After a week of hiatus due to me moving into a new place TOR Lore is back! This week I’m walking you through the history of Nal Hutta, capital of Hutt space and starting world for the Bounty Hunter and the Imperial Agent. Though it was not the original home planet of the Hutts, it is now the one they call home to their species and where the Hutt Cartel hold their meetings. Its swampy, bloated terrain matches the form of its masters, and it is part three in our look at the origin worlds in SWTOR.

 

Nal Hutta, meaning “Glorious Jewel” in Huttese (language of the Hutts), was originally known as Evocar. Evocar was originally a large, lush jungle world with vast oceans, though the Hutts eventually transformed it into a polluted and barren wasteland and changed its name to Nal Hutta. Nal Hutta became covered by flat marshy bogs, stagnant muddy puddles, and patches of sickly marsh grass inhabited by insects and spiders. The few other species to survive the Hutts’ environmental changes mutated and adapted to the pollutant laden environment the Hutts created, while other species developed extensive chemical defenses. The areas still habitable by the native species were viciously competed for, making many of the species on Nal Hutta some of the most aggressive animals in the galaxy.

 

Before they owned the planet, the Hutts control of Evocar was limited to a small province. Over time, their ownership grew through business deals with the primitive inhabitants known as the Evocii. Following the destruction of the Hutt home world of Varl, the Hutts collaborated with Vippit lawyers from Alee in buying out the planet from the Evocii. Using both legal and violent measures, the Hutts established themselves as the rulers of the planet and renamed it Nal Hutta. Hutt palaces, amusement parks and other constructions were built all over Evocar, and the Evocii could do nothing about it. The Hutts destroyed the planet’s lush mountainous rainforests, terraforming the planet into what they considered paradise. The Evocii appealed to the Republic for aid, but the contracts they signed were legally binding and the Republic was forced to rule in favor of the Hutts. Most of the Evocii were sent to Nar Shaddaa, the fifth moon of Nal Hutta, while the rest were enslaved and forced to build the sprawling palaces of the Hutts.

 

 

The few remaining Evocii that were not enslaved in the cities banded together into rebel tribes to harass the Hutts, though they were ultimately defeated and exterminated. The resettled Evocii were exploited as indentured labor to build the cities of the moon. When the cities of Nal Hutta were completed, the Evocii were relocated to assist the rest of their brethren on Nar Shaddaa. Finally, after five centuries of labor and enslavement, the entire moon was urbanized and the Hutts freed the Evocii of their labor. The Evocii then took refuge in Nar Shaddaa’s under-city and began to mutate into savages due to various technologies practiced on the moon.

 

Over time Nal Hutta and Nar Shaddaa began to rival Coruscant in terms of interstellar trade, though due to the shady nature of its masters, it was heavily involved in black market trade. It became a haven for smugglers, pirates, and other criminals. Due to their power base, the Hutts were able to stay neutral during the war between the Sith Empire and the Galactic Republic, though they were known to supply the Galactic Republic with arms and technology. This is most likely due to the fact that they saw the Republic as an easier government in which they could assert their influence, as the strict and militaristic Sith Empire was unlikely to let the Hutts’ Empire exist if they completed their conquest of the galaxy.

 

The devs at BioWare have stated that the Hutts will act as a sort of third faction within The Old Republic, and we have learned recently that at least one end game operation will center around them in some form. While their true nature and role in the game is unknown, we can infer from their nature that they will likely play both sides for their own interests. The underbelly and corpulence of their society will be on full display on Nal Hutta, giving many players their first ever look at the Hutts’ home world. From what we have seen the planet looks amazing, and I can’t wait to dive in and check the planet out for myself. Next week we will take a look at the final starting planet, Tython, the planet where the Jedi Order was founded.

Tags: bounty hunter, Hutt, imperial agent, lore, Origin World