Leonia Tavira

Leonia Tavira was a Human female who became the youngest person to achieve the rank of Moff in the Galactic Empire. Born into poverty on the planet Eiattu 6, Leonia became the mistress of the planet's Imperial governor, Moff Tharil Tavira, at the age of sixteen. After Tavira's wife died under mysterious circumstances, he took Leonia as his wife. Shortly before the Battle of Endor, Tharil suffered a stroke and was paralyzed. Leonia took over as de facto governor while her husband recovered and, when he subsequently took his own life, declared herself Moff of Eiattu. Following the death of Emperor Palpatine at Endor, Tavira entered into a relationship with Harrandatha Estillo, the presumed heir to the throne of Eiattu, through whom she controlled the People's Liberation Battalion in order to play them off against the aristocratic ruling council, the Priamsta. In fact, the putative "Prince Harran" was an impostor and Imperial agent; the true heir was Rogue Squadron pilot Isplourrdacartha Estillo. When the princess returned to her homeworld, the impostor's identity was revealed, and Tavira fled the system.

Although Tavira retained some influence on Eiattu through leading Priamsta member Count Arian Laabann, she lost control of her former forces and allied herself with Kavil and his pirate organization, Kavil's Corsairs. Through Laabann, she hatched a plan to capture Princess Leia Organa during a visit to Eiattu. Tavira hoped to use Organa's capture to force the New Republic to assist her in overthrowing Kavil and establishing herself as a warlord. However, her agents inadvertently captured Organa's decoy, Winter, who later escaped Tavira's custody. Tavira subsequently assisted Grand Vizier Sate Pestage's flight from the Imperial capital world of Coruscant; unhappy with her payment, however, she unceremoniously abandoned him on Ciutric IV and sold his location to Director of Imperial Intelligence Ysanne Isard.

At some later point, Tavira joined forces with High Admiral Treuten Teradoc, from whom she acquired her flagship, the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Invidious. Centered around this, she formed and led the Invids, a loose coalition of pirate bands, from around 10 ABY. Operating out of the moon Susevfi, Tavira coerced the native Force-sensitive Jensaarai sect into working for her by threatening to destroy their people. The Jensaarai used their precognition to alert her of any threats and thus enable her to avoid capture, making her raids all the more successful. In 11 ABY, the Jensaarai kidnapped Mirax Terrik Horn, the wife of Rogue Squadron pilot and Jedi Corran Horn, when she began to investigate the Invids on behalf of the New Republic. This led to Corran Horn initiating a search for his wife, during which he went undercover among the Invid pirates based on Courkrus and there began a campaign to disrupt Tavira's operations. Eventually, Horn and Jedi Master Luke Skywalker launched a raid on Tavira's palace on Susevfi, where Mirax was being held. As her enemies closed in, Tavira fled to the Invidious and turned it against her own headquarters. However, Horn used a powerful mind trick to frighten Tavira into believing that a large New Republic fleet was on its way and she fled to hyperspace.

Text and facts from the “Leonia Tavira” article on Wookieepedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Modified for this site.