from the entire planet, killing everyone on the world except Vitiate; Vitiate is made immortal and immensely powerful, becoming the Sith Emperor.

Blaming Nathema's destruction on the Jedi, the Sith Emperor gathers the remains of the Empire and embarks on a length exodus from Sith Space.
4985 BBY

Ravilan Wroth poisons a Keshiri village with cyanogen silicate in an attempt to encourage the Lost Tribe to escape from Kesh, but Seelah Korsin poisons more villages and frames Wroth for the massacre. Wroth and the fifty-seven remaining pureblood Sith are executed as a result.
4980 BBY

The Sith exiles arrive on the planet Dromund Kaas, where the Sith Emperor establishes a reconstituted Sith Empire.
4975 BBY

The Skyborn Rangers are founded.

Yaru Korsin dies following an uprising led by his wife Seelah, and his daughter Nida succeeds him as Grand Lord.
4960 BBY

Nida Korsin bears a son named Donellan.
c. 4904 BBY

Grand Moff Odile Vaiken's final campaign against alien species ends with his death.

At this time, no one is banned.

Star Systems

The known galaxy included nearly a billion inhabited star systems, from uncharted smugglers' settlements to planet-spanning ecumenopoleis where scarcely a meter of ground remained untouched. Under the Galactic Empire, nearly seventy million of those system were sufficiently populated to merit some form of representation.

In the first years of the Galactic Republic, any planet with a large enough population was granted a seat in the Galactic Senate. However, even before the Galactic Republic had expanded beyond the Core Worlds, this system of government was unworkable: the Senate's sheer size made debate interminable and consensus almost impossible to arrive to. The Planetary Senate was thus reorganized, with sectors being formed of groups of up to fifty star systems to act as the new constituencies, while recognized representatives of a single planet or species still had the right to petition the full Senate. A prominent example of this towards the end of the Republic was Jar Jar Binks, representing the Gungan people of Naboo.

Planetary Governors represented the central government on a single planet. Their writ typically included the entire star system, though there were exceptions for systems that included multiple planets with huge populations or very different cultures, such as the Corellian system. In the eldest parts of the Core Worlds, systems and even individual planets were centers of political power, a relic of the Galactic Republic's origins. Elsewhere, systems were subservient in representation to subsectors, sectors and regions.


Sectors

The basic political unit for much of galactic history was the sector, largely artificial divisions of space organized for political, military and economic reasons. After the first years of the Galactic Republic, the star systems of the Republic were organized into sectors limited to fifty systems with substantial populations. As the Republic expanded, the huge number of sectors led to gridlock within the Galactic Senate, and some sectors swelled to include thousands of inhabited worlds, even as galactic civilization continued to expand wildly, until there were millions of sectors.

This was not resolved until the Ruusan Reformations of 1000 BBY, which reorganized the galaxy into 1,024 regional sectors divided into constituent subsectors. The Chommell sector of the Mid Rim, for example, though fairly sparsely settled, contained some forty thousand inhabited worlds. Sectors by 0 BBY included cultural groupings like the Tapani sector and the Senex-Juvex, and business-controlled economic areas like the Corporate Sector, but generally they were fairly arbitrary groupings of planets and colonies of very differing fates and cultures, such as the Gordian Reach, the Arkanis sector, and the Anoat sector.

The Ruusan Reformations created a number of problems with sectorial representation that would not be resolved until the Republic's end. A moratorium was included on the creation of new sectors, but settlers kept pushing beyond the Republic's frontier, reclaiming systems lost during the New Sith Wars and settling new worlds. Some of these systems were annexed by existing sectors, which caused some outlying sectors to swell to gargantuan proportions. Others became de facto corporate possessions, or were directly administered by the Republic bureaucracy and denied Senate representation, though it was claimed that they were "virtually represented" by other senators. The old Core sectors saw the rimward megasectors as a threat to their ancient power and prestige, while the directly-administered systems complained that their "virtual representation" was a farce. The reforms of 124 BBY sought to address these issues, with many settled areas outside the Republic's borders becoming incorporated as freestanding subsectors, with their representatives reporting to the senator of an associated sector.

Until the final years of the Galactic Republic, sectors were governed by their senators, while the Supreme Chancellor had the right to appoint a Governor-General to coordinate military action within the sector during a state of emergency. Palpatine exploited this law frequently during the Clone Wars, culminating in the Sector Governance Decree, that appointed a permanent new class of military governors to the regional sectors - the Galactic Empire's Moffs. The Galactic Empire also created or carved out a number of new sectors, overturning the Ruusan Reformations' moratorium, including the Indrexu sector in the Greater Tion, and combined several freestanding subsectors to create the Baxel and Zuma sectors.


Regions

The galaxy's largest territorial entities were the regions. These were largely cultural entities as opposed to political ones, and generally corresponded to stages of galactic exploration and settlement. The nine most famous regions were the Deep Core, the Core Worlds, the Colonies, the Inner Rim, the Expansion Region, the Mid Rim, the Outer Rim Territories, and beyond the galactic frontier, Wild Space and the Unknown Regions. Casual phraseology usually split the galaxy into "the Core" and "the Rim", with the latter consisting of the Expansion Region and parts beyond.

---Deep Core

At the very heart of the galaxy, the Deep Core (also known as the Core Systems) was a region that spanned seven thousand light years, and contained roughly 30 billion stars. Due to the gravitational pull of the vast number of stars, as well as a massive black hole at the center, local space-time was severely warped, making hyperspace travel difficult at best. For millennia, only the fringes of the Deep Core closest to the Core Worlds, within a mathematically defined boundary known as the Horizon, had been settled. These worlds included Khomm, Thoadeye, Vulpter, and the dominant planet of the Deep Core, Empress Teta. The heart of the region was thought to be almost inaccessible until Emperor Palpatine found several safe hyperlanes into the region. The area remained fiercely loyal to the New Order, and was an Imperial stronghold until almost twenty years after the Battle of Endor.

---Core Worlds

The Core Worlds was an ancient region bordering the outlying areas of the Deep Core, and included some of the most prestigious, well-developed, well-known, and heavily populated planets in the galaxy. The Galactic Republic and subsequently all galaxywide governments were born in the Core Worlds and spread out over the galaxy. During both the time of the Republic and Empire, Coruscant, a major core world, was the Galactic Capital. The region of the Core Worlds known as the Tetrahedron became the cradle of the early Republic, and simultaneously scouts discovered the Perlemian Trade Route and the Corellian Run emanating from Coruscant, creating a region known as the Arrowhead containing the ancient worlds of Alsakan, Anaxes, Basilisk and Ixtlar. Colonization created a semi-circular ring extending south as far as Abregado-rae, often considered the cream of the Core Worlds, while subsequent centuries create a second ring to the galactic west, though these worlds, disparaged as "the Negs" for their negative-digit galactic coordinates, were looked down upon by the rest of the Core. The Core's natural wealth was buoyed by the farming worlds of the Agricultural Circuit, the semi-independent colonies of the Illodia sector, the Bormea/Darpa Corridor, the manufacturing planets of the Humbarine sector, and the military shipyards of the Kuat sector.

---Colonies

The Colonies, so named because it was among the first areas outside the Core to be colonized, contained many of the galaxy's wealthiest worlds and prided itself on being the galaxy's economic engine. Worlds here were typically heavily populated, industrialized, and cultured, and the region was considered the meeting point of Core wealth and Rim raw materials. The Colonies, forming the tip of the Slice, came to include many of the galaxy's oldest manufacturing worlds, including Balmorra, Commenor and Neimoidia. Subsequent colonization produced the shipyards of Loronar, the urbanized worlds of the Pencael system, and the young worlds of Yabol Opa with its great university, the fortress world of Raithal, and the farm worlds of the Delle system.

---Inner Rim

The Inner Rim was a region of the galaxy between the Colonies and the Expansion Region. It was originally just called "The Rim", as it was expected to be the farthest extent of the known galaxy for centuries, but the Expanded Rim (later renamed the Expansion Region) was opened within a hundred years of the Inner Rim being settled during the Great Manifest Period. Inner Rimmers tended to see themselves as being part of the Core and looked disdainfully upon the "outer galaxy", but were known to resent and envy the greater wealth and history of the Core Worlds. The region had minimal cultural influence and had few truly notable planets beyond the ecumenopolis of Denon and the medical worlds of Manaan and Thyferra. As the bridge between the Core and the Rim, the Inner Rim held great strategic value, and during both the Clone Wars and the Galactic Civil War, brutal battles were fought over the region.

---Expansion Region

The Expansion Region began as an experiment in corporate-controlled worlds, known as the Exploitation Region, with powerful corporations exploiting and profiting heavily from the planets for their raw materials, metals and ores. Inhabitants were oppressed while the corporations stripped entire stellar systems along the Corellian Run of all their resources. The damage was so catastrophic that colonization shifted spinward to the Perlemian Trade Route, which was responsible for the conspicuous northern "bulge" of the modern Inner Rim's border. Colonization resumed during the Great Manifest Period, but the Alsakan Conflicts destroyed many of the Expansion Region's worlds in the Slice, shifting colonization west of the Corellian Run, creating a stretch of space known as the 77 sectors that was dominated by Corellians for millennia. This part of the Expansion Region thrived, with the Rimma, Hydia, and Corellian Trade Spine Routes opening up the region and linking worlds like Tynna, the Gran homeworld of Kinyen, and trading planets of the Harrin Trade Corridor. This region's citizens often preferred to think of themselves as being apart from the rest of the luckless Expansion Region, which continued to suffer during the Republic's final millennium. A second, disastrous experiment in corporate control known as the Outer Expansion Zone ravaged the region and the resulting scandal forced the Senate to disband the Expansionist Oligarchy, but the final centuries of the Republic saw the Slice sectors of the Region fall into economic ruin. The story was told by the region's trade routes: while the Core, Colonies and Inner Rim were dense webs of tangled hyperlanes, the Expansion Region was ill-served by routes and the casual observer might think that it had never been settled. Expansion Region worlds continued to be producers of raw materials and ores. However, most natural resources were exhausted by the Imperial Period, with Gyndine, Bacrana and Cyrillia being among the few remaining viable ports.

---Mid Rim

With fewer natural resources (and therefore a smaller population) than many neighboring regions, the Mid Rim was a territory where residents worked hard for everything they had. Colonization began as the Expansion Region was settled, and while corporations continued to prefer to exploit that region, homesteading incentives and development grants from Coruscant were instead picked up by religious communes or local political confederations. The Slice in the Mid Rim was colonized slowly over several millennia, following a crosshatching pattern determined by Coruscant, giving rise to an orderly region whose residents had plenty of room to spread out. Corporate exploitation remained in the Expansion Region while lawlessness gravitated to the less-governed Outer Rim Territories, which were opened for colonization at the same time. Consequently, the Mid Rim built up a successful economy based on low-cost manufacturing and agriculture, and following the blazing of the Hydian War in 3693 BBY, the northern and southern arcs of the Mid Rim came into shape. Historic Republic outposts like Malastare or lost colonies like Naboo found themselves at the heart of new, orderly, government zoned settlement districts, some of which retained their alphanumeric identifications for centuries. Few of the Mid Rim's worlds became famous, but among those that did were the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk and the Zabrak homeworld of Iridonia, the ocean planet of Glee Anselm, the Order of the Sacred Circle's retreat of Monastery, and Ansion, the nexus of several hyperlanes linked by the Keitumite Mutual Military Treaty.

---Outer Rim Territories

The Outer Rim Territories was the largest region of the galaxy, and the last widely settled expanse before Wild Space and the Unknown Regions. It was strewn with obscure worlds, and rugged, primitive frontier planets. Due to its distance from the Core, government control was historically the weakest in the Outer Rim Territories, and it was the traditional refuge for dissidents, pilgrims and freedom-seekers, but it was also beset by lawlessness, oppression and violence. The worlds of the Outer Rim were immensely varied as a consequence: Eriadu was a prosperous, industrialised megalopolis, and Entralla was a vibrant, Human-dominated spaceport world, but Terminus and Aduba-3 were criminal-run shadowports, and Tatooine was a Hutt-controlled trade depot. The Outer Rim was also dotted with barely-habited worlds like Dagobah, Hoth, Tund and Muskree. Worlds closest to the major super-hyperroutes tended to be the most civilized, but far from these trade links, they tended to be dominated by the Hutts. Mass settlement of large portions of the Outer Rim did not begin until after 5500 BBY, when colonists took advantage of the new trade routes of the Hydian, the Rimma, and the Corellian Trade Spine. Settlement in the southern quadrant was rapid, but expansion in the northern quadrant was hampered by the Great Galactic War and the horrors of the Kanz Disorders. In a reversal of the galaxy's usual pattern, colonization was slowest in the Slice, dominated as it was Hutt Space. Republic authority in the region all-but collapsed during the New Sith Wars, and arguably never returned, with the Hutts filling the power vacuum and piracy, slavery and anarchy dominating. In 124 BBY, the Senate declared the whole region a Free Trade Zone in an effort to jump-start economic development, but this was exploited by the Trade Federation, and the Senate re-imposing taxation in 33 BBY was the trigger for the Invasion of Naboo and the Separatist Crisis. The Galactic Empire oppressed much of the Outer Rim, leading to greater sympathy for the Alliance to Restore the Republic in the region, but the New Republic and the Galactic Alliance both failed to impose central control in the area, leaving the Outer Rim much as it had been for centuries.

---Wild Space and the Unknown Regions

Wild Space was the frontier of galactic society, separating the known parts of the galaxy from the Unknown Regions. It was not a formal label, but was applied to the unsettled galactic fringe and other parts of the galaxy with negligible colonization or development. Wild Space by the Imperial Period typically referred to the wispy fringe of the galaxy's eastern disk, as well as the narrow, meandering strip that separated the civilized galaxy from the Unknown Regions. One of Emperor Palpatine's last acts was to open up much of the region to more extensive exploration. Wild Space differed from the Unknown Regions in that some of Wild Space had been explored, though not extensively, and the findings recorded in official logs; the Unknown Regions remained mysterious. The worlds of Wild Space largely ignored the central government, and were generally peaceful, but many acted as criminal hideaways.

The term "Unknown Regions" referred to those areas that had not been directly surveyed by Republic or Imperial scouts. It was most commonly applied to the less-known parts of the galaxy's western disk, a quadrant stretching roughly between Bakura and the Imperial Remnant. However, the term also applied to the galaxy's halo of gas, dust and stars, as well as the satellite galaxies. When the aggregate of all this territory is summed, the Unknown Regions reached nearly triple the size of settled space, but by some calculations, just 15% of the galactic disk's total stellar mass qualified as part of the Unknown Regions. The chunk of the Unknown Regions within the galaxy was a product of the lack of any western analogues to the Perlemian Trade Route and the Corellian Run, and the Republic's early scouts were content to expand into the easier-to-reach territories of the Slice. It later became clear that the route to the west was in fact barred by a tangle of hyperspace disturbances that effectively split the galaxy in half, forming the midline of the galactic barrier that enveloped the galaxy. The barrier to the Unknown Regions was permeable, however, with spacer tales telling of strange ships visiting distant Outer Rim ports like Terminus, hyperdrive mishaps taking ships through the divide, or ancient alien trails allowing access to the region.

The ill-fated Outbound Flight Project was one of the first official attempts to penetrate the Unknown Regions, while the Galactic Empire's Grand Admiral Thrawn spent several years mapping portions of the area. The Chiss were the dominant species of the Unknown Regions, but in comparison to known space, where most amoral or expansionist species were cowed or exterminated by the early Republic, the Unknown Regions were still a savage, anarchic area. Other powerful species within the region included the slaver empire of the Vagaari, the illusion-spinning mollusks called Crokes, the religiously-fanatical Ssi-ruuk, and the blind berserkers of the Leech Legion. Outside the disk, in the satellite galaxy of Companion Besh, lived the Nagai and their oppressors, the Tofs. The Nagai invaded known space in 4 ABY, pursued by the Tofs, and joined forces with the Alliance of Free Planets to defeat their oppressors and returned to Firefist to liberate it.

Normalization of relations with the Chiss Ascendancy after the Yuuzhan Vong War led to the establishment of stable hyperroutes into the Unknown Regions through the Utegetu Nebula, such as the Rago Run, and by 44 ABY the name was largely inaccurate, at least when applied to the galactic disk. The galactic halo and the satellite galaxies, however, remained poorly explored and mysterious.

---Miscellaneous territories

The galaxy's ten main regions did not reflect the full reality of its political and cultural divisions. Within the territorial bands between the Core and the Outer Rim lay a number of groupings and prefectures, some that had their own regional governments, and others that had only shared cultural stereotypes. The largest of these was the Slice, a vast region of space between the Perlemian and the Corellian Run generally considered the center of galactic civilization and commerce. At its tip was the Arrowhead, encompassing the Core Worlds part of the Slice, with Coruscant at its point. The Arrowhead's other two vertices traditionally fell on Vento on the Perlemian and on Corellia itself, on the Run. The Arrowhead contained the elite of the Core Worlds, and grew out of the ancient pre-Republic Tetrahedron that was the cradle of galactic civilization. Sometimes called the Inner Core, the Arrowhead included Ixtlar, Alsakan, Grizmallt and Anaxes, which became ever-more prestigious the closer they were to Coruscant.

Colonists out of the Arrowhead settled the Slice, going out into what became known as the Colonies, and then further beyond. The worlds along the Perlemian and the Corellian Run were settled for millennia, and colonization slowly reached out from both to knit the Slice together. The Core, Colonies and Inner Rim portions of the Slice were thickly-settled and crisscrossed with thousands of hyperlanes and praediums; the Expansion Region was heavily-colonized near the Corellian Run (and dominated by Corellian interests), but more sparsely settled south of the Perlemian, the product of the millennia-long Alsakan Conflicts. The Slice's luster had begun to fade by the time colonists pushed beyond the Expansion Region in the central Slice; the Mid Rim reaches were well-surveyed but thinly-settled, and the Hutts dominated the Outer Rim precincts even beyond Hutt Space. Though new industries and businesses had largely moved beyond the Slice by the time of the Clone Wars, the region was still considered the heart of galactic civilization, a distinction its citizens remained proud of.

The Southern Core was settled from the Arrowhead and grew through contact with a number of advanced ancient civilizations, including the Devaronians, the Herglics, and the Atrisian Commonwealth. This made it a polyglot region that resisted easy characterization. The western quadrant of the Core Worlds long resisted exploration, lacking any super-hyperroutes and limiting progress along hyperlanes like the Metellos Trade Route to one- or two-light-year hops. Worlds settled along this western frontier received a negative first digit in their galactic coordinates owing to their position west of Coruscant, earning them the name "the Negs", dooming such areas as the Farlax sector to perennial second-class status within the Core.

The Northern Dependencies, a long-settled region north of Coruscant, generally looked outward, whether to Nouane, the worlds of the Hydian Way, or the New Territories beyond. Some of the galaxy's greatest traders, explorers and entrepreneurs hailed from the Northern Dependencies, and the region included some of the galaxy's eldest worlds, rarely troubling itself with Core World politics. To its northeast, the region north of the Perlemian Trade Route, was the Trans-Hydian, an area dotted with worlds with ancient histories, such as Mandalore or the planets of the Sith Worlds and the Tion Cluster, but largely sidelined economically until late in galactic history. Economic development jumped from the Slice to the Trailing Sectors further south, and then followed the Hydian Way into the New Territories. For millennia, the threat of the Mandalorians, rumors of the ancient Sith, and geographic oddities such as the vast Radama Void encouraged more profitable enterprises elsewhere. The Trans-Hydian owed its name to traders from Ord Mantell and Celanon, who braved the threat of Mandalorian raiders to blaze new trade routes like the Listehol Run, the Shaltin Tunnels and the Gordian Reach to link the Hydian and the Perlemian. After the Battle of Endor, the region's loyalties were split between the Empire and the New Republic, earning it the name of the Borderland Regions.

The Trailing Sectors were settled during the Alsakan Conflicts, which saw many colonies in the Slice ruined, enslaved or depopulated, pushing colonization west of the Corellian Run. Here, intrepid traders had long done business with the Herglics, Givin and Tynnans, and the Expansion Region's Trailing Sectors soon outstripped the Slice sectors, jumpstarting expansion into the Mid Rim. The rise of the Rimma Trade Route in 5500 BBY and the Hydian Way two thousand years later furthered this long boom, knitting the region together for traders from across the galaxy. Denizens of the Trailing Sectors tended to view their region as having built on the successes and traditions of the Slice while disregarding its mistakes, valuing entrepreneurship and and hard work.

The Western Reaches grew up around the Corellian Trade Spine and the Hydian Way, with settlement flowing in from the Southern Core and the Trailing Sectors and inheriting those regions' diversity and sense of independence. Explorers and settlers continued to expand the region as late as the period of the New Republic, pushing further west into the Unknown Regions. The Reaches' independence and distance from Coruscant historically made them a hotbed of rebellion, being the refuge for the last holdouts of the Confederacy of Independent Systems after the Clone Wars. The Galactic Empire launched a massive campaign to pacify the Western Reaches, but the area remained a refuge for the Alliance to Restore the Republic throughout the Galactic Civil War and was the site of many Imperial atrocities.

The New Territories were beyond the Northern Dependencies in a region that had developed slowly in contrast to much of the galaxy. Worlds such as Ithor, Ord Mantell and Iridonia were well known, but they were isolated outposts. Large-scale efforts to promote settlement in the northern quadrant repeatedly failed, leading to disasters like the Kanz Disorders and the Outer Expansion Zone. The region was finally properly settled in the final years of the Republic, with the D'Asta merchant family of Serenno establishing markets along the Braxant Run while the Nalroni Merchant Council expanded along the Celanon Spur. These economic successes encouraged Coruscant to invest heavily in the region, soon dubbed the New Territories, and between Republic spending on programs like the Planetary Pioneers and the influence of the D'Asta family, the region was strongly Loyalist during the Clone Wars and the Galactic Civil War. The New Territories was the core of many Imperial successor states after the Battle of Endor, and it became the contested frontier between the New Republic and the Imperial Remnant. The New Territories were devastated during the Yuuzhan Vong War, and struggled to rebound afterwards.

Structure

The galaxy was between 100,000 and 120,000 light years across, or 37,000 parsecs (a parsec is 3.258 light years), and approximately 13 billion years old. The galaxy's luminous disk contained some four hundred billion stars, of which around a quarter had been properly surveyed by the galactic community by the time of the Galactic Empire. The luminous disk revolved around the Galactic Center, a supermassive black hole that massed as much as four million suns. As late as the Declaration of a New Order, only probe droids had ever visited the black hole at Galactic Center.

The galaxy bulged around Galactic Center to form a bright sphere known as the Deep Core. This region was around seven thousand light-years across and contained some thirty billion tightly-compacted stars. Towards the center the stars of the Deep Core were only around a hundredth of a light-year apart, and were known to collide and rip out each other's stellar cores. Most of the stars of the luminous galaxy were in a disk of spiral arms rotating around the Deep Core. Galactic civilization named four spiral arms: the Bakchou Arm, the Ettarue Arm, the South Arm, and the Tingel Arm. The brightest supergiant stars were concentrated in the spiral arms, as well as glowing clouds of gas and dust, which contributed to the apparent gaps between the arms even though those areas were full of stars.

Most stars were within a thousand light-years above or below the plane of the luminous disk, forming a two thousand-light-year region known as the "thin disk". For three thousand, five hundred light-years on either side was the "thick disk", which was poorer in stars than the thin disk and even fewer of these had a system of planets.

Stellar Halo

Beyond the thick disk was the stellar halo, a huge sphere surrounding the entire galaxy with a few billion stars in highly elliptical orbits. Nearly two hundred globular clusters orbited in this region. The globular clusters were typically lifeless, packing hundreds of thousands of extremely old, inhospitable stars into only a hundred light-years. Many of the globular clusters, however, were considered extremely beautiful sights, such as Cosm's Well.

The galaxy was orbited by seven dwarf satellite galaxies, some of which contained twenty billion stars. They were ranked in order of distance. The closest was Companion Aurek, also known as the Rishi Maze, a complex tangle of stars high above the galactic plane. Companion Besh, also known as Firefist, was some 150,000 light-years away from the galaxy and had only ever been surveyed by probots. The other satellite galaxies, Companions Cresh through Grek, were much further out. Most of the Companions were described as having ancient, metal-poor remnants of stars and not much life.

A hyperspace disturbance beyond the edge of the galaxy severely complicated hyperspace travel outside the disk and generally discouraged extra-galactic exploration. A band of whorls and eddies that spun around the galaxy too quickly to be traversed at faster-than-light speeds, a number of astrophysicists believed this to be a creation of a mysterious ancient race known as the Celestials. Beyond the galaxy's rim, separating it from other galaxies, was a vast expanse of starless space known as the Intergalactic Void.