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Coruscant
this planet in the Core Worlds was home to the Old Republic.
Most xenoarchaeologists believe that the human race evolved on Coruscant, which
was also the home world of the Taung and the Zell races. It was renamed Imperial
Center by Emperor Palpatine. When the New Republic was born, the planet was
renamed to Coruscant. Located some 10,000 light-years from the actual galactic
core, Coruscant had two moons and orbited a small white sun. The planet's entire
landmass has been covered - over the thousands of generations spanning galactic
history - by multiple levels of the buildings that make up Imperial City. The
oceans which once covered part of the planet's surface had been drained and
stored in vast, underground caverns for eventual reuse. Several of these immense
skyscrapers reach over 6,000 meters into the atmosphere. This means that there
is little land available for growing food, and no natural rivers or lakes to
provide water. To solve the dilemma of feeding and watering millions of
inhabitants, many of Coruscant's architects build self-contained ecosystems into
their buildings. Engineers have developed a series of huge pipes through which
polar ice water is pumped to the cities. Nearly everything on the planet is
recyclable, from clothing to packaging and machinery. One problem with a city
world like Coruscant was that it generated incredible amounts of carbon dioxide;
so atmospheric dampeners were placed in orbit to reactively remove it. It was
the center of all the Old Republic's activities, and helped describe Galactic
Standard time. The standard hour and year are marked by Coruscant's local hour
and year. The normal Coruscant day is divided into 24 hours, and its year lasts
368 local days. Coruscant is located in Sesswenna Sector. The Imperial
Senate was convened there. When Palpatine assumed control of the Senate and the
rest of the government, he established that Coruscant would remain the center of
his Empire. He began a massive work effort to shape Coruscant to his desires,
including installing a large number of surveillance systems. Following the
Battle of Endor, Mon Mothma moved the New Republic onto Coruscant and again
re-established the center of the Republic there. This came after the planet was
liberated from Ysanne Isard, and the New Republic overcame the threat of the
Krytos virus. Unbeknownst to all, Isard's infamous Lusankya prison facility was
hidden in the Super-class Star Destroyer Lusankya, which was
buried beneath Imperial City. Following the death of Grand Admiral Thrawn, the
Imperial Inner Circle began attacking Coruscant in an effort to regain the
center of the galaxy for the Empire. This attack was driven back just before the
Emperor was reborn as a clone, but the damage to the planet's resources was
horrendous. Also, the immediate space surrounding the planet was littered with
starship wreckage for many years to follow. Once the reborn Emperor was
destroyed, the New Republic began cleaning up the planet to make it more
presentable as the center of the galaxy.