The Divide

For other uses, see Divide.

"I don't know how they picked Okator VIII. It doesn't really matter, I suppose. It could have been a lot of places in the Divide. They could have picked Matabre, or Ilamna or Cortilium Major. But they didn't. They picked Okator."

―Baragwin sense lattice imprinted by a Republic soldier^[1]

The Divide was a region that existed during the Tionese War,^[1] which was fought between the Galactic Republic and the Honorable Union of Desevro & Tion^[2] starting in 24,000 BBY.^[3] It contained the Cortilium Major, Ilamna, Matabre, and Okator systems, which were home to the astronomical objects Cortilium Major, Ilamna, Matabre, and Okator VIII, respectively.^[1] The star systems of the Divide eventually constituted a part of the Eucer sector in the Mid Rim.^[4]

The celestial bodies of the Divide were settled by Republic colonists. Shortly before the Tionese War ended^[1] around 23,900 BBY,^[3] a Tionese military force destroyed several Republic settlements on Okator VIII. One witness of the attack, a local farm boy–turned–Republic soldier, later narrated an account of the attack in a Baragwin sense lattice, noting that the Tionese could have just as well chosen as their target any of the other settled astronomical objects of the Divide.^[1]

Behind the scenes

The Divide was originally meant to be mentioned in the 2012 reference book The Essential Guide to Warfare by Jason Fry and Paul R. Urquhart; however, the section that would have mentioned the region was cut before the book's release. The information regarding the Divide was later released in 2014 as part of Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Warfare Author's Cut, a series of articles published on the StarWars.com Blog by Fry and^[1] Del Rey editor^[5] Erich Schoeneweiss containing various cut content from The Essential Guide to Warfare.^[1]