How a person can become a senator in the Old Republic? In the TPM we see that Palpatine is elected chancellor, is it the same thing with the senators? But through some kind of planetary election?

It varies. Senators can represent a planet, a system, a sector, or even a guild or corporation. Many were elected by their respective constituents. Others were appointed, usually by a planetary government, a planet’s ruler, or a corporation, and sometimes senators were the ruler of their planet/system. The exact mechanism will be different for each senator. Hope that helps!

~ Jacen

What kind of sw fics do you write if you don’t mind me asking ? Are they a little bit of all: action, romance, mischief, endurance, training??

I don’t really write romance, but other than that I would say yes, I like to do a bit of everything. For me, the Jedi are definitely the most interesting part of the universe to explore, so I tend to focus on them. Lately I haven’t had a whole lot of time to actually write, but when I do have the time I prefer to do multi-chapter stuff over shorter stories. Thanks for asking!

~ Jacen

How many people do you think the First Order pays off for intel? Did blazine tell on BB8 out of loyalty or credits?

I would guess, as many as any other organization. There’s no specific information on how the First Order deals with bribing for intel. We do know that they have their own intelligence officers, so they certainly don’t have to give out payoffs for everything. Likely they also rely on threats and interrogation/torture. As for BB8, I’m afraid I couldn’t tell you because I don’t know who Blazine is. I can’t find any mention of them anywhere, oddly enough. Do you mind clarifying?

~ Jacen

Edit: Thanks @jetiikad. I didn’t recognize her by name. Bazine was a paid First Order spy, so she would have informed for the credits, not out of loyalty.

What purpose did a spinning lightsaber serve for the inquisitors of all Kanan had to do was split the middle?

In short: drama. The Inquisitorius used double-bladed spinning lightsabers primarily to intimidate their opponents. It did also give the wielder some advantages in battle; the disc acted as a hand guard, and the constant motion of the blades made it difficult for the opponent to predict where a strike may come from, as well as making it easier for the Inquisitor to deflect a direct attack. Its major flaw wasn’t really its inherent design, but the fact that the hilt and guard seemed to be, for some reason, not made of a lightsaber-resistant material. Perhaps a future version will incorporate a cortosis-weave or phrik alloy to fix this problem. 

~ Jacen 

I’m sorry I meant that he didn’t seem to recognize his droids as Darth Vader.

It’s no problem! I’m not super up on Darth Vader stuff, so maybe someone knows better than me, but it had been about twenty years, and there are a lot of droids in the galaxy. Perhaps he just forgot. Or perhaps he did recognize them and simply didn’t show it. It wouldn’t be so unrealistic for him to be reluctant to bring up his past by acknowledging them. That’s my guess, at least!

~ Jacen

Aside from the fact that he’s a force user what would stop other ambitious evil doers from preventing Kylo Ren from being supreme leader? Is that a long shot given his storyline and bloodline?

I suppose there’s nothing to stop them from trying, if they wanted, but I’m not sure they could gather the resources to be successful. The stormtroopers are trained to be loyal to the First Order and the Supreme Leader, and since Kylo has now claimed that title I doubt they would support a coup against him. They certainly wouldn’t beat him in single combat. If the FO does indeed stick together under his leadership, I believe it would be out of respect for/fear of the title and his bloodline. On the other hand, if all the high-ranking officers decided they had no confidence in him as a leader, they could stand a chance at either taking over or leaving. But right now, as far as we know, Hux seems to be the only one who strongly objects to Kylo’s leadership, and I don’t think we will see any serious attempts to depose him. 

~ Jacen

How do shield generators work?

It depends on the type of shield, but a standard deflector shield generator works by creating a force field extending outwards from the surface of the projector, surrounding the vessel or other construction. (Often, this includes both ray and particle shielding, protecting from energy and solid objects respectively.) The shield then acts to diffuse the energy applied to it, kinetic and thermal, and re-radiate it back into the environment. Commonly, a ship’s shielding actually permeates the hull in a series of energy layers that extend out several centimeters. I know that’s not terribly specific, sorry, but the actual physics of the generator are not fully explained. 

Hope that helps!

~ Jacen

I’m trying to think about starships names, both to capital ships or attack and transport ones like the Ghost. But everything I can think sounds stupid or is not good. Any advice? Thanks.

What I find is, if you’re feeling that none of the names you think of are quite right, it may mean that you need to go back to the basics and really think about what you want to convey. First step for me is to consider how personal the name should be. On a capital ship, the name must be both relatable and pronounceable for a whole crew, while a one- or two-person freighter could be called whatever the captain wants. For that reason, in most cases I would recommend a more general name for a large ship, such as the Resolute or the Endurance. Generally, any cool-sounding noun or adjective can work. With a smaller, closer-knit fighting force like the Rebellion, you do see more contextual names, such as the Raddus and the Urjani. 

With smaller, privately owned ships, there are tons of things you can do. I believe that, whenever possible, it is best to name your ship in some significant way. If the name has real meaning and relevance to the owners, it won’t sound stupid. I like to look at whether a reference to the captain’s planet or culture would be appropriate; for example, I have a light freighter called the Cin Vhetin (”clean slate” in Mando’a), referencing both the ship’s background and the fact that the captain is Mandalorian. You can find plenty of these general types of names, even if they aren’t entirely personal, like the Coronet and the Chandrila Skies. Of course, there are other ways to give a name significance. Think about what it means to the captain, how they came to own it, what they’re going to use it for, stuff like that. 

If a personalized name just doesn’t fit with the circumstances, try looking at existing ships for inspiration. Here is the Wookieepedia category for starships by affiliation. You can look through the ships owned by different factions, which is helpful because different factions tend to have certain styles when naming their ships that you may or may not want to adhere to. Another good starting point would be a name generator like this one, though you will probably find that you have to modify or play off of the names you get. 

Just keep in mind that you will probably be far more critical of any name you come up with than your readers. Ask yourself whether you would spare it a second glance (in a negative way) if you read it in a book. And if you really aren’t sure, run it by someone! I can certainly give feedback if you ever like. 

Hope that helps!

~ Jacen