National Retcon Month- Atha Prime and the Clone Wars

Way back in 85, Hasbro was already thinking about the Clone Wars, they said it was started by a being Atha Prime, it may not be cannon, but this how I would Retcon it if it was.



In ANH Luke says "Clone Wars" not "Clone War" the reason the were many conflicts happening simulataniously with the between the the Republic and the Sepratists and over time these seperate battles where beleived part of the Clone War.

During the chaos of the war, various warlords took advantage of this anarchy to expand their empires, one of these Warlords was a cruel Force-Sensitive Despot named Atha Prime.

Prime once ruled an empire from Couruscant to the Unknown Regions, but when the Jedi Order was formed, Prime was defeated and banished into the Wild Space, but he vowed he would return.

Over the millennia, Prime built up and army of clone soldiers, using DNA from an unknown race of aliens he discovered and waited for the right time to unleash them.

Enter the Clone Wars, Prime decides it's the right time to begin his plans and sends begins to deploy is clones, beginning with the Outer Rim.

As the Jedi begin to be deployed to the outer rim that they discover Atha Prime's troops and defeat them.

Soon, a mini-war erupts between the Jedi and Prime's forces, the battle will take a toll on the already shell shocked Jedi, who will eventually defeat Prime's forces in the Battle of Concord Dawn (which history will later convulte this by claiming it was the Mandalorian Super Commandos that the Jedi fought here), but Atha Prime is still at large.

As the Republic dies and Imperial expansion begins, word reaches Palpatine of Atha Prime and sends troops to bring him to Couruscant.

They find him in his citidel on the Planet Bescane, after some negoiating, Prime agrees to meet with Palpatine.

Palpatine makes a deal with Prime, teach me your cloning secrets and I will give a planet to rule, Prime agrees and teaches Palpatine his cloning methods and Palpatine makes him overseer of the Planet Byss, on which Palpatine is building a citadel for himself.

Prime, with the approval of the Emperor, begins to make clones of himself to act as guards, these guards even adopt Prime's elaborate red armor, robes, and helmet, becoming the Imperial Sentiels.

Prime soon becomes one of Palpatine's most trusted advisors and soon begins to teach Prime in the ways of the Dark Side. Using this newfound power he begins to influence Palpatine's policies. tells Palpatine to allow no one to Travel beyond the planet Bescane and orders his own fortress detroyed so no one can discover Prime's secrets.

However Palpatine becomes suspicious of Prime and begins to fear that the Warlord might overthrow him, and orders the troopers stationed on Byss to kill Prime and his clones.

Palpatine replaces the clones with a mixture of droids and clones, but still dresses them up in Prime's armor, claiming it was based on his Royal Guards.

However, Atha Prime is not defeated so easily, Prime was master was master of a rare dark side version of force-healing, he had learned it by studying ancient texts, it was even rumored that not even Palpatine in all his power was aware of it.

Prime has been using this technique for years, acheiving a type of near-immoraltity (this is NOT the Technique discovered by Darth Plagueis). Using this knowledge he heals his damaged body, uses the Force to hide himself from the Stormtroopers, and esacpe into the restricted parts of Wildspace to prepare for his return.

Years pace and story tellers in the outer-rim, unaware of the truth of the Clone Wars and claim that it was Atha Prime, not Dooku and Palpatine, who started the war and may come to beleieve it.

About some time before the Truce of Bakara, Prime senses the Emperor's death, he has been waiting for this moment, he has a new clone army, and is prepared to make himself the new Emperor and reclaim his old empire that he lost to the Jedi.

However before his forces even reach the Rishi Maze something happens his army is destroyed by an unknown army (the begining

 

Interesting (can't say I'm an expert on Atha Prime -when I read the title of the retcon, I thought it was a planet )

 

if you go to www.toysrgus.com you can read about Kenner's plans were for 1985 (which includes Atha Prime) his disign was a prototype design for the Royal Guards, the design eventually became the Imperial Sentinels.

I had another Retcon featuring Fenn Shysa and Tobbi Dala, but it seems they were already retconned.

 

I've really wanted the Atha Prime Clone Wars story canonized for a long time, since before the prequels were on the horizon even. (I'm also awaiting with bated breath a lit appearance of the Cruisemissile Trooper, but that's a slightly different situation from a different era.) So I'm all for this idea in general. The problem with the retcon you propose for me, though, is that it's too big. There's simply no way we haven't heard about it by now. I need to pull out my Star Wars Galaxy backissues (I think that's where I first met Atha Prime) to find out just what's practical, but something smaller that folded him more neatly into the CW story as we actually have it might work better for me. Still, you've obviously put a lot of thought into this, and it sounds interesting (if impractical for me), and I love your idea.

-Paul

 

I first heard of Atha Prime from the Action Figure Archive by Steve Sansweet, it mentioned the Imperial Sentinel design used by Kenner for Atha Prime, then later on I read a article on toysrgus.com about Kenner's plan for 1985, and learned more about Atha Prime. I had to alter some details of the story (EG: After Palpatine's Death Kenner said Prime began to take over galaxy- well that would negate the entire EU, unless we say every Imperial attempt to retake the galaxy was secretly orchastrated by Prime LOL) and I'm not into reading the EU (I know about it from various reference books), but I am glad it is good reveiws.

 

Of course: Atha Prime is Darth Krayt!

(Or has that allready been suggested?)



/Charlii

 

... ... ...

It makes too much sense!

Plus, it'd be absolutely hilarious. Finally, many issues into the series, there's the big reveal, which leaves 98% of readership going, "Huh? "

But yeah, not bad, not bad.

Once I find that old article on the Kenner proposals and what they said both about the Clone Wars and the post-RotJ era, I'll try to come up with some ideas. I just don't know where all my old magazines are hiding.

-Paul