This is gonna sound weird but I just watched annihilation and they said that species can’t cross-breed so, uh, given what we know from rebels and barring further embarrassment on my part, how does Jacen Syndulla exist?

It’s a well-established fact in the Star Wars universe that some species can cross-breed and others can’t. Generally, two humanoid species will be compatible, and Twi’lek/human hybrids have been seen before. Other than that, the specific biological implications are not fully explained.

Would a lightsaber bayonet be possible/viable (given that the gun it’s attached to is made of lightsaber-resistant materials)?

Normally you would have a knife or a vibroblade attached to the barrel of the rifle, but there’s no reason you couldn’t replace that with a laser knife. (You couldn’t have a lightsaber—it would be much too long—but a short plasma weapon would be fine.) However, I don’t expect it would be necessary for the rifle to be made of a lightsaber-resistant material as the blade should never touch the barrel, especially because that technology tends to be very expensive.

Hope that helps!

~ Jacen

Is there any planet besides Tatooine that is possible to find bounty hunters, assassins, thiefs and smugglers? This kind of scum. I thought about Nal Hutta and Hondo’s planet, but they are not what I am looking for. Thanks for the help!

You may find what you’re looking for in the page for shadowports, planets like Tatooine that are known to be relatively safe for smugglers and criminals to land. One other planet that could be good that isn’t on that list is Kerev Doi. I hope one of those works for you!

~ Jacen

Would it be possible/practical to make a lightsaber whip sword? That is, a lightwhip that can reconstitute its blade into a lightsaber, and vice-versa?

No weapon like this exists canonically, and it would likely be difficult to build given that lightwhips usually have many smaller lightsaber crystals, rather than the one (sometimes two or three) large crystal used by a lightsaber. They also lack the cell barriers necessary to keep the blade contained in a straight line. Theoretically, I believe you could create a weapon capable of turning those barriers on and off, but I can’t see it having a particularly stable blade. If it works for you, it would be exponentially easier to have a hilt (standard length) with emitters at both ends, one for the lightwhip and one for a regular blade, that the wielder could choose from. Naturally, they couldn’t both be used at the same time, but it is a simpler solution.

I hope that helps!

~ Jacen

Thanks for the quick answer about the high-powered blaster. <3 For clarification, though: I meant AT-AT commander armor as in the armor worn by General Veers, not that of AT-AT pilots. It certainly looks much less flimsy than the latter and should be able to withstand a few hits.

Yup, Imperial officer battle armour around that time period should have been identical or very similar to either that of an Imperial combat driver (including AT-AT pilots) or snowtrooper armour, depending on the variant. It likely looks sturdier because some of those chest plates included heating/life support systems, which added to the bulk but didn’t provide much extra shielding. Either would be vulnerable to a high-powered blaster rifle at close range.

Hope that helps!

~ Jacen

I know this might sound odd, but do you know of a good Star Wars substitute for carrot or, more precisely, a way to make the expression ‘dangling carrot’ sound more in-universe?

I hate to say, the in-universe equivalent of a carrot is a space carrot (or space-carrot). I know, it’s a bit out-there. It also seems to be the only named variety of carrot. Personally, I think “dangling space carrot” is a brilliant sentence, but if you aren’t looking for comedic affect you may want to try something else. Jogan fruit is a popular stand-in for these sorts of things, perhaps that could work.

Hope that helps!

~ Jacen

When writing certain aliens whose in-universe languages aren’t already fleshed out, would you say it’s alright to substitute real life languages in for them? Like, would it work to have a Twi’lek speaking French, a Devaronian speaking Russian, etc?

I suppose it’s really a matter of personal preference. I can’t really judge the suitability of Russian for Devaronese, but the Twi’leki we do know does not resemble French at all. Perhaps because I speak French, I would personally find it very odd to read a Twi’lek speaking it. I would rather avoid having any non-English dialogue if the alien language is not well-established (often, it’s much more trouble to have them speak it, as opposed to simply stating that they spoke in Twi’leki, especially if your POV character does not understand the language) or, if I really needed them to say a few words, I’d probably prefer to make up a sentence or two. That’s just my preference, though, there are certainly circumstances in which this could work. 

I hope that helps!

~ Jacen

Would a hit from a high-powered modified blaster rifle (something a bounty hunter would use) possible have enough punch to knock an armored target (in AT-AT commander armor) who’s caught off guard off their feet and burn through their chestplate? If so, can the wound be life-threatening, or is there no such thing as a blaster rifle that can smash through AT-AT commander armor?

I am not aware of any source that says an AT-AT pilot’s armour is significantly sturdier than a stormtrooper’s, so yes, a direct hit from a high-powered blaster rifle could easily burn through a chestplate. That wound could certainly be life-threatening, but it’s just as likely that the pilot would be killed, especially from a close distance. We’ve seen such blaster rifles kill clone troopers from hundreds of feet away, and AT-AT pilot armour is said to resemble Phase II clone pilot armour. 

Hope that helps!

~ Jacen 

Hi! What do we know about treating blaster-bolt wounds? Do they more or less self-cauterize like lightsaber wounds theoretically would?

Sorry about the wait! Basically, blaster bolts may or may not cauterize the wound they make. There will certainly be burning, but they can still bleed. Due to the physics of a blaster bolt, blunt force injuries can also occur. (I discuss this in a bit more detail here and here). Most often, however, the wound is largely cauterized by the heat of the bolt. As a result, they are very difficult to treat without the regenerative properties of bacta, and thus the default treatment is application of a bacta bandage or, if the injury is serious enough, submersion in a bacta tank. The bandages must be changed regularly, and the patient may need surgery if the bolt has hit and burnt any organs, but if they can survive long enough to get treatment they often make a full recovery. 

Hope that helps!

~ Jacen