Hello, and thank you! I don’t have a masterlist per say – that would be a very long list indeed! – but I do have a few resources that might help you get started.
First, you could check out the vocab list for some common terminology used in the Star Wars universe. (This is always linked in my bio, for mobile users, and as always you’re welcome to suggest additions.)
If you’ve got the time, you may like to look through my day to day tag, where I stick things I think might be useful in writing the general life of a SW character. Some won’t apply to you specifically, of course. More tags can be found on my taglist, and if there’s something not on there that you want to know about (for example, the HoloNet) the search function is always available. The not an ask tag would also be a good place to start, because I sometimes reblog general references that may be useful. Give reference, resources and worldbuilding a shot too.
There are a few posts in the masterposts tag, but they’re not nearly as general as what you’re looking for. I’d say ships and ship terminology are always a good thing to read up on, though, so you could give this post a try!
Ultimately, in my opinion, the best thing you could do is just dive into it. Learning by consuming the material is much more fun than reading up on Wookieepedia! (Also a good resource, by the way.) The extended universe is full of little details that will make your writing much more organic. If you’re wondering where to start, try this ask! And, of course you can always send an ask my way if you have specific questions!
Imperial Department for Epidemic Preventionseems fairly self-explanatory. But I challenge anyone with even a passing familiarity with human history to imagine the kinds of things they did “for the public’s protection”…
Imperial Department of Military Researchhandled “research and development of military technology such as equipment, small arms, facility components, and armed starships.”
Imperial Department of Redesign was a particularly horrifying “elite, highly secretive corps of the Galactic Empire, tasked with subduing or liquidating troublesome non-Human species.”
Imperial Procurementwas an “organizational branch” of the Empire responsible for finding and collecting resources… I’m pretty sure nobody needs to be told that they didn’t feel obligated to abide by Fair Trade standards or concern themselves much with the impact on those doing the producing.
Department of Punishmenttortured captured criminals. Fun fact: it had a habit of forcing prisoners to sign contracts giving their captors permission to torture them to death.
Imperial Xenodetic Survey Department. Mapmakers! (And map alterers!) This is probably only going to appeal to geeks like me, but given the information control and strategic erasure of knowledge the Empire is known for, I feel like there’s potentially a lot one could play with here! It is, at very least, a fun tidbit to throw into character conversations whenever navigation comes up.
[NOTE: I originally posted this on pillowfort but thought it might be interesting to folks here too]
This post is aimed at fic writers but it’s probably of use to anyone who has ever tried to look something up there. It might also be helpful for other Wikis but I don’t frequent those the way I do Wookieepedia, so I can’t verify. These are things that felt like it took me far too long to figure out. I welcome feedback to make it better.
Part 1 is about finding things on Wookieepedia when you aren’t sure what it’s called, aka browsing and using Categories. (this post)
Articles – These are the pages you are looking for. They’ve got pages on Aunt Beru and on Kathleen Kennedy, T-7 ion disruptors and “Destroy Malevolence”(the 4th episode of TCW). Basically everything.
Stubs – These are pages that are placeholders and haven’t been completely filled out. Still handy depending on how much is lacking, even if it’s only to let you know there’s not much.
Pages – Appear to be the same thing as an article or stub and I’m not honestly sure why they sometimes use this term and not articles. It should be noted that it is defined in part by what it is not which is a Category (see below).
Categories – A category is a way of grouping articles together. They can have subcategories creating a hierarchy. Every subcategory is technically a category as well. Categories are cool because when you aren’t sure what you are looking for they allow you to browse and hone in on your search. For example, Starships is a category whose subcategories include Starships by Affiliation and Starships by Type. In addition, Starships are a subcategory of Spacecraft which is a subcategory of Vehicles. Get the idea?
(There’s also Files – this is most often an image and accessed from an article. I won’t be discussing it much here)
There’s a load of screencaps so more below the cut.
For anyone who doesn’t yet know the ins and outs of Wookieepedia, be sure to check these posts out! Using all the functions of the wiki is a great way to sift through it and find what you want quickly!
Ever wondered the
difference between a battlecruiser and a battleship, or debated whether your
vessel is a light, medium, or heavy freighter? The Star Wars universe is
absolutely full of all sorts of wonderful starships, but there are so many
terms and classifications for them that it can get awfully confusing sometimes!
This post is intended as a non-exhaustive guide to describing some common ships’
various classifications in your writing, both military and civilian.
The rest is under the
cut. Sorry for the long post, mobile users!
Capital Ships
A capital ship is defined
as any armed military starship with a length greater than 100 meters, typically
designed for fleet warfare. The Anaxes War College System, established during
the Clone Wars and used by the successive governments, divided capital ships
into seven main classifications:
Corvette: 100-200 meters in length
Frigate: 200-400 meters
Cruiser: 400-600 meters
Light
cruiser: 350-400 meters (sometimes interchangeable with frigates)
Medium cruiser:
400-500 meters
Heavy cruiser: 600-1000 meters
Star Destroyer: 1000-2000 meters
Battlecruiser: 2000-5000 meters
Dreadnaught: 5000+ meters
Sometimes, depending
on its armament and typical role in a battle, a ship could be moved up or down
a classification. The Carrack-class
light cruiser, for example, was sometimes considered a cruiser despite technically
being a frigate at 350 meters long. The Secutor-class
Star Destroyer was classified as a Star Destroyer even though it was 2200
meters long, because its role as a carrier ship meant that it had a light
armament that was atypical of battlecruisers. (Note that Star Destroyer as a
classification was separate from the specific term Star Destroyer originally used
by Kuat Drive Yards to describe their own ships. By the time of the Clone Wars,
many capital ships not manufactured by KDY were also referred to as Star
Destroyers.)
Some other terms were
also used to describe capital ships:
Battleship: a general name used for large
capital ships, often Star Destroyer-sized and above. They were well-armed and
shielded, and took either an active role in combat or a “peacekeeping” role.
Warship: often synonymous with battleship, but
sometimes used as a specific class, comparable to a frigate or a cruiser.
Battlecruiser (informal): a large,
heavily-armoured capital ship that was not considered a battleship, made for destroying
other capital ships. Alternately, a vessel designated “battlecruiser” due to
differing naming customs, while serving the role of another class of ship.
Flagship: the primary command ship in a fleet,
usually the largest or most powerful vessel.
Carrier: a starship designed primarily to carry
smaller starships and fighters into battle. While dedicated carriers usually
had few weapons and weaker shielding, others could serve a dual purpose as
carriers and battleships.
Interdictor vessel: a starship with the ability
to generate a gravity well and pull vessels out of hyperspace. Interdictors could
belong to varying capital ship classes, ranging from frigates to Star
Destroyers.
Super Star Destroyer: a ship with the typical dagger-shaped
profile of a Star Destroyer that falls into the size category of battlecruiser
or dreadnaught.
Superdreadnaught: a little-used term for a very
large dreadnaught. The Eye of Palpatine,
at 19 kilometers in length, was considered a superdreadnaught.
(The Supremacy, a 60-kilometer wide Mega-class Star Dreadnaught, could be
called a superdreadnaught)
Starfighters
A starfighter is a
small, maneuverable ship used in space or atmosphere battles. There are several
different kinds of ships commonly considered starfighters:
Snubfighter: a fighter carrying a crew of one
or two people, typically equipped with laser or blaster weaponry, missiles or
torpedoes, and a hyperdrive. The infamous X-wing starfighter is a snubfighter.
Bomber: a fighter designed for combat against
well-armoured targets such as capital ships, space stations, and buildings. They
carried projectile weapons such as proton bombs, concussion missiles, proton
torpedoes and thermal detonators, often in addition to energy weapons, and were
generally escorted by more maneuverable starfighters or support craft like
frigates.
Interceptor: a particularly fast and maneuverable
starfighter, designed to combat enemy fighters and bombers. They lacked heavy
armour and ordnance payloads, and sometimes a hyperdrive, in the interest of
making the fighter as fast as possible.
Atmospheric fighter: a starfighter specialized
for flight in atmosphere, such as the TIE striker.
(A few models of classic starfighters)
Sometimes, larger
ships were also considered starfighters. Certain transports, shuttles, and
light freighters—generally, ones that have a heavy armament in relation to
their size as well as decent maneuverability—could be lumped into this
category. In addition, the term starfighter could (but does not always) include
the following:
Gunship: a general designation for small troop
deployment and attack carriers. They were usually equipped with heavy weaponry
and armour, allowing them to survive and fight through a battle long enough to
deliver or pick up troops and supplies. They could serve as escorts to larger
ships, and some were designed to carry large ground-based vehicles like the
AT-TE onto a battlefield. Sometimes, small capital ships were referred to as
gunships.
Blastboat: a small starship built for combat,
fast enough to intercept other ships and serve as a patrol craft but strong
enough to survive encounters with well-armed and armoured opponents. They tended
to fall between starfighters and capital ships in terms of function, size and
armament, but some, such as the GAT-12 Skipray Blastboat, were considered heavy
starfighters.
Airspeeder: though a starfighter is almost
always capable of space combat, the term can sometimes be applied to certain
low-altitude airspeeders.
(Republic LAAT-series
gunships were heavily used throughout the Clone Wars and beyond)
Freighters
A freighter is any
spacecraft used to transport freight or cargo. Sometimes interchangeably called
a cargo ship or barge. Freighters were often arranged into several loose
categories depending on their size/capacity and function, though these classes
could be highly variable.
Light freighter: a ship used for small cargo
operations. Many light freighters were equipped with weapons and a decent
hyperdrive, and were capable of holding their own in combat. They tended to
measure around 30 meters in length, but could be larger or smaller, and
commonly had a cargo capacity of about 50-100 metric tons. The Ghost and the Millennium Falcon were both light freighters.
Medium freighter: an ambiguous class of
freighter. A medium freighter could be anywhere from around 30 meters in length
to a couple hundred, and tended to have a cargo capacity of several hundred
tons. Some medium freighters are also considered bulk freighters, and some function
as container ships.
Heavy freighter: an ambiguous class used to
describe a freighter with a larger cargo capacity than the light freighter.
Whether a ship is considered a light, medium or heavy freighter depends on the
manufacturer and series; there is no set definition. There are heavy freighters
ranging in length from 50 to several hundred meters, and in cargo capacity from
only 150 tons to over 50,000. Heavy freighter is often used interchangeably
with bulk freighter.
Super freighter: a term used to describe a very
large freighter or a freighter with a very large capacity. The Cargo Empress-class super freighter was
one example, with a length of 110 meters and a capacity of 50,000 tons.
Bulk freighter: a freighter used in commercial
shipping operations to carry bulk loads. Usually considered either a medium or
heavy freighter, and often capable of carrying tens of thousands of tons.
Container ship: freighters used to haul large
numbers of crates and containers, sometimes carried on the outside of the ship.
Hundreds of thousands of tons of cargo could be carried on a container ship,
but they were very costly to operate.
Drone freighter: an unmanned freighter,
requiring no crew.
Tramp freighter: an unaffiliated ship operated
by an independent captain.
Freight liner: an affiliated ship with
established and scheduled ports of call.
(The class four
container transport, also called an Imperial cargo ship, was a container ship capable of carrying up to 210 large cargo containers)
Other Terms
Transport/space transport/starferry: a starship
that carried cargo or passengers from one location to another, or a vessel that
performs this same function. Freighters, passenger liners, troop transports,
and even ground vehicles such as AT-ATs all fit into this classification.
Shuttle/shuttlecraft: a small vessel used to
transport personnel, usually through space, between a planet and a ship in
orbit, or between two ships.
Yacht: a starship (or aquatic ship) used for
recreational purposes. They were usually about the size of light freighters, but
could get as large as small capital ships, and tended to be expensive.
Scout vessel: a starship used for scientific/commercial
exploration or for military reconnaissance.
System patrol craft: a combat-capable starship
intended to operate within a star system. They acted both as planetary
defence/customs and as a first line of defence, and though they usually lacked
hyperdrives many were considered small capital ships and were capable of skirmishing
with other capital ships as large as frigates.
Boarding craft: a vessel used for boarding enemy
ships and space stations, sometimes also a kind of shuttle.
Assault ship: a general term used to describe
capital ships and starfighters intended for offensive action.
Consular ship: a diplomatic vessel.
Alternately, any vessel officially used by a member of the Imperial Senate.
Courier: a fast ship built for delivery of
urgent cargo and passengers.
Hospital ship: a medical spacecraft of varying
size, often accompanying a military fleet into battle. More on hospital ships here.
Medical frigate: a ship used for medical
support during battles. They often didn’t fit the size guidelines of other
frigates, ranging from 35 meters to two kilometers.
Communications/comm ship: a naval vessel fitted
with extra transceivers to help communication between fleet elements and
military headquarters.
Tug: a starship fitted with tractor beams, used
to move or guide ships, structures, or cargo containers.
Space station: a structure built for use in
orbit or deep space, often intended for habitation or research purposes or as
orbiting docks. While they were usually immobile, some military space stations
such as the Death Star had engines and hyperdrives, making them starships as
well.
And, of course, if you
need to know the type/classification of a specific starship, you can always
check out its Wookieepedia page or shoot me an ask! Good luck with your writing!
COMPLETE LIST OF NAMED CLONE TROOPERS Organized by Unit *updated 8/23/18*
Ever needed to know who served under Jedi Master Luminara Unduli? Trying to name an oc and don’t want to repeat a name? Use this handy guide! I went through the list on Clone Trooper Wiki and organized everyone. Many of these names do not have verifiable links, but if it was a name and it was on the list, I included it.
Some notes: An *asterisk in front of a name denotes a group leader of some sort.
(Sorry about the pictures. There’s no way I could have formatted this on tumblr. And be sure and click through to the original permalink! Because things may have been updated since this has been in circulation.)
I believe I’ve reblogged this in the past, so here’s the updated version
Star Wars: Lightsabers – A Guide To Weapons of The Force by Pablo Hidalgo
ANATOMY OF A LIGHTSABER notes of interest: (NOTE: This is the 2018 version, so this is a canon reference book.)
A true lightsaber cannot be assembled by a machine, only those sensitive to the Force can construct one.
“Once the energy is focused, it leaves the handle from a positively charged energy lens inside the blade emitter. The beam is trapped inside an energy field created by the kyber crystal, which bends the beam back towards a negatively charged high-energy flux aperture in the emitter. To an observer, it looks like the blade simply stops growing, but this loop of energy creates the lightsaber’s distinctive hum as well as the spinning effect in the blade’s movements, making the weapon difficult to control for those without training.”
(This is probably what makes the blades so bouncy against each other, because they’re–as someone once described them–a bit like energy chainsaws, in the way that they’re a loop going around and around, rather than a steady beam.)
“A lightsaber is an extention of a Jedi’s Force awareness. Becasue Jedi let the Force guide their selection of the crystal, the vibration the crystal creates in the lightsaber blade helps Jedi center themselves and find balance in the Force.”
MYTH: Only a Jedi or a Sith can wield a lightsaber. FACT: "Anyone could pick up a lightsaber and use it, but lightsabers are extremely difficult to wield. Those used to swinging solid swords often find using a weightless blade a challenge–one that can have dangerous consequences. Only through rigorous training and enhanced senses through the Force can a Jedi use a lightsaber to its full potential.“
“Training lightsabers emit low-intensity blades that cannot cut and are not lethal. Contact with a training blade will only sting or numb an opponent; however these blades do convey an accurate sensation of holding a real lightsaber.”
“Most lightsabers incorporate a pressure activation lever that causes it to power down if dropped. They may also have a ‘lock’ switch that keeps the blade active, so a Jedi can throw a lightsaber some distance and guide its path through the Force.”
“Beyond its use as a weapon or an instrument of meditation, a lightsaber is a practical tool. Given enough time, a lightsaber can cut through most substances. Even shield-rated blast doors will melt after extended exposure to a lightsaber blade, making it nearly impossible to imprison an armed Jedi Knight. Most Jedi will not risk slicing through bulkhead walls or high-energy force fields, though, because cutting into such a powerful source could be explosive.”
MYTH: A lightsaber can cut through anything. FACT: The key to creating a solid weapon that can clash with a lightsaber blade is not the metal used in construction but rather the energy the metal conducts. Energy transmitted across a metal blade or polearm can foritfy a weapon so it can block a lightsaber blade. The electrostaffs of the MagnaGuard droids or the energized weapons of Supreme Leader Snoke’s Praetorian Guards, for example, pose a challenge to even trained lightsaber combatants.“
“Standard lightsabers and water don’t mix. While some protective measures do exist, such as flashback waterseals, lighting a lightsaber underwater can be a problem. The weapon may boil the surrounding water, spinning turbulance and making it difficult to control. Should a Jedi become submerged in water during the course of an assignment, he or she had best make sure the lightsaber is prepared for such a journey.”
“A Jedi who loses a lightsaber often builds another. In times of great need–such as the emergency of the Clone Wars–the Order kept replacement lightsabers for Jedi to use while they built a new one.”
“Above all, Jedi must keep track of their lightsabers. Should a lightsaber fall into the hands of an unpracticed or dishonorable person, it will almost always lead to tragedy.”
Medpac info and diagrams (from The Essential Guide to Weapons and Technology). Transcript under the cut.
“Medpacs are emergency medical kits used in the field to treat minor injuries and stabilize badly injured patients until they can be taken to advanced medical facilities. These inexpensive kits cost only about a hundred credits each but carry a wide variety of medicines and emergency-care tools. Internal diagnostic computers offer the user complete descriptions of essential procedures, and so persons with no medical training can use them effectively.
“The Chiewab GLiS (General Life-Sustaining) is a basic medpac and carries supplies for treating contusions, broken bones, burns, and traumatic injuries. Its computer can store treatment procedures for one species at a time – typically humans – although program modules can be purchased for thousands of other species. Its limited diagnostic scanner allows the user to monitor a patient’s vital signs constantly.
“Standard medicines include coagulants to stop bleeding, healing salves and sterilizers used to treat burns, and antiseptic irrigation bulbs and disinfectant pads that cleanse wounds and prevent infections. Small bacta patches can be applied to promote the healing of traumatized tissues. Stim-shots and adrenaline boosters keep the patient alert and prevent him or her from going into shock, while painkillers and localized nerve anesthetics reduce discomfort. General-use antibiotics, countertoxins, and immunity boosters can be used to treat patients subjected to poisons, animal venoms, diseases, and infectious microbes, thus stabilizing a patient until he or she arrives at a health facility where more potent countertoxins can be administered.
“All medicines can be applied through patches or painlessly injected with a spray hypo. The GLiS also has a bone stabilizer and several spray splints that immobilize and protect broken bones; when the patient arrives at a hospital, bone fusers can repair the damage completely.
“More advanced and expensive medpacs such as the BioTech FastFlesh are designed for use by trained medics and include a much larger assortment of medicines. These medpacs are excellent for battlefield use, offering multiple spray splints, large supplies of stimulants and body boosters, and advanced synthe-nutrient replicators that sustain patients with vital nutrients. Specialized medicines can counter the effects of radiation, biological poisons, and nerve agents. The FastFlesh medpac also includes a canister of chromostring, which offers deeper penetration of healing agents without causing nerve damage. This medpac has several instruments for emergency field surgery, including a sonic scalpel, a laser cauterizer, and nerve and tissue regenerators.
“The FastFlesh diagnostic computer’s database covers five hundred different species and is linked to the unit’s remote scanner and a sample analyzer that can identify poisons, toxins, and unknown compounds. The computer automatically stores a record of the patient’s condition for later reference. This medpac costs five hundred credits and is widely used by emergency-care technicians, including many New Republic medics.”
While I was researching Devaronians (y’know, like I always am), I noticed the Wookieepedia article on the Devaronese language is pretty sparse—so sparse, in fact, that it doesn’t actually contain any Devaronese words. SO, despite me being less than a linguist, I decided to try and come up with some of my own!
Basically, I extrapolated what I could from what few Devaronese words we know (all of which are italicized on the list itself, just for reference), while with others I and Nick (@of-stardust-and-wanderlust) gave meanings to our OCs’ names—the rest I basically just pulled out of my ass derived from the other words. This is of course an ongoing, ever-expanding list, and I’d be happy to add more to it if anyone has any ideas!
For now though, feel free to read through this, leave comments about what you find interesting, bash me for my misunderstanding of how languages work, or anything else! I’d love to hear your guys’ feedback on this 😀
Reblogging cuz I (and some pals in the Devaron’s Angels group chat) made some additions to the dictionary 😀
I’m going to point you to this category intersection on Wookieepedia of planet stubs and terrestrial planets. It’ll give you a bunch of short articles on planets that have a good chance of being somewhat Earth-like. Obviously there are a ton of options, but with so little information on each planet and without knowing what you intend to do with it, it’s a bit hard to recommend any in particular. It may also be helpful to search through the planets tag on this blog.
If it’s not so important that the planet actually exists in canon, you may prefer to design one yourself. (By coincidence, I’m working on a random planet generator for this blog right now, but as I’m still trying to get all the code to cooperate I can link you to the stuff I usually use instead.) Here’s the planet name generator I default to (note that the names often benefit from a bit of modification), here’s a map to help you place the planet, approximate travel times between territories, and of course Wookieepedia for inspiration.
Write Better Star Wars 