Lit The Official StarWars.com Blog Thread - That's right, I went there

The Xim quote is great, but it's not mine -- it's Daley's from LOST LEGACY. Well, really it's Daley's homage to Shelley, but anyway.

 

The whole article reads like a BBC travel documentary. Kudos!!

 

Awesome piece!

...For some reason, when reading that description of the Croke poet, I couldn't help but think of Jello.

 

X-wing Alliance does have a very long list of unseen characters whose names could end up at Endor. Dozens of characters there, compared to only a handful in X-wing and TIE Fighter.

 

I had a Mon Mothma quote from the Truce at Bakura SB in my Nagai article. Someone said they liked the quote, so I had to tell him it wasn't mine.

 

Oh, and there's a couple of Mon Calamari officers in there that could be Nammo.

 

Just saw this. Haven't had a chance to read it yet, but given the authors I have no doubt it's awesome: http://starwarsblog.starwars.com/2013/12/05/the-imperial-warlords-despoilers-of-an-empire-part-1/.

 

Ho. Lee. Crap.

That article was amazing. Just amazing. Very well-written and interesting, even to an EU buff. So much goodness in there: Warlord being an official Imperial title that Zsinj popularized after Endor, confirmation that the Pestage at Byss was a clone, The Pentastar Alignment and the DarkStryder campaign... Abel and Dan. Holy crap.

 

STUNNING! I need to read again when I get home from work, but that is chalk full of EU goodness. Great to see our old friend Dan Wallace return as well!

--Adm. Nick

 

awesome stuff, some epic battles, great historical tidbits, and loved the mention of some Venator vs. Victory action, keep it coming Star Wars blog

 

Excellent as I expected. Is it too much to hope that Part 2 will include at least a mention of Moff Delurin, the Warlord of Wild Space?

 

My mistake --- it looks like the Pestage killed on Ciutric was the clone. One has to wonder how much of Mandatory Retirement featured the real Pestage --- was it him right up until the end, when he fled and had his clone go meet Krennel? One of life's great mysteries!

 

So, He-Who-Screams-When-Bitten-By-Large-Selonians came to serve Kaine, Pasiq served Zsinj, Gwellib Ap-Llewff, Welshest of inquisitors, served the reborn Emperor, and Tremayne joined Hethrir (although I'm not sure who, if anyone, he publicly served in this time - the Empire proper?). An interesting dispersal for Vader's first class.

My assumption has been that the substitution occured on the yacht - the clone went across to Tavira's ship, the original remained hidden aboard.

 

I remember Jason mentioned that Kogge went to all the trouble of writing up a new verse of the Despotica, only to have it cute from the final version, so I'm absolutely thrilled that it managed to get released in some format - both for Kogge himself, as well as the fans who finally get to read it. And I'm glad Dan is getting his cut content published as well. If memory serves, that means we'll get to hear about the Waymancy Storm very soon?

As for the Warlord article, I absolutely love it. So much so, that I'm going to subject you all to my thoughts on it.

- Is it weird that I'm so used to seeing Abel and Rich writing together that I start to worry something's wrong when they don't? Not that I'm complaining, because I always look forward to anything written by either of them, plus it's great to see Dan in on this one!

- I actually have a friend named Marissa, whose favourite period is the post-Endor warlord era, so seeing an article on Warlords carrying a "spacey" version of new name has absolutely made her day. Kudos for inadvertantly making me her the happiest fangirl in existence!

- An interesting expansion on what "Warlord of the Empire" actually means, and why the breakaways adopted the title despite it being an official Imperial honorific. I'm also pleasantly surprised to see General Pashna Starkiller on the list of people given the title under the Empire.

- Extra browney points for reviving the phrase "Omnipotent Battle Leader", which, if memory serves, first appeared in Darksaber as one of the random titles one of the Deep Core warlords bestowed upon themselves.

- I'm consistently amazed by the ability of the Blog to introduce new canon in image captions. While we weren't treated to any hilarious puns like in Barely Tolerable, the article more than made up for it with information on what happened to the Raptors after the death of Zsinj, a neat Celestials and Whills reference, further confirmation that the Pestage killed by Krennel was a clone, and both Jerec and Halmere serving as the InQuestor version of the Grand Inquisitor!

- Speaking of image captions, which Star Destroyer is the Oriflamme? I only ask because Wookieepedia probably won't give it an image until they're absolutely certain which Star Destroyer in the shot it is.

- At first I thought the final words of big bad Zsinj were funny, but the more I re-read this article, the more poignant they become...

- While I'm glad that the article didn't implicitly state that Sarne turned the tide of so many battles because of DarkStryder technology, since it apparantly doesn't work outside the Kathol sector, that does make me curious as to how he did it. Was the DarkStryder tech intended to be the reason or was he just a good tactician?

- Expanded information on the death of Kaine. I can't help but wonder if Grand Admiral Grant actually helped the New Republic out during Operation Shadow Hand, or if NRI just impersonated him to lure Kaine out.

All in all, an amazing article! I can't wait for the next installment. Ennix Devian gets a lot of mentions, which leads me to believe that he'll show up in future installments. I never particularly cared for him as a character, so I can't wait for some new information and references that might make him a bit more appealing to fans disappointed by CE3. Hopefully some more Nom Anor references, perhaps? Great job, Abel and Dan. You've outdone yourselves once again!

 

Sarne! Oh Yes! So need to read this once I am back from work.

 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH

 

I really enjoyed the Kaine stuff, and the additions to Grant's story at the same time.

 

Yeah, making the simple noble title of baron some kind of "starfighter honorific" makes no sense and causes more problems than it solves if really considered. Especially since there was never a problem to solve to begin with.

Buuuuut, other than that, oh my god so cool. Loved the collection of warlord names, loved the name-checks of the Outland Regions Security Force and Prefsbelt IV. Zsinj's background is maybe a little colorful, but hell, he's a grandiose guy. Jello: I don't read that as saying that Zsinj always claimed loyalty or saw himself as part of the Empire -- just that he initially ("In the immediate upheaval following the Battle of Endor") maintained the public fiction of loyalty while making his moves toward warlordism. He maintained nominal loyalty until there was nothing the Empire could do about it.


Zsinj's final words are great. There's a lot of subtext packed into one word.

Interesting bit distinguishing the "supernals of Mortis" from the Celestials in that image caption.

I like seeing Tigellinus exiling Krennel; it's nice to have some high-level Imperials actively disapproving of excessive butchery. Nice to get a little more clarification pointing at dead-Pestage being the clone. The retcon of Krennel pushing out Drommel is interesting -- Drommel was defeated by the New Republic and then killed by a subordinate, so it suggests that Krennel was pushing Drommel on another front, chopping him down while the NR dealt the final blow. Some nice complexity there.

Not sure about making Bastion a humanist hotbed, given its future as the capital of the alien-friendly Pellaeon Remnant and Fel Empire. Iridium pirates! I'd have loved a bit more specificity on Kaine's role in the Republic, but I love the idea of Kaine sort of shaping himself in the mold of his father and getting driven to extremism by grief over his death. It's a nice touch that Oversector Outer, for all the importance of its size, doesn't carry with it a great deal of influence; Tarkin made the position, and Kaine doesn't get that stature just by succeeding him in title. Love the clarification of Jerec's role and the Halmere reference. Interesting that he's described as "schismatic," too -- I'd love to see that followed up on someday. I loved the addition of psychological complexity to Kaine, and his death -- and the implication of deep personal friendship with Grant taken advantage of with some rather tragic undertones -- was nice to have clarified.

Also, not sure where that DE art is from, but I am endlessly amused to see that Luke one-upped Cade by stealing not only Vader's pants, but also his codpiece. Perhaps that family heirloom was left behind in the rush off Ossus.

This article delivered. All the articles have been neat so far, but when you get to see the masters at work like this, it's always extra-special. Can't wait for part two.

 

Sarne! DarkStryder! Finally! I was disappointed when he wasn't included in the Atlas run down of warlord states, but this makes up for it!

If I remember correctly, the DarkStryder technology wasn't confined to the Kathol sector, but became less powerful the further away it was until it stopped working. So the Minos Cluster, being close to the Kathol sector, would have allowed it to be used. I think WEG stated they did this for game balance, so DarkStryder tech couldn't be employed on, say, Coruscant to unbalance a campaign.

 

You were saying?

 

New topic is very interesting.

Concerning "which Pestage is the clone" I wondered if it works the same way as it did in Darksaber for Lemelisk- Pestage took the same precautions as Palpatine did with Lemelisk- and thus, his essence was transferred into his clone when he was killed by Krennel.

 

Ever since I read Darksaber as a young kid, I have loved the title Omnipotent Battle Leader. So ridiculous that it is awesome.

Also- I love that the article used Gial Ackbar, not just Ackbar. Good to see his first name getting continued use!

--Adm. Nick