Ord Mantell

"Well, the bounty hunter we ran into on Ord Mantell changed my mind."

- Han Solo

Ord Mantell was a planet in the Bright Jewel Cluster. It is located near Anobis in the Mid Rim.

Geography
Ord Mantell was known as the Heart of the Bright Jewel since it orbited the blue star Bright Jewel at the center of the Bright Jewel system. The planet was famous for its thick, outer cometary cloud, which has been the site of the Blockade Runners Derby for nearly 100 years.

Two large moons and thirteen other satellites orbited the planet, and the cloud cover was tinged with pink when viewed from the planet's surface. These natural wonders made Ord Mantell something of a tourist attraction, despite its seedier side. It was also the homeworld of the Mantellian Savrips, whose sapience was largely unnoticed or ignored.

History
Ord Mantell was settled in circa. 12,000 BBY by Corellian colonists as an advanced military outpost for the Galactic Republic. It was one of several Ordnance/Regional Depots, lending to its name. The settlers became mostly farmers, although the planet became a haven for criminals.

Over time, more wealthy planets and better hyperspace routes diminished Ord Mantell's strategic importance, but became something of a free port for all manner of freighters and cargo ships. Despite the planet's dropping stature, it remained a popular stop for traveling ships.

Before the start of the Clone Wars, Jedi Knight Pablo-Jill brought peace to the lawless world. Afterwards, Ord Mantell was one of the planets used as a weapons storage facility and clone trooper barracks by the Grand Army of the Republic during the Clone Wars. During the Imperial era, the planet claimed to be free of Imperial interest though the famous smuggler Han Solo discovered an Imperial fleet on maneuvers when he arrived there. It was at a starship scrapyard on Ord Mantell that Dash Rendar&mdash;working to locate information on Han Solo's whereabouts for Lando Calrissian after the debacle at Cloud City&mdash;ran into IG-88 and other bounty hunters trying to intercept Boba Fett, who was transporting Han Solo's frozen body to Jabba the Hutt. Rendar defeated IG-88 in a battle in the Ord Mantell junkyards.