Arihnda Pryce

Arihnda Pryce was a Lothalite human female who served as the Galactic Empire's imperial Governor of the planet Lothal under the jurisdiction of Moff Stattata. Deceitful and opportunistic, Pryce rose to political power and gained the position of Planetary Governor through underhanded tactics and power plays. Under Pryce's governorship, Lothal became a center for Imperial expansion and industrialization. Pryce's Imperialization of Lothal gave rise to a small rebellion on the planet, and her subsequent failures to foil this uprising gave way to a larger rebellion against the Empire. Pryce's destructive tendencies would be her undoing, and after a series of desperate attempts to defeat the rebels, she was killed when they successfully liberated Lothal from her grip.

Born and raised on Lothal, Arihnda Pryce was the heir and manager of her family's local mining business, Pryce Mining. After selling the company to the Galactic Empire, she began serving as an aide to Lothal Senator Domus Renking and became involved with the political elite of Coruscant, while her parents relocated to Batonn. She was dismissed from her position, however, when she became entangled in a plot between Renking and Moff Ghadi. Working for a citizen assistance office shortly after, she joined the Higher Skies Advocacy Group. During this time, she allied with key figures such as Governor Wilhuff Tarkin and a rising Navy officer, Thrawn, and began plotting to make her bid for power. In a series of betrayals and deceptions, Pryce engineered the downfalls of Moff Ghadi, her friends at Higher Skies, Lothal Governor Ryder Azadi, and Senator Renking. Using her power as leverage, she petitioned and was appointed the Governorship of Lothal, taking Azadi's place.

As Governor of Lothal, Pryce presided over the expansion of the Empire's presence on Lothal, which became a major Imperial base in the Outer Rim Territories. Shortly after Pryce assumed the title, the nearby system of Batonn came under insurgent threat. Under the pretense of gathering intelligence, Pryce traveled to the planet to rescue her parents. Pryce murdered ISB Agent Gudry while trying to flee with her parents, and, to conceal her role in his murder, she detonated a mining facility, destroying the insurgent forces and resulting in heavy civilian casualties. After escaping suspicion, she returned to Lothal to deal with the planet's growing rebellion, led by the Phoenix Cell. To help combat the rebels, Governor Pryce solicited Grand Admiral Thrawn to help ferret out and destroy them.

Pryce joined Thrawn and ISB Agent Kallus in combating the rebel presence in the Lothal sector. During the course of the insurgency, she worked to root out dissent on Lothal, took part in an unsuccessful hunt for rebel leader Mon Mothma, and participated in the Battle of Atollon, where Thrawn laid siege to Phoenix Cell's base. As the small rebellion grew into the Alliance to Restore the Republic and entered war with the Empire, Lothal was strip-mined and industrialized further under Pryce. The rebel cell originating from Lothal, the Spectres, returned to Lothal to free the planet from Pryce and the Empire. After defending against a rebel attack, Pryce destroyed the Lothal City fuel depot, killing rebel leader Kanan Jarrus but falling out of favor with Thrawn, whose projects relied on the planet's resources. Terrified of what her punishment would be, Pryce mounted a desperate attack on the Lothal resistance's base. Her attack failed, however, and she was taken captive. Pryce was killed during the final battle between the rebellion and Thrawn's forces, remaining loyal to the Empire until the end.

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