I can't even begin to explain the level of my excitement after recently being published in the Round 4: What's The Story? update of the Databank.

This time, I give you the planet of Bal'demnic, along with its native Kon'me species. The unnamed planet and species first appeared in Clone Wars Chapter 22.

Below is a detailed "Behind the scenes" look at many aspects of my entry... if you've got absolutely nothing else to do, then keep reading!

The planet Bal'demnic

I really wanted to come up with a name that sounded both unique and believable; hopefully I succeeded. The name is derived from the word condemn and similar to demonic; giving the impression that the planet and its inhabitants are not as innocent as they might appear. The first syllable Bal along with the apostrophe was influenced by a nickname applied to a friend of mine - B'daniel. Hi Dan (Dan can be seen here by the way; he's the guy in the orange t-shirt)

The Kon'me species

Think back to the glorious days of the Commodore 64. One of my many favourite games at the time was Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future. Anyone who ever played that game would remember the ultimate "boss" villian at the game's conclusion; basically a big green alien with a big head. Well, the natives of Bal'demnic reminded me of him. And he sat in a weapon emplacement that is similar to those utilised by Bal'demnic's natives. Incidentally, I was never able to defeat this villian in the game, just as the CIS were unable to defeat the Kon'me in battle.

This villain was called the Mekon, and I have hence named Bal'demnic's natives the Kon'me.

Note that the computer game was based on a comic from the 1950's - though in my opinion the game version of the Mekon looked infinitely cooler.

Halagad Ventor

Ever since reading this blog entry by Abel G. Peņa, I've become fascinated by Halagad Ventor's history... I never thought I'd be lucky enough to actually write a small part of it myself

Halagad served under General Obi-Wan Kenobi and became a recipient of the Medallion of Honor at some point during the Clone Wars. I figured that after these events he would be promoted to a higher rank that allowed him to participate in leading roles in the war. So here he is now, leading the assault against the CIS on Bal'demnic.

In my original entry I attempted to establish how Halagad survived Order 66, and to explain how he knew the location of several surviving Jedi; the location he would later betray to Darth Vader himself. Alas, I may have been a little over-ambitious here, as my conclusion of the battle was slightly altered by the editors, and Halagad's little sub-plot was significantly reduced.

Sha Koon

Halagad was initially the only Jedi that I had named in my entry, but at the last minute, I felt the need to throw in another Jedi to fight by Halagad's side as his second-in-command. I needed to find a Jedi whose fate after Order 66 was unknown, and after a very brief search, Sha Koon came up as the best candidate.

Sha is Plo Koon's neice, appearing in The Stark Hyperspace War comic.

The Battle of Bal'demnic

It may seem difficult to believe that the Kon'me were able to repel both the Confederacy and Republic forces. Here I will provide some unofficial reasoning as to how this was possible.

The Kon'me are no strangers to war; well armed with their powerful imported weapons, they boast a history of defeating several local aggressors. The phrase Bal'demnic was largely undisturbed by matters of galactic consequence doesn't mean that it did not have its fair share of local trouble. Bal'demnic's awkard terrain also gave outsiders a distinct disadvantage in any sort of battle.

The Kon'me had no problem dealing with the Confederacy's new military presence, which was not particularly large due to Seperatist resource shortages toward the end of the Clone Wars. Though that's not to say that the natives had little casualties. The droid forces were significantly depleted by the time Halagad's task force arrived. Once the CIS were under fire by both Kon'me and Republic forces, they were forced to retreat. Meanwhile, the Republic was being attacked by the infuriated Kon'me, and Halagad ordered his troops not to return fire on the natives; thus retreated from battle. Halagad left part of his fleet behind to ensure the Confederacy would not attempt to mine the planet again.

Auril sector

The significance of placing Bal'demnic in the Auril Sector was somewhat lost when I removed a small portion of the story in order to keep within the 2000 character limit.

My initial uncut story intended for the Jedi to land on Bal'demnic alone, while the clone troopers would stand by for orders in the neighbouring Khuiumin system.

Including the Khuiumin system was a nod to one of my favourite old Star Wars PC games: Star Wars Rebellion. I remember the first time I played the game clearly: I was in control of the Rebel Alliance, and the game randomly placed my Alliance Headquarters on planet Khuiumin. Admittedly, I had never heard of the planet at the time, so I restarted the game for a "better" location for my base

Anyhoo, according to online sources at least, Khuiumin is located in the Auril Sector, and so Auril Sector became the location of Bal'demnic.

Bak'rofsen system

I didn't want the planetary system to share the same name as the planet, and decided to ask my girlfriend Clare to come up with a name for Bal'demnic's planetary system.

Fairly quickly, she came up with Bak'rofsen system, named after Pinky Beecroft - the frontman of Machine Gun F-ellatio, one of her favourite bands (though sadly now defunct). She also proof-read the final entry for me; thanks a bunch Clare

That's about it

On a final note, just wanted to thank the fine people at the Star Wars Official Site for making this possible Cheers! And I'd like to dedicate my Bal'demnic entry to Abel G. Peņa; who has been very supportive of this competition, and whose experiences are an inspiration to us wannabe Star Wars authors.