Antar 4, also known simply as Antar and the Gotal moon, was a moon that orbited Antar, a planet located in the galaxy's Inner Rim, that was the homeworld of the sentient Gotal species. It was taken over by the Confederacy of Independent Systems during the Clone Wars. As a result, it was later targeted by an Imperial operation that came to be known as the Antar Atrocity.
In 620 BBY, a security force known as the Antarian Rangers was created on the planet to aid the Jedi Order.
A member of the Galactic Republic almost from its inception, the Separatist Crisis created a schism among Antar 4's Gotals that gave rise to terrorist groups aligned with the Confederacy of Independent Systems, such as the Roshu Sune, a radical splinter group of the Gotal Assembly for Separation. Despite a Roshu Sune terrorist bombing campaign in the final months before the eruption of the Clone Wars, Gotal loyalists, shored up by the Republic, managed to retain power. However, shortly after the First Battle of Geonosis in the year 22 BBY, the moon fell to Separatist forces, and for a brief period, became a headquarters for its leader, Count Dooku.
As a result, Antar 4 became a political imbroglio that spawned one of the first resistance groups, made up of loyalist Koorivar and Gotals whom the Republic supported with tactical advisers and secret shipments of arms and materiel. Though the resistance was successful in carrying out hundreds of acts of sabotage, the moon remained under Separatist control for the conflict's duration. At some point, a Battle of Antar 4 was fought, with at least one BX-series droid commando seeing use and proving itself a valuable fighter.
After the war, in 18 BBY, Moff Wilhuff Tarkin of the Galactic Empire, the Republic's successor, was ordered to make an example of Antar 4 for supporting the Confederacy of Independent Systems as a warning to former Separatists. No attempt was to be made at repatriation, nor was he to waste time sorting Separatists from resistance fighters and intelligence operatives waiting to be exfiltrated to safety. Instead, many Koorivar and Gotal loyalists were swept up in the ensuing arrests, executions, and massacres that came to be known as the Antar Atrocity. As a result of its actions on Antar 4, former Republic Intelligence captain Berch Teller, who lost many operatives in the Imperial reprisal, created a rebel cell to combat the Empire within a year of the attack.
Antar 4 was first mentioned in the new Star Wars canon in Tarkin, a novel written by James Luceno and released on November 4, 2014. It was originally created for Galaxy Guide 4: Alien Races, a Star Wars Legends supplement written by Troy Denning for Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game and released on June 1, 1989.
Tarkin mistakenly claimed that Antar IV was located in the galaxy's Mid Rim. In addition, Antar 4 was mistakenly labelled simply as "Antar" on Star Wars: Galactic Atlass galaxy map.
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