Li-Toran

Li-Toran was a volcanic Inner Rim planet that was the homeworld of the sentient, hive-based Melitto insectoids. The planet's atmosphere was noxious, dark, hot, and stormy, while underground, rivers of molten rock carved networks of tunnels and caverns filled with even more toxic steam.
The latter served as home to the Melitto hives, which were dominated by the species' females and were built around harvesting the Melitto's primary source of nutrition, the sap of the coral-like bleeding rock organism. Most Melitto males who survived the combat involved in the periodic establishment of new hives became hiveless ronin and left Li-Toran. By the time of the Galactic Civil War, the Galactic Empire maintained a garrison on the planet.
==Description==
Li-Toran was a planet located in the regions known as the Inner Rim Territories and the Interior. It was situated in grid square M-13 of the Standard Galactic Grid. Li-Toran was a harsh, intensely volcanic world with a thick, dangerously toxic, and extremely hot atmosphere that was prone to violent storms. Dark, poisonous clouds blocked nearly all light from reaching the planet's surface. Overall, the physical conditions on Li-Toran made the world unpleasant for off-worlders to visit.
Molten rock rivers covered Li-Toran's surface and carved complex, constantly shifting tunnel networks in the planet's crust, with many tunnels expanding into large caverns that in some cases reached several kilometers in size. The tunnels were filled with thick steam, and the air there contained much higher concentrations of the toxic compounds present in the planet's atmosphere. Off-worlders visiting Li-Toran's underground—even for short durations—had to wear heavy environmental suits. Despite the harsh conditions of Li-Toran's crust, it was there that most of the planet's flora and fauna, which included the coral-like organism known as bleeding rock, evolved.
==History==
===Brink of catastrophe===
Long before the disbandment of the Galactic Republic in 19 BBY,Star Wars: Galactic Atlas overdevelopment of available resources by the hives of Li-Toran's native Melitto species ushered in a period of time known as the Unending Conflict. There were few viable locations left in the Melittos' natural habitat, the planet's underground caves, for the establishment of new hives, which caused the potential new Melitto queens, known as myrmitrices, to compete for the same sites. For entire centuries, before any of the conflicts could end, the arrival of new myrmitrices with fresh soldiers would reignite the violence.
Eventually, the underground warfare escalated to the level that entire networks of tunnels and caves began to collapse. In order to prevent a global catastrophe, the largest of the Melitto hives established a planetary council in order to end the conflicts and ensure that they would not occur again in the future. One of the council's initiatives saw the beginning of Melitto interstellar colonization, with settlements eventually being established on several worldsStar Wars: Aliens of the Galaxy in the neighboring star systems.
===Empire and later history===
After the rise of the Galactic Empire, it established a garrison on Li-Toran to monitor its population, although the planet itself had few valuable resources of interest. The Melittos of Li-Toran's isolationist hives found the politics of the Empire and its enemy in the Galactic Civil War, the Rebel Alliance, incomprehensible and therefore of little interest.
Li-Toran was the homeworld of the Melitto male Sarco Plank, who was born around 25 BBY,The Star Wars Book dates the Battle of Batuu, which is depicted in Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge via the attraction Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, to 34 years after , which corresponds to 34 ABY per Star Wars: Galactic Atlas. states that Sarco Plank is age 59 during the events of Galaxy's Edge, meaning he was born around 25 BBY. and also that of the Melitto Grelli Cryko. By the time of the First Order occupation of the planet Batuu in 34 ABY, the pirate Hondo Ohnaka had obtained a stolen identity profile of Plank that mentioned his homeworld. Li-Toran was also mentioned in an entry of an artist's journal dedicated to the Melitto. The journal was eventually restored, expanded, and displayed at the Graf ArchiveStar Wars: Alien Archive at some point no earlier than 34 ABY.
At some point by 35 ABY, the Artiodac chef Strono Tuggs, undeterred by Li-Toran's inhospitable conditions, made a brief visit on the planet, which rendered him breathless. Tuggs' goal was to acquire an amount of the sap produced by the bleeding rock organism. The chef subsequently used the sap in the Melitto Sap Cakes dish and noted his experience surrounding the Li-Toran visit in his cookbook, The Ultimate Cookbook, that was published in 35 ABY.
==Inhabitants==
Li-Toran was the homeworld of the Melitto, a species of sentient bipedal insectoids. Being eyeless, they sensed their surroundings via auditory organs as well as feathery cilia that covered their chitin-plated bodies and could detect vibrations, scents, and even electrical fields. The Melittos communicated primarily through the use of a pheromone-based scent-language.
The cold-blooded Melittos preferred hot climates whenever possible, having originally evolved in Li-Toran's underground tunnels. They mostly lived in caste-based hives consisting of a ruling queen, several younger myrmitrices, and pheromone-controlled males known as myrmites, who performed nearly all of the hives' activities, which included combat, maintenance tasks, and agriculture. Melitto diet consisted primarily of the bleeding rock sap, and hive society was therefore built around tending bleeding-rock farms and harvesting the liquid.
Periodically, population pressures led to migrations of myrmitrices and their myrmite followers and the establishment of new hives, with a new hive's queen being determined through deadly combat among the myrmitrices. Surviving myrmites of defeated Melitto myrmitrices became hiveless ronin, most of whom left Li-Toran to establish new lives elsewhere. It was rumored that Hive Ronin, a shadowy organization that defied traditional Melitto hive structure by being filled only with ronin, operated on Li-Toran. Due to the Melittos' survival being dependent on the toxic compounds present in their homeworld's atmosphere, more widespread types of galactic planetary air composition was corrosive to them and therefore any Melittos traveling off-world had to wear a special breathing apparatus.
==Locations==
On Li-Toran, most Melittos lived in densely packed hives situated in underground caverns. The Galactic Empire eventually established on the planet a garrison named Dometown that hosted a complement of human stormtroopers. Due to the hazardous conditions on Li-Toran, the posting became known as a punishment detail.
==Behind the scenes==
Li-Toran was introduced in the 2016 reference book Star Wars: Aliens of the Galaxy by Jason Fry. The planet's first full appearance and first visual depiction came with the Star Wars: Datapad app that was launched alongside the themed land Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, which was opened to guests at Disneyland Park and Disney's Hollywood Studios in 2019.
==Appearances==
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==Sources==
*Star Wars: Aliens of the Galaxy 
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*Cyphers and Masks
*Star Wars: Alien Archive
*Ultimate Star Wars, New Edition
*Star Wars Galaxy Map
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*Star Wars: The Ultimate Cookbook
*Star Wars Encyclopedia: The Comprehensive Guide to the Star Wars Galaxy
==Notes and references==
Category:Galactic Empire planets
Category:Inner Rim planets
Category:The Interior planets
Category:Volcanic planets