Domus Renking

Domus Renking was a Lothalite human male politician who served in the Imperial Senate as the senator for Lothal during the reign of the Galactic Empire. As a corrupt and unscrupulous man, Renking was only concerned with enriching himself and acquiring power, even at the expense of others. Taking advantage of the Pryce family's plight, Renking coerced Arihnda Pryce into selling her family company Pryce Mining to the Empire; which enabled him to keep a share of the company's profits.
Later, Renking knowingly sent Arihnda to deliver a datacard containing falsified information to Moff Ghadi. When that venture failed, Renking scapegoated Pryce and sacked her. Renking's actions earned him Pryce's enmity which led to his undoing after she ascended to the Governorship of Lothal. After shutting down Pryce Mining, Pryce tricked Renking into bribing Governor Sanz during a bidding war with Kintoni to host Imperial Navy facilities. This proved to be his downfall and Renking was arrested for bribery.
==Biography==
Domus Renking was the planet Lothal's Senator during the Imperial Era. As senator, his job was to represent Lothal's interests on the galactic capital Coruscant and looking after Lothalite expatriates working in the mines of Coruscant. He spent most of his time on Coruscant but regularly visited his homeworld for short vacations and meetings with Governor Ryder Azadi and other political and industrial leaders. He was a rival of Governor Azadi and the two jostled for power and control of Lothal's mines.
===Acquiring Pryce Mining===
After Governor Azadi framed Elainye Pryce for embezzlement in retaliation for Elainye's daughter Arihnda Pryce not giving him a controlling stake in Pryce Mining, Senator Renking convinced Pryce to pin the blame on the Lutrillian heavy equipment inventory operations manager Pomi Harchmak. Since Governor Azadi was determined to acquire Pryce Mining due to a doonium vein beneath the Pryce Mine, Senator Renking convinced a reluctant Pryce to sell her family company to the Galactic Empire in order to prevent Azadi from acquiring the mine.
As compensation for the loss of Pryce Mining, Senator Renking offered Arihnda a job as an aide at one of his citizen assistance offices on Coruscant. He also offered to resettle Pryce's parents Talmoor and Elainye on Batonn, where their mining expertise was needed. Caught between a rock and a hard place, Pryce accepted Renking's terms.
===Exploiting Arihnda===
For a year, Arihnda Pryce worked for Senator Renking as a staffer at the Bartanish Four Sector supplementary citizen assistance office. During that time, Renking banned his employees from sleeping or living in any of his vehicles after Wapsbur was arrested for doing spice in a public parking area. Senator Renking also did little to help his employees including Pryce find accommodation. Despite Renking's indifference, Pryce did managed to find an apartment in the Bartanish Four Sector.
During the Ascension Week celebrations, Senator Renking fraternized with several Imperial officers including Imperial Security Bureau Colonel Wullf Yularen, and the Imperial Navy officers Senior Lieutenant Thrawn, and Ensign Vanto in the ballroom of the Alisandre Hotel in Coruscant's Federal District. There, they were joined by Pryce and her friends Driller MarDapp and Juahir Madras.
After recounting Thrawn's exploits during the Dromedar hijacking, Senator Renking tasked Ms Pryce with delivering a datacard to Moff Ghadi. He told Pryce that Ghadi needed to load the files into a secure datapad, download the files, and then return the card to him. Renking also told her to drop the card in the drop slot once she had returned it. However, Renking did not tell Pryce that the data card had false data on it.
Pryce did as her employer instructed. Unfortunately, Ghadi saw through Senator Renking's game and sprayed her with an illegal spice called polstine spice. Ghadi then threatened to have her arrested unless she placed the fraudulent data-card in the slot in Renking's desk safe. As a result of Pryce returning the card, Senator Renking's office was implicated in several financial and corporate discrepancies, forcing him to shut down seven offices including Pryce's Bash Four office.
In private, Senator Renking chastised Arihnda Pryce for letting Moff Ghadi bully her. When Pryce called him out for exploiting her, he demanded that she return her airspeeder key and told her that he had been evicted from her apartment. When Pryce condemned him for breaching her trust, he countered that she was mistaken to think there was trust in politics and quipped that she would be happy back on Lothal.
===Pryce's return===
A few years later, Governor Azadi was dismissed by the Galactic Empire for supporting the Bridger family's illegal broadcasts. Though Renking was seeking to gain the Governorship of Lothal, his former employee Pryce convinced Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin to give it to her in return for exposing the insurgent leader Nightswan's spy ring on Coruscant and Moff Ghadi's plan to use the Higher Skies Advocacy Group's stolen information on Tarkin against him. Pryce's ascension to the Governorship of Lothal was part of her plan to seek retribution against Senator Renking and Governor Azadi, whose rivalry had cost her family their mine.
A year after Pryce had become Governor of Lothal, she returned to her homeworld. After learning from the Industrial Minister Maketh Tua that Senator Renking had exhausted the Pryce family mine's doonium vein leading to a 20 percent drop in output, Pryce shut down the mining company on the pretext that it was no longer profitable. Pryce then instructed Tua to summon Senator Renking to inform him the news.
Later that evening, a furious Senator Renking barged into her office and protested the closure of his mine. When Pryce pointed out that the Empire owned all mines on Lothal, Renking countered that he had negotiated an agreement with the Empire to keep 10 percent of the profits. Pryce was unmoved and reiterated that the doonium vein had been exhausted. Renking threatened to bring his own mining experts to prove that the Pryce mine was still productive. However, Pryce called his bluff and reminded him that she was protected by powerful friends and patrons. Admitting defeat, Renking stormed out of Pryce's office.
In secret, Pryce was aware that the Pryce family mine still had doonium on the other end of the vein. As a snub to Renking, she allowed one of his business competitors, the Anx Eccos to continue harvesting the rest of the doonium on the other side.
===Downfall===
A few months later, Governor Pryce entered into a bidding competition to host Imperial Navy facilities on Lothal. Facing stiff competition from the planet Kintoni, Pryce visited Senator Renking on Coruscant and asked him to persuade Kintoni's Governor Sanz to withdraw her proposal. Renking did this by bribing her to sabotage her own presentation. As a result, Lothal won the contract to host Imperial Navy facilities.
Following the bidding competition, Governor Pryce met with Senator Renking to "congratulate" him. However, the ISB Major Hartell discovered what he had done and arrested him for bribery. Renking appealed to Pryce for aid but Pryce countered that she had told Renking to "persuade" Sanz and not to bribe her. Pryce also revealed she had recorded her conversation with Renking. As he was led away, a dejected Renking threw Pryce a look of disbelief and hate.
With the downfall of Senator Renking, Pryce gained absolute control over the planet Lothal. She presided over the consolidation of Imperial rule on Lothal, causing many farmers to lose their lands to Imperial mining and industrial projects.Servants of the Empire: Edge of the Galaxy Governor Pryce's rule was challenged by the Spectres rebel cellStar Wars Rebels: Steps Into Shadow and Ryder Azadi's Lothal resistance group. Following a protracted insurgency, Pryce perished during the rebels' Liberation of Lothal in 0 BBY, which ended Imperial rule over Lothal.
==Personality and traits==
Domus Renking was a male human with fair skin, brown hair, and brown eyes. Renking was a corrupt and unscrupulous politician who was only concerned with enriching himself. He was known for his exploitative attitude towards other beings including Arihnda Pryce, who worked as an aide at one his citizen assistance officers on Coruscant. He had little regard for his employees and did little to find housing for them.
As a rival of Governor Azadi, Renking sought to control Lothal's mines and eventually gain the Governorship. When Governor Azadi tried to take over Pryce Mining, he took advantage of the Pryce family's plight to gain control of the mine by convincing Arihnda to sell it to the Empire. As part of an agreement with the Empire, Renking kept ten percent of the profits for himself. As a means of acquiring leverage over Arihnda, he was willing to frame Pomi Harchmak for embezzlement in order to clear Arihnda's mother Elainye.
Renking's unscrupulous dealings led him to send Arihnda to deliver a data card containing fraudulent information to Moff Ghadi. However, Moff Ghadi saw through Renking's game and instead blackmailed Arihnda into returning the card. Unwilling to accept responsibility for his own actions, Renking instead scapegoated Pryce and sacked her. This earned him Pryce's enmity.
Renking's actions came back to haunt him after Pryce obtained the Governorship of Lothal by currying the patronage of Grand Moff Tarkin. Seeking revenge for taking advantage of her family, Pryce dissolve Pryce Mining, chipping away at Renking's revenue. Though Renking tried to intimidate her, Pryce reasserted her authority by pointing out that she had the backing of powerful friends.
Knowing Renking's penchant for corruption, Pryce set the stage for his downfall by convincing him to "persuade" Governor Sanz to sabotage her planet Kintoni's bid to host Imperial naval facilities. Renking took the bait but this proved to be his downfall as he was arrested for bribery.
==Behind the scenes==
Domus Renking first appeared as a secondary antagonist in Timothy Zahn's 2017 novel Thrawn, a rebooted Canonical origins story of the titular character.
==Appearances==
*Thrawn 
*Thrawn 3 
*Thrawn 5 
==Sources==
*Star Wars: Women of the Galaxy 
*Ultimate Star Wars, New Edition
*Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire
==Notes and references==
Category:Galactic Empire senators
Category:Humans
Category:Lothalites
Category:Males