Val Rotha

One of the largest terrestrials in the known galaxy, Val Rotha was the seat of governance for the Val system in the Trehen Arm. One of the most successful colonization endeavors in history, Val Rotha served as a model for future efforts to expand the Republic. Val Rotha was known for its size, wealth, culture, and military. Val Rotha would never be entirely subjugated by any one foreign government in its history. The world was recognized as a vital military, economic, and industrial center by both the Galactic Republic and, later on, the Galactic Empire. Due to its size, Val Rotha enjoyed one of the galaxy's most diverse and enormous populations.

The planet had many unique features aside from its obvious enormity. Val Rotha featured a peculiar atmosphere which bolstered the potential of those sensitive to the Force. The planet was the home of various indigenous species, from the tribal Rothaui to the bizarre, avian Izir. Val Rotha was the home of InGen Manufacturing Corp., the Aden Forges, and the Victoi Shipyards, some of the most famous industrial powers in the galaxy.

Nickname
Val Rotha's nickname, "The Elder Star", was given to it by Master Ades Vres. The planet was one of the most successful colonization endeavors in Republic history, and spawned a number of subsequent projects on other worlds in the nearby systems. Val Rotha was visible from anywhere in the Trehen Arm - as a large, glowing green star. Master Vres, during a tour of the Arm's stars, noticed this and coined the name.

Industries and Innovations
"As long as InGen exists the Republic won't stop seeing victory."

- Nathaniel Starr

As displayed throughout the planet's history, Val Rotha featured a plethora of respected arms manufacturing companies. Most famous among these were Rothan Arms, InGen Manufacturing, and the Victoi Shipyards. Rothan Arms was known for their innovations in anti-personnel weaponry and personal defensive technologies. The Victoi Shipyards were known for producing some of the most advanced and coveted warships in Republic space. Finally, InGen Manufacturing Corporation had distinguished itself as a premier innovator of ballistic, energy, ion and other experimental weaponry types, as well as for being the creator of the most powerful shielding technology in the galaxy - which had, as of 47 ABY, been updated with the breakthrough InGen Mark I Ion Particle Suppressor technology and the next update in the InGen line of battleship shield generators: the InGen XXIV 'Dragonhide'.

Thyrelis
Val Rotha's capital, Thyrelis, was often called the 'capital of the Mid Rim.' The towering, articulate structures, the plethora of entertainment establishments, the elaborate and extensive parks, flora, and artificially created waterfalls, rivers, and streams all blended into one serene masterpiece. Streets were masterfully planned causeways and avenues, always cleanly and well-maintained and in many instances just as crowded as the various skylanes from city-to-city across the planet. Thyrelis, along with most Rothan cities, enjoyed a very low crime rate thanks to the aid of native Argoi and Rothaui tribes, who had enlisted in the planetary defense and police forces by the hundreds of thousands to keep their homes and patrons safe in Rotha's earliest years.

The capitol building was a testament to both modern and ancient Val Rothan architecture, featuring ornate domes and columns, beautiful gardens and public displays, and of course, the famous Court Chapel, a tower that soared upward out of the heart of the capitol. The Chapel contained the Rothan Star - a gift from the native Rothaui tribes to signify the peace between their kind and the other species that settled the world. The Emperor's offices were maintained in the capitol chambers, as well as the assembly for the parliament and council, but the Imperial Palace was beyond the capitol building - and eclipsed it from the morning sun.

Atmosphere
"The Force encompasses this planet like nothing I have ever experienced. The people that dwell here can feel it. They are empowered by it."

- Ades Vres

Val Rotha featured a unique atmosphere that enhanced the abilities and strength of those sensitive to the Force, while weakening beings dead to it (such as the Yuuzhan Vong). Thus, many Jedi would venture to Val Rotha in the days after its return to the Republic. Master Ades Vres commented that the planet seemed to empower and soothe him when he stepped upon it. Luke Skywalker meditated in the ancient enclave near Edai in the years after the Yuuzhan Vong War.

Research
Just as Val Rotha was known for its warfare manufacturing operations, the star and its moons were also a center for medical research. Though not as widespread or prolific as the Victoi Yards or Aden Forges, the Vessler Academy on Valecteia was one of the galaxy's most respected medical and biological research centers.

Colonization
Colonized circa 1566 BBY, Val Rotha was a massive terrestrial planet that was first noted for its size and the unique characteristics of its native ecology. Featuring a plethora of planetary extreme zones and peculiar lifeforms, Val Rotha was put on the shortlist of prospective colony worlds for the Old Republic - which was experiencing a period of unprecedented growth and stability at the time. Progress was initially slow, but with increased funding and participation from nearby established worlds, the First Continent was finally graced with its first major permanent city - Thydaris - in 1562 BBY.

Subsequent cities included Dartarus, Kle'eta, and Orrokrowen; client states of Onderon, Ryloth, and Kashyykkk, respectively. The First Continent was further explored, and rapid industrialization began as the long string of mountains that separated the continent's fertile plains and forests from the frigid northern wastes was discovered to be rich with industrial resources. Thanks to this rich reservoir of rare metals and minerals, the first cities of Val Rotha became richer and richer in the following months. Thydaris became famous as a coastal tourist attraction, Dartarus became known as a center of learning, and Kle'eta became the entertainment hub of Val Rotha. Orrokrowen, while it had become known as an industrial center, suffered from attacks by indigenous dinosaur species, and never recovered. The colonists there retreated to Thydaris in the east, where the creatures were slaughtered in the ensuing, doomed assault.

For hundreds of years, Val Rotha was further colonized and exploited. Soon shipyards were constructed on the third moon, 'Victoi', and the moon became a hub of military research and manufacturing. Val Rotha herself, though already hosting over thirty billion inhabitants, suffered no ill effects such as overpopulation due to her size. As a result the planet continued to grow and prosper, eventually surpassing the client planets that founded cities there. In time, such a feat would lead to secession.

The Rothan Rebellion
In the year 908 BBY, Val Rotha's population exceeded fifty billion individuals, with literally thousands of cities dotting the surface of the massive world. Still, just over half of the planet had been fully developed, and the people of Val Rotha saw their riches being drained upon by the planets that had assisted in founding it hundreds of years before. Feeling that Val Rotha and all its cities should be independent, the people revolted against the Republic governors and senators in the Rothan Rebellion. Declaring their independence, the people of Val Rotha and Victoi set their capital in Thydaris. The Republic attempted to retake Val Rotha in 900 BBY, but failed after a series of humiliating defeats at the hands of General Lycurgus and the Armies of United Rotha (numbering nearly a billion strong in recruits, as compared to the Republic forces of eight million).

After the rebellion, Val Rotha's people elected their war hero, Aster Lycurgus, as Chancellor of Val Rotha's new senate. However, Lycurgus was faced with a challenge that he was not prepared for, being a soldier and not a politician - mediating between a group of nearly five thousand representatives from the various nation-states of Val Rotha. After months of squabbling, the senate dissolved and a series of wars broke out between the plethora of nations of Val Rotha. Lycurgus, using his power as executive, took command of the Val Rothan navy and bombarded the larger states of Val Toi and Val Dea into submission. The wars abruptly ceased with this display of power - for the nation-states had no space faring forces. In 897 BBY Lycurgus named himself planetary emperor, destroyed the governments of the nation-states, and established the planetary government that ruled until 505 BBY.

Annexation
"We are all civil men, here."

- Ades Vres

In 506 BBY the Republic Senate sent an ambassador to Val Rotha, accompanied by a full fleet of eight thousand warships and a ground army numbering at least four billion, with the intent of annexing Val Rotha back into Republic space. Val Rotha at the time had a calculated population of almost one trillion individuals, with an army whose corps. numbered in all just over three billion and a fleet of three thousand warships. Tensions were immediately elevated by the presence of these military powers, but before the tension sparked a full-scale war, the Jedi Council on Coruscant sent Master Ades Vres to mediate between the two forces. Vres, a calm and collected Iridonian who had been part of such negotiations before, convinced Emperor Levid that to rejoin the Republic would be more beneficial for Val Rotha in the long run. He also convinced the Senate to allow Val Rotha to retain its own government, with the emperor as the representative of the people in the Republic Senate, and to allow Val Rotha to retain its own military, with contingents dedicated to service in the Republic army and navy.

What could have been a bloody and costly war for both sides was resolved peacefully, and Master Ades Vres is documented as a hero in the Val Rothan history books, with a statue dedicated to him in the town square of the capital Thyrelis. The Jedi Council established a small enclave near Edai in the year 403 BBY. The Republic military set up a number of academies near Thyrelis and Thydaris in 402 BBY, as well as on Victoi. Val Rotha experienced another period of extraordinary growth in trade, art, manufacturing, and wealth in the following years and became known as one of the Republic's most vital military, scientific, and economic centers.

The Clone Wars
"Your skills, your armies, and your planet are nothing compared to the Darkside of the Force."

- Count Dooku

When the Confederacy first rose to power, Emperor Leonidas I - the first of Val Rotha's noted Force Adept rulers - was contacted by Count Dooku on behalf of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Dooku, seeking the vast wealth and military might of Val Rotha and the Val system for his campaign of secession, offered Leonidas a seat on the governing council of the Confederacy and full control of his armies in war. Leonidas, a resolute supporter of the Senate, denied him. In retaliation, Dooku attempted to kill Leonidas during their meeting, but was surprised to discover that the emperor himself was a powerful Force adept. The two duelled, but neither could gain the advantage, and in the end Dooku fled.

One year later, after the Clone Wars had begun, a Separatist fleet converged upon Val Rotha. The Battle for Val Rotha lasted for several weeks, with the Separatist and Val Rothan fleets trading artillery fire across vast distances through space and the nearby asteroid field. Finally, the Separatist commander maneuvered his fleet around Victoi and attempted to overrun the Val Rothan navy from behind. His attempt was foiled by the daring actions of Republic Admiral Nathaniel Starr, who had arrived to reinforce the Val Rothan fleet and happened to pull out of hyperspace just above the Separatists as they were navigating outside of Victoi's considerable sensor range.

The Separatists were crushed, and Emperor Leonidas personally awarded Admiral Starr the Star of Lycurgus, one of Val Rotha's most prestigious military honors. The Republic fleet returned to defend Coruscant from the sudden Separatist incursion - and almost a thousand Val Rothan ships went with them. Commander of the Val Rothan navy above Coruscant was Admiral Argus Vessler. Vessler's fleet suffered heavy losses above Coruscant, but was instrumental in the defense of the skies directly above the Senate.

Rise of the Empire
When Order 66 was enacted, Val Rotha and the Jedi Enclave there were largely unaffected at first - no Rothan troops were clones. Emperor Leonidas aided the Jedi in destroying their Enclave and helped them to blend into the public so that they could not be hunted openly by Imperial troops as soon as he heard Palpatine's inaugural address as Emperor. Palpatine, however, knew that Leonidas was a Force adept, and knew that the Jedi had an enclave on Val Rotha, and thus sent a legion to Val Rotha to investigate. The legion found themselves on a world of hostile civilians, hopelessly outnumbered by Rothan loyalists who strongly disapproved of the New Order.

The hunt for Jedi on Val Rotha would yield only one catch - Emperor Leonidas himself. Darth Vader was sent to Val Rotha to kill Leonidas, and thus any possibility of another powerful Force user interfering with the Empire's affairs. The hunt for Leonidas led the Imperial forces across the home continent until he was found near the city of Eleris. There, Darth Vader challenged the aging emperor, and Leonidas obliged. The short bout that followed culminated in the loss of Vader's arm and the decapitation of Leonidas in the ensuing onslaught.

"Farewell, emperor."

- Darth Vader

Val Rotha rose up in rebellion, but the Imperial fleet in orbit - far outnumbering the Val Rothan forces - quelled them with little bloodshed. Val Rotha was assimilated into the Empire peacefully thereafter, but would become a notorious haven of Rebel activity in the years leading up to and during the Galactic Civil War.

Galactic Civil War
The founding members of the Rebel Alliance met frequently on Val Rotha, consulting the royal family and what remaining Jedi they could safely contact, in the early years of the Alliance. When the Empire began its initial crackdown on Rebel activity throughout the galaxy, the Imperial legions found Val Rotha to be nearly impossible to fully police. Thus, the bounty system employed to great effect by the Val Rothan security forces was expanded to cover all suspected Rebel operatives on Val Rotha, and the sums offered for prisoners or information made bounty hunting one of the most lucrative businesses in the Val system for those who were successful. Detainees flowed into Imperial prisons from Val Rotha, but the Rebellion retained a strong hold on the planet itself.

Finally, the year following the Battle of Yavin, the Rebel factions situated in Val suddenly rose up and launched widespread attacks on Imperial outposts throughout the system. Victoi was soon liberated, and the Val Rothan navy was occupied again. The Battle for Val Rotha during the Galactic Civil War took around two months to fully decide, with Rebel forces launching attacks on Imperial dockyards and bases in the surrounding system with the powerful Val Rothan navy. With no reinforcements from the Imperial Navy available, the Imperial governor and his officers finally declared the Val system a 'disaster area' and retreated.

After the Battle of Endor, no Imperial commander would dare to even approach the system. Val Rotha's imperial governance was restored, and Leonidas' eldest son - Leonidas II - was placed on the throne. Leonidas II proved as fair, just, and forthright as his father, and Val Rotha rapidly recovered from the conditions suffered under Imperial control.

The Yuuzhan Vong War
Leonidas II eagerly re-established diplomatic ties with the New Republic once the Empire was largely dealt with. In the years that followed the capture of Coruscant, the Val system would again return to the galactic stage as Leonidas personally led a task force of three thousand Val ships to aid in the uprooting of the rest of the Imperial Remnant. This taskforce met success in the nearby systems, but due to deteriorating health, Emperor Leonidas eventually ended the endeavor and returned to his home. He arrived to find a force of Yuuzhan Vong ships attacking Val Rotha.

Leonidas II led the Val Fleet into combat against an unknown and bizarre enemy. The powerful and advanced Rothan ships fared well against the Yuuzhan Vong assault force, and the planetary defense forces succeeded in warding off the waves of Vong attacks until Leonidas and his own ground troops arrived. On the ground, Leonidas and an unnamed Yuuzhan Vong commander dueled in the fray. Leonidas, surprised by the Vong's immunity to the Force and weary in his old age, was cut down, despite the Vong remarking that the planet itself fought against his warriors. Val Rotha's armies succeeded in pushing back the Vong force, and the planet was not threatened for the rest of the war.

Leonidas III assumed the throne the following year, already loved by his people, and Val Rotha once again became an economic, industrial, and military powerhouse in Republic space. Victoi supplied the Republic military with some of the most advanced and powerful new technologies in the galaxy. The population, according to the Rotha census of 47 ABY, neared two trillion, with all continents having been finally fully developed. The moons sent in an annual census that counted at least eight billion inhabitants in all off-planet. The Val Rothan royal army numbered at around four billion men and women. The navy consisted of hundreds of advanced Victoi-bred warships, most of the past fleet having been requisitioned by the Republic for the duration of the Yuuzhan Vong war.

Emperor Leonidas III took advantage of the peace since the successful defense against the Vongs. Most military commanders agreed that subjugating a planet so massive was beyond the capabilities of any army after the Empire's fall. Naval powers craved the facilities on Victoi - some of the oldest and most advanced in use.

Defenses
Val Rotha was famous for its size and wealth, able to field a navy far beyond that sustainable by many smaller, less fortunate worlds. Val Rotha's army and navy were also known for their sizes - at least a thousand Rothan ships from Victoi served  in the Republic navy, with a few hundred left at home. The army itself consisted of around one billion men and women, highly-trained and adept with any weapon they were granted. Val Rotha's size did, in fact, grant it some measure of immunity from hostiles - the planet was too huge, and far too populous, to ever subjugate effectively.

Rotha’s defensive systems included a number of countermeasures in case of attack, ranging from SAM emplacements to the extraordinary nanotechnology utilized by the 122 Orbital Anti-Matter Guns of the First Continent. The planet's vital cities were well-defended from air raids or a landing attempt by variable arrays of defensive turrets and garrison forces. Also of note, just as InGen manufactured powerful shields for Rothan-borne navies, the company also went to great lengths to aid in the defense of Val Rotha and the moons themselves. Thus, the special InGen Monolith shield generators could be found at the polar extremes of Rotha and the six moons. The Monoliths were largely underground facilities, with the energy relay above-ground to emit a clear signal throughout the planet's unique atmosphere. The shield was impervious to any kind of bombardment.

The Val Defense Fleet (VDF) was, as of 47 ABY, comprised of four hundred warships, broken down into 20 Heavy Carriers, 80 Battleships (Venator-IIs, ImpStar-IIs), 200 Light Frigates, 60 Cruisers and 40 Long-Range Artillery Barges. They operated in four different taskforces, one for each major sector of the system. All were connected to a central communications uplink on Victoi - if anything happened in any part of the Val System, the central hub on Victoi was contacted to coordinate the entire defense force.

The Val Fleet was led at the time by the first 'pure' Venator-III assembled: the VDF V-III S1 "Starhammer."

Appearances

 * Star Wars A Galaxy Divided

Behind the scenes

 * Val Rotha is the first planet ever created by the author.
 * Val Rotha was first introduced and briefly featured on the roleplaying site Star Wars A Galaxy Divided.
 * Val Rotha was originally planned to be the homeplanet of Isaac Leonhart.