Monday, May 12, 2014

Mos Eisley


Mos Eisley was located in a valley somewhere to the southeast of the Jundland Wastes and roughly 80 kilometers north of Anchorhead, near the desert palace of Jabba the Hutt.

From a distance, the spaceport appeared as a haphazard collage of low-grade duracrete, stone, and plastoid structures that spread outward from a central power and water distribution plant. The city lacked a main landing facility; therefore it relied on 362 individual hangars. By order of the Empire, all of these hangars were equipped with time-lock devices. Illegally parked vessels were not an uncommon sight.

The town was really larger than it looked, as a good portion of it lay underground. In fact, it had a population of around 40 to 60 thousand people, varying seasonally.

Streets in the city included Corporation Road, Curved Street, Outer Curved Street, Straight Street, Spacers Row, Paradise Road, Dune Street, and Kerner Plaza. Many citizens rode rontos, dewbacks, and other beasts of burden.

The streets of Mos Eisley.
Mos Eisley was divided into the "New Quarter" and the "Old Quarter". The Old Quarter was originally wheel-shaped and contained a thriving marketplace. Jabba the Hutt also maintained a residence there, known as the Desilijic Complex, since it was difficult to make business from his palace. The New Quarter was more tourist-friendly and was a merchant district where tourists could relax (though there was still much crime). Chalmun's Spaceport Cantina served as the hub of the newer quarter. Each quarter had individual neighborhoods, such as the rough-and-tumble Tar Mass area.

During the Galactic Civil War, the Empire established a small garrison in Mos Eisley, although this did not help with the city's massive crime rates. The base was located near the cantina and whenever an expansion was required, the Empire would simply level surrounding buildings. To support the constant flow of spacers, Mos Eisley featured a large number of hotels, casinos, and cantinas.

The shops district was close to a hangar, the markets, a warehouse, and a housing complex.

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

The New Jedi Order


The New Jedi Order was the restored and reformed Jedi Order, in the wake of the Great Jedi Purge and subsequent fall of the Galactic Empire. The Jedi Knights, reduced in number to only a handful, were slowly restored, primarily under the leadership of Luke Skywalker, son of the former Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker.

Slow in developing, it existed for a number of years as a disparate group of Force-sensitives with various degrees of training. After a first attempt to train new Knights was thwarted by the Reborn Emperor, Luke Skywalker initiated the first formal training school for Jedi in decades—the Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4. Starting with an initial group of twelve students, the Order slowly grew in numbers and stature, becoming a core part of the New Republic that sponsored it. This meant it was repeatedly targeted by enemies of the Republic, such as Imperial Admiral Natasi Daala, the Empire Reborn, and the Second Imperium. Members of the order were involved in many of the key conflicts in the galaxy during the prime of the New Republic, including the Nagai–Tof War, Operation Shadow Hand, the Black Fleet Crisis and the First Corellian Insurrection.

This involvement culminated in the Jedi involvement in the Yuuzhan Vong War. Despite their commitment to defending the galaxy from this threat, the Order was vilified by the galaxy's citizens, and was betrayed on numerous occasions. Their involvement in the war cost nearly half the Order’s Knights. Out of this conflict, a more centralized Order was born. It would continue to grow and serve the galaxy for decades to come, until the Sith–Imperial War once again dispersed the Order and made its members fugitives. They subsequently returned to their place in the galaxy at the end of the Second Imperial Civil War.

Sunday, April 13, 2014

The Dark Side Cave


The Dark Side Cave, also known as the Cave of Evil, was a cave on Dagobah corrupted by dark side energies.

Hundreds of years before the Clone Wars, the Jedi Minch battled and killed a powerful Bpfasshi Dark Jedi leader, and his energies absorbed into its surroundings, first tainting the passage with the dark side.

During the Clone Wars, Yoda had a vision of the Dark Side Cave during one of his meditations. In this vision, Qui-Gon Jinn guided a nine-year-old Anakin Skywalker into the cave to face his fears, telling him the same thing Yoda eventually told Anakin's son, Luke, many years later.


Later, Yoda himself entered the cave under the guidance of Qui-Gon who had learned how to speak from beyond. Here Yoda had visions of the fall of the Jedi Order and of the rise of Darth Sidious.
During the Great Jedi Purge, Yoda realized that proximity to the Dark Side Cave could help neutralize his strong light side Force signature—thus preventing his detection by the Sith—and took up residence near the cave, living there for the next two decades, through the reign of the Galactic Empire.


Soon after the exile, an Imperial scout named Keog Boorn investigated a signal near the cave. A hidden Yoda saw how the scout left the place after remembering about the Bpfass Dark Jedi and hearing some terrifying sounds. Keog Boorn left the planet and reported that there was nothing in Dagobah, the signal just an atmospheric disturbance.
Yoda experiences a vision of Darth Sidious in the cave
During the birth of the Rebellion the clone of Starkiller spoke with Yoda briefly before entering the cave to look for the answers he sought. Inside he was unable to use his Force powers, except for the Jedi mind trick, which he utilized several times. He faced down other clones of Starkiller and had to carefully traverse some deep pits. He made it deep into the caves, and received a vision of the assault on the Salvation. Starkiller exited the cave, and left Yoda still sitting there and watching.

When Luke Skywalker traveled to Dagobah to train with Yoda in 3 ABY, the elder Master tasked him to enter the cave. Luke confronted an illusion of Darth Vader within and defeated it in a lightsaber duel, dipping into the passion of the dark side in the process. It was there that he realized what would happen if he turned to the dark side of the Force. Behind the mask of Darth Vader, he saw his own face. It also presaged the revelation that Vader was, unknown to him at the time, actually his father, Anakin Skywalker.
Luke re-visits the cave in 9 ABY.
Five years after Yoda's death, Luke Skywalker returned to the cave. This time, he had a vision of a possible past, one where Mara Jade accompanied Jabba the Hutt's retinue to the Sarlacc. She was able to pull Luke's lightsaber away from him, and Luke was pushed towards the Sarlacc when his vision suddenly ends. While in the cave, he found a beacon left behind by Jorj Car'das.
In 14 ABY, the dark side power of the cave was siphoned by the Disciples of Ragnos. This supposedly removed all of the dark energy, but it presumably returned to its source when the Scepter of Ragnos was destroyed or otherwise somehow regenerated itself. In 22 ABY, Anakin Solo, Tahiri Veila and Uldir Lochett entered the cave after Anakin had a recurring nightmare of becoming the infamous Darth Vader. There, Tahiri encountered a vision of her parents and grandfather, and Anakin faced the manifestations of his own doubts. The two both emerged victorious. Uldir, however, encountered nothing in the cave but vast emptiness.
Other Force-sensitive beings to enter the cave include Tash Arranda and Zak Arranda.

Zona Luka


Zona Luka was a female Vultan Jedi Knight who was active during the Great Sith War. She was trained in the Jedi ways by the respected Jedi Master Dominus, who considered Luka his dearest student. In 3996 BBY, Luka and a group of fellow Knights were visited on the library-world of Ossus by the Jedi Exar Kun, who claimed to be the keeper of Force knowledge forbidden by the Jedi Masters. Intrigued, Luka and the other Jedi agreed to join Kun on a journey to reveal the lost secrets of the Force. They traveled in Kun's starship, Starstorm One, to the dark side–tainted moon of Yavin 4, and Luka and the others were led to the base of a large temple by Kun. There, Kun revealed his true intentions when he shattered a Sith holocron and released the dark side spirits trapped within, which possessed Luka and the other Jedi Knights. Kun, in reality the Dark Lord of the Sith, commanded Luka and the Jedi team—now subjects of the dark side—to kill their former Masters. Luka tracked Dominus to his home and struck him down after a brief lightsaber duel; however, the dying Dominus mustered enough strength to kill the Vultan Jedi through an exertion of the Force.

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Anakin Solo


Anakin Solo was a Human male Jedi Knight of the New Jedi Order who was the third child of Han Solo and Leia Organa Solo and the younger brother of Jaina and Jacen Solo.


Named after his maternal grandfather, Anakin Skywalker, as a child Anakin often feared succumbing to the allure of the dark side and becoming a Sith himself. At the age of eleven, he attended the Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4, where he became fast friends with Tahiri Veila. Together, they enjoyed numerous adventures, which included freeing the imprisoned souls of Massassi children.
Anakin was one of the pivotal figures in the Yuuzhan Vong War, participating in several of the major battles and developing effective tactics against the Yuuzhan Vong. As a result of his mission to rescue Tahiri and to help Vua Rapuung compel Mezhan Kwaad to speak the truth, the Jeedai heresy—a heretical movement that ultimately helped bring the end of the war—quickly spread among the Shamed Ones. Later, Anakin led the Myrkr strike team to end the scourge of the Jedi-killing voxyn, where he gave his life to end the threat.

Mara Jade Skywalker


Mara Jade Skywalker was, during different times in her life, an Emperor's Hand, a smuggler, and later a Jedi Master who sat upon the Jedi High Council. She was raised as a servant to Emperor Palpatine and became a high-level Force-using operative. As an Emperor's Hand, Jade carried out the Emperor's bidding, killing Rebels and corrupt Imperials alike with cold professionalism, even as a young woman. As Palpatine's assassin, she received top-notch training from experts in a variety of fields as well as training in the Force, which was continued by Luke Skywalker years later. After Palpatine's death, she received his last command, which was to kill Luke Skywalker; however, the death of her Master caused her to go rogue. Eventually she joined smuggler chief Talon Karrde, becoming one of his best smugglers and his second-in-command. During the predations of Grand Admiral Thrawn, she was forced to work with Skywalker, and developed a grudging respect for him. During the Galactic Civil War, Mara Jade proved herself skilled in a variety of fields; she was a good pilot and mechanic and trained in the use of both a blaster and hand-to-hand combat even without relying on the Force.


Over the years, she continued to work for Karrde and interact with Skywalker intermittently, training at his Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4 for a short period of time. She was groomed by Karrde to take over the Smugglers' Alliance and had a brief relationship with Lando Calrissian as part of that role, although she later admitted it was a charade. She also continued to grow closer to Skywalker and worked alongside him on numerous occasions, including the Almanian Uprising and the First Corellian Insurrection. The two finally realized in 19 ABY while on a mission to Nirauan that they were in love, and wanted to spend the rest of their lives together.


After marrying Skywalker, Mara Jade took the surname Skywalker and devoted her life to the New Jedi Order, becoming a Master in her own right. Shortly before the Yuuzhan Vong War, she fell ill due to deadly coomb spores that she'd been infected with by a Yuuzhan Vong agent. She used the Force to slow their progress even as she continued to fight against the alien invaders on numerous battlefields including Dantooine and Ithor, but the disease was only purged from her system after the birth of her son Ben in 26 ABY. After becoming a Master, Jade Skywalker took her niece Jaina Solo as an apprentice until she reached Knighthood. During that time, she participated in Jedi offensives against the Yuuzhan Vong, aiding in the war effort. After the fall of Coruscant, she helped Cal Omas become elected as the Chief of State as the New Republic reorganized itself into the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances. Jade Skywalker ultimately saw her efforts against the Yuuzhan Vong rewarded in the war's final battle on Coruscant with the destruction of Supreme Overlord Shimrra Jamaane.
In the following years, Jade Skywalker was active during the Dark Nest Crisis and the subsequent Swarm War, wherein she helped to thwart the expansionist plans of Raynar Thul and the insectoid Killiks who were spreading into Chiss space and subverting many other people into becoming Joiners under the influence of several Dark Jedi. Jade Skywalker was insistent that the Jedi who had joined Killik communities would be withdrawn, as they were using their skills in combat against the Chiss, provoking them. She continued to serve by the side of her husband as a Jedi Master during the Second Galactic Civil War, first serving alongside the Galactic Alliance against the rebellious Confederation. The re-emergence of the Sith Lady Lumiya was another threat that Jade Skywalker had to confront, but though she and her husband skirmished with both Lumiya and the fallen Jedi Alema Rar on multiple occasions, the darksiders escaped. As the war escalated, Jade Skywalker was killed by her nephew, Jacen Solo, whom she had learned was a Sith and therefore saw as a threat to her family personally, to the Jedi Order, and to the galaxy at large.

Saturday, April 5, 2014

Cad Bane


Cad Bane was a Duros male bounty hunter from the planet Duro who earned a reputation as the galaxy's best, deadliest, and most fearsome mercenary during the Clone Wars. Though he worked for a number of clients, his loyalty was ultimately to credits—and by extension, the highest bidder. Bane employed a variety of weapons and allies to ensure that he always got his pay, and he became the leader in his line of work after fellow bounty hunter Jango Fett perished in the opening battle of the war. His renown attracted the attention of Count Dooku and even the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious, the latter of whom employed him numerous times for his own means. Working for Sidious, Bane stole a Jedi holocron from the Jedi Temple to unlock the Kyber memory crystal, a repository of all recorded Force-sensitive infants in the galaxy. After pilfering the crystal from Jedi Master Bolla Ropal on Devaron and forcing Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker to unlock it, Bane was sent to kidnap four of the infants listed in the crystal. Despite being captured halfway through his job by Skywalker and his Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, Bane escaped from Jedi Masters Obi-Wan Kenobi and Mace Windu by luring them into a trap on his hideout, Black Stall Station.


Bane was later hired by the Hutt crime lord Jabba Desilijic Tiure and the Hutt Grand Council to break Jabba's criminal uncle, Ziro Desilijic Tiure, out of Republic custody on Coruscant. Forming a team of hunters to execute his job, Bane launched a brazen raid on the Republic Executive Building and captured ten prominent members of the Galactic Senate, using them as hostages to force Supreme Chancellor Palpatine to free Ziro. Once he had secured Ziro's release from the high-security Central Detention Center, Bane disbanded his posse and delivered Ziro to the Hutt Council. When Ziro escaped from their custody on Nal Hutta, Bane was re-hired to track down the crime lord. Though he arrived on Teth too late to secure his bounty, he managed to evade Jedi Masters Obi-Wan Kenobi and Quinlan Vos, who failed to apprehend him for his crimes. At the close of the bounty hunting season, Bane's total bounties surpassed those of all others in field.
After breaking criminal mastermind Moralo Eval out of the Republic's Central Detention Center, Bane became a candidate in Eval's plot to kidnap Chancellor Palpatine for Count Dooku and the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Bane thus entered Eval's Box competition to become one of the five mercenaries who would be hired for the job. After passing the tournament alongside fellow hunters Embo, Derrown, Twazzi, and Rako Hardeen, Bane was personally selected by Dooku to lead the operation, and they traveled to Naboo to capture Chancellor Palpatine during the Festival of Light. Despite Bane's success with abducting Palpatine, Dooku betrayed him, having intended for the bounty hunters' operation to simply be a diversion for his own attempt to kidnap the Supreme Chancellor. Abandoned by Dooku, Bane was defeated by Hardeen, who turned out to be none other than Obi-Wan Kenobi, who had gone undercover to infiltrate and foil Eval's plans. Bane nevertheless retained his formidable reputation throughout the Clone Wars, after which he became one of the preferred freelancers for the Galactic Empire.

The Father


The Father was a being who was the head of a powerful family of Force wielders, known as The Ones. The Father maintained the balance between his Daughter and his Son who expressed affinity toward the light and dark sides of the Force, respectively, in order to keep the universe safe from unpredictable consequences. At some point, the Father was forced to withdraw from the temporal world with his children to a realm known as Mortis after his mortal wife, the Mother, became the infamous dark side user known as Abeloth. During the time of the Clone Wars, the Father received word that the Chosen One had been found, and decided to meet him in person. When the Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, and Ahsoka Tano visited the planet Mortis, Skywalker encountered the Father on his monastery, and was tasked by him to pass one test, in order to find out whether he really was the Chosen One. After successfully passing the test, the Father asked Anakin to take his place on Mortis to keep the balance of the Force, because he was dying.


However, his Son had his own plans, as he tried to turn the Chosen One to his side to unleash the dark side of the Force in the galaxy. As the Father tried to stop him, he was betrayed by his Son, who tried to kill him with the Dagger of Mortis, a weapon with enough power to kill a Force wielder, but was saved by his Daughter, who sacrificed herself in an act of selflessness. With the balance tipped toward the dark side, the Father warned the Jedi to leave the planet, before his Son could use their ship, but unknown to him, his child turned Skywalker to his side, after showing him a vision of his future self. Upon discovering this, the Father decided that if there was going to be balance, Anakin needed to forget what he saw, and then proceeded to take him back to his monastery, but once there, his Son arrived, and claimed that Mortis was not his destiny.

The Father tried to convince him to stay, but to no avail; the Jedi proceeded to restrain the Son, but they proved no match for him. The Father, seeing that the only way to stop his child was to commit suicide, impaled himself with the Dagger of Mortis, and as a result, his Son's powers weakened, and was then killed by the Chosen One. Dying, the Father was confident that Anakin would bring balance to the Force and warned him about his heart; after that, he died, vanishing from existence, sending the Jedi back to their world.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

The Coruscant Security Force


The Coruscant Security Force (CSF), also known as the Coruscant Police or the Coruscant Constabulary, and depending on the era, less commonly known as the Imperial Sector Police, Galactic City Police, and Republic Security, was the primary police force in charge of maintaining law and order on the galactic capital planet of Coruscant during the reigns of the Galactic Republic, the Galactic Empire, the New Republic, and the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances. Its duties included regular patrols of Galactic City, criminal investigations, counter-terrorism and counter-intelligence operations, crowd control, diplomatic protection, maintaining the world's skylanes, and, in some cases, the military defense of Coruscant. Early during the Republic, the CSF was commanded by the Chief of Security and centuries later by the Coruscant Security Force Senior Command, later the Sector Command. As the Empire established its rule, control of the CSF was changed from the Sector Command to a Commander, that position itself later replaced by a Commissioner. The CSF operations were based out of a central headquarters and various divisional headquarters.

Though staffed mostly by sentient police officers, droids were used as well, including different kinds of police droids, probes, and crime scene investigation droids. Major crimes were investigated by detectives, although high-ranking officers could also investigate such crimes. Specialized units included the SWAT unit, the Anti-Terrorism Unit, the Organized Crime Unit, Traffic Division, and the Forensics Unit. The lower levels of Coruscant were patrolled by the CSF's Underworld Police division. The CSF utilized VAAT/e ships, assault ships, and Republic police gunships as rapid troop deployment and patrol craft. They also had Coruscant police speeders and RapidResponse police speeders which were used as patrol and pursuit airspeeders. If at times officers felt they could be entering a dangerous area, they could receive an escort by a police cruiser backup unit.

The CSF was one of the oldest planetary police forces in the known galaxy. After the Sacking of Coruscant and the subsequent Cold War, it battled for control of Coruscant against crime syndicates such as Black Sun and the Migrant Merchants' Guild. However, with severely depleted resources and a high rate of burnout among its embittered officers, the CSF had to leave large sections of Coruscant under gang control. During the later years of the Galactic Republic, the CSF was assisted by the Senate Guards—who served as a secondary police force for Coruscant—and the Jedi Order. Together, they would investigate severe crimes though rivalry and resentment were always present. During the Clone Wars, the CSF was supported by clone shock troopers of the Coruscant Guard and the Republic's clone commandos. With them, the CSF was able to investigate and bring down several terror networks operating on Coruscant.

When Order 66 was issued, the CSF assisted in hunting down Jedi, although many CSF officers were privately resentful of Emperor Palpatine and his New Order. Some officers turned a blind eye when spotting Jedi, and in the following years others spied for the Rebel Alliance. Under the Empire, the Coruscant Guard took over the primary responsibility of Coruscant's security. The CSF acted in a support capacity to the Guard and was staffed by stormtroopers as well as regular police officers. It was also given a new name, the Imperial Sector Police, though many still referred to it as Coruscant Security, Police, or Constabulary. During that time, CSF commanders shared their police officers' resistance to the Emperor's rule. A CSF Moff even took part in and led a coup to oust Palpatine, though it ultimately failed.

The New Republic captured Coruscant in 7 ABY, disbanded the Coruscant Guard, and reinstated the CSF as the primary law enforcement agency. With the Fall of Coruscant during the Yuuzhan Vong War, most of the CSF was wiped out; however, it was re-established after the end of the conflict. The Second Galactic Civil War placed the CSF in the middle of the conflict between the Galactic Alliance and the Confederation. Some CSF officers were recruited into the Galactic Alliance Guard to counter Corellian terrorist activities on Coruscant. The GAG was later disbanded following the death of the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Caedus. After the Civil War, the CSF continued to serve as Coruscant's police force. During the liberation of Coruscant by the Jedi Order from the control of the Lost Tribe of Sith, the CSF assisted the Jedi as the Sith began committing acts of terror on Coruscant. However, the CSF's casualties during the battle ran into the thousands.

Jace Malcom


Jace Malcom was a Human male Republic trooper, who served in the Special Forces Division of the Republic Military during the Great Galactic War and Cold War, and as the military's Supreme Commander during the Galactic War. Malcom grew up on the Mid Rim world of Barcaria, but left at a young age to join the Galactic Republic's defense forces. By 3681 BBY, he was serving as a corporal aboard a Jedi-run space station in orbit above Korriban. In that year, the reconstituted Sith Empire returned to known space to reclaim their lost territory and exact revenge upon the Republic. During these early days of the ensuing Great Galactic War, the Empire launched a massive strike against the Jedi and Republic forces at Korriban in an effort to retake the world which had once been their holy capital. Malcom was caught in the battle, but managed to escape the onslaught alongside Jedi Padawan Satele Shan and incarcerated smuggler, Captain Nico Okarr.

The war continued on for nearly three decades, during which time Malcom was inducted into the Republic Army's Special Forces and granted command of the elite infantry unit 326. Under Malcom's leadership, the unit performed highly risky raids into enemy territory and earned the moniker of "Havoc Squad." At the height of the war, the squad was stationed on the Core World of Alderaan while the bulk of the Republic Navy was elsewhere in the galaxy, combating the Sith. While he was stationed on the planet, Malcom and his troopers were swept up in the Battle of Alderaan, a massive Imperial invasion of the tranquil world. As the Sith forces led by Darth Malgus ravaged the planet, Malcom and his comrades took to the forests of Alderaan to wage a guerrilla campaign against the Imperials. When Darth Malgus turned his army toward the Alderaanian capital city, the commander and Havoc Squad positioned themselves to ambush the Sith Lord and halt his advance. In a pitched battle in the forests outside of the capital, Havoc Squad routed the Imperial Army and Malcom fought and defeated Malgus himself with the aid of then-Jedi Knight Satele Shan.


Malcom's leadership during the battle earned him and Havoc Squad great prestige throughout the Republic and inspired continued resilience against the Sith. This fame attracted the attention of Colonel Elin Garza, with whom Malcom helped found a new, fully-fledged and independent Special Forces Division. Around the same time, Malcom fostered a secret relationship with Shan that ultimately culminated in a tense breakup. However, before their romantic relationship died, Malcom and Shan sired a son, Theron Shan. Malcom later received a promotion to the rank of colonel.
Following the end of the war and the implementation of a controversial peace agreement, Malcom was asked to return to Alderaan to oversee the efforts of Republic combatants in the bloody civil war that had engulfed the planet. As the Strategic Advisor to Alderaan for the Republic Army, Malcom monitored troop deployments and tactical plans and maintained the military alliance between the Republic's armed forces and the noble House Organa. Under his supervision, the despotic King Bouris Ulgo was deposed and the Organas solidified their advantage in the war over the Imperial-backed House Thul. Later in the war, Malcom was promoted to Supreme Commander of the Republic Military, during which time he aided then-Grand Master Satele Shan and Jedi Master Gnost-Dural in a battle against Darth Karrid and a renewed Sith offensive.

Darth Caedus


The son of Han and Leia Organa Solo, Jacen Solo was a leading Jedi Knight who proved crucial in defeating the Yuuzhan Vong and protecting the galaxy during the Yuuzhan Vong War. The grandson of Darth Vader, Darth Caedus was a Sith Lord who turned against his family and friends, betraying his former principles and leading the Galactic Alliance he once championed into a reign of terror as he attempted to bring order and stability to a fractured galaxy. It was Solo's desire to protect the galaxy and his increasing willingness to accept any cost in that cause that facilitated his fall to the Sith.

Born in 9 ABY, Jacen Solo spent most of his early years as the target of various kidnapping plots and schemes against his famous parents. When he was thirteen, he and his twin sister Jaina began attending the Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4, where their uncle Luke Skywalker taught them the ways of the Force. There he made several friends, among them the Hapan princess Tenel Ka Djo, to whom he became strongly attracted. While training, he and his friends defeated numerous plots against the New Republic and, in 24 ABY, he and his younger brother Anakin were apprenticed to Skywalker. A philosopher who struggled with the idea of employing violence to fight violence, Solo entered a personal crisis with the outbreak of the Yuuzhan Vong War. He preferred to serve off the front lines, but felt obligated to volunteer for the strike team assembled to eliminate the voxyn queen at Myrkr. There, Anakin Solo was killed and Jacen Solo stepped up to lead the team, killing the queen and ending the voxyn threat before he was captured by the Yuuzhan Vong.



Solo spent nearly a year in captivity, during which he was tortured for weeks at a time. Solo struggled with his circumstances and with the teachings of his captor and mentor, Vergere. He slipped to the dark side before returning and embracing the idea of responding to the universe with unconditional, all-encompassing love. He escaped Yuuzhan Vong custody with Vergere, a former Jedi of the Old Republic, and rejoined the war effort. In the final battle of the war, Solo stormed Supreme Overlord Shimrra Jamaane's Citadel and defeated Onimi, who was mentally controlling the Supreme Overlord, while Solo himself experienced a moment of unity with the Force.
Afterward, he spent five years visiting and learning from various Force-using sects. During his time with the Mind Walkers, he experienced a vision of a dark figure ruling the galaxy and became determined to prevent its fulfillment. He returned to the Jedi during the Dark Nest Crisis and, armed with a more ruthless philosophy of accepting various sacrifices in the name of the greater good, conspired to eliminate the Killiks to prevent another vision of galactic war and protect his infant daughter Allana, secretly conceived with Tenel Ka Djo. In 40 ABY, Solo agreed to become the Sith apprentice of Lumiya after probing the future and finding that, if he did not do so, he would kill Luke Skywalker and the galaxy would be consumed by chaos. He embarked on a year-long descent into the dark side, slowly turning against the Jedi and his family as he grew darker and more extreme. After seizing control of the Galactic Alliance, killing Mara Jade Skywalker, torturing his former apprentice Ben Skywalker, committing multiple atrocities, taking Tahiri Veila as his official Sith apprentice, and ascending to Sith Mastery as Darth Caedus, he was finally killed by his twin sister Jaina.

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Obi-Wan Kenobi



Obi-Wan Kenobi, later known as Ben Kenobi during his exile, was a legendary Jedi Master who played a significant role in the fate of the galaxy during the waning days of the Galactic Republic. He was the mentor of both Anakin and Luke Skywalker, training both in the ways of the Force. He had a long and tumultuous career that helped shape the fate of the entire galaxy.


Born in 57 BBY on Stewjon, Kenobi was taken as the Jedi apprentice of Qui-Gon Jinn and traveled on many missions with him. During the Invasion of Naboo in 32 BBY, Kenobi became the first Jedi in approximately 1,000 years to defeat a Sith Lord in combat when he defeated Darth Maul during the Second Battle of Theed, yet lost his master in the same duel. In 22 BBY, Kenobi found the Clone army on Kamino, and he was captured and almost executed in the Petranaki arena on Geonosis, along with Skywalker and Senator Padmé Amidala. The newly arrived clone troopers rescued them, but the following battle began the galaxy-wide Clone Wars.



Kenobi fought during many battles of the Clone Wars, and was one of the last members of the Jedi High Council. Even after his apprentice became a Jedi Knight, Kenobi and Skywalker fought together many times, becoming a widely renowned pair. Kenobi earned the sobriquet "The Negotiator" through his charm and calm demeanor as well as the quiet threat of his abilities with a lightsaber. During the war, an old enemy returned to haunt Kenobi: Darth Maul, the murderer of Qui-Gon Jinn. With aid of his brother, Savage Opress, the revived Sith Lord went to create a criminal empire, all the while plotting revenge on his most despised adversary. Kenobi clashed blades with Maul on occasion across the galaxy. He was devastated as Maul slew the Jedi's past love interest, Duchess Satine Kryze of Mandalore, in cold blood, yet remained strong throughout the conflict. Later in the war, Skywalker saved his life in a battle fought over Coruscant, after which Kenobi killed General Grievous on Utapau. However, he was soon betrayed, as Commander Cody, following Order 66, opened fire on him.



Kenobi met up with his old mentor Grand Master Yoda, and the two realized that not many Jedi had survived the attacks. The two returned to the Jedi Temple, where they learned the agonizing truth: Skywalker, now lost to the dark side of the Force, had led an attack to kill all Jedi remaining in the Jedi Temple, following orders from Chancellor Palpatine, the ruler of the successor of the Republic, the Galactic Empire. Kenobi traveled to Mustafar in order to duel his former apprentice and friend, now the Sith Lord Darth Vader. Finally, Vader was taken in by a storm of lava, and Kenobi remorsefully left him to die. While Yoda, one of the few other Jedi to survive the Great Jedi Purge, went into exile, Kenobi took the son of Skywalker and Amidala, Luke Skywalker, to live with the Lars family on Tatooine. He became a friend of the young Skywalker as he grew up, but he did not tell Skywalker his actual identity.
Kenobi re-emerged in 0 BBY, shortly before the Battle of Yavin. After Leia Organa, Vader's daughter and Luke Skywalker's twin sister, was captured by the Empire, she contacted him desperately. Kenobi gave Luke his father's lightsaber and traveled with him to Alderaan in Han Solo's Millennium Falcon, only to realize that the Death Star had destroyed the planet. Kenobi entered the Death Star with Luke, Han, Chewbacca, C-3PO, and R2-D2, in order to rescue Organa, but Darth Vader sensed his presence. In a duel with his former apprentice, Kenobi gave up his life to allow Luke to escape, vanishing into the Force the moment Vader struck him down with his weapon. Three years later, his spirit returned to Luke to lead him to Dagobah in order to learn from Master Yoda. He even carried out his role as a mentor to the younger Jedi beyond his natural life through use of the Force, remaining a significant influence on Luke Skywalker's foundation of the New Jedi Order.









Saturday, March 29, 2014

House of Organa


The House of Organa, also known as the Royal House of Alderaan or simply House Organa, was an Alderaanian Noble House that dated back to the earliest days of Alderaan's colonization. Throughout history, the Organa dynasty was the one that ruled over their homeworld the longest, and as such was known as the Royal House of Alderaan. Throughout several millennia of existence, the House Organa sired many well-known figures of the pan–galactic politics. Two of its most renowned scions were Viceroy Bail Prestor Organa and his adopted daughter, Princess Leia Organa. Following the destruction of Alderaan in 0 BBY, the name of Organa died out.

Juno Eclipse



Juno Eclipse was a Human female who served the Galactic Empire as an Imperial officer and pilot during the Great Jedi Purge. Her exceptional skills in leadership and combat were noticed by several high-ranking officials in the Imperial Military, including the Sith Lord Darth Vader. Rising through ranks in record time, Captain Eclipse was personally chosen by Vader to lead his Black Eight Squadron. Although she initially considered service under Emperor Palpatine's right-hand man to be the highlight of her career, her role in the Bombing of Callos caused her to doubt some of the Empire's policies.

Although her beliefs wavered due to the mass genocide and complete sterilization that rendered Callos uninhabitable, Captain Eclipse was unwilling to abandon her allegiance to the Empire, nor her hard-earned position under Darth Vader's command. However, Vader came to the conclusion that Eclipse lacked a certain quality in ruthlessness that he found necessary in those who served him. As a consequence, he reassigned her to a highly confidential detail. Hence, in 3 BBY, Eclipse became the latest pilot of the Rogue Shadow, a stealth vessel that was piloted by several individuals in turn. The purpose of her top secret assignment was to transport Darth Vader's agent to wherever his missions required him to go. During that time, she was unaware that the mysterious young man was Vader's secret apprentice, codenamed "Starkiller."


Although she learned that Starkiller was a Force-sensitive assassin, who was tasked with hunting down the last of the Jedi, her attempts to learn any personal information about him were met with failure. Upon inadvertently discovering Vader's plot to kill Emperor Palpatine with Starkiller's aid, Eclipse's loyalties became divided between her Emperor and immediate superior. Nevertheless, she continued to carry out her orders to the letter, and took great care to not allow the apprentice to learn of her accidental discovery. But when Vader unexpectedly betrayed his disciple at the behest of the Emperor, the Dark Lord branded Captain Eclipse as a traitor due to her association with Starkiller. Stripped of her rank and all that she worked hard to gain, Eclipse was imprisoned on the Empirical.
Six months later, Juno Eclipse was freed by Starkiller, whose apparent death was faked by Darth Vader in order to continue their assassination plot against Palpatine. Eclipse, forced into the life of a fugitive, reluctantly renounced her allegiance to the Galactic Empire and joined with Starkiller on his mission to create the Rebel Alliance. However, she was unaware of the fact that the apprentice remained loyal to his master; nor did she realize that the Rebellion's purpose was to distract the Emperor's attention in order to create a new opportunity to kill him.
During their adventures, Eclipse and Starkiller gradually developed a rapport that eventually turned into love. When Vader betrayed the apprentice for a second time, Starkiller denounced the Sith and embraced his Jedi heritage. By that time, Eclipse learned that the apprentice's birth name was "Galen Marek." However, their relationship was brought to an untimely end when Marek perished in battle against Emperor Palpatine by sacrificing his own life in order to save the founders of the Rebel Alliance.
Shortly after Marek's death, Eclipse witnessed the official founding of the Alliance to Restore the Republic on Kashyyyk. She chose to honor the fallen apprentice's legacy by joining the Alliance Fleet as one of its first officers. Less than a year later, Juno Eclipse was commissioned as the captain of the Rebel flagship, the Salvation.

Grand Army of the Republic


The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), also known as the Grand Army and the Clone Army, was a major branch of the Galactic Republic Military composed entirely of clone troopers, an army of elite soldiers created from the genetically altered template of the Mandalorian bounty hunter Jango Fett. Bred in secret within the cloning facilities of the planet Kamino, the Grand Army was officially formed by Supreme Chancellor Palpatine at the behest of the Galactic Senate in response to the Separatist Crisis which threatened to divide the galaxy between the Republic and the newly born Confederacy of Independent Systems. The members of the Jedi Order were commissioned as high-ranking commanders and generals in the Grand Army, second in authority only to Chancellor Palpatine, who held the rank of Supreme Commander. Under the leadership of their Jedi officers, the Grand Army engaged the Separatist Droid Army on many worlds during the Clone Wars, suffering heavy casualties for three years while restoring Republic sovereignty to numerous rebellious areas throughout the galaxy.


By the year 19 BBY, the Clone Wars was nearly over and the Republic was on the verge of a decisive victory. In the midst of the final battles, particularly in the Outer Rim Campaign, Chancellor Palpatine issued Order 66, an executive command calling on all clone troopers to neutralize their Jedi officers with lethal force in the event of a Jedi insurrection. The vast majority of clones, genetically engineered for loyalty and conditioned to obey all orders without question or debate, turned their weapons on the Jedi and promptly gunned them down. On Coruscant, the newly-anointed Sith Lord Darth Vader led the 501st Legion in an attack on the Jedi Temple, killing nearly all of its inhabitants mere days before the Chancellor's Declaration of a New Order. Immediately following the Republic's transition into the first Galactic Empire, the Grand Army of the Republic was reorganized into the Stormtrooper Corps; its remaining clone soldiers composing the ranks of the reformed branch in addition to the millions of new clones engineered by Spaarti technology. Under the reign of Emperor Palpatine, the Imperial stormtroopers became a symbol of the New Order, most notably due to their unwavering loyalty to the Emperor.


Many years after the Clone Wars, it was discovered that Palpatine was secretly Darth Sidious, a Dark Lord of the Sith who belonged to an order dedicated to the fall of the Republic and the destruction of the Jedi. As Palpatine and Sidious, the Dark Lord controlled both sides of the civil war and used the Grand Army as an instrument to restore Sith rule to the galaxy while simultaneously purging it of the Jedi Knights. As a result, the Grand Army of the Republic was remembered as a key factor in the Sith plot that brought about the era of the Dark Times and the subsequent Galactic Civil War between the Empire and the Alliance to Restore the Republic.

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Pong Krell


 Pong Krell was a male Besalisk Jedi Master who served as a Jedi General in the Grand Army of the Republic during the Clone Wars. A powerful Jedi and a recognized war hero, he was relentless in his tactics on the battlefield, seeking success at all costs. As a combatant, he was an especially ferocious lightsaber duelist; the advantage of four arms allowed him to wield two double-bladed lightsabers at the same time. As a general, Krell found insubordination intolerable and required strict adherence to command from all of his soldiers. During the war, Krell foresaw how the Republic would be destroyed from within, thus paving the way for the rise of a New Order. This vision, coupled with his lust for power, ultimately caused Krell to abandon the Jedi way. Outwardly, he maintained the appearance of his ties to the Jedi and Republic. In secret, Pong Krell had embraced the dark side of the Force.

Around 21 BBY, when the shadow planet Umbara seceded from the Republic, Pong Krell was given command over the 501st Legion, serving as an interim general during Anakin Skywalker's absence. Krell deliberately crafted incompetent battle strategies in order to sabotage the Republic's campaign to retake the planet. By covertly assisting the Separatists' efforts to retain Umbara, Krell hoped to join the Sith ranks as a disciple of the Sith Lord Darth Tyranus, thus securing a place for himself in the future Empire.

Krell's plans were ultimately thwarted by the clone troopers under his own command. When his duplicity was uncovered, Krell was confronted by Captain CT-7567 (nicknamed "Rex") and troopers from the 501st Legion and the 212th Attack Battalion. Although he single-handedly slaughtered scores of clones, eventually he was captured and detained. While restrained by binder cuffs, Krell was fatally shot in the back by Dogma, his most loyal soldier, thus ending the fallen Jedi's life.

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Galen Marek


Galen Marek, codenamed Starkiller, was a male Human apprentice of the Sith Lord Darth Vader. A powerful Force-user who lived during the era of the Galactic Empire, Marek originated from the Wookiee home planet of Kashyyyk as the sole offspring of two Jedi Knights—Mallie and Kento Marek—who deserted the Jedi Order during the Clone Wars. Following the death of his mother, the young Marek's father was killed in battle by Darth Vader. Though only a child, Marek possessed an exceptionally strong connection to the Force that the Dark Lord of the Sith sought to exploit.

Thus, Darth Vader abducted Marek in order to train the orphan in the ways of the Sith Order. Although the Sith were limited to only two members at any given time, Vader nonetheless trained Marek as a secret apprentice during his own apprenticeship to Darth Sidious, the Sith Lord who ruled the galaxy as Emperor Palpatine. The physical and psychological trauma of Vader's unforgiving training regimen resulted in Marek's immersion within the dark side of the Force as his Master intended. With his childhood memories suppressed and his original identity forgotten, Marek only knew himself as the Dark Lord's apprentice; a Sith assassin who operated under the codename "Starkiller" and a living weapon to be deployed against the enemies of Darth Vader.


In addition to the assassination of numerous targets that included Vader's many rivals, the apprentice trained for years in preparation for the day when he would be ready to aid his Master in a confrontation with Darth Sidious. This singular goal became Starkiller's obsession as he longed to become a true Sith Lord. The pinnacle of Starkiller's training saw him deployed against Jedi targets for the first time in his life in 3 BBY and culminated in victories against the fugitive Jedi Masters Rahm Kota, Kazdan Paratus and Shaak Ti. With the death of Ti, one of the few members of the Jedi High Council who survived Order 66, Darth Vader declared that the time had come to execute their plan to overthrow the Emperor. Elated at the prospect of finally fulfilling his sole purpose in life, Starkiller rendezvoused with Vader on the Executor only to be betrayed and severely wounded by his Master who claimed that Sidious's spies had discovered the existence of the secret apprentice. Pressured by the Emperor, Vader demonstrated his loyalty by seemingly killing Starkiller. In truth, the betrayal was a ruse that allowed Vader to save his apprentice's life.

Upon Starkiller's full recovery in 2 BBY, Vader revealed his contingency plan: the creation of a full-scale rebellion against the Galactic Empire. The apprentice was instructed by his Master to assemble an army of rebels and dissidents in order to distract the Emperor's attention with a civil war, hence allowing them both another opportunity to assassinate Sidious. Though bitter and resentful toward Vader, Starkiller complied and searched several parts of the galaxy for influential contacts that would be crucial to the formation of an insurrection on a galactic-scale. Through Starkiller's efforts, three disillusioned members of the Imperial Senate—Bail Organa, Garm Bel Iblis and Mon Mothma—convened on the planet Corellia where they agreed to join their resources together in opposition to the Emperor's rule. However, the mission proved to be another deception on Vader's part; the Dark Lord betrayed Starkiller once more and captured the senators. Outraged by the discovery that his Master was unwilling to challenge Darth Sidious with Starkiller's aid, the former apprentice journeyed to the incomplete Death Star and intended to rescue his new-found allies from execution. Abandoning the persona of Starkiller, he re-embraced his Jedi heritage as Galen Marek through the partial recovery of his suppressed memories.


During the apprentice's infiltration of the nearly-complete battlestation, Galen Marek confronted and defeated his former Master in battle. Sidious hoped to claim Marek as his new apprentice and goaded him to kill Vader. Instead, Marek attacked the Emperor in a move to provide the senators with enough time to escape the Death Star. His plan succeeded, but ultimately cost the apprentice his life. Nevertheless, his sacrifice facilitated the formation of the Alliance to Restore the Republic and the outbreak of the Galactic Civil War. The early founders of the Rebellion remembered the apprentice as Galen Marek, the original architect of the Rebel Alliance, and honored his memory by adopting the Marek family crest as the official emblem of the Alliance.
Unknown to the Rebels, Darth Vader preserved his former apprentice's corpse as a genetic template for the creation of a more powerful and obedient version of the original Starkiller. But due to the inherent difficulties of cloning Force-wielders, coupled with the flaws of a modified version of the Kaminoan technique, the initial results were less than satisfactory. Vader was forced to replicate his fallen disciple on multiple occasions in a bid to gradually correct the imperfect procedure. Approximately six months after Marek's death, the Dark Lord's experiment—conducted in secret within the Timira City Cloning Facility—produced hundreds of abject failures and a rogue clone who escaped from Kamino. Despite such setbacks, Darth Vader ultimately succeeded in his goal to engineer the perfect clone of his former apprentice. A far more powerful version of Marek, the clone successfully purged himself of the emotional imprints that undermined his precursors.