#and thats just NAMED AND LOCATED holocrons.

[arkhavens]

ok but i CANNOT fucking get over the fact that there was literally an active sith academy on thule before+during the clone wars.

[holocronarchive]

How is the Star Wars Galaxy mapped/referred to?

Short Answer- Core/Outter Rim/Unknown Region

Long Answer-

I am sorry for how long this might be lol

Well as of Canon- the Galaxy is estimated to have over 400 billion stars mapped out

which would include 3.2 estimated star systems (habitable)

its clocked in at around 100,000 light years (thats big...I think? its the same as the milky way)

the galactic arms rotate around this super massive  black hole (insert muse guitar solo here) in the center (as most do I believe) 

So now that we covered the basics

The Galaxy had the following regions

Deep Core

This served as the innermost and most brightly lit region of space, densely packed with stars/nebulae and other anomalies. HIGHLY dangerous to navigate, leaving it relatively unexplored  It’s here where the super massive black hole (guitar solo) bound everything together.

Core Worlds

Here is where the richest (we’ll cover the dispersion of wealth another time) planets in the galaxy were situated. Densely inhabited and located on the strategic ends of major trade lanes (see below) the planets were hubs of fashion, education finance and technology. Humans in the galaxy arguably started in the Core worlds (and like in real world- got bored then expanded outward lol) Coruscant, Corellia, Kuat, Hosnian Prime and others like these that the fate of the galaxy at large was decided. (for better or worse)

Should be added- due to this high rate of humans, it could be suggested (by my humble opinion) most governments of the galaxy having a “humanity first” type xenophobic perspective could come from this situating of government location being gifted to human centric worlds- but again that’ll come up again later if we wish to cover human/non human relations

Colonies

Many of the colonies were worlds that were settled on by people from The Core, these worlds sit along the major trade routes that would probably have started as outposts/trading stations/etc then growing beyond that into full fledged societies. Most notable of these worlds is Carida, Cato Nemoidia and Abednedo.

Diversity would be more common starting here for the most part between human settlers and native species coming together to survive and flourish

Inner Rim

When first settled the Inner Rim served as “the frontier” of Galactic Civilization for centuries. know for too long as “The Rim” Colonizing spread outwards causing these worlds to prosper because of the travel, emigration and potential for making a name for yourself in these brave new worlds untapped and unexploited.

Bestine, Onderon, Thyferra and Taanab were some of these worlds.

Expansion Region

Similar to the Inner rim, more colonies sponsored by core worlds who wished to keep going beyond the inner rim. Worlds like this would be including Umbara, Mimban and the mining station known as Ring of Kafrene. (You’ll notice a trend more and more- further you get from the core, the settling of these worlds seems very exploitative/expansionist)

Mid rim

Here was a tranquil region of space, brimmed with varied Galactic Worlds, boasting successful governments, thriving economies. Distance from the Core gave these places less fame or notoriety, but that was fine for most of them generally. The Mid Rim was unofficially considered the lawful extend of the Galactic Republic and subsequently Galactic Empire. Spillover piracy from the outer rim tended to affect the region quite frequently. 

This was probably the last bastion of “civilization” before trekking into the outer rim. But for those going towards the core- it was viewed as the last grasp of being on the frontier. For some that could mean the end of their vast freedoms. (loose use of the term)

Naboo, Malastare, Bothawui, Kashyyyk, Ringo Vinda and Ord Mantell are some of these worlds, many of which would be part of the Republic but sometimes forgotten in the long run due to how far they were from the core. 

Outter Rim Territories

aaaand now we get to the messy shit see the Outer Rim, this was the largest region of the KNOWN galaxy. considered lawless, strange and even savage to some. Crime syndicates like the Hutts, Black Sun, the Pykes, and Zygerrian slavers were abundant and operated without consequence of “law and order” The galactic republic had no reach here and many of the people who knew of the Republic resigned themselves to their fate that as long as they were in the outer rim- no one would come to help them if they fell into bad with the hutts or the other crime groups.

Tatooine, Dathomir, Felucia, Geonosis, Sullest, Eriadu, Ryloth, Mon Cala, Hoth, Lothal, Mustafar, Kessel, Scarif, Yavin 4, Florrum, Endor and Dagobah are all worlds included in this region and not even a large percentage of it, these are just a grab bag of them.

Unknown Regions

its unknown what more do ya want? kidding This is where many hyperspace anomalies happened, solar storms and rogue magnetospehere occured frequently making travel near impossible for those who wished to explore the area. Now that doesn’t mean it was impossible, there were mapped out worlds, actually civilized worlds and the like out here, Notably Csilla (Home of the Chiss Ascendancy) Illum (a world I will cover in the future in relation to the Jedi), Rakata Prime (another world we’ll cover as it is important to a lot of the history of the Galaxy) and origin point of the Starkiller Base is the Unknown Regions (which honestly has lead to a LOT of fan theories regarding the world SKB started out as)

Western Reaches

Not much is given on this region, mostly that Jakku is from here...and we all kinda hate Jakku sooooo NEXT :D

Wild Space

Unlike other regions of the galaxy, Wild Space existed along the entire circumference of the galactic disk and on the borderlands of the Unknown Regions. It was inhabited by sentient species but not fully charted, explored, and civilized.Explorers and cartographers sought their fortune here at their peril

It also had the following major trade routes, these routes are mapped out as commonly referred to “Hypersapce lanes” or courses in hyperspace that allowed the FASTEST rate of travel from point A to B as hyperspace is a EXTREMELY complicated and admittedly not 100% understood process (seriously in star wars, no one 100% understands hyperspace...its kinda just...guess work with occasionally good numbers done by computers, sooo dont think about it too much) 

Corellian Run

Corellian Trade Spine

Hydian Way (this one is important to the clone wars and I’ll enjoy talking bout it later)

Perlemian Trade Route

Rimma Trade Route

Now, many people HAVE asked in the past - why doesn’t many people from inside the star wars galaxy LEAVE their galaxy and explore beyond it. Well here is where we LEAVE canon and head into Legends of the EU

Legends version of the EU has shown/said, it was believed that extra galactic travel was impossible. A few people had tried, but never managed to succeed. Either they were never heard of again, or if SOMEHOW they came back...they were more or less not them anymore, insanity/nonsensical/whatever, its variations of the same- you leave...YOU don’t come back. There was supposedly hyperspace "turbulence" of some kind at the galactic border that would tear ships apart. The Yuuzhan Vong accomplished it, but their ships work differently and use a completely different style of technology that is far more advanced than what is currently present in the galaxy.  We’ll cover the Yuuzhan Vong LATER cause that’s a HUGE can of worms I can’t add to this post in good faith lol

more another time

~The Holocron Archivist