Question on the destruction of Taris

In KotOR, "the destruction of Taris" was referred to repetedly. However, we're never really told exactly how destroyed Taris was. It's said that there were no survivors, but was the planet utterly destroyed, or was the planetwide city simply leveled? Han's comment in ANH that the entire Imperial fleet couldn't destroy a planet makes complete destruction seemingly unlikely, but with the power of the Star Forge, could the Sith have had the firepower to demolish the very planet?

The reason I ask is because I'm considering setting part of a story in the ruins of Taris. I was going on the assumption that the city was leveled, but I want to make sure that theory isn't widely discredited.

Much obliged.

 

I'm fairly certain the destruction of Taris was just the city getting leveled. I've always wondered if that included the promised land. Talk about suck. These people wait generations for their promised land, and they get to the gate just as a building's support collapses on top of it.

And I think a story in the ruins of Taris would be really interesting, and I'll keep an eye open for it.

 

The Entire fleet didn't have the destructive power to blow up a planet like the Death Star could. But a single star destroyer could easily level every city on the planet. This is what I think happened to Taris.

 

From the official site's databank entry on Darth Malak:

From the bridge of the massive cruiser Leviathan, Malak would order the razing of entire worlds. Planets such as Taris and Dantooine felt the might of the Sith Lord's wrath.

Which means Taris was probably leveled.

- lazy

 

Like Coruscant, Taris had underground levels that were sealed off and built over, and they became the place to be for thuggery, criminals, exiles, the lower classes - anyone that had no place on the surface. As I understand it, Malak's attack was just an orbital assault and wiped out the entire surface, but the lower levels survived "intact", at least as intact as they were before hand.

This is supported in KOTOR by Carth's statement "nothing above two stories was left standing." The Star Wars Wiki entry for Taris states that "Though the Outcasts in the Undercity survived the Sith's orbital bombardment, everyone on the world's surface was killed, save for Revan, his comrades, and the notorious bounty hunter Calo Nord."

Those seem to suggest that those in the "undercity" survived, though I'm not sure where that information comes from. Basically, I would say that logic would suggest that there is at least a strong possibility that people survived below the cityscape.

Carth's comment suggests to me that the city was leveled but Taris remains. If Malak's fleet had the ability to lay seige to the entire planet and kill everyone, then there would be no reason to waste resources to destroy the world even if he had the ability to do so (which I doubt, for the reasons you stated). I find it very unlikely that even with the use of the Star Forge, that Malak could assemble a fleet strong enough to actually destroy a planet. I would even doubt the claim that everyone on the planet's surface was killed (how would you verify such a thing, even with advanced technologies?) but that's a whole different story.

I would completely believe any writer who chose to use the ruins of Taris in a story or even the survivors of the attack. To me, it just makes more sense that the cityscape was rendered into slag.

I hope any part of that was helpful.

 

Looks like a consensus to me. I figured everyone would agree, but I was curious to see what everyone thought.

Thanks for the comments, everyone.

 

It seems to me that the people in the Lower City, who were also underground, might have survived, so that meant the survival of gangs like the Beks and Vulkars.

 

I kind of figured that the Lower City would be destroyed as well. Though they weren't on the surface, they weren't really "underground" either, just lower. If the cities were destroyed, then I would expect the entire structures of the buildings would be destroyed. I expect that if there were any survivors, only those on the surface of Taris would survive, being protected by the city from the Sith bombings. Or so is my estimation.

 

Meh, it's all speculation anyway. You could sound it either way and make it convincing.

 

I doubt any of the gangs would survive either. But I do think that the outcast and anything that happened to be in the undercity survived.

 

Survived the bombing, yes. But let's bring the rakghouls into the equation. Would the people of the undercity been able to hold off the rakghouls? For how long? And, after the passage of many generations (i.e., up to the time of the Battle of Naboo), would they be able to understand and use technologies available to outcasts at the time of the bombing? Assuming the cities were leveled, any power supply would likely have been cut-off, and their blasters, vibroblades, datapads, etc. would eventually use up all their batteries, unless they managed to find scrapped equipment or some stockpile. Perhaps after 4000 years, humans on Taris would revert to more primitive culture.

Again, all speculation, but still interesting.

 

Those of the undercity lived pretty poorly anyway, so I don't think its too far off to assume that would be far more equipped to handle the devestation than any of the people who might have survived in the city itself. Also, I don't think they were particularly technologically reliant, just because of their surroundings. The main contention would be weapons like you said, but I would imagine that the only access they had to materials before the orbital assault were smuggled in and probably obsolete anyway. I think its reasonable assume that at least some of them would band together and be able to survive, though I can't help wonder about food and water.

For a planetwide city like Taris, I'm guessing the populace lived off of synthetic foods and significant imports, not having widespread agriculture to support them...so that might be a problem. They'd have to manage on the vermin they caught, and as for water, unless they have access to natural sources of groundwater, they might have it tough. Even some sort of moisture collector to absorb water from the air might not be feasible, whether because of their inaccessibility to the technology or maybe even because the attack wreaked havoc on the environment irreversibly.

I agree that by default, they would have to resort to more primitive methods of survival and their culture would regress to earlier stages in Tarisian history. If Malak's seige killed everyone in the city, then I doubt there is much useful left to salvage.

I think the idea allows for a lot of room to be creative. Any story set partially in the ruins would be pretty awesome in my book, and I'd definitely read it.