All good things must come to an end. Here it is, the final installment of the Dark Forces rpg series, featuring the Dark Jedi Jerec and Desann.

A note on the genesis and evolution of the Dark Forces Saga articles. I actually completed the bulk of this series as a single piece for Wizards of the Coast's old Star Wars Gamer magazine. It was the first thing I finished following the publication of the "Emperor's Pawns," a project which helped breathe new life into the old Marvel Comics villain Lumiya, the Dark Lady of the Sith. Given how well that Star Wars piece was received, I enthusiastically launched into several more Star Wars pieces for my editor, among them the Dark Forces Saga. That was in 2001.

What happened?

Aspiring writers take note: the life of the freelancer is not fun. Oh sure, the writing is fun. The thought of getting paid to do what you love is intoxicating. But as an artisan, you're always at the whim of forces beyond your control. Writers-for-hire often times find the rug pulled out from underneath them, and that's what happened here. The market for Star Wars Gamer proved unprofitable, and the magazine was abruptly cancelled. Suddenly, I was left with three (and three-thirds) finished Star Wars manuscripts without a buyer. This is not a small thing given the amount of research that goes into my work, as most continuity pundits can attest.

I didn't despair, though. No, that's the way of the dark side. Instead, I took the Imperial route and redoubled my efforts, and most of these projects have now been published. "The Grand Admirals," (a dissertation on the group of Imperial officers of which the infamous blue-skinned alien Grand Admiral Thrawn was a part), co-written with Daniel Wallace was the first, recast as "Who's Who: The Imperial Grand Admirals" for Insider #66 in 2003. The other two were published only this year, 2005: "Droids, Technology and the Force" for starwars.com's Hyperspace and recently the "Dark Forces Saga," split up into multiple parts, for wizards.com.

Admittedly, one of the most annoying aspects of having a project delayed four years is that, in a shared universe, things keep changing. Between 2001 and 2005, several major things happened: the hero of the Dark Forces Saga, Kyle Katarn, starred in a new video game, Jedi Outcast, and cameoed in another, Jedi Academy. Darko Macan's excellent comic series Jedi vs. Sith was published, which treated the "last war" between the Jedi and Sith mentioned in the Episode I novelization ("The Sith have been extinct for over a millennium!") as the same as a great Jedi battle from Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight. Wizards of the Coast also updated their roleplaying rulebook, and, oh yeah, Episodes II and III were released. Suddenly, there were a multitude of new details to contend with.

This changed a few things. I added Desann, the Dark Jedi "boss" from Jedi Outcast to the roster. I pounded a ton of references to the Jedi and Sith war into the piece, including the affirmation of a new female "Darth." Jerec was given a new Jedi Master (Jedi librarian Madam Jocasta Nu) and became a Jedi Master himself at the 11th hour due to the briefest of mentions in Republic comics #69, thus precipitating the creation of a Padawan Learner (Ameesa Darys, a future Jedi Hunter).

These days, it's a fairly common practice for Star Wars writers to make notes for the Lucasfilm editors concerning sticky continuity issues. Dan was the first to show me the ropes as far as footnoting the material I turn in goes, but the practice itself, I believe, was started as an in-house policy at West End Games, publishers of the first Star Wars rpg. Sometimes, such as in the Truce at Bakura Sourcebook and the Tales of the Jedi Companion, you can see where the footnotes accidentally made it into the published text. This also seems to have happened with Jason Fry's last article in the Hunt Within minis series.

Here are some choice notes I made to Lucasfilm accompanying this final article:

Regarding Jerec's species: "Retconning Jerec as a near-human Miraluka is new, but nearly a foregone conclusion. As support, there is this line spoken by the anthropologist Hoole in the novel Galaxy of Fear: Spore: 'I'm afraid I'm unfamiliar with Jerec. He appears to be human, but I suspect he is not. My guess is that blindness is natural to his species'--i.e. the Miraluka."

Regarding Jerec as Jedi Master and his Padawan: "In Republic #69, Jerec is referred to by Obi-Wan as 'Master Jerec.' Ameesa Darys is from the Emperor's Pawns article in Gamer #5."

Regarding the multitude of Star Destroyers named the Vengeance (Jerec's entry): "What follows is an attempt to reconcile a number of appearances by a Star Destroyer called the Vengeance. The sources are chiefly Spore, the video games TIE Fighter and Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight, and the Star Wars Customizable Card Game."

Regarding the unnamed Jedi student Desann kills in Jedi Outcast: "Desann's story in Jedi Outcast states that he killed an unnamed student at Luke's Jedi academy. Force-sensitive character Havet Storm from the Lost Jedi novels has been in limbo for some time and fits the bill very nicely."***

Regarding reference to the Valley of the Jedi as bearing a "psychic bloodstain" (Valley of the Jedi entry): "A term borrowed from the novel Dark Force Rising in describing the lingering of the Emperor's malevolent presence around Endor. This concept helps to explain how Desann was able to use the Valley of the Jedi's power years after it had been supposedly depleted of all its energy by the freeing of the Jedi and Sith spirits trapped there."

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***I am absolutely certain that many people are wondering about this decision. Why did I choose to specify the student Desann kills in the game Jedi Outcast as the cool bloke Havet Storm from the U.K.-only released choose-your-own-adventure game books (called collectively The Lost Jedi series)? And why, Abel oh why, didn't you take this opportunity to kill off that annoying Ken, Jedi Prince and grandson of Emperor Palpatine according to the much-despised books collectively known as the Glove of Darth Vader series.

First, Ken Palpatine is well known (some would say infamous) enough as it is. I'm a strong believer in representing the underrepresented, and The Lost Jedi series, due to its rarity in the Americas, holds onto its place in the Star Wars universe by the thinnest of threads. Along these same lines, I gave obscure hero Havet Storm what in my opinion is not only a heroic death but a noble one: standing up to a bully, which is the type of person, not to mention one of the things, that I despise more than anything else in any universe. Any actor worth his or her salt will tell you that a heroic death scene is a role to die for. Any true hero would say the same thing.

But really, it always comes down to one thing: storytelling opportunity. The mere existence of a character that is a descendant of the Emperor, the most evil figure in Star Wars, screams out to be explored. The fact that the origin of Ken's character is from a "children's" novel does not preclude the development of a very interesting character arc. Author Greg Keyes proved this single-handedly when he took several characters from the equally juvenile books Junior Jedi Knights, and turned them into beautifully three-dimensional story elements for his New Jedi Order: Edge of Victory novels.

Simply, Havet Storm got what he deserved. Ken Palpatine deserves better. ~ Abel G. Peņa

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