Author Topic: The Emperor's Pawns article (was: Gamer #5 stuff @ TOS!!!)
Eyrezer  750 posts
Registered: Aug '02
6934_Ephant Mon
Date Posted: 4/2/07 11:42pm Subject: RE: The Emperor's Pawns article (was: Gamer #5 stuff @ TOS!!!)
Halagad_Ventor posted:
Sometimes people are surprised when I make something up, and will tell me they're positive they've seen something like the Azurite Society of Lords ... before.
Lol, anyone in particular? cowboy

 

-----signature-----
cow
Locked Topic | Active Topic Notification | Private Message | Post History
GrandAdmiralJello  59899 posts
Title: Emperor
• EUC
• JCC

Registered: Nov '00
49389_NY Yankees
Date Posted: 4/3/07 1:39am Subject: RE: The Emperor's Pawns article (was: Gamer #5 stuff @ TOS!!!)
Oh, if you're planning to play with more obscurities, I'd really like to see more done with the Order of the Canted Circle. grin

 

-----signature-----
SPQR
Vates Jυλιαδις
Moribus antiquis res stat Romana virisque - Ennius
Tu regere imperio populos, Romanæ, memento; hæ tibi erunt artes;
pascisque imponere morem, parcere subjectis et debellare superbos - Virgil
Locked Topic | Active Topic Notification | Private Message | Post History
Ris_jSarek  2541 posts
Registered: Feb '05
18187_Z-95 Headhunter
Date Posted: 4/3/07 9:43am Subject: RE: The Emperor's Pawns article (was: Gamer #5 stuff @ TOS!!!)
TalonCard posted:
>I remember thinking Halla from Splinter of the Mind's Eye would've been a perfect substitute for an elderly woman character that appears in one of the Hand of Thrawn books.<

Oooh, which one?


I'd guess it almost has to be Moranda Savich. Both are elderly, both are con artists, and both have an eccentric joie de vivre about them.

 

-----signature-----
http://churchofbrad.com/jsarek/
Proud recipient of Halagad_Ventor's MOO (Master of Obscurity) Award, Brett_Bass's Spiffy Crown™, and Thrawn McEwok's "Ohh...? Interesting..." Award™
Locked Topic | Active Topic Notification | Private Message | Post History
Havac  14247 posts
Title: Lit Mod of War
Registered: Sep '05
23735_Obi-Wan Kenobi
Date Posted: 4/3/07 9:05pm Subject: RE: The Emperor's Pawns article (was: Gamer #5 stuff @ TOS!!!)
It was only on my last read-through of that that I realized Moranda was the same Moranda from the Darkknell short story.

 

-----signature-----
"Is there a captain's hat involved in this?"
Locked Topic | Active Topic Notification | Private Message | Post History
Cull_Tremayne  304 posts
Registered: Jun '05
41986_Jos Vondar
Date Posted: 4/15/07 9:10pm Subject: RE: The Emperor's Pawns article (was: Gamer #5 stuff @ TOS!!!)
Halagad posted:
I'm just being difficult. Honestly, I don't remember if the identification of Adalric as a former Jedi was my idea or part of the sometimes haphazard editing that was done by the Gamer staff on The Emperor's Pawns (other examples include a reference to Lumiya and Flint fighting *against* the Nagai, a big chunk cut out of the Maarek Stele bio, and of course, the complete substitution of the Blackhole entry).


Of course I was just joking. tongue I've always found it fun to find flaws in "late-comers" from the pre-prequel (is that a word?) era, and blame it on them not getting training early enough. I find the parallel that the Jedi desire a perfect age and a certain upbringing for their recruits to begin training, while Palpatine doesn't care about the age, and only commands that his followers serve him faithfully, to be a fun thing to ponder. On a somewhat related note, can we assume that Everen Ettene subscribed to Djinn Altis' train of thought by taking an older Padawan in Ventor? thinking

Halagad posted:
I'm pretty sure Palp learned it from either Ashka Boda or the holocron he carried, a.k.a. the Bodo Baas holocron. But the coincidence with Set Harth is pretty great.


So body transference could possibly be a Jedi technique? thinking Cooool.

Halagad posted:
Again, dog pile those facts and it isn't unlikely that Xendor was once one of the Kashi Mer Dynasty's elite protectors before his banishment and war against the Jedi.


I think I got lost here...is this saying that the leader of the exiles in the First Great Schism was...never even trained by the Jedi? I never would have imagined a non-Jedi leading other Jedi, but now that I think about it, that's pretty cool. The character of Xendor is slowly shaping methinks... That charismatic devil. tongue On a related note, for the term, "Legions of Lettow", does the word "Lettow" have any significance? I know it's a reference to an earlier Star Wars script, but is it anything now? Is it a place? A person? An idea?

Additionally, I just have to ask about the reference to Flint in The Emperor's Pawns. According to the article, Flint was sent by Lumiya to kill Luke Skywalker, correct? I'm wondering if Lumiya may or may not have really believed Flint was capable of doing the job. From the comic, we can see that Flint eventually has Skywalker at his mercy (thanks to a precisely placed stormtrooper blaster shot, who would've thought? grin ), and it seems the only thing that stops him from destroying Luke is the arrival of Barney. So he may have had the ability to upend Luke.

Obviously as revenge for her disfigurement, Lumiya wanted a showdown with Luke; however, in No Zeltrons Lumiya only asks about the location of Leia. So what are your thoughts on this, did Lumiya have faith in Flint to come through or was she always planning to take Luke down herself?

 

-----signature-----
Remember when you were making that building out of popsicle sticks, but then a breath of fresh air came in and destroyed everything? Man I hate when that happens.
Watch out for the...something.
Locked Topic | Active Topic Notification | Private Message | Post History
Halagad_Ventor  1278 posts
Title:
- Star Wars Author
- SWRPG Designer

Registered: Jul '01
41556_Halagad Ventor
Date Posted: 4/16/07 1:32pm Subject: RE: The Emperor's Pawns article (was: Gamer #5 stuff @ TOS!!!)
TalonCard posted:
Is that the way you usually come up with those awesome throwaway references, think of something you need and then pick a preestablished element to fit the bill?
I guess that might technically be how it works, but, and I don't think I'm alone in this, the mental correlation between understanding what I need and a character/event/weapon that fits the bill is often immediate. It's less often the case that I come up with a context that is just too cool or necessary continuity-wise, like "abberant ARC Trooper!" which I just won't let it go and will actually hunt for a suspect to shoehorn into the idea. More often, the process is far more organic, and if I can't immediately think of an element that fits my continuity AND storytelling need (and I have a considerable backlog of minutia that I have ready for recall), then my mind will immediately move on to consider another storytelling/continuity permutation that's potentially equally cool and can get the job done.

Take the Assault on the Death Star boardgame ref from The Dark Forces Saga Part 1. I thought, "I need at least three or four Rebel Force-sensitives and as many as six (though that seems like overkill). I need one to turn to the dark side. I don't want to use Luke Skywalker. Who fits?" There were a lot of choices, but Kyle Katarn always seemed a natural fit, as did Shira Brie, and Corwin Shelvay as the organizer of the bunch. I needed one more, and Erling Tredway hadn't seen action for ages, so I threw him in there. There were lots of other choices besides Tredway, but in this scenario, I wanted to use someone from a source that is on the margin of continuity (Jedi's Honor) to give that book more credibility. I also wanted the character to be potentially expendable, since Kyle and Shira certainly aren't at that point in the timeline.

Eyrezer posted:
Lol, anyone in particular? cowboy
Well, it's totally understandable. wink 2 out of 3 times you would've been right.

Ris_jSarek posted:
I'd guess it almost has to be Moranda Savich. Both are elderly, both are con artists, and both have an eccentric joie de vivre about them.
Bingo. This was before her appearance in Interlude at Darkknell, of course.

 

-----signature-----
Abel G. Peña: http://www.abelgpena.com
Star Wars Blog: http://blogs.starwars.com/abelgpena
Facebook Profile: http://www.facebook.com/abelgpena
Second Prophet of the Church of Waru
Recipient of a monstrosity known as a Mandalorian Ewok™
Locked Topic | Active Topic Notification | Private Message | Post History
Halagad_Ventor  1278 posts
Title:
- Star Wars Author
- SWRPG Designer

Registered: Jul '01
41556_Halagad Ventor
Date Posted: 4/16/07 2:16pm Subject: RE: The Emperor's Pawns article (was: Gamer #5 stuff @ TOS!!!)
Cull_Tremayne posted:
On a somewhat related note, can we assume that Everen Ettene subscribed to Djinn Altis' train of thought by taking an older Padawan in Ventor? thinking
Well, the truth is Everen actually lost a bar bet to Obi-Wan, and wound up having to take Halagad as an apprentice. That sneaky Obi-Wan thought it was pretty funny until Everen died and he ended up picking up the slack. Slapstick ensues!

Cull_Tremayne posted:
So body transference could possibly be a Jedi technique? thinking Cooool.
Certainly a Jedi discovered (or re-discovered) technique, but forbidden, like mortichro.

Cull_Tremayne posted:
I think I got lost here...is this saying that the leader of the exiles in the First Great Schism was...never even trained by the Jedi? I never would have imagined a non-Jedi leading other Jedi, but now that I think about it, that's pretty cool. The character of Xendor is slowly shaping methinks... That charismatic devil. tongue
That's basically what I'm saying. When I came up with the character, I thought of Xendor as an outsider coming in and shaking up the Jedi Order with his foreign ideas about The Breath (aka, The Force) and other cultural differences. He may have become a Jedi before all hell broke loose, but I'm not sure I would even go that far, personally.

Cull_Tremayne posted:
On a related note, for the term, "Legions of Lettow", does the word "Lettow" have any significance? I know it's a reference to an earlier Star Wars script, but is it anything now? Is it a place? A person? An idea?
It certainly is, but like Xendor in "Minions of Xendor," we'll have to wait and see what it specifically signifies.

Cull_Tremayne posted:
Additionally, I just have to ask about the reference to Flint in The Emperor's Pawns. According to the article, Flint was sent by Lumiya to kill Luke Skywalker, correct?
Not actually. However, Evil Never Dies does say that explicitly.

Cull_Tremayne posted:
I'm wondering if Lumiya may or may not have really believed Flint was capable of doing the job. From the comic, we can see that Flint eventually has Skywalker at his mercy (thanks to a precisely placed stormtrooper blaster shot, who would've thought? grin ), and it seems the only thing that stops him from destroying Luke is the arrival of Barney. So he may have had the ability to upend Luke.

Obviously as revenge for her disfigurement, Lumiya wanted a showdown with Luke; however, in No Zeltrons Lumiya only asks about the location of Leia. So what are your thoughts on this, did Lumiya have faith in Flint to come through or was she always planning to take Luke down herself?
It's a good question. While Lumiya wants revenge against Luke at this point, I think the pursuit of power and a sense of purpose impress upon a person the importance of delegation of duties. Let's put it this way, Lumiya was probably confident that Flint *might* be able to kill Luke Skywalker. If he could, good, and if he couldn't, then onto the next scheme. Evil is practical. However, she probably didn't anticipate the intervention of Barney, or Flint's possible redemption.

Incidentally, an observation about Barney's intervention. While it's true that Luke may have been defeated by Flint but for Barney's intervention, we might say that this kind of speculation is non-sequitur. Of course Barney was there to save Luke, because it's Luke's character and goodness that creates the conditions for him not to have to rely solely on himself to win the day; in this case, he pivotally drew Barney to his side in a critical circumstance, as he did (again) similarly his sister in Dark Empire. This Karmic shield is part of Luke's power too, and in that context we understand that Flint in fact never had a chance of winning, as ultimately neither does evil.

Take care,
Abel

 

-----signature-----
Abel G. Peña: http://www.abelgpena.com
Star Wars Blog: http://blogs.starwars.com/abelgpena
Facebook Profile: http://www.facebook.com/abelgpena
Second Prophet of the Church of Waru
Recipient of a monstrosity known as a Mandalorian Ewok™
Locked Topic | Active Topic Notification | Private Message | Post History
TalonCard  7489 posts
Title:
•Author: Slave Pits of Lorrd
•TFN EU Staff

Registered: Jan '01
6036_Pit Droid
Date Posted: 4/16/07 4:18pm Subject: RE: The Emperor's Pawns article (was: Gamer #5 stuff @ TOS!!!)
>This Karmic shield is part of Luke's power too, and in that context we understand that Flint in fact never had a chance of winning, as ultimately neither does evil.<

applause Well said!

TC

 

-----signature-----
Death in the Slave Pits: http://www.starwars.com/hyperspace/fiction/feature20090531/index.html
GODV Guide: www.myuselessknowledge.com/swfa/main.html
Hyperspace Blog: http://blogs.starwars.com/taloncard
Locked Topic | Active Topic Notification | Private Message | Post History
Jedi Merkurian  11588 posts
Registered: May '00
6372_Mace Windu
Date Posted: 4/17/07 7:31am Subject: RE: The Emperor's Pawns article (was: Gamer #5 stuff @ TOS!!!) - Date Edited: 4/17/07 7:35am (1 edits total) Edited By: Jedi Merkurian
-"So body transference could possibly be a Jedi technique? Cooool."

-"Certainly a Jedi discovered (or re-discovered) technique, but forbidden, like mortichro."


Actually, according to Ultimate Adversaries, Harth learned the technique from a Sith artifact...

 

-----signature-----
Striking down can result in common side effects including fear, anger, aggresion, nausea, dry mouth, hatred, suffering, headaches, IBS, & in some extreme cases has been linked to lava burns
Please consult your doctor before striking anyone down
Locked Topic | Active Topic Notification | Private Message | Post History
Cull_Tremayne  304 posts
Registered: Jun '05
41986_Jos Vondar
Date Posted: 4/17/07 3:13pm Subject: RE: The Emperor's Pawns article (was: Gamer #5 stuff @ TOS!!!)
Halagad_Ventor posted:
Well, the truth is Everen actually lost a bar bet to Obi-Wan, and wound up having to take Halagad as an apprentice. That sneaky Obi-Wan thought it was pretty funny until Everen died and he ended up picking up the slack. Slapstick ensues!


I'm going to take this as a "Let the speculation ensue!" tongue


Halagad_Ventor posted:
Not actually. However, Evil Never Dies does say that explicitly.


Yes, getting my Abel articles messed up you see. grin


Halagad_Ventor posted:
Of course Barney was there to save Luke, because it's Luke's character and goodness that creates the conditions for him not to have to rely solely on himself to win the day; in this case, he pivotally drew Barney to his side in a critical circumstance, as he did (again) similarly his sister in Dark Empire.


Wow, good point. Though I think I'd like to point out that Barney probably intervened more for his friend Flint than he did on Luke's behalf. It seemed from the comic that Barney was to Flint as Biggs was to Luke. So while Barney obviously looked up to Luke as a great commander/hero, he was obviously more distraught over how far his friend had fallen. He put his own life on the line to help redeem Flint, not necessarily just to save Luke. Though I like the thought of Luke creating a "Karmic shield", as it is only though his kindness and good example that he shows towards Kiro in the comic that saves him from Lumiya's clutches at the end.

 

-----signature-----
Remember when you were making that building out of popsicle sticks, but then a breath of fresh air came in and destroyed everything? Man I hate when that happens.
Watch out for the...something.
Locked Topic | Active Topic Notification | Private Message | Post History
Halagad_Ventor  1278 posts
Title:
- Star Wars Author
- SWRPG Designer

Registered: Jul '01
41556_Halagad Ventor
Date Posted: 4/18/07 5:08pm Subject: RE: The Emperor's Pawns article (was: Gamer #5 stuff @ TOS!!!) - Date Edited: 4/18/07 5:11pm (1 edits total) Edited By: Halagad_Ventor
Jedi Merkurian posted:
-"So body transference could possibly be a Jedi technique? Cooool."

-"Certainly a Jedi discovered (or re-discovered) technique, but forbidden, like mortichro."


Actually, according to Ultimate Adversaries, Harth learned the technique from a Sith artifact...
What I meant in my typically condensed form of writing is that while now considered as possibly being originally of Sith origin, the original take was that it was a Jedi discovered technique, and hence perhaps now a technique rediscovered by the Jedi but Sith originated.

Cull_Tremayne posted:
Wow, good point. Though I think I'd like to point out that Barney probably intervened more for his friend Flint than he did on Luke's behalf. It seemed from the comic that Barney was to Flint as Biggs was to Luke. So while Barney obviously looked up to Luke as a great commander/hero, he was obviously more distraught over how far his friend had fallen. He put his own life on the line to help redeem Flint, not necessarily just to save Luke.
Right, and again, I was speaking in a form of short hand to make a point. Because even though those around Luke like Barney, or say Han in the climax to A New Hope, ostensibly save the day because of their love for another person that *is not* Luke, it's Luke that is the fulcrum or mediator. It's not only the respect or love that people have for Luke that brings up the best in them, but it's also Luke's very character, which in these instances encourages Barney to be courageous and Han to be unselfish, even though we can say that "actually" Barney's devotion was to Flint and Han's to Leia. Leia coming to Luke's rescue in Dark Empire is probably an example of love for Luke saving him, while Vader's 180 in Return of the Jedi is probably a combination of love and Luke's character holding up a mirror to Vader, with the inevitable result.

Cull_Tremayne posted:
Though I like the thought of Luke creating a "Karmic shield", as it is only though his kindness and good example that he shows towards Kiro in the comic that saves him from Lumiya's clutches at the end.
Another good example.

Take care,
Abel

 

-----signature-----
Abel G. Peña: http://www.abelgpena.com
Star Wars Blog: http://blogs.starwars.com/abelgpena
Facebook Profile: http://www.facebook.com/abelgpena
Second Prophet of the Church of Waru
Recipient of a monstrosity known as a Mandalorian Ewok™
Locked Topic | Active Topic Notification | Private Message | Post History