- "What happened here, Master Obi-Wan?"
"War. The people on this planet destroyed themselves, many generations ago." - ―Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi
Carnelion IV, also known simply as Carnelion, was an icy planet located in the galaxy. Generations before the Invasion of Naboo, a war was fought by the people of the planet, which resulted in their demise, and placed a sea of toxic gas over the remains of their civilization. Between the war's destruction and the dense debris field surrounding the planet, no one ever visited the world. In 29 BBY, Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi and Padawan Anakin Skywalker responded to a distress call from the planet and damaged their T-6 shuttle while attempting to navigate its debris field, forcing them to crash-land. Surviving the crash, the two Jedi soon discovered an ongoing battle, encountering Carnelion IV natives Kolara and Pran.
Description[]
Carnelion IV was an icy world covered in mountains, with a sea of poisonous gas covering most of the lower points of the world in the aftermath of a war between its inhabitants.[1] Due to the sea, a good portion of the human population mutated into what the survivors called Fishers, who often hijacked airships,[3] and introduced Corpse-leeches and other assorted creatures, making traveling on foot dangerous,[4] and forcing the Open and Closed to live in the mountains.[2]
History[]
Early history[]
At some point prior to the Invasion of Naboo, an advanced civilization was living on Carnelion IV that eventually dissolved into war between two factions called the Open and the Closed. The Galactic Republic did not try to interfere due to the fact that the world had no important exports, therefore, the Jedi Order did not intervene, as they were not an army. The war destroyed the surface cities, which became known as "The World That Was," covered them with a sea of poisonous gas[1] which mutated many of the inhabitants,[2] and left a debris field above the planet. Due to the severity of the destruction, the galaxy at large assumed the planet's inhabitants had been annihilated in the war; however, a small portion did survive and continued the war for some time.[1]
Distress call[]
In 29 BBY,[5] Sera, in hopes of attracting Jedi in order to end the destructive conflict, sent out a distress call[2] which led Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Padawan Anakin Skywalker to the troubled world. After failing to successfully navigate the debris field above the planet, the duo crashed onto the surface, where to their surprise, they found an airship battle raging on the supposedly dead world. Spotting one of the airships crashing, they pulled it towards them just in time for its crew- the Open Mother Pran and Kolara-to jump off.[1]
Upon landing and seeing her ship destroyed, Pran inquired whether Kenobi and Skywalker were Open or Closed at gunpoint. Confused, they said that they were Jedi investigating a distress call, prompting Pan to ask what a Jedi was.[1] After another round of mutual confusion, a Closed airship spotted them and began firing upon the group. Though they all initially took cover, Kenobi managed to disable the entire airship by himself.[4]
A crew member on the airship-the Closed member Grecker-attempted to jump to land, prompting Pran to make fun of him until Skywalker caught him and helped Grecker onto the cliffside. The Open leader, infuriated, told Skywalker to get out of the way so she could shoot Grecker, prompting the Closed to raise his own pistol in response. Though Skywalker disabled their weapons with his lightsaber, they immediately pulled out knives and lunged at each other, only for Kenobi to whisk their blades away.[4]
After a furious banter between Grecker and Pran after the Jedi asked them why they hated each other, Kenobi decided that he and Skywalker should leave, only to be stopped by Grecker claiming that Kenobi had killed them all. After asking and being informed that traveling on foot unarmed was in essence a death sentence, the Jedi decided to see the Open and Closed to safety.[4]
Later, upon seeing the remains of the airships the Open and Closed had been traveling on, Kenobi inquired if they could be repaired. As the only intact parts were an Open airbag and a Closed gondola, they initially did not like the idea, with Grecker claiming it would be an "abomination" and that Open and Closed did not mix. However, upon hearing that an offworld transmission had called the Jedi here-something that they had lost the ability to do in the early days of the war-they changed their minds about combining the remains of the airships.[4]
However, at that moment, corpse-leeches spotted the group. Sensing that they were nearly mindless, Kenobi instructed his Padawan to send them away with the Force. However it did not work and Skywalker slayed them instead, apologizing to his Master for his failure. The group then combined the remains of the airships and took off, unaware that Fishers had seen them.[4]
As they sailed above the Celadon Sea, Grecker inquired where the distress signal had originated from. Telling him not to concern himself, Kenobi thanked him and Pran for bringing himself and Skywalker as far as they had, and complimented them on how they were working together. Just then, a kite with a box attached flew by. Telling Kolara to stay back, Pran and Grecker retrieved the box-which only contained a piece of art-untied it from the kite, and tossed it overboard, attracting the attention of a group of Fishers.[3]
After the box had been disposed of, Kolara explained to Skywalker what was in the box (as she secretly had a piece of art) and that they weren't supposed to have any, simply because her elders said so.[3]
Meanwhile, Grecker and Kenobi were discussing the Jedi's relationship with his Padawan, and Skywalker began tinkering with his lightsaber. Upon learning that the Padawan was good with machines, Kolara called Pran over, who produced a droid brain for him to fix. Not realizing the dynamics of the situation, Skywalker did so, confirming the Open's suspicions that he could repair the immense stores of battle tech they had that were nonfunctional, and enable them to defeat the Closed.[3]
Just then, Fishers latched onto the ship. Seizing the opportunity, Kolara, amid the chaos, took Skywalker's lightsaber and tossed it overboard, while Pran knocked the boy out with a wrench. The pair loaded Skywalker onto a glider, launched, and fired the craft's airguns at the airship.[3]
As the ship fell to the surface, Kenobi and Grecker leapt off, landing in a group of Fishers, who departed after Kenobi showed them what his lightsaber could do. After a conversation about what happened to Skywalker, Kenobi departed for the origin of the distress call, telling Grecker that he could follow if he wished. Grecker followed, giving Kenobi a breath mask so they could protect themselves from the Celadon Sea.[2]
Arriving at the location from which the signal originated, they only found what appeared to be more ruins. After interrogating Grecker about what he knew of the signal, a beast appeared, prepared to attack them. At that point, Grecker sent off a flare to call for help, initially irritating Kenobi until he saw just how many beasts there were.[2]
A door in on of the walls opened, with a hooded figure beckoning Grecker to come inside. The Closed then attempted to force the figure to close the door on Kenobi, only to get shot by the figure's blaster pistol. Just then, Kenobi entered. The figure led the Jedi to the main room of the building, which was filled with technology and art scavenged from the World That Was, and introduced herself as Sera.[2]
She revealed that she had sent the kites with art to introduce the young of both factions to art, and had sent the distress call in order to bring a Jedi to force the Open and Closed to unite. She had scavenged holovids that showed the strength of Jedi, strength she did not possess, strength she believed could be used to unite the warring factions of the planet.[2]
When Kenobi told her that he had come here with Open and Closed working together, she scoffed, telling him that it was only to destroy what she had gathered here, as they wanted to eradicate any memory of the old times. The things she collected only reminded them of all they had lost, and that the old only understood war.[2]
Meanwhile, Kolara, Pran, and Skywalker arrived at one of the Open's fortresses, where Pran showcased the Padawan's gift for repairing machines. After he repaired the rest of the war tech, Pran tricked Skywalker into giving them the source of the distress signal so they could find and destroy it.[2] After the adults of the Open left, the young of the sect debated amongst themselves whether or not to help the Scavenger; a debate that was quickly resolved by Skywalker when he revealed he could build transports from the tech lying around, and when he realized and exposed precisely why the adults wanted the Scavenger dead: to keep the young focused on the war, and not distracted by her gifts of art.[6]
Meanwhile, Sera showed Kenobi the machine she had used to call him-which had broken down after her transmission-and and a broken datapad showing a warrior with a lightsaber. She explained that it had given her the inspiration to call Jedi to the planet and forcefully restore peace, as the datapad had shown the warrior's immense power and given instructions on how to contact Jedi. After Kenobi inquired the color of the saber, Sera, not understanding its significance, replied that it had been red.[6]
The Closed, having been signaled by Grecker's flare, arrived and began attacking Kenobi, who had exited the building to defend Sera. The Open, having been tipped off by Skywalker, arrived a little later, engaging the Closed and nearly killing Kenobi before Skywalker, having build speeders with the parts in the Open's fortress, arrived with the Open young and scooped him up. The Padawan deposited his Master on the roof of Sera's fortress, where the others had already landed and were becoming acquainted with the Scavenger. She explained her mission, but believed that it had been ruined by Kenobi leading the Open and Closed to her. She explained to the children that the best they could hope for was for the factions to wipe each other out, only to lead to Kolara and the others to go and join the rest of the Open in the battle.[6]
Having lead his Padawan into the complex, Kenobi asked Skywalker to fix the communications terminal Sera had shown him. After he had done so, Kenobi sent out a message to the Republic claiming the atmosphere of the planet had a high concentration of tibanna gas. The fleet responded immediately, with a fleet of at least four Consular-class cruisers arriving in the sky, ending the destructive battle below. Unknown to the Republic, Kenobi had done this simply because it would halt the war for a time, giving the inhabitants time to consider whether they preferred peace to war. After explaining this to his Padawan, Skywalker, who had been contemplating leaving the Jedi Order, decided to stay with the Order.[6]
Inhabitants[]
Carnelion IV was once home to an advanced human civilization capable of space travel, but it was quickly destroyed when the Open-Closed war started. The war left the factions at a relatively primitive level of technology, having no repulsorlifts or blasters; forcing them to use slugthrowers and knives in battle.[1] The downgrade in technology was aided by the Celadon Sea, which covered the ruins of the old cities, and forced the Closed and Open to live in the mountains. It also gave rise to the Fishers, a species of humans that had been heavily mutated by the poisonous gas.[2] They had some traces of sentience, as they were able to use ropes and weapons to attack and hijack airships.[3]
The remaining human populace, for the most part, wanted to forget the times before the war and focus solely on the fighting. This caused them to want to destroy anything that might divert their young's focus, such as Sera, who wished to stop the war and rebuild the old civilization.[2]
Behind the scenes[]
Carnelion IV first appeared in the 2016 comic Obi-Wan and Anakin 1, written by Charles Soule and illustrated by Marco Checchetto.[1]
Appearances[]
- Obi-Wan and Anakin 1 (First appearance)
- Obi-Wan and Anakin 2
- Obi-Wan and Anakin 3
- Obi-Wan and Anakin 4
- Obi-Wan and Anakin 5
Sources[]
- Ultimate Star Wars, New Edition
- Skywalker: A Family at War
"Anakin Skywalker" — Star Wars Encyclopedia- Star Wars: Timelines (First identified as Carnelion)
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 Obi-Wan and Anakin 1
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 Obi-Wan and Anakin 4
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 Obi-Wan and Anakin 3
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 Obi-Wan and Anakin 2
- ↑ Star Wars: Timelines
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Obi-Wan and Anakin 5