If there’s a bright center to the universe, it is Coruscant.
Since the rise of the Old Republic it has captivated the galaxy with its glittering
skyscrapers, great avenues, and towering monuments.
While not the only planetary ecumenopolis in the galaxy, Coruscant is by far the most famous.
Thousands of years of constant development have stripped away the planet’s seas and
mountains until almost no evidence remains of its former environment.
Instead, Coruscant’s surface is defined by urban sprawl, collectively known as Galactic City.
Dense city blocks rise upwards from the planet’s surface for thousands of levels.
Here, wealth increases with altitude.
The lowest levels are uninhabitable, riddled with strange creatures, devoid of light and
abandoned.
Above are the nearly lawless habitation blocks, home to billions of middle-class workers,
forced to endure toxic fumes and sporadic sunlight.
Only the rich and powerful can afford to live above the planet’s artificial surface in
towering skyscrapers that rise for kilometers into the atmosphere.
These enormous structures are enough to affect global weather patterns, and Coruscant’s
urban nature necessitates a planet wide artificial weather control system.
Galactic City is divided into sectors which are further divided into specialized zones
intended for financial, governmental, or industrial purposes.
The Federal District is one of the chief examples of this and during the time of the Galactic
Republic and Galactic Empire, was the center of political activity on the planet and the
galaxy.
It was the site of the Galactic and later Imperial Senate, the Galactic Courts of Justice,
and the Jedi Temple.
During the reign of the Empire the district was transformed and heavily fortified, eventually
hosting the headquarters for Naval Intelligence and the Commission for the Preservation of
the New Order.
Industrial districts included “The Works”, once a manufacturing powerhouse known throughout
the galaxy, but eventually neglected and abandoned in favor of cheaper alternatives like Kuat
and Corellia.
Nevertheless, some of the galaxy’s largest companies and financial institutions have
retained their corporate headquarters on the planet.
While celebrated for its cosmopolitan culture and its influence on the arts, education,
technology and finance, Coruscant was also home to a vast criminal underworld.
Beneath the pristine avenues and glittering lights of the city surface, the labyrinthine
network below conceals a dark and violent world almost indistinguishable from the most
infamous ports of Wild Space.
Despite the presence of the Coruscant Security Force and a network of cam droids and monitoring
technology, those looking for a place to hide or disappear need only catch a ride down one
of the huge ventilation shafts scattered across the planet’s surface.
The true nature of Coruscant’s origins have been lost to antiquity, but it is now widely
theorized that it was the original homeworld of the human species.
As they traveled, explored and colonized the rest of the galaxy, Coruscant became the center
of political and cultural life.
With the establishment of the Old Republic, Coruscant’s importance increased, and it
outmaneuvered its early rivals to become the effective center of the galaxy.
The planet’s strategic location at the nexus of several important trade routes and hyperspace
lanes cemented its status, and the planet was awarded the coordinates 0-0-0 on all standard
navigation charts.
Many born on backwater worlds across the galaxy dreamed of arriving on the planet to make
it big, only to be relegated to low-level work and subjected to a life of crime and violence.
After a millennium of peace, the outbreak of war between the Republic and the Confederacy
of Independent Systems transformed Coruscant into a hotbed of political intrigue and a
strategic target.
Both the Grand Army of the Republic and the Republic navy maintained a significant presence
on the planet, leading to civil unrest and even a bombing campaign by Separatist sympathisers.
While the majority of the Clone Wars had been fought far from Coruscant in the Outer Rim,
a direct attack on the capital in the final months of the war shocked the planet’s citizens.
The memory of the attack helped galvanize support for the First Galactic Empire and
the newly installed Imperial Government enacted sweeping changes across the planet.
The cityscape was stripped of much of its elegance in favor of sleek lines and a more
utilitarian style.
The non-human population was forcibly relocated to the lower levels, resulting in widespread
riots and demonstrations that were brutally put down by Imperial security forces.
News and rumors surrounding the Alliance to Restore the Republic only inflamed the growing
anti-Imperial sentiment on Coruscant.
When word reached the capital of the destruction of Alderaan, vigils held across the city quickly
turned violent.
Four years later, when the Rebel Alliance destroyed the second Death Star and the Emperor
was killed, the citizens of Coruscant took to the streets, toppling Imperial monuments
and setting off chimes and fireworks.
Police and Stormtrooper forces opened fire on the crowds without warning and in the ensuing
months Coruscant dissolved into a true state of civil war.
Eventually, with the signing of the Galactic Concordance, Coruscant was ceded, alongside
the majority of Imperial holdings to the New Republic.
In an attempt to avoid the worst aspects of Imperial rule, Coruscant was stripped of its
political power and the title of galactic capital was instead granted to dozens of other
worlds on a rotating basis.
Yet the cultural, economic, strategic, and historical importance of the former capital
can not be underestimated.
With the collapse of the New Republic and the rise of the First Order, there remains
a great deal of truth in the old saying “whoever controls Coruscant, controls the Galaxy”.
In Atlas, the Templin Institute investigates the most storied places from across alternate worlds.
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