Know your lore: Brianna (The Last Handmaiden)

Brianna, also known as “The Last Handmaiden,” or simply “Handmaiden,” was a half-Echani fighter, and illegitimate daughter to the famous Echani General Yusanis and Jedi Master Arren Kae, who both fought in the Mandalorian Wars. She later served along with her five half-sisters as a handmaiden to Jedi Master Atris in the period following the Jedi Civil War. During her service to Atris at the Jedi Academy on Telos IV, Brianna met the Jedi Exile, and was subsequently tasked with accompanying her on her mission to seek out the Jedi Masters who survived the First Jedi Purge. As the Exile’s companion, Brianna helped battle against numerous adversaries, including the resurgent Sith. During the journey, Brianna trained the Exile in Echani techniques and eventually received Jedi training from the Exile in return, becoming one of first new members of the Jedi Order after the Purge. In accepting such training, however, she…

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Species of Starwars: Kel Dor

In one of the first screen shots ever published by Bioware, we se a bad ass looking “Kel Dor” This time in Species of Starwars we will take a closer look on this amazing species. The Kel Dors, sometimes referred to as Kel Dorians, were a species hailing from the technological planet Dorin. They required masks to protect them when in oxygen-rich atmospheres. They were also known for the unique Force-using traditions of the Baran Do Sages. One famous Kel Dor was the Jedi Master Plo Koon, who was a member of a famous Kel Dor Jedi family. Sha Koon, a Jedi Knight, was Plo Koon’s niece. Biology and appearance The Kel Dors were a tall race, typically of the same height and weight as Humans. Their skin ranged in color from peach to a crimson red. Most had dark, black eyes, although some were born with silver irises, a…

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How stuff works: Hyperspace

 The blue tunnel of hyperspace travel. Hyperspace is the alternate state of existence used by starships to achieve faster-than-light travel. It was a phenomenon not completely understood by scientists; it was alternately described as a parallel universe, an extra dimension of space, an alternate mode of physical existence, or simply the universe as viewed traveling faster than the speed of light. To hyperspace was also a verb in Basic, as in phrases like “You are required to hyperspace back to the fleet when you complete the mission.” Technical background Normally, baryonic matter obeys physical principles of relativity: they increase exponentially in mass as they approach the speed of light, requiring more and more energy to approach it, and thus always remain below this threshold. Tachyonic matter, on the other hand, existed solely above the speed of light, and could not pass below said threshold. Hyperdrive technology allowed sentients to break…

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Know your lore: Visas Marr

Visas Marr was a Miraluka female from the Mid Rim world of Katarr who lived during the time of the Jedi Civil War and the period of unrest that followed in its wake. In 3,952 BBY, Katarr had been chosen to host a secret Jedi conclave, which consequently drew the attention of the Sith. Darth Nihilus, one of the leaders of the Sith Triumvirate, brought devastation to the world, as well as the Jedi Order. He consumed all organic life on the planet, yet left Marr alive, albeit with damaged vision. She was taken aboard his flagship, the Ravager, and after she was made his apprentice, a Force bond was forged between the two. Afterward a servant of the dark side of the Force, she traveled with Nihilus beyond the Outer Rim. In 3,951 BBY, Marr was dispatched into the galaxy to seek out a growing presence in the Force…

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Playable Species of SW:TOR – Humans

We know as which classes we will fight, but we only know very little about possible species. While some might still grief over the 2011 release, we went ahead and collected information on BioWare’s future MMO. Screenshots, artworks and videos showed several species, which we will have to face in the game. We made it our business to categorize these enemies for you. First off is humans. Humans were the galaxy’s most numerous and politically dominant sentient species with millions of major and minor colonies galaxywide. Believed to have originated on the galactic capital of Coruscant, they could be found anywhere, engaged in many different pursuits: spacers, mercenaries, smugglers, merchants, soldiers, assassins, farmers, crime lords, laborers, slaves, slavers, and many others, including Jedi. Since Humans were the most common sentient species, they were often considered to be a standard or average to which the biology, psychology, and culture of other…

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Know your lore: Mission Vao

Mission Vao (pronounced /’mɪʃɪn ‘veo/) was a female Rutian Twi’lek who lived as a street urchin on the ecumenopolis of Taris during the Mandalorian Wars and the first half of the Jedi Civil War. She preferred speaking Galactic Basic Standard rather than her people’s native language and was the closest friend of the Wookiee Zaalbar. She joined the crew of the Ebon Hawk following her encounter with Revan and the destruction of Taris, and was awarded the Cross of Glory in 3,956 BBY, at the age of 14, for her part in locating the Star Forge and the triumph of the Galactic Republic over the Sith Empire at the Battle of Rakata Prime. She parted ways with Revan after the defeat of Darth Malak. Biography Childhood Mission grew up as an orphan, having never known her parents, with just her elder brother Griff to look after her. Griff was a…

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Planets of Star Wars: The Old Republic – Taris

Planets of Star Wars: The Old Republic – Taris

Taris was an urban planet in the Outer Rim Territories. The term Tarisian was used to describe people and products from the planet. The planet’s ecumenopolis quickly developed over a century of prosperity, and as a result the planet suffered from massive overpopulation. Once a galactic nexus, Taris’ importance declined with the introduction of improved trade routes, and the planet rapidly fell into decay. The remainder of the planet’s history was wrought with civil disorder and social unrest. As it turned to industry as a means of compensation for its economic troubles, its oceans became polluted, eliminating the planet’s main food source. Famine spread among the lower classes while the rich hoarded what few supplies remained. The resulting strife led to the Tarisian Civil War, the start of lasting prejudices between the Humanocentric Tarisian nobles and the largely alien underclass. The city became segmented, and the lower classes were banned…

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Know your lore: Darth Nihilus

Darth Nihilus was a Human male who reigned as a Dark Lord of the Sith during the era of strife following the Jedi Civil War. Before becoming a Sith, he lost everything during the Galactic Republic‘s war against the Mandalorian Neo Crusaders. He survived the activation of the Mass Shadow Generator superweapon during the war’s final battle at the planet Malachor V, which surrounded the planet with a destructive spacial phenomenon known as a mass shadow that obliterated almost everything and everyone on and around the planet. The experience of the shadows made him “hunger” for Force energy, and the affliction began to ravage his body. In his pain he became a wound in the Force and was found by a seeker of such things, the Sith Lord Darth Traya. She told him that she could teach him to feed his hunger. He accepted her offer, becoming Traya’s apprentice at…

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Planets of Star Wars: The Old Republic – Dromund Kaas

Dromund Kaas was the third planet in the Dromund system, a colony then the capital of the Old Sith Empire and later the lasting base of the Prophets of the Dark Side, whose Dark Force Temple contained such power in the the dark side of the Force that most weapons, excluding lightsabers, malfunctioned on the planet’s surface. The site of a major battle during the New Sith Wars under Kaan’s Brotherhood of Darkness, for millennia the planet’s location was known only to a few, very select Sith Lords, falling almost completely out of the public eye. Description Dromund Kaas was located within the boundaries of Sith space, and the only planet in the entire Dromund system to support life. A wet, marshy world, the majority of the planet was either ocean or swamp, making it difficult for any pilots attempting to land to find a stable location to bring their…

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Planets of Star Wars: The Old Republic – Coruscant

The Galactic Center of Coruscant (pronounced /’kʊɹəsɑnt/), originally called Notron, also known as Imperial Center or the Queen of the Core, was the political hub of the galaxy for millennia. It was generally agreed that Coruscant was, during most of Galactic history, the most politically important world in the galaxy. At various times, it was the capital of the Galactic Republic, the Galactic Empire, the New Republic, briefly the Empire Reborn, the New Republic again, the Yuuzhan Vong Empire occupation, the Galactic Alliance, the Fel Empire and Darth Krayt’s Galactic Empire. These governments, that all controlled Coruscant, controlled the galaxy in the process. A large number of the galaxy’s trade routes—including the Perlemian Trade Route, the Corellian Run, the Metellos Trade Route, the Koros Trunk Line, and the Leisure Corridor—went through Coruscant, making it one of the richest worlds in the galaxy. Tellingly, the planet’s hyperspace coordinates were (0,0,0), and…

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Know your legends: Atton Rand

Atton Rand, nicknamed “Jaq,” was a pilot, and one of the Lost Jedi, who helped the Jedi Exile defeat the Sith Triumvirate. He joined the Galactic Republic military and fought loyally under Revan in the Mandalorian Wars. He defected to Revan‘s side when the Jedi Knight became the Dark Lord of the Sith. While under Revan, he was put through intense combat training to make him an effective Jedi hunter. His job was to capture Jedi so that Revan and his acolytes could attempt to convert them into loyal Sith by means of torture, manipulation, and on pain of death. However, when a female Jedi prisoner revealed that he was Force-sensitive and that he would likely be subjected to such treatment himself, he went into hiding on Nar Shaddaa. Biography Fighting in the wars Atton, nicknamed “Jaq,” fought in the Mandalorian Wars as well as the Jedi Civil War. He…

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Planets of Star Wars: The Old Republic – Tatooine

Tatooine (pronounced tætu’in) was a desert world in a binary star system in the Arkanis sector of the Outer Rim Territories. It was inhabited by poor locals who mostly farmed moisture for a living. Other activities included used equipment retailing and scrap dealing. The planet was on the 5709-DC Shipping Lane, a spur of the Triellus Trade Route, which itself connected to the Sisar Run. The planet was not far from the Corellian Run. It had its own navigation system. However, it would still play a role in galactic events, serving as the home of Anakin Skywalker. It was here that Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn recognized Anakin’s potential to become a Jedi and where he introduced him to Obi-Wan Kenobi, his future master and mentor. Tatooine was also the home of Anakin’s son, Luke, where he lived until his early adulthood. The planet built up a very bad reputation, often…

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Planets of Star Wars: The Old Republic – Alderaan

Alderaan was a Core Founder of the Galactic Republic in 25,053 BBY and one of the anchor-points for early hyperspace exploration. Alderaan was headquarters of Alderaan Royal Engineers, an early Republic shipwright. Alderaanian colonists settled Nim Drovis. During the Mandalorian Wars, the planet was threatened with invasion by the forces of Cassus Fett, but the entire invasion force was prematurely decimated, due to misuse of an ancient Sith artifact. During the peak of the Great Galactic War, the planet’s peace and tranquility was shattered by a full-scale Sith Empire. The Sith quickly overwhelmed the local defense forces and took the entire royal family hostage. In response, a Republic and Jedi taskforce launched a swift counter-offensive against the Sith; recapturing the planet and inflicting a heavy defeat on the Sith. As a consequence of the Sith invasion, the Alderaanian leadership adopted a hardline militarist stance towards the Sith Empire in the…

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Know your legends: Darth Sion

Darth Sion, the Lord of Pain, was a Sith Lord who lived in the time of the Old Sith Wars. As a Sith Marauder in the Great Sith War, Sion fought for Exar Kun’s Sith Empire until the day he was struck down. Rather than die, though, Sion found that by calling on his pain, anger, and hatred, he could rise from certain death and achieve immortality, at the cost of all-consuming agony. With a body fractured and decomposing, but held together by the dark side of the Force, Sion survived the Great Sith War. Sion allied himself with the next Sith Empire to arise in the galaxy, that of Darth Revan and Darth Malak. Those Sith, too, fell, and he watched from the Sith Academy on Korriban as the Empire tore itself apart. Sion soon found new purpose with Darth Traya and Darth Nihilus, a pair of Sith Lords…

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Planets of TOR: Korriban

Korriban, originally known as Pesegam during the reign of Xim, was the sole planet in the Horuset system, located across the galaxy from Koros Major. It was the original homeworld of the Sith species and a sacred planet for the Sith Order, housing the tombs for many ancient and powerful Dark Lords of the Sith, and containing tremendous dark side power. After the Hundred Year Darkness, the remaining Dark Jedi interbred with the Sith species and ruled the Sith using their Force powers. After the Great Hyperspace War, Korriban was abandoned and became a barren world. It was the site of two Sith Academies, and became the headquarters of the One Sith. It was close to Bosthirda and was located on the Nache Bhelfia and Kamat Krote hyperspace lanes. History Infinite Empire This remote, forbidding planet was the original homeworld of the Sith species. The Rakata invaded Korriban in an…

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Know your lore: Carth Onasi

Carth Onasi is one of the main playable characters in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Voiced by actor Raphael Sbarge, Carth’s character has the game attributes of a basic human soldier. His martial talents lean towards the use of blasters, and his skill level allows him to brandish two guns at once. If the player of KOTOR chooses a female player character, then the possibility of a romantic storyline between Carth and the main character is possible. Carth’s son is revealed to be alive if certain quests are undertaken in the game. When young Carth Onasi signed up to join the Galactic Republic military, he fully believed in the strength of the institution. A loyal soldier, skilled pilot and superior tactician, he operated with distinction in both small border skirmishes and in major engagements. Though the events of the Mandalorian Wars forever cemented Carth’s reputation as a hero,…

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Planets of Star Wars: The Old Republic – Balmorra

Balmorra was a factory world that was located within the Nevoota system, situated in the Colonies region at the border of the Core Worlds. Wide plains surrounded the planet’s capital, Bin Prime. Balmorran metal parasites feasted on metals in the urban areas of Balmorra. During the settlement of Balmorra, while the Republic was still in its infancy, Balmorra quickly established itself as a haven for renouned weapon and battle droid manufacturers. While determined to remain independent of the Republic, they became strong alllies supplying the Republic and the greater galaxy with advanced droids and weapons. Republic era During the Great Galactic War the Sith Empire resolved to seize Balmorra due to their military manufacturing plants and strategic location close to the Core Worlds. The Republic immediately sent soldiers to prevent that from happening. As the Great Galactic War continued and the Sith Empire’s control continued to spread, the strained republic…

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Planets of Star Wars: The Old Republic – Ord Mantell

Ord Mantell was a planet in the Bright Jewel Cluster. It was located near Anobis in the Mid Rim. It was originally settled in 12,000 BBY as an Ordnance/Regional Depot. Geography Ord Mantell was known as the Heart of the Bright Jewel since it orbited the blue star Bright Jewel at the center of the Bright Jewel system. The planet was famous for its thick, outer cometary cloud, which glowed with a pinkish cast when viewed from space, ensuring its place as the site of the Blockade Runners Derby for nearly 100 years. Two large moons and thirteen other satellites orbited the planet (to which was added the Jubilee Wheel), and the cloud cover was tinged with pink when viewed from the planet’s surface. This collection of natural wonders made Ord Mantell something of a tourist attraction, despite its seedier side. It was also the homeworld of the Mantellian Savrips…

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Know your lore: Darth Malak

Darth Malak was a Human male born on Quelii who took the mantle of Dark Lord of the Sith during the Jedi Civil War. Born Alek Squinquargesimus and nicknamed Squint, he was—prior to becoming a Sith Lord—a famed Jedi Knight and military commander. Squinquargesimus befriended the Jedi Padawan Zayne Carrick and, after taking the name “Malak,” assisted him in defeating the Jedi Covenant. During the Mandalorian Wars, Malak gained a reputation as a headstrong warrior who would recklessly charge into danger. He eventually drew closer and closer to the dark side, ultimately being seduced by Sith teachings imparted to him by his closest friend and fellow Jedi Knight Revan. After the final battle of the Mandalorian Wars at the Sith planet of Malachor V, the two twisted the allegiance of the Revanchists and the Republic forces under their command, building the foundations of what would eventually become a new Sith…

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Core World Map

The Core Worlds (also known as the Galactic Core and, during the Imperial era, the Imperial Core) were some of the most prestigious, well-developed, well-known, and heavily populated planets in the galaxy. In astrophysical terms, the Core denoted the central area of the galaxy, and in broad terms this was true enough, but the precise usage of the term was sometimes more complex. The major Rimward hyperlanes radiated outwards around little more than half the galactic disk, and the Core Worlds occupied a C-shaped region of space around the Deep Core, the heart of the astrophysical core, which was considered as a separate outlier area, facing in the opposite direction, and extending outwards towards the Unknown Regions. 25,053 BBY, the Galactic Republic was born with the signing of the Galactic Constitution in the aftermath of the Unification Wars. Its founders were a number of key Core Worlds known collectively as…

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Planets of Star Wars: The Old Republic – Nal Hutta

Nal Hutta (Glorious Jewel in Huttese) was the capital of Hutt Space and was located in the Y’Toub system. It was formerly known as Evocar and was the original home world of the Evocii, who were ousted by the Hutts in 15,000 BBY, who migrated from their original home world of Varl along with their servants the t’landa Til. It was sometimes referred to simply as Hutta at around 4000-3000 BBY. The planet was controlled by the ancient ruling Hutt families, who also ruled its moon Nar Shaddaa from Nal Hutta. Geography and Culture Nal Hutta, or as it was originally known, Evocar, was a very large planet, however it lacked natural heavy metals meaning its density was less than that of most worlds. The planet was originally a lush jungle world, though the Hutts eventually transformed it into a polluted and barren wasteland. Once it became known as Nal…

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