 Name: Yavin 4
Region(s): Outer Rim Territories
Sector: Gordian Reach
System: Yavin system
Planet: Yavin Prime
Grid coordinates: P-6
Rotation period: 24 standard hours
Orbital period: 4,818 standard days
Class: Terrestrial
Diameter: 10,200 km
Atmosphere: Type I (breathable)
Climate: Temperate to tropical
Gravity: Standard
Primary terrain: Jungle, Rainforests
Surface water: 8%
Points of interest: Vornez, Labor Outpost, Mining Outpost, Massassi Temples, Geonosian Bio-Lab, Great Temple, Jedi Praxeum, Palace of the Woolamander, Temple of the Blueleaf Cluster, Temple of Exar Kun, Yavin Station, Lost City of the Jedi, Massassi Arena, Force nexus, Raven Base, Falcon Base, Ersham Ridge, Wayward Jungle, Emperor's sanctuary
Native flora: Jungle creeper
Native fauna: Crawlfish, Critokian, Runyip, Stintaril, Woolamander
Immigrated species: Yuuzhan Vong, Chazrach, Piranha beetle, Stinger lizard, Belly-bird, Howler, Crystal snake, Sith (Massassi), Terentatek, Tuk'ata, Sith wyrm, Humans, Massassi
Primary language(s): Yuuzhan Vong, Massassi, Critokian, Galactic Basic Standard
Government: None
Demonym: Yavinian
Major cities: None
Population: Varies from zero to about 1,000 (95% Humans, 5% others)
Description: Yavin 4 was one of three habitable moons orbiting the gas giant Yavin. It was mainly covered in jungle and rainforest, and despite being remote and unheard of, it would play an important role in galactic events, including the seduction of Jedi Knight Exar Kun to the dark side and the destruction of Sith Lord Freedon Nadd during the Great Sith War, the site of the eventual final death of the maddened Jedi Revan in the waning days of the Galactic War, a ferocious duel between Jedi and Sith during the Clone Wars, and serving as the base of the Alliance to Restore the Republic during the Battle of Yavin and as a battlefield in other battles of the Galactic Civil War. An attack was launched on the Death Star from this moon. It also became the base for a Jedi Academy after the war ended.
Yavin 4 was composed of a molten metallic core with a thick, immobile low-relief silicate crust. The surface was made up of four continents which accounted for sixty-seven percent of the moon's surface. These continents were mostly covered in large sprawling tropical jungles with tall canopies though there were also a few mountain ridges like the Yunteh Mountains, dominated by volcanoes such as the Nicolo and Borundi Peaks.
Yavin 4 also had six interconnected oceans which covered the remaining thirty-three percent of the moon. There was also a large landlocked sea on the moon. As a relatively young world, the tiny jungle moon experienced a considerable amount of geothermal activity. Large rivers flowed dramatically from volcanic heights and then followed a more meandering pace through the jungles.
When scouts from Wetyin's Colony on Setor discovered the moon decades before the current era, the colonists dubbed these continents the names of Starloft, Swivven, Koos and Wetyin, though the scouts eventually left the moon.
Yavin 4's large, sprawling tropical jungles teemed with an abundance of life. Whisper birds soared above the thick jungle canopy. Packs of arboreal Woolamanders fed on fruits in the thick jungle canopy. The trees were also home to another rodent species known as the Stintarils.
Large and shaggy herbivores known as runyips rooted through the underbrush beneath the trees, while howler predators stunned their prey with loud cries. The moon's rivers also teemed with life including aquatic gundarks, mucous salamanders, crystal snakes, crustaceans known as anglers, crawlfish, serpentine thyrsl and armored eels. Swarms of vicious piranha beetles scoured the air in terrifying swarms hunting for prey.
Yavin 4 experienced two extreme seasons; a wet season which caused violent storms, and a corresponding dry season.
History
In 5000 BBY, the Sith Lord Naga Sadow fled to Yavin 4 on his flagship along with an army of Massassi warriors following the defeat of his Sith forces during the Great Hyperspace War by the Galactic Republic. He then conducted Sith alchemic experiments on his Massassi warriors, causing them to mutate from red-skinned humanoids into fearsome, savage, hunchbacked predators. Despite these abuses, his Massassi slaves treated him like a god, building huge temples, filled with treasure, to honor their Sith Lord.
Sadow also encased himself in a Sith sarcophagus where he remained in a coma-like trance for centuries, waiting for someone to call upon his power and continue the history of the Sith. He remained in suspended animation until 4400 BBY, when a fallen Jedi named Freedon Nadd arrived on Yavin 4. By then, the descendants of the Massassi had devolved into a primitive hunter-warrior society. At first, the Massassi attacked him though his use of the Force amazed them, who recalled the Golden Age of the Sith. They then showed him where the Dark Lord rested, waiting for other Dark Jedi. Nadd then awoke Naga Sadow, who taught him in the ways of the Sith, until, as was the Sith's nature, Nadd killed him, becoming Dark Lord himself.
Centuries later, in 3997 BBY, the fallen Jedi Exar Kun went to Yavin 4 at the advice of the dark side spirit of Freedon Nadd. There he discovered the Massassi, who tried to sacrifice him to a monstrous beast of alchemical origins beneath their main temple. However, using his dark powers, he managed to save himself. The dark side manifestation of Freedon Nadd appeared, delighted with Kun's actions and claiming him as his ally - though Exar Kun would hear none of this and instead used his newly-found Sith powers to destroy Nadd.
As the new Dark Lord of the Sith, he enslaved the Massassi and took over Yavin 4. He then used his Massassi slaves to construct new Sith temples and palaces, based on Sith architecture and designed to focus dark powers. His slaves also discovered the flagship of Naga Sadow beneath the ruins of an ancient Massassi temple. He also created vicious Sithspawn including the battle hydras, terentateks, and the Night Beast. The Sith Lord also imprisoned the souls of the children of the Massassi in a malevolent Dark Side device known as the Golden Globe.
Later, Kun allied himself with the Krath - another group of dark-siders based in the Empress Teta system under the leadership of Aleema Keto and another fallen Jedi Ulic Qel-Droma. He then went to the Jedi world of Ossus and recruited twenty Jedi to his cause, thus starting the Brotherhood of the Sith. In 3996 BBY, Exar Kun along with his Krath and Mandalorian allies waged war on the Republic and the Jedi. The Jedi eventually prevailed and gathered their forces for an assault on Yavin 4. However, as the orbiting Jedi fleet launched a wall of light side power which bombarded the jungle moon, Kun gathered his Massassi followers into the Great Temple and drained their life energies in order to free his spirit from his body and invest it into the surrounding structures where he would remain for millennia.
The Jedi attack obliterated much of the jungles and scorched the temple complex to the extent that nothing could survive. After the attack, the Jedi established an underground city on the moon and used it to modify the climate of the moon into a jungle state and to help restore the planet's ecosystem and ensure that Kun is never awakened. During the Great Hunt, the moon was cleansed of terentateks by the Jedi.
The Jedi eventually left Yavin, erasing information about the moon hoping to end its evil legacy; though in later years at least one individual still knew its location, as the "Jedi prince" Ken was hidden there by a brown-robed Jedi Master. The city was eventually rediscovered by Luke Skywalker, who trapped the imposter Kadann, Supreme Prophet of the Prophets of the Dark Side, there.
During the Galactic War between the Republic and the resurrected Sith Empire, the former Jedi Master and former Sith Lord Revan began plotting against both sides. His followers, called the Order of Revan or the Revanites, took over Yavin 4. Revan planned to resurrect the Sith Emperor, who remained in an incorporeal state after his defeat by the Hero of Tython, so that he could kill the Emperor once and for all. SIS agent Theron Shan and Sith Lord Lana Beniko brokered a truce between the Republic and the Empire so that they could work together to defeat Revan. Republic and Imperial forces, led by Grand Master Satele Shan and Dark Councilor Darth Marr respectively, invaded the moon. Revan was ultimately defeated, but the Sith Emperor regained some of his strength regardless and left the moon.
The system was rediscovered by hyperspace scouts from the Hydian Way and became the site of a brief rush on Corusca gems inside the gas giant.
About four hundred years before the Battle of Yavin, the Kushiban Jedi Master Ikrit came to the moon and discovered the Golden Globe within the Palace of the Woolamander. Unable to break the curse and free the countless trapped Massassi children, he waited until someone came along who could.
The Wolhanian expedition of archaeologists studied the Massassi ruins. They uncovered a bas-relief depicting Jedi and Sith battling in the Great Hyperspace War as well as a Sith Chalice. Both of these items ended up in the art collection of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine.
During the time of the Clone Wars, Anakin Skywalker tracked Asajj Ventress to Yavin 4 following her attack on Republic starfighters at the Battle of Muunilinst. It was here that she destroyed Anakin's customized Jedi Starfighter, the Azure Angel, as well as killing the clone troopers that Obi-Wan Kenobi sent to follow him. Anakin and Asajj had their first duel through the thick jungles and the Massassi ruins until Anakin bested her and knocked her off one of the temples. She was presumed dead and he took off in her Ginivex-class starfighter.
In 1 BBY, Sullustan pilot Dr'uun Unnh scouted the moon as a potential base for the Rebellion. The moon was home to the Rebel Alliance's main military base, Massassi Station, built from the Great Temple of the Massassi, prior to and during the Battle of Yavin. The Rebels established this base in following the abandonment of their previous base on the planet Dantooine. The Galactic Empire sought to use its new space station superweapon, the Death Star I, to destroy the small jungle moon and crush the Rebellion. Following the Destruction of Alderaan, the Empire sent a legion of stormtroopers to confirm Rebel presence on the moon. They discovered the rebels, and established a monitoring outpost at the Massassi Arena. Following the skirmish, a small force of X-wing and Y-wing starfighters were sent to destroy the Death Star, but most were killed in the attack. With the timely assistance of his friend Han Solo, Luke Skywalker was able to fire two proton torpedoes into a small thermal exhaust port in a small trench near the northern pole, thus destroying the station and saving Yavin 4. A great ceremony was held following the Death Star's destruction, where Princess Leia bestowed medals of honor upon Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, along with his Wookiee co-pilot, Chewbacca.
This battle became known as the Battle of Yavin, and its date is used galaxywide for marking events. Events before the Battle of Yavin are marked by BBY, and events that occur after are marked by ABY. A few days after the battle, Solo and Chewbacca stole ancient Sith treasures from the temples, and sold them, to finance replacements for the devastating Rebel losses against the Death Star.
The Rebels remained on the moon for 6 months afterwards, until finally escaping the Imperial blockade. Yavin 4 requested the assistance of the Defiance in order to protect their evacuating ships in space. General Jan Dodonna remained behind, blowing up a temple to damage the Imperial forces. Under the secret observation of Mara Jade, Darth Vader wiped out the remaining ground troops and captured the injured Dodonna, whom Vader interrogated until Dodonna revealed the Rebel presence on Reytha. Dodonna was then imprisoned aboard the Lusankya, although most Rebels, and even Mara Jade, mistakenly believed him dead. The Empire then occupied the moon.
The Empire maintained a military base, a labor outpost, and a mining outpost on the planet. Because of Yavin 4 by that point being under Imperial jurisdiction, the Empire also granted access towards tourists via Intergalactic Passports. In response, the Rebels set up a new base on the planet to harass the Imperials, but in a place other than the earlier Massassi Station. The Imperials were forced to construct a new base after the original was captured by Rebels.
Following the defeat of the Galactic Empire in 4 ABY at the Battle of Endor, the New Republic presumably took back the jungle moon from the Empire. The small village of Vornez was established and the Senate Planetary Intelligence Network was headquartered on Yavin 4 though it would later be replaced by New Republic Intelligence.
In 5 ABY, after receiving a vision from Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke Skywalker searched for and discovered the Lost City of the Jedi. Here he found Ken, a young boy and the heir to the former Emperor Palpatine who'd been hidden there by the Jedi and taken care of by droids. When the self-proclaimed emperor Trioculus heard about the discovery of the city and the young boy, he led an assault on the planet with squadrons of Treaded Neutron Torches and Stormtroopers however he was defeated by the New Republic.
In 11 ABY, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker chose Yavin 4 as the site for the Jedi Praxeum and the headquarters of his New Jedi Order after receiving permission from the New Republic. During his travels, he had discovered a number of Force-sensitives and finally felt ready to begin to train new Jedi. This first class consisted of twelve pupils with Luke as their teacher. Some of those twelve were Kam and Tionne Solusar, Kirana Ti, Madurrin, Kyle Katarn, Dorsk 81, Brakiss, Corran Horn, Streen, and Gantoris. Other Jedi to join soon after were Kyp Durron, Cilghal, Mara Jade, and Dal Konur.
It was not long before it became apparent that not all was well at the Academy. The spirit of Exar Kun, Sith Lord, haunted a temple on the moon and began to influence Luke's students towards the dark side. Kun attacked Luke, forcing him into a coma, and Kyp Durron, one of the most promising students, fled the Academy in the Sun Crusher, wreaking havoc on the galaxy and destroying the Imperial fortress world of Carida. Eventually Luke was awoken and the Sith spirit was defeated by a joint Jedi offensive including the then infant Solo twins.
In 12 ABY, Admiral Daala and then Vice Admiral Gilad Pellaeon attacked the Jedi Praxeum with a fleet of 12 Star Destroyers and the Super Star Destroyer Knight Hammer. Legions of Stormtroopers and ground assault vehicles were also unleashed on the Jedi who fought them back by using the Force to drive the Imperials to the edges of the Yavin system though Dorsk 81 was killed in the process.
Later that year, the Empire Reborn under Desann and Admiral Galak Fyyar attacked the Jedi Praxeum though they too would be defeated by the efforts of the Jedi and their New Republic allies. Because of his heroic actions, Kyle Katarn chose to rejoin the New Jedi Order.
In 22 ABY, Anakin Solo (the youngest of the Solo children) and Tahiri Veila discovered the Golden Globe and the Kushiban Jedi Master Ikrit during an exploration of the crumbling Palace of the Woolamander. With the help of Ikrit and ancient Massassi engravings found at the Palace and on nearby Yavin 8, the pair broke the curse of the Golden Globe, thus freeing the trapped Massassi children.
In 23 ABY, during an exploration of the surrounding jungles, the Solo twins Jacen and Jaina, along with their friends Tenel Ka and Lowbacca discovered the wreckage of a TIE Fighter from the Battle of Yavin. Unfortunately, the pilot of the vehicle Qorl reappeared and took the Solo twins hostage, forcing them to repair the damaged ship before escaping into hyperspace to rejoin the Empire.
Later that year, the Jedi Praxeum was attacked by the dark side Shadow Academy and the Imperial insurgency group Second Imperium. However, they were defeated by the combined efforts of the Jedi and their New Republic allies.
For the first year the of the Yuuzhan Vong War, the moon was protected from the Yuuzhan Vong via use of the Force to create an illusory projection, a technique borrowed from the Fallanassi. However, the Jedi Praxeum was destroyed by the Yuuzhan Vong in 26 ABY. The Peace Brigade/Yuuzhan Vong victory was partially due to the fact that the New Republic was unwilling to provide aid for the Jedi. By then, most Jedi had been mobilized for military action and only the youngest Jedi adepts and trainees remained at the Jedi Praxeum. The destruction of the "heretic Jeedai" provided a large morale boost to the Yuuzhan Vong.
The Jedi Anakin Solo and the smuggler kingpin Talon Karrde, along with his personal fleet, managed to evacuate the vast majority of the remaining Jedi trainees, though the Kushiban Jedi Master Ikrit was killed by the Peace Brigade troops and Tahiri Veila was captured.
With Yavin 4 in their hands, the Yuuzhan Vong initiated a Vongforming program on the moon by using damuteks to flatten the ancient Massassi temples and then establishing a colony. Meanwhile, the Master Shaper Mezhan Kwaad and her apprentice Nen Yim began performing experiments on Tahiri, in an attempt to brainwash her by replacing her personality with that of Riina Kwaad, an identity formed out of memories copied from Nen Yim's own childhood.
Rather than have his friend Tahiri suffer in the hands of the enemy, Anakin went on a mission to rescue her. With the help of Qorl who had been eking out a life in the jungle ever since the defeat of the Second Imperium and the Shamed Yuuzhan Vong Vua Rapuung, Anakin managed to infiltrate the Yuuzhan Vong compound disguised as a slave.
While in the enemy base, Anakin learned that Vua Rapuung had once been a skilled Warrior. He once had an affair with Mezhan Kwaad. When Rapuung decided to break off the affair, Kwaad, fearful he would reveal their affair, infected him with a virus that caused his body to reject implants he received after his escalation, rendering him a Shamed One. Rapuung, however, knew that Kwaad was responsible. Faced with a common enemy, Rapuung agreed to help Anakin rescue Tahiri on the condition that he would help him confront Kwaad.
Together, they made it to the damutek where Kwaad had been reshaping Tahiri into believing she was Riina Kwaad. They then fought their way into a shuttle that carried Kwaad, Nen Yim and Tahiri. In front of hundreds of Yuuzhan Vong ranging from Shapers, Warriors, Workers to Shamed Ones, Rapuung confronted his former lover, who had just been discovered to be practicing heresy, and demanded she answer whether the Gods were responsible for his shaming, or if she was. Kwaad admitted her role, then mortally wounded Rapuung with a weapon concealed in her Shaper Hand.
Dying, he gave Anakin Solo and Tahiri Veila enough time to escape. Anakin and Tahiri fled, along with Qorl and the others, on a repaired freighter. This incident started a legend among the Shamed Ones that said he was redeemed in his death, thus beginning the Jeedai heresy. Members of this sect saw the Jedi as saviors rather than enemies, and would be cultivated on worlds such as Dubrillion and conquered Coruscant, helping to topple the Yuuzhan Vong empire.
Following the liberation of Coruscant from the Yuuzhan Vong in 29 ABY, Grand Master Luke Skywalker dismissed the notion of rebuilding the Praxeum, however, stating that the Praxeum had served its purpose, and that the Jedi would find a new home elsewhere.
Places
Labor Outpost
Labor Outpost was a settlement on Yavin 4.
The outpost was little more than a small, enclosed settlement. However, unlike the Yavin 4 Mining Outpost, it had a sturdier perimeter and a large watch tower. It also had its own cantina, medical center, and spaceport.
This outpost was established by the Galactic Empire after capturing Yavin 4 from the Rebel Alliance in 0 ABY. The outpost was popular among smugglers, who operated out of it frequently.
Some notable residents of the outpost during this time included Lieutenant Colonel Aqzow, Major Eker, and Wuioe Opca.
Mining Outpost (Yavin 4)
The Mining Outpost was a settlement on Yavin IV.
The outpost was little more than a small, enclosed settlement. Some notable structures within the confines of the outpost included a small cantina, hotel, medical center, and spaceport.
This outpost was established by the Galactic Empire after they captured Yavin IV from the Rebel Alliance.
Some notabe residents of the outpost during this time included Breac Slaus, Osae Meilea, and Zelma.
Geonosian Bio-Lab
The Geonosian Bio-Lab, also known as the Geonosian biogenics research laboratory, was a laboratory hidden on Yavin 4 used by the Geonosians. The lab was used to test experiments on many creatures, causing them to mutate to hideous beasts, for use in the Geonosian Execution Arena on Geonosis.
During the Galactic Civil War, Bothan spies intercepted transmissions from an Imperial officer named Harmon Vintollo on Kaadara and an undercover Rebel operative named Teraeza Furloti in a hotel in Tyrena on Corellia. They both spoke of a hidden biogenics lab run by the Geonosians. The information was later leaked to the HoloNet. Information was also revealed when Geonosian named Ikvizi who was being held prisoner on Kashyyyk gave the coordinates to get a domesticated bolotaur within the lab to a helpful traveler.
Following the Battle of Yavin, rumors began circulating around the galaxy about the hidden laboratory. Other, more sinister creations such as mutated Kwis and Klikniks with Force powers were being developed for use.
Seismic events compromised the base's integrity, disabling the holo-generators that hid the entrance to the complex. The tremors also caused minor cave-ins, structural collapses and sporadic power losses, resulting in mass chaos throughout the complex.
The base's security system soon malfunctioned. The sentry droids guarding the complex were confused and proceeded to attack any unlucky adventurers who happened to stumble upon the exposed laboratory.
It is not known what became of the lab after the Galactic Civil War. Rumors persist that some small groups of spacers journeyed bravely to the very bottom of the lab to kill the numerous acklays that were lurking there, in order to loot valuable materials about the creature that could potentially be used in various weaponry.
Jedi Praxeum
The Jedi Praxeum, also known as the Jedi Academy, was a academy that was founded by Jedi Master Luke Skywalker on Yavin 4 in 11 ABY during the era of the New Republic.
The ancient Jedi scholar Karena coined the term praxeum to describe a Jedi academy as a place for the "distillation of learning combined with action." In the days of the Galactic Republic, well-known praxeums included those on Teya IV, Arkania, Ossus and Dantooine.
Inspired by the parting words of Obi-Wan Kenobi and the several Force-sensitive individuals he had encountered, Skywalker began planning for a unique institution where new and old Jedi could learn together.
Students at the Praxeum trained in the ways of the Force, learned to defend themselves with a lightsaber, and studied diplomacy, history and more.
Most of the Jedi in Skywalker's Jedi Order were trained at the Academy and learned somewhat directly from him, although most were trained by the battlemaster of the academy, Kyle Katarn. The Jedi Praxeum, wherever it was, tended to be a base of operations for the Jedi, and often a home when they were not performing other jobs for Master Skywalker or going about their personal lives.
Skywalker was known to leave the Academy in times of crisis to help the New Republic, leaving it in the capable hands of Streen, or Kam and Tionne Solusar.
Once the project was sanctioned by Chief of State Mon Mothma, Skywalker asked Leia Organa Solo to come up with a location to set up the academy. Mon Mothma suggested Yavin 4 to Organa Solo, who in turn recommended it to Skywalker. Skywalker agreed that Yavin 4 was the perfect location. He decided to set it up in the Great Temple that housed the earlier Alliance base at the time of the Battle of Yavin. Internally, the Praxeum made use of the four level design of the Great Temple, with each floor making up a step of the ziggurat. Thus, all floors were based on similar plans with small cells, chambers and corridors around a large central space.
The topmost level, almost entirely taken up by the Grand Audience Chamber, was used as a ceremonial hall by the Alliance garrison and later employed by the Jedi Academy as a teaching space. The next level was converted entirely to accommodations for the Jedi Masters and their students, with any extra space being used for storage. On the level below, the central chamber was named the Strategy Center, with the surrounding rooms on this level used as meeting rooms, communications and computing bays, kitchens and dining halls.
The lowest level of the temple continued to serve as a vast hangar bay for starfighters and other vehicles, with a second hangar underneath, and cellars and catacombs that remained largely unused. Access to the hangar was by a set of ground-level blast doors opening onto a landing pad. After the Galactic Civil War the average ground level around the structure's exterior had risen, so that the main entrance was at War Room level, and many of the students thought of the entire hangar complex as being essentially underground. Although the hangar doors remained accessible, the area in front of them no longer served as the main landing zone.
The academy had many training grounds equipped with remotes, ASP-19 battle droids, training lightsabers and other technology to challenge the new apprentices.
After the transition from Rebel base to Jedi academy was complete, Skywalker recruited twelve students: Tionne, Dorsk 81, Kirana Ti, Kam Solusar, Brakiss, Streen, Gantoris, Corran Horn (under the alias of Keiran Halcyon), Madurrin, Kyle Katarn (who soon left due to his concerns about the dark side of the Force), and two other cadets (possibly Havet Storm, Keyan Farlander, Nichos Marr or Harlan). They were joined shortly thereafter by Kyp Durron, Mara Jade, Cilghal and Dal Konur.
A Chistori student named Desann proved very talented, but struck down his training partner Havet Storm in a fit of rage. He fled the academy, only to return later as a Dark Jedi determined to destroy the academy with a huge invasion force of the Empire Reborn.
Horn left the academy early on, frustrated with Skywalker's training methods, and eager to find his kidnapped wife, Mirax . Horn doubted that he could use his Force abilities for anything and chose instead to rely on detective skills learned during his years with CorSec. He realized that it was possible to combine his detective and Jedi skills. After he rescued his wife, he eventually returned to the academy.
Mara Jade was initially only loosely attached to the academy. She would stay there for some time and train with the other students and teach them what she knew. She did not feel ready to commit herself fully to the way of the Jedi yet, as she still had many unresolved issues. Eventually she became more and more attached to the academy, and to Luke Skywalker, whom she eventually married.
Like Horn, Katarn, who had trained informally with Jade prior to the establishment of the Praxeum, returned to the academy to assist the Jedi in defeating Galak Fyyar and Desann's invasion force of stormtroopers, swamptroopers, Reborn warriors and shadowtroopers. After defeating Desann in a lightsaber duel deep in the Great Temple, Katarn decided to stay at the Praxeum.
All three were to become central figures in Skywalker's Jedi Order. By the start of the Crisis of the Disciples of Ragnos, Katarn and Horn had apprentices under their tutelage. Katarn had attained the rank of Jedi Master at that time. Jade and then Horn would later advance to the rank of Jedi Master.
Later, students such as Jaden Korr, Rosh Penin, Cray Mingla, Nichos Marr, Ganner Rhysode, Wurth Skidder, Octa Ramis, Miko Reglia, Raynar Thul, Lusa, Tenel Ka, Lowbacca, Zekk, Tahiri Veila, Tekli, Eryl Besa, Ulaha Kore, Jovan Drark, Zak Arranda, Tash Arranda, Daeshara'cor, Dolph, and Raltharan attended. Anakin, Jacen, and Jaina Solo also attended the Praxeum to develop their abilities.
Students as diverse as Rodians, Humans, Twi'leks, Kel Dors and Zabraks attended the academy in this period.
Penin turned to the dark side during the crisis of the Disciples of Ragnos but was redeemed by Korr and Katarn. Most of the students at the academy participated in the epic battle on Korriban where the Disciples of Ragnos were defeated once and for all.
In 14 ABY, it was common that multiple students were assigned to only one Master due to the small number of Jedi Masters, like in the case of Kyle Katarn and his apprentices Jaden Korr and Rosh Penin.
After receiving information from Zekk that the Jedi Praxeum was in danger from attack by the Second Imperium, Jacen, Jaina, Lowbacca and Tenel Ka alerted Luke Skywalker and the rest of the Jedi trainees of the incoming attack.
As the trainees prepared, the Shadow Academy and the Empire appeared in the sky above the Jedi Praxeum and unleashed swarms of TIE fighters, stormtroopers and Dark Jedi adepts. Using TIE stealths, the invaders flew under the academy's shield and destroyed the generator leaving the academy open to aerial assault.
As Masters and trainees engaged the enemy, Brakiss attacked his former master Luke Skywalker. After retreating, Brakiss demanded to see the Emperor. He would later discover that the Emperor had never returned. Back on the ground, the remaining Imperial forces saw the destruction of the Shadow Academy and surrendered. In a final attempt to gain victory, an officer of the Empire slipped into Praxeum and planted a time bomb. The bomb exploded and destroyed a large portion of the building though no Jedi was badly injured.
Reconstruction took place on the Jedi Praxeum. The Jedi trainees helped clear debris and also hunted for shards of carved stone blasted from the ancient structures, cataloging them so that the pieces could be reassembled. Off-world engineers, architects and laborers were also called in to help in the restoration efforts. New Republic military forces and planetary shields were installed on the Praxeum to defend it.
Sometime after this battle, the New Republic stationed a fleet over the moon to protect it.
The second battle of the Jedi Praxeum occurred during the Yuuzhan Vong War in 26 ABY. The battle was fought between the Jedi and the Peace Brigade, who attacked, causing the Jedi to flee into the jungle as the Yuuzhan Vong consolidated their presence in the system.
Talon Karrde and Booster Terrik helped the few Jedi Knights and the many Padawans escape the clutches, making the Errant Venture and then the Shelter in the Maw the new home of the Jedi Academy. After the end of the Yuuzhan Vong War, the Praxeum was reestablished on Ossus.
Palace of the Woolamander
The Palace of the Woolamander, or Woolamander Palace, was an ancient Massassi temple next to the Temple of the Blueleaf Cluster in the Val'Arnos Jungle of Yavin 4. It was built by Massassi slaves during the Dark Lord Exar Kun's reign in 3997 BBY. He also kept the Golden Globe—a globular device which imprisoned the souls of the children of the Massassi—in a sealed chamber.
During the last centuries of the Galactic Republic, the Kushiban Jedi Master Ikrit came to the Palace and discovered the Golden Globe. Knowing that he was unable to free the trapped souls, he placed himself in a Force trance to wait the arrival of those who would break the curse.
By the time of the Galactic Civil War, it had been reduced to a crumbling ruin and was discovered by the Sullustan naturalist Dr'uun Unnh. He gave the temple its name because he found a pack of woolamanders in the temple during his exploration. These creatures raised a loud, howling alarm when he entered and chased him away by pelting the Sullustan. Due to this and the fact that it was crumbling and falling apart, D'ruun Unnh deemed that the palace held little interest. Around 1 ABY, a year after the Battle of Yavin, there were reported sightings of various members of the Alliance to Restore the Republic, or at the very least affiliates of the group, operating from within the ruins of the palace from time to time, acting as one of the few Rebel bases on the moon since the Rebels were driven out by the Empire, which acted as the reason why it was singled out as one of three possible locations of a prisoner transfer log that Colonel Darkstone dispatched an Imperial unit to retrieve in an attempt to rescue Doctor Bledsoe, the others being the Mokk Stronghold on Dantooine and the Droid Engineer cave on Lok.
In 4 ABY, Yavin IV was made the temporary capital of the New Republic. The palace became the temporary home for the Senate Planetary Intelligence Network, a secret New Republic organization led by Mon Mothma. They presumably rebuilt parts of the palace, to make it more habitable.
In 22 ABY, Jedi trainees Anakin Solo and Tahiri Veila discovered the Palace of the Woolamander during a trek of the jungle surrounding the Jedi Praxeum. They discovered the Golden Globe and Ikrit though they were also unable to break it at first.
Later, during a trip to nearby Yavin 8, the two Jedi discovered ancient carvings within a deep cave indicating its origins. However, before they could do this, the pair had to undergo a test in the deserts of Tatooine. Having survived, Anakin and Tahiri returned to the Palace of the Woolamander and broke the curse, freeing countless trapped Massassi.
Temple of the Blueleaf Cluster
The Temple of the Blueleaf Cluster, also known as the Blueleaf Temple, was a temple on Yavin 4 located on the Taurin Delta, just downstream the Unnh River from the Great Temple.
Its name came from the fact that images of blueleaf shrub leaves were carved into the outer surface of the temple. The Blueleaf Temple was half as tall as the Massassi Temple, but had a proportionately wider base. The majority of the temple was taken up by a single vast opening, with stairs leading up and down to levels of alcoves carved into the walls. The temple contained a mysterious blue energy crystal.
When it was surveyed by Dr'uun Unnh for the Rebel Alliance, several anomalies were detected; consequently, General Jan Dodonna ordered the entrance be sealed with rocks. After the Rebels evacuated Yavin Base, the Imperial forces burned through the rocks to gain access believing it to hold Rebel supply stockpiles. During the Galactic Civil War and possibly well before, it was discovered that aggressive insectoids, designated the klikniks, inhabited the temple's interior, effectively keeping any outsiders from entering.
The temple was visited by Corran Horn, Kam Solusar, and Brakiss in 11 ABY, as part of a survey of the Massassi temples that Horn was carrying out to find which temple the spirit of Exar Kun was anchored in. During the Assault on Yavin 4 in 12 ABY, Imperial forces believed it to be the Jedi headquarters, and it therefore sustained heavy TIE/sa bomber damage.
Temple of Exar Kun
The Temple of Exar Kun, also known as the Tomb of Exar Kun or the Dark Temple was a Sith temple on Yavin 4. It was located northeast of the Great Temple.
The temple was situated on a volcanic island called the Isle of Kun in the middle of a deep lake and it could only be reached on foot by stepping stones. These were set a few centimeters beneath the surface of the water, which forced all who crossed them to approach the temple with their heads bowed, so they could watch their feet.
The temple itself was made from polished black-colored obsidian that was studded with corusca gems. It was etched with Sith hieroglyphics and pictographs, that translated as magic incantations to protect the temple and call doom to its defilers. At its apex was a large statue of the Sith Lord Exar Kun and outside, there was a small courtyard.
Inside, the temple had just one chamber and catacombs beneath it. These consisted of a number of chambers, interlinked by tunnels. The last chamber contained the sarcophagus of Exar Kun, where presumably his body was intended to be placed after his death, although it is unknown if this actually happened, as he fused his spirit into the very walls of the Yavin 4 temples—possibly taking his body too. The temple also had a water cistern inside of it.
Just before he fully embraced the dark side of the Force, the fallen Jedi Exar Kun came to Yavin 4, where he enslaved the native Massassi, who saw him as a god. He had them construct temples in his honor, one of which would later become known as the Temple of Exar Kun. Kun used the temple as a private retreat, where he went to further his studies of the Force.
Shortly before his death at the end of the Great Sith War in 3996 BBY, Kun drew upon the life forces of the entire Massassi population to transfer his spirit into the temple, where his spirit resided for the next four thousand years.
The temple was rediscovered during the Battle of Yavin by a Rebel naturalist called Dr'uun Unnh. He instantly realized that it was a Sith temple and was intrigued by the fact that, while all the other temples on Yavin 4 were worn and ruined, this temple showed no signs of aging at all. Unnh was killed shortly after, when his speeder bike was hit by a crashed TIE/LN starfighter, but details of the temple were recovered on his datapad, by a search team.
In 1 ABY, Professor Walter Emanus led a University of Corellia archaeological expedition to the temple and discovered a number of rare artifacts, such as the Valahorn. However, when their excavations uncovered the catacombs beneath the temple, they reawakened the spirit of Exar Kun. They became enslaved to the spirit and formed the Cult of Exar Kun. The cult based itself in the catacombs, until they were driven out by a team of spacers, sent by Professor Cornelius Wagglehorn, a colleague of Emanus from the University. Jan Dodonna and Luke Skywalker were also present at the temple at some point during the excavation and a spacer aided them with a number of tasks in evacuating the base. The spacers were sometimes halted in the temple by Rebel soldiers who were possessed by Kun's spirit.
Skywalker later set up a Jedi Praxeum in the Great Temple on Yavin 4 in 11 ABY. On his arrival, he could sense Kun's dark presence inside the temple, something that he hadn't sensed when on Yavin 4 before, when his Jedi abilities were less well developed. The spirit of Exar Kun was reawakened and set about luring his pupils to his temple, where he attempted to turn them to the dark side of the Force. Gantoris and Streen traveled to the temple and while they were there, two corusca gems flaked of its walls and landed at Gantoris's feet. This was presumably caused by Kun, and Gantoris used them in the construction of his lightsaber. Kun succeeded in turning Gantoris, but when he resisted, he destroyed him. Later, Kyp Durron and Dorsk 81 journeyed to the temple. There, Kyp put his companion to sleep while he learned from the Sith Lord. Kun wanted to kill Dorsk on a whim, as a demonstration of his power, but Kyp prevented this, by asking the Dark Lord to teach him everything he knew. Corran Horn also visited the temple soon after and Kun promised to help him find his missing wife, Mirax, if he became his student. Horn resisted, but Kun came close to breaking him, until Mara Jade arrived and temporarily distracted him. The Dark Lord then realized this, while the other Jedi students worked to vanquish his spirit, which they succeeded in doing.
With Exar Kun destroyed, Kyp was redeemed to the light side of the Force. On Kyp's return to Yavin 4, Luke took him to the temple, to face a test similar to the experience Luke had in the Dark Side Cave on Dagobah. Instead of Vader, Kyp faced Exar Kun and passed the test, by refusing to strike him down with anger. Kun then resolved into Kyp's dead brother Zeth as a Force ghost, much as Luke had seen himself in Vader's mask. Zeth's image was probably formed through the Force powers in the temple in which he appeared to teach Kyp an important lesson, though it is impossible to say for sure.
Shortly after, Corran Horn gained Luke's permission to destroy the temple, as he had seen firsthand how Sith writings had corrupted the Jensaarai and he didn't want the writings in the temple to lead anyone else to the dark side. He attacked it in his X-wing, beginning by firing proton torpedos at the statue of Exar Kun. The fragments of this rained down, with some damaging the interior of the temple, while others plummeted into the lake. He then switched to lasers and targeted the exterior of the temple, strafing it back and forth until it collapsed and heating it up so that all the writings on it were destroyed. When he had finished, almost no traces of it remained.
Yavin Station
Yavin Station was a space station that had been built in orbit around the gas giant of Yavin Prime.
Built during the Great Sith War, the station was a Galactic Republic service and supply depot. After the defeat of Exar Kun and the bombing of Exar's stronghold on Yavin 4, the station was abandoned.
A former Rodian slave of Exar's forces, known as Suvam Tan, took up residence in the station, using it as a base for scavenging on Yavin 4. He would trade the salvage with Trandoshans and smugglers that came through, in exchange for food and supplies.
During the Jedi Civil War, Revan encountered Yavin Station and Suvam. In exchange for Revan's help against the Trandoshans (who had grown unruly due to Davik Kang's death), Suvam supplied the Jedi with a variety of powerful and rare equipment.
Eventually, Yavin Station began to crumble. Suvam hid several of his most prized possessions on locations on the three habitable moons of Yavin, and sent a data crystal containing the information to his son on Rodia. The station was still intact by the time of the Galactic War three centuries later, but sometime after that, the station exploded, propelling it into Yavin 22.
The station and Suvam's body were discovered in 0 BBY by his descendant, Suz Tanwa.
Lost City of the Jedi
The Lost City of the Jedi was a secret city and terraforming station, located deep below the surface of the fourth moon of Yavin Prime. Thousands of years before the rise of the Galactic Empire, at the end of the Great Sith War, members of the Jedi Order chased the renegade Exar Kun to Yavin 4. Wishing to obtain the demise of the Sith and bring the war to an end, the Jedi launched a salvo of destructive energy at the moon, trapping Kun's spirit in his temple but ravaging the surface of Yavin 4 in the process. This environmental catastrophe completely destroyed the ecosystem of Yavin 4, and the Lost City of the Jedi was built to nurture the world back to health.
Around 4000 BBY, a rogue Jedi apprentice named Exar Kun partnered with the Krath cult to form the Brotherhood of the Sith, in hopes of bringing down the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order. Kun had been christened the new Dark Lord of the Sith by the ghost of Marka Ragnos, and had established his quarters on the fourth moon of Yavin Prime. The series of battles that ensued, known as the Great Sith War, resulted in millions of deaths. Four years later, Ulic Qel-Droma—a fallen Jedi and ally of Kun—betrayed the Dark Lord and revealed the secrets of Kun's power base. Soon, a legion of Jedi, led to Yavin 4 by Qel-droma, arrived to stop Kun and bring the war to an end.
Unyielding, Kun decided to drain the life of thousands of Massassi so he could trap his own spirit into the walls of a temple. Determined to end the war, the Jedi banded together and created a wall of light, a devastating salvo of light side energy, which they launched at the planet. This powerful combined attack accidentally ignited the moon's jungles, causing the deaths of the few remaining Massassi, levelling most of the temples and razing the rain forests to the ground. Kun's spirit had been trapped inside his own walls, but the ecosystem of Yavin 4 had been ravaged in the process.
The Jedi Order sought to reverse the damage their wall of light had caused and established an underground terraforming station that would restore the moon to its former state. Following the fires, the landscape of the moon had become barren and cold, but a group of Jedi Masters discovered they could change the climate by creating a way to bring heat from the moon's core to the surface. This involved drilling deep shafts into Yavin 4 which were designed to release steam as well as heat into the atmosphere. This in turn led to the development of the Weather and Climate Command Center. Once established, the Center manipulated the moon's environmental conditions, which in turn, made the moon warmer and more tropical. Once this was done, the Jedi began seeding the four continents, thus allowing lush forests to grow again on Yavin 4.
Upon the completion of this terraforming process, the Jedi began to make arrangements for a subterranean city which, in time, would become known as the Lost City of the Jedi. The settlement was created on the moon's largest continent, and it was built deep underground, below the rainforest, in a huge cavern. Using deep shafts similar to the ones they cut to release the heat in the moon's core, they created tubular transports that allowed for travel between the underground city and "Topworld"—which was the name given to the surface. One method of entry was a round wall made of green marble which was located in the forest. Inside the underground cavern were numerous dome houses that housed Jedi Knights as well as various pieces of advanced equipment. Beyond its ecological importance, the new city also had the function to guarantee the spirit of Kun would never break free.
At some point after the founding of the city, the organic inhabitants left, and an army of droids took over the care-taking of the settlement. The facility consisted of travel tubes, computer cubes as well as droids of every possible design. This high degree of automation meant that the city was highly busy due to its droid occupants who were always modifying the computers, making new droids or repairing old ones and doing other maintenance duties such as working on the power generators, cleaning as well as maintaining the hundred domes that dominated the city. In time, the city became forgotten and was considered nothing but a legend in the centuries that followed its creation. Nonetheless, the city remained active and its droid occupants would, on occasion, journey to the surface of the moon and gather information which was used to update the history of the galaxy for the Lost City's Jedi Library.
Around the year 7 BBY, an unknown brown-robed Jedi Master brought Ken, the supposed grandson of Emperor Palpatine, to the city to keep him safe. For twelve years, the boy grew among the droids of the Lost City, away from the dangers of the dark side but in the ignorance about his origins. Following the Battle of Endor, the Bimm impersonator posing as the Supreme Prophet Kadann intended to get his hands on the ancient knowledge hidden in the Lost City. In order to find the location of the famed and forgotten city, the false Prophet abducted the young Prince Ken. He promised he would reveal the secrets of the boy's origins if he was told the correct geographical coordinates of the Lost City. Ken was troubled by this promise, and he gave the pseudo-Kadann the information he sought. The Jedi secrets contained in the city's master computer almost fell into the fake Prophet's hands, but the Grand Computer was destroyed by blaster fire, leaving Kadann and his minions inside the crumbling city. Although they eventually escaped, the city itself had been damaged enough that Exar Kun was now free to wander the entire moon.
Design
The Lost City was built several miles below the surface, in a cavern lit up by bubble lights and fluorescent rocks. Most of the city's buildings, where the Jedi used to live, were dome-shaped. The city was criss-crossed by roads made of perfectly cut stone.
Jedi Library
Within the Lost City of the Jedi was a great library which possessed records that dated back for thousands of years. The majority of the records were located within a master computer that possessed files placed in there by the Jedi. In addition to these electronic records, there were also ancient manuscripts as well as books. Inside this repository of knowledge was information of all civilizations and the history of all planets as well as moons that had intelligent life on them.
Weather and Climate Command Center
The complex facility was developed by the Jedi thousands of years ago and placed within the Lost City. It consisted of a series of pipe shafts that tapped into the moon's core and brought heat as well as steam to the surface. This allowed a level of control over the weather patterns of the moon and allowed it to be transformed from a barren wasteland into a tropical forest planet. Through a special code, the computer was capable of being accessed, and directed to release steam, thus creating new climate changes such as bringing the rain season early.
Massassi Arena
The Massassi Arena, located on Yavin 4, was once a great fighting arena created by the Massassi people. The Arena was multi-leveled stone structure, with boxes on the top level at its east and west. A pyramidal altar was to its north, and a gate to its south. Prior to the Battle of Yavin, the arena was captured from the Rebel Alliance by a force of Imperial stormtroopers, who converted it into a monitoring outpost.
Force nexus
Force nexus, or vergence, is a term used to refer to any location where the Force, or any particular aspect of the Force, was unusually strong.
Such nexuses could be caused by any number of different events. Korriban in general and the Valley of the Dark Lords specifically were nexuses of the dark side of the Force due to the long-term presence of the Sith Lords, Nam Chorios was a nexus of the Force due to the omnipresence of the Tsils, a form of life; Vjun was a nexus of the dark side due to the horrible events of its past, the Dark Side Cave on Dagobah and a spot in orbit over Endor were tainted by the death of dark side users, Byss was a nexus of the dark side of the Force because it housed Palpatine's clones and his various Sith alchemy experiments and the Force energies sucking the lives on the planet.
There may have been a nexus in Lumiya's habitat asteroid, where Alema Rar was able to draw energy from it to power her Force specters.
The natural mountain on which the foundation of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant rested was a nexus. This became tainted by the dark side with the defeat of Lord Nyax at the site of the ruined Temple during the Yuuzhan Vong War. The most powerful nexus was the Valley of the Jedi, where the spirits of several thousand Jedi, both light and dark, were trapped after the Seventh Battle of Ruusan, a perhaps limitless source of Force energy even after the spirits were freed.
In 14 ABY, the Disciples of Ragnos drained several Force Nexuses of their Force Energy with the Scepter of Ragnos.
Force objects
Objects left in the presence of a Force nexus for extended amounts of time eventually became saturated with the Force, which imbued the object with special abilities, like an edge that will never dull, the ability to absorb some Force powers like Force lightning and electric judgment, or even the ability to enhance the wielder's perception of time, allowing him to think and react faster than otherwise possible. This effect allowed even a being who wasn't Force-sensitive to use the weapon to a great degree. Further, objects (such as a holocron) imbued with a particular aspect of the Force—be it light or dark—could actually become so saturated as to make their very presence intolerable to those of opposite alignment.
In 29 BBY, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker encountered a nexus of powerful dark side energies in an underwater geyser crater on the planet Kodai, where the ancient Sith Holocron of King Adas was hidden. The strong underwater nexus was perceived even with the evil artifact having been stolen from its burial place. As the Jedi duo pursued the holocron's thief through hyperspace, its dark energies were again perceived as a powerful "ripple" or "wave" in the Force, causing the Jedi to quickly exit hyperspace to investigate.
Raven Base
Raven Base was a Rebel base located on Yavin 4. It was destroyed by Darth Vader and his forces during the Evacuation of Yavin in 0 ABY. It was located close to Falcon Base.
It contained three troop centers, a power core, a mech factory, and two Prefab shelters.
Falcon Base
Falcon Base was a large Rebel base located on Yavin 4, consisting of Prefab Shelters, a mech factory and three Troop centers. It was heavily protected by turrets, Rebel troopers, cavalry units, and T1-B hovertanks, but was destroyed by Darth Vader and his forces during the Evacuation of Yavin. It was located in close proximity to Raven Base.
Ersham Ridge
The Ersham Ridge was a region on Yavin 4. The Great Massasi Temple and the Labor Outpost were located in or near this region.
Wayward Jungle
The Wayward Jungle was a jungle region on the planet Yavin IV.
Emperor's sanctuary
A temple on the moon Yavin 4 served as the final sanctuary of the Sith Emperor, hosting his injured spirit after the loss of his host body. The Emperor's agents were supposed to use a artifact in the nearby Temple of Sacrifice to consume all life on the moon and funnel it to the Emperor, thus restoring his strength, but the Imperial Guard were slaughtered by the Order of Revan, and Revan's attempt to use the artifact himself—hoping to restore the Emperor so that he could be permanently killed—failed due to the intervention of the allied Sith Empire and Galactic Republic. Determined to end the Emperor nonetheless, Revan fled to the Emperor's resting place, but was defeated in battle in the temple's courtyard. The Emperor, having fed off of the death and chaos sown by the ongoing battle against the Revanites, was able to regain his strength and departed the moon without taking a physical form.
Great Temple (Yavin 4)
The Great Temple, commonly referred to as the Massassi Temple, was built on Yavin 4 by the Massassi to worship Naga Sadow, a Sith Lord who had enslaved and mutated the Massassi using Sith alchemy. The Temple later housed the Rebel Alliance base, known as Massassi Base, and the Jedi Praxeum. The Temple was destroyed during the Yuuzhan Vong occupation of Yavin 4.
Around 5000 BBY, having fled the Great Hyperspace War, the Sith Lord Naga Sadow hid in the jungles of Yavin 4 alongside his loyal Sith warriors called the Massassi. They settled on a site on the Ersham Ridge covered with thick rainforests, and Sadow ordered his warriors to clear the area and start building moliminous monuments in his honor. Through alchemical experimentations, the Sith Lord mutated the Massassi, turning them into dark side-wielding monsters. One of the monuments built by the Massassi on the jungle moon was the Great Temple, a colossal ziggurat of stone.
The Great Temple was so huge that it seemed impossible it could have been built without the aid of modern gravitonic construction techniques, yet all evidence pointed to mere hand technology and simple machines. How such an enormous structure was built was still a matter of speculation at the time of the Galactic Civil War. The method used by Sadow's slaves to cut and transport metric-ton monoliths from the crust of the moon without disturbing the surface remained a mystery to modern-day scientists.
The Massassi continued to worship Naga Sadow at the Temple, even after he entered a state of hibernation inside a sarcophagus. The former Sith warriors perpetuated that cult for over a thousand years, long after their god's presumed death at the hands of Freedon Nadd, until Exar Kun eliminated most of their numbers in 3996 BBY. However, Kun allowed the Massassi warrior Kalgrath to remain behind in the isolation chambers, guarding the Temple in a state of hibernation.
During the Galactic Civil War, Rebel Alliance scout Dr'uun Unnh discovered the temple. The Alliance chose Yavin 4 due to its exclusion from official Imperial maps, after being forced to secretly abandon their former base on Dantooine. After retrieving the Temple's key from the Yavin Vassilika, a fabled gem-like statuette, Alliance generals Jan Dodonna and Roons Sewell were tasked with establishing the "Massassi Station"—also known as "Yavin Base," callsign "Base One"—within the Great Temple. That same year, the Star Tours security check-in droid G2-9T heard of the base, and accidentially let slip of its existence before stopping himself. However, despite the revelation of that imprudent droid, the Empire did not get wind of the base's location until one year later.
Following its refit by the Alliance, the interior of the Great Temple had changed so much that its original Massassi builders would never have recognized it. The rock walls had been mostly replace with metal, and poured paneling had been used to divide chambers instead of wood. The Rebels had also excavated new layers into the rock below the ziggurat to create a series of underground hangars linked by a turbolift platform. On the ground level and upper floors, many rooms had been converted for modern service, such as the War Room. Only the Grand Audience Chamber, a vast throne room located on the uppermost level of the Great Temple had been spared, for it had been deemed too beautiful and clean for the technicians to modify. The proper maintenance of the new base required an abundance of staff, including a janitor and several deck officers, some of whom were barely kids at the time. Additionally, a section of the base was given over to refugees.
One year after after the establishment of the Massassi Station, the Rebel Alliance launched its assault on the first Death Star from this facility. After the battle, the Royal Award Ceremony was held in the Great Temple to honor the victors. However, the time of revelry proved to be short-lived. Six months after the destruction of the Death Star over Yavin, the Rebel Alliance was forced to abandon the Great Temple. During the evacuation, General Dodonna set off a series of concussion charges in the Temple. The sabotage knocked out a squadron of TIE/IT Interdictor starfighters and the General was presumed killed.
Luke Skywalker established his Jedi Praxeum in the temple in 11 ABY. It was attacked in 12 ABY by Admiral Natasi Daala's forces. Later that same year, Kyle Katarn confronted, and after an intense battle in the underground portion of the Temple, defeated the Dark Jedi Desann during the Empire Reborn assault. In 14 ABY, Tavion Axmis commanded her Reborn to suck the Force energy out of the above-ground portion of the Temple. The temple was partially demolished in 23 ABY during the Third Battle of Yavin, but promptly reconstructed by a joint New Republic-Jedi effort throughout 24 ABY.
The Temple was destroyed down to ground level by the Yuuzhan Vong in 26 ABY, although the underground levels remained partially intact.
Layout
Internally, the Great Temple was divided into four levels, each representing a step of the ziggurat—each level was thus larger in floor plan than the one above, but all were outfitted on broadly similar plans with small cells, chambers and corridors around a large central space.
When the Rebel Alliance set-up their base, the outer surface of the Massassi Temple was left as untouched as possible. Interior chambers, however, were roughly hewn by the Rebels prior to being filled in with chambers and a main central lift cluster. Rebel engineers also reinforced the temple's original stone floors with ferrocrete. The base was powered by a generating station composed of stolen Imperial Star Destroyer reactor components two kilometers from the temple.
The topmost level, was almost entirely taken up by the Grand Audience Chamber, used as a ceremonial hall by the Alliance garrison and later employed by the Jedi Academy as a teaching space. Under the Alliance, the next level contained officers' quarters, and the base's security, communications and medical facilities, with the central room serving as a command center; the Jedi would later convert this level entirely to accommodation and storage. On the level below, the central chamber was outfitted by the Alliance as the War Room, later re-named as the Strategy Center by the Jedi: this was where the Alliance commanders coordinated the fighter attack on the first Death Star in 0 BBY. The surrounding rooms on this level, used as stores and technical workshops by the Alliance, were converted by the Jedi to meeting-rooms, communications and computing bays, and kitchens and dining halls.
The lowest level of the temple was used by the Rebels and the Jedi alike as a vast hangar bay to store starfighters and other vehicles; there was also a second hangar beneath, plus cellars and catacombs that remained largely unused in both phases of reoccupation. Access to the hangar was by a set of ground-level blast-doors, opening out onto a landing pad.
A viaduct was located near the Temple's entrance, along with an altar and a fountain with stone pillars. An overlook was available across a canyon.
During the Jedi period, the average ground level around the structure's exterior had risen, so that the main entrance was at War Room level, and many of the students thought of the entire hangar complex as being essentially underground - although the hangar doors must have remained accessible, the area in front of them no longer served as the main landing zone. The entrance faced a clearing, while a river now flowed close to the temple along the other two sides. Also during this time, a room known as the Hall of Judgment was built within the temple.
The Jedi divided some spaces into sleeping and refresher units for the students, and hanged heavy drapes above the window holes. The original windows of the Temple had no glass because of Yavin 4's warm climate. However, heavy storms would arise every few months, and rain would whip through the jungle while the temperature dropped significantly. When that happened, the drapes kept the temple dry and warm.
Grand Audience Chamber
The Grand Audience Chamber, also known as the Ceremonial Hall or the Temple throneroom, was part of the Great Temple on the jungle moon of Yavin 4. Measuring approximately 200 square meters, the Grand Audience Chamber almost entirely occupied the fourth and topmost level of the Great Temple.
Its walls were dark green blocks of stone, and this huge room was considered an example of classical beauty. The Grand Audience Chamber was originally built at the end of the Hyperspace War, by the Massassi warriors who accompanied Naga Sadow during his exile on the fourth moon of Yavin Prime. Along with the whole Great Temple, it was abandoned for millennia before being reinvested by the Alliance to Restore the Republic and the New Jedi Order.
The Grand Audience Chamber was part the Great Temple, a structure erected on Yavin 4 by the Massassi who worshipped Naga Sadow, a Sith Lord in exile. The throneroom occupied the fourth and uppermost level of the pyramid, complete with skylights and raised platform. Roughly a thousand years later, when Exar Kun eliminated the Massassi by absorbing their life-force, the Temple and the Chamber went into disuse for thousands of years.
During the Galactic Civil War in 0 BBY, it was used as a ceremonial hall by the Rebel Alliance garrison. The members of the Alliance didn't refurbish the room with new materials, as they did in other parts of the Temple. They merely cleaned weathered debris and uprooted overgrown weeds, committed to restore the Chamber to its former magnificence. In this very room, Princess Leia Organa presided over the Royal Award Ceremony, during which the Medal of Bravery was given to those who partook in the battle over the first Death Star. For the first time in millennia, that vast chamber was full, with hundreds of rebel troops and technicians gathered together to celebrate their major victory against the Galactic Empire. After the medal ceremony, a celebration was held in the Grand Audience Chamber, with toasts coming often and exhuberantly. During the Empire's invasion of Yavin, one of the minor battles that occurred on the moon within the six months after the destruction of the Death Star, General Jan Dodonna and several Rebel personnel were also trapped within the Grand Audience Chamber by stormtroopers, although they were rescued by rebel heroes Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles of Red Squadron.
When Master Luke Skywalker established the Jedi Praxeum in 11 ABY, the Grand Audience Chamber was used as a teaching space for the Jedi cadets. Unlike with many other rooms, the New Jedi Order left the Audience Chamber mostly untouched, as it was deemed to beautiful to be rebuild. The Jedi would place rows of polished wooden benches and a small platform was positioned in front of the chamber for the speaker. Upon this, when Master Skywalker was in a coma because of Kyp Durron, who was under the influence of Exar Kun, he was put on a stone platform on the stage of the chamber. He looked as if dead, which caused his students to feel grief and dismay. But with their help and the spirit of Master Vodo-Siosk Baas, they were able to defeat Kun's wicked spirit with the Force. And Luke had awakened with his spirit back in his body.
During Second Imperium/Shadow Academy assault on the Jedi Praxeum, Imperial Commander Orvak set up his detonators in the chamber but he was bitten by a crystal snake. Orvak woke up just in time to see what it was that caused his unconsciousness, and just before the detonators he set in the Grand Audience Chamber exploded. The explosion killed Orvak and destroyed much of the Chamber though it would be rebuilt.
During the Yuuzhan Vong War, the Conclave on Yavin 4 was held here. Later, during the Yuuzhan Vong/Peace Brigade conquest of Yavin 4, the Great Temple along with the Grand Audience Chamber was flattened by a Damutek.
Layout
Measuring approximately thirteen by sixteen meters, the Grand Audience Chamber was accessed through a large wooden doorway carved with symbols that curved and twirled in a beautiful pattern. The Chamber itself was a huge echoing room—according to Jedi Lore Keeper Tionne Solusar, the acoustics of the Chamber were good for singing—the long sloped floor of which was paved with with rectangular slabs. The slanted outer walls came together above the floor to form the room's squared-off ceiling. Most of the flagstones were a dull grey, while shimmering stone lozenges ornamented the chamber with bright ochre, vermilion or dark green. The high roof was equipped with skylights open to the sun, and aligned with solstice and equinox.
At the far end of an open aisle, there was a raised dais reached by a flight of stairs made of fourteen steps. The back wall boasted five large window-slits that insured an abundant supply of fresh air and natural light. Behind the dais, a small hidden stairway led to an observation platform at the roof of the Temple. When the young Anakin Solo began his apprenticeship, the stone walls were of a deep tan color, and they had worn smooth over the years. Electric blue blueleaf shrubs grew in the cracks throughout the stones and released a spicy perfume in the room.
|
