Ok, I promised to myself that I would never, ever start one of these blogs unless I actually won at the What's the Story? comp.

After many, many frustrating fruitless attempts.... I finally did!

And it feels damn good.

So...yay me.

Anyway, it seems to be the fashion to do a "Behind the Scenes" spiel, when you win, so here goes mine.

First things first: Why Kuat?

Well...why not.

To elaborate further:

The hat.

The truly awe-inspiring, gaudy terrible hat.

The Kuatis seem to love ridiculous headgear. Why? I have no idea.

Perhaps they have really heavy rain there.

With that seed in mind, let's see parse through the finished entry paragraph by paragraph.

To outsiders, Kuati politics seem labyrinthine and cutthroat. Nepotism, graft, corruption, and cronyism abound and the lines between aristocrat, business executive and politician are blurred.

Ah...nothing like a bit of purple prose to start off with. Although it does do a nice job of establishing the "feel" of Kuati politics for those who have little EU knowledge.

In the final years of the Republic, this was no more apparent than with Onara Kuat, leading member of the Kuat family and principal director of Kuat Drive Yards. Onara's storied family had been one of the Core Founders, with their world a long an important voice in the Republic, constructing the vast fleet of ships that battled during both the Old and New Sith Wars. By the time of the reign of Valorum, Kuat's Galactic Senator delegate was handpicked by the family, who ensured that their selections always benefited Kuat Drive Yards, and the Kuat family by extension.

Bit of background, tying the character into the established information on the Kuat family. I'm not sure, but I believe this is the first time for them specifically to be named as one of the "Core Founder" families.

There's a reference to the New Sith Wars as well - a criminally underused period of SW history which I like to reference as often as possible.

So, we know now she's both head of the family, and head of the megacorporation. Now let's go deeper.

Risi Lenoan served faithfully, but then found herself removed from office when questions emerged concerning her bookkeeping and KDY funds.

Risi Lenoan appeared in a issue of HolonetNews website that came out just prior to AotC. Originally, my entry contained a few more details (specifying what exactly the corruption was - skimming funds off the Jedi starfighter project), but the general gist remains.

Risi too wears an awful hat, as you can see.

Onara appointed Giddean Danu as Lenoan's replacement, erroneously thinking him to be a malleable political figurehead. Unfortunately, Danu became an irritant in office, with his opposition to the centralization of power and his support for the Jedi oversight of the war.

This bit was the nicest addition - it ties in with and elaborates on the information about Giddean Danu - and identifies Onara as one of the "aristocrats" who disagreed with him so vehemently that they tried to recall him from office multiple times.

Again my original entry elaborated more on Danu's background - naming him as a former mayor of Kuat City.

Believe it or not, this was actually based on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, though Danu is far less nutty, much smarter, and not a religious maniac.

....Oh, and Danu? Another silly hat wearer.

Onara tried to have him recalled but other members of her family, including her nephew, Kuat of Kuat, believed Danu to an effective advocate of Kuati independence and the motion failed. To make matters worse, Danu even declared his intention to reform the politics of Kuat as well, and began by investigating Onara's family.

A little bit of intrigue within Onara's family - her own nephew going against the head of the family, and Danu starting to poke his nose where it wasn't welcome.

The ridiculously named "Kuat of Kuat" is from the "Bounty Hunter Wars" trilogy.

Seriously, I've always loved this guy - What a truly awesomely silly name to go with (yet another) clownish piece of Kuat headgear.



As a side note, Kuat looks quite similar to the former Senator Lenoan - making me wonder if Kuat's Telbun parent wasn't perhaps related to her...

Chastened and worried about what secrets would be uncovered, Onara went about seeking other methods to rid herself of the bothersome Senator. At a night at the opera, her friend, Tannon Praji, sympathetic to her plight, introduced her to an associate of his, Ottegru Grey. He said he had a solution to her problems (though he did not elaborate on it), and all it required was her loyalty to Palpatine forever.

Like many others, I always find it fun to tie into the WTS entries of previous winners - building our own little shared continuity as it were. Grey and Praji are seen talking to our gal, so it makes sense for there to be some sense of familiarity there.

My original entry ended with

Onara agreed, and not long after, Giddean Danu went out for a cup of ardees....and was never seen again.

But this was excised, sparing our nice-guy Senator.

Hear that Danu? Someone up there loves you.

Even with that hat.