Balmorra

For other uses, see Balmorra (disambiguation).

"I am with my dear friend Bar the Rotter, and we are already halfway to Balmorra."

―Hondo Ohnaka, Smuggler's Guide^[9]

Balmorra was a rocky wasteland factory world located in the Colonies' Balmorra system. It joined the Separatist Alliance during the Clone Wars and housed droid factories for the faction. The Galactic Empire used the factory sites after the war ended, and an Imperial facility there held clone troopers prisoner, siphoning them off to another facility. When transported off Balmorra around 18 BBY, the clone prisoner Howzer and his two remaining troopers were rescued by a strike team of rogue clones.

Later on, the pirate Hondo Ohnaka went to Balmorra with the forger Bar the Rotter to recruit the woman known as the Marquess. In 1 BBY, a Rebel Alliance relay at Balmorra intercepted a communication mentioning top secret Imperial projects, which the rebels were able to partially extract from the relay before a hyperstorm arrived. While the Alliance's 61st Mobile Infantry led a campaign that targeted the Kuat Drive Yards in 3 ABY, Alliance General Crix Madine considered Balmorra a possible target should the 61st be successful.

Description[]

"Ah, Balmorra. It is an ugly place coated in a sticky film."

―Hondo Ohnaka, Smuggler's Guide^[9]

BalmorraLandscape-TBBs2e14 — Balmorra featured a barren mountainous landscape.

Balmorra was a terrestrial planet^[8] located in the Balmorra system^[3] within an intersecting portion of the Colonies^[1] and the Slice regions.^[2] Situated in grid square M-10 of the Standard Galactic Grid,^[5] it was orbited by a moon. Balmorra's surface was rocky and barren, with mountains and gorges extending across the landscape.^[4] The world's Type I atmosphere^[6]—which was breathable to humans^[4] and other alien species^[9]—was filled with clouds, and winged creatures inhabited the world.^[4] The planet shared its name with Balmorran Arms, a droid manufacturer;^[11] Balmorran Heavyworks, a starship manufacturer that notably produced hauler models;^[9] and the Balmorra Run, a smuggler route through the Kaliida Nebula.^[12]

History[]

Uncertain allegiances[]

During the time of the Galactic Republic, Balmorra was an^[10] isolated^[8] factory world with a strong sense of independence. It was slow to join the Republic despite its proximity to the Core Worlds,^[10] where the Republic capital of Coruscant was located.^[13] During the Clone Wars between the Republic and the Separatist Alliance,^[10] which began in 22 BBY,^[13] Balmorra left the Republic and joined the Separatists,^[10] housing droid factories for the faction.^[8] However, the Separatists were ultimately defeated in 19 BBY, ending the war.^[13]

Under the Empire's leash[]

"Doctor—one of our transport ships was attacked departing Balmorra. The prisoners aboard escaped."

―Medical officer Scalder, to Royce Hemlock^[4]

The Republic transitioned into the Galactic Empire at the end of the Clone Wars,^[13] with the latter government making use of Balmorra's factory sites^[8] for both All Terrain Armored Transport production^[10] and prison camps.^[8] An isolated Imperial outpost on Balmorra held clone troopers^[14] that had questioned or disobeyed orders. Many were eventually transported offworld to Mount Tantiss,^[4] an Imperial facility on the planet Wayland,^[15] where they were subjected to experiments by Doctor Royce Hemlock of the Empire's Advanced Science Division.^[16] Among the detained clones was Captain Howzer and eight of his men,^[4] who had defied orders while posted on the planet Ryloth^[17] that year.^[13]

BalmorraImperialBase-TBBs2e14 — Howzer and his men being escorted through the base's hangar

At some point no earlier than 18 BBY,^[18] Howzer and his remaining two troopers were taken aboard an Imperial Gozanti-class cruiser commanded by Captain Pearce to be transported to Mount Tantiss. As it left Balmorra the Gozanti-class cruiser was attacked and boarded by a strike team of renegade clones. The team rescued Howzer and his troopers and extracted some of the prisoner transport's data before escaping as a Venator-class Star Destroyer that had arrived out of hyperspace attempted to intercept.^[4]

By 10 BBY,^[19] former pirate queen Maz Kanata marked Balmorra as the location of an outlaw garage on a map that she included in the book that later became known as the Smuggler's Guide. The Smuggler's Guide changed hands multiple times before it fell into the possession of the pirate Hondo Ohnaka, who had the forger Bar the Rotter create three counterfeit copies to auction off. The pair traveled to Balmorra to meet with the woman known as the Marquess, whom he wanted to muster buyers for the auction via the Undervine network. Ohnaka found the Marquess in Balmorra's Swellbottom market, with the woman not being happy to see him but ultimately agreeing to join him after negotiating a thirty percent cut of the profits. Subsequently, the pair left to host the auctions elsewhere.^[9]

Rebel operations[]

"It's only headers. The deep copy is behind another layer still, and I think it might actually be unrecoverable no matter what we do because of the hyperstorms that were going on when we cut this packet out of the Balmorra relay."

―Tenzigo Weems, in a report addressed to Davits Draven^[7]

Between 2 BBY and 1 BBY,^[20] the Rebel Alliance maintained a relay around Balmorra for surveillance purposes. That year, the relay picked up communications that discussed six secret Imperial projects: Black-Saber, Cluster-Prism, Ion Ring, Pax Aurora, Stellar Sphere, and War Mantle. The rebels managed to cut some of the data package out of the relay but were interrupted when a hyperstorm came in. Rebel Private Tenzigo Weems then worked on decrypting the findings and sent what he could decrypt in a report for General Davits Draven, who further relayed it to the Alliance Commander-in-Chief Mon Mothma.^[7]

Xa-Fel-RF — Balmorra was a major industrial center for the Galactic Empire.

During the Galactic Civil War between the Empire and the Rebel Alliance, Balmorra was among the former's major industrial sites.^[7] In 3 ABY,^[13] the Alliance's 61st Mobile Infantry attacked a number of lightly defended Imperial logistical hubs to cause redeployments from the Kuat Drive Yards, which the company intended to attack and sabotage.^[21] The campaign, dubbed Operation Ringbreaker, was vetted from afar by the Alliance Intelligence, and General Crix Madine produced a map denoting other major Imperial shipyards, drydocks, and key mining centers that the Alliance could possibly target if the 61st was successful in its campaign.^[7]

Balmorra was mentioned on the map with the same tag as^[7] the planet^[21] Kuat and its naval shipyards, the tag being designated as a high-defended, high-priority target. The map was included in a document sent by Madine to Mothma. The document, as well as the report about the Balmorra relay findings, were eventually acquired by the archivist Hendri Underholt, who included it in a non-electronic archive called The Rebel Files.^[7] The 61st ultimately abandoned its campaign before it reached Kuat.^[21]