Name: Ruusan
Region: Mid Rim
Sector: Teraab sector
System: Hoth's Brand system
Suns: 2: Hoth's Brand and Petja
Orbital position: 3
Moons: 3: the Three Sisters, Ruusan 2
Grid coordinates: P-11
Rotation period: 23 standard hours
Orbital period: 335 local days
Class: Terrestrial
Diameter: 21,000 km
Atmosphere: Type I (breathable)
Climate: Varied
Gravity: Standard
Primary terrain: Desert, Canyons, Caves, Rivers, Lakes, Formerly: forests
Points of interest: Katarn's Hill, Valley of the Jedi
Fauna: Drugon, Monk
Native species: Bouncer, Ruusanian
Immigrated species: Human, Other
Primary language(s): Galactic Basic Standard
Government: None
Population: 30,000: / 60% Bouncer, 25% Ruusanian, 10% Human, 5% other species
Major cities: Olmondo (capital), Fort Nowhere
Major imports: Technology, Foodstuffs
Major exports: Ore

Description: Ruusan was a planet in the Mid Rim most famous for the Ruusan campaign, the last stand of the Brotherhood of Darkness under Lord Kaan and the birthplace of Darth Bane's Order of the Sith Lords. The planet lent its name to the Ruusan Reformations enacted after the battle.

Characteristics

Ruusan was originally a temperate, pleasant world with rivers and forests. It was inhabited by Ruusanians, Humans, and a strange sentient species known as Bouncers.

Ruusan's mineral deposits proved disappointing but it was the only source for the Ruusan crystal.

Ruusan had three moons, referred to by locals as the "Three Sisters." Smugglers claimed that at least one of the moons had ruins of an ancient civilization.

History
The planet was first colonized between 15,000 BBY to 8000 BBY, sometime between the Kymoodon Era and Rianitus Period. In 2200 BBY Ruusan was one of the ore-rich planets of the Teraab sector claimed by the Mining Guild, until the planet proved disappointing. All that remained on the planet were few optimistic claim jumpers and fugitives.

Ruusan was the site of seven battles between the Sith's Brotherhood of Darkness and the Jedi's Army of Light. During the last battle of Ruusan (1000 BBY) between the Jedi under Lord Hoth, and the Sith under Lord Skere Kaan, much of the planet's surface, including vegetation and several cities, were destroyed.

After the battle had ended, a Jedi Knight named Johun Othone petitioned the Galactic Senate to construct a grand mausoleum containing the one-hundred fallen warriors called The Valley of the Jedi, located on the former location of Olmondo.

Despite this, the expanding nebulae of the sector erased the hyperlanes connecting Ruusan and the world was quickly forgotten, as the Galactic Republic turned inward. Isolation and crossbreeding amongst the inhabitants produced a near-Human population that became known as Ruusanians. Shifting nebulae within the stellar nursery of the Teraab soon erased hyperspace routes to Ruusan, leaving it inaccessible from the galaxy at large. The Separatists briefly established a spy post over one of Ruusan's moons during the Clone Wars, but it was soon destroyed. By the time of the Galactic Empire's reign, Ruusan was mostly forgotten.

Rediscovered by the smuggler Jerg in 11 BBY, the planet came to be used by independent spacers and merchants as a base of operations. The next year, Fort Nowhere was constructed by smugglers. In 1 BBY, Rebel refugees from Sulon settled on the planet, following Jerg and Morgan Katarn.

The planet's isolation would end shortly after the Battle of Endor. The Dark Jedi Jerec, informed of the location of the Valley of the Jedi, came to the planet intending to claim the Valley's power for himself. The Jedi Kyle Katarn, assisted by the spirit of Qu Rahn, managed to stop Jerec, slaying the Dark Jedi below the monuments that Othone had built centuries ago.

Katarn would return to Ruusan in 12 ABY to reestablish his connection to the Force, during the confrontation of the Empire Reborn, and in 14 ABY, during the Disciples of Ragnos crisis to investigate the Valley of the Jedi for cult activity.

The world was later targeted by the Yuuzhan Vong, who successfully invaded and occupied the planet over a year into their invasion of the galaxy. It would remain under Vong control until the end of the war.

Places of Interest

Katarn's Hill
Katarn's Hill was a hill on Ruusan located near Fort Nowhere. It gained its name from the Sulonese settlements established there in 1 BBY by Morgan Katarn. Those settlements were destroyed in the Battle of Fort Nowhere in 5 ABY.

Valley of the Jedi
The Valley of the Jedi or the Valley of the Souls was the site of the Seventh Battle of Ruusan, the last battle of the New Sith Wars and a thousand years before the Battle of Yavin.

There, Lord Kaan's thought bomb trapped the souls of over one-hundred Jedi and Sith until the Jedi were finally freed by Kyle Katarn.

The Valley of the Jedi then became a concentrated area of Force energy called a Force nexus, and is widely believed to be the most powerful Force nexus in the entire galaxy.

At the close of the New Sith Wars, the Brotherhood of Darkness's situation had become so fragile that their leader, Lord Kaan, resorted to the use of a thought bomb to end the war.

Luring the Jedi deep into one of Ruusan's caves, Kaan and his Brotherhood detonated the thought bomb, hoping to wipe out Jedi Lord Hoth's Army of Light. However, Hoth perceived Kaan's strategy and left most of his army behind, taking only ninety-nine Jedi with him (one-hundred in total, including Hoth himself). This sacrifice was not in vain, as the Sith proved unable to control the thought bomb, killing the entire Brotherhood of Darkness and ending the New Sith Wars.

Jedi Knight Johun Othone, Hoth's former Padawan, went against the will of the Jedi Council to build a monument to the heroes of the Army of Light and Lord Hoth, with a mausoleum adorned with massive statues. He also placed a huge Adegan crystal in a meditative chamber for the Jedi. The monuments were made by stones that came from various planets, like the heroes of the Army of Light. The graves of the heroes were contained in a central underground cavern of natural origin, with several satellite chambers hewn around it. They were filled with artifacts that presumably belonged to the fallen Jedi warriors. At least one aqueduct brought water into the Valley.

It is believed that the spirits of the Jedi were trapped and the Bouncers of Ruusan said that they would be freed when a 'Knight' returned to release them.

Shifting nebulae soon erased hyperspace routes to Ruusan, leaving it inaccessible from the Galaxy at large. Because of the monument's "illegality," the Jedi Council forgot about the Valley which eventually became legendary. Yoda and a few others, including Luke Skywalker who learned about it from Yoda, knew about the Valley, but did not know its location or even whether it existed at all.

Over a millennium later, the location of the Valley had been lost to all but a few. The Jedi Master Qu Rahn believed that the Empire or the Dark Jedi would try to take advantage of the power trapped in the Valley and tried to keep its existence safe when his friend Morgan Katarn accidentally discovered its location.

Years after Jerec murdered Katarn, he and his minions learned of the existence of the Valley and captured Rahn, whom they executed after ripping from his mind the fact that Katarn had a map to Ruusan carved into the ceiling in his house. Traveling to Sulon, they took the map and began occupying Ruusan. There, Jerec basked in the power of the Valley, becoming almost godlike in his power.

However, his dominion of the Valley would not go uncontested. Rahn's spirit spoke to Kyle Katarn, Morgan's son, and instructed him in the Force. Katarn tracked down the map, only to have it destroyed before he could read it. He proceeded to hunt down 8t88, the droid that had deciphered the map, and retrieved the coordinates from his internal memory.

With the coordinates, Katarn and his partner Jan Ors made their way to Ruusan. After Jan was captured by Jerec's forces, Katarn fought his way through hordes of stormtroopers and defeated Jerec's remaining Dark Jedi minions until he finally confronted Jerec himself at the Valley's focus. There, he was able to cut off Jerec from the Valley's power and defeat him. Katarn freed the trapped spirits, finally fulfilling the Poem of Ages.

Right after Jan's "death" at the hands of Desann and Tavion Axmis, Katarn once again traveled to the Valley in order to make use of its residual Force energy to re-establish his lapsed connection with the Force. Unknown to him, he was tracked to Ruusan as part of Desann's plan. Desann moved in his forces and began using the Valley's power to boost that of mildly Force-sensitive recruits, creating the Reborn.

Fortunately, Katarn had revealed the location of the Valley to Luke Skywalker as a precautionary measure. Skywalker led Rogue Squadron to Ruusan and routed Desann's forces, driving him from the planet and cutting off his supply of Reborn warriors.

The planet also became a target of Tavion's Disciples of Ragnos. Tavion was using Ragnos's scepter to drain areas of the Force to resurrect Marka Ragnos. Kyle Katarn was assigned to investigate cult activity there.

Despite the fulfillment of the ancient prophecy by Katarn, Jerec's spirit, as well as that of the ancient Sith, continued to linger in the valley for thousands of years.

Olmondo
Olmondo was the former capital city of the planet Ruusan.

The city was presumably destroyed during the Ruusan campaign at the end of the New Sith Wars.

Morgan Katarn first encountered the Bouncers of Ruusan in the dunes above Olmondo. It was here that Katarn received directions to the Valley of the Jedi. At the time of the Galactic Civil War, Olmondo was covered with meters of sand, though the Bouncers knew of a buried black obelisk that marked the city's location.

Fort Nowhere
Fort Nowhere was a Class Two military installation located on Ruusan.

Byron Devo III was its mayor, it contained the Smuggler's Rest, and it was located near Katarn's Hill.

Fort Nowhere was shaped like a six-pointed star, with a blaster cannon at each point to ensure that anyone attempting to force entry would face covering fire. It was also equipped with anti-aircraft missiles, and could withstand any attack smaller than a full Imperial assault.

Fort Nowhere was inhabited mostly by smugglers and Sulonese colonists brought to Ruusan by Morgan Katarn. Captain Jerg based his smuggling operations out of the Fort, and accepted the Sulonese into his compound.

It was completely ravaged in the Battle of Fort Nowhere.