Thyferra

Located in the Polith system, Thyferra is the homeworld of the mantis-like Vratix and is the center of the galaxy's bacta industry. Thyferra was first contacted during the middle years of the Old Republic. Though the Vratix had already colonized Thyferra's single moon and other bodies in the Polith system, the contact with the Republic ushered in a new technological revolution. The Vratix soon invented the healing fluid called bacta by growing alazhi and mixing it with the chemical kavam. The remarkable fluid was extremely profitable, and wealthy, powerful Vratix operations spread across many worlds. When the Empire arose, two large bacta-harvesting corporations (Xucphra and Zaltin) negotiated a special deal with the Imperials, allowing the companies to gain a virtual monopoly on the bacta industry. These two massive conglomerates control ninety-five percent of the galaxy's bacta and are collectively known as the "Bacta Cartel." Xucphra and Zaltin, run by a small group of ten thousand wealthy humans (often family related), now run Thyferra's government and dominate the lives of the average Vratix worker.

The planetwide government was led by two Vratix canirs (chief officers) who were appointed by an elected council, each canir representing one of the two corporations. Since Xucphra and Zaltin were in fierce competition with each other, governmental gridlock frequently ensued and little was accomplished to benefit the 2.8 million Vratix citizens. This had given rise to the Ashern (Black Claw) terrorist group, which viewed the corporations as a threat and tried to bring them down by any means necessary. Several years ago a group of Ashern terrorists contaminated Bacta Lot ZX1449F from Thyferra, which was shipped to Coruscant and caused two million Imperial citizens to develop an allergy to the healing fluid. In the political confusion following the Battle of Endor, Thyferra remained neutral and profited enormously by selling bacta to both sides. Two and a half years after Endor, the New Republic, anxious to please the Thyferran leaders, recruited the human pilots Bror Jace (from Zaltin) and Erisi Dlarit (from Xucphra) into the famous Rogue Squadron.

Approximately two decades or so after the Battle of Yavin, Assia Lars, currently the governor of the small village, Valbresge--fifty kilometers west of Zaltin City--returned to claim her inheritance of the city of Valbresge and all its businesses. Being on good terms with the Vratix community near and around her home village, she made sure the Valbresge Bacta Municipal was run by Vratix--both the bacta production and hospital duties. She finished her medical training and became a doctor in her own right and invested a large part of her earnings from smuggling and her newest enterprise, Tervalle Idus--a weapons manufacturing facility--into VBM. A few years later, she had managed to get a contract with the Republic and put an end entirely to the Bacta Cartel. It has been rumored that former members of the Zaltin family joined Valbresge's bacta municipal to continue in the family business with the exception of no longer having to meet the demands of the former Empire and to keep good relations with the Vratix communities.

Most currently, Assia Lars has claimed governorship of the entire sector that Thyferra resides in as well as having formerly claimed its neighboring sector, Quanta. She intends on governoring the two sectors and have representation in the Republic to keep good business through that part of the Harrin Trade Corridor. She expects Xucphra to make trouble with her now that she has claimed the highest authority over the entire sector without going as far as being outright Imperial about it. She is prepared to defend her right to claim the sector as she is the only governor to have Senatorial representation in the Republic, whereas the Xucphra and Zaltin families only went as far as letting a single member of their family join Rogue Squadron all those years before as a testament of faith in the new government.