not a starwars geek's definitions
Tauntauns are a species of snow lizard found roaming the windswept snow plains of Hoth. The Rebel Alliance domesticated the swift creature during their stay on the ice planet, and used the animals for patrol duties outside Echo Base. The animals came in useful as the Rebel technicians had difficulty adapting their repulsorlift speeders to the subzero temperatures.
Both Luke Skywalker and Han Solo rode tauntauns on Rebel patrol missions, planting a network of life-form sensors along Echo Base's perimeter. Though tauntauns are sure-footed and well equipped to handle Hoth's daytime temperature, the chilling extremes of a Hoth night will prove deadly.
Both Luke Skywalker and Han Solo rode tauntauns on Rebel patrol missions, planting a network of life-form sensors along Echo Base's perimeter. Though tauntauns are sure-footed and well equipped to handle Hoth's daytime temperature, the chilling extremes of a Hoth night will prove deadly.
by not a starwars geek November 30, 2004
Get the Tauntaunmug. After abandoning their headquarters at the Massassi outpost on Yavin 4, the core group of the Rebel Alliance established Echo Base on the Hoth. Alliance engineers worked non-stop to adapt their technology to withstand the subzero temperature extremes of the frigid ice planet. When the technicians were unable to get the T-47s functioning in time, the Rebels domesticated the indigenous tauntaun for use as a patrol mount.
The nerve center of Echo Base was its darkened command center, where General Rieekan issued orders to the rest of his troops. Here, Alliance scanner operators carefully monitored incoming data from the scattered sensors placed by Rebel scouts in the Hoth wilderness.
Protecting Echo Base was a powerful energy shield strong enough to deflect Imperial bombardment. When the Empire arrived in the Hoth system, the Rebels erected the shield, forcing the Imperials to engage in a ground battle. The Rebels speedily evacuated the personnel and equipment they could aboard Rebel transports with starfighter escorts, offering covering fire for the fleeing ships from a massive ground-based ion cannon.
As the transports retreated, the Rebel ground forces and snowspeeder squadrons covered their escape by delaying the Imperials for as long as they could. Rebel troopers dug into snowy trenches, blasting at the incoming Imperials with turret-mounted laser cannons and blaster rifles. The Imperial walkers were unstoppable. The Rebels were routed and Echo Base was overrun.
The nerve center of Echo Base was its darkened command center, where General Rieekan issued orders to the rest of his troops. Here, Alliance scanner operators carefully monitored incoming data from the scattered sensors placed by Rebel scouts in the Hoth wilderness.
Protecting Echo Base was a powerful energy shield strong enough to deflect Imperial bombardment. When the Empire arrived in the Hoth system, the Rebels erected the shield, forcing the Imperials to engage in a ground battle. The Rebels speedily evacuated the personnel and equipment they could aboard Rebel transports with starfighter escorts, offering covering fire for the fleeing ships from a massive ground-based ion cannon.
As the transports retreated, the Rebel ground forces and snowspeeder squadrons covered their escape by delaying the Imperials for as long as they could. Rebel troopers dug into snowy trenches, blasting at the incoming Imperials with turret-mounted laser cannons and blaster rifles. The Imperial walkers were unstoppable. The Rebels were routed and Echo Base was overrun.
by not a starwars geek November 29, 2004
Get the Echo Basemug. At the height of its rule, the Galactic Republic was governed by a body of Senators representing the many worlds of the galaxy. Within the cavernous Senate rotunda, hundreds of politicians would fill the viewing platforms that lined the curved walls. When a Senator wished to speak, the platform would detach and float to the center of the auditorium for all to see.
As the Republic grew, so too did graft and corruption. Like the greatest of trees, able to withstand attack from the outside, the Republic began to rot from within. Interest in the common good fell to individual agendas. Senators accumulated wealth and influence by exploiting a bureaucracy too bloated and sluggish to stop them.
This all changed when Palpatine declared himself Emperor and instituted a New Order. He did away with the corruption, and by the time of the Galactic Civil War, the Senate was disbanded.
As the Republic grew, so too did graft and corruption. Like the greatest of trees, able to withstand attack from the outside, the Republic began to rot from within. Interest in the common good fell to individual agendas. Senators accumulated wealth and influence by exploiting a bureaucracy too bloated and sluggish to stop them.
This all changed when Palpatine declared himself Emperor and instituted a New Order. He did away with the corruption, and by the time of the Galactic Civil War, the Senate was disbanded.
by not a starwars geek November 29, 2004
Get the Galactic Senatemug. The All Terrain Armored Transport, or AT-AT walker, is a four-legged transport and combat vehicle used by the Imperial ground forces. Standing a towering 15 meters tall, these walkers are intimidating, and are used as much for psychological effect as they are for tactical effect.
An AT-AT has blast-impervious armor plating, and resembles a gigantic beast as it moves across the battlefield. An AT-AT's head carries the main armaments, a pair of light blasters located on the walker's "temples," and heavier, twin laser cannons mounted on the walker's "chin."
The command crew pilots the AT-AT from the walker's head, which is connected to the main body by a flexible neck. The crew consists of a commander, a gunner, and a pilot. Additional crews and troops can be carried in the walker's main storage bay.
An AT-AT has blast-impervious armor plating, and resembles a gigantic beast as it moves across the battlefield. An AT-AT's head carries the main armaments, a pair of light blasters located on the walker's "temples," and heavier, twin laser cannons mounted on the walker's "chin."
The command crew pilots the AT-AT from the walker's head, which is connected to the main body by a flexible neck. The crew consists of a commander, a gunner, and a pilot. Additional crews and troops can be carried in the walker's main storage bay.
by not a starwars geek November 29, 2004
Get the AT-ATmug. Luke Skywalker's life has been indelibly changed by encounters with remarkable people. But if ever one person can be said to have had the greatest impact on his life, it is his beloved wife, the fiercely independent and stubbornly determined Mara Jade.
She was once known as the Emperor's Hand -- a highly skilled assassin and operative who could hear Emperor Palpatine's bidding from across the galaxy. Trained since childhood and honed into a weapon, Mara learned self-sufficiency, piloting, marksmanship and talents in the Force while serving her dark master.
One of her last missions was the assassination of Luke Skywalker. Emperor Palpatine was dismayed by the changes in Vader following the Dark Lord's lightsaber duel with his son on Bespin. Skywalker had stirred something in Vader, and the Emperor distrusted his closest agent. As a contingency, the Emperor dispatched Mara to track down and kill Skywalker.
Mara knew that Skywalker would attempt a rescue of his imprisoned friend, Han Solo. She infiltrated Jabba's palace, posing as a dancer named Arica. She failed to get close enough to Skywalker, and Jabba refused to let her attend the execution party heading out into the desert. She missed her chance.
A perfectionist, Mara could not abide failure. She wished to make it up to her dark master, but never got that chance. In mid-transit back to Coruscant, Mara felt the Emperor's death through the Force.
Her entire life of high-placed contacts, elevated status, and lifelong purpose collapsed with the defeat of the Empire at the Battle of Endor. Through the Force, Mara received fragmented images of the Emperor's final moments. Luke Skywalker was there... as was Vader... and the two murdered her mentor.
For years, she blamed Skywalker for Palpatine's death and the loss of her purpose. Mara floated along the fringe of galactic society in the years after the Battle of Endor. She eventually found herself as a pilot and operative in Talon Karrde's smuggling organization.
During the events of Grand Admiral Thrawn's campaign against the New Republic, Mara came face to face with Luke. The two had to cooperate to survive the wilderness of the planet Myrkr. They settled on an uneasy peace -- and Luke explained that it was not he who had killed Palpatine, but rather it was Vader.
Witnessing Luke Skywalker's Jedi abilities, Mara developed a begrudging respect for the war hero. Though she openly and brusquely questioned many of his philosophies, the two were often paired together during the Thrawn crisis, and their talents complemented each other perfectly time and again. Following the defeat of Thrawn, Luke gave Mara the gift of his first lightsaber, a weapon long thought lost but recovered by agents of the Empire.
Mara didn't want to be saddled with commitment to Skywalker's new Jedi order, so she refused his invitation to train. After all, she had survived all this time on her own, and had supplemented the Empire's finest training with hard-earned field experience. She had long been independent and the baby-steps of Luke's Jedi praxeum had no place for her.
Still, in her efforts to master her talents, she came across Kyle Katarn, another self-trained Jedi who had ignored Skywalker's invitation. The two trained together for a while, but the dark side crossed their paths. Realizing the dangers of the Force, Katarn admitted that the group learning experience of Skywalker's academy had its benefits, and became one of the first students. While Mara did visit the academy on occasion, she did not become a full-time student.
Mara focused on her career in the fringe, accepting increased responsibility in Talon Karrde's newly formed Smugglers Alliance. She undertook a number of information-gathering missions, pairing with Lando Calrissian on occasion. Despite the dashing gambler's best efforts, he was never able to woo Jade into anything other than a strictly business relationship.
Karrde, who was grooming Mara to be his successor, wanted her to gather an even wider variety of skills. Mara became increasingly independent in the following years, loosening her ties with the Smugglers Alliance.
During the Camaasi Document incident, Mara was investigating Chiss activities on the distant world of Nirauan. She once again teamed with Luke Skywalker as they infiltrated the mysterious outpost known as the Hand of Thrawn. Together, their skills and personalities strengthened each other perfectly; if not for their pairing, they would have perished.
It was then that they realized how perfect a match they were. Despite a decade of tension between the two, and a relationship that started with near-violent acrimony, the two had fallen in love.
Following the peace treaty that brought a formal end to the Galactic Civil War, Mara Jade and Luke Skywalker wed on Coruscant. For a galaxy undergoing seismic political change, the two represented an inspiring ideal and a powerful symbol. A former Imperial agent and the galaxy's most powerful Jedi Master had found a way beyond their past differences to find love.
The New Republic, long plagued by war and insurgents, was eager to embrace a time of peace. While Luke continued to train new initiates at the Jedi academy, Mara kept up her contacts in the fringe. She took Luke's niece, Jaina Solo, as a Jedi apprentice. This tranquility, unfortunately, was short-lived.
It began in a subtle, insidious fashion. While on a diplomatic mission to Monor II, Mara was secretly infected with a coomb spore, a deadly bio-engineered pathogen crafted by the Yuuzhan Vong. When the full invasion of Yuuzhan Vong forces began, Mara was already weakened, tapping into the power of the Force to sustain her life. Mara focused the Force within her to cleanse her body of this infection. The process was exhausting.
It was during this illness that Mara discovered she was pregnant. This galvanized her resolve to fight off the disease. She carried the child to term, and the healing glow of the Force bolstered by the love of mother, father and newborn son finally cured Mara of the Yuuzhan Vong sickness.
Despite the carnage and destruction sweeping the galaxy, there was a quiet moment affirming life and hope as Mara Jade Skywalker and Luke Skywalker welcomed their infant son Ben into the world.
This peace was short-lived as the Yuuzhan Vong attacks continued to weaken the New Republic and diminish the Jedi ranks. Mara, aboard her Jade Shadow starship, continued flying missions against the invaders while her son was safely sequestered on the Jedi safeworld code-named Eclipse.
Together with her husband, Mara voyaged to the conquered world of Coruscant, to investigate strange stirrings in the Force. The once gleaming metropolis world was overgrown with Yuuzhan Vong organic technology, transformed from a modern city to a fetid jungle. In the planet's depths, Mara used her still-functioning access codes to reveal the source of the Force-disturbance. Irek Ismeren, the son of a fellow Emperor's Hand, was corrupted and reformed as Lord Nyax, a dangerously unstable Dark Jedi.
After defeating Nyax, and participating in several key missions against the Yuuzhan Vong, Mara is once again next to her husband as he seeks to find an end to the war. Aboard the Jade Shadow, and along with a team of fellow Jedi, Mara and Luke voyage into the depths of the Unknown Regions, seeking the mysterious world of Zonama Sekot that may hold the secrets of ending this long and bloody conflict.
She was once known as the Emperor's Hand -- a highly skilled assassin and operative who could hear Emperor Palpatine's bidding from across the galaxy. Trained since childhood and honed into a weapon, Mara learned self-sufficiency, piloting, marksmanship and talents in the Force while serving her dark master.
One of her last missions was the assassination of Luke Skywalker. Emperor Palpatine was dismayed by the changes in Vader following the Dark Lord's lightsaber duel with his son on Bespin. Skywalker had stirred something in Vader, and the Emperor distrusted his closest agent. As a contingency, the Emperor dispatched Mara to track down and kill Skywalker.
Mara knew that Skywalker would attempt a rescue of his imprisoned friend, Han Solo. She infiltrated Jabba's palace, posing as a dancer named Arica. She failed to get close enough to Skywalker, and Jabba refused to let her attend the execution party heading out into the desert. She missed her chance.
A perfectionist, Mara could not abide failure. She wished to make it up to her dark master, but never got that chance. In mid-transit back to Coruscant, Mara felt the Emperor's death through the Force.
Her entire life of high-placed contacts, elevated status, and lifelong purpose collapsed with the defeat of the Empire at the Battle of Endor. Through the Force, Mara received fragmented images of the Emperor's final moments. Luke Skywalker was there... as was Vader... and the two murdered her mentor.
For years, she blamed Skywalker for Palpatine's death and the loss of her purpose. Mara floated along the fringe of galactic society in the years after the Battle of Endor. She eventually found herself as a pilot and operative in Talon Karrde's smuggling organization.
During the events of Grand Admiral Thrawn's campaign against the New Republic, Mara came face to face with Luke. The two had to cooperate to survive the wilderness of the planet Myrkr. They settled on an uneasy peace -- and Luke explained that it was not he who had killed Palpatine, but rather it was Vader.
Witnessing Luke Skywalker's Jedi abilities, Mara developed a begrudging respect for the war hero. Though she openly and brusquely questioned many of his philosophies, the two were often paired together during the Thrawn crisis, and their talents complemented each other perfectly time and again. Following the defeat of Thrawn, Luke gave Mara the gift of his first lightsaber, a weapon long thought lost but recovered by agents of the Empire.
Mara didn't want to be saddled with commitment to Skywalker's new Jedi order, so she refused his invitation to train. After all, she had survived all this time on her own, and had supplemented the Empire's finest training with hard-earned field experience. She had long been independent and the baby-steps of Luke's Jedi praxeum had no place for her.
Still, in her efforts to master her talents, she came across Kyle Katarn, another self-trained Jedi who had ignored Skywalker's invitation. The two trained together for a while, but the dark side crossed their paths. Realizing the dangers of the Force, Katarn admitted that the group learning experience of Skywalker's academy had its benefits, and became one of the first students. While Mara did visit the academy on occasion, she did not become a full-time student.
Mara focused on her career in the fringe, accepting increased responsibility in Talon Karrde's newly formed Smugglers Alliance. She undertook a number of information-gathering missions, pairing with Lando Calrissian on occasion. Despite the dashing gambler's best efforts, he was never able to woo Jade into anything other than a strictly business relationship.
Karrde, who was grooming Mara to be his successor, wanted her to gather an even wider variety of skills. Mara became increasingly independent in the following years, loosening her ties with the Smugglers Alliance.
During the Camaasi Document incident, Mara was investigating Chiss activities on the distant world of Nirauan. She once again teamed with Luke Skywalker as they infiltrated the mysterious outpost known as the Hand of Thrawn. Together, their skills and personalities strengthened each other perfectly; if not for their pairing, they would have perished.
It was then that they realized how perfect a match they were. Despite a decade of tension between the two, and a relationship that started with near-violent acrimony, the two had fallen in love.
Following the peace treaty that brought a formal end to the Galactic Civil War, Mara Jade and Luke Skywalker wed on Coruscant. For a galaxy undergoing seismic political change, the two represented an inspiring ideal and a powerful symbol. A former Imperial agent and the galaxy's most powerful Jedi Master had found a way beyond their past differences to find love.
The New Republic, long plagued by war and insurgents, was eager to embrace a time of peace. While Luke continued to train new initiates at the Jedi academy, Mara kept up her contacts in the fringe. She took Luke's niece, Jaina Solo, as a Jedi apprentice. This tranquility, unfortunately, was short-lived.
It began in a subtle, insidious fashion. While on a diplomatic mission to Monor II, Mara was secretly infected with a coomb spore, a deadly bio-engineered pathogen crafted by the Yuuzhan Vong. When the full invasion of Yuuzhan Vong forces began, Mara was already weakened, tapping into the power of the Force to sustain her life. Mara focused the Force within her to cleanse her body of this infection. The process was exhausting.
It was during this illness that Mara discovered she was pregnant. This galvanized her resolve to fight off the disease. She carried the child to term, and the healing glow of the Force bolstered by the love of mother, father and newborn son finally cured Mara of the Yuuzhan Vong sickness.
Despite the carnage and destruction sweeping the galaxy, there was a quiet moment affirming life and hope as Mara Jade Skywalker and Luke Skywalker welcomed their infant son Ben into the world.
This peace was short-lived as the Yuuzhan Vong attacks continued to weaken the New Republic and diminish the Jedi ranks. Mara, aboard her Jade Shadow starship, continued flying missions against the invaders while her son was safely sequestered on the Jedi safeworld code-named Eclipse.
Together with her husband, Mara voyaged to the conquered world of Coruscant, to investigate strange stirrings in the Force. The once gleaming metropolis world was overgrown with Yuuzhan Vong organic technology, transformed from a modern city to a fetid jungle. In the planet's depths, Mara used her still-functioning access codes to reveal the source of the Force-disturbance. Irek Ismeren, the son of a fellow Emperor's Hand, was corrupted and reformed as Lord Nyax, a dangerously unstable Dark Jedi.
After defeating Nyax, and participating in several key missions against the Yuuzhan Vong, Mara is once again next to her husband as he seeks to find an end to the war. Aboard the Jade Shadow, and along with a team of fellow Jedi, Mara and Luke voyage into the depths of the Unknown Regions, seeking the mysterious world of Zonama Sekot that may hold the secrets of ending this long and bloody conflict.
by not a starwars geek November 30, 2004
Get the Mara Jade Skywalkermug.