Wookieepedia

READ MORE

Wookieepedia
Register
Advertisement
Wookieepedia
Click here for Wookieepedia's article on the Canon version of this subject.  This article covers the Legends version of this subject. 

"I would greatly appreciate it if you could drop me off at the city of Nabat. I have friends there who would be willing to offer us a safe place."
B'ura B'an[1]

Nabat was a small city on the planet Ryloth, the homeworld of the Twi'lek species, located in the galaxy's Outer Rim Territories.

Like many settlements on Ryloth, much of Nabat existed underground, safe from the dangers of the world's often harsh environment and wild predators. A complex series of tunnels led to a multi-district lower city nestled within a large underground cavern, home to a variety of shops and residences, which housed a sizable number of Twi'leks. Among the city's aboveground portions, Nabat was host to a number of slums, landing pads, and a local cantina, as well as the remainder of Nabat's population.

Early in the Clone Wars, a galaxy-spanning conflict between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems, the droid army of the Confederacy invaded Ryloth. During initial stages of the occupation, Nabat was devastated and many of its citizens were captured, held at one of the Confederacy's nearby artillery emplacements where these hostages were meant to serve as a deterrent to anyone considering an attack on the guns. Nevertheless, the imprisoned Twi'leks were later rescued by Republic forces under the command of Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi in the course of their liberation of the planet, with several of Nabat's newly freed inhabitants joining the fight to retake their home from the battle droids who sought to conquer it.

Years later, following the rise of the Galactic Empire, Nabat became home to a group of Twi'lek militants who strove to protect the common people and their interests from those who would do them harm.

Description[]

"Buildings are just buildings. What really makes a city are the inhabitants that live in it."
Clone Commander Cody, upon visiting Nabat for the first time[2]
NumaNabat-InnocentsOfRyloth

A group of Nabat's Twi'lek residents

Located on the Twi'lek homeworld of Ryloth, Nabat was a small city situated in the arid, dusty region of the planet's habitable zone.[1] Nestled within an area of mountainous rock formations[2] surrounded by jungles,[3] and protected by a gated, defensive wall erected along the village's perimeter,[1] Nabat's numerous structures were typically constructed from stone or cut directly into the surrounding rock.[2] Exposed to the harsh environment of Ryloth, the city's aboveground upper levels primarily consisted of several landing pads and a local spaceport, a number of slum dwellings, and at least one cantina,[1] all connected by various streets, alleyways, and stone bridges.[3] On particularly busy days, the Nabat spaceport could see a multitude of trade vessels come through, carrying goods and offworld buyers from all across the Outer Rim Territories.[1] Cloth awnings were commonly hung over the entrances and facades of many of Nabat's buildings, and patterned banners stretched between structures[2] in multiple neighborhoods.[3] The village also had at least two large courtyards, one of which was flanked by Twi'lek statues, and could accommodate dozens of visitors.[2]

As was common with many towns and settlements on Ryloth, large portions of Nabat were constructed entirely underground in an effort to protect the city's residents from both the unforgiving elements and the carnivorous predators that prowled nearby, including wild lyleks[1] and gutkurrs. Some residences on the surface were equipped with a hatch in the floor that connected to a network of tunnels, allowing the inhabitants to move between locations via the underground,[2] or take shelter in times of need.[4] Several other entrances on the surface allowed access to the tunnel network, and deeper underground into the lower levels of Nabat, where individual homes were carved into the walls of the caverns that housed these subterranean districts. Corridors in the underground sections of the city were often narrow, and ranged from busy thoroughfares to deserted back alleys. A variety of droids and beings of other species—including Humans and Aqualish—joined hundreds of Twi'leks in lower Nabat, carrying out their business at the many shops and merchant stalls; Nabat was not a wealthy city, and it was rare to find items worth more than five hundred credits among the wares its stores had on offer.[1]

A few hours away from Nabat by landspeeder, across the rocky terrain of the Ryloth badlands, was an old lylek den located within a red stone canyon. Just over a mile further sat the small shanty town of New Meen, home to a local ryll-mining operation.[1]

History[]

Under Separatist threat[]

"The first trick will be getting our troops on the ground."
"If you take the city of Nabat first, we'll have our landing zone."
Obi-Wan Kenobi and Mace Windu, during the battle for Ryloth[2]
Occupied Nabat

Separatist droid forces held Nabat's people captive during the Confederacy's occupation of Ryloth.

The city of Nabat was constructed on Ryloth by the Twi'lek people, years before the outbreak of the pan-galactic Clone Wars.[1] Several months into the conflict,[5] in 22 BBY,[6] the Confederacy of Independent Systems invaded Ryloth, first blockading the Outer Rim world with a fleet of ships,[7] before deploying battle droids to attack population centers on the planet's surface.[8] Nabat was devastated and captured by the T-series tactical droid TX-20, who ordered his forces to hold the city's Twi'lek populace hostage at the site of their[2] J-1 proton cannons,[9] using the prisoners as living shields in order to deter any potential opposition from attacking the guns.[2] After a plea for aid from Ryloth's representative in the Galactic Senate, Orn Free Taa, the Galactic Republic launched an invasion force of its own to help liberate the planet from the Confederacy's oppression.[10]

As the Republic Navy arrived in the Ryloth system, breaking through the Confederacy's orbiting blockade,[11] Nabat was singled out as a potential landing zone for their troop-carrying[2] Acclamator-class assault ships.[9] When the Republic vessels attempted to make planetfall at Nabat, the transports incurred heavy damage from the Confederacy's proton cannon emplacements in the city, and were forced to pull out of the area. While the transports withdrew to safety, Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi boarded a small fleet of gunships alongside the clone troopers of Ghost Company, determined to retake the city from the Confederacy's droid soldiers and allow the assault ships to land. Kenobi and Ghost Company touched down on the outskirts of Nabat, and successfully fought their way into the city, where they set up a temporary camp. While deployed on reconnaissance, troopers Waxer and Boil discovered a young Twi'lek girl named Numa who had managed to evade capture, hiding among the ruins of a Nabat neighborhood. The two men strayed from their given assignment to escort Numa back to her damaged home, only to come under attack by a pack of hungry gutkurrs unleashed by the Confederacy; the clones and the young Twi'lek fled the creatures by escaping into the tunnels beneath Nabat.[2]

Gutkurr attack

Gutkurrs attack a unit of Republic clone troops in one of Nabat's surface neighborhoods

The gutkurr pack continued through the surface streets of Nabat until coming upon General Kenobi and Ghost Company. Though the creatures were quick to attack the clones, Kenobi successfully lured the gutkurrs into an alley using the Force, where they were subsequently trapped after his men shot down the stone bridge spanning the alley's entrance. Moments later, Boil and Waxer emerged from a nearby tunnel entrance with Numa, who was able to lead Kenobi through the underground to the courtyard where Nabat's populace had been imprisoned. Upon dispatching a portion of Ghost Company to mount a diversionary assault on the battle droids, Kenobi, Waxer, and Boil were able to infiltrate the courtyard, liberate the Twi'lek hostages, and destroy the Confederacy's proton cannons. Once freed, Nabat's people turned on their former captors, even rescuing Kenobi and his clone allies from the threat of TX-20's assault tank, before dismantling the tactical droid outright.[2]

In the aftermath of TX-20's defeat, Numa was able to reunite with her family in Nabat, while bidding farewell to Waxer and Boil. With the proton cannons destroyed, the Republic's Acclamator-class transports were at last able to land, setting down on the plains outside of the city. There, they unloaded troops and armored walkers to aid in the escalating battle. Kenobi's forces departed Nabat[2] for the south, freeing further villages and securing the Jixuan desert, while the newly arrived Jedi Master Mace Windu marched[10] a detachment of the 91st Mobile Recon Corps[12] toward the capital of Lessu. From their initial landing site at Nabat,[2] the Republic was ultimately able to assist the indigenous Twi'lek freedom fighters in driving the Confederacy from Ryloth.[10]

In the age of the Empire[]

"A short while later, during a journey to Nabat, I was attacked by a band of rogues..."
―B'ura B'an[1]

During the reign of the Galactic Empire, offworld criminal interests began to encroach upon Ryloth's spice-mining industry, terrorizing mining communities and extorting workers. In response, a number of Twi'leks banded together to form an organization dedicated to protecting their people from harassment and exploitation, violently if necessary. The newly formed militant group established a covert safehouse in an underground district of Nabat, and fought to protect the nearby town of New Meen, home to one of Ryloth's most profitable ryll mines. While travelling from New Meen to Nabat, the Twi'lek militant B'ura B'an was set upon by a gang of thugs in the employ of Teemo the Hutt; during the fighting, B'an lost one of his lekku to the Trandoshan bounty hunter Trex, who subsequently imprisoned the Twi'lek aboard his YT-1300 freighter, the Krayt Fang.[1]

Behind the scenes[]

The city of Nabat was first introduced to the Star Wars universe in 2009, with an appearance in the twentieth episode of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series' first season, entitled "Innocents of Ryloth."[2] Around the same time, the Rylothian city received a short entry in the multi-author reference book The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia,[13] before appearing again as one of several locales visited in The Long Arm of the Hutt, an Edge of the Empire roleplaying-game supplementary adventure published digitally by Fantasy Flight Games in 2012.[1]

Appearances[]

Non-canon appearances[]

Sources[]

Notes and references[]

Advertisement