prepare4trouble:

swpromptsandasks:

So ah, weird
question.

I seem to remember
a creature called a skull panther as being part of the star wars
universe and I swear I’ve used it before.

However I can’t
seem to find any information on it and now I’m starting to wonder
if I either made it up or borrowed information about it from another
series.

Anyone help a
writer out?

@writebetterstarwars, any ideas?

I don’t know of any animal called a skull panther in Star Wars. All that comes to mind is the sludge panther and the sand panther, could one of those be what you’re thinking of?

Do the prefix “Ord” and the suffix “-ooine” for planet names have any actual meaning?

Many planets have the prefix Ord because it stands for Ordinance/Regional Depot. Planet names beginning with Ord, such as Ord Mantell, refer to a planet used as a military outpost. Common suffixes such as -tooine and -ooine have no canonical explanation, but it seems to be a pattern that many of these planets were colonized during the Great Manifest Period (20,000-17,018 BBY). It’s possible that this explains the similarities.

~ Jacen

Do you have any sources on the legal status of droids? Were they required to have owners, or were they able to work & live independently?

It depends pretty heavily on the planet. Though extremely rare, there are droids out there who don’t have owners and live and work on their own, but the legality of it is not recognized by many worlds. If an unowned droid is found on one of these planets, it will likely be seized, memory-wiped, and sold.

Many galactic laws also treat droids as property rather than people (notably, the Droid Statutes).

On other worlds such as Naboo, however, higher-level droids are considered sentient and are treated as equal. Class three droids, built for interacting with humans and commonly considered the most complex droids out there, are more likely to be seen as personable and granted autonomy than other classes. Class five droids will pretty much never be seen as more than basic labour units, because they are usually built without advanced cognitive modules. This is a simplification, because the whole issue is vastly complicated, but if you have the money I would suggest getting the D6 guide Cynabar’s Fantastic Technology: Droids. It sums it up very nicely, and it’s an interesting read. (If you’d like to message me privately, I can legally send you a few pages of the book, in case you can’t afford it at the moment.)

The legal status of droids on different worlds is usually closely tied to whether the society believes droids can be sentient. I have a whole ton of thoughts on this subject in both Star Wars and the real world (over the last semester I’ve ended up writing three papers on the subject) and I won’t get into depth about my own opinions here, but if you’d like to discuss it further I would be more than happy to. Suffice to say, the galaxy is very divided on this issue, and whether a droid is legally considered “free” will depend on the individual droid and the legal system. 

Hope that helps!

~ Jacen

What types of scans can be done on planets from space? How do those works and what information would it return? I’m wondering specifically about life forms but also anything else that could be conceivably and reasonably be done by a small ship on reconnaissance mission.

It depends on the individual sensor, but the main issue will be range. Many sensors are capable of operating from orbit (though the height of the orbit will depend on the planet’s mass and the ship’s velocity, it will be a relatively small distance for most sensor types), but may need a large receptor dish to do so effectively. Pretty much any type of sensor can be used on a planet from orbit, but you may have trouble with a smaller ship.

Life form indicators (LFIs) are not actually sensors in and of themselves, but computer programs that take data from other sensors and interpret it to come to a conclusion. A full-spectrum transceiver is used, because they are designed to detect all types of objects, energy, and fields. When interpreted by the LFI, they will return such information as temperature, motion, mass, and the life support settings of a ship (including atmosphere and gravity).

Because full-spectrum transceivers are so broad, they aren’t very sensitive, and a large receptor dish is needed for long-range scans. The LFI is only as good as the sensors, so a ship without room for a large dish will have trouble getting an accurate reading from a planet. (Additionally, I do not know whether an LFI would be able to distinguish between beings on a planet. I can’t think of an example of someone scanning a planet for species or population. However, the full-spectrum transceivers would be able to detect large concentrations of beings by their heat signatures and, depending, may not need to be totally accurate, so if this is useful information to have then you probably could get it from the sensors of a small reconnaissance ship.)

Other types of sensors that could be used on a planet include: electro-photo receptors, which combine visible light, ultraviolet, and infrared to form a hologram (only useful at short ranges); dedicated energy receptors, which detect electromagnetic emissions, including comlink transmissions, navigational beacons, heat, and laser light (these are what are used to detect enemy communications); and crystal gravfield traps, which detect gravitational fluctuations such as the presence of a ship or a planet. All these sensors could conceivably be installed on a small ship, though CGTs are rare and expensive. 

Hope that helps!

~ Jacen

I’m wondering what to call the clothing that the Jedi wore. Wookieepedia describes their robes as “consisting of an undertunic, an overtunic, an outer robe with a deep hood and wide sleeves, loose-fitting trousers, a tabard, and a broad sash tied about the waist.” Are there any other terms for these pieces?For instance, I’m inclined to describe it as a belt, not a sash. What are the wrist-wraps called that young Caleb Dume wore? It also seems that British terms are favored in written works?

In the books, there’s quite a bit of flexibility in the terms used, though you’re right, British terms (and terms that have fallen out of use in everyday speech) are often preferred. I, for instance, favour calling the outer robe a cloak, especially for ones made of a thicker fabric. The sash around their waist can be called an obi, but would generally not be called a belt, because a utility belt is commonly worn over top of it. The undertunic is sometimes swapped for an undershirt, but other than that the terms there are the commonly used ones. (It also depends on the Jedi, because there can be a lot of variety in their outfits. Some Jedi, for example, prefer to wear civilian clothes. In wartime, their outfits could change significantly to accommodate armour.) I’m not sure there is a canon term for those wrist things, but most people refer to them as arm wraps or arm bands. For the most part it’s up to you what to call the different parts. Don’t feel that you have to use many different terms, though; it’s common for the same term to be repeated several times in a row, especially when it’s a more generic word. 

Hope that helps!

~ Jacen

How long did it take to rebuild Taris after it was bombarded by Darth Malak? Is it an ecumenopolis again by the time of the Battle of Yavin?

It was rebuilt slowly over the next few millennia, though there were many ruins left behind. Reconstruction was not started until 3,641 BBY, and it is unknown exactly how long it took. By the Clone Wars, it was again considered a city-planet, but it never reached the same level of prosperity it had before the bombardment. 

~ Jacen

darth-lumines:

→ Star Wars Atlas (2009) – Galactic Regions
→ Interesting notes:  Location of many notable planets, the layers of galatic regions

→

This is a selection of maps showing the sectors of Star Wars’ galaxy, radiating outward from the center.  While no longer strictly canon (as of April 25, 2014) it still gives a good idea of what planets are where.  It can be especially helpful if you want to find a planet that’s nowhere near Coruscant to strand your characters on or if you want to find a more densely populated world near the center of everything!  Or if you just want to know how close a specific planet is to the center of the galaxy.

✦

Deep Core:  

Byss

(Note:  The Deep Core did not hold as many notable worlds as the Core Worlds/Galactic Core/the Core, it had a massive black hole at the center which made hyperspace travel difficult and it was extremely densely packed with stars that had tremendous gravitational pull.)

✦

The Core:  

Alderaan / Anaxes / Brentaal / Corellia / Coruscant / Duro / Kuat / Nubia / N’zoth

✦

The Colonies:  

Fondor / Neimoidia

✦

Inner Rim:  

Bestine / Hapes / Onderon / Taanab / Thyferra

✦

Expansion Region:   

Mimban

✦

Mid Rim:  

Ansion / Bothawui /

Boz Pity / Ithor / Kashyyyk / Malastare / Naboo / Nar Shadda / Ord Mantell / Ruusan

✦

Hutt Space:  

Nal Hutta / Nar Shadda / Toydaria

✦

Outer Rim:  

Anoat / Bespin / Bonadan / Christophsis / Dagobah / Dantooine / Dathomir / Endor (Forest Moon) / Eriadu / Felucia / Gamorr / Geonosis / Honoghr / Hoth / Kamino / Kessel / Korriban / Mandalore / Mon Cala / Mustafar / Mygeeto / Nal Hutta / Ossus / Raxus Prime / Rhen Var / Rishi / Rodia / Ryloth / Saleucami / Sernpidal / Shadda-Bi-Boran / Sullust / Tatooine / Toydaria / Triton / Tund / Utapau / Yavin

✦

Wild Space:  

Bakura / Kalee / Teth

✦

Unknown Regions:  

Csilla / Iego / Ilum / Nagi / Lehon (Rakata Prime) / Rattatak / Zonama Sekot

About luke’s path, I think I know what anon was referring to. In the visual dictionary, Pablo Hidalgo marked the path luke took to ahch-to with a red dashed line and it went from a planet near Kashyyyk to Ahch-To. (At least I think that’s what they meant)

Thank you! (I don’t own the TLJ Visual Dictionary, so please correct me if I miss anything.) If this is what they meant, then I would say that planet may not be the location of Luke’s Temple; as far as I know, it has not yet been revealed where he built it. As for why one might choose a planet so near Kashyyyk, I don’t believe Kashyyyk would have been considered a likely target of the Imperial remnant after the planet was liberated, because it was primarily used as a source of slave labour and attacked for showing anti-Imperial sentiment. With the New Republic as the primary ruling power in the galaxy, up until the rise of the First Order, there would be little reason to suspect anyone would want to attack Kashyyyk again. 

~ Jacen