Thread by @JoinTheSchwarz

IMPERIAL-CLASS STAR DESTROYER

Thanks to the military ramp-up during the Clone Wars, many starship construction facilities have been turned into forges of death churning out massive Star Destroyers.

The mentioned shipyards are Kuat, Corellia, Ringo Vinda, and Fondor.

Kuat, the home of Kuat Drive Yards, was first mentioned in WEG's Star Wars Sourcebook and has since been seen in both Legends and canon.

Corellia's shipyards are seen in Solo building ISDs, so you can call this mention a teaser.

Ringo Vinda is another artificial-ring world, this one seen in TCW.

And Fondor is a shipyard first seen in the Archie Goodwin strips back in 1981, and since canonized by the Battlefront 2 campaign.

The Imperial Star Destroyer is larger than the Venator, the Jedi cruiser of the Clone Wars, and "just a harbinger of even larger warships yet to come."

The data file tells us we are talking about the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer, that's, the model seen in ANH.

Here's a diagram by AnowiShipyards explaining the difference. I can never tell. I'm ship-blind.

We get a series of stats that are straight out of the 1987 Star Wars Sourcebook... with an exception! The ISD now gets an atmospheric speed.

WEG had the ISD unable to enter planetary atmospheres, but that's pretty obviously changed with the new canon.

It looks ominous.

The section next focuses on three specific ISDs that appear in the film, so let's take a look at them one by one.

First: Executrix.

This is the flagship of Grand Moff Tarkin. We see it in the movie when the Death Star's superlaser is fitted and Krennic and Tarkin have their little bitch fight.

Its commander is Captain Hindane Darcc.

Ship and commander have been inherited from the EU in a slightly twisted way. Let's take a look at this!

First, the Executrix appeared in Luceno's Dark Lord, a sequel of sorts to ROTS. It was Tarkin's flagship during the subjugation of Kashyyyk.

Luceno being Luceno, he couldn't help adding a nice continuity connection, so this ship is captained by "Captain Darcc."

Darcc first appeared as Moff Darcc in 2001 videogame Galactic Battlegrounds, where he's the Imperial warlord in control of Kashyyyk in the Wookiee campaign.

Luceno himself brought the Executrix back into canon through his novel Tarkin, and this guide brings Darcc as its commander.

Poor Darcc is no longer a powerful Moff, though: Moff Tolbruck pretty much takes his place in the Aftermath trilogy. Sorry, Hindane.

Oh, and this is obviously not the ship that goes up in flames in Rebels. That's the Sovereign.

Tarkin appears to alternate between Executrix and Sovereign. He took the Ex to Salient in 19 BBY, the Sov to Mon Cala one year later, then the Ex again to the Death Star.

Second: Devastator

The Devastator is Vader's flagship, and the very first ISD we ever saw, in the first seconds of ANH.

We learn that it's the last of the Imperial-I class to come out of Kuat before its replacement by the new Imperial-II.

That doesn't mean that the Devastator is outdated: it's a state-of-the-art warship built to Vader's precise specifications.

Darth Vader appears to have a knack for vehicle and ship design!

The ship commander is Captain Shaef Corssin, who is described as competent and focused.

His first name is probably a tip of the hat to the actor who portrayed him in the movie, Michael Shaeffer.

Third: Dauntless

Or the ISD hanging over Jedha. A very striking shot in the movie's first full trailer.

It protects the ships extracting kyber from the world and serves as a symbol of Imperial power.

There was an ISD Dauntless in the EU, first appeared in Riders of the Maelstrom.

But honestly? A really common name.

Let's check Wookieepedia.

Hmm-hmmm.

Yup, at least seven different ships called Dauntless. So yeah.

(Oh, and those balls next to the bridge? Yeah, still shield generators. For now. I think loremakers should constantly change their function to keep us on our feet. I humbly suggest "atmospheric recyclers" for their next iteration.)

And that's it for today! Next, we'll take a look at some Imperial officers!

IMPERIAL COMMAND: SERVANTS OF THE EMPIRE

(Timely reminder that Jason Fry's Servants of the Empire is a fantastic series, one of the new continuity's most-overlooked jewels, and that you absolutely should read it)

We read that the line between the political and military spheres has blurred since the birth of the Empire.

The Empire slowly, almost imperceptibly at first, transformed into a stratocracy.

So gradual the process was that the public-at-large still believes that the Imperial Senate is in charge of things, and that it represents their best interests.

The Senate was, of course, ultimately disposable.

Authority was funneled into the Emperor through a new military hierarchy that grew thanks to the efforts of the Imperial Academy system to raise ambitious men and women eager to bring the New Order's credo on the galaxy.

The final stage of this transformation would depend on fleet command, on military nerve centers such as Scarif, and on the horrific Death Star.

Some of the most ruthless Imperial officers raise from Scarif, waiting for their turn to subjugate the galaxy.

A cheery topic, I know.

IMPERIAL INSIGNIA

"Sector-specific design schema creates a hodgepodge of non-uniform markings."

They are not even consistent in the movies themselves. I appreciate some attempts to make them have sense, like Guide to Warfare's, but it's a lost battle. Embrace the chaos!

LIEUTENANT NILES GAVLA

Niles is stationed on Scarif and he's a graduate from the Carida Academy.

The Carida Academy first appeared in EU novel Jedi Search, and it's long been established as the most prestigious academy, perhaps next to Coruscant itself. A classic.

Niles is an administrative liaison to other Death Star-based officers.

Sounds cushy. It'd be a pity if someone were to crash that party.

GENERAL SOTORUS RAMDA

Meet the commander of the Scarif military garrison, he who might or not be blind according to certain members of the Imperial hierarchy.

Ramda, an unimaginative officer, achieved success when he crushed a local insurrection as commander of the Syni IV garrison.

This failed insurrection was first seen in a 1997 article by Tim O'Brien on Imperial garrisons that appeared in the Adventure Journal.

He longed for a position in the Core Worlds, but he's happy with Scarif: the place is pretty much a heavily-defended beach resort, after all.

So he's grown overcomplacent. It'd be a pity if someone were to crash that party.

GENERAL HURST ROMODI

Okay, I really like this one. Let's see.

Romodi is a battle-scarred veteran of the Clone Wars and became one of the first general in the new Imperial Army. He served alongside Tarkin in the Western Reaches Campaigns.

He's actually returned from retirement by personal invitation, and now has become part of the Death Star project. One of Tarkin's trusted men, basically.

And believe it or not, we've known him for a while!

Here's Hurst Romodi in ANH.

Yeah, he's one of the officers in the conference room scene. Incredibly enough, he went unnamed until 2012, when Jason Fry named him in the pages of the Essential Guide to Warfare using a name from the original novelization.

The Essential Guide to Warfare actually gave Romodi a whole spotlight-on section.

If you want to know of how he got his scars or hear about his political career, that's the place!

LIEUTENANT (JUNIOR GRADE) TOBIX CHASSER

Chasser oversees the Death Star's allocation of staff, and it turns out that anyone aware of the battle station's existence is dying to be assigned onboard.

It'd be a pity if...

LIEUTENANT CRIDEN VALDAS

Valdas is a readiness officer on Scarif. He reports to General Ramda on matters of technology allocation and contingency planning.

"Contingency planning." Maybe he was lucky when the Citadel was destroyed because he looks like the ideal scapegoat to me.

LIEUTENANT MYTUS ADEMA

Mytus is a young and ambitious officer. He's not happy about Ramda's command. He considers the Death Star a waste of money, but still sees it as a symbol of Imperial power.

In the meantime, our friend is watching Ramda closely.

He wants to someday present Director Krennic with a damning account of Ramda's ineptitude.

That's the Empire for you!

That's it for Imperial officers. Next, a look into Imperial support personnel, before heading for Eadu!

IMPERIAL SUPPORT: TECHNICAL AND SERVICE PERSONNEL

Meet the people who keep the Imperial war machine running.

Droids are, of course, the lowest of all the support personnel: the Empire does not afford them any respect or even acknowledgment, unlike the Alliance.

Service technicians don't fare much better. Those wearing gray uniforms are usually in charge of menial duty, the ones in black are higher in rank.

And then there are navy troopers, gunner, etcetera. The Death Star project needs a lot of hands.

"The Service and Technical Sectors of the battle station's personnel number in the hundreds of thousands."

Another reference to the great Death Star Technical Companion.

CORPORAL ANSIL THOBEL

Here's a navy trooper. The text tells us that they've become so numerous aboard the DS that people have started calling them "Death Star trooper."

This name has been used in licensing since... forever. Still a misnomer, as we've seen them outside the DS!

Navy troopers are trained in shipboard combat, in case some Rebel team decides to board the ship.

Most are also trained in some other operational duties. Thobel, for example, mans a sector suite station when he's not a sentry in the Death Star's Command Sector.

4D6-J-A7

Here's an RA-7 protocol droid. 4D6 is an administrative assistant to the Intelligence and ISB offices in the Citadel.

First seen in ANH, RA-7 units soon gained the fan name of "Death Star droids."

4D6's position means she's routinely exposed to classified info, so her encryption protocols are state-of-the-art. This has made her arrogant and conceited, although so far she's still behaving professionally.

ENSIGN YORT CAVWOL

A fastidious man, he serves General Ramda and Lt. Adema on routine operation within the Citadel.

Not much more about him, sorry.

C2-B5

One of many astromechs patrolling the Citadel for maintenance, C2-B5 is what most droids sadly are like: devoid of any personality due to routine memory wipes.

Emancipate the droids!

2ND LIEUTENANT FROBB

This deck officer catalogs shuttle traffic in Landing Pad #9. Why does that sound famili--? Oh. RIP.

His job is as expected: making sure ships are appropriately resourced and keeping his eyes open for anything out of the ordinary.

MSE-6 DROID

Mouse droids!

Rebaxan Columni "mouse droids" are a common sight in all Imperial facilities, serving as couriers.

Rebaxan Columni are a WEG thing, of course.

CREWMAN TODES HALVAX

This computer technician is the sysadmin at the Scarif command room, keeping the CItadel running and ready to tackle any issues that may arise.

I bet he gets paid as well as IT people usually do. Grumble.

LIEUTENANT DANBIT BRUN

Danbit monitors the power systems on the shield gate station above Scarif.

He also wears a very Star Wars mustache.

TECHNICIAN KENT DEEZLING

Better known as "guy who was nice enough to lend Jyn Erso his armor," Kent is a deck technician.

Deck technicians work in busy surface ports helping direct traffic. They are plugged into air control traffic through their headsets.

They prefer a manual approach, using their "luminous wands" to guide approaching ships.

They wear piloting gear, as they are authorized to commandeer certain ships if the need arises.

And if I was writing this, I would add that their #1 mortality cause was getting caught by Vader pretending their wands were lightsabers.

vvvvvmmm vvvvvvvvmm ugh agh CRACK ekkk

Yeah, yet another reason it's a good thing I'm not writing jack.

And that's it for Imperial personnel.

Next, we'll fly to stormy Eadu and meet the scientists behind the Star Wars, Galen Erso included, and discover a lot of historical Easter eggs you might have missed!

EADU: SECRET LABORATORY

The most "volatile" research of the Death Star project took place far from the battle station, for safety and security reasons.

Eadu is a world that Grand Moff Tarkin owned (!) until he ceded it to the Tarkin Initiative to house Krennic's secret lab.

The planetary map shows us the Tarkin Initiative laboratory, a blast range for kyber experiments, and a local village cluster.

Yup, Eaduans are a thing: they amount to 2.5 million and are nerf herders.

A sections called "Life Under Watch" tells us about the events shown in the movie, from the very angry Krennic arriving on site to Galen confessing to spare his colleagues' lives.

Eadu is a remote planet and its difficult terrain provides natural defenses to the laboratory.

The Empire still has deployed a full garrison of stormtroopers. Heavy turbolasers and a full TIE Fighter squadron complete the base's heavy defenses.

GALEN ERSO: CAPTIVE GENIUS

Galen is a renownedc polymath, known primarly as a physicist and a mathematician.

Born into poverty, he devoted his talent to solving "the problem of want." He was particularly incensed by how unevenly resources were distributed.

Comrade Galen!

The initial sidebar summarizes the events shown in Catalyst, similar to how Krennic's entry was organized.

He mastered music and chemistry as a young prodigy, absorbing knowledge through the HoloNet.

The HoloNet is another WEG creation: we'll talk about it one of these days.

He eventually was admitted into the Futures Program, as seen in Catalyst, and there he met a gifted and charismatic architect: Orson Krennic.

After graduation, Krennic helped Galen get a visiting professorship at the Institute of Applied Science in Coruscant.

While in the Institute, Galen found focus and a research topic: kyber crystal.

Krennic eventually coerced Galen into joining Project Celestial Power, an energy project meant to help the galaxy recover after the Clone Wars.

Allegedly.

Project Celestial Power relied on Galen's vast knowledge on kyber crystals to find a way to obtain humongous yields of power.

Of course Galen was unaware his research was not for renewable energies for the whole galaxy: Krennic was part of the Death Star project.

Thankfully, there was another factor involved.

During a field expedition Galen had met Lyra. They had married and had a child, Jyn. The trio had become political prisoners during the final days of the Clone Wars, until their rescue by Krennic.

Galen felt indebted to Orson.

Thanfully, Lyra helped Galen realized what was going on.

The whole family escaped to Lah'mu, where Galen tried to make up for the lack of attention he had given his daughter during the years of research.

Until Krennc found them. You know the rest.

Seriously, read Catalyst.

Let's move on to the datafile.

His full name is Galen Walton Erso, he was born in Grange (a new world first seen in Catalyst) and he's 55 years old.

He used to be affiliate with Project Celestial Power, is now part of the Tarkin Initiative.

The symbol on Galen's shoulder evokes a faceted kyber crystal and has become the logo of the think tank known as the Tarkin Initiative.

But who are the Tarkin Initiative?

As usual, it's hard (impossible) to tell who had the original idea and what influenced what, but the TI was first named in Gillen's Darth Vader comic, already shown as developers of superweapons and purveyors of mad science for the Empire.

It got its name from its founder, Grand Moff Tarkin, who was apparently not shy about lending his name to things.

Since Rogue One, we've seen them get involved in a looooot of mad science for the Empire, often involving Doctor Aphra.

They are fun.

We see Galen's personal timeline, pretty much showing all the events from Catalyst.

Still, it's sad to see that the Ersos' freedom only lasted four years. This movie is so tragic.

A last sidebar gives us a list of Galen's academic achievements.

He won a scholarship in a subadult (WEGese for "child") science fair in his homeworld, Grande, and top honors in a competition in the Brentaal Futures Program.

As an adult he was awarded the Kuat Systems Engineering Medal.

KSE was a subsidiary of Kuat that made small ships and starfighters for the Republic. The new continuity also has them building the A-wing instead of Incom, a sensible move considering the very similar lines.

He also received the Ashgad Prize.

This is probably a reference to Seti Ashgad, villain of infamous EU novel Planet of Twilight, a brilliant man with an engineering background.

Not the last Hambly reference *cackles*

And finally, he got the Roche Foundation Prize.

I take this to be a reference to the Roche asteroids, the setting of WEG adventure Strike Force Shantipole. In the EU, a group of Verpines used them to develop advanced starfighters for the Alliance.

DEATH STAR RESEARCHERS: CAPTIVE RESEARCHERS

Okay, first things first: this section is going to be longer than you might have expected.

Why? The author turned this two-pager into a massive reference to Project Manhattan, and I decided early on to try to find every single one.

Many thanks to @DarkSapiens, our trusty fandom physicist, who helped me find the last references by suggesting I expand my search to Project Manhattan sites.

Of course, some of my "finds" are just educated guesses. Let's get that out of the way.

Now, enjoy the history lesson.

The introduction tells us that the Death Star has been developed in scattered secret laboratories over two decades, working on the never-finished Geonosian schematics and trying to solve the riddle of the station's power source.

Geonosians failed to crack the secret of kyber.

The Empire had a difficult task in front of them: kybers are exceedingly rare, usually too small to be useful, and extremely volatile.

So while the battle station was built over Geonosis, the Eadu team worked under Galen's lead to solve two different problems.

First, how to fuse small crystals into larger forms.

Yeah, that's why the crystal crates seen in R1 are considerably smaller than the massive kybers from Rebels: the latter are probably very, very rare and the Empire couldn't depend on them.

And second, how to control the chain reaction. Kind of important to not have your superweapon explode on you.

The Kyber Crystal Research Team, a subdivision of the Tarkin Initiative, has been working on these problems for nearly twenty years.

RASETT MILIO

His name is probably a combination of Project Manhattan scientists Franco Rasetti (co-discoverer of the secret behind nuclear fission) and Emilio Segre (Nobel Laureate for his discovery of antiprotons.)

Milio leads the HECIL division, High Energy Concepts and Implementation Labs.

And this is a holy-crap-obscure WEG reference! It's from Paul Sudlow's Jedi Academy Sourcebook, their most-often forgotten EU reference sourcebook.

This makes absolute sense, of course: this trilogy included the EU origin for the Death Star, with the Maw Installation being an analog to Eadu and the Omwat Think Tank the equivalent to the Tarkin Initiative.

Very nice touch!

Rasett and his team work on creating containment fields to focus the energy unleashed by the superlaser into a focusing cone.

Pretty much what Doxin, his EU equivalent, did. Consistency!

(Sorry, this is the only Doxin picture I could find)

VLEX ONOPIN

His name is probably a combination of Project Manhattan members John Van Vleck (Nobel Laureate for his research on electrons interacting with solids) and Emil Konopinski (one of Fermi's collaborators in the first nuclear reactor ever built.)

Vlex is a graduate of the Magrody Institute of Programmable Intelligence.

This institute, led by Nasdra Magrody, was the galaxy's premier AI research laboratory, as seen in EU novel Children of the Jedi, the best novel in the Bant-- okay, okay, I'll keep it professional.

As expected by his background, he's a programmer: he codes the devices that calculate the complex hyperspatial formulae that make the Death Star's firing sequence possible.

AMES URAVAN

His name is probably a reference to two Manhattan Project sites: Ames, Iowa (headquarters of the Ames Project, where uranium metal was developed) and Uravan, Colorado (a now-abandoned uranium mining town.)

As expected by those two references, he's in charge of the process that melds smaller kyber crystals into larger compound crystals.

This is very roughly what the Ames Process did: obtaining uranium metal that could be used in atomic bombs from uranium halides.

Great reference.

Oh, and he's a native of Christophsis, the planet first seen in the Clone Wars movie.

Very appropriate for a crystal expert!

SIRRO ARGONNE

His name might be a combination of Los Alamos director Norris Bradbury and the Argonne National Laboratory (a still functioning research facility where the first power-producing nuclear reactors were built.)

I am not 100% certain on the first name's origin, but Sirro here is the administrator of the Eadu Facility, so it would appear to be appropriate.

He ensures that scientists in the laboratory have their needs met.

And yeeees, he was played by some Doctor Who actor. You people are impossible.

https://twitter.com/quigonsmith/status/1284922480088485889?s=20

Before the Empire, he was a member of the Galactic Republic's Minister of Science.

This branch of the government, MiniSci, was introduced by HoloNet News in a cheeky reference to the Death Star project.

FEYN VANN

His name is probably a reference to superstar scientist Richard Feynman who, before earning the Noble Prize for his work on quantum electrodynamics and popularizing the concept of nanotechnology, was a member of the Manhattan Project.

He's a shield technology expert, having once been a researcher for Nordoxicon Unlimited.

Nordoxicon, another WEG creation, were first introduced in the Star Wars Sourcebook and then went on to be the most-commonly-mentioned shield manufacturer.

(Pic by @hishgraphics)

Vann has used deflector shields to direct the hypermatter stream from the Death Star's main reactor to the crystalline firing array.

So, in case you wondered, it would seem like the kybers are not the core of the station. It's still a "simple" hypermatter reactor.

Spread through the two-pager we discover a few things about the Tarkin Initiative uniform: the coveralls are antiseptic, their footwear is grounded to prevent static discharges, and the tunic top changes color in the presence of radiation.

And that's it for the Tarkin Initiative! I really enjoyed this section!

Join me next for something a little bit more pedestrian: stormtroopers!

(And sorry for keeping calling it "Project Manhattan" instead of "Manhattan Project": I mixed it up in my head with "Project RAINBOW"!

I'll delete the whole section and-- lol no way)

STORMTROOPERS: SOLDIERS OF THE EMPIRE

Stormtroopers are an evolution of the late Republic's clone troopers.

They are no longer Kaminoan clones: stormtroopers are recruits.

The "dehumanizing military doctrine" they receive instills in them a fierce loyalty to the Empire.

Ironically, despite not using clones, the Empire has eliminated individuality among the stormtrooper ranks. They are an army of identical, faceless enforcers.

I heard Dave Filoni talk about this in some Celebration past: how the Jedi try to turn identical beings into people and the Empire tries to turn people into identical beings.

yvan eht nioj

After the end of the Clone Wars, the Empire started retiring their clone troopers due to their accelerated aging.

Once hailed as heroes, the Imperial populace soon forgot about the veterans who had fought in the Clone Wars. These vets found it hard to find a place in the galaxy.

The Imperial Stormtroopers became the face of the New Order, being produced by a rapidly-expanding network of Imperial Academies across the Empire.

A caption tells us that the Empire's more strict protocols have done away with the customized armor that had become so common during the Clone Wars.

Some Imperial academies begin training cadets as young as 13 standard years.

They are molded into "servants of the Empire" (cough), something particularly easy on impoverished or war-torn Outer Rim worlds where the Empire swoops in as an apparent savior.

After years of abuse and conditioning, the cadet emerges as an anonymous stormtrooper. His name is gone, replaced by a number.

I'm glad this is just fantasy. An army recruiting teenagers? Abusive training to forge kids into blindly nationalistic killers? lol yeah sure

We get a small section on the garrison protecting Eadu, the 975th. Attached to the Tarkin Initiative, they are so loyal they often rotate through top-secret facilities.

Note: Magna Tolvan, one of the main Aphra characters, was in charge of Eadu security during the events of R1.

The core of the Stormtrooper Corps consists of our brave men in white. Gender, race, origins... they are all hidden behind the unblinking plastoid face of the armor.

Still, mission- or theater-specific needs have produced an array of specialist stormtroopers.

Uniformity in the ranks is so strong that these differences rarely cause rivalries or envies: stormtroopers see themselves as one overarching force.

(collage by u/Reaper_64 @ Reddit)

We see a nice picture of stormtrooper armor.

I'm no stormie lore expert (I actually try to avoid it) but I recognize some terms from the old Essential Guide to Weapons of Technology. Pieces are "magnatomically affixed", for example: space adhesive, so to speak.

The data file introduces us to our example stormtrooper, TX-14057, a human from Aargonar deployed in Eadu.

Aargonar was mentioned in TCW and appeared in Rebels, but it was first seen in the classic Republic series by Dark Horse Comics.

STORMTROOPER EQUIPMENT: IMPERIAL TECHNOLOGY

The Empire equips its troops with the latest technology to make sure they stay one step ahead of rebels and insurgents.

Not that this has stopped these insurgents from finding weak spots in Imperial armor, for example.

Stormtrooper armor is mass-produced and rebels have discovered that it can be breached by well-placed blaster shots or hits.

Even though elite units have better equipment, rank and file stormies have to make do with vulnerable equipment.

The Empire's solution to this vulnerability?

Just keep throwing more troops into it.

The variant armor that Jedha patrollers wear is known as sandtrooper armor.

This armor, the same seen worn by Tatooine stormtroopers in ANH, but named as early as the original 1989 Imperial Sourcebook.

Advanced filtration systems in the armor make sure sand doesn't clog the breathing ports.

The cooling units employed on hot deserts, like Tatooine, are not necessary for the cold wastes of Jedha.

Although specialist branches of the Stormtrooper Corps use special armors, the standard armor is modular enough to be configured for specific missions.

The example given is the stormtroopers patrolling the Holy City of Jedha and confiscating any kyber crystals.

These stormtroopers carry these confiscated crystals in canisters that they then fit in their heavy backpacks. They also carry a datapad for cataloging their "captures."

(They are also seen in Kafrene, by the way. I chalk that to "late addition to the movie", like the Reaper)

Spread through the two-pagers we have a lot of stormtrooper equipment.

We have two models of Neuro-Saav binocs and quadnocs. I've already mentioned that I'm a sucker for this consistency, so I won't hammer the point home anymore.

We see the sandtrooper type 4 field pack. You know, their backpack.

Also the "armor accessory cube locker." I have no idea what this is (although we can guess), or if it's actually seen in the movie, but it looks like the cubes from Portal. 🤷‍♂️

The stormtrooper helmet gets some more love.

It's colloquially known as "bucket" by both Imperials and Rebels, and it's packed with fancy electronics and lenses.

The HUD is generated by the armor's Multi-Frequency Targeting and Acquisition System (MFTAS)

This piece of lore comes from WEG, and I believe it was first mentioned in the classic adventure Starfall, but it might have appeared even before it.

(pic: German cover for variety)

The helmet can be hermetically-sealed but it doesn't have an air supply. External atmospheric tanks are available, though.

Did you know that we see stormtroopers wearing these tanks outside the Death Star in ANH? I didn't for YEARS.

And this is the end of chapter 4. Bye, Imperials. Can't wait until Endor.

Next, and last, Chapter 5: Going Rogue. The Battle of Scarif and the conclusion of Rogue One!

CHAPTER 5: GOING ROGUE

This chapter covers Jyn's unsanctioned mission to steal the Death Star plans, no matter the risk.

The chapter picture is the very first released cast picture. When we got the first indication this was going to be a different star war.

SCARIF: MILITARY COMPLEX

Scarif is a small tropical archipelago world rich in dense metals valuable in shipbuilding. Its placement in the Outer Rim makes it economically non-viable as a supplier for Core shipyards, but it's perfect for the development of secret projects.

Thus Scarif has become an "incubator for Imperial military research" centered on the stronghold known as the Scarif Citadel.

Of course these projects are developed behind the Senate's back.

Incidentally, a silly piece of trivia: Scarif's name apparently comes from what a Starbucks' barista wrote of Gareth Edwards' latte when he gave "it's Gareth" as his name.

A series of small vignettes show us four facts about the world (I really like this format, by the way.)

We find out that some kyber crystal is brought to Scarif instead of Eadu for specific experiments, hence the crates seen on the landing pads.

There's a bunker network surrounding the Citadel, with scattered landing pads connected by a repulsor rail system.

The Citadel itself is capped with an immense command tower that affords a view of the whole complex.

An excellent vantage point to see things going boom!

Scarif is considered an ideal placement: a tranquil environment far from Coruscant. Citadel officers have become overconfident and relaxed, an attitude partly derived from the world's excellent defenses.

The stormtroopers assigned to beach patrol are well trained, though.

We get a brief look at how these patrols work.

Areca palm trees offer natural protection from would-be infiltrators.

These palms are actual plants, valued for their nuts (lol). The whole palmtree family is known as Arecaceae.

Troopers in the treeline scan for wildlife incursions, deferring to shoretrooper specialists if the need arises.

We'll see these "beachtroopers" in detail later on.

Let's look at Scarif's data file.

It's a world of oceans and island chains in the Outer Rim. Its diameter is 5,662 mi, smaller than the Earth (7,917 mi). It has no moons (for now *evil laughter*) and a population of 475,000.

That's it for the tropical world of Scarif.

Next, we'll take a look at SW-0608, the unlikely hero ship of the movie's third act, including another gorgeous cross-section!

This, by the way, is a perfect time to revisit this StarWars.com piece by @dan_brooks:

DESIGNING AN EMPIRE: DOUG CHIANG ON IMPERIAL ARCHITECTURE IN ROGUE ONE

starwars.com/news/designing…

CARGO SHUTTLE: IMPERIAL ZETA-CLASS TRANSPORT

Time for the chonky boi!

The Zeta is one of the Empire's more versatile cargo shuttles, and it's a product of Sienar Fleet Systems and Telgorn Corporation.

Sienar, makers of the TIE series and quintessential evil corporation, have been around since the original Star Wars Sourcebook. WEG used them often.

Telgorn are another WEG creation: they created the Gamma shuttle, an original assault ship from the Imperial Sourcebook.

The Zeta is used by both military and civilian government agencies. It's built around a central modular pod, so it's greatly configurable.

The Death Star project makes great use of these shuttles.

Pilots like our friend Bodhi are constantly flying loads with cryptic labels, completely unaware of being a small part of the machinery that will give birth to the planet killer.

Another cheery topic!

These flights are becoming more and more frequent.

Shuttles take kybers from places like Jedha to Eadu. Then, agglomerated crystals are brought either to the Death Star or to Scarif for further analysis.

The modular pods draw power from the shuttle and can be refrigerated if needed. Good pilots can drop off and pick up without even landing the Zeta.

The color is described as "interstellar orange", a term seen in the TFA visual dictionary to describe Resistance flight suits.

The text mentions a larger class, the Eta, that can hold multiple cargo pods.

This ship is briefly seen in R1. It should not be confused with the Eta-class shuttle from TCW!

Hey, they eventually had to run out of Greek letters (or the Empire ignored early Republic nomenclature)

Operating the Zeta requires a pilot and a copilot with licenses from the Imperial Space Ministry.

This bureaucracy was first mentioned in Galaxy Guide 6: Tramp Freighters, the beloved WEG sourcebook that opened the game to fringe characters.

Yet many green pilots with minimal security clearances are given the control of Zeta shuttles. The reason is the increased rate of cargo deliveries we mentioned. Pilots are very rarely allowed to exit their ships while docked, though.

A small sidebar mentions the ship's tech station, that can receive constant info from the cargo pod.

SHUTTLE SW-0608: CROSS-SECTIONAL VIEW

Another masterpiece by @Kemptronicus. Maybe my favorite (I'm a sucker for small figures)

I know, I know: it's very hard to communicate the info from a cross-section in a thread like this. We'll try our best.

SW-0608 is the ship commandeered by Rogue One during the Scarif mission. "Liberated" from Eadu, the ship is again used to take the Rebel commandos to their fateful destination.

Bodhi has been to Scarif before, over a dozen times. His security clearance has never let him step on the planet itself, though, even less on the Citadel.

His clearance codes work, thankfully, and the ship penetrates the planetary shield through the gate station.

After landing, Jyn, Cassian and K2 disguise themselves and head to the Citadel.

Baze, Chirrut, and the commandos use the cover of the blasts of coolant regularly spewed from the shuttle's vents to steadily sneak out of the cargo pod and into the Scarif jungles.

And whoops, it's late and I don't want to do this in a hurry. We'll finish this section next with a look at the information seen in the cross-section. And then, a look at the Citadel's vault!

As mentioned, the cross-section is a real beauty.

We find out that Jyn Erso got her disguise from Kent Deezling (profiled earlier in this thread) and Cassian got his from Lieutenant Colin Hakelia (pictured below, more or less)

Another two Zeta shuttles are identified: SW-4415 (bringing deflector shield matrix circuitry) and SW-1721 (bringing turbolaser barrel sleeves.)

As we see, Zeta are not exclusively "kyber cargo shuttles"!

Other heroes of Scarif are depicted: Bodhi, Chirrut, Baze, and two Rebel soldiers, Tonc and Sefla. We'll be seeing them soon!

Also, the knocked-out stormies are "stored" at the bottom of the cargo pod, under the empty kyber crates. Sucks to be them.

SCARIF VAULT: HEART OF THE CITADEL

The core of the Citadel complex is the Vault, housing the most secret technological developments of the Empire. They are "cold stored", kept in cartridges not connected to any networks.

The Vault is well-defended: multiple security guards, heavy quadanium-tungsten doors, and even electronic scanners to make sure computer systems can't reach the inner vault.

Yeah, that's why they had to go fully analog.

Remember that fancy tunnel from the trailer and (briefly) the movie? It's lined with degaussers that will mess up droids or computers.

The Empire considers actual physical theft of the tapes to be completely impossible.

Of course, in case of emergency, there are plasma cutters that authorized personnel can access. We see them in the movie (and I would show a picture of the scene if my Disney+ wasn't being a poopoohead.)

The company making these cutters is Borallis Metalworking, another WEG creation, makers of fusion cutters extraordinaire.

A picture shows the Vault's stormtroopers springing into action when a DefStat 3 security alert is tripped by Jyn and Cassian.

DefStat (defense status) is a concept from WEG, seen in early adventures and expanded upon by the Death Star Technical Companion.

We next meet two members of the Vault's security detail.

First us Lt. Milton Putna, a librarian turned security officer. The guy whose hand Cassian uses to unlock the main vault door!

His name is probably a reference to the comedian playing him, Little Britain's Paul Putner.

Then we get Inspector General Bozeden Jeems. He's an ISB member, as we can infer from his white uniform.

Weapons develop falls under Imperial Intelligence purview, yes, but its "sister agency" the USB is in charge of defending its secrets.

This is the first explicit reference to the rivalry between both agencies that so central was to the WEG mythos, and that the Imperial Sourcebook first presented. (So why is Director Krennic part of the ISB? Yeah, this mess will be streamlined someday, for sure.)

Ambitious Jeems is dreaming of a promotion, perhaps to Deputy Director, but his dreams go up in flames when the Vault is breached.

He desperately scrambles his troops but his priorities are clear: first, to save his career; second, to save any Imperial secrets.

That's it for the Vault.

Next, we'll look into its most important content, as well as the most important MacGuffin in Star Wars history: the Death Star plans!

DEATH STAR PLANS

"Compressed and encoded in a nondescript, high-density datatape cartridge is the salvation of the Rebel Alliance."

(Picture not actually in film)

Galen's modifications to the superlaser made the engineering team remodel the whole battle station--and helped Galen introduce a subtle weakness: a direct hit to the connection point between the reactor and the power amplifier can cause the reactor to go boom.

On to the datatape itself, we get a lot of technical info about it.

It's part of the Structural Engineering node of the Scarif Vault, surrounded by a shockproof casing, and the tape itself is monomonecular.

A fun detail is that it contains the design history of the Death Star, from earlier concepts to final design.

That explains why we see the early Death Star design both in Rogue One and A New Hope! Crafty little wink!

The centerpiece to this section is a massive diagram of the Death Star, reproducing information that has evolved from the early Death Star Companion to the fantastic Owner's Manual by Haynes.

A small vignette explains that the superlaser lens contains an array of conglomerated kyber crystals. They create the amplification field that unifies the eight laser tributaries into the massive planet-killer.

So yeah, not exactly "the fuel" of the Death Star.

And that about the Death Star's flaw?

Well, the hypermatter reactions at its heart create gases that must be shunted away. One particular port leading straight to a vulnerable section of the reactor happens to lie along a meridian trench.

Another vignette tells us that the equatorial trench houses major docking arrangements.

We can actually see a docked star destroyer in Rogue One if we squint at the right time. Or so they say. Remember that I'm ship-blind. It's all greebles to me.

And that's it for today. A short one, I know.

But next, we'll be taking a look at the last new kind of stormtrooper introduced in this film: the shoretrooper!

SHORETROOPERS: SCARIF DEFENSE

Shpretroopers are specialist stormtroopers in charge of patrolling Scarif's beaches. Their armor affords them greater mobility.

Shoretroopers are considered elite soldiers, but they are pretty much standard stormtroopers.

Most shoretroopers hold an effective sergeant rank. That's why we see them leading stormtrooper squads.

Being a shoretrooper is a rotational rank that stormtroopers with the appropriate rank and training can adopt when ordered to.

As expected, given how very specific their nature is, shoretroopers are a very rare sight.

Not in Scarif, of course, a world that probably has thousands of miles of coastal terrain.

The armor we are familiar with is specific to Scarif. Other shoretroopers might look different.

Scarif shoretroopers are not expected to see battle, given how isolated and defended the world is. They are still kept in peak readiness through constant training and drilling--unlike their considerably more relaxed commanders.

And yes, canonically they were previously known as "coastal defender stormtroopers", a name that AFAIK was seen in some early licensing materials.

Similarly "Scarif stormtrooper" is a name used in some toy packaging. We know the armor is unique to the planet!

(Pic unrelated)

We see the shoretrooper's scary rifle, the E-22, a scary double-barreled weapon. Twice the E-11, I guess!

Trivia: some of the stormies seen in The Mandalorian wield these babies. Correct your Imperial Remnant RPG stats, DMs!

We now take a look at standard shoretrooper armor, in a section delightfully named "Deadly Beachwear."

DEADLY BEACHWEAR!

The armor has fewer plates for heightened mobility, and it's compared to stormtrooper scout armor.

(There's a typo in this section where the armor is called "sandtrooper armor", probably the result of some copy-pasting from the Jedha chapter. I'm ready to call the author a hack and burn my copy live on Twitch.)

Oh, the helmet includes cooling fans. Sounds nice.

Also, the armor is "plastoid-coated" to protect it against salt corrosion.

The Empire is so thoughtful!

Shoretrooper captain and identified by the larger blue-gray are on the chestplate and their lack of a fabric kama, having some plastoid faulds instead.

Yesssssss, keep the Imperial rank system crazy, Star Wars!

(Pic from BanthaSkull.com)

A kama, by the way, is the name given to clonetroopers and stormtrooper skirts, first named for the ARC Troopers during the classic Clone Wars multimedia project.

The EU eventually made it a Mando thing, because the EU gonna EU.

Our data file portrays a shoretrooper captain, TK-32028, a native of Carida.

We already talked about this world, home of the most prestigious Imperial Academy. I wonder how this person got the comfortable Scarif posting!

And this is it for the Imperial forces in Scarif. Next, a look at the Rebel team that's coming to shatter the stronghold world's peace!

REBEL TROOPS: BOOTS ON THE GROUND

Meet Rebel Special Forces, an elite infantry corps better known as SpecForces.

They were first introduced in WEG's Rebel Alliance Sourcebook and greatly elaborated upon in their own sourcebook, Rules of Engagement.

And meet some of the most hardened and brave members of SpecForces: the Rebel Pathfinders!

Yeah, this SpecForces regiment (the 2nd Regiment, if you were wondering) was also introduced and expanded in the aforementioned sources.

SpecForces have seen the worst of Imperial brutality first hand. When Jyn proposes the Scarif assault and is rebuffed, many take notice.

Thus many Pathfinders decide to join her and become part of "Rogue One."

"Everything we've done, would have been for nothing."

We are reminded that the Scarif infiltration faces enormous challenges almost immediately: not only it's a daytime infiltration, but it's completely unfamiliar territory.

Yet the Rebels soldier on.

PRIVATE BASTEREN

Arro Basteren grew up in Ertegas, an agrarian world in the Anoat sector.

Ertegas in another world from Wizards' Greater Javin Gazetteer. I seriously miss that kind of solid content being released for free. Bring back "web enhancements"!

While growing up on Ertegas, young Basteren protected his family's crops from woshrikes (new creature).

This honed his eyesight and made him pretty good at uncovering and destroying hidden enemies, so he became a spotter.

He often works alongside Rebel sniper Rostok, who we'll be meeting soon, and is tasked with maintaining situational awareness on the battlefield.

He carries Fabritech Q4-E quadnoculars. Yep, another WEG company. The worldbuilding they did!

PRIVATE KAPPEHL

Farsin Kappehl is a forward observer. He specializes in recon and assisting fire teams with the lasing scope on his DH-17 blaster.

He's not used to frontline action, but he welcomes the change.

CORPORAL TIMKER

Walea Timker is part of the reinforcement that arrive alongside Blue Squadron.

She's a combat engineer, specialized in building temporary fortifications, a task she finds ways given all the shrapnel the Pathfinders are producing!

CORPORAL MEFRAN

Jav Mefran is a specialist from the 4th Specforce Regiment, the Wilderness Fighters (more WEG lore, obviously.)

He has serious misgivings about the mission but masks them by focusing on the beautiful tropical environment on Scarif.

Mefran was part of the team that cleared up the jungle surrounding the Great Temple of Yavin 4 when the Alliance relocated there after abandoning Dantooine.

He's really into rainforests.

Mefran's beard reminds me that, according to Rules of Engagement, male SpecForces members often grew theirs to flaunt their special status.

This was, of course, a reference to the Endor strike team's apparent lack of facial hair restrictions. And fits with the Scarif bois too.

CORPORAL TONC

Stordan "Stordie" Tonc is a regular infantry member, so more power to him. He recently joined the Yavin rebels after an uprising on Qemia 7.

He had aspired to one day join SpecForces, and now finds fighting with them as one more.

We read a short description of Tonc's role in the movie: he and several Pathfinders stay with Bodhi protecting their shuttle.

He then follows Bodhi's lead and creates chaos by sending false information through Imperial comms.

He carries a BlasTech A-300 rifle, a weapon that looks pretty similar to the regular Rebel Alliance A-280 as seen in ESB.

That prop was built out of an AR-15, that as we all know means "Assault Rifle 15." Right?

He wears a Czerka ACH-14 helmet, like most other Rogue One commandos. I think it's a new prop but... look, I'm not very prop-knowledgeable.

SERGEANT MELSHI

My surprise fave out of the Scarif infiltration team!

Ruescott Melshi is an Infiltrator (another SpecForce regiment, the 5th Regiment according to WEG) but he's placed by Cassian in command of the Pathfinders that volunteer for the mission.

This violates the chain of command in multiple ways (there are higher-ranking soldiers on the ground!) but, look, they just went rogue, so I doubt anyone cares much.

Cassian just knows Melshi well and knows he can be trusted to "make ten men feel like a hundred" (best quote)

Melshi leads by example. If he decides that the risks involved in attaining an objective are worth it, his troops will follow him into certain danger without flinching.

CORPORAL ESKRO CASRICH

Casrich is a thrill-seeker, in for the adrenaline rush.

He has "rapelled the peaks of Scipio, spelunked the sinkholes of Utapau, and sand-sailed the dunes of Ingo."

Scipio was the Banking Clan headquarter world seen in TCW. Nice peaks, as you can see.

Utapau is, of course, the sinkhole world from ROTS.

Ingo is the desert world seen in the first story arc of 1980s animation series Droids.

I think it was my first star war, so I'm always happy to see any references to it!

Casrich joins the Scarif mission looking for new thrills. He's lucky he's so good at what he does, or his squadmates would soon tire of the very reckless soldier.

(He looks so inoffensive as a LEGO minifig, though)

CORPORAL MADDEL

Rodma Maddel is an Intelligence agent, an advanced scout for urban combat units, and one of Cassian Andor's recruits (I wonder if he recruited her under the Fulcrum guise?)

She joins the Blue Squadron reinforcements when she learns that Cassian is in Scarif.

LIEUTENANT SEFLA

Taidu Sefla is a SpecForces lieutenant, so he officially outranks Melshi, but he respectfully defers to Cassian's decision.

He's a strong soldier, always giving his all in the war against the Empire.

The entry also echoes an event seen in the Rogue One novelization, when Sefla gives Jyn the rank of Sergeant.

This rank of Jyn's was in early versions of the movie, and can even be seen in some toy packaging.

CORPORAL ROSTOK

Meet Serchill "The Rock" Rostok. No, really, they call him Rostok the Rock!

He's a SpecForces sharpshooter, often working alongside Basteren. He's exceptional al stealth and camouflage, and can hold his breath for 15 minutes. More than Guybrush Threepwood!

Rostok is kinda supersticious: he always uses his "lucky electroscope" even if it had a pronounced drift.

His weapon of choice is an A-300 configured for sniping.

Next, we'll be taking a closer look at the last two Rebel commandos featured here: Pao and Bistan!

PAO: A CRY OF REBELLION

As the Imperial war machine devours whole worlds to sustain the Empire's expansions, whole civilizations have been displaced.

One of these civilizations is the Drabatans of planet Pipada. And one such Drabatan is Pao.

Pao is often heard muttering curses and oaths in Drabatese. He understands Basic alright, but his massive maw was not built for that language.

Ämong his Drabatese catchphrases is his well-known warcry: "Sa´kalla!"

"Wahh he used to say Karabast! but they changed it!"

I'm pretty sure he still yells Zeb's catchphrase. He yells both, "Karabast!" when the AT-ACT shows up, and "Sa'kalla!" when he jumps into action. Not sure if this has been confirmed, though.

But I digress.

Given his combat skills, his squadmates are more than okay with Pao's muttering and chatting in his native language.

Drabatans are amphibians and have massive lungs and strong diaphragms. That's what gives them their booming voices.

And yes, you might think an amphibian alien would feel like home in Scarif, but sadly our friend Pao is a freshwater amphibiod.

So not particularly a fan of the idillic Scarif beaches.

Oh, in case you wondered, his full name is Paodok'Draba'Takat Sap'De'Rektu Nik'Linek'Ti Ki'Vef'Nik Ne Sevef'Li'Kek.

Eat your heart out, Thrawn!

Also, in case you were also wondering, the RPG gives an (ambiguously canonical) origin to the "Sa'kalla!" expression: it's the name of a Drabatan singer who became a martyr during the Imperial invasion.

Yeah: Pao is basically screaming "Taylor Swift!"

Pao is a key part of the commando mission to dow chaos around the Citadel. He has no illusions about the likelihood of success, but he won't let that little detail stop him.

Like most insurgents, Pao had a life before the Empire ruined it: he was going to become an engineer.

That set of skills has turned him into a sapper, especially well suited for underwater demolitions and well-versed in structural dynamics.

Pao's datafile gives us a few extra details: he's a corporal in Rebel Alliance SpecForces, his shortened name is Paodok'Draba'Takat, and he's 31 years old.

He's actually wearing a kind of Drabatan armor: reed armor.

You can see it over his shoulders.

He carries a heavily modified and oh so very illegal blaster rifle. Tibanna-jacked, like our Kanjiklub friends.

This thing's massive shots basically eat through the barrels, so he constantly replaces them (that's what he has on his forearms: replacement barrels!)

The last section is actually about the Drabatese language.

It's a complex language that strings together short syllables and conveys both grammar and meaning through volume variations. The language is naturally loud, but Drabatans can "whisper" it through a vocal pouch.

"Drabatese love songs are said to require no translation due to their haunting beauty."

Good way to end this two-pager.

That's it for our Drabatan hero. Next, we'll take a look at our last Rebel commando: Bistan, the "Space Monkey"!

BISTAN: U-WING DOOR GUNNER

Meet Bistan of Iakar! Even though he's determined to fight for his people's survival, our hairy friend is an adrenaline junkie.

I guess he'd be fighting no matter what, so it's a good thing he chose a decent cause.

Iakaru are not commonly seen outside of their native Iakar, being a pre-hyperdrive species.

Sadly, for the last century, Big Space Pharma has been setting up big research stations in the world with little care towards the natives, and the Empire has only worsened the situation.

Three pharma companies set up on Iakar during the Clone Wars, all three from WEG: Chiewab and Fabreth were mentioned in Galladinium's Fantastic Technology, while Merisee Prime is a world from Planets of the Galaxy vol. 3.

Stubborn and insubordinate, Bistan is well-liked by his fellow Rebels. He's a gregarious fellow full of unending energy.

Manic Pixie Dream Iakaru!

Bistan first met the Rebels when he ran into a SpecForces team that was trying to steal medical supplies from Iakar.

His skill and ferocity fighting Imperial pursuers with nothing but stones and spears convinced the commandos to invite the young Iakaru to join their fight.

His specialty is covering troops from an U-wing's hatch with his overpowered M-45 repeating ion blaster.

We first met him in some behind-the-screen footage that turned him and his cackling energy into instant favorites.

Bistan's Iakaru heritage helps him well. He has exceptional spatial awareness, quick reflexes, steady footing, and keen eyesight, all required to survive under the harsh canopy of his natal jungle.

He might well be the ideal sharpshooter.

Bistan wears an old space suit to keep himself warm at high altitudes and carries a modified DH-17 rifle, a weapon first seen in the old Battlefront games (in a very different form, though)

Oh, and those are not eyebrows: they are sensitive tufts that aid in spatial awareness, pretty much like cat whiskers.

"Bistan's crazy... but there's no one else I;d rather cover me in a hot landing zone."
--Sergeant Melshi

And that's it for our space monkey!

Next, we are taking a short detour and looking at a new piece of Imperial technology: the AT-ACT walker!

AT-ACT: CARGO TRANSPORT

(It means All-Terrain Armored Cargo Transport)

This not-combat-oriented walker is a larger version of the standard AT-AT walker and is seen around major Imperial construction projects.

The orange cargo module in their belly can hold thousands of metric tons of raw material that get carefully loaded by stevedore droids.

Stevedore! What a beautiful word! Makes me think of Victorian London, Jack the Ripper... er, I digress.

Cargo walkers are used in situations where repulsorfields can't be used, and Scarif appears to be one of these.

A combination of powerful engines and electromagnetic tensor-fields keeps the tall and unstable walkers steady.

Trivia: you can see some kind of barnacle-like creature (space barnacles) on the AT-ACT's feet. Look at the one on the right. Delightful attention to detail!

AT-ACTs are not combat vehicles, but Rogue One is about to discover they are more than able to deal with infantry. When Krennic orders the beaches secured, their crews launch the massive behemoth against the Rebel interlopers.

AT-ACT drivers are not a specialized corps: AT-AT pilots, tank operators, and all other combat ground drivers are qualified to pilot them.

They still have their own and pretty cool armor. It's a pity we don't learn another esoteric rank system, though.

"Why are massive walkers used to transports cargo?"
"Why does every different Imperial pilot wear a different armor model?"

Because Star Wars, dumbass.

The data file confirms that the AT-ACT is a product of Kuat Drive Yards like its cousin the AT-AT. Another great scummy Star Wars megacorporation!

This is it for now! Next, we’ll be taking a look at a favorite topic: X-wing pilots!

(A good excuse to share a picture of the bookmark I’ve been using through this deep-dive)

X-WING PILOTS: STANDING BY

Rebel pilots are a varied lot: former Imperial pilots, commercial pilots, civilian hobbyists, or bush pilots. This variety and their often oversized egos create a very competitive environment.

Massassi Outpost has more pilots than ships, so competition for a spot in Red, Blue, Green or Gold Squadron is fierce.

That fierceness is tempered by the knowledge that an empty spot has often been left by an injured or dead comrade. Call-signs are always inherited.

The intensity of their shared experiences and the calm of downtime create an easy camaraderie between pilots. They are all unified in their love of freedom, "freedom embodied in flight."

CADET HARB BINLI (RED SEVEN)

Harb hails from Eriadu, Tarkin's homeworld. He's a recent addition to Red Squadron, and wingman to Pedrin Gaul (Red Five)

He's particularly good at strafing runs against point-defense weapons.

His name is probably derived from the actor's name, Benjamin Hartley.

Look at that mustache! More Star Wars than twenty Death Stars!

LIEUTENANT ZAL DINNES (RED EIGHT)

Zal Dinnes, Jek Porkins, and two other pilots arrived in Massassi Outpost transferring from the Tierfon Yellow Aces, the squadron that defended Tierfon Base until the Alliance had to abandon it.

And yes: Tierfon has long roots in the EU.

Tierfon Launch Outpost was first seen in the seminal Star Wars Sourcebook (1987) as an example of a Rebel starfighter base.

The really cool blueprints that the book included often became a template that we used to create our own Rebel bases.

The Yellow Aces were first mentioned in the Galaxy Guide devoted to The Empire Strikes Back as part of Wes Janson's backstory.

Three guesses as to who was the author of the expanded edition of this sourcebook, by the way!

As a tribute to that defunct squadron, Zal's helmet is adorned with a yellow version of the Rebel starbird, the symbol of the Yellow Aces.

I assume Zal was called in honor of her actress, stuntwoman Zarene Dallas.

I know I promised I would not waste time looking into tuckerizations, but I just love them.

LIEUTENANT NOZZO NAYTAAN (RED NINE)

Nozzo was a test pilot for Coreelian Engineering Corporation until the Empire nationalized it. Nozzo refused to work in the production of TIE fighters.

This might be reference to then-in-production Solo.

This is the first time we see Nozzo's face, but he's an existing character! We hear his voice in ANH yelling "it's a hit!"

This helps clarify a small error in one of the old trading cards, that gave Naytaan's name to the pilot John D.

CAPTAIN BROAN DANURS (GREEN TEN)

A former Y-wing pilot from Gold Squadron, back when the Alliance was based on Dantooine, he's filling up a vacancy in Green Squadron.

He's close friends with Gold Five, Davish Krail.

Davish Krail is another character from ANH. You know, the "stay on target" guy.

Stay on target!

MAJOR RALO SURREL (RED ELEVEN)

Ralo was a stunt pilot flying antiques for the amusement of Outer Rim hicks. Now he flies for freedom and has become the wingmate to Red Leader, Garven Dreis.

Jason Fry's ambiguously canonical story in FACPOV retcons Ralo into the Battle of Yavin, replacing the EU's Wenton Chan.

Literally replacing him in-universe! Wenton still exists but was grounded at the time. I find this very amusing.

LIEUTENANT ATTICO WRED (GREEN FOUR)

Attico was a TIE pilot until he refused to fire on unarmed civilian craft. Good man.

Attico keeps a fierce rivalry with Nozzo Naytaan, a fellow Corellian from Red Squadron.

CADET PEDRIN GAUL (RED FIVE)

Imagine being Red Five a few days before Yavin, lol

Pedrin was a passenger transporter on Denon, a massive ecumenopolis "second only to Coruscant" mentioned often in the EU but never really seen or described. Kind of a running joke at this point.

Pedrin helped wanted fugitives to escape Denon and was branded a traitor. He then joined the Alliance.

I hope he's okay aaaaaaaand he's dead.

LIEUTENANT WION DILLEMS (GREEN TWELVE)

Wion grew up a Tree Dweller in the forests of Yelsain.

Yelsain is a world from WEG's Galaxy Guide 6, evocatively described in the Minos Cluster Campaign section. I insist: worth a read!

What attracted rustic Wion to technology was the promise of being able to fly at unimaginable speeds.

Yelsain is a very rustic planet with a unique government system described as "anarchist democracy." Picture Kashyyk-meets-Felicia populated by hippies.

Worth a read!

Wion is often based on the Profundity (that we shall be seeing soon) but he's currently filling an empty spot left by injured pilot Puck Naeco.

Puck is an EU character with... a complex backstory. Look, I'm tired, so... Wookieepedia screenshot incoming.

And that's the very lazy way we end this section.

Next, we'll be looking closer at the one squadron introduced in this film: General Merrick's Blue Squadron!

BLUE SQUADRON: COMBINED FORCES

Merrick's squadron has been expanded past the usual structure, including X-, U-, and even Y-wings.

The battle of Scarif is actually going to be their first fully mobilized mission.

As Red, Green, and Gold take care of the space battle, Blue's mission is to take the battle to the ground.

The squadron takes advantage of the shield gate being open to allow a lumbering transport through and sneaks in, most of the squadron surviving the initial volley.

Merrick's plan is for the U-wings to quickly unload reinforcements while he leads the X-wings in defending the Rogue One team from the incoming TIE strikers.

HEFF TOBBER (BLUE EIGHT)

Heff is one of the most popular U-wing pilots at Base One. His booming voice and sense of humor have made him a favorite among other pilots.

Before it was abandoned, Heff was a transport pilot at Crait.

Yup! The first time we heard about Crait, one full year before TLJ! I feel like Pablo always tries to include at least one easter egg like this.

Heff is unable to reach the shield gate before it closes, so he joins Green Squadron in the battle against the two star destroyers.

Oh, and he can also be an X-wing pilot if the need arises.

This is a small retcon: Heff Tobber was portrayed by first assistant director Toby Hefferman, who donned the costume just for stills. He then actually appeared on-screen, but as an X-wing pilot.

He also portrayed Bink (of Tag & Bink) in a scene cut from Solo, by the way!

PARIL RITTA (BLUE TWELVE)

Paril is a Y-wing pilot transferred to the Profundity from Atrivis Sector.

He was born in Generis, one of the Atrivis worlds.

We've talked about the Atrivis resistance before in this thread: the example rebel cell given in the Rebel Alliance Sourcebook and thus afforded an extra level of detail.

This sourcebook tells us that Atrivis has one full wing (36 starfighters) but that they are often called by HQ to help in operations outside the sector, to Wing Commander Varth's annoyance.

Scarif appears to be one of these sorties!

JALDINE GERAMS (BLUE THREE)

Jaldine is a computer specialist from Fresia, the planet where the EU had Incom, builders of the X-wing, headquartered.

She logged many, many hours in a flight sim she wrote herself. Nerd!

When the Alliance arrived on Fresia, she jumped at the opportunity to fly a real X-wing.

Could this be a reference to the EU's raid on Fresia, when Biggs Darklighter and co obtained X-wings for the Alliance? Maybe if you squint!

CALUM GRAM (BLUE NINE)

Calum was a search-and-rescue pilot in Atrisia, and became a very skilled pilot through piloting his airspeeder through the dense wilderness.

Atrisia is a WEG Core World. Palpatine stole some ancient rhetoric from here to justify his atrocities.

BARION RANER (BLUE FOUR)

Barion hails from Ord Mantell and has served under Merrick for three years.

He's famous for having authored the X-wing combat basics manual, that Alliance Intelligence later leaked to use as a recruitment tool.

FARNS MONSBEE (BLUE FIVE)

Farns is a loner, being used to being the lone pilot in the tiny Cassidode VI outpost, but he works well within a squadron.

At Yavin 4 he often serves as a recon flier.

LAREN JOMA (BLUE ELEVEN)

Laren is a U-wing pilot, piloting the U-wing where Bistan server as a door gunner.

Laren is even-keeled and pilots with a steady hand. She tolerates Bistan's hyperactivity because the Iakaru is a formidable sharpshooter.

Oh, and she's the one who gave Bistan the "space monkey" nickname.

So canceled.

That's it for the heroes of Blue Squadron.

Next, a pretty dense section that it's every cosplayer's favorite: a collection of Rebel helmets!

REBEL PILOT HELMETS: ALL WINGS REPORT IT

The Rebel pilots at Yavin 4 come from several scattered cells and have formed the most well-supplied lunch base in the Alliance's short history.

And yes, they decorate their helmets.

This two-pager identifies the owners of 26 different helmets. We are going to brush over the pilots we've already featured in this thread, and take a look at the rest.

WONA GOBAN (GOLD NINE)

Wona is a Y-wing pilot, one of the trio that disables the Persecutor with an ion torpedo volley.

The character was portrayed by actress Gabby Carter and voiced by Vanesa Marshall, our Hera Syndulla.

TORGE GOMMER (GREEN TWO)

Torge can be seen briefly in the Massassi temple hangar.

I couldn't find much info about him, in or out of universe, but in the EU he would probably have been an undercover Sith assassin trying to kill Jyn or some crap like that.

BRACE MARKO (GOLD SIX)

We know even less about Brace, but they had a kickass helmet for sure!

DATCHI CREEL (GOLD EIGHT)

Same about Datchi.

I'm going to mention even these pilots with next to no info about them, because I know that pilot roster completion is a hobby for some of you.

ROBICH DUGGSIN (BLUE SEVEN)

Not much info about Robich either, although the yellow Rebel Starbird might mean they also came from the Tierfon Yellow Aces like Zal Dinnes and Jek Porkins. Nothing explicitly confirmed, though!

GAZDO WOOLCOB (GOLD SEVEN)

We know a little bit more about Gazdo thanks to Jason Fry's "Grounded."

He survived Scarif but was killed during the Battle of Yavin when his Y-wing was shot down by one of the Death Star's anti-aircraft towers.

DEREK KLIVIAN (RED SIX STANDBY)

Here is Hobbie!

An EU fan favorite thanks to the X-Wing novel series, we first met him in ESB.

Star Wars Rebels showed us his recruitment into the Alliance.

It's fun that he was in standby, as that's exactly what happened to him in the EU: he skipped the Battle of Yavin due to a combination of injuries and a weird jungle infection.

Poor Hobbie could never catch a breath.

In the EU he survived well into the New Republic era.

Current continuity has changed his destiny so it'd line up with an intended but never finished scene in ESB where he'd crash his snowspeeder against an AT-AT.

RIP Hobbie

NAMEN TAKAMEN (GREEN SEVEN)

Another pilot with next to no information about them. Rejoice, fanfic writers!

FARNS MONSBEE (BLUE FIVE)

Okay, we've seen Farns already, but the picture has an interesting detail: this is described as a "modified Wren Phoenix crest", a reference to the graffiti left by Sabine Wren of Rebels fame.

RISS CLYOS (GREEN THREE)

Another unknown, maybe dead, maybe alive. Who knows!

TORIUS CHORD (BLUE TWO)

We briefly see Torius during the Rebel meeting sequence. Other than that, we don't know much about him. Here's a cute interview with his actor, though: walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/film-…

VANGOS GREK (BLUE SIX)

The "c'mon, c'mon, c'mon!" pilot!

Featured quite prominently during the incursion through the shield gate. He goes splat against it.

RIP Vangos

JON VANDER (GOLD LEADER)

Gold Leader of ANH fame!

How amazing it is that they repurposed some extra footage for Rogue One? And that Angus MacInnes returned to dub his younger self? It sure blew my mind.

CHAFF KORUS (GREEN SIX)

Wookieepedia insists this pilot is Chaff. Do I believe them?

Eh. 50/50

EVAAN VERLAINE (GOLD THREE)

I left the best for last! Well, uh, it’s also the last one on the page.

Evaan, one of the main characters of Mark Waid’s Princess Leia mini, the first Marvel miniseries of the new era.

Evaan is an Alderaanian Rebel pilot who was created by Waid to be an ally and foil to Leia, kind of her perfect opposite: a tall blonde commoner opposed to a short brunette princess.

She’s pretty awesome.

Remember the single Y-wing that survives the Battle of Yavin alongside Luke and Wedge? Yup, that’s Evaan. It was Keyan Farlander in the EU, but this is much better IMO.

She’s been featured in other sources since, like Aftermath: Life Debt or Star Wars Adventures.

And that's it for the rebel helmets!

We'll return next with a look at the Rebellion's workhorse: the Y-wing fighter!

Y-WING FIGHTER: KOENSAYR BTL-A4

The Y-wing was one of the earliest starfighters used by the Alliance. A model dating back to the Clone Wars, they are plentiful and easy to find: ideal for an armed insurgence.

Gold Squadron is composed entirely by units of this venerable vessel, with additional starfighters rotating into Blue and Green Squadron as needed.

We first saw this ugly yet adorable ship in ANH, of course.

The Y-wing is also an old ship in-universe! WEG already told us this in the EU, and The Clone Wars confirmed it showing us an older and sleeker model. The series also cemented its position as a fighter-bomber.

The book tells us that the Y-wing held an excellent track record as a long-range bomber for the Galactic Republic. It fell out of favor when the Empire shifted its focus from starfighters to capital ships.

This is again old WEG lore, from Slavicsek's Star Wars Sourcebook.

Koensayr had to sell his existing stock to planetary governments (again WEG lore) until the Empire intervened and repossessed the old ships, destining them to reclamation stations.

This is a reference to Steps Into Shadow, the TV movie that opened Rebels' third season.

And, as seen in that movie, the Rebels were more than happy to assault said stations and liberate as many Y-wings as they could.

Is this the reason the Rebel Y-wings have lost the sleek cover? The book is... agnostic on that front.

The movie sure seems to imply that's the reason, whereas old lore has the Alliance removing the fairing themselves.

The book merely says that this emphasis on utility over aesthetics is pretty much what the Rebellion is all about.

(I suspect part column A, part column B)

In any case, the book calls the fairing "discarded" and we can read what we want on this.

And, honestly, I just wanted to spend three tweets on the removal of the Y-wing's external plating. Because that's what this thread is all about!

Our old Y-friend is a sturdy ship, being pressed into battle over and over. Its weak spot is its poor maneuverability, that makes it vulnerable against the swifter TIE craft, but its heavy shields make it ideal for bombing runs.

TIE FIGHTER: TWIN ION ENGINE FIGHTER

Speaking of TIE craft!

The inexpensive, numerous and instantly-recognizable TIE fighter has become the symbol of Imperial space superiority.

Used to facing civilian craft, TIE pilots are discovering that Rebel starfighters are no easy prey.

The familiar TIE is officially known as TIE/ln, standing for "line edition." Yes, more WEG lore.

I know that Jason Fry tried to normalize the spelling as TIE/LN, to avoid any confusions between "L" and "I", but it seems it never fully caught on. Sadly!

The TIE tracks its lineage to two Republic starfighters: the Eta-2 Jedi interceptor and the clone V-Wing, both seen in ROTS.

Of course, out-of-universe both ships were designed to evoke predecessors of the TIE. Prequels, you know?

As mentioned before, Imperial Starfleet favors capital ships as the backbone of their strategy, so TIE fighters are strictly short-range ships.

All but the most elite TIEs lack hyperdrives, a positive side-effect of this being that the ships are lighter.

TIE cockpits are pressurized and have minimal oxygen scrubbers, but pilots still wear pressurized flight gear: an unshielded ship like the TIE is very vulnerable to micrometeoroids or combat damage.

And yes, this was not the case in the EU.

I've ranted about this before, but here it comes again...

WEG had the TIE fighter be unpressurized, probably as a symbol of how little the Empire cared for its people. Without a flight suit, you could not fly a TIE fighter in space, period.

This little detail became problematic when it came to depicting TIE pilots in, for example, comics.

The Darklighter comic had to include a disclaimer saying that the pilots appeared unhelmeted for stylistic reasons: 22 pages of helmets and cockpits would be hell.

So this was one of the first things that the new canon changed: Rebels, for example, routinely had our heroes cramped inside TIE cockpits, and this guide formalized the idea of new-TIEs having (low-quality) life support.

Probably for the best!

A screenshot shows us Jyn staring down a TIE fighter up on the Citadel, something that... uh, never happened beyond the trailer.

Nevertheless.

The image is a good excuse to tell us that TIEs have VTOL capabilities thanks to small repulsor engines in its wings.

The last column in this section shows us a fully-dressed TIE fighter pilot.

They graduate from prestigious flight academies. The final phase of their training happens onboard actual battleships--with the Rebellion raging, this often means they face combat before they are ready.

(And, at least in my SWRPG, that's the excuse I give my players when they whine why TIE fighter pilots are so weak when they should be elite. "You were probably facing trainees.")

We are stopping here for now, but we are returning with my favorite among the new era TIE variants: the TIE striker!

TIE STRIKER: TIE/SK ATMOSPHERIC FIGHTER

The scientists and engineers on Scarif develop and test next-gen designs for new military craft. The TIE/sk is one of these prototypes: a streamlined TIE specifically constructed for atmospheric flight.

The TIE striker is capable of suborbital flight, but excels in high atmospheric combat scenarios.

Although the ion engines supply forward thrust, like in all other TIEs, atmospheric flight is helped by complex and specialized repulsorship engines.

The TIE striker is a wonder. Larger than the regular TIE fighter, able to accommodate both pilot and a bombardier/gunner, and equipped with extra ordinance and some "quality of life" improvements like an emergency system designed to soften crash landings.

Admiralty is not very happy with the vessel, though. Doctrine dictates higher specialization in their ships, and the striker is an atmospheric fighter with ground support cannons, bombing capability, and several extra design features.

Conversely, TIE fighter pilots love them.

TIE fighters have always been clumsy and unwieldy in atmospheric situations. They are not very aerodynamic, to put it lightly, and the enemy has exploited this vulnerability. The TIE striker solves this problem.

TIE/SK FIGHTER: CROSS-SECTIONAL VIEW

Everyone knows of the rivalry between Imperial Navy and Army members, but there's another internal rivalry between TIE fighter pilots: the one between atmospheric pilots ("ground hogs") and space pilots ("vac-heads")

This rivalry between pilots "in the black" and "in the blue" can be seen in Jason Fry's fantastic Last Call at the Zero Angle, one of the few short stories published during that hot minute when Insider decided to publish current-continuity fiction.

The next section is called "More Speeder Than Fighter," an accurate description of the TIE/sk. Its repulsors serve as ailerons and help lift the ship.

That design is based on Geonosian starfighters (from AOTC) and "antiquated exodrive craft" (like the Koro-2, also from AOTC)

As mentioned before the TIE/sk can operate outside an atmosphere, but its repulsors become less and less effective the further from a planetary body the fighter is.

Everything that makes the striker a fantastic atmospheric fighter becomes a liability in space.

(Part of me wonders if the striker's extra-atmospheric capabilities are Pablo's way of future-proofing its lore before the inevitability of some comic artist deciding to add some TIE/sk to the background of some busy space battle!)

An unusual feature of the TIE striker is that its solar panels are articulated.

Its upward configuration maximized its VTOL capabilities, its horizontal configuration increased its linear velocity. Pilots probably learn to play with these settings to optimize their maneuvers.

And as mentioned before, it's exceptionally well-armed: the usual wingtip-mounted cannons, two cockpit-based ground cannons, proton bombs, orbital mines... you call it.

This is it for today. Next, the final (!) entry in the chapter: Admiral Raddus' flagship, the Profundity!

THE PROFUNDITY: MON CALAMARI MC75 CRUISER

Mon Cala learned the price of peace during the Clone Wars, and when the Empire was born the Mon Cals were ready.

Admiral Raddus' flagship, the Profundity, was one of the first Mon Calamari ships to be ready for battle.

The book now tells us the events the Darth Vader v2 comic would elaborate upon years later: after the Empire took over Mon Cala, several structures thought to be simply buildings heralded an exodus from the planet.

The Profundity was the civil governance tower of Nystullum.

The tale of the Mon Calamari converting transports and civilian craft into warships has old roots in the EU: it hails from the Star Wars Sourcebook.

Most of that old Mon Calamari lore is irremediably outdated, but this particular piece of it endures.

Much of the Profundity's crew consists of Nystullum's former defense staff. Its former mayor, Raddus, is not its captain--and fleet commander.

Of course, the old city tower needed many upgrades to become a warship.

A total of twelve Kuat Drive Yards thrusters propel it through space. The Profundity is fast enough to keep up with its own starfighters.

What once was a civic atrium has been converted into a massive hangar protected by magnetic fields and deflector shields.

Service lifts lower starfighter from the hangar decks for an immediate scramble.

The central collar surrounding the hull was also added during refitting, and now holds primary weapons and shield generators.

The finished ship evokes a predatory fish, something that Mon Cals undoubtedly find very fearsome.

The dorsal mast holds the command bridge, keeping Admiral Raddus up to date about the shifting battle.

SIZE COMPARISON

The last spread of the book evokes another WEG favorite: vessel comparison charts.

We learn that ship categories change depending on schools of thought. Check the Essential Guide to Warfare for A LOT of info about them!

Of course, the Death Star has thrown a wrench into these categories...

Rebel starfighters have had good fortune fighting considerably larger Imperial capital ships. Will the gargantuan Death Star be an obstacle too large for them?

(Spoiler: no, it won't)

And that's it for the lore section of the book!

Really!!! We did it!

But no, there's still a little bit more.

Next, chapter 6, an oddity among visual guides: a behind-the-screens look at the film Rogue One!