Thank you, anon! By far my favourite topic to talk about is the physics and astrography of the Star Wars universe. (Actually, Star Wars is what made me realize I wanted to be an astrophysicist!) Although I do always love talking about the Jedi and the Force as well đ
~ Jacen
Unfortunately, a lot of official writing tends to describe these things very generally. Not to mention, the descriptions of the use and functions of specific technologies are very inconsistent throughout the Star Wars universe. The first thing I would do is get really familiar with some terminology to describe the systems of a starfighter. Once you understand what each part does, itâs much easier to describe what a pilot is doing accurately (and a lot of this stuff is not specific to any one starfighter, and will work with the Resistance T-70 X-wings even though they donât have a lot of known specifications). The best way to get a feel for it is to just read some of the books (the X-Wing series is particularly good for this), but obviously no one wants to read a dozen books to write a scene or two, so I would recommend taking a look at the âstarshipsâ section of the Vocab List (which Iâve just updated) for some of the terminology. It is by no means a complete list, so if you have the time you could also look through the Wookieepedia categories for starship components (which includes stuff like engines and weapons, which is still a useful thing to know how to describe) and starship computer systems.Â
More practically, this is a photo of a T-70 X-wingâs cockpit. I find it nice to have an idea of where things are located, even if you can only pick out a couple components. I have not been able to find a labelled diagram of a cockpit, but I will post if I find one.Â
At the end of the day, Iâm a strong advocate for picking out whatever canon you want and tossing what you donât, so I wouldnât worry too much about whether you can describe the exact mechanisms of using a starfighterâs console. It can be nice to have a very general explanation of whatâs going on, because too many technical terms that the reader may or may not know can really mess with the flow of a story.Â
Hope that helps a bit!
~ Jacen
Because the Resistance is a splinter group of the New Republic military, its main sponsor is the New Republic itself. But since they are so low on supplies and equipment, and since they do not see eye-to-eye with the New Republic on the issue of whether to take the First Order threat seriously, I think itâs reasonable to assume that they also need some sort of alternative income. For example, a high priority for the Resistance is getting medical supplies. This would be relatively easy to get using a donorâs money, compared to a capital ship or a squadron of fighters, which would be provided by the New Republic. Not a whole lot is known about how the Resistance operates at the moment, at least not compared to the Rebellion, for instance, so I would say that all that stuff is open to interpretation for now.Â
Hope that helps!
~ Jacen
Sorry, I donât think Iâve ever heard of such a joke. Does anyone else know?
Thank you! You can use mess hall and cafeteria interchangeably, though from what Iâve seen a lot of people prefer mess hall. For a military base, mess hall would probably be more common.Â
~ Jacen
Some Hutts and some Corellians speak in a southern accent, as well as some Rebel pilots of various backgrounds. Personally I associate it most with Corellia because Corellians do speak with an American accent, though not everyoneâs is so pronounced. Other than that, I donât believe I know of a whole species that speaks with a southern accent the way the Twiâleks and Lurmen have theirs.
~ Jacen
In-universe, the BBY/ABY system was really only used by the New Republic and the subsequent Galactic Alliance. The Battle of Yavin was chosen as Year 0 in the Galactic Calendar in 25 ABY, so it was not used officially before that time. Before this time, BTC/ATC (using the Treaty of Coruscant as Year 0) was a popular system. However, in 35 BBY was the Great ReSynchronization, which set that year as Year 0 (Iâm not sure if youâve found it already, but give this post a try if you want to know more about this dating system). The Empire did not use BBY/ABY, they used ReSynchronization time, though some preferred to use the formation of the Galactic Empire (19 BBY) as their Year 0.Â
Hope that helps!
~ Jacen
(Ice Planet Anon again) OH, I forgot to mention, Iâd preferably like to find something thatâs populated at least in part by humans, since those are the stars of the story Iâm working on. Thanks a bunch!
The first planet that comes to mind is Arkania, an ice planet with a number of enclosed cities. Itâs not really inhabited by Humans, but Arkanians are humanoids and there are plenty of off-world visitors, due to it being a planet with massive stores of diamonds. Along the same lines is Mygeeto, though depending on the time period youâre writing in and who your characters are, this may not work.Â
Some worlds with more humans include Rhen Var, Ando Prime, Nar Hekka, Dolomar (whose cities are all underground), Anteevy (pretty much just an Imperial mining planet), Krownest, and Belsavis. Thereâs a good variety of planets there, so I hope something works for you!
~ Jacen
Sorry this took so long, I was at the midnight showing of The Last Jedi! As for your question, Iâm a little bit stuck. Probably the closest thing I can think of that fits the aesthetic, visually and explicitly, would be Mandalore. And I say closest because the scenery weâve seen of the domed cities doesnât actually have a whole lot of plants.
Iâm not sure exactly what youâre looking for in terms of a culture that could work with your ideas, but I would look into the Chandrilans. Chandrila is primarily an agriworld, and the people who live there are educated very early in how to coexist with nature and maintain a balanced ecosystem. They do also have advanced architecture and tend towards smooth, elegant buildings, which helps it fit better with the aesthetic, but we donât see a whole lot of the landscape or cities so I couldnât tell you for sure.
I hope that helps a bit with what youâre looking for, and if anyone else has suggestions feel free to add!
~ Jacen
The atmosphere itself wouldnât be so much of a problem, of course, the issue would be with the gravity well of the planet. Theoretically, the safety mechanisms should pull the ship out of hyperspace as soon as the force of a celestial bodyâs gravity starts to have an effect on the ship, a ways before it actually reaches the body itself. Likewise, a ship should not be able to enter hyperspace while under the influence of the gravity well. However, we have seen that malfunctions in he hyperdrive and related safety systems can cause a ship to jump to hyperspace while in a planetâs atmosphere. It is possible that a similar malfunction, or disabling the failsafe that causes the ship to exit hyperspace, could allow the ship to end a jump closer to the planet than normally allowed. Naturally, this would be very dangerous and could easily cause the ship to just hit the planetâs surface or burn up upon reentry, and right now I canât think of any examples of someone actually doing it, but I believe it could be possible with a lot of careful calculation.
Hope that helps!
~ Jacen
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