Revenge in Sulamar
So he shows up on Coruscant under the guise of opening diplomatic relations between the Hutts and the New Republic, but with the real obvious intent of stealing the Death Star plans so he can put everything in motion. Durga manages to covertly steal the plans using his little furry pets, a species of hive-minded, rodent-like creatures.
In Imperial space, the supposed-to-be-intimidating-but-is-actually-a-bumbling-idiot Admiral Daala is back and ready for battle. The Imperial Remnant has been mired by infighting as various warlords all spar with each other to be the new leader of the Empire. Daala steps in and kills them all in what is actually a pretty well done sequence and brings all of their assets under her control.
My only real gripe is that Pellaeon, one of the superstars from the Thrawn books, is back and plays loyal second fiddle to Daala. I have a hard time believing that Pellaeon would have been as blind a follower of Daala based on how his character had been developed in previous books. One of Kevin J. Every person is an exact replica of the generation preceding him, fills the same position in society, lives in the same house, etc.
Along comes Dorsk 81, who, for whatever reason, is force sensitive. No one in his lineage had been a Jedi. Indeed, all indications are that he is the first member of his species to even feel the Force. This makes him different, an aberration in the system. He left the planet in shame because even though he had the power within him to do so much good for his planet and the greater galaxy, he did not fit the strict criteria of conformity for acceptance among his peers. Not gonna lie, this is a really nice setup. I honestly wish we had spent more time with Dorsk, investigating his planet and the society around him, not to mention his personal story.
Callista is dealing with a deep moral problem; should she, a non-Force user, get more serious in her relationship with Luke, arguable the most powerful Jedi around? More importantly, she is concerned about his legacy. He even throws a nice wrinkle in there by having Callista briefly reconnect with the Force one time, but only when she gets very angry.
The implication is that she could indeed reconnect with the force permanently, but it would mean succumbing to the Dark Side. I really feel for her character and, even though every time she opens her mouth to be lovey-dovey with Luke I want her and Skywalker to die, she surprised me by becoming one of my favorite parts of this story. They start off on Dagobah, then head off to Hoth. Anderson really knows how to bring a world to life.
He would be great if he was just writing sourcebooks or encyclopedia entries on the planets, flora, and fauna of the Star Wars Galaxy. Unfortunately, someone gave him a book deal to write novels instead. He takes these locations and makes the events transpiring at them contrived and far-fetched. Take what happens on Hoth, for example. These Wampas, who are primal, instinctual creatures are magically super smart all of a sudden and are coordinating all these trick plans and strategies.
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Apparently when Luke dismembered the creature, he also gave it super intelligence. And what makes it better is that on Hoth we meet the stranded group of hunters who serve absolutely no purpose to the story. They are there entirely to pad out the page length of the book with their deaths. And they all die. Why are they there? What is the purpose of this whole subplot? A good 20 pages could have been deleted wholesale and no one would have known the difference! A sign of good writing if I ever saw one…ugh. What bugs me about the war games is, again, how dumb they are.
Wedge Antilles commands one of the fleets, while Admiral Ackbar commands the other. Around the time Anderson completely screws up the Ackbar character, he also brings Crix Madine into the story. Madine appears briefly in Return of the Jedi during the briefing scene on the Rebel Fleet as one of the Generals giving details of the attack on the Second Death Star.
But Crix Madine is someone Star Wars nerds of my generation hold in a special place in our hearts; we grew up rescuing him on Corellia in the classic N64 game Rogue Squadron when the then-Imperial Soldier Madine decided to defect to the Rebels. Not to mention his key role in Dark Forces, one of the greatest video games of all time. True to form, Kevin J. How can I take another classic character and destroy him?
Madine is introduced as the Chief of Intelligence for the New Republic. Even in the movies he was always involved with Special Forces and infiltration and whatnot, so it was the right move to put him in the role as Spymaster for the Republic. Alright, I can sort of buy that. Where I had problems was, again, when Anderson had a character speak.
He paints Madine as this regretful, tortured soul. Wait, he feels bad for killing the Emperor? To top it off, Madine switches on a dime from being all regretful about his actions at the Second Death Star to feeling all patriotic about how awesome the New Republic is. Through all this, Durga has been working on his Death Star. We meet one of the designers of the original superweapon, Bevel Lemelisk. Bevel is another one of those rare good points in an Anderson novel; an interesting character who actually stays interesting throughout.
Bevel had been put through a special sort of torture by Emperor Palpetine. When the first Death Star was destroyed, the Emperor had piranha beetles eat Bevel alive. The Emperor repeated this a handful of times over the years whenever Bevel displeased him. Anderson actually lets these memories drive Bevel, who is by the time of this book a fairly jumpy, broken man and I will give Anderson credit for the good job.
We also meet Sulamar, another Ex-Imperial that Durga brought on the project as a Commanding Officer for the weapon when it is completed. Sulamar spends most of the time strutting around the project acting important and bragging about the massacres he spearheaded in his past. The stupidity of this timeline just pulls me right out of the story! Not that I was in the story to begin with.
Durga wants to eliminate most of the stuff in the Death Star and keep just the turbolaser and a few other systems. The result would be a long, cylindrical ship. The redesign alone should have taken weeks with a team of engineers. In order to accommodate his preposterously compressed timeline, in what is perhaps the most pitiful example of Deus ex Machina thus far, Anderson has created a race of hive-minded creatures who are able to magically build at super speed.
The Deus ex Machina creatures are easily distracted, so they keep screwing up in the construction. The materials and computer equipment that Sulamar brings in are thirty or forty years old and clearly inadequate for the job. Like Durga, she has managed to three years of work in just a few days. And all before eating a nutritiously balanced breakfast! Daala accomplished all this practically overnight.
What I love most about all this is Daala has carried out everything without the New Republic knowing about it. Yet the New Republic remains blissfully unaware. Later in the book, when word does get out to Leia and Admiral Ackbar, they are all caught off guard. How cool is that!?!
So Durga has magically built his Darksaber over the course of a few weeks. Daala has magically revamped the Empire from the ground up over the course of a few weeks. Oh, by the way, on Nal Hutta we meet this emaciated Hutt who is considered a disgrace because of his lack of obesity and is degraded by Durga. Yet another among the dozens of lost opportunities and interesting ideas that Anderson introduces, hints at, but then discards in favor of the mundane. Of all the asteroid systems in all the galaxy you pick that one?
In a good book, I could look past this. This is the part where the book officially lost me. My in the world the Head Honcho for the entire New Republic Covert Operations force would personally go on a dangerous mission is beyond me. It would be like Dwight D. Eisenhower joining in the first wave of Omaha Beach. This is what you give me? No leader in their right mind would do this! The mission, like the rest of the book, follows incredibly predictable beats. One of the two commandos hits an asteroid and blows up. As Madine and his surviving commando reach the Darksaber construction site, Bevel Lemelisk, the engineer, notices their ships in the distance.
But apparently Durga has just let these smugglers do their thing and leave. This apparent lack of caring about site security again begs the question as to how all this was conducted without the New Republic finding out about it. The thing is this detail did not need to be revealed; there was no rhyme or reason to why Lemelisk would say it. So why include it? What purpose does it serve except to destabilize the already shaky story?
They are pointless and inane. And this book is full of them! She decides to launch immediately rather than wait a few days and somehow within an hour is able to get every Star Destroyer at her disposal ready to go. Just get to the fighting. As soon as they enter hyperspace towards Yavin, surprise! Alerted to both the Darsksaber and the Daala threat, the New Republic fleet splits in two. Madine and his commando assistant infiltrate the Darskaber not before more comments on how shoddily constructed the weapon was and how it would probably blow itself up.
Madine gets dragged before Durga, exchanges a few words, then is promptly executed. My favorite part is that he died for absolutely no reason. If it Madine had lived or died, the outcome of the story would have been the same. Kill a movie character. Heck, kill Madine if you want. But make it meaningful to the story! It came out of nowhere, contributed nothing to the plot, and reeked of Anderson forcing it in there just to be edgy.
The engineer in charge of construction said the ship was doomed. None of this is hidden from the reader. I mean, are we really supposed to be surprised by this? I really want to call up or email Kevin J. If this review had audio, I would be blowing a raspberry right now. You want to talk about anti-climax? There was no climax on its way to begin with. Kyp and Dorsk 81 had arrived at the Academy first and they managed to set up some defense. I actually liked what Anderson did here by having Dorsk 81 sort of take command rather than Kyp.
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Alexa Actionable Analytics for the Web. AmazonGlobal Ship Orders Internationally. Amazon Inspire Digital Educational Resources. Amazon Rapids Fun stories for kids on the go. King Kikipi - Galactic or Space: Strike-Class Cruiser Upright The King of the Toong people on the world of Tund within the Centrality during the Clone Wars, Kikipi was depicted on coins of the time and may still have been alive and ruling in later years if he survived Rokur Gepta's bombardment of Tund that was intended to wipe out the Sorcerers of Tund.
Ben Quadinaros - Space: Y-Wing The most famous Toong racer ever to grace the galaxy, Quadinaros earned his fame during the waning years of the Republic and continued to race through the Clone Wars. Although a nervous sort, it is possible that Ben could be called upon in defense of Centran space if the need arose. High Singer Mohs -?? The high singer of the Toka subculture of the ancient Sharu, Mohs participated in recovering the mindharp of Sharu alongside Lando Calrissian.
The harp reversed the mental hibernation the Sharu had undergone to become the Toka. When this process was complete, Mohs returned to his place as a leader among his people. Lehesu - Space A relatively young member of the space dwelling Oswaft species, Lehesu is one of the most adventurous of his kind. A naturally trusting and inquisitive sort, Lehesu chose not to become one of the elders of his people and instead continue exploring the galaxy.
With most of the Centrality's government dominated by more reasonable and open minded individuals in the aftermath of Rokur Gepta's death, it is possible the Lehesu might come to their aid in the event of an intrusion into Centran space by outside forces. July 15, , WarlordOfWildSpace on June 30, , July 02, , Make them fear YOU.
DarthRevansRevenge on July 01, , And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee. Beznerds Vice Admiral Posts: I don't think it's a terrible idea for a submod, if the game freezes up a lot then that's just an unfortunate side effect, maybe mini gc's could be made from this set up? The Galactic Empire - The best thing to happen to the galaxy since Midichlorian counts.
And the bad idea part only was towards the FTGU part. Yeah, these factions would largely serve best as being part of unique GCs, but could also be useful additions to larger GCs as long as few additional planets are added. The Committee for example are based on Kessel, which is already on most maps.
I also have a YouTube channel where I talk about mod development and gaming, do tutorials, and Let's Plays. If you like the content, consider supporting it on Patreon. July 03, , Thanks for the clarification Corey. Is the demo already setup with the laser particles fixed?
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If each entity adds up, then that was a lot of entities before I hit freeze point, and I was purposefully trying to max out the engine. Central Committee of Grand Moffs Later: The Moffs met aboard the unique Strike-class cruiser Moffship in orbit over Kessel to discuss their actions. The leader of the group, Grand Moff Bertroff Hissa, had devised a plan to put the slavelord of Kessel, Trioculus, forward as a figurehead for the Committee, claiming that Trioculus was the mutant son of Emperor Palpatine.
While Trioculus was birthed from the same experimental program that created Palpatine's mutant son, they were not one and the same. The Committee was largely composed of Imperial idealists and followers of the newly christened 'Church of the Dark Side' created by Imperial Intelligence to try and hold the Empire together in the aftermath of Palpatine's death, so they approved of the plan of using Trioculus' link with the late Emperor to vitalize their movement. Grand Admiral Tigellinus was eliminated through the machinations of Grand Moff Vilim Disra to increase his standing in the Committee and Grand Admiral Takel was killed by Trioculus and Hissa when his loyalty came into question.
Trioculus attempted to further his standing by gaining the 'blessing' of the Supreme Prophet of the Church of the Dark Side, Kadann. Near the end of the Committee's existence however, it would be revealed that the prophet was an imposter from Imperial Intelligence named Rajah Ubooki. Ubooki eliminated Trioculus and attempted to take his place as a candidate for the Imperial throne. An attack was orchestrated on Bespin, only to be foiled by the Hutts, Trioculus attempted to marry Leia Organa and the Committee pursued a number of mystic symbols such as the glove of Vader and a prophecy about a 'Jedi Prince' which turned out to be Palpatine's grandson, the son of Palpatine's mutant son Triclops and a Jedi.
This obsession with mysticism and finding connections with Palpatine was another downfall of the Committee's superstitious members. In the end, infighting weakened the Committee too much to keep it strong. Ubooki sacrificed Hissa in the search for the Lost City of the Jedi and with few supporters left, he was powerless to defend himself against an enemy of the real Kadann who had remained in hiding and was cut down. Nothing worthwhile is ever gained without risk. This post was not enough for the ambitious Disra.
Plotting to put himself into power, Disra organized a coup with the help of a con-artist named Flim and a clone of the Royal Guard Grodin Tierce. In the first part of his plan, Disra made contact with a pirate gang, the Cavrilhu Pirates under Zothip, and used them to sell a new class of starfighter to the Remnant, the Preybird -class, which increased his wealth and standing. The reappearance of Thrawn cast doubt on Pellaeon's integrity while also causing a number of worlds to join the Imperial Remnant.
Discovered during an expedition by Commander Quarsh Panaka and taken under his wing, Hissa worked his way up through the ranks in spite of his half-alien heritage. In the aftermath of the Emperor's death, Hissa arranged to support a ruler he could control, taking the slavelord Trioculus under his wing in much the way Panaka had done for him. He advised and supported Trioculus until his death, at which point he was forced to work for the false prophet Kadann.
This relationship proved his doom when 'Kadann' sent him first into danger. Moff Quarsh Panaka - Space: Lucrehulk-Class Battleship Profit One of the few on Naboo to approve of the Empire, Panaka had a good relationship with Palpatine from his days as a senator. This relationship continued into the New Order and Panaka, after completing missions as a Commander, where he encountered Bertroff Hissa, was promoted by Palpatine to Moff of his home Chommel Sector.
After the battle of Endor, Leia Organa attempted to convince Panaka to surrender Naboo without a fight. Panaka refused to surrender to the Rebellion, but Naboo became a member of the New Republic regardless of his feelings. It is unknown what Panaka did in the intervening years, but he was still alive and an Imperial in 13 ABY. With Hissa as his protege, Panaka would most likely have supported the Committee movement. Figuring what ship to give Panaka is interesting. We know that both Imperial class and Lucrehulk ships owned by Imperial forces have been stationed over Naboo at different times.
So far I am going with a Lucrehulk that was captured by the Republic during the clone wars since there are enough ISD heroes already. The other option that could be interesting is to bring back the superlaser equipped VSD from the Twilight story that never appeared again. The reasoning there would be that the more powerful superlaser equipped ISD Conqueror was developed at a research station on Naboo, so the Twilight vessel being there for the development process could make sense.
Katerina Kramova
Grand Moff Vilim Disra - Galactic Originally the chief administrator of the Shelsa sector, Disra gained standing by exposing the local governor's secret affiliation with the Rebellion and plans to secede from the Empire. He advised Grand Admiral Tigellinus poorly to get him executed by Hissa. With Tigellinus' death, Disra became a voting member of the Committee.
After the Committee's collapse, Disra was demoted in Imperial eyes, but managed by 19 ABY to work his way up to being one of eight members on the Remnant's Council of Moffs. Disra's own ambition proved his downfall when he tried to seize more power in the Remnant through the use of a Thrawn stand-in. The plot was uncovered and Disra was arrested. Emperor Trioculus - Ground The result of Palpatine's experiments into the nature of life and death, Trioculus was considered a failure and shipped off to the mines of Kessel to die in the dark.
Trioculus survievd, however, and eventually rose to be the slavelord of Kessel. Impressing various Imperials, such as Bertroff Hissa, with his intelligence and appreciation of the Emprie, Trioculus was supported by the Imperials and studied military tactics, history and rhetoric. He also served as an informant for the Imperial Security Bureau. When the Emperor died, Bertroff Hissa seized upon Trioculus connection to Palpatine, and his similarity to Palpatine's own mutant son, to support Trioculus in a claim for the Imperial throne. Newly anointed Emperor Trioculus became increasingly superstitious and obsessed with his new persona as 'Palpatine's Son'.
He pursued mystic artifacts, prophecies and tried to marry Leia Organa. In the end, his dependence on the superstition of the Empire through it's new 'Church of the Dark Side' was betrayed by the false prophet Kedann who had initially supported him. Captain Dunwell - Ground Dunwell made a living out of hunting the intelligent Whaladon of the planet Dac with his crew of Aqualish. He assisted Trioculus during the warlord's search for the glove of Darth Vader.
Grand Admiral Miltin Takel - Space: His addictions to glitterstim spice and non-human women were hidden by his brother, a governor, for many years, but the limited extra-sensory awareness granted by glitterstim allowed to feel the need to flee the Death Star II before it was destroyed. Fleeing the battle, Takel further lost face when his home system of Gargon was seized from him by Grand Admiral Josef Grunger.
Once there, he found the superstitions and ambitious plans of Trioculus difficult to accept. After complaining one too many times, Takel was executed for perceived disloyalty. Captain Sergus Lanox - Space: In truth, Lanox had allowed two of the Rebels to escape after developing an emotional attachment to one of them, though the other Imperials never learned this.
Upon learning of Palpatine's final death in 11 ABY, Lanox expressed his despair and belief that the Empire could not survive the Emperor's death.
Grand Admiral Rufaan Tigellinus - Space: ISD II Avatar A charismatic and respected strategist in the Imperial court, Tigellinus spent his years before and after his promotion to Grand Admiral amassing a number of supporters and lackeys in the court. Among Tigellinus' perceived rivals was Gradn Admiral Thrawn. Although Tigellinus thought he had been responsible for exiling Thrawn to the Unknown Regions, the plan was one created by Palpatine and Thrawn. After achieving the additional rank of Grand Moff of the Imperial Center Oversector, Tigellinus seemed to be unstoppably on the rise.
With the death of the Emperor, Tigellinus became displeased with the efforts of Ysanne Isard and decided to hear out the offer of his former rival, Grand Moff Bertroff Hissa. At this meeting he was given poor advice by his colleague Disra and executed as a threat by Hissa. Alec Pradeux - Galactic Privy advisor to Emperor Palpatine, Pradeux was best known for an instance when the Empire released a deadly plague to end a secessionist movement and Pradeux convinced the media that the outbreak had been the work of the Rebels.
After the battle of Endor, he allied himself with Tigellinus.
Newen Streeg - Space: Tan Maarek Stele - Space: ISD I Garrett Originally a starfighter mechanic, Stele was offered the chance to become a pilot after he saved the life of an Admiral during a Rebel attack. Despite his position Stele still came to question his life in the Empire, a question only answered when Soontir Fel invited him to join the legendary st, a squadron he continued to serve with throughout the rest of the Galactic and Imperial Civil Wars.
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Before he met Fel, however, Stele was stationed as an officer at the Imperial prison on Kessel. Working for years with his partner and close friend Zuckuss, 4-LOM eventually developed a sense of idealism and helped Zuckuss work for the Rebel Alliance until he was seriously injured by Boba Fett. Although he was repaired from the injury by Zuckuss, 4-LOM's memory was lost and he returned to taking any job he could get and began working on his own, having forgotten his long-developed friendship with Zuckuss.
Supreme Prophet Kadann - Space: Ubooki initially supported Trioculus in his bid for the throne, but eventually tired of being a subordinate and made his own bid. In the end, Ubooki was killed because someone who wanted to kill the real Kadann thought Ubooki was their target. The following characters would only be available in a late era. Zothip - Ground, Space: He discovered that Disra planned to kill him after the plot succeeded, but held on in the conspiracy in hopes of getting the drop on Disra first.
Although human, Flim used blue makeup and red contacts and gave a convincing enough performance to win over officers who had served under Thrawn. July 10, , July 29, , And the last major faction, the Hutts! Some interesting abilities for them might include being able to bribe ground units and salvage for certain, or random, space units. The Hutt Cartels Leader: Nal Hutta Hutt history stretches back into the mists of time. Long ago the Hutts controlled a vast empire which survived multiple conflicts with foreign powers until, around 15, years ago, they suffered a series of civil wars, known as the Hutt Cataclysms, that split their empire apart.
Since then, the Hutts have established themselves as merchants, in goods both legal and not, and held onto their holdings through a mixture of money and military might, controlled by powerful clans, known as Kajidics, and governed by a ruling council representing the most wealthy and influential clans. The Hutts remained neutral during the Clone Wars, preferring to profit from selling to both sides.
Despite their seperate existence from the Republic, the Hutts preferred to keep their illegal dealings as secret as possible to avoid retribution from them. This mentality continued into the Imperial era, when the Hutts most needed to both appease and circumvent Imperial laws and military forces. Moffs placed in charge of Hutt space were bribed and military actions meant to cow the Hutts into submission as a vassal were either ignored or 'taken care of' by forces that could not be directly linked to the Hutts. Other criminal organizations encroached on their holdings, such as the Zann Consortium and the Black Sun.
Following this, Jabba, the bringer of peace and prosperity for the Hutts, was killed by Rebels on Tatooine. The ensuing clash over what remained of Jabba's empire sent the Hutts spiraling into their worst civil war since the Cataclysms. In an attempt to curtail the advancement of both the Rebels and the newly formed Central Committee of Grand Moffs, Ysanne Isard, former director of Intelligence and current head of the Empire, released Zorba Desilijic Tiure, father of Jabba, from where he was held for his crimes.