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The year 17,000 before the Battle of Yavin (BBY) was a span of time in the Galactic Republic's Indecta Era that occurred during the First Alsakan Conflict. During the conflict, which had begun eighteen years previously, Arkanian scientists, who were seeking to perform genetic experiment on sentient species, discovered the primitive Xexto on Troiken. The Arkanians took a sample of the species and moved them to nearby Quermia, where both groups were experimented upon.

Proem[]

"The Republic's Great Manifest period (20,000–17,000 BBY) marked an increased movement into the Rimward territories of the Slice, which became known as the Expansion Region."
―From the text of The New Essential Chronology by Voren Na'al[7]

The Great Manifest Period of the Galactic Republic was a time of expansion within the then-known galactic community. Planetary governments and corporate interests were rapidly expanding into the Slice in order to claim new worlds for settlement and exploitation of natural resources. In the northern portion of this region, near the Perlemian Trade Route, the planets of Alsakan and Coruscant were fervently competing against each other,[8] with hostilities brewing as the two planets fought for dominance economically and culturally.[8][9] Furthermore, the Republic's bureaucracy and politicking grew with fervor, fueling the rivalry as sectors of the galaxy had become so large that they were ungovernable. The growing governmental structure included the creation of the Bureau of Ships and Services more than one thousand years prior to the conclusion of the Great Manifest Period. This organization was created to help regulate interstellar trade as well as to maintain records of starship transactions and movements.[8] Furthermore, the intensifying strife between Alsakan and Coruscant had reached a boiling point. Initially, the conflict started as a blockade. Soon thereafter, however, the event escalated into actual fighting. An outright civil war was only avoided by legislation passed by the Bureau of Ships and Services. With legislation in place, the specific conflict settled. Nevertheless, economic advantages in the Expansion Region were not the only motivating factors for open war.[8] Alsakan also desired to usurp the seat of government from Coruscant,[7] believing it to be their deserved place in the galaxy.[9] As a result, the motivations behind the fighting went unresolved.[8] Open warfare began in 17,018 BBY with the Republic assault and capture of Virujansi.[1]

The galaxy in 17,000 BBY[]

While the Republic was busied with the First Alsakan Conflict, the arboreal hunter-gatherer Xexto species of Troiken was discovered by rogue scientists from Arkania.[7][10] The scientists sought to perform genetic experimentation on sentient species outside of the Republic's borders,[11] because such actions were illegal within Republic space.[7] Around 17,000 BBY, the Arkanian scientists secretly took a sample of the Xexto and relocated them to the nearby planet Quermia. There, the planet was terraformed, and the transplanted Xexto became helpless subjects of genetic experimentation and manipulation. The experiments were not confined to Quermia, however, as the Arkanians also performed some experiments on those who had remained behind on Troiken.[11]

Impact[]

"While the fighting never expanded to a full-scale civil war in the Republic, the first of the Alsakan Conflicts ended the boom of the Great Manifest Period. However, it did not end Alsakan's ambitions, and the Alsakanese would continue to attempt to claim their "rightful" place as galactic capital for another 14,000 years."
Dr. Milanda Vorgan[9]

Inside the Republic, the conflict between Alsakan and Coruscant was the first of seventeen such skirmishes between the two planets.[8] While the Bureau of Ships and Services was able to intervene in the first Alsakan Conflict,[1] the desire to usurp the capital coupled with the competition in the Slice caused periodic unrest until the final conflict occurred in 3017 BBY. The seventeen conflicts destroyed historical landmarks, such as Belgoth's Beacon and the Alsakan Mosaics, and laid waste to portions of the Expansion Region.[8]

The group of Xexto that underwent genetic experimentation on Quermia by Arkanian scientists were monitored and tested for only a few generations.[10] At that point, the geneticists abandoned their research, fearing the wrath of the Republic. They instead turned their focus to other projects. Nevertheless, permanent alterations to the Xexto on Troiken had taken hold. On Quermia, the dramatically altered subjects were left to develop within the natural processes, and they became the Quermian species. Both the Xexto and Quermians became technologically-developed societies independent of each other. After both species were discovered by the broader galactic community, it became a commonly held belief that they were genetically related.[11] The connection between Quermians and Xexto was discovered millennia after their forced genetic divergence, but the Xexto initially refused to acknowledge it.[10] Eventually, however, they reluctantly accepted what genetic tests had verified.[11]

Notable events[]

  • The Xexto species[7] was discovered by Arkanian scientists and the process of genetic experimentation began on the primitive species. (Approximate date)[11]

Behind the scenes[]

The year 17,000 BBY is first mentioned in The New Essential Guide to Characters,[12] a reference book published on April 23, 2002,[13] and has received mentions in various reference material in the years that followed.[11][10] The New Essential Chronology in 2005 established the starting date for the Alsakan Conflicts as 17,000 BBY,[7] though The Essential Guide to Warfare later moved that to 17,018 BBY.[1]

Sources[]

Notes and references[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 The Essential Guide to Warfare
  2. The Essential Atlas establishes the endpoints of this era as 17,018 BBY and 15,000 BBY.
  3. SWTOR mini Galactic History on The Old Republic's official website (article) (backup link) dates the Tho Yor Arrival, as described in Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi 0, to the year BTC 32,800 of the calendar based on the date of the signing of the Treaty of Coruscant. Since the difference between that calendar and the Galactic Standard Calendar—based on the date of the Battle of Yavin—was 3,653 years per the reasoning here, the Tho Yor Arrival must have taken place in the year 36,453 BBY of the latter dating system. Therefore, the difference between the Galactic Standard Calendar and the dating system based on the Tho Yor Arrival that is featured in Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void must be 36,453 years.
  4. Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia places the Treaty of Coruscant, which served as the zero point of a calendar adopted by the Galactic Senate following the conclusion of the Great Galactic War per SWTOR mini Galactic History on The Old Republic's official website (article) (backup link), in the year 3653 BBY of the Galactic Standard Calendar, which was based around the date of the Battle of Yavin. Thus, the difference between the two dating systems is 3,653 years.
  5. The New Essential Chronology establishes that the zero point of the calendar introduced by Tarsus Valorum was the Ruusan Reformation. The book places that event in the year of 1000 BBY of the Galactic Standard Calendar—which was based around the date of the Battle of Yavin—therefore establishing a difference of one thousand years between the two dating systems.
  6. Per the reasoning here, the Battle of Yavin, the zero point in the Galactic Standard Calendar per The New Essential Chronology, can be placed in 35:3:8 under the Great ReSynchronization dating system, thereby confirming the placement of the division between each Galactic Standard Calendar year as the third month in the Great ReSynchronization year. Thus, there is a two-month, seven day gap between the two dating systems, with the first two months of a GrS year being the last two of the preceding Galactic Standard Calendar year, and there is a total difference of 35 years and 2 months between the two systems.
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 The New Essential Chronology
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 The Essential Atlas
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 HyperspaceIcon The Written Word on Hyperspace (article) (content removed from StarWars.com and unavailable)
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 Ultimate Alien Anthology
  12. The New Essential Guide to Characters
  13. StarWars Book Preview: The New Essential Guide on StarWars.com (content now obsolete; backup link)

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