Kalevala/Legends

Kalevala was a planet in the Mandalore sector of the galaxy's Outer Rim Territories, where it occupied the fourth orbit of the cognominal Mandalore system. A neighbor of the Mandalorians' traditional homeworld of Mandalore, Kalevala's terrain primarily comprised a toxic desertscape. The planet was host to members of the pacifistic New Mandalorian political faction, and even spawned a noble lineage whence came the Duchess Satine Kryze and Prince Tal Merrik just prior to the Clone Wars. Represented in the Galactic Senate of the Republic by Merrik in the early years of the Clone Wars, and those leading up to the galaxy-spanning conflict, Kalevala was the site of a terrorist bombing by the violent Death Watch group that claimed the life of the New Mandalorian Deputy Minister, Jerec.
==Description==
Kalevala occupied the fourth orbit of the Mandalore sector's Mandalore system, making it a neighbor of the planet Tracyn and the traditional Mandalorian homeworld of Mandalore. Circling the star system's sun, also known as Mandalore, Kalevala was a world blanketed in toxic desert. Following the rise of the New Mandalorian faction circa 738 BBY,The Essential Guide to Warfare Kalevala became home to a number of New Mandalorians, with recognized titles such as duchess and prince. On Kalevala, expensive wine and rich fabrics were produced. Quench-gourds grew on Kalevala, and at least one unique hairstyle evolved on the Outer Rim world. The shipwrights of Kalevala SpaceworksStar Wars: The Clone Wars: Incredible Vehicles also made the planet their home.
==History==
After the Taung forces of Mandalore the First journeyed from Roon to conquer the planet that became Mandalore, the newly renamed Mandalorians spread out to conquer the planets of the surrounding system, including Kalevala.
In the years following the Galactic Republic's defeat of the Brotherhood of Darkness at Ruusan, and the subsequent Republic reformation that marked the end of the New Sith Wars, the Mandalorians on Mandalore remade themselves into a more technologically adept and more rigid, militant society. The rise in Mandalore's militancy so soon after the devastating war with the Sith alarmed both the Republic and its Jedi protectors. Unwilling to suffer through a second Mandalorian War, the Jedi led a Republic strike force in a brief and targeted conflict with the Mandalorians in 738 BBY that brought devastation to the worlds of the Mandalore sector. Out of this disaster arose a pacifist sect calling themselves the New Mandalorians; the reformist political faction renounced violence and the warrior codes of the Mandalorians' past, instead preaching peace, neutrality, and tolerance. The New Mandalorians formed a new society separate from the Mandalorian warrior clans, in the white-sand deserts of Mandalore. At some point in the galaxy's history, the New Mandalorians also established a presence on the nearby world of Kalevala.
In the late years of the Galactic Republic, Kalevala became the birthplace of Satine Kryze and Tal Merrik. Kryze later relocated to Mandalore, and though she had been born into the Mandalorian warrior clans, she dedicated herself to peace and eventually became a duchess and the leader of the New Mandalorian people. Merrik was a prince, who came to represent Kalevala and the surrounding Mandalore system as a senator in the Republic senate. Kalevala's premier starship manufacturer, Kalevala Spaceworks, constructed Kryze's personal transport, the luxurious Coronet starliner. In 22 BBY,The Essential Reader's Companion the first year of the galaxy-spanning Clone Wars between the Republic and the Separatist Confederacy of Independent Systems,The New Essential Chronology Merrik was killed when it was revealed that he was in league with the Death Watch, a radically violent Mandalorian splinter faction returning to the galactic stage after years in hiding. Soon after, the Death Watch orchestrated a terrorist bombing on Kalevala that killed the New Mandalorians' Deputy Minister, Jerec.
==Behind the scenes==
Kalevala was first introduced to the Star Wars universe via a mention in the 2008 reference book The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia. During the news reel opening of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series' second season episode "Voyage of Temptation," Kalevala was mentioned as the homeworld of Duchess Satine Kryze, and the planet was again mentioned by Supreme Chancellor Palpatine in the following episode, "Duchess of Mandalore." In these two television appearances, the planet's name was pronounced in two distinctly different ways. In the news reel of the episode "Voyage of Temptation," the show's narrator pronounced the planet's name "Kale-vah-lah", while Palpatine pronounces it "Kah-lay-vah-lah" in the subsequent episode, "Duchess of Mandalore."
Information on Kalevala and its place in the Mandalore system was provided by a brief inclusion in The Essential Atlas, a 2009 reference book authored by Jason Fry and Daniel Wallace. Kalevala's inclusion in the atlas came after Wallace had already written the entry on Mandalore and its star system, at a time when the Mandalore system's fourth orbit had been planned for a world known as Tal'tar. At the behest of Lucasfilm Ltd., Kalevala was included in place of Tal'tar, and the previous world's attributes, including its orbital position and geography, were reassigned to Kalevala.
The Kalevala is the national epic of Finland.
==Appearances==
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==Sources==
*The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia 
*The Essential Atlas
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*Star Wars: The Clone Wars Comic 6.7
*Star Wars: The Clone Wars: New Battlefronts: The Visual Guide
*The Bounty Hunter Code: From the Files of Boba Fett
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==Notes and references==
Category:Galactic Republic planets
Category:Mandalore system planets
Category:Mandalorian planets