Poggle the Lesser is the Geonosian Archduke who rules the Stalgasin hive and its droid foundries. He is introduced in Attack of the Clones (2002), presiding over the arena execution that starts the Clone Wars, and is killed on Mustafar in Revenge of the Sith (2005).
His industrial capacity is the reason Geonosis is the war's first battlefield. The Separatist droid army is not an abstraction — it is manufactured, in volume, in his hives, and the opening battle of the war is fought to shut them down.
Attack of the Clones also plants the detail that pays off two films and one spin-off later: Poggle hands Dooku the plans for a battle station, which Dooku carries to Coruscant. The Clone Wars returns to Geonosis for a long arc in which the foundries are rebuilt and the Republic has to take the planet a second time.
