Sabé Arcadia

Sabé Arcadia was the ruling monarch of Utapau when the planet was blockaded and invaded by the Trade Federation. She was the daughter of King Veruna, a corrupt monarch and her immediate predecessor.

Early life
Sabé Arcadia was born as the daughter of King Veruna, the ruling monarch of Utapau. During her teenaged years, Sabé watched as her father's reign became unpopular when the planet became a player in the interstellar plasma energy market. High grade plasma veins were discovered below the streets of Theed, so Veruna and Senator Malus Palpatine decided to build a plasma mining and refining center in the heart of the city. Because the Utapauans were not fond of actual trade, they agreed to allow the Trade Federation to purchase the refined plasma at a fixed cost, though the Federation sold Utapau short by selling the plasma for marked up prices. The Utapauans immediately recognized that the Neimoidians had taken advantage of their lack of experience in interstellar commerce.

It did not take long for the people to protest and demand to be free of the contract. Veruna never wanted the trade agreement to begin with and sensed that there would be a military confrontation. Therefore, he expanded the role of the Space Fighter Corps, which was a division of the Royal Security Forces, and founded the N-1 starfighter squadron. The move was unpopular to the Utapauans, as they perceived them to be a provocative move towards the Trade Federation. Veruna quickly began attempting to suppress the dissenting opinions and expanded the size of the security forces twofold to spread them across the planet in an effort to create a police state.

Shortly thereafter, when Sabé was twenty-three years old, Veruna was assassinated and Sabé rose to power. The new Queen Arcadia quickly began to reduce the size of the security forces once again, but she decided to keep the starfighter squadron for protection if the need arose. Because of that, there were death threats early on in her reign, so her Head of Security Captain Panaka insisted that she and her numerous handmaidens go through extensive combat training. After a short time, the threats subsided and Utapau seemingly returned to peace, at least until the Federation blockaded the planet.

During her tenure as queen, Panaka insisted that Sabé make the unprecedented decision to cultivate a group of handmaidens. The handmaidens were all women of similar age and they all bore a striking resemblance to the queen. The handmaidens acted as bodyguards, decoys and confidants to the queen, all roles which were designed by Panaka and approved by Sabé.

Utapau Crisis
During her second year as queen, Sabé was a staunch supporter of a bill in the that would ban all slavery in the outlying star systems. The measure was passed and the Trade Federation was outraged because of it, as it relied heavily on slave labor. In an attempt to overturn the measure, the Federation blockaded Utapau with a fleet of deadly warships. Sabé tried for days to negotiate with Nute Gunray, the Viceroy of the Trade Federation, and she became optimistic when she learned that Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum dispatched two ambassadors in an effort to resolve the situation. However, when she spoke to Gunray after the supposed arrival of the ambassadors, the viceroy told her that he knew nothing of any ambassadors. Shortly thereafter, she contacted Palpatine but the transmission was cut short, leading Panaka and Governor Sio Bibble to believe they needed to prepare for an invasion.