Battle of Ord Radama The Battle of Ord Radama was a major engagement of the Great Galactic War between the belligerent powers of the Sith Empire and the Galactic Republic . Ord Radama had previously been a holding of an old Sith Empire , but had fallen under the rule of the Republic since the conclusion of the Jedi Civil War . Although it was situated within the Esstran sector in the Seat of The Empire , the planet had resisted Sith conquest in the Great Galactic War until 3660 BBY , during the Rim Campaign led by the Sith Lords Darth Malgus and Darth Venemal . That year , the two led a detachment of the Imperial naval armada to the world and began an eighty - six - day – long campaign to secure it for the Empire . The battle began with an assault on a mountaintop Republic stronghold while Imperial dreadnaughts set up a defensive perimeter in orbit above the planet . Malgus and Venemal led the successful incursion on foot and established a beachhead on the planet to plan for an advance on the capital city of Livien Magnus , which was heavily fortified against attack by Republic soldier s and artillery , as well as an all - enveloping ray shield . Fourteen days after their touchdown on the planet , the Imperials launched their siege of the capital , with Malgus planning on winning though attrition . A week into the onslaught , he and Venemal were joined by Lord Adraas , who traveled to the planet with platoons of battle droids under the orders of the Empire ' s ruling Dark Council . Although Republic infantry quickly destroyed Adraas ' s droids , the distraction allowed Malgus and Venemal to lead troops into the city and destroy the shield generator . After using air strikes to quash native resistance , the Sith Lords occupied the capital as a headquarters while they waited to be resupplied . The situation quickly turned to crisis for the Imperials : as they ran low on war matériel , the Republic retaliated by sending a sizable fleet of corvettes and cruisers to retake the system and uproot the entrenched Imperial ground forces . Although Malgus attempted to take command of the situation in space , he quickly lost most of his fleet , and the battle became untenable . After one of the Empire ' s damaged " Harrower " - class dreadnaughts fell to the surface of Ord Radama and obliterated Livien Magnus and all of the Imperial forces stationed within — including Darth Venemal — Lord Malgus was forced to retreat from the planet aboard the dreadnaught " Lindworm " . Prelude . Ord Radama was a planet in the Esstran sector of the Outer Rim Territories that the Galactic Republic had established as an Ordnance / Regional Depot for the Republic Military . During the Jedi Civil War , the world was allied with the Sith forces of Darth Revan and Darth Malak ' s Empire , but fell back into Republic control following the conclusion of the conflict . However , in 3681 BBY , the revived Sith Empire spilled out of its hidden enclave in the nearby Stygian Caldera and began a campaign of conquest across the Outer Rim . In the early days of this Great Galactic War , the Empire focused on securing outlying Republic worlds and reconquering planets that had previously been holdings of older Sith regimes . These efforts were widely successful until the Battle of Bothawui in 3671 BBY , at which point the Empire was forced to reevaluate its efforts and postpone its plans to advance on the Republic ' s Core Worlds . In response , the Empire ' s ruling Dark Council put into motion several new initiatives . The first was the manipulation of the Mandalorian warrior clans to engage in the Blockade of the Hydian Way , meant to prevent the movement of foodstuffs to the Core Worlds and the transportation of military wares to embattled Republic armies in the Outer Rim . The blockade was highly successful and held for a year , allowing for the Empire to launch another highly successful offensive by 3660 BBY : the Rim Campaign . Overseen by the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Angral , the Rim Campaign was focused on securing holdings in the Outer Rim , such as the worlds of the Esstran sector that had not yet fallen to the Empire . Two ascendant Sith Lords , Darth Malgus and Darth Venemal , were placed in command of one of Angral ' s legions of Imperial soldier s as well as a small fleet of Imperial Navy warships with orders to reconquer Ord Radama — one of the campaign ' s primary targets . The battle . Early invasion and the conquest of Livien Magnus . Despite a minor tactical setback for Malgus ' s and Venemal ' s forces during a previous engagement in the war , the two Sith moved forward with the offensive . The Sith Empire invaded Ord Radama on the one hundred and twenty - ninth day of the Rim Campaign , carried there by two " Harrower " - class dreadnaughts and Darth Malgus ' s flagship , the dreadnaught " Lindworm " . While their capital ships secured orbital positions , Malgus and Venemal led the advance forces of their legion to the surface aboard dropships and " Fury " - class interceptors . Their first target was a Republic stronghold positioned atop a mountain and defended by mines , artillery , and Merr - Sonn Bellower turret emplacements . The landing craft touched down amid heavy fire , and managed to safely unload the first waves of Imperial commandos and the Sith Lords leading them . Malgus and Venemal led the charge , using their lightsabers to defend the single - file lines of infantrymen behind them from blaster fire . The Merr - Sonn turrets on the cliff face above them targeted the invading forces ' dropships instead of the advancing soldiers ; while the gunners successfully destroyed two of the landing craft — the Empire ' s only losses of the day — the troops on the ground were able to make their way to a rock formation at the cliff ' s base for cover . While their soldiers remained protected , Malgus ordered Venemal to jump up to the gun emplacements and take out the operators . The Sith was successful , and his commandos shortly joined him on the ledge via ascension cables . Darth Malgus , meanwhile , remained at the foot of the mountain and led his remaining soldiers in a march up a narrow incline path to the stronghold . However , before he made progress up the mountain , Malgus sensed that the path was blocked by mines that Republic forces had placed . To protect his men , the Sith Lord used the Force to lift a boulder from the mountainside and roll it along the path twenty paces before them . The tactic worked to detonate the mines prematurely , allowing the Imperials to proceed uninhibited . A hidden group of Republic ambushers were scattered by the explosions , and Imperial fire trooper s promptly killed them with their flamethrowers . At the crest of the mountain , Venemal ' s commandos moved through the stronghold , eliminating the Republic defenders and leaving no survivors . Malgus ' s men soon joined the team , and together , they secured the area . The Empire ' s communications officer signaled the success to the " Lindworm " , which began landing the remainder of the Imperial legion in the fields at the base of the mountain . For the four days following their landfall , the invaders established a bivouac as they prepared for a march on the capital city of Livien Magnus . When their temporary staging area was finally established , Malgus addressed his forces from atop a siege tank while they prepared their equipment for further battle , reminding them of their purpose and reenergizing them for the fight ahead . Ten days after Malgus ' s speech , the Empire began its siege of Livien Magnus . The city was heavily fortified by Republic soldier s and artillery , and an all - enveloping ray shield protected the city from attack , with the deflector shield generator located within the city itself . The Sith led the attack on the city , intending to assault the capital and starve its people until the Republic was forced to surrender . This war of attrition continued for a week , but was brought to a premature end by the arrival of Lord Adraas , a political rival of Malgus ' s . The Dark Council , having grown impatient with the progress of the Ord Radama conquest , sent Adraas on a battlefield inspection tour with a compliment of five platoons of Mk . I Sith war droids and five platoons of Mk . II Sith war droids under orders to end the siege of Livien Magnus and bring the battle to a conclusion . Malgus and Venemal both scoffed at his presence and doubted the effectiveness of the war droids , but silently concurred during a strategy meeting that the droids could serve as a useful distraction . Thus , the two Darths allowed Lord Adraas to go ahead with his haphazard plan to charge the city ' s south gate . As they predicted , the entrenched Republic soldiers guarding the entrance to Livien Magnus obliterated the droids with blaster fire . In spite of the significant losses , Malgus and Venemal managed to salvage a victory by staging a secondary and simultaneous attack on the city ' s western wall . While the Republic defenders were focused on the incoming droids , Venemal led his commandos over the wall and blew a hole in it from the inside . This allowed Malgus and his legion to enter Livien Magnus , and within an hour the shield generator had been disabled . As a final measure to secure victory , Malgus ordered air strikes to destroy insurgent enclaves within the city . Republic victorious . In the aftermath of the siege , the Imperials occupied Livien Magnus as a base of operations while they claimed the rest of the planet . Although his droids had been a failure on the battlefield , Lord Adraas took credit for the victory in his report to Darth Angral before departing the world and leaving Malgus and Venemal to manage the remainder of the campaign . The two Sith held the city and its central palace for nearly thirty days after the battle , defending it from insurgent forces with cacophanizer shell s and the force of their legion . Although their initial victory had been relatively swift , the occupation began to drag on , resulting in a mounting death toll for the Imperials and a crisis of dwindling supplies . Resupplying procedure was typically managed through the Ministry of Logistics , but because Malgus had a poor relationship with Minister of Logistics Shullis Khamarr , he instead submitted requests for equipment and supplies to Shareis , the head of the Ministry of War . To the detriment of the Imperial occupation force , resupplies and reinforcements never arrived at Ord Radama . Sixty - five days after the end of the siege of Livien Magnus , a Republic fleet consisting of four " Hammerhead " - class cruisers and ten " Thranta " - class corvettes arrived in the Ord Radama system and assaulted the Empire ' s fleet in orbit . Vastly outgunned and taken by surprise , the Imperials were given little time to react . The " Lindworm " was pummeled with turbolaser fire before it or either of the " Harrower " - class dreadnaughts were even able to launch their starfighter complements , allowing the Republic vessels to gain an early advantage . Although at least one Mark VI " Supremacy " - class starfighter was able to enter the fray , it and the Imperial capital ships were overwhelmed by the Republic ' s cruisers , corvettes , and " Aurek " - class tactical strikefighters . One of the " Harrower " - class dreadnaughts was heavily damaged in the fighting , forcing its crew to evacuate via escape pods ; the other battle cruiser was detrimentally compromised , its hull having been ripped open by proton torpedos . Having witnessed the beginning of the battle from the balcony of Livien Magnus ' s palace , Darth Malgus summoned his shuttle pilot , Captain Karm , to ferry him up to the " Lindworm " so he could take control of the engagement in orbit . By the time he reached the " Lindworm " bridge however , the situation had become untenable . One of his ships had already been abandoned and the " Harrower " - class dreadnaught that had been battered by torpedoes began to fall into Ord Radama ' s gravity well . Unable to maintain orbit , the massive vessel fell to the surface of the planet and impacted in the middle of Livien Magnus , obliterating the city and instantly killing Darth Venemal , the Imperial legion that had been stationed within , and approximately one hundred thousand citizens . The loss enraged Malgus , who let loose a powerful Force scream that injured many of the " Lindworm " crewmen and destroyed a full wave of " Aurek " - class strikefighters . Recognizing that the battle was lost , Malgus ordered the " Lindworm " to retreat back to Sith space . Aftermath . The defeat at Ord Radama was costly for the Empire . From beginning to end , the fight for the planet lasted approximately eighty - six days and claimed over one hundred thousand lives from the Republic , Empire , and Ord Radama ' s native people . The end of the battle also marked a turning point in both the Rim Campaign and the entirety of the war , as it coincided with the collapse of the Mandalorian ' s blockade on the Hydian Way . This development allowed for the free flow of Republic forces to the Outer Rim Territories , where Jedi commanders rallied their forces to strike back against the Empire . As such , the " Lindworm " was pursued from Ord Radama all the way into the Stygian Caldera and the Seat of The Empire , where the Jedi Master Ven Zallow initiated a feint against the Sith ' s holy mausoleum world of Korriban before striking against Ziost , the original capital of the Sith Empire . On Ord Radama , the natives struggled to survive after the destruction of Livien Magnus . The capital was soon relocated to the city of New Raido , which gained protection from Jedi defenders who disguised themselves as commoners . This deception fooled Imperial Intelligence , which issued reports indicating that the Republic had invested little effort in securing Ord Radama against future offensives . Although Darth Malgus had seen success in beating back the Jedi advances into Sith space , the loss of Ord Radama cost him much political clout with the Dark Council and Darth Angral . In spite of this and rumors that he was responsible for the military defeat and the loss of Darth Venemal , he was later charged with leading the Reconquest of Ord Radama . Malgus recorded the events of both the reconquest and the original Battle of Ord Radama in his personal war journal throughout the Rim Campaign . After successfully conquering the planet , the Empire rebuilt Livien Magnus and expanded it to almost four times its original size . A towering statue of Darth Malgus was also constructed in the center of the city , though it was not maintained for the last five centuries of the Republic ' s existence . Almost four thousand years later , around the time of the rise of the Galactic Empire , the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious discovered the volume and provided it to his apprentice , Darth Vader , as a teaching device . Sidious and Vader both heavily annotated Malgus ' s account of the Battle of Ord Radama before Sidious added the piece to his religious compendium , the " Book of Sith " , which later fell into the hands of Jedi Master Luke Skywalker of the New Jedi Order . Behind the scenes . The Battle of Ord Radama was introduced into " Star Wars " canon with the release of " " , an in - universe reference book penned by Daniel Wallace . " Book of Sith : Secrets from the Dark Side " is presented as a series of first - person historical texts from Sith Lords and other darksider s ; the section detailing the Battle of Ord Ramada is written by Darth Malgus as part of his war journal kept during the Rim Campaign of the Great Galactic War . Included in the description of the battle are notes added by Darth Sidious , Darth Vader , and Luke Skywalker , all of whom offer their insights and opinions on Malgus ' s words . All visual renderings of the battle within the book are also depicted as being provided by Malgus himself ; " Star Wars " artist Jeffery Carlisle drew the images to appear as if they had been sketched " in the field . " " Book of Sith " was released on February 10 , 2012 . The capital city of Livien Magnus was a creation of Wallace ' s specifically for the project and , according to the author ' s endnotes for " Book of Sith " , was a reference to the Livien League of the Pre - Republic era . Other creations that have thus far only been seen in the context of the battle are the Merr - Sonn Bellower and Darth Venemal . Other elements of the battle , like the " Harrower " - class battle cruiser and the " Thranta " - class corvette , were provided by LucasArts as background information from the then – recently released video game , " " . Darth Malgus and the Great Galactic War were both created by LucasArts and BioWare for the game , which was released in 2011 .