When my entry for Acros-Krik was first published, I hypothesized that I might be specializing in writing backstories for characters from Attack of the Clones. That, or slightly goofy CG characters from speeder chase sequences.

Here's a paragraph-by-paragaph look at this entry:

The Ongree species possesses flexible eyestalks that allow them to see an object from multiple angles. Perhaps because of this ability, the Ongree mindset is to examine a situation from all possible perspectives, making them effective politicians, diplomats, and negotiators.

Because so little was known about the Ongree when this What's the Story candidate was posted, I wanted to include some details about the species. At the time, there appeared to be three other Ongree characters in Star Wars lore: the Jedi Pablo-Jill and Coleman Kcaj, and Senator Sweitt Concorkill, as seen in the Revenge of the Sith Visual Dictionary. The bit about the Ongree being politicians, diplomats and negotiators was intended as a reference to all of these characters.

Not long after this databank entry was published, though, Lucasfilm admitted that the picture of Concorkill in the Visual Dictionary was a mistake, and that he was actually a Vurk. Fortunately, because I hadn't mentioned Concorkill specifically in the entry, what I wrote was still OK.

The New Essential Guide to Alien Species later included some of what I'd written in this paragraph in its entry on the Ongree, which makes me particularly glad I'd taken the time to establish some information about this species. (Acros-Krik himself isn't mentioned directly, but the book does note how some Ongree consort "with crimelords and gangsters as quickly as they would influental members of mainstream society," which sounds like the mayor to me!)

As demonstrated by Acros-Krik, the corrupt mayor of Coruscant's Uscru District, the mindset is also valuable for activities that are decidedly more criminal in nature.

The first part of the character's name, "Acros," came from the legendary anime series Macross, which kinda sorta inspired this databank entry. One of the characters in Macross was the mayor of a city that's transplanted into space. Having a character that was a mayor struck me as somewhat unique (given that most sci-fi focuses on supreme chancellors and emperors and the like), and that was the start of this character's backstory.

The second half of the character's name was derived from former Austin, Texas mayor Kirk Watson. As far as I know, Watson is neither corrupt nor does he have flexible eyestalks, but I hope he appreciates having a Star Wars character named after him nonetheless.

Mayor Acros-Krik came to power through an election rigged by Black Sun operatives. In return, he used his position to gain valuable information for the criminal syndicate. Because of Uscru District's close proximity to the Senate rotunda, Acros-Krik had considerable access to highly placed Republic officials. The Uscru District ran deep into Coruscant's lower levels. While the upper tiers had more polished entertainment venues like the Galaxies Opera House, the lower levels had seamier locales. Not surprisingly, Republic officials sampled from both ends of this spectrum, and for preferred treatment in areas both shady and well lit, they came to Mayor Acros-Krik.

The last three sentences of this paragraph (starting with "The Uscru District ran deep . . .") were not in my original submission. I suppose the starwars.com staff added this information to provide a little more background.

One of the more subtly effective tools Acros-Krik had at his disposal was a trio of attractive human females he would offer up as guides to targets he wanted monitored. The Nalle triplets reported back to the mayor any useful information their guests may have foolishly divulged.

The Nalle triplets are from the Evasive Action: Recruitment webstrip. At least two of the triplets--Mya Nalle and Yma Nalle--are seen in the Outlander Club in Attack of the Clones, where they are both played by Amy Allen. In the webstrip, the third Nalle triplet is similar in appearance to Lela Mayn, another character from the Outlander Club portrayed by Allen, though Lela is never officially established--in either the webstrip or the Acros-Krik entry--to be the third Nalle sister.

During Acros-Krik's many years in office, the lower levels of the Uscru District festered with illegal activity. Acros-Krik himself had ties with the Baath brothers and other unsavory characters. But unlike some of the other criminals operating in the shadows, Acros-Krik was a boisterous, gregarious fellow who liked to be viewed by the denizens of his district as a father figure who made all things possible. His connections with both Black Sun and the Republic government afforded him this confidence, though some in Black Sun were becoming concerned that Acros-Krik was attracting unwanted attention.

This is where things get really interesting, as my submission experienced some significant cuts here. In my other published databank entries, the starwars.com staff changed only a word here or there, or reworded the occasional sentence. But with Acros-Krik, they deleted a good bit of material.

In the entry I submitted, Acros-Krik's outgoing behavior got the attention of Prince Xizor, who felt that the mayor was jeopardizing Black Sun's ability to operate without attracting attention. When Xizor began plotting to eliminate Acros-Krik, the mayor abruptly resigned and fled Coruscant. My submission ended with the following sentence:

Bitter at having lost his power and influence, Acros-Krik retired to the Oseon system, where he purchased an asteroid using the small fortune he had accrued through kickbacks and bribes.

To this day, I wonder why this material was cut, replaced with that single sentence about "some in Black Sun" becoming concerned about the mayor. I don't mind, though--if removing that material was necessary for the entry to be published, then I'm glad they did it. I'm just curious as to the reasons for the cuts. Maybe they didn't want Xizor established as such an important figure in Black Sun that early in galactic history. Maybe they wanted to leave Acros-Krik in office on Coruscant so that he could be used in future databank entries. Or maybe they just found that part of Acros-Krik's story to be not that interesting.

It's a mystery, and in my mind it only adds to the intrigue surrounding Mayor Acros-Krik.