Throne hall

The throne hall was located aboard the Gaze Electric, a ship belonging to the Evereni pirate leader Marda Ro. It had a secret hold full of weapons hidden under the floor and also throne equipped with a holo-mirror. The throne hall was the site of multiple conversations between Ro and her assistant Alirya. Following one such conversation around 379 BBY, Ro painted a large red sun after being inspired by a pattern left on her clothes by a Jedi's blood. At another time, the Twi'lek marauder Fori Nagor presented Ro with a group of refugees her and Ro's other pirates had captured, including a Force-sensitive green-skinned man. Upon discovering the man's Force-sensitivity, Ro ordered Nagor to release the other refugees and took the man elsewhere in the ship, where the Great Leveler—a beast that preys on the Living Force—was located.
Later, the hall was the site of a meeting between Ro and the Evereni siblings Vika and Velya Faer and, several days afterward, the site of a feast at which Alirya attempted to kill Vika in order to protect her position by Ro's side. Alirya's murder attempt failed and Vika retaliated by killing her, but in response Ro shot Vika with a blaster. Later, Ro mentioned the room in a recording she made for her descendants, which her great-great-grandson Marchion Ro had listened to by 252 BBY.
==Description==
The throne hall was located aboard the Gaze Electric, a starship that belonged to Marda Ro—the Evereni founder of a group of pirates who would eventually become the Nihil. It had glittering and sleek walls and black buttresses that glittered like starlight. Old blue banners were hung around the hall. When the ship belonged to the Path of the Open Hand—a cult that Ro was formerly a member of—the throne hall was decorated with the Path's symbols, however Ro covered them up with handprints after coming into posession of the Gaze.
The room had a throne that Ro would sleep on. It was designed for beings larger than the Evereni and when she sat on it she did not completely fill it. The throne was equipped with a holo-mirror and had a compartment for storing objects, in which Ro kept herThe High Republic: Temptation of the Force blaster and a lightsaber that she had stolen. Under the hall's floor was a hidden hold that contained numerous weapons including blasters, cannons, knives and a sword. Whenever Ro felt weak, she curled up on the floor above the hold.
Around 379 BBY,"A Closed Fist Has No Claws" establishes that the section depicting the Jedi's death aboard the Gaze Electric takes place when Marda Ro is roughly eighteen years old. The High Republic: Path of Deceit, which Star Wars: The High Republic Character Encyclopedia dates the events of to 382 BBY, establishes both that members of the Path of the Open Hand receive full membership at the age of fifteen and that Ro had recently become a full member, meaning that she is around fifteen years old. Therefore, the section of "A Closed Fist Has No Claws" depicting the Jedi's death must take place around 379 BBY. Ro replaced the banners with smeared the blood of a Jedi that she had assaulted on the wall behind her throne to represent a red sun. The blood remained on the wall for some time, its color shifting from red to red-brown. At some point shortly before Ro met the Evereni siblings Vika and Velya Faer in the hall, she painted a large red vortex where the blood used to be. The painting represented a storm planet with curled lines swirling around it and had the height of ten Evereni. By the time of the three Evereni's encounter, the throne hall was equipped with holo-torches and holo-suns that illuminated the hall with hazy blue light.
==History==
===In Marda Ro's posession===
After the Gaze Electric fell into her posession in 382 BBY,Star Wars: The High Republic Character Encyclopedia Ro found herself living in the throne hall. At some point during the following year, she discovered the secret cache under the hall's floor which contained numerous weapons. Ro left most of the weapons inside, but took a few blasters from it.
Around 379 BBY, Ro assaulted a Jedi on an astronomical object and brought him to the Gaze to be killed by a Force-consuming monster known as the Great Leveler. After observing his body turning into a stone-like husk under the Leveler's influence, Ro went to the throne room to put her blaster and the Jedi's lightsaber inside her throne's compartment. She then activated the throne's holo-mirror to inspect the Jedi's blood on her clothes and was interrupted by her assistant Alirya. Ro yelled at Alirya to get out and accidentally created a smudge of blood on her chest that resembled a sun. She subsequently listened to ghosts of the dead call her name and only snapped back to reality after Alirya screamed her name. She walked over to Ro and the two conversed shortly. Eventually, Alirya left and Ro—now alone again—tore down the hall's blue banners to paint a large red sun on the wall. 
===Force-sensitive refugee===
At some point no earlier than 379 BBY,The segment of "A Closed Fist Has No Claws" depicting a Jedi's death onboard the Gaze Electric takes place around 379 BBY per the reasoning here. The raid in which the green-skinned man and other refugees were captured by Marda Ro's raiders occurs after the Jedi's death; therefore, it must have taken place no earlier than 379 BBY. Ro's raiders attacked a refugee camp and kidnapped the refugees. After they returned to the Gaze Electric from their raid, Fori Nagor—one of the pirates—presented the captured refugees to Ro in the throne hall. Ro stared at the refugees, furious at the actions of her raiders. She asked the refugees whether any of them were Force-sensitive. While she waited for an answer, Alirya walked over to her and knelt by her side. No refugees confessed to being able to use the Force, causing Ro to threaten them and a green-skinned man admitted that he was Force-sensitive. Ro thanked him and announced to the other refugees that they may join her group if they wish to do so, otherwise they will be set free at the next spaceport. She then walked over to Nagor, who was then threatened with a knife to never capture living beings again and instructed to take all the refugees besides the man away. Once Nagor left the throne hall with the refugees and Alirya, Ro, and the man were left alone, he thanked Ro and she took him to the Great Leveler.
===A debate on purpose===
Later, Ro had her raiders lay low on the Gaze and took the ship away from any known systems for a while following an incident in which two members of Nagor's team were killed. At some point during that time, Ro was sitting on her throne when Alirya brought her tea. They drank the tea and had a conversation on the marauder group's purpose, as Alirya wanted to know the Evereni's plans for the future. Ro was surprised at Alirya questions, but shared with her that the plan was to recruit more people and take more things, until they can do whatever they want. She also explained to the human that the group was now something new and different from the Path of the Open Hand that the two used to be a part of.
===The Faers===
At some point after the conversation, Ro painted a large red vortex on the wall where a Jedi's blood used to be. Soon afterward, she managed to track down Vika and Velya Faer during her hunt for others of her species. She caught up to them at a space dock orbiting the gas giant Siquay and sent them an invitation while ships under her command surrounded them. Ro watched the siblings' ship, contemplating for a moment that they might try to run and she would have their ship destroyed if they did so. The Faers hesitantly accepted Ro's offer and she waited for them in the hall, which was dimly lit by holo-torches and holo-suns. Raiders in Ro's service arrived to the hall team by team, with the Faers being escorted to it by the raiders Esstrop and Kortanio. Alirya also entered the hall, and—walking past the pirates—strode towards Ro and stopped by the Evereni's side. Ro greeted the Faers and they conversed shortly, with Ro inviting the Evereni siblings to stay aboard the Gaze with her for a few days and Vika Faer introducing herself and her brother. Vika also revealed to Ro that their grandmother was familiar with her family and she asked them to tell her more over a meal.
The siblings stayed on the Gaze for several days and went out with Ro's pirates to raid. When they returned, a feast was thrown in the throne hall to commemorate the fact that everyone returned safely. Tables and benches were dragged into the hall for the occasion, and a member of Nagor's team baked fresh finger cakes for the event. A multilayered Corellian opera played and everyone on board the Gaze ate together in the hall, but Ro remained at a distance from others, eating on her throne. Vika Faer moved a chair next to Ro's throne and brought a small plate of finger cakes. Faer and Ro talked shortly while Ro nibbled one of the cakes.
===Murder in the throne hall===
Alirya sneaked up on Faer from behind while they talked, neither of the Evereni women noticing her. Alirya stabbed Faer, who survived the attack and dug her claws into Alirya's throat, killing the human and elliciting shocked reactions from the raiders around the hall. Ro, also shocked by the death, in turn shot Faer with a blaster. Moving the blaster to aim at Velya Faer, Ro talked to him for a while and ultimately offered him Alirya's former position by her side. While somewhat hesitant and angry due to his sister's death, Faer accepted and took Ro's hand. The two Evereni then stood in the hall, digging their claws into each other's wrist and letting their blood drip onto the floor.
The raiders eventually left and the bodies were removed, leaving Ro and Faer alone. They sat at a table and drank tea, discussing Evereni they had met. Ro mentioned an Evereni she had met on the planet Ryloth and wondered why he refused to tell her his name. Faer theorized he might not have wanted his name to be remembered by his people. Ro recalled that he told her that Evereni only meet each other in death, but Faer explained that they also meet in the Rystan system. He also told her that gathering people to her made her unusual for an Evereni, comparing her to a ginntho creature at the center of a web.
===Legacy===
Ro later recorded a message for her descendants in which she mentioned the throne hall and recounted several events that occurred within it. By 252 BBY,"The Lie" chapter in The High Republic: Eye of the Storm 1, which includes Shalla Ro's death, features Asgar Ro's ascension to Eye of the Nihil, an event dated to 252 BBY by Star Wars: The High Republic Character Encyclopedia. As The High Republic: Temptation of the Force establishes she introduced Marchion Ro to Marda Ro's journal, he must have listened to it by that year. during his youth, Ro's great-great-grandson Marchion Ro had listened to her chronicles, including the entries where the throne hall was mentioned.
==Behind the scenes==
The throne hall appeared in a flashback in the short story "A Closed Fist Has No Claws," written by Tessa Gratton and published in the 2023 young-adult anthology The High Republic: Tales of Light and Life as a part of the Star Wars: The High Republic multimedia project.
==Appearances==
* 
*The High Republic: Temptation of the Force 
==Notes and references==
Category:Gaze Electric locations