Insider 89: "Underworld: A Galaxy of Scum and Villiany" by Abel, Ryan, and Joe

Not to get your hopes too inflated.. Jix only gets a mention. The article is broken up into various files on different underworld people and groups, each written by various people working for the Empire. Jix, Sith Stooge, is the report writer for the entry on Talon Karrde.

el awesomo! reading it at this moment...

edit: just finished reading it - i really enjoyed the origins of the aurodium sword and the introduction of the rogue cell division. i'm sure with all the imperials that defect to the alliance, they have their hands full.

 

Yeah, I'm not sure what's up with that. Although I have to admit, the way they had it before many folks were reading the supplement before they were receiving the Insider magazine, which was kinda odd.

My Quay ball says, "There's a good chance."

Hey Senator. This is the first I hear about those pieces, so I can't say. Ships of the New Republic sounds pretty cool, though.

Noted.

I had my go with Jix in the main Underworld article, but Ryan brings back another irreverent author in the supplement that should be a real fan pleaser!

Yeah, the situation sucks. Well, if you do make it out there Queengodess we definitely appreciate the support!

 

Its up!



I see I made the title...

EDIT: Super props to Abel and Ryan on this, with bonus points for all the references (including Super Star Wars. )

Now for some notes:

-The article is presented as an appendix to the Insider article, and is layed out in an identical in-universe style.
-Max Seerdon's full first name is Maximillian, just like Veers'.
-Long-lived Kaminoan clones are atypical, but it seems they do exist. This explains how some clones can be running around in the Rebellion era without being extremely old.
-"The Empire is Victorious on All Fronts!" is from the Dark Empire Sourcebook.
-Barrow Oicunn, from What's the Story, is mentioned as an Admiral.
-Trioculus "hosts" the Kessel Run and Spice entry.
-The Kessel Run Tales story is brought into continuity.
-There's another side-bar on illegal drugs, this time with Dontworry, Luna-weed, Nkllonian Lava Extract, Pacifog, and Yarrok.
-The Jawenko Lava Beast, retconned to be from Mustafar, was originally seen in Super Star Wars. It is also found on Nkllon.
-Pacifog is from the dire comic dealing with Kadril, recently reprinted on Hyperspace.
-The plague storehouse from YJK is mentioned, or alluded to.
-Yarrok (Children of the Jedi), is from Iridonia.
-Jaxxon "hosts" the swoop gang entry.
-The Grave Tuskens from Jedi Knight are mentioned as a swoop gang. This is probably a retcon to an Insider article from long ago that said that Maw was part of a swoop gang. Right?
-Jabba's Gang...
-Extra background on Dash Rendar.
-BoShek speaks out about Doc Vandangate.
-Reginald Barkbone is from the NEGtD. Adding a bit of mythology here, I see.
-Pestage starts his reply with "I bid you dark greetings." This is, of course, from GoDV.
-At the time of the article, the Emperor is recovering from something. This is a link to the Star Wars Missions books, where Palpy is seen in a bacta tank when Vader returns after the Death Star is destroyed, and the Emperor's Pawns article, which explains the afforementioned tanking.

All in all a good article, and a perfect companion to the Insider piece. Pablo's is nice too.

Still wish it was longer though.

 

Hmmm...Pacifog, locked away in the Emperor's plauge storehouse...nice one.

One thing though, this series of reports has to have been filed some years after the original, what with the events of Aduba III and Star's End having taken place "years ago" in the reports. Whatever Palpatine's recovering from, I don't think it's the incident on Korriban...

TC

 

Didn't catch that in Jaxxon's story. So this could be set after RotJ, before DE...

 

Yeah, I dont think its set "6 months ABY" like the last one because:

- Sate Pestage implies that Max Seerdon's father is gone ("Your father would be proud."
- Jaxxon tells us that the Aduba III incident occured "years ago."
- Doc's inprisonment at Stars' End occured "years ago."
- Whatever it is the Emperor's recovering from can't be the Korriban business, as that happens MUCH closer to the Battle of Yavin (it's why Palpatine isn't around when Vader gets back from Vaal, and why he's in a bacta tank at the beginning of SW Missions # 18).
- The Pacifog bit implies a post-Planet of Kadril setting, which we know (from the New Essential Guide to Characters) is set during Dark Forces.

Great supplement!

 

Perhaps what I find most curious is Pestage's closing:

"Your humble vizier"

It is most interesting that Grand Vizier Sate Pestage, who practically runs the Empire as regent, and presumeably heads the Privy Council (aka Ruling Council), would address Max Seerdon, a mere navy commander with such a, well, a humble tone.

 

Maybe it's just certain recent threads, but that whole passage seems -very- sketchy to me. So what kind of "luxury retreat to the Core" do you earn by "moral virility?"

 

im a bit confused on the history of the Dancing Goddess in the Insider and how it meshes in with the Marvel history of the statue; someone kind enough to detail that?

 

Check back a few pages--I posted a timeline.

TC

 

Tirefin gets mentioned! And more importantly, I've got fresh facts on not just one, but *two* Grand Admirals!!!

::::Fans self:::: Oh, oh my, I do believe I've gotten the vapors!

The kind where your life force gets sapped on a regular basis by Palpy. ;-)

 

Yeah, "wretched."

I love Super Star Wars.

The first go around Ryan handled the intro and conclusion, so this time I took a shot at it.

I threw that in there, and Ryan didn't complain, so there you go.

The cause is still up in the air, just acknowledging that they do exist as we've obviously seen in various sources.

I had two guiltier-than-usual pleasures in this piece. This was one of them.

Notice Pestage's reciprocation of this quasi-salute is not as enthusiastic.

I've been wanting to reference some of the What's the Story stuff. There was actually one more reference I'd put in, but this piece really went through the approvals chop-shop.

Seemed like a natural.

I wanted through Squishmael himself in there! I love that guy. Anyway, it's more like the falsity of the Tales Kessel Run has been canonized.

I originally called the "euphoric" THC-like ingredient in Luna-weed "XHT." I don't think they liked that.

The Jawenko's probably as common to Nkllon as it is to Tatooine, i.e. not very.

Man, I love me a Jawenko lava beast.

Pacifog doesn't fit very smoothly among the other drugs, but there aren't enough Kadril references out there.

Where else would you put that heinous thing?!?

The backstory for this one was kind off the wall, but once it got into my head I couldn't get it out.

Does he ever.

Ryan can get into more detail with this, but I believe it is.

Ditto.

Including what's up with his A New Hope cameo.

I liked BoShek's take, but it just struck me that it would've been pretty darn funny if Jax had contributed Doc's file.

I talked this one over with Dan before going for it. Hope he likes it.

[quote=Rogue_F

 

Which is precisely why he does it... maybe.

[Abel puts on literary hat]First concession: Pestage has been one of my favorite EU characters since I first read about him in the Dark Empire Sourcebook and that's the version I take after. I've spoken here before about my inclination toward ambiguity and open-interpretation. There are a couple of plausible things going on with Pestage's reply. We may assume Pestage is actually a rather noble individual, a dedicated and egoless servant to Palpatine. I like that idea quite a bit. He knows he has tremendous power, but he doesn't need to flaunt it to blow up his ego. He's an old man, intelligent, Palpatine's most trusted advisor, arguably his most trusted anything. He knows who he is and doesn't need to prove himself to anyone, least of all himself.

Now assume instead that Pestage is quite power-hungry, as we see him the X-Wing comics... what advantage does it serve him to destroy the illusion that he is merely Palpatine's servant and not actually running the Empire? The fervent devotion of well-meaning individuals like Seerdon all must be very quaint.

Of course, look at the way Seerdon signs off his message: "Your humble servant." By calling himself "your humble vizier," Pestage is conceivably just mocking Seerdon to his face, and just laughing his ass off as he replies. Indeed, his echo of Seerdon's "The Empire is Victorious on All Fronts" isn't as enthusiastic as Seerdon's, and seems almost like an after-thought. Is he just being soft-spoken or is he playing on Seerdon's naivete, Seerdon who believes future Emperors Trioculus and Ysanne Isard are corrupt and will amount to nothing?

How about that "luxury Deep Core retreat" Pestage offers Seerdon? After all, if Pestage can understate the Emperor's condition after a near-death experience, what else can he understate? We know that the Emperor shipped off a whole lotta folks to the Deep Core in order to suck up their life-energies with abandon, and if that's not enough to make you doubt, the only other mention of the Deep Core in this piece prior to Pestage's reply is in reference to a plague storehouse!

Of course, maybe Pestage just means what he says.

[Literary cap off... hey! This looks like Sate's!]

Take care,
Abel

 

so the emperor is not recovering from pleasures with his harem? and I thought we finally got an official reference of THAT

Love this add on, Abel. YJK storehouse, Boshek, Rendar, etc.

and Glove of Darth Vader series, too.. awesome.

 

As a further note on the timeframe of the reports, Tigellinus is after the upstart "Captain" Thrawn. This puts it *well* before 37:11:13 (some two years, eight months after Yavin), when Thrawn is clearly noted as an Admiral in public NewsNets (Cynabar's Infonet had caught on to his secret rank of Grand Admiral before that, but that was a niche smuggling publication that was difficult for most to get their hands on).

 

Great article once again, Abel & Ryan!!!

Yay, it was really nice to see Oicunn in there!

Cool, mind if I ask what that was? Or would you prefer to save it for your endnotes?

 

Wouldn't have it any other way.

It is a compliment. We were spoiled silly by END, and now we're expecting more articles of that size...

 

Halagad: On Pestage's reply; well played. Now that I read it with the big picture in mind, I can really see the intricacies and complexities in what at first glance appears to be a stright-forward letter from the Grand Vizier.

 

I have it quite close to A New Hope, and here's why:

1) There's a flashback in Darksaber wherein we see Palpatine's reaction to the destruction of the Death Star in how he punishes Bevel Lemelisk. This would appear to be set between A New Hope and The Savage Heart.

2) Vader returns from Vaal and wishes to see the Emperor at the end of The Savage Heart. We never see this happen, but the Tie-x1 section of your "Vader Tech" article tells us that the Imperial Grand Vizier ordered Vader and Captain Sodarra (of Scoundrel's Luck fame) to retrieve the fighter from Vaal.

3) Vader's reunion with Palpatine in Darth Vader's Return (where we see Palpatine recovering in a bacta tank) seems to be their first post-Battle of Yavin reunion (what--not Vader's Quest, you say? I'll explain in a minute). He has his Tie x1 again (and it's quite battle damaged) so he and Captain Sodarra have already teamed up, but could it not be possible for the two to have continued their partnership throughout THIS series and then into Scoundrel's Luck?

5) Vader's Quest is their second reunion. Luke implies that he rescued Princess Leia from the Death Star within the last month, so the original Essential Chronology confirms that this is set a month after the Battle of Yavin. But how do we explain Palpatine and Vader having such a similar conversation to the one we see in Darth Vader's Return? Palpatine is vague enough in this issue regarding ?Tarkin?s toy? and Vader being ?lost? that he could very well be referring to a subsequent investigation into the interdictor?s destruction in the Unknown Regions that Vader may very well have made and Vader?s near-death at the hands of Governor-General Vellam. He also wonders why Vader never reported on "Takin's Toy" in-person before this point...In order to explain away this discrepancy, we must assume that Vader goes to the Unknown Regions at the end of Total Destruction to investigate the failure of Tarkin?s new weapon there.

To sum up:

1) The Battle of Yavin.
2) Palpatine punishes Bevel Lemelisk.
3) Vader arrives on Vaal.
4) Palpatine goes to Korriban with Jeng Droga.
5) Vader returns to Coruscant. Pestage orders him to return to Vaal with Captain Sodarra.
6) Vader retrieves Tie x1.
7) Vader, upon encouragement from spy Rogor, goes to Yavin IV. Finds the Rebels mysteriously gone (The Imperial Spy).
8) Vader returns to Coruscant, talks to a grievously injured Palpatine.
9) Tarkin's plans for an interdictor weapon in the Unknown Regions are destroyed. Vader goes to investigate (with Sodarra).
10) Vader and Sodarra are betrayed somewhere along the way by Governor-General Vellam.
11) Vader and Sodarra are rescued by Han Solo, of all people (Scoundrel's Luck)
12) Vader searches out the one who destroyed the Death Star; learns the name on Centares (Marvel # 18 - 34, Vader's Quest)
13) Vader returns to Coruscant. Palpatine is surprised as he thought Vader "lost" and is soon admonished for not reporting on "Tarkin's Toy" in person, though Vader claims to have sent a report.



Edit: Just remembered...I thought the reference to Han's new "unofficial" time on the Kessel Run was quit well done. A reference to Russ Manning's The Second Kessel Run? Certainly not very often that we get those!

 

Well its nice to know that retcons can be explained much easier now with drugs.

And I'm apparently not the only one now that thinks Tyber Zann IS Lucius Malfoy (well at least the likeness is uncanny), but it will continue to be a favorite fanboy theory of mine. Joe would already know what I'm talking about if he saw my message a few days ago.

 

Pestage is probably second only to Palpatine in the art of the double entendre.

Well, that's an accident and it isn't (though now that I think about it, it's a good bet that's why the line to Palp and his "manservant Jeng" was cut. I was actually thinking more Alfred-to-Batman than Burt Ward-to-Adam West). As you can see in my earlier reply, there are specific in-universe possibilities for Pestage talking that way without getting kinky. (Notice Max Seerdon's blowhard language about "superior ethical sagacity.") That said, there is a peculiar way that those in positions of great power often talk to those without power or less power. At the same time, certain words have come to carry additional connotations due to our increasing willingness to think of things in unconventional ways... which is to say, boredom. I mean, ANYTHING can make someone uneasy (or the opposite) if taken in a certain context or said just so.

Know what I mean?

Like most of Pestage's reply, it's possible to read some "sketchy" undertones to what he's saying. If one chooses to do so, the question becomes, is it intentional on Pestage's part or not? If it is, what's his motive?

And in that confusing morass, how's Seerdon taking all this? Is he really as naive as he puts on? Is he actually just gunning for a promotion? Readers are encouraged to enjoy the plethora of interpretive possibilities and permutations. That's what makes literature immortal.

I always liked the name of Tigellinus' ship, so I was sad it didn't get into the original Grand Admirals piece.

The man knows his West End Games.

 

Just curious: For someone who still doesn't have H-space, is Trioculus giving his report as Kessel warlord, or as Emperor?*

*(Of my many strange Star Wars obsessions, one of them is making sure the line of Galactic Emperors is completely tracable, and includes Isard, Trioculus, AND fake-Kadann. Don't ask why, I don't know myself).

 

I'm writing the anniversary endnotes to The Emperor's Pawns right now, and there's a section where I talk about tip-toeing around Roganda Ismaren's particular skills and assets.

Thanks CH!

Well said.

Many thanks, Arthur.

One for the fans.

Oh my friend, force-fields will not be able to damn the tide of your tears.

...it was Bal'demnic.

 

So how does this sit with regard to and Mace Windu and Macemillian-winduarté: was Mace's first name Maximillian, too?

Nevertheless, are we to infer from this that Nomad City was running a sideline in illegal substances?

You mean the Deep Core? Or Hyperspace...

So Maul was on yarrok?

Or Lepi have short years?

Of course, I realise that all my questions imply the possibility of precise answers in your mind... which of course is to miss the point...

But hey, what might it mean if I know that already?

And was Pestage really as selfless as Dangor? How much agency did Palpatine really have, beyond his pet project of kriffing with Farmboy?

- The Imperial Ewok

 

...it was Bal'demnic.

Aww..poor Arf