More machine than man, Vader is the Empire's most decorated General and a very powerful practitioner of the Force's dark arts. He is obsessed with communicating with the spirits of the dead, spending every sleepless night trying in vain to contact his lost love. Twisted and broken in body and mind, Vader is driven with sadistic passion.
He is a master with the traditional weapon of Force champions, the Phlogisticated Aether Torch, more commonly referred to as the phlogisabre.
This enormous Imperial space station, the size of a small moon, is in fact an immense analytic engine, a device capable of making millions of calculations every day. Inside is kilometer after kilometer of tubes and wheels, cranks and gears, all spinning and clacking, spitting out an endless series of numbers for the Imperials scientists to decipher.
Although the Empire has half a dozen such devices in operation throughout the galaxy, this version is unique. While the others spend their days crunching statistical algorithms or calculating flight models, the Mark 6 station (under the personal watch of Lord Vader) is dedicated to experiments with Arcane Mathematics, the mathematical study of the Force. They hope to discover a unified Force theory, allowing them to fuse the power of the Force with their technology to create unspeakably powerful weapons. The station already houses a product of this research, a terrible weapon capable of directing a coherent beam of pure Force energy¹, strong enough to destroy all life on an entire planet. This weapon has earned the station the nickname of "Death Star".
[1]As it has not yet been discovered a way for machines to directly generate Force energy, it must be supplied by a powerful Force user. The user conjures the energy inside of a specially designed resonance chamber which amplifies the energy before directing it through a series of lenses to produce a powerful coherent beam of unimaginably destructive energy.
Lady Leia, Princess and Ambassador of Alderaan, had a fiery personality and sharp intellect that made her an influential diplomat. Her speeches and public image were instrumental in generating sympathy for the rebel cause. Using her diplomatic connections to gain access to highly guarded information and smuggle supplies, she was an integral member of the Resistance.
As a child she was adored by the public, a symbol of hope in a troubled time. However, as a teenager she suddenly withdrew from the public spotlight and joined the military. This withdrawal coincided with the unprecedented Imperial closure of a popular musical (Gilbert & Snootles' HMS Executor, a comic opera that was highly critical of the Empire), an act of censorship which drew much ire from the people of Alderaan.
After two years in the service, she had become an adept marksman and had even led a number of peacekeeping missions in Rodian territories. It is believed that it was during this time that she joined the Resistance, and may have even had a hand in organizing it into the significant force it became.
With the destruction of Alderaan, Lady Leia became not only an important member of the Resistance, but once again she became a symbol of hope and a powerful reminder of the Empire's atrocities.
A scientific genius with a troubled mind, Captain Ackbar spent much of his life roaming the stars in a ship of his own design. After witnessing his homeworld captured and his people enslaved by the Empire, he gathered a loyal crew and fled into deep space, planning to escape civilization entirely.
For the next sixteen years, not a trace of Ackbar or his crew was seen. Meanwhile, the Empire continued to spread, and soon even the darkest corners of the galaxy would hold no sanctuary for Ackbar. As suddenly as he disappeared, a surprise attack on a vital Imperial supply ship signaled Ackbar's return, and the beginning of a long and impressive guerrilla campaign against the Empire. Like a phantom, Ackbar and his ship haunted the Empire, swooping in and hitting them whenever and wherever they were most vulnerable before disappearing into the void without a trace. The stories of his deeds made him a folk hero among resistance supporters and a fearsome figure to Imperial Stormtroops.
After the annihilation of Alderaan, Ackbar ended his lone campaign and officially joined forces with the Resistance.
Han Solo is a notorious gambler, con artist and smuggler. Mr. Chewbacca is his Wookiee partner in crime. The duo is wanted by both the Empire and a number of underworld crime lords, but they manage to stay one step ahead of their pursuers thanks to their ship, the Millennium Falcon, said to be the fastest ship in the galaxy. Solo is also known for his quick draw with a pistol. He boasts that of all the men he's shot, not a single one was able to shoot first.
As a young man in the days of the Republic, Sir Obi Wan Kenobi was an agent for the Jedi League of Force Champions. He is intimately acquainted with the dark side of the force, as he spent nearly a decade undercover within the Sith Brotherhood, secretly trying to uncover the identity of the organization's Patriarch. His time on the dark side left permanent scars upon his soul and to this day he battles the temptation to indulge his darker emotions.
When his identity was compromised and he was forced to escape the Sith Brotherhood, Obi Wan returned to the Jedi League. Many years of service later, he was chosen to mentor a new agent to continue his undercover work: a young boy named Anakin, groomed by the League especially for this role. Obi Wan spent many years raising and training the boy, but when the time came for Anakin to infiltrate the Brotherhood, the boy was overwhelmed and seduced by the power it offered him. He ultimately betrayed Obi Wan and the League, forcing Obi Wan to kill him. Whatever remained of Anakin after that battle became the creature known as Lord Vader.
Obi Wan has spent the last twenty years living as a hermit on Tatooine, hidden from the Empire, studying the secrets of the Force and keeping watch over a child he swore an oath to protect.