Star Wars-Lightsabre – An introduction

By Site Editor and Webmaster Mark Newbold

As Lightsabre evolves from its beginnings in July 1999 to the huge site we have today it seems like a good idea to give some background to the many characters and locations on the Lightsabre site, not only as an informational piece but also as a way of cataloguing all the varied threads and histories accumulated since the first story contained herein, written back in early 1982.

That 1982 story was the very first Jan Lomona story. Entitled The Search Continues: Part One - Quest for Freedom it told the story of Princess Leia's search for a Carbonite-frozen Han Solo, aided by Lando Calrissian, Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca and the droids C-3PO and R2-D2.

Beginning on the pink-clouded world of Anga we follow Lando and Chewie as they are on the run from business associates and Imperial forces. Needing assistance they travel to the world of A-desando where they encounter an old friend of Lando's, Jan Lomona, a short, stocky and heavily accented administrator running the city of Ecaps. After the destruction of the city the group flee back to the Millennium Falcon and escape, leaving Jan to clean up the mess of the destroyed city. Subsequent rewrites would alter the Lomona character drastically and give him a fiancée Frans Latka, introduced in the second draft of Quest for Freedom.

Quest ended with a tender moment between Luke and Leia much like Splinter of the Minds Eye, this being the time between Empire and Jedi and before the revelation of their being brother and sister, and led into the second story, The Lydon Legacy taking our heroes, along with Jan and Frans, to the massive Chancai Trade Centre, where we meet Ziggy Teflon and Commander Treece for the first time. In 1983 a third story, The Search Continues was begun but never completed, but would have told of a massive Rebel/Imperial battle over the pirate world of Ruuthorne. This story, among many other uncompleted tales, shall be completed over the coming years,

The Quest rewrites continued and were entered into a writing contest in Bantha Tracks, the official fan club magazine. But 1984 was the year when the stories really took off.

After making friends with a fellow Star Wars fanatic Jonathan Hicks, it wasn't long before new stories were begun, Jonathan already having written Return of the Jedi - Two at the age of twelve, chronicling the return of Grand Moff Tarkin after his escape from the Death Star explosion. Using original characters alongside existing ones Jonathan and myself began making audio stories. For six years, Newbold-Hicks Productions [NHP] made stories primarily based on comic stories, including an adaptation of The Empire Strikes Back and a set of character talks that soon degenerated into farce - Cantina Talk, now the name of our Forum. NHP soon began to make short, scripted Star Wars adventures starring Jan Lomona and Jonathan's character Goah Galletti. The catalogue of over thirty adventures included The Solo Runs, four stories set before and just after Star Wars telling of Jans time on A-desando and Jewel of Janos, telling the story of Goah Galletti on the crystal-cored planet of Janos and his run-in with the Janos Executioners there.

Ferrerean Warriors took Jan, Goah and a motley crew of fellow smugglers and rebels to the jungle world of Alorea where they encountered alien assassins in the employ of the Empire a full five years before the Noghri in Timothy Zahns Heir to the Empire. Glann Cipple was mentioned in the re-make of the Goah Galletti Story Part One - First Deal with Jabba the Hutt, followed by parts Two - Four, Death Star Chronicles, Jewel of Janos and The Spice Run. Trouble on Tantum V told of Goah’s crash-landing after the Battle of Endor, and The Tatooine Effect told of a botched double-cross Jan Lomona pulled on Jabba the Hutt.

During these years many of the primary NHP Star Wars characters were introduced. Himbimimam, Grin, Anzai Karoo, Boba Dallagra, Glann Cipple and Terrie Saffra, a character directly evolved from the Terrie character in Quest for Freedom and expanded upon in 1987's Wrong Side of Hell book, which also introduced Dressel and Mister Spyte, also known as the Talismen were introduced. Paul Squire created a character, Lancer Gray, a Rebel agent who eventually morphed into the Imperial biker scout-turned-mercenary character Ryath Centaur, star of, among other stories Frayed at the Edge. The world of Amagad, Glann Cipple and the boundaries of the Setnin Sector itself were mapped out and named during an expansion of the NHP Universe stories in 1986 (NHP New Universe). But almost without doubt the most fertile time for character introduction was during the RPG (Roleplaying Game) era, starting in 1987.

Thanks to the regular weekly sessions the existing stories, planets and characters were given re-runs through their paces. New characters were introduced with the addition of new players. The gangster-ridden world of Amagad was fleshed out and its core denizens working for Glann Cipple were expanded upon. The Shadow Warriors were introduced, along with other gangs. Tarr Ranth, the Mandalorian-armoured bounty hunter created by Louis Turfrey joined the roster. And other characters including Paige Lomona, the energy-eating alien Kamira and Weale Galletti were created.

The first full-length story, Jan Lomona and the Sirens of Amagad was written between March and August 1998, based on a story treatment hammered out two years previously - and ending up almost unrecognisable from it. That story was instrumental in pulling together almost two decades of audio stories and written tales, along with role-play scenarios that have given these characters a life of their own, making it easier to write for them. And from that to Star Wars - Lightsabre, containing character, planet, starship, location and chronology guides along with over two hundred stories, the Setnin Selects, artwork and much, much more.

And so as Jan Lomona and Goah Galletti enter their third decade and the Star Wars Universe its fourth, here are over two decades worth of stories, characters and ideas from the Setnin Sector, the Mid-Rim and beyond.

Sit back, put on a Star Wars CD and enjoy.

Mark Newbold

Lightsabre Site Editor and Webmaster