Lola Sayu

Lola Sayu was a volcanic and sulfurous planet located within the Lola Sayu system of the Outer Rim Territories' Belderone sector. Appearing with a beautiful purple glow from its orbit, the planet had suffered an unknown event that caused its molten core to be exposed, and continued to slowly fall apart for several millennia afterwards, before its discovery by the Galactic Republic. Following its Republic discovery, in 522 BBY, the galactic government and the Jedi Order constructed a maximum-security prison known as the Citadel to hold rogue Jedi. Although a Republic world for centuries, Lola Sayu's allegiance eventually shifted after being captured by the Confederacy of Independent Systems during the Clone Wars fought between the two factions.

Taking the Citadel in their efforts, the Separatists placed Phindian Commander Osi Sobeck in charge of the facility and blockaded Lola Sayu with a fleet in orbit, while also turning the Citadel into a nigh-impregnable fortress. Later in the war, the Republic Jedi General Even Piell was imprisoned within the Citadel after being captured by the Separatists, during both sides' efforts to claim access to the vaunted and strategic Nexus Route. Not long after, the Republic dispatched a strike team of Jedi and clone troopers to liberate Piell and his accomplices, to gain the coordinates for their war effort, eventually turning the was-to-be mission into a struggle to escape the decaying world, though the strike team managed to escape Lola Sayu.

After the end of the war, the Citadel was rumored by individuals to have been cursed and haunted. However, an old garrison of Separatist battle droids continued to operate within the facility, led by a malfunctioning droid acting on an adjusted final directive to target all Force-sensitives. Said directive thereby led to the imprisonment of a Force-sensitive youngling within the Citadel, subsequently resulting in a climactic battle at the facility with a Jedi warrior to free the child. Later, by the time of 9 ABY, Lola Sayu fell under the jurisdiction of the New Republic, holding prisoners such as Unga Toba, who was serving a twenty-five year sentence on the planet for unlawfully accessing a computer.

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