Name: Shawken
Region: Core Worlds
System: Shawken system
Grid coordinates: L-9
Trade routes: Shawken Spur
Class: Terrestrial
Points of interest: Shawken Spire, Shawken Device, Catacombs
Native species: Shawkenese
Primary language(s): Basic
Government: Monarchy
Demonym: Shawkenese

Description: Shawken was a Core World. It boasted one of the most ancient civilizations in the known galaxy, and was the home of the Shawkenese. Shawken was connected to Coruscant by the Shawken Spur.

The ancient Shawkenese civilization had constructed a weapon allegedly capable of destroying the entire universe. The Rik Duel gang accidentally activated the weapon, but the weapon was disabled by Kiro before it could do any harm. It was the location of the Shawken Spire.

By 25,000 BBY, it was one of the Core Founders of the Galactic Republic. During the Alsakan Conflicts, it supported Alsakan.

The planet was the farthest reached by Naga Sadow's fleet during the Great Hyperspace War.

Shawken was one of the first planets to join the New Republic, being contacted by Luke Skywalker after the Imperial occupation was ended shortly after the destruction of the Second Death Star over Endor.

Shawken Spire

The Shawken Spire was a skyscraper located on the planet Shawken. Construction of the Spire took over nine millennia to complete, by which time the skyscraper had reached a low-orbit altitude. The Spire became a popular Core Worlds tourist attraction before its destruction in 18,780 BBY. Thousands of years later, in 10,000 BBY, the historian Vicendi included the Spire in his list of the Twenty Wonders of the Galaxy. By 43 ABY, the skyscraper had been rebuilt with more modern components.

A particularly tall skyscraper on the Core World Shawken, the Shawken Spire reached an altitude equal to low orbit by the time of its destruction in 18,780 BBY. By 43 ABY, it had been reconstructed with materials considered modern for the time.

The Shawken Spire was located on Shawken, a planet home to one of the galaxy's most splendid civilizations. The skyscraper was erected over a period of approximately nine millennia. By 18,780 BBY, the Spire had reached low-orbit altitude and was a popular Core Worlds tourist destination. However, it was in that year that the Spire was destroyed.

Despite the skyscraper's destruction, the historian Vicendi placed the Shawken Spire in his list of the Twenty Wonders of the Galaxy, a compilation of galactic wonders created by sentient beings that was released in his work Arturum Galactinum in 10,000 BBY. By the end of the Second Galactic Civil War in 43 ABY, the Shawken Spire had been rebuilt with materials contemporary to the time.

Shawken Device

The Shawken Device was a weapon designed to be the most destructive superweapon imaginable.

The weapon’s creator intended for it to destroy the universe, but there is no record of a successful test of any kind, nor any evidence to suggest that it was actually capable of doing so. The weapon was intended to accomplish this by destroying the planet Shawken and hurling its fragments through hyperspace to collide with other planets, theoretically setting off a chain reaction that would eventually destroy all matter and end the universe, presumably allowing the birth of another universe.

The weapon was designed by an unknown Shawkenese scientist in the distant past. The unknown scientist who developed the weapon was an extreme nihilist, and believed that the only way to imbue purpose into existence was to destroy the current universe and trigger a new Big Bang, re-creating the universe.
The scientist's descendant Santor pointed out that he "never became quite depressed enough to use his device," and noted that "its secrets were lost with his death." It was buried underground on Shawken and remained in obscurity for many years, until it was accidentally activated shortly after the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY, by the Corellian con artist Rik Duel and his gang; it was quickly deactivated by Luke Skywalker and Kiro, leaving it a matter of speculation as to whether or not the device actually worked.

The Empire also heard of the Shawken Device and its destructive output, noting it in the field manual for the Imperial Military, the Imperial Handbook: A Commander's Guide. Luke Skywalker, who at the time had just stopped the device before it could trigger a new big bang, was surprised to see it mentioned in the Handbook.