Jabba's Palace building

Hutt Castle, often simply called Jabba the Hutt's Palace or Jabba's Palace after its owner, was a large sandrock and durasteel complex located at the fringes of the Northern Dune Sea on the planet of Tatooine.

History

Originally erected as a monastery of the B'omarr Order, the buildings eventually fell into the hands of two major crimelords: first an outcast and gang leader called Alkhara and later Jabba the Hutt, a notorious crime lord from Nal Hutta.

Circa 700 BBY, the strict religious Order of the B'omarr monks commissioned the construction of this monastery on the fringes of the Northern Dune Sea on Tatooine. It was their home, detached from the goings-on of the rest of the universe for a century and a half until it was discovered by the outcast, Alkhara and his band of thieves.

The monks, who were few in number, opted to share the monastery with Alkhara rather than participate in a defense against an invasion, and this situation persisted until 516 BBY. It was at this point that the Hutt named Jabba Desilijic Tiure discovered the citadel and ousted Alkhara and seized the monastery.

Jabba maintained a good relationship with the monks, adding on to their monastery and generally avoiding the strange religious people. Along with plating the exterior walls with ditanium, Jabba built an expansive hangar and garage for his fleet of ships and swoops. Erecting a throne room in the subterranean bowels of the citadel, the Hutt transformed the complex into a palace.

As Jabba's criminal empire grew in reputation, more and more miscreants began to occupy the palace. Jabba employed many Gamorrean guards, allowing their families to reside in a wing of the palace in exchange for security. The Hutt occupied the palace for hundreds of years, dividing his time between this retreat and his home on Nal Hutta.

Layout

A large, squat rotunda topped with a ditanium-reinforced cupola, the palace was accessed via a dimly lit stone corridor which led from the main entry portcullis. A large durasteel door, the front gate was equipped with a semi-intelligent droid gatewatcher. This droid, little more than an electronic eye on a stick embedded in the gate itself, would interrogate visitors before deciding whether to allow them to enter.

Once through the gate, the corridor led into the structure's central chamber, the Great Room of the Enlightened, a vast and cavernous place that was filled with an eerie silence. Prayer banners hung from the ceiling, gently swaying over the multi-tiered chamber used as a place of worship for the disembodied brains of enlightened monks.

Reposing in niches along the tiers that made up the chamber, the center of the room was occupied by floor-to-ceiling supports for the rotating ventilation wheel, which shifted the otherwise still air to keep the rotunda cool. The room was encircled on its exterior by a ceremonial concourse that ran underneath the cupola; weapons stations were scattered along the walkway which otherwise gave an unobstructed view of the Dune Sea.

Looking up

The upper portion of the cupola was made up of several smaller rooms used strictly for maintenance, defense, and the everyday technical needs of the complex. Among the rooms located here was a hydroponics chamber where the amphibious delicacies of Jabba's diet were grown and genetically altered. Amongst the ventilation equipment and moisture converters was a chamber which had been taken over by a band of Jawas, scavenging what they could while attempting to remain undetected.

Located below ground, the motor pool area was carved out under Jabba's orders to contain the Hutt's many skiffs, barges, and animal mounts. Like the rest of the palace, the motor pool hangar had a polished stone floor, and a massive durasteel gate that opened onto the harsh desert landscape of Tatooine. An underground roadway stemming from the hangar made a circuitous path from the palace to the city of Mos Eisley. Housing not only Jabba's sail barge, the Khetanna, the hangar was home to the Bantha-II cargo skiffs that patrolled the grounds. As of 4 ABY, the motor pool was overseen by a Klatooinian named Barada.

Throne room

A renovated B'omarr chapel, Jabba the Hutt made his throne room deep in the subterranean chambers of the palace complex. Accessed by a winding stone set of stairs, the throne room's air was constantly filled with spiced t'bac smoke and the sounds of jizz per Jabba's delight in theatrics. Reposing on a large dais backed by a rotisserie cooker, Jabba could oversee the gathered masses he permitted to enjoy his company.

Behind Jabba, his majordomo had their own private turbolift which allowed them to greet guests at the front gate, allowing for the crime boss' second in command to either welcome, turn away, or kill them. The likes of bounty hunters, assassins, smugglers and more filled out the often crowded alcoves of the chamber, many of whom plotted to one day overthrow the Hutt or kill him.

At the center of the room, the polished stone floor gave way to a viewing grille which looked down upon a large pit where Jabba's beasts would fight, entertaining the Hutt and his guests. Amongst the beasts were Jabba's prized rancor and a krayt dragon. A trap door in the floor in front of Jabba's dais could be opened by a trigger mechanism in the Hutt's hookah pipe, dropping threatening or otherwise bothersome guests into the pit to be devoured. The throne room was host to Jabba's private band, the Max Rebo Band in the Hutt's last days. The band, with vocalist Sy Snootles, performed at Jabba's whim, occupying a loft directly off of the chamber.

The largest alcove in the room, hosting the stairs to the dancers' pit, band lounge, and the massive private elevator that ferried Jabba up to his private chambers, was also home to a wall of trophies collected by the Hutt. Amongst these items were the taxidermied heads of a jerba and tauntaun and, for a short time, the carbonite-encased form of the smuggler, Han Solo.

Below the throne room

Levels below the throne room were prison cells for Jabba's enemies, torture chambers whose occupants often suffered a slow, public death. The boiler room that sat opposite the prison facility was overseen by the droid EV-9D9, a sadistic droid who oversaw that assessment of all droids that would see service in Jabba's court.

Additionally, it was in these dank levels that the Gamorrean guards resided with their families. The males maintained order in the palace, while their women raised their children and kept the lower levels tidy. Many stairwells and ancient halls had been deliberately blocked with debris to keep out intruders, though it did not deter them from trying.

After Jabba

Following the death of Jabba, several of his employees, including the beastmaster Malakili, stayed at the palace waiting for a new Hutt to occupy the dais. As the food dwindled and water ran out, many of Jabba's former employees abandoned the castle.

The B'omarr Order was known to have reinstated control over the Palace sometime after Jabba's death. They allowed the bounty hunter, J'Quille to join them during that time.

By around 9 ABY, Bib Fortuna had succeeded Jabba as master of the palace. Boba Fett and his partner Fennec Shand infiltrated the palace and retrieved his ship, the Slave I, which was kept in the garage of the palace. Later, after settling their debt to Din Djarin, Fett and Shand attacked the palace again, killing Fortuna and the guards, before Fett took the throne.