One of the most deadly weapons of the galactic empire and its remnants, the Eclipse class super star destroyer, has been in use since Zero ABY. It was manufactured by Kuat Drive Yards, but mostly came into use Six years after the battle of Endor. The first of its class, the Eclipse, begun construction at the Kuat Drive Yards orbiting Kuat in Zero ABY. The majority of the ship, including the axial super laser and other weapons, was completed in Four ABY, the entire time crime lord Tyber Zahn had been watching and planning for the right moment. In Four ABY he took the moment by surprise and launched an assault onto the Kuat Drive Yards. He had coveted the Eclipse Class Super Star Destroyer Eclipse for four years now, and he wanted it. Though the axial super lasers were not as strong as the one that was on the death stars, the axial super laser could destroy a capital ship or rip through a planetary shield and leave the surface as a dead wasteland. Also this particular Eclipse Class Super Star Destroyed suffered from constant axial super laser breakdowns, which caused later models to lower the power of the axial super laser in an attempt to fix these breakdowns.

But Tyber Zahn overlooked these problems and attacked the Kuat Drive Yards during another assault, but the other assault was one by the Rebel Alliance. He managed to hijack it during the battle, and his original plan was to steal the ship and the valuable data onboard the databanks of the Eclipse. He then had control of the most powerful starship in the galaxy and used it against the forces of the Galactic Empire and Rebel Alliance during the battle. He destroyed much of the forces of the Galactic Empire and Rebel Alliance, and forced the Rebel Alliance to jump to hyperspace and retreat. Though the Galactic Empire did not retreat, instead they called in reinforcements to attempt to retake the Eclipse. The reinforcements were not able to do much before Tyber Zahn activated the axial super laser and fired onto the Imperial forces, and left the Consortium fleet to destroy the rest. While he had control he downloaded all the data out of the databanks and then left the Eclipse for the empire to recapture before leaving the system. He knew that the biggest and strongest starship in the galaxy was too big of a target for an underground organization to control.

The Eclipse Class Super Star Destroyer is one of the largest capital ships ever built. It boasts a massive sixteen thousand meters in length. It has five hundred fifty Turbo laser batteries, and five hundred heavy laser cannons, and that’s only the laser based weapons. It also has two hundred fifty concussion missile launchers and seventy five ion cannon turrets. But sometimes destroying the enemy is not the objective, which is why it has weapons on it to destroy you, but also ones to stop you. It also has the features that allow it to make rapid hyperspace jumps at a moments notice. It has a Class Two Hyper drive system, along with a Backup Class Six Drive. Even outside of hyperspace it has the speed to dominate a battlefield in space. It can cruise at a maximum of Sixty One MGLT, this allows it to fill the role of a High Speed Battleship along with it’s many other roles.

It can also be used as a mobile command center for the empire. It can hole massive amounts of ships, vehicles, and troops. It has the capability to hold Six Hundred TIE Interceptors and Ninety Six TIE Bombers, and still have docking ability for Lambda T-4a Class Shuttle Craft and similar craft. It also can carry a ground force that could take control of any planet in its path. With One Hundred Fifty Thousand Ground Soldiers along with One Hundred All Terrain Armored Transports (AT-AT). It also carries five prefabricated garrison bases, for establishing a foothold on a planet and giving a base for the troops. Also with its Six hundred Thousand metric ton cargo capacity and ten year consumables, this ship has the ability to wonder the space watching, waiting; waiting for the order to strike, where it will jump out and dominate all in its path. It can operate on a skeleton crew, with only Eighty Eight Thousand Five Hundred Crew Members, and still pummel a Mon-Calamari Cruiser to oblivion.

Its strong might and sleek design makes it a frightful sight when it jumps out of hyperspace into your local system. Once you saw it though, there was no chance of escaping; The Eclipse class was fitted with Ten Gravity Well generators along with seventy five ion cannons. It could impede your hyperspace jump capability of stop you dead in space. Its One hundred tractor beams can then either pull you into the hanger bays for inspection, or boarding, or tear you apart by pulling all over until your ship bursts. This makes it one of the most powerful, fast, and also one of the largest star craft in the galaxy today.

You may be asking yourself, why this information matters at all. The reason may shock, scare, and surprise you. The Eclipse Class Super Star Destroyer was recently located on the Holo Net, listed for sale. It was discovered by Imperial Holo Net Security Forces that there was a Holo Net auction for an Eclipse Class Star Destroyer, with a starting bid at Ten Billion Imperial Credits. Through tactics, which they would not disclose for security reasons, they were able to trace the auction to a Housing Station orbiting Abrae. Recently released information states that the man who was running the auction, a former Imperial Naval Officer, was attempting to make the money to pay off a variety of transactions, bounties, and loans. He is currently in transit to an undisclosed Imperial Prison Colony, listed, where he awaits an Imperial Court Hearing to determine what exactly he will be sentenced for, though it is expected that he will receive no less than life imprisonment on an imperial penal colony. The auction was taken off the Holo net, and currently all credits put into the auction by potential buyers are being used as evidence in the case. After the hearing the credits will be returned to they buyers, unless it is determined that there was a malicious intent of gaining this craft. The Imperial Holo Net Security Forces had this to say,

“Recently our investigative squads located a fraudulent auction on the Holo net auction channels. It was found that an Eclipse Class Star Destroyer was listed for sale at a massive amount of imperial credits for the starting bid. This action was taken down by our forces, and the auction posted was arrested, he currently awaits a hearing. There we will determine his imprisonment location and time. We currently have no more details for the media, except that any credits that were placed on this auction are being used as evidence and will be returned after the hearing unless it is found that the buyer had malicious intent.”

It is currently unknown when the hearing will begin, nor is it known who exactly bid on the Eclipse Class. But it can be speculated that any bidders will most likely be contacted by imperial security forces soon. The Imperial Holo Net Security Forces also urge citizens to report any outrageous or impossible auctions, similar to this one, to them immediately. They also urge you not to bid on the fraudulent auctions no matter how tempting they are. They also assured citizens that they will release more details as time passes, and that they have nothing to worry about. Details about Eclipse Class Super Star Destroyers can be found at the Holo Net Link Below.

Eclipse Class Super Star Destroyer on the ICS

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Before beginning your post or story, you have to take some time to create your necessary NPCs if they are not already provided, unless you get lucky and don’t need a single one. You’ve thought about that post/story a great deal. So get a wiki page running and flesh out all your NPCs. The more your characters are developed as real people, the more your story quality will improve and the more story arcs you can expand upon.

Firstly, names. Choose names for your characters that should be easy to remember, and ones that your squadmates won’t have a hard time with. If you name your ally Xrtjamon it will stall the readers and they make just get frustrated everytime they see the name. Pick names that you like and are easy to work with. If the name is catchy, so much the better! (‘Cartwheel’ McCarthy for example.) In the wiki, make a page for each character with all of their traits and idiosyncrasies such as:

Physical Traits – use your imagination. There is an endless array of physical characteristics in the world. Make your characters different from each other. What color of hair do they have? Are they short, fat, skinny, tall, buckteeth, or bald? Does one have a speech impediment, a limp, a scar?

Habits – both good and bad for no one is perfect. At least one character should have some kind of quirky habit. Readers will remember.

Speech – Vary your characters’ speech as no one talks exactly like another. A character that is college educated speaks one way, and a character who has a speech impediment speaks differently. The more you vary your characters’ manner of speaking, the more interesting they will be. But don’t overdo it or the reader won’t be able to keep track. Having at least one character that stands out as a little backward or “different” will add a great deal of dimension to your story. Dialogue is what moves the story along, so vary it.

For example – Assume we have an uneducated young man, rough, with a mental disorder. Which dialogue should you use to bring this character to life?

“I wont do it, no matter how you try to convince me. In fact, you are causing me great turmoil.” Joey sat down, crossed his legs, and sighed.

Or –

“Hell no I ain’t gonna do dat! No way, man. What, yous think I’m a freakin idiot? You really on my nerves, man. Hey man, I gotta a gun that’ll fit in yer fat mouth real good, if yous don’t shut up.” Joey paced back and forth, mumbling to himself, picking something off his shirt that wasn’t there.

The first example is not true to the ‘Joey’ character at all. He sounds like any other person on the streets of Cephany, giving you no clues to his real personality. However, the second example tells you a few things about him; the manner in which he speaks shows that he is uneducated, angry, and rude. His actions tell the reader that he is seeing things that are not there, showing – not telling – that he has a problem with reality. In just a few sentences of dialogue, you have given the reader valuable information about ‘Joey’ that would take an entire page to tell in narrative form.

Moral/ethical/political/religious beliefs – Do not make all your characters with high standards. There has to be an guy who is dishonest, immoral, maybe a religious fanatic, and just an all around bad person or there won’t be any conflict between characters.

Hobbies – Does one of your characters love to paint and gets a lot of peace from it?
Does another like to watch holomovies and quotes from them? Or maybe a character just likes to be a couch potato and watch the latest holo flick. The sky is the limit here. Remember to write in their hobby as a means to further the story.

Like/Dislikes – What does your character dislike the most? Snakes? Space travel because of the helplessness feeling? The dark? What does he/she like best, what makes her/him happiest?

Your NPC must still be at least likeable in some sense from a writer’s perspective, but the glaring weakness has to form the underlying tension that drives his or her behavior.

You are free to make up people who are all your own in every way that makes a person human. The more your characters are developed, the more your squadmates and any other readers of your posts will come away from your story remembering them forever. Characters are what drive a story, and why should just your squadron lead the push? There is an endless variety of people you can imagine in this universe. Some even seem inhuman. Be brave. Lose yourself in creating characters that are unforgettable. The imagination is a wonderful thing.

Sample NPC 1 – Kent ‘Goblin’ Barlow

Goblin is an irascible oddball bringing new meaning to the word ‘weird.’ He enjoys a bit of a reputation as a fierce infighter. His loyalty to the Empire and peculiar enthusiasm are well worth his eccentricies.

A former comedian that was thrown out of the Tadath night clubs for his unusual brand of humor. Forced to find another source of income, he became a bouncer for a rather seedy nightclub in Tadath’s red light district, where he was fired due to his agressiveness against the people he was asked to remove.

Goblin tries to bring a smile to his fellow Stormtroopers, although these efforts usually result in a disturbed gaze. Occasionally he does actually make a joke that everyone laughs at, but those moments are few and far between.

Originally placed into Sceptre Squad, he was transferred to the Black Rose Squad due to the Squad Leader lashing out physically at Goblin for unspecified reasons. In what is declared ‘self defense’ in the official report of the incident, Goblin broke both of the man’s wrists and neck.

He spent his four months in the Black Rose Squad trying to gain the attention of his Assistant Squad Leader without success before he was reassigned with his surviving squadmates to Eclipse, where he still continues his advances.

Sample NPC 2 – Peter ‘Cartwheel’ McCarthy

Originally a TIE fighter pilot for the Vast Empire Navy, he quickly earned the handle ‘Cartwheel’ for his favorite maneuvers. Peter McCarthy has an attitude that frequently gets him in trouble with superiors, which explains how he was assigned as a pilot to the Stormtrooper Corps. The Navy did not desire him very much, but did not have the necessary grounds to discharge him; and the Army required pilots to fly the squads into action. Naturally the Navy assigned their least favorite pilot to the Army.

Extremely skilled, his rank suggests a far lower talent and experience than he actually has. McCarthy, assigned to Eclipse Squad at this time, is greatly satisfying the Stormtroopers that are thrill seekers when he pilots their shuttles. Those that don’t appreciate a beautiful, perfectly executed triple-dive with a 720 degree barrel roll and reverse tail flip in a standard Imperial Shuttle generally don’t complain because their mouths are busy expelling their last meal.

Sample NPC 3 – Katrina Canters

Although rather young to actually be in the military, Katrina Canters excelled at her studies in school and entered Tadath Institute of Technology early as an engineering major. Rising to the top of her class, she caught the eye of the Vast Empire’s Engineering Corps, who offered to pay her college expenses if she would enter herself into the service of the Imperial Military’s Engineering Corps. Accepting, she was assigned to Eclipse Squad as a technician working under Andrew Hawkins while still studying to complete her college studies.

An extremely creative problem solver, Canters worked with Riqimo Pershaw to improve the prototype EAST suits, as well as create some other devices for the squad to use. Although she is rather stubborn in believing her methods and designs are better than others, she is easily befriended, provided that you are not a complete technological idiot.

Should you break something in the field that she worked on, Canters might refuse to talk to you for a few days, but will then flood you questions about the circumstances that caused it to fall apart, melt, or explode. (Her inventions tend to do the later when they have a serious flaw.) On the other hand, if the device worked perfectly, you will be bombarded with questions stating there has to be something she could improve on, and there is a slight chance that the next time you use the ‘re-perfected’ device, you will have a nice scar or cybernetic replacement to remember the occasion by.

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“Your thoughts betray you, father. I feel the good in you … the conflict.”
“There is … no … conflict!”

But that lends great depth to a character. Conflict. Whether internal, against another person, against an entire planet, against his or her siblings … according to cinematic and theatric tradition, development comes fundamentally from conflict, and the resolution of that conflict. Consider Revenge of the Sith (Episode III) and the aftermath of Anakin’s slaughter on Mustafar. We have these horrific scenes, bodies lying everywhere, and then we move to Anakin, looking out over a sea of lava, his eyes full of rage, a triumphant master of evil … and then that wonderful, wonderful slight movement of his head which reveals the glint of tears on his cheeks. Look at Return of the Jedi (Episode VI) — Vader after he meets Luke again, outside the AT-AT. Think of Vader’s slouched, helpless stance as he says that melancholic, almost wistful line”

“Obi-Wan once thought as you do … “

then clenching his posture again, and that bitter, agonised line

“You don’t know the power of the Dark Side … I must obey my master!”

This is not necessarily a call to make your characters angsty or constantly bewail their existence; it’s simply an indication that with conflict there is usually a desire, or at least an impetus, to resolve that conflict. Luke, innocent farmboy, the epitome of “The Good Guy,” is in conflict pretty much throughout all three films, too: In A New Hope (Episode IV) he’s in conflict against the Empire. He’s also in conflict with Han — a conflict which is resolved in spectacular fashion by Han saving his and the Rebellion’s collective butts! In Empire Strikes Back (Episode V) he’s in conflict with his own loyalties: does he complete his training, or does he save his friends — which brings him into conflict with Yoda, his own teacher. In Return of the Jedi (Episode VI), he’s obviously in conflict with himself — can he kill his own father (which brings him, interestingly, into conflict with the ghostly Obi-Wan on that.)

So my point is: Look for conflicts!

What’s your character’s relationship with his or her parents? Brothers or sisters? Squad? Friends?

How do your character’s goals fit in or cross paths with other characters?

And most importantly, look for conflicts not just for the sake of having them, but as wheels upon which to drive your characters forward.

Remember, the purpose of the development is the resolution of conflict, not the conflict itself!

Another method of development can be your character’s personality. What sets two gamblers, thugs, or other more-or-less identical character types apart and makes them individuals are their personalities? Even little details about appearance and mannerisms can help your players not only to visualize two otherwise identical characters but also distinguish between them- even though two characters may have exactly in anyother perspective.

The three basic tools for individualizing personalities are appearance, mannerisms, and motivations. if you even assign one distinct quality from each of these categories, and then play these characteristics up in your portrayal of the character, you can bring a character alive in the readers’ minds. Fortunately, it doesn’t take any preparation- improvisational comedians have been doing this sort of thing for years 😉 In fact, the only tough part is remember how you portrayed a character previously, but with a few quick notes, you’ll have enough of a memory jog that you can quickly recall the character and play him again at almost a moment’s notice. (The wiki is most excellent for this)

It can be as simple as a few quick notes:
(“basso voice, acts superior, cracks knuckles when angry”)

Or some short headings:
(“Appearance: basso voice; Personality Traits: acts superior; Mannerisms: cracks knuckles when angry”)

With these simple tips, you will be on your way to better writing in no time at all!

~Doc

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Firstly and most importantly of this multipart series, it might be wise to outline some suggested methods as to how you may be able to increase the quality of your posts, your Vast Empire experience and the quality of your interaction with other players and/or characters.

Before I continue, I’d like to make a note that these are my own personal opinions. As such they might not be shared or widely accepted by our fellow members at the VE. My intention is to provide advice. Whether or not that advice is adopted is another matter entirely. The choice is ultimately yours. It is my sincere hope that suggestions such as this will not be ignored, but rather taken to heart and used as a reference to growing as a trooper or pilot.

If you’re just starting off and you’re unsure as to how to post in stories, don’t be afraid to ask some of your fellow troopers for advice and/or tips. I’m sure that most, if not all, would be willing to take some time out to help someone in need.

Good Writers are made, not born. Just because someone else might be better than you at writing, it doesn’t mean you can’t do the same thing. With time and effort becoming a Veteran writer is quite an easy task.

Most importantly don’t be intimidated by your fellow troopers/pilots. Watch and learn from them. They can often teach you more than you’d be able to learn if you were alone.

Never give up. While in some cases there might not seem to be solutions, facing defeat is something you’ll deal with sooner or later. It’s how you deal with that which is important. You always have a new story coming or even a storynet thread that would welcome you to learn from the mistakes you made in the past.
One of the most important pieces of all, is to remember it is a game. You are there to have fun and to interact with other characters and writers. Don’t take things too seriously and remember to always enjoy yourself.

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