Vaantaar was the leader of a group of Troukree refugees, who had escaped from their homeworld, when the planet had been threatened by Warlord Nuso Esva's troops before 0 ABY. Vaantaar had become connected with Imperial Senior Captain Thrawn and settled on Poln Major with his group, where he could act as an agent of Thrawn. In the Whitestone City, capital of Poln Major, Vaantaar met a group of five renegade stormtroopers known as the Hand of Judgment, who helped to solve a trade dispute between Vaantaar's Troukree and a group of Pineath.