Mustafar

Mustafar was a small, young planet in the Mustafar system of the Atravis sector in the Outer Rim Territories. Orbiting the star Priate, the planet was situated between the gas giants Jestefad and Lefrani, the gravity from the two worlds tearing Mustafar apart and causing its unstable geology, despite it having once been a lush world orbiting Jestefad. The world experienced rains of ash, and its surface was covered in volcanoes, obsidian mountains, and lava rivers. The skies above Mustafar contained ash, smoke, and bits of rock and glass, and cyclonic updrafts and thermal currents caused turbulence. Though the catastrophe that turned the planet hellish had wiped out all life above ground, Mustafar was the harshest environment known to have still allowed for the evolution of native lifeforms. The celestial body was home to the sentient Mustafarians, themselves split into the Southern and Northern Mustafarian sub-species, as well as the lava fleas, Sher Kars, Jawenko lava beasts, tanrays, kubaza beetles, jundaks, xandanks, and blistmoks.

Around 5300 BBY, Mustafar was the location of a Jedi Enclave that was home to Jedi Master Chu-Gon Dar, who created a Force-sensitive artifact called the Chu-Gon Dar cube. Roughly 1,300 years later, the Jedi discovered a crystal on Mustafar that was deeply connected to the Force. The Sith learned of the crystal and assembled an army to take Mustafar, resulting in a battle in 3996 BBY. During the battle, the crystal exploded with a force so intense it killed all Jedi and Sith in the battle and sent the planet out of its orbit around Jestefad, thus pulling Lefrani into the gravitic duel that began to tear Mustafar apart.

Centuries before the Clone Wars between the Galactic Republic and Confederacy of Independent Systems, a cataclysmic volcanic eruption destroyed most Mustafarian settlements, excluding Fralideja. Then, in 300 BBY, the Techno Union arrived on Mustafar, signing a treaty with the Mustafarians where the indigenous peoples would mine resources in exchange for technology. The Klegger Corporation was created by the Techno Union to mine the planet on their behalf, and the corporation constructed the Klegger Corp Mining Facility.

By 51 BBY, the Sith Lord Darth Sidious brought the youngling Darth Maul to Mustafar to train him to be a Sith assassin. Early during the Clone Wars, decades later, Separatist General Grievous tasked the battle droid EG-07 to locate a superweapon capable of releasing a deadly virus, which the droid eventually located on Mustafar. The Jedi learned of the weapon and dispatched Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano, Kit Fisto, Yoda, Mace Windu, and Commander Cody, who were able to destroy the weapon. Also during the war, Sidious hired the bounty hunter Cad Bane to kidnap Force-sensitive children and deliver them to a secret facility on Mustafar. The Jedi Skywalker and Tano were able to locate the facility and rescue the children; however, Sidious's nanny droids managed to destroy the facility, eliminating any evidence that could be traced back to Sidious.

Later in the Clone Wars, Maul visited a Black Sun fortress on Mustafar with his apprentice, Savage Opress, and the leader of Death Watch, Pre Vizsla, to recruit the crime syndicate into their Shadow Collective criminal empire. After their offer was rejected, Opress beheaded the entire Black Sun council, and Lieutenant Ziton Moj, now the leader of Black Sun, agreed to join. Shortly before the end of the war, Neimoidians aligned with the Separatists discovered the wreckage of a Hammerhead-class cruiser that had crashed on the planet ages ago, and within the wreckage they uncovered the droid HK-47. Finding the droid more advanced than anything they knew, Trade Federation Viceroy Nute Gunray ordered the construction of a factory to product an army of droids based off HK-47's technology. Though the facility was completed, the droids manufactured inside never saw operation.

As the war drew to a close, Sidious had General Grievous relocate the Separatist Council from Utapau to Mustafar to escape the eyes of the Republic. While they hid in the Klegger mining facility, Sidious dispatched his new apprentice, Darth Vader, who was secretly Anakin Skywalker turned to the dark side, to execute the Council to bring an end to the Clone Wars. After Vader arrived and wiped out the entire Council, Senator Padmé Amidala—Vader's wife—and Obi-Wan Kenobi—Vader's former Jedi Master—arrived on the planet. Feeling betrayed by his wife for her bringing Kenobi, though she was unaware Kenobi had stowed away on her ship, Vader Force choked her until she was unconscious. Kenobi then approached, and the two dueled. The duel resulted in the destruction of much of the mining facility, and in the end Kenobi arose victorious, with Vader being burned on the shores of a lava river with three of his limbs severed. Kenobi left with Vader's lightsaber, and Sidious arrived shortly after to rescue Vader from the riverbank.

After the end of the Clone Wars and the transition of the Galactic Republic into the Galactic Empire, a Geonosian fugitive named Gizor Dellso came into possession of dataplans for an experimental Imperial starfighter. Dellso spent years building up an army and navy. The Empire uncovered Dellso's plot and dispatched the 501st Legion. Imperial forces defeated the rebel navy and army, destroyed the dataplans, and killed Dellso, later destroying the Geonosian's droid factory from space.

In 1 BBY, Mustafar's main continent was shifted by a massive earthquake, uncovering the ruins of the Jedi Enclave that had been buried for centuries. In the following months, archeologists, historians, treasure hunters, and mercenaries arrived on Mustafar to explore the ruins. Many visitors became corrupted by the dark side, which was still present in the ruins. This attracted users of the dark side to the planet. Over the next couple years, several regions were taken over by mercenary crews and dark side cults. In 0 ABY, a group of spacers assisted the company Mensix Corp, who itself had been imposed by the Empire to work for them, with repairs to mining facilities, negotiations with striking workers, and exploring the wreckage of the crashed Hammerhead-class cruiser. In the cruiser, the spacers uncovered the artificial intelligence of HK-47. The droid tricked the group into helping him build a droid army, though the army was defeated in the Battle of Koseyet, with HK-47 escaping.

In 1 ABY, Lord Vartonis, who had hired the Brotherhood Mortalis mercenaries, was close to discovering the largest shard of the broken Force crystal that had torn the planet apart centuries before. The Force ghost of the now-deceased Kenobi enlisted a group of Force-sensitive and non-Force-sensitive individuals to destroy the crystal before it fell into the hands of Vartonis. The group managed to access the Lair of the Crystal and defeated Vartonis and the Brotherhood Mortalis, destroying the remains of the crystal thereafter.

Following the defeat of the Galactic Empire at the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY, a Force-sensitive clone named X1 attempted to build his own empire, dubbing himself a Sith Lord and constructing a fortress on Mustafar. X1 was hunted by fellow clone X2, who had aligned with Luke Skywalker's New Jedi Order, and X2 eventually arrived on Mustafar with Grey Squadron to face X1. The latter clone dispatched Wookiee clones and Imperial Royal Guards, but all were defeated by X2. Eventually, X2 leaped over X1's lightsaber as the latter used the Force to manipulate it, causing the dark side clone to be impaled and fall into the lava to his death.

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