Rakatan revolt

For other uses, see Rakata.

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Rakatan revolt

Beginning

At least by c. 35,000 BBY^[3]

End

c. 30,000 BBY^[4]

Outcome

Infinite Empire victory^[2]
- The Celestials disappear from the galaxy^[5]
- The Infinite Empire becomes the dominant galactic power^[4]
- End of the golden age of the Celestials^[6]

Combatants
Infinite Empire^[5]	Celestials^[5]

"All we have are a few guesses — and some secondhand sources that are little better than legends. The grimoiries of the Gree Enclave say the work of the Ancient Masters — the Celestials — was undone by two curses unleashed by the Soul Hunters, whom we identify as the Rakata. The Gree name those curses the Gray Swallowing and the Faceless Mouths, and further refer to them as the Hollowers of Beings and the Eaters of Worlds."

―Dr. Insmot Bowen discusses the Rakatan revolt with Bevel Lemelisk and Conan Antonio Motti^[5]

The Rakatan revolt was an uprising of the Rakata species against the Celestials that occurred millennia before the birth of the Old Republic whose inception and outcome have been lost in time.

Prelude[]

Rakata First Contact — The Kwa uplifted the Rakata from their primitive state, teaching them the ways of the Force on Lehon.

The origins of the Rakatan revolt dated back to the dawn of the Rakata species' civilization on the planet Lehon, a terrestrial world located in the Tempered Wastes of the Unknown Regions.^[5]^[4] Many years before 36,453 BBY,^[7] the Kwa—a Force-sensitive reptilian species from the planet Dathomir—uplifted the Rakata civilization, who were taught the power of the Force and were given advanced technology.^[1] During these times the Rakata became the client species of the Celestials, who were the dominant galactic power and Kwa's own beneficiaries.^[5]

Following the devastating conflict with the Kwa, the Rakata promptly developed^[1] the first known hyperdrive,^[8] discovering that they could use the energy of Force-sensitive slaves among the populations they conquered to fuel their warships. Thus the Infinite Empire was born, which expanded with each new conquest and discovery of another planet rich in the Force.^[1]

The revolt[]

"They disappeared. We don't know what happened to them. They may have been trapped inside our galaxy by their barrier and destroyed by the Rakatan revolt. They may have escaped through the barrier. Or perhaps they withdrew into some dimension beyond the reach of the Rakata and ourselves."

―Dr. Insmot Bowen discusses the Celestials with Bevel Lemelisk and Conan Antonio Motti^[5]

Speculation holds that the Celestials had crafted the western barrier that bisected the galaxy west of the Deep Core^[5] with the help of their servants, the Gree, the Kwa, and the Killiks^[2] in order to contain the upstart Rakata.^[4] However, the newly-formed Infinite Empire had spread out over the Unknown Regions and conquered much of the eastern galaxy around 35,000 BBY.^[9] Sometime prior to 33,598 BBY,^[10] the Rakata had captured the forest world of Kashyyyk, and installed a terraforming computer on the planet to manipulate Kashyyyk's wroshyr trees.^[11]

The ancient grimoires of the Gree Enclave, which referred to the Celestials as the "Ancient Masters," recorded that their work was undone by curses unleashed by the Rakata, or the "Soul Hunters," which they called the "Gray Swallowing" and the "Hollowers of Beings," and further referred to them as the "Faceless Mouths" and "Eaters of Worlds." At some point more than 30,000 years before 1 BBY, the Celestials disappeared from the galaxy.^[5] By 30,000 BBY, the Celestials were nowhere to be found.^[6]

Aftermath[]

"But the evidence is considerably more clear that the Rakata waged devastating war against the Kwa and the Gree. And the Killiks simply vanished. All three, we believe, were key client species of the Celestials. It looks as if the Rakata were determined to exterminate or drive out their rivals among the Celestial slave species."

―Dr. Insmot Bowen discusses the war against the Celestial client species with Bevel Lemelisk and Conan Antonio Motti^[5]

By 30,000 BBY, the Celestials were nowhere to be found,^[6] and therefore ceased to pose a threat to the expanding Infinite Empire.^[4] The Rakatan Infinite Empire had taken center stage as a dominant galactic power stretching from the Tempered Wastes to the furthest reaches of the eastern galaxy,^[4] linking over five hundred Force-rich worlds.^[8] The Rakata turned their attention to the subjugation of their major rivals^[4] among the Celestial client species,^[5] namely the Killiks,^[2] the Gree Empire and the Kwa holdings.^[4] The Gree were driven back to their home cluster, while the Kwa were all but exterminated by the Infinite Empire.^[4]

Infinite Empire JMGD — The victory in the Rakatan revolt brought about an era of stability to the Infinite Empire that persisted until the Rakata Civil War.

Similarly, the Killiks vanished from the galaxy and migrated beyond the veil of the Unknown Regions, which was an act presumed to be attributed to the Celestials.^[4] After the construction of Centerpoint Station, it was claimed by the Killiks that the Celestials had grown angry with their Kind and had emptied them from their homeworld of Alderaan.^[12] It was theorized that the Celestials drove the Killiks into the Unknown Regions after they devoured their own homeworld and attempted to lay claim to another planet.^[13] The Mnggal-Mnggal similarly claimed that it had witnessed the sudden withdrawal of the Celestials from the galaxy in this era.^[6]

The eventual fate of the Celestials was unclear to later historians. Dr. Insmot Bowen posited that they may have been trapped inside the galaxy by their barrier and destroyed by the Rakatan revolt, or they may have escaped through the barrier. He also suggested that they may have withdrawn from this dimension completely.^[5] Others, like the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Plagueis mused on the possibility that the Celestials were the ones who, according to Jedi and Sith legend, merged into the Force to control its path.^[14]

Legacy[]

"When our ancestors were still howling primates, our galaxy was ruled by a species that could create, reconfigure or destroy star systems according to some unimaginable whim. At some point more than 30,000 years ago, the Celestials' dominion vanished. Yet there's no record that they were ever conquered. We don't even know what they looked like. We never saw the body — they simply disappeared. Considering what they could do eons ago, gentlemen, ask yourself this: What if they return?"

―Dr. Insmot Bowen on the possibility of Celestials returning to the galaxy^[5]

In the year 1 BBY, Dr. Insmot Bowen, a specialist in pre-Republic history at the Obroan Institute for Archaeology, gave a debriefing to General Arhul Kurumenga of the Imperial Department of Military Research, Admiral Conan Antonio Motti of the Imperial Navy, and Master of Imperial Projects Bevel Lemelisk relating to various discoveries that would provide hints, albeit minimal, regarding aspects of the Celestials, including their conflict with and eventual defeat at the hands of the Rakata.^[5]

Motti doubted the historicity of the Rakata and Celestial species in general, going so far as to dismiss the stories about them as little more than "arrant nonsense" fit only to be the subject of "holothrillers." However, the aforementioned Dr. Bowen, believed the stories of the Celestial species and the war in which they fought, going so far as to suggest that the Celestials might still be out in the universe in one form or another, a potential threat to the stability of the New Order.^[5]