Gordian Reach

The Gordian Reach was a sector of the Outer Rim Territories, named for an old hyperlane that had run through the region.

Astrography[]

The Gordian Reach was bounded to Rimward by the Radama Void, and was broadly divided into two regions, the Loop Worlds along the Junction-Tierell Loop near the Hydian Way, and the Back Reach to the galactic east, beyond the Roil nebula.^[1]

The Gordian Reach's most important worlds were located along the Junction-Tierell Loop just off the Hydian Way, including Pinoora, Jovan III, Presbalin, and the sector capital of Torque. Rimward of the Loop Worlds were the rarely-traversed Wetyin's Way and the Pinooran Spur, which included the planets Vaal, Glade and Wetyin's Colony, and Krylon, Betshish, Marrovia and Kushibah. The two hyperroutes were linked by the Yavin Bypass, passing by the gas giant Yavin.^[1]

The Korphir Trace crossed a nebula known as the Roil to link the Back Reach and the worlds of Arda-2 and Feena. The Back Reach had little historical connection to the Loop Worlds.^[1]

The Reach also included the territory of 400100500260026 and the Vallusk Cluster.^[1]

History[]

The worlds of the Back Reach as far as Troos were part of Xim's empire from 25,116 BBY.^[1] When the Sith Lord Naga Sadow escaped from the Galactic Republic's forces towards the end of the Great Hyperspace War in 5000 BBY, he hid in what became known as the Gordian Reach, on the moon Yavin 4 of the Yavin system.^[6]

A millennium later, the Sith Lord Exar Kun used the temples Sadow built as his personal base during the Great Sith War.^[7] In 3955 BBY, Supreme Chancellor Tol Cressa assigned a G0-T0 infrastructure planning system to restore the area to its former glory. However the droids began a bloody coup, setting themselves up as dictators and seizing all 16 habitable worlds. After millions were slaughtered, Cressa sent a military task force to deal with the rogue droids.^[8] In the aftermath of the Old Sith Wars, the Jedi Order expunged all records of the Yavin system.^[1]

After the Hydian Way was charted by Freia Kallea in 3693 BBY, scouts and settlers moving north up the super-hyperroute and the praediums branching off it rediscovered the region. One such hyperlane, the Gordian Reach, stretched from the Feriae Junction on the Hydian Way to Belderone beyond the Perlemian Trade Route Rimward of the Cron Drift. Briefly a significant hyperroute in the Outer Rim, shifting stars eventually erased the route, though the arc of thousands of star systems along the old route was still sometimes called that by spacers by the the Rise of the Empire era. By 22 BBY, the Gordian Reach had been reduced to a minor route that gave its name to an unremarkable sector of motley factory worlds, mining installations, and lightly-populated colonies.^[1]

During the Clone Wars, Anakin Skywalker, pursuing Asajj Ventress from the Battle of Muunilinst, fought a duel with her on Yavin 4.^[9] Later, Jedi Master Eeth Koth was captured by the Separatist General Grievous in the Arda system.^[10]

The Gordian Reach was represented by Quorl Matrin in the Imperial Senate after the Galactic Empire rose to power.^[11] Under the New Order, the Reach was part of Bright Jewel Oversector. After being forced to abandon the Dantooine base, the Alliance to Restore the Republic made its headquarters on Yavin 4 in the Reach. The Rebels blazed numerous new hyperspace routes from the Yavin system should they need to escape to Ladarra and the Feswe Corridor, and from there to the Junction-Tierell Loop via Tertiary Feswe, to Feriae Junction via Feswe Minor, and to Hynah via Feswe Prime.^[1]

Following the Battle of Yavin in 0 BBY, the entire sector was blockaded by the Galactic Empire in an attempt to bottle up the Alliance's headquarters in the Yavin system.^[12]

After the Battle of Endor, the populations of many planets of the Reach were killed in the Stenax Massacres, in which the Stenax destroyed the Imperial military outposts on many Reach worlds and also killed many non-Stenax civilians.^[11]