Books Journey to The Last Jedi - The Rebel Files by Daniel Wallace (Canon too!)

Question: I noticed in the maps the outline of various regions, and one of them was the post-NJO Empire region. I'm going to guess that was a mistake? Or does it represent something new?

 

Yes, along with other regions outlined as well. However, I checked the main galaxy map in the Essential Atlas, and they seem to correspond with the areas designated in that map - Hutt Space, the Tion Cluster, etc. None of them are labelled, just outlined. I suspect the most likely explanation is the map outline was copied over without realizing one of the regions was from the wrong time and the wrong continuity. Never hurts to check, though!

 

The name Lightmaker was pre-existing, the other two I made up based on what sounded “Alderaanian” to me (peace, hope, royalty, etc.) Not sure which one is which compared to what you see on screen.

 

This is almost certainly the case and my apologies. I didn’t give specific instructions for the design of the maps other than listing which planets should be included, so it probably happened as you said and it didn’t jump out at me when I was eyeballing the layouts.

In-continuity, I might speculate that the post-NJO Empire defined its borders based in part on pre-existing hyperlanes and sector/regional historical boundaries, and therefore that same “territory” is a known quantity to new-canon mapmakers based on its unique geographical qualifiers. (I’m expecting my No-Prize within 3-5 business days please.)

 

Originally I transcribed the ENTIRE battle...every bit of pilot chatter from the movies combined with behind-the-scenes conversations in the war room from takeoff to mission complete. It was like 17 pages long and extremely boring.

 

I would read that in a heartbeat! I'm sure a lot of people here would.

 

@Dan Wallace I've got a question if you don't mind.

In Legends the Bothans (or at least Borsk Fey'la's group) joined the Alliance/New Republic. And although I couldn't find it flipping through my copy, Wookieepedia cites the Imperial Handbook as saying that although not all members of the Bothan Spynet were aligned with the Rebels, many were.

In contrast, in Rebel Files the Bothan Spynet is referred to as an outside source of information like the Hutts or Obroans, and Mothma only considers branching out to use them just before Endor.

How do you see the new canon relationship between the Bothans/Bothan Spynet and the Rebels? (If you can't say because it's all explained in a future spin off movie called Borsk One: A Bothan Story, just blink twice.)

 

Originally I had included more about the Bothans in The Rebel Files, but it got cut back after we received feedback from Lucasfilm.

Before anyone jumps to the most intriguing conclusion, that was almost certainly the result of the Story Group going "well, 'many Bothans died' definitely sounds like the kind of plot point we might pick up at some point in the future, so maybe now's not the time for us to be getting ahead of our skis."

So I don't know where the Bothans fit into modern canon, not exactly, at least not until something official is done with them, which might not actually happen.

 

Just realized that maybe not everybody knows about the tradition of the Marvel No-Prize. As an old-school comics fan, this was one of my favorite things about my introduction to comic book fandom. By introducing the No-Prize, the editors of Marvel Comics welcomed fan nitpicking about continuity errors--as long as the fans also came up with in-universe explanations for why they might NOT be continuity errors.

Such a great way to encourage detail-oriented fans who loved continuity & worldbuilding ephemera, vs. suggesting they just didn't "get it."

 

Thanks, Dan!
And yes, I love your explanation - maybe the post-NJO Empire was able to coerce the GFFA to recognize their territorial expansion through a regional definition that predated the Empire...

 

So I found this on ArtStation...

Spoiler

Looks like this would have been in the book, meaning we would've finally gotten our first good canon look at the Dantooine rebel base! The art is by Diogo Costa and his stuff is awesome. Here's the link to his ArtStation account. You'll also find another beautiful piece from Rebel Files in there that did make it in the book.

 

Wow, that is gorgeous! I do wish we saw more of Dantooine Rebel Base, I was really hoping Rebels would follow-up on that. But after the success of Rogue One, they seemed inclined to want to rush to Yavin Base. I love that concept above and hope it gets reused at some point in the future!

--Adm. Nick

 

Was Lightmaker from Rogue One material? I think Lightmaker was the Hammerhead that rammed the Star Destroyer at Scarif.

Its too bad those corvettes couldn't have been named Valiant, Fidelity and Courage, even if Another Chance is long gone from canon.

EDIT: Sorry if that idea has been brought up before, I have a hard time keeping up with everything.

 

Yes, the Lightmaker first appeared in Alexander Freed's RO novelization. We also know that the blue Hammerhead that escaped Scarif was the Consonance.

--Adm. Nick

 

Ooooof. Where were you when I needed you?

You just gave me the most intense feeling of squandered opportunity. There's gotta be a word in German for that.

 

I like this. The Paecian Empire is one of the most intriguing environmental details to arise from the odd-duck novel The Courtship of Princess Leia.

I think I named this one too. On The Front Lines, maybe.

 

Considering that Jaemus and Entralla fall within the EU's Imperial Remnant/Pentastar Alignment, and that both serve as the bases for the Sienar and Kuati operations that provide ships to the First Order, it looks like something pro-Imperial and sinister is up in that section of space.

A live action Bothan show, starring Charles Dance as Borsk Fey'lya?

 

After some research my Paecian dreams were shattered, alas... Paecia and Dathomir are both well outside the greater Imperial Remnant.

However, the timeframe that it existed - circa 3000 BY - is an interesting one. The last of the Alsakan Conflicts has recently wrapped up. The galaxy is in the post-Sith Wars era, which we don't have a resolution for. Since the Kaarenth Dissension was linked to the Paecians by Abel, I would surmise that the Paecian Empire was a remnant state of the 4th millennium Sith Empire. The war, I would guess, would end with the Republic very weak and the Sith thought destroyed, but a 'secular' Imperial faction (similar to Pellaeon's Imperial Remnant) may have existed. Exhausted by war, the Republic would sign treaties to recognize the Paecian Empire.
We can then assume something similar with the 'mystery region' - looking at maps of the time, most of it was considered outside Republic space anyways - so they traded recognition for areas that they weren't claiming to begin with.
So, we have a basis for the original theory - Pellaeon using the ancient Republic treaty with the old "Imperial Remnant" to negotiate the same boundaries. I would go one step further - it was established that Pellaeon made one of his final campaigns to take the planet Orinda, citing prior claims to it, and the reason being is that the IRC fled here when Coruscant fell, and was the capital of the Empire for a brief time. I would surmise that Orinda was, in fact, the capital of the ancient Imperial remnant, which is why settled there (and in turn, keeping with the naming of the Paecian Empire, I would name this remnant the "Orindan Empire").
This would also go a long way to see why the secular Imperials retreated here - there was probably an ancient "Imperial" tradition in the region as a legacy of their former glories.

Okay, I've done enough derailing for now. On to the actual topic!

While still digesting some of the large amount of detail within, I was particularly impressed with the campaigns of the Rebel Alliance, especially post-Hoth. The desperate assaults reminded me strongly of the old LucasArts games set in the same era - TIE Fighter, X-Wing Alliance, Balance of Power and Force Commander. The Alliance was in dire straits, giving a very good reason why they attacked Endor despite suspecting a possible trap; and the Empire, believing victory was inevitable, overextending itself.

The map of the Rebel bases made some nice callbacks to the old Rebel Alliance SB. I think that the identification of Turkana (featured as the battle at the opening of X-Wing) as a Rebel base was first made here.

 

I did notice about Dathomir, and that the founder of the Kaarenth Dissension was from Bastion.... but the Atlas has Paecia in the vicinity of Dathomir, well outside the expanded Imperial Remnant.
But I missed the drive for Dathomir at the same time ad Orinda. Was.the target really Paecia?

 

The LucasArts flight sims are some of my favorite pieces of Star Wars spinoff lore.

 

I found it interesting that Telaris was located in a "cometary cloud". I'd kill to see that visually, the whole idea of a hidden secret Mon Cala operated shipyard reminds me of the Hast Yards from the EU.

It being located to Mon Cala Space but being hidden probably made it a big thorn in the Empire's side during their occupation. I'd imagine it was a staging area for the eventual liberation of Mon Cala as well.

--Adm. Nick