Five years ago, I published my first official work for Lucasfilm. Star Wars Gamer #5 is my rookie card, containing my source article, "The Emperor's Pawns."

When I wrote the piece I was 21 years old, and not just a little excited to be contributing officially to the galaxy far, far away. I was also completely uncertain whether they would ever let me write Star Wars again. So I determined to pull out all the stops.

The eight-page article focused on Palaptine's special squad of darksiders known as Emperor's Hands, a concept that was officially recognized in 1991 with Timothy Zahn's novel Heir to the Empire and the introduction of the character Mara Jade. However, the concept of an Imperial Force-sensitive double-agent was conceived as far back as the early 80s with the creation of the character Shira Brie (more commonly known as the villainess Lumiya from the current Legacy of the Force series) in Marvel's Star Wars comics.

In Zahn's follow-up, Dark Force Rising, the villain Grand Admiral Thrawn pulls an I am your father-style feint when he tells Mara Jade that Palpatine had other Emperor's Hands. Neither Mara nor the readers knew if the crafty Thrawn was telling the truth or not. A couple short years later when author Barbara Hambly introduced a new Emperor's Hand in her novel Children of the Jedi, Thrawn's claim was confirmed. Later, Daniel Wallace added several more familiar faces to the roster of the Emperor's Hands with the first edition of The Essential Chronology, including Shira Brie.

"The Emperor's Pawns" profiled seven Emperor's Hands: Blackhole, Roganda Ismaren, Lumiya (a.k.a. Shira Brie), Arden Lyn, Maarek Stele, Sarcev Quest, and Jeng Droga. All of these characters had previously appeared in Expanded Universe literature in some capacity. I also wrote a short fiction vignette to introduce the article, in which Mara Jade recalls meeting Lumiya for the first time, and their immediate hate for one another. This scenario inspired the "cover" illustration for the article, "Confrontation on Caprioril," a story Joe Corroney and I have been dying to tell ever since.

I was quite excited when my buddy Joe, who I met through the SWFA and whose early Star Wars work for West End Games I'd been a fan of, somehow ended up getting the illustrating gig for "The Emperor's Hands." Little did I know it would be the first of many kicka** collaborations and the beginning of a terrific friendship.

I went through a bit of a scare period when I found out one of my editors wasn't going for the background I'd come up with for Blackhole. Little did I know that Pablo Hidalgo had already come up with an alternate history for the character for the Rebellion Era Sourcebook, which was already being printed. As such, my Blackhole entry was replaced with Pablo's, and he shares the byline with me on "The Emperor's Pawns."

Star Wars Gamer #5 hit newsstands just before my 22nd birthday. Reader reaction to the "familiarity" with the Star Wars universe that the article displayed was more enthusiastic than I could've ever predicted. A look at this thread gives a peek back in time. The exuberance blindsided me, but part of me was not surprised. I'd written precisely the kind of Star Wars piece I'd always wanted to read as one of the saga's biggest fans.

In celebration of the five-year anniversary of my first published Star Wars project, I'll be putting together a series of endnotes for "The Emperor's Pawns" beginning in the next few days. Amazingly, there are still copies of Star Wars Gamer #5 (with that trouble-making Blackhole on the cover) still available at Paizo's website, but even if you don't own the article, you can at least enjoy this companion.

Thanks to all the fans that've been so supportive of my work over the years. It's been a privilege entertaining you. ~ Abel G. Peņa

Continue to The Emperor's Pawns Endnotes, Part 1: The Emperor's Courtesan.

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