The developers at Bioware just published a slew of new information on their official website, announcing the planet Balmorra to be included in the upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic. Still in development and getting closer to its beta testing phase every day, the highly-anticipated MMO is set in Star Wars' past, thousands of years before the rise of Darth Vader.

Fans can access the game's Web-based HoloNet database for info on new game elements as they're announced, like the recent Balmorra entry, which explains about the planet's "Republic-sponsored Balmorran Resistance forces [that] strive to keep the planet’s resources out of Imperial hands." The entry features lore-based information and stories about the planet, as well as new screenshots and other media. You can even check snag a couple new wallpapers featuring Balmorra's landscape, and check out the concept art that led to the planet's in-game design.

Read more about Balmorra's relevance in the SW:TOR universe after the jump, and stay tuned to our SW:TOR portal site for more news and information.

From the official SW:TOR website's HoloNet entry on Balmorra:

Few places in the galaxy have seen the peace promised by the Treaty of Coruscant so thoroughly cast aside as the world of Balmorra. Fiercely independent, this long time ally of the Republic has led the galaxy in advanced droid and weapons manufacturing. Now Balmorra’s workers live and suffer under a full Imperial occupation force.

Soon after Balmorra was colonized, in the infancy of the Republic, it became a haven for some of the most prolific manufacturers of fearsome weaponry and battle droids in the known galaxy. These terrible military assets, combined with the planet’s strategic location close to the Core Worlds, kept Balmorra in a constant state of war. Setting its sights on the weapons of war manufactured on the planet, the Sith Empire resolved to take Balmorra, and in answer the Galactic Republic sent soldiers to aid the Balmorrans in their fight to preserve their independence.

As the war tore on and continued to spread, the strained Republic could no longer afford to spend its forces on Balmorra. Wave after wave of Republic troops were pulled off of the world for redeployment elsewhere in the galaxy, until finally, in accordance with the Treaty of Coruscant, the Republic was forced to officially end its support of Balmorra. A small, underground Republic force was left on the planet to aid their Resistance, but the Balmorrans knew the truth of it; they had been abandoned. Even so, the Empire was still unable to take full control of Balmorra.

Now, years after the treaty, a regrouped and rebuilt Republic is testing the limits of their fragile peace with the Empire, sending back the reinforcements they had pulled off the planet years before. Although the Balmorrans are accepting of Republic help, they do little to hide their resentment at having been abandoned years before. Meanwhile, the Sith Empire is escalating their presence on the planet, determined to claim Balmorra’s weapons, and put an end to this conflict once and for all.