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- "The Supreme Chancellor singles out Mygeeto, Saleucami, and Felucia."
"A 'Triad of Evil,' he labeled them." - ―Jedi Masters Plo Koon and Ki-Adi-Mundi
The Triad of Evil was a propaganda term given by Supreme Chancellor Palpatine to the planets of Felucia, Mygeeto, and Saleucami in his 19 BBY State of the Republic address. These worlds were bastions of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, against whom the Chancellor's Galactic Republic was fighting in the galaxy-spanning Clone Wars. All three planets were located in the Outer Rim Territories, and became major battlegrounds during the final sieges of the war. Although Palpatine had a strong support bloc in the Galactic Senate, the notion of a Triad of Evil was controversial among his opposition, which included the Jedi High Council and Senator Bail Prestor Organa's anti-war coalition.
Each of the worlds was an important part of the Confederacy of Independent Systems: Felucia housed the headquarters of the Commerce Guild, Mygeeto possessed important crystal mines and vaults managed by the InterGalactic Banking Clan, and Saleucami was home to the Confederacy's newly developed underground cloning facilities. In his State of the Republic address, Palpatine reassured the populace that the war was nearly won, and that to complete the Republic's victory he was ordering a troop surge in the ongoing Outer Rim Sieges, with specific focus on the worlds of the Triad. In truth, Palpatine was only using the conflicts on these planets as a diversion from the Republic capital of Coruscant, which he wished to see attacked in order to further his goals as the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Sidious.
Origin and usage[]
- "Some of us are concerned that the Supreme Chancellor has been persuaded to press these sieges as a means of acquiring worlds by force. There are bills before the Senate now that could grant him the authority to overrule local system governments."
- ―Senator Bail Organa
Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, who coined the term "Triad of Evil"
By the third year of the pan-galactic Clone Wars between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems, a feeling of imminent victory had ingrained itself within much of the Republic leadership, particularly on the capital planet of Coruscant. Unbeknown to Republic politicians, both sides of the war were being driven by Palpatine, the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic and the Dark Lord of the Sith who directed the Confederacy under his alter ego of Darth Sidious. Palpatine orchestrated the war in order to seize control of the galaxy and destroy the Jedi Order, and so had a vested interest in continuing the conflict until he was certain his plan could come to fruition. In that year, the Republic was able to oust the Confederacy and its armies from the Core Worlds, the Inner Rim, Colonies and the Mid Rim, exiling them back into the Outer Rim Territories. This led to the chancellor's initiation of the Outer Rim Sieges, which tied up vast amounts of Republic military resources and numerous Jedi leaders in a fight to the end in the farthest reaches of the galaxy. During this time, a number of Republic senators chose to speak out against Palpatine's security policies at home and his war policies abroad. The Jedi High Council agreed that the Chancellor's office should begin work to bring the war to a close, and so Palpatine was forced to distract the public with more specific targets in the Outer Rim.
To that end, the Chancellor used his State of the Republic address that year to brand three worlds as a Triad of Evil. The planets—Felucia, Mygeeto, and Saleucami—were all strongholds of the Confederacy, but were noted by members of the Jedi Council to be relatively insignificant when viewed against the backdrop of the entire war. Alderaanian Senator Bail Prestor Organa, who led the opposition against Palpatine's policies, believed that the chancellor's naming of the Triad of Evil was an attempt to seize Confederate-allied worlds by force. This insinuation was incongruous with the Chancellor's stated intent to focus efforts on planets that were loyal to the Republic but had been taken by the separatists through arms. In his State of the Republic, Palpatine claimed that the Triad was a danger to the body of the Republic, and committed two hundred thousand clone troopers to the targeted worlds, as well as to the rest of the Outer Rim theater. While the violence escalated in those distant regions, Darth Sidious ordered his apprentice, Confederate Head of State Count Dooku, and his subordinate, General Grievous, to invade Coruscant and kidnap him as Supreme Chancellor. Grievous was successful in his mission to seize Palpatine, in large part due to the dispersal of Coruscant's home fleet to fight the Confederacy in the Triad of Evil.
The worlds of the Triad[]
Felucia[]
Main article: - "On Felucia, the Seps dug their metal heels into the muck of that alien hellhole and dared the Republic to come in after them. So we did, only to be met with the month after month of flesh-eating diseases, shrieking nocturnal predators, and other sights that haunt me to this day. Cut off and for all we knew abandoned by our superiors, our only hope was Aayla Secura, our Jedi commander. Without her iron will, none of us would have come out of that mess with our sanity, or our lives."
- ―A member of the 501st Legion
Felucia
Felucia, located in the Thanium sector at coordinates R-6, was a humid world covered in thick jungles of fungal growth. For centuries it had been controlled by the Gossam species and the Commerce Guild, both of which disenfranchised the native peoples. During the Clone Wars, wherein the Commerce Guild allied itself with the Confederacy of Independent Systems, Felucia became a hotly contested world, as it contained the personal holdings of Guild Presidente Shu Mai and rested along a vital hyperspace route. Republic forces managed to gain a foothold on the world around 21 BBY, but were eventually defeated and driven off the jungle planet by the Confederacy's Supreme Commander, General Grievous. The losses during this battle were heavy for the Republic, but many clone troopers and all of their Jedi commanders were able to escape successfully.
The Republic continued to launch attacks against Felucia throughout the remainder of the war, but never managed to fully seize the world. Despite winning another engagement later in the conflict, the Republic was unable to retain control of the planet and by the final year of the war, it was again fully controlled by the Confederacy and the Commerce Guild. With the initiation of the Outer Rim Sieges that year, the Republic began broad campaigns to stamp out the Separatist uprising in the galaxy's most distant reaches. Felucia became a major target, and Republic attacks on the world became more frequent and aggressive. Confederate battle droid forces fortified their positions on the surface, prompting clone infantry to engage their enemy in a messy, months-long campaign in the fungal wilderness. The 182nd Legion was among the first Republic units to reach the planet, but quickly fell to Felucia's untamed beasts and droid defenders. The clones of the elite 501st Legion were sent in to provide reinforcement, but discovered the 182nd had been completely wiped out. A contingent of the 501st stayed on-planet for several months, and fell victim to flesh-eating diseases, local animals, and other difficulties during their tour of duty. They eventually lost contact with their superiors, but were saved by Jedi General Aayla Secura. After Secura and the 501st were rotated out of Felucia, Jedi Knight Barriss Offee and her Padawan Zonder installed themselves in espionage positions within the Commerce Guild workforce.
When the tides of war turned against the Confederacy and Palpatine declared Felucia to be a member of the Triad of Evil, Presidente Shu Mai returned to her world to ensure the successful transfer of her holdings off-planet. During her trip there, her forces captured Offee and Zonder and held them prisoner within the Nigkoe Detention Facility. Their capture prompted the Jedi Order to dispatch Secura to the planet once more, this time as theater commander with the 327th Star Corps. Although she and Padawan Ekria succeeded in freeing their comrades, Mai had long since fled Felucia, in the process activating a self-destructive contingency plan for the world; in her absence, Felucia's water supply would be infected with deadly toxins. While Secura, Offee, Zonder, Ekria, and the newly-arrived Padawan Drake Lo'gaan attempted to halt the spread of the toxins with the 327th, Order 66 was issued, labeling all Jedi as traitors to the Republic. Although the clone forces succeeded in killing the two elder Jedi, the three Padawans escaped the planet unharmed. The contest for Felucia ended shortly after, with the deactivation of the Separatist Droid Army and the end of the Clone Wars.
Mygeeto[]
- "By the time of the Clone Wars, Mygeeto had become the InterGalactic Banking Clan's second most valuable possession […] The Republic invaded Mygeeto during the Outer Rim Sieges, blanketing the bleached landscape with ash from torpedo bombardments and fuel fires."
- ―An astrographical dossier on Mygeeto
The icy, crystal-covered planet of Mygeeto was a major holding of the InterGalactic Banking Clan prior to and during the Clone Wars. Located at coordinates K-5 in the Albarrio sector, the planet was highly valuable due to its crystalline composition and so became the Banking Clan's second most prized asset, inferior only to the Clan's headquarter world of Muunilinst. The Muuns of the IBC secured the world and proceeded to drive the native Mygeetans into either hiding or slavery.
Saleucami[]
- "For five months we've laid siege to Saleucami. We Jedi have led the Republic's clone army against a Morgukai clone army created by the CIS and trained by the Anzati. The siege has prevented the Separatist forces from leaving Saleucami. But the cost in lives has been high, and supplies are thin."
- ―Jedi Master Quinlan Vos
After three years of combat experience against the highly-capable clone troopers of the Grand Army of the Republic, the Confederate leadership chose to initiate a cloning project of their own. Head of State Dooku selected his Dark Acolyte protege Sora Bulq to head the operation, headquartered on the arid world of Saleucami.
Behind the scenes[]
The Triad of Evil was referred to in James Luceno's 2005 novel Labyrinth of Evil. Reviewers have drawn comparisons between Palpatine's mention of the "Triad of Evil" and President George W. Bush's mentions of an "Axis of Evil" in his 2002 State of the Union address.[5][6]
Appearances[]
- Labyrinth of Evil (First appearance)
