Minos Cluster

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"They came demanding tribute. Two months ago. It was the first real contact we'd had with them, although life has been hard here since the occupation began. We've been rationing food, spending all our resources buying what we could from other, local worlds. We thought they’d forgotten us, out here in our solitude."
"But the Nihil hadn't forgotten us. They simply hadn't gotten around to us yet. We'd heard the stories, of course—of what had happened on those worlds that couldn't afford, or refused, to pay the Nihil's tithes. But we didn't think it could happen to us."

―Meela and Boona, to Avar Kriss on Prandril^[5]

The Minos Cluster was a star cluster and sector in the Outer Rim Territories and Western Reaches regions that contained the Prandril system. It was connected to the super-hyperroute Rimma Trade Route and bordered the Elrood, Kathol, and Rseik sectors. Millennia before 229 BBY, a collision occurred with an astronomical object in the Prandril system, resulting in the destroyed celestial body's debris forming a dense asteroid field around the system's remaining astromical objects.

During the High Republic Era, the Minos Cluster fell within the Galactic Republic's Galactic Frontier exploration region. Following its formation in 230 BBY, the Minos Cluster became part of the Occlusion Zone as one of ten sectors sealed behind a barrier preventing hyperspace travel. In 229 BBY, the Nihil marauders controlling the Occlusion Zone attacked Prandril's Rodian colony and killed half its colonists for not paying their tributes to the pirates. Later that year, Jedi Master Avar Kriss and the pilot Belin delivered grain to the starving Rodian colony.

Description[]

"We're not flying back through that sea of rocks again, are we?"

―Belin, to Avar Kriss after flying through the Prandril system's asteroid field^[5]

MinosCluster-SWT — The Minos Cluster's location in the Outer Rim Territories

The Minos Cluster was a star cluster^[1] and space sector^[3] located in the regions known as the Outer Rim Territories^[1] and the Western Reaches.^[4] It was situated in grid square M-20 of the Standard Galactic Grid and on the super-hyperroute known as the Rimma Trade Route, which linked it to the celestial bodies Dagobah and Kal'Shebbol.^[1] The Minos Cluster bordered the Kathol, Rseik,^[3] and Elrood sectors.^[6]

The Prandril system in the Minos Cluster contained the grassy moon Prandril, another rocky moon, and several other planetoids. Another Prandril system astronomical object was present in the cluster millennia^[5] before 229 BBY,^[7] and the debris resulting from its destruction later formed an asteroid field.^[5]

History[]

Colonization[]

"It is a tenet of our creed that we do not spoil the land upon which we live. We are visitors here. We live as a part of the environment; we do not attempt to impose our will upon it."
"Besides, the soil here imparts toxins into the plants that are incompatible with Rodian life. It is one of the reasons we chose this place for our colony. So that we cannot spoil it."

―Meela and Boona, to Belin about their colony on Prandril^[5]

HarliCogra-CotJ — Harli Cogra documented the formation of the Occlusion Zone, of which the Minos Cluster was part of, in *Chronicles of the Jedi*.

Millennia^[5] before 229 BBY,^[7] a large collision involved an astronomical object in the Prandril system. The resulting debris formed a dense field of asteroids that remained scattered in orbital rings around the remaining celestial bodies in the system, including a rocky moon and Prandril. At some point, a colony of Rodians migrated to Prandril, having chosen the moon for its soil properties—which were toxic to Rodians—so that they would not be tempted to farm on its land and thereby "spoil" it.^[5] During the High Republic Era, the Galactic Republic designated a section of the Outer Rim—which included the Minos Cluster—as the Galactic Frontier, locations considered removed far enough from the galaxy's center to send explorers there.^[2]

In 230 BBY, the Nihil marauder organization formed the Occlusion Zone—an area of space in the Outer Rim's Frontier that was situated behind the Stormwall barrier preventing hyperspace travel.^[8] As one of the ten sectors forming the boundary of the Occlusion Zone, the Minos Cluster was cut off from the rest of Republic space.^[3] Weeks afterward, in 229 BBY,^[9] the Vurk Jedi Master Harli Cogra wrote a book titled Chronicles of the Jedi, which detailed the Jedi of the High Republic Era. In the book's afterword, Cogra lamented the formation of the Nihil's region and the sectors it affected.^[2]

Ravaged plight[]

"So, this colony. The people are starving?"
"Yes. They're suffering more than most. And that's saying something, given the present situation."
"Then I suppose we’d better get them some grain."

―Belin and Avar Kriss^[5]

SoS2-Avarhappy — Avar Kriss (pictured) and Belin delivered grain to Prandril's starving Rodian colony.

During that time, the Nihil began exacting tributes on worlds across the Occlusion Zone, including Prandril. When the moon's colonists were unable to pay, the marauders cut off their food supply, which had already been dwindling by that point. In the Nihil's resulting attack on the moon, the marauders killed half the colony's residents and took their children as recruits for their organization. Afterward, the Rodians sent a distress call for help and attempted to rebuild their burned village.^[5]

Two months later^[5] that year,^[7] the Jedi Master Avar Kriss—having learned of their plight—commandeered the Ugnaught pilot Belin's starship to deliver its cargo of grain to Prandril. After dropping out of hyperspace in the Prandril system, Kriss and Belin navigated the vessel through the system's asteroid field while combatting Nihil scav droids, assisted by the former's droid, KC-78. Despite the damage to their vessel, they eventually maneuvered into the moon's atmosphere and delivered their grain to several grateful colonists before departing. Upon the expansion of the Stormwall further into Republic space^[5] in 228 BBY,^[10] the Occlusion Zone's boundary shifted to no longer situate the Minos Cluster on its border.^[6]

Imperial reign[]

ZareLeonis-FFp79 — Zare Leonis learned of the Minos Cluster's criminal activity at an Imperial academy.

By 4 BBY,^[11] during the Imperial Era, the Minos Cluster was having much trouble with smugglers and crime rings, and Imperial Intelligence filed reports on the crisis. While a pupil at an Imperial officers academy on the planet Arkanis^[12] that year,^[11] the Imperial cadet Zare Leonis attended Colonel Julyan's Strategy and Tactics lecture, which discussed events in the sector.^[12]

Due to the class-three intel/courier clearance granted to them, cadets at the academy could access real-time data on the Empire's activities in the cluster in regard to fleet movements, informants' tips, arrest records, and more. Leonis, who was secretly only attending the academy with the intention of rescuing his sister, nevertheless found the information about the Minos Cluster fascinating.^[12]

Inhabitants[]

"They killed half of our entire population. Lined them up and used them as target practice. Then told us we should be happy because we had fewer mouths to feed. Then they burned the entire settlement. Took our children."

―Boona, about the Rodian colony on Prandril^[5]

At some point, a colony of Rodians established themselves in a village within the grassy fields of the Minos Cluster moon Prandril. In keeping with the colonists' creed, the group lived a relatively peaceful and simple lifestyle and opted never to farm the land on their moon to avoid "spoiling" it. When the Nihil killed half the colony's population^[5] in 229 BBY,^[7] many of their village's children were forcibly taken offworld by the marauders as young recruits. By the time of the High Republic Era, certain planetoids in the Prandril system were considered supposedly uninhabited by individuals such as Avar Kriss.^[5]

Behind the scenes[]

In the current Star Wars canon, the Minos Cluster was first mentioned in Servants of the Empire: The Secret Academy, a 2015 junior novel written by Jason Fry.^[12] The cluster made its first full appearance in the novel The Eye of Darkness, written by George Mann^[5] and published on November 14, 2023 as part of the Star Wars: The High Republic multimedia project's Phase III.^[13] The Minos Cluster was later given its first visual depiction via a map in the first issue of the 2023 comic series Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures. The issue was written by Daniel José Older, illustrated by Harvey Tolibao and Nick Brokenshire, and published by Dark Horse Comics^[3] as part of Phase III on December 6 of the same year.^[14]

The Minos Cluster originated in the Star Wars Legends continuity, where it was first mentioned in the 1990 sourcebook Galaxy Guide 6: Tramp Freighters, authored by Mark Rein-Hagen and Stewart Wieck and published for use with West End Games' Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game.^[15] The Minos Cluster later made its first appearance in the 1993 roleplaying adventure "Parts is Parts," written by Wallace D. Greer for use with Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game and published in the sixty-eighth issue of the Challenge magazine. Since the article was released outside of the Lucas Licensing process, its canonicity with respect to the Legends continuity was never confirmed.^[16]

The first appearance of the cluster in a canonical source within the Legends continuity was in "Lumrunners," a short story authored by John Beyer and Wayne Humfleet and published in the ninth issue of the Star Wars Adventure Journal magazine on February 1996.^[17] In 2008, the reference book The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia established that the events of^[18] the closing scenes of the 1980 original trilogy film, Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back,^[19] took place in the Minos Cluster, thereby establishing that film as the cluster's de facto first Legends appearance.^[18]