Balmorra

Balmorra was a terrestrial planet located in the Balmorra system within an intersecting portion of the Colonies and the Slice regions. Situated in grid square M-10 of the Standard Galactic Grid, it was orbited by a moon. Balmorra's surface was rocky and barren, with mountains and gorges extending across the landscape. The world's Type I atmosphere—which was breathable to humans and other alien species—was filled with clouds, and winged creatures inhabited the world. The planet shared its name with Balmorran Arms, a droid manufacturer; Balmorran Heavyworks, a starship manufacturer that notably produced hauler models; and the Balmorra Run, a smuggler route through the Kaliida Nebula.

During the time of the Galactic Republic, Balmorra was an isolated factory world with a strong sense of independence. It was slow to join the Republic despite its proximity to the Core Worlds, where the Republic capital of Coruscant was located. During the Clone Wars between the Republic and the Separatist Alliance, which began in 22 BBY, Balmorra left the Republic and joined the Separatists, housing droid factories for the faction. However, the Separatists were ultimately defeated in 19 BBY, ending the war.

The Republic transitioned into the Galactic Empire at the end of the Clone Wars, with the latter government making use of Balmorra's factory sites for both All Terrain Armored Transport production and prison camps. An isolated Imperial outpost on Balmorra held clone troopers that had questioned or disobeyed orders. Many were eventually transported offworld to Mount Tantiss, an Imperial facility on the planet Wayland, where they were subjected to experiments by Doctor Royce Hemlock of the Empire's Advanced Science Division. Among the detained clones was Captain Howzer and eight of his men, who had defied orders while posted on the planet Ryloth that year.

At some point no earlier than 18 BBY, Howzer and his remaining two troopers were taken aboard an Imperial Gozanti-class cruiser commanded by Captain Pearce to be transported to Mount Tantiss. As it left Balmorra the Gozanti-class cruiser was attacked and boarded by a strike team of renegade clones. The team rescued Howzer and his troopers and extracted some of the prisoner transport's data before escaping as a Venator-class Star Destroyer that had arrived out of hyperspace attempted to intercept.

By 10 BBY, former pirate queen Maz Kanata marked Balmorra as the location of an outlaw garage on a map that she included in the book that later became known as the Smuggler's Guide. The Smuggler's Guide changed hands multiple times before it fell into the possession of the pirate Hondo Ohnaka, who had the forger Bar the Rotter create three counterfeit copies to auction off. The pair traveled to Balmorra to meet with the woman known as the Marquess, whom he wanted to muster buyers for the auction via the Undervine network. Ohnaka found the Marquess in Balmorra's Swellbottom market, with the woman not being happy to see him but ultimately agreeing to join him after negotiating a thirty percent cut of the profits. Subsequently, the pair left to host the auctions elsewhere.

Between 2 BBY and 1 BBY, the Rebel Alliance maintained a relay around Balmorra for surveillance purposes. That year, the relay picked up communications that discussed six secret Imperial projects: Black-Saber, Cluster-Prism, Ion Ring, Pax Aurora, Stellar Sphere, and War Mantle. The rebels managed to cut some of the data package out of the relay but were interrupted when a hyperstorm came in. Rebel Private Tenzigo Weems then worked on decrypting the findings and sent what he could decrypt in a report for General Davits Draven, who further relayed it to the Alliance Commander-in-Chief Mon Mothma.

During the Galactic Civil War between the Empire and the Rebel Alliance, Balmorra was among the former's major industrial sites. In 3 ABY, the Alliance's 61st Mobile Infantry attacked a number of lightly defended Imperial logistical hubs to cause redeployments from the Kuat Drive Yards, which the company intended to attack and sabotage. The campaign, dubbed Operation Ringbreaker, was vetted from afar by the Alliance Intelligence, and General Crix Madine produced a map denoting other major Imperial shipyards, drydocks, and key mining centers that the Alliance could possibly target if the 61st was successful in its campaign.

Balmorra was mentioned on the map with the same tag as the planet Kuat and its naval shipyards, the tag being designated as a high-defended, high-priority target. The map was included in a document sent by Madine to Mothma. The document, as well as the report about the Balmorra relay findings, were eventually acquired by the archivist Hendri Underholt, who included it in a non-electronic archive called The Rebel Files. The 61st ultimately abandoned its campaign before it reached Kuat.

Balmorra was introduced into the current Star Wars canon when it was mentioned on a galactic map included in the fifty-second issue of De Agostini's magazine series Star Wars: Build the Millennium Falcon, published around December 30, 2015. The world later appeared in "Tipping Point," the fourteenth episode of the second season of the Disney+ animated television series Star Wars: The Bad Batch. The episode aired on March 22, 2023. Concept art for Balmorra in that episode was drawn by artist Molly Denmark. Balmorra originated in the Star Wars Legends continuity, first appearing in the first issue of the comic-book miniseries Star Wars: Dark Empire II, written by Tom Veitch, illustrated by Cam Kennedy, and published by Dark Horse Comics on December 20, 1994.

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