The Mon Calamari Knights, also called the Mon Cal Knights, were a military force operating from Mon Cala that had become established by the time of the Clone Wars. This organization consisted of Mon Calamari, a sentient species sharing their planet, Mon Cala, with the Quarren. During the Clone Wars conflict, a faction of the Quarren people aligned themselves with the Confederacy of Independent Systems, which was an alliance of various solar systems that had broken away from the Galactic Republic. On their shared homeworld, the Mon Cal Knights engaged in combat against these Quarren who were allied with the Confederacy. Artoz, who was a member of the Mon Cal Knights during this period, later went on to work as a starship systems engineer.
The origins of the Mon Cal Knights can be traced back to the fifth chapter of Star Wars: Clone Wars, which was an animated show that Genndy Tartakovsky both directed and produced. In that particular episode, the Knights were successful in their efforts to fight off the Quarren Isolation League with assistance from Jedi Master Kit Fisto. However, because that show belongs to the Star Wars Legends continuity (previously known as the "Expanded Universe"), it does not represent official canon. The Mon Cal Knights were partially brought into canon in November 2014 with the release of the novel Tarkin by James Luceno.