Geonosis

A hellish world scoured by radiation, Geonosis was first explored when its nearest neighbor, Tatooine, was settled by miners some four millennia before the Battle of Yavin. The Geonosians were fascinated by the outsiders' technology, and the hives proved adept at solving problems and finding efficiencies in devices' function and production. The Geonosians began making labor droids in their own image, and these droids became known as cheap, simple, and reliable models.

Grid Location: R-16
Region: Outer Rim Territories
Terrain: Rocks, deserts
Diameter: 11,370 km
Length of Day: 30 standard hours
Length of Year: 256 local days
Population: 100 billion
Sentient Species: Geonosians
Species Mix: Geonosians (99%), other (1%)
Languages: Geonosian
Government: Hives
Major Exports: Technology, droids
Major Imports: Raw materials
System/Star: Geonosis/Fa

Planets in the System:

Planets	Type	Moons
Geris	Airless rock	0
Geonosis	Terrestrial	4
Conus	Volcanic rock	3
Mabonte	Toxic ball	4
Habon	Gas giant	21
Abyssisa	Frozen rock	1

"A hellish world scoured by radiation, Geonosis was first explored when its nearest neighbor, Tatooine, was settled by miners some four millennia before the Battle of Yavin. The Geonosians were fascinated by the outsiders' technology, and the hives proved adept at solving problems and finding efficiencies in devices' function and production..."

Detailed History

The Geonosians began making labor droids in their own image, and these droids became known as cheap, simple, and reliable models.

But contacts between the Republic and Arkanis sector proved fleeting. Tatooine was abandoned and the Geonosians' advances copied by corporations closer to the Core. And contact with outsiders caused a deep rift among the hives, a rift that soon exploded into savage warfare.

As Geonosis dissolved into conflict, it was abandoned and all but forgotten until the Republic's final centuries. The hive wars had finally ebbed, and scouts and traders once again made tentative contact with the Geonosians. The hives eventually struck a distribution deal with the Baktoid Armor Workshop, returning their droids to the galactic market.

The Sith Lord Darth Sidious thought the Geonosians' skills were wasted on labor droids. He engineered the rise of the Geonosian rebel Poggle the Lesser, then used the planet's Trade Federation connections to create an army of battle droids for his own schemes—as well as early plans for what would become the Death Star. In 22 BBY Geonosis was the site of a fateful meeting between Count Dooku and the leaders of the nascent Confederacy of Independent Systems. That was soon followed by the opening battle of the Clone Wars, when the Jedi Master Yoda led a clone army from Kamino to Geonosis in time to rescue Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, and Padmé Amidala—and the Jedi Knights who had been sent to rescue them.

The Republic occupied Geonosis, but to let its droid foundries fall back into Separatist hands. The Empire kept a tight grip on the system, nationalizing its output and forbidding corporate contacts with the hives. (Geonosian scientists continued to assist with the Death Star project and other Imperial war efforts.) The New Republic allowed the Geonosians to work as subcontractors once again, but maintained a right of refusal on all projects.