Douglas III

Douglas III, the third planet of the remote Douglas system, was a member of the Centrality region of the Outer Rim Territories. Far from the Galactic Core and of little interest to the rest of the galaxy, Douglas III was made famous by the game hunter Mendel Douglas, who failed to return from the planet during a quest to acquire the hide of Douglas III's elusive native jackelope. The planet later attracted pirates and black-marketeers.

Description[]

Located far from the Galactic Core,^[3] Douglas III,^[2] also referred to simply as Douglas,^[1] was the third planet of the remote Douglas system.^[2] It was positioned at the terminus of the Falko Run hyperlane, in the Centrality region and the Slice portion of the Outer Rim Territories.^[1] Covered by landmasses and expanses of ocean, Douglas III was of very little interest to the galaxy at large.^[3] Nevertheless, as the home of the jackelope,^[4] a small horned creature,^[5] Douglas III became one of several Centrality planets notorious for its hostile wildlife.^[1]

History[]

The Douglas system owed its name to the game hunter Mendel Douglas,^[2] who made Douglas III famous^[4] after traversing its surface in search of the elusive^[2] and rare^[4] jackelope, hoping to collect the creature's hide. While the jackelope ultimately made it back for his collection, Douglas himself did not.^[2]

Circa 3 BBY,^[6] the working-class bar Poly Pyramid on the planet Rafa IV adorned its interior with incompetently taxidermized galactic fauna either nailed to the walls or hanging from the ceiling. Among the decorative creatures was a jackelope from Douglas III.^[7] By the Battle of Yavin, during the Galactic Civil War, Douglas III had become home to pirates and black-market traders.^[3]

Behind the scenes[]

Douglas III was first mentioned in Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu, the 1983 first entry in the The Lando Calrissian Adventures trilogy of novels written by L. Neil Smith.^[7] According to Star Wars Insider 145^[8]—published by October 21, 2013^[9]—Smith cannibalized the names of colleagues to create names for Douglas III and other subjects from the book.^[8] In popular culture, twentieth-century taxidermist Douglas Herrick is credited with creating the American jackalope—a legendary creature with a jackrabbit's body and the antlers of a pronghorn antelope—which developed into a tourist attraction in Herrick's hometown of Douglas, Wyoming.^[10]

"Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, How I Wonder Where We Are," a 1990 roleplaying game source article published in the thirteenth issue of the Voyages SF magazine, placed Douglas III in the Jospro sector. Since that article was released outside of the Lucas Licensing process, its canonicity within the Star Wars Legends continuity was never confirmed.^[11] Douglas III was later one of 200 playable worlds included in the 1998 PC game Star Wars: Rebellion, which provided the planet's only visual depiction, an image also used to illustrate eighteen other planets of similar composition in the game. Star Wars: Rebellion and its accompanying strategy guide also placed Douglas III in the Jospro sector,^[3]^[12] but author Michael Kogge's 2001 roleplaying article "A Campaign Guide to the Centrality" from Star Wars Gamer 5,^[2] which was published on July 24, 2001,^[13] later changed the planet's location to the Centrality,^[2] a placement eventually confirmed by the 2009 reference book The Essential Atlas, which placed the planet, referred to by the shortened name "Douglas," in grid square U-8 as part of the Centrality.^[1]