It is the start of the second year of the reign of the Galactic Empire. While the Empire extends control over countless worlds, not all worlds are at peace. On the lush and rainy world of Rodia, clans vie for power and favor under the New Order. Clan Chattza has gained the favor of the Imperial Sector Moff, and with that has come weaponry, cash, training, and ISB targeting of other clan leaders. The once mighty Clan Tetsu is afraid of the Chattza leader, Navik the Red. He is known for being brutal, and going far beyond traditional Rodian war games methods of street fights and assassinations with bombings, chemical weapons, and civilian massacres. A bombing earlier this morning at the Clan Tetsu headquarters in Equator City struck fear in to the people, and many Tetsu leaders are missing. Most Rodians desert the streets, and many businesses are closed. Near the ramshackle motels by the Equator City spaceport, a lone convenience store remains open for weary travelers . .
Desperate strangers on Rodia banded together to help the persecuted even as the violence around them grew. Ali, Sentinel, Ichta and Dirk rescued the daughter of a Clan Tetsu leader. As a reward they were given a temporary safe place to stay, where they met Kin Cossacks. The next day they carried out a rescue mission for Clan Tetsu, saving refugees from mercenaries, while also recruiting a strange Togruta girl named Selkah. Now the crew's chance at escape from the warzone is is almost within reach, but the Empire holds a tight grip on offworld travel. Even as they make their way farther from the purge of Navik the Red, they are not yet safe.
The crew manages to buy their way onto a ship owned by the mercenary Captain Trex, a large Trandoshan. Sneaking Ichta past the Empire was necessary, as Geonosians are not permitted to be off Geonosis with Imperial approval, but was successful. Making their way onto Trex's ship Krayt Fang, they find that he intends to enslave them! After a brief fight with Trex and his security droids, the crew is triumphant, Trex is dead, and the droids smashed. Ichta promises, to no one in particular, to use the droid remains to build new droids. Meanwhile the rest of the crew gets their story straight - Trex tripped and broke his skull, now they own the ship as legitimate salvage. Having slain the duplicitous Captain Trex, a band of freelancers claim the Krayt Fang, a C-ROC type Gozanti cruiser, as their base of operations and means of transport. The new crew agrees to work together, lacking options to survive in the changing galaxy. Setting course for the ecumenopolis of Denon, they plot their first missions together.
The crew of the Krayt Fang found themselves engaged in several missions. Their first mission was to provide security at a hotel that was raided by Imperial fanatics because it hosted a pro-republic restoration convention. Next, they found themselves contracted to sneak out a humanoid being kept in stasis by a nascent rebel cell. Meanwhile, Itchta steals a canister of, rhydonium. After their missions, a local police detective named Brentoo Halligoo comes by the Krayt Fang to question them, but ends up finding nothing incriminating. Following this Selkah meets the mysterious force user Pin Peisel. He reveals he helped keep the detective from realizing there was anything incriminating about Selkah and the crew, and promises to be in touch again. Before the crew leaves, they recruit Gilles, a human "doctor" who is eager to get off world and complete a mission for the mysterious Mr. Aurek.
The crew investigates a murder on the hospital ship The Magnificent at the request of Uncle Morko, family friend of Ali. They discover that a pair of doctors had been stealing organs, and selling them on the black market! To cover up their crime the murdered a colleague, but the nature of their enterprise seems larger than anticipated . . .
Complicating the matter is the need to keep the investigation secret. If the Empire learns that the hospital ship had a security breach it may be subject to Imperial investigation - which could serve as a pretext for asserting greater government control over its operations*. Ali and the others also suspect that Morko may have other business dealings he would prefer the Empire not find out.
Once the investigation is complete, they determine that the Nal Hutta Medical Conglomerate has been buying stolen organs provided by the doctors. Morko's security advisor believes that the Conglomerate must have had other sources, and promises to investigate the matter. Morko suggests the crew continue their own adventures until he contacts them with more information.
Entangled in a tidying up of loose ends for Gilles, the newly renamed Sunstrider crew heads to Felucia, where they test samples from a small and obscure village. In the process they discover the villagers are being forced to grow drugs for an individual going by the alias "Mr. Aurek." Ali makes a deal with the local Imperieal administrator, trading one night of pleasure for better living conditions for the villagers and granting them permission to leave the village - if they can ever find a better place. In return, the crew receives the village's gratitude.
Sentinel has discovered information on an old data pad that shows a company of clonetroopers was deployed to the Rogue Moon of Taris. Checking up on demobilization records, he finds the clones were never demobilized - and may be missing! The crew resolves to investigate the matter, descending onto the mostly lifeless surface of the moon, but find the surface of the mine where the clones were deployed has been abandoned. Perhaps they retreated further inside to escape the harsh environment . . .
Amidst the dust of the Rogue Moon of Taris, a band of freelancers has uncovered a hidden cache of separatist droids, still active long after the end of the clone wars. An uncovered recording hinted a battle had been fought for the mine. But few traces of the clone troopers they fought has been found, and the mine has been stripped of electronic components. For their pursuit of remnants of ore the crew of the Krayt Fang has have been badly wounded. Now the crew wonders what steps they should take next as the darkness of the mine shafts seems to close in, and voices echo. . . .
Battle droids in a forgotten mine on a rogue moon pushed back the crew of the Proud Anselmo. The vicious machines sprang their trap ON THE UNSUSPECTING CREW Harried by all manner of machines they abandoned their venture into the mine, and retreated to the safety of the planet Taris. Dust and a large number of expired bacta packs were their only reward. Everyone is beleaguered from the surprise assault except for Sentinel. He has recovered a fragment of his past on the recovered datapad. During the war he met Rena, a human from the coreworlds. Last he saw her she was boarding the refugee ship The Shriekhawk, headed towards the Core Worlds region. Meanwhile, Ali and Selkah are still on edge. Now the crew of the Proud Anselmo must make their decision as to what comes next. . .
Reorienting themselves, the crew of the Sunstrider head to the Hutt controlled world of Nar Shadda. While there they are contracted to engage in multiple heists - Sentinel aids a group of clonetrooper criminals in stealing a valuable droid's head, while the rest of the crew tricks a Zygerrian slaver into giving them information on a valuable artifact - a crown which can undermine the legitimacy of the slavepower government of Zygerria!. The crew investigates leads into how best to break into the home of a famous thief. Nearly escaping before they are caught by the thief herself, the crew makes a deal, which allows them to keep the crown as well as a rare stealth device.
Tipped off by Uncle Morko, the crew learns that the murder on The Magnificent is connected to a medical company that was owned by a family that lived in a mansion on Nar Shadda. The mansion has fallen into disrepair - and the crew means to investigate. Sneaking in through the sewers, they find foul creatures, includine a pair that can use the force! Venturing further in, they encounter visions of people from their lives - friends and enemies. Underneath the mansion they find a laboratory which was used to experiment on foce sensitive children - a strange crystal which summons a vision of Selkah's former master to attack them! After almost exploding themselves, the crew endures, and rescues a Sith cultist before Ali kills him for being a Sith cultist.
The crew of the Sunstrider heads to Chalacta, near Hutt Space to reconvene with Uncle Morko, who lets them know that the Nal Hutta Medical Conglomerate, which was behind the murder on his hospital ship and was connected to the mansion on Nar Shadda, is selling most of its R&D to the Imperial Medical Research Bureau. The crew also learn that Morko is planning wider anti-imperial operations, and that his security officer has a number of potential missions for them - including the liberation a mining town on a remote outer rim moon from pirates - Blasyndel Outpost. The crew also recruits a new member - Baisaleek, a Trandoshan mercenary with a Separatist past.
Having gained resources from their their escapades on Nar Shadda, the Sunstrider crew return with their new crewmate to the Rogue Moon of Taris. Armed with ion grenades and a heavy repeater blaster, they make their way into deeper depths of the mine. In so doing they discover a plethora of battle droids: B1s, B2s, Commando droids, Spider Droids, Tactical droids, and Buzz droids. Following their battle the make a gruesome discovery - the droids had slaughtered the clonetroopers who had been stationed here before the droids arrived, along with their jedi commanders - their remains now backed into a series of cargo containers since the Clone Wars. The crew grows more determined to destroy these cruel machines.
After several clashes with droids, the crew finds a deeper area that was not rough mine tunnels but carved stone! glimpsing into a chamber ahead, they see an entire batch of battle droids arrayed around the heaping carcass of a Basilisk war droid! The smaller separatist droids were engaged in some sort of ritual, with a tactical droid linking its own droid brain to the Basilisk. Using the element of surprise, the crew wipes out the worshipping machines, and engage in battle with the now awakened Basilisk. Thanks to their expensive stock of ion grenades they are able to fell the beast, prompting them to pose for a celebratory photo!
Venturing further into the tunnels, the crew finds that it is an ancient tomb. Examining murals on the walls they find scenes of a strange Mandalorian conqueror wielding a red lightsaber. The great conqueror invaded and devestated Taris with many Basilisks at his command, and thousands of innocents slaughtered before him. The crew also feel the air getting harder to breath, but not due to any change in the composition of the air.
At the bottom of the tomb they find a Super Tactical Droid which calls itself Gargarensis. The droid explains with little prompting that it killed the clones and the jedi, producing an undamaged lightsaber. The super-tac droid is accompanied by Magna Guard droids. Unable to convince the crew to rescue it, Gargarensis and his guards attack the crew but are defeated. Attempting to bargain for his existence, Gargarensis explains he was dispatched by Count Dooku himself to investigate this tomb - but before he can explain much more he is severely damaged by Sentinel. Ichta retrieves the super-tac's droid brain, while the crew explores the rest of the final chamber.
The chamber contains a sarcophagus, within which lies an empty suit of pristine but archaic Mandalorian armor, as well as an ancient sith lightsaber. The crew retrieves the armor and saber, to the displeasure of Ali, who would rather the tomb be sealed and forgotten. Making their exit, the crew moves the remains of the clone troopers to the surfacce, where they are given a modest funeral, and buried. In the process of moving the bodies, the crew finds an undamaged Republic datapad, which Sentinel sets aside to unlock later. As the Sunstrider takes off, the thin air of the Rogue Moon blows dust over the graves, and the crew heads off to their next adventure.
At the request of Ali's mother, the Sunstrider crew has travelled to the Pashrati region of Zygerria. A the Voinye family compound, they learn the slavepower government is increasing its control over every corner of life with assistance from the Empire, and criminal organizations. To provoke the Empire into mistrusting the government, anti-slavery paramilitary forces will stage a false flag raid on a government aligned militia base.
With Ali and Selkah eager to strike at slavers, the crew agrees to participate in the mission, but in the end Selkah's dark side show more than ever.
The mission begins with an airstrike by starfighters sent by the anti-slaver militia General Sartok, with an assist from the Sunstrider crew dropping a barrel of rhydonium with a torpedo strapped to it. Next followed an aerial insertion on the west side of the base by the crew, with a ground force assaulting from the south. in storming the exterior of the base the crew seized an undamaged AT-RT. Assaulting the bunker at the north end of the base involved fierce fighting that almost went very badly for the crew when Selkah saved them with an immense bolt of force lightning. Following the battle, she endulged her bloodlust by executing a prisoner to the surprise of the groundforces that had captured him.
At the request of his family, Ali helps them relocate of Zygerria to avoid the Empire, leaving the crew behind temporarily.
Meanwhile, the crew heads to Onderon to catch some rogue mechanics and return them to a corporation. Selkah uses the mission as a pretext to find one of her former slsave masters and brutally murder him, while Sentinel watches and keeps guard. They then meet Pin Peisel, who tests Selkah's strength, knocking her unconscious and revealing that he is an Inquisitor. He has been keeping the empire off the crew's backs - and now demands a favor in the form of finding two out of three force sensitive children on a list.
Meanwhile, Val, Bai, Ichta and Gilles discover that the mechanics are Geonosians. Ichta and the three mechanics kill several stray dogs, cook them, and recruit the mechanics to join the crew. Gilles is flabbergasted by the situation.
Tipped off by Villie the freelancer, the crew learns that an ancient Mandalorian fortress on the moon of Blasyndel has been taken over by pirates. A local mining outpost is requesting that anyone defeat the pirates and return their stolen fleet of cargo trucks.
Answering the call, the crew, minus Ali, invade the mine from a secret passage they discovered after interrogating a captured pirate. Evading creatures lurking in the caverns, and using respirators to survive a dead cloud of fungal spores, they make their way into the lower levels of the fortress. Once inside, they eliminate the pirates - and discover their leader preoccupied with a pleasure droid resembling a yellow vulpine with purple markings. Amused by the pirate captain, they knock him unconscious for the extra reward money, and the crew claims the fortress for themselves - the new Nightscale Base! Just nevermind the Acklay nest in the basement.
The crew stops at the orbital shipyards of Fondor . Filled with new ideas for their crew, Gilles, Val and Ichta arrange business deals, while Bai hunts a bounty, and Selkah and Sentinel pose as parents to adopt a child.
The child to be adopted is a Shistvanen boy, on the list provided by Pin, and is force sensitive. Clearly unhappy with the orphanage where he is being kept, Grez eagerly agrees to be adopted by Sentinel and Selkah.
Meanwhile, Gilles and Val purchase a pair of M3-A Scyck Interceptors. The Sunstrider is modified to allow the two fighters to dock and be carried by the heavily modified Gozanti cruiser.
Ichta transacts his own business - spending thousands of credits to enter a business lounge and have food, drinks, cigars an fine clothing served to him. He carries out a plan for the crew to start its own small droid manufacturing concern, but in the process takes on hundreds of thousands of credits of debt at morbidly high interest rates. Trying to dodge the problem, he uses Dirk's identity now that he has left the party, and the Sunstrider's previous registration as the Krayt's Fang to secure the loan. Sentinel arrives too late to stop him, but they receive droid manufacturing machinery and licenses for a basic labor droid and a binary load lifter.
Bai heads off on his own mission to find a runaway teenager for his parents. After searching much of the station, and assaulting two goons and threatening a store clerk, he finds the boy and hogties him to be delivered to the local police department, receiving a few thousand credits in reward.
The crew, at the insistence of Selkah, follow her lead to Mimban to find another child! They brave a ceasefire zone between the Empire and the Mimbanese rebels to find a Jedi knight and the child. Upon finding the knight, they learn he is a master who escaped the purge - and he demands that Selkah undergo a trial at a lost Jedi temple.
Selkah agrees, but although she is able to decipher a puzzle within the temple, she is confronted with a voice. Giving her honest answers based on self-reliance, freedom and search for power, she learns nothing from the voice. When the crew returns to the Jedi, he tells them that Selkah is failed. Infuriated, she thinks better of attacking the Jedi, and chooses to search for the third and final child.
After ensuring his family is safe, Ali engages in a solo spy mission on behalf of Uncle Morko. Tasked with investigating a casino on Pantora owned by Zor Maxin, a wealthy industrialist. The chip was recovered from a crashed CIS ship, and is a template for making droids resistant to ion weaponry. If Maxin sells the chip to the Empire, they could repurpose it for their vehicles and starships. How Uncle Morko came across this information he chose not to share with Ali, worrying he could be caught during the mission.
During the mission he is cornered by Maxin in his private quarters, but with the help of Aris Shen a socialite he'd met at the party, Maxin is killed and the chip stolen. Attempting to escape with Aris, Ali cooperates, but upon escaping finds she has stolen the chip from him. Annoyed that he cannot give the chip to any potential ally, he leaves Pantora, satisfied that at least the Empire does not have the technology.
Following his mission to Pantora, Ali rejoins the Sunstrider crew near Bothawui. He learns from the crew that Selkah has gained grandiose ideas - like that she could overthrow the government of Zygerria and install Ali's family as a royal family using the artifact the crew recovered on Nar Shadda. Ali disabuses her of the notion, but she maintains other malignant behavior, such as training Grez to use the dark side of the force. Sentinel agrees with Ali that things have gotten "worse" since Ali parted ways with the crew.
Selkah proposes a new mission - rescue a young Shistvanen woman named Nosha Agadrumseekee. Her wealthy family had died in an accident several years ago, and she had been adopted by the wealthy Bekwellos family. The Bekwellos owned a large insurance company and were aligned with the Empire, but their interest in Nosha was to gain control of her birth family's financial assets. Selkah had learned from Pin Peisel that Nosha was also force sensitive, being used by the Bekwellos to gain an upper hand in their dealings. Completing the request from Pin would require that Nosha be in the company of the crew, one way or another. Despite Ali's misgivings, he agrees to scouting out Nosha's situation on Bothawui to see if the crew can rescue her.
Having learned that Nosha, the crew's rescue target, is being held in quasi-captivity by the Bekwellos, the crew plots a scheme to infiltrate their massive skyscraper. Their first option is joining the local private police force, and investigating the Spice smuggling rings in the area. In pursuing several leads, the group of Val, Selkah, Sentinel, Bai and Ichta meet Dwuppo Shitto (who claims to be the son of the famous Glup Shitto), a Hutt casino owner. Val offers to double deal, potentially going into business with Dwuppo if the crew plants spy cameras in the apartment of a famous actress living in the lower levels of the Bekwellos tower. Gilles follows a separate lead, attempting to convince local pusher Morpo the Quarren to come to the crew's ship. But when a Quarren arrives it turns out to be his nephew. Gilles attempts to salvage the situation, and gets the nephew to pose as Morpo for the police (Morpo having already fled the planet after learning the police were interested him). The police buy the deception, give the crew credentials.
MEANWHILE, Ali attempts to reconnoiter the upper levels of the tower by feigning a business deal with credentials from Uncle Morko. In the course of the meeting he meets Nosha, who is indeed being used by the Bekwellos to read the minds of their business partners. Ali manages to communicate to her, using his mind when she probes it with the Force, that he is a friend who is going to try to rescue her. Feigning weakness, Nosha cuts the fake business deal short, leading a Bekwellos family member to introduce Ali to other business partners of the family. While mingling, he oversees a short speech by a curious robed figure, nominally religious and clearly entwined with the Imperial power structure. Much more ominous is that Ali sees, and confirms with Nosha, the presence of an Inquisitor with the cultist. Ali's observation of the Inquisitor confirms his suspicion that the Dark Side of the Force renders its users utterly miserable.
The crew of the sunstrider plot the rescue of a princess held in the highest room of the tallest tower of an evil castle! A deadly distraction and a deceptive infiltration may be the keys to rescuing the damsel in distress! Meanwhile, an inquisitor and his minions hunt forceusers in the surrounding city, where they could be ready to strike at a moment’s notice from any corner and any shadow. And the super tactical droid Gargarensis has been given a body once again, ready to aid in the crew in escaping the growing peril! What will come next? And who will survive? You will see the tears of time!
The crew prepared their daring rescue by having their little crewmate - Scuzzo Duzzo - infiltrate the tower where she was kept. His method of infiltration was an air vent in the apartment of an actress who lived in the Bekwellos tower. He gained entrance to her apartment by posing as a plumber, with the help of Gilles, Bai and Val. This allowed Scuzzo to reach Nosha's room, wehre he obtained a datapad with information on dark side cultist activity in the Empire which she had been given to help induct her.
Meanwhile, Nosah was interecepted by Ali, Sentinel and Selkah at a train station. The Bekwellos family had their own private train which allowed them rapid access to anywhere in the city without having to fly or drive. The distraction was simple Ali and Sentinel drew the attention of Nosha's captors, preventing them from spotting Selkah when she caused darkness to engulf the station. Selkah dashed through the darkness to grab Nosha and run away. The guard pursued Ali and Sentinel in the confusion, but they were able to get away in their escape vehicle. All three groups rushed back to the Sunstrider. After they had all arrived, Gargarensis (the super tactical droid from the moon which they had reactivated) piloted the ship. Mere seconds behind them were Nosha's guards - several Kaleesh warriors.
Following the rescue, the crew gathers in the cafeteria area of the Sunstrider, where Nosha meets the crew members. Ali seems like the only normal one to her - Gilles found him too wrapped in the shenanigans of the rest of the crew to seem normal. Nosha relaized there was something off about Selkah. While talking with the crew she confirmed that the Empire, at least to her knowledge, was being run in part by a growing sith-aligned cult which imparted morality and religious obligation to the Empire's quest to obtain influence over all political and economic power in the galaxy.
The next day, after the rescue, Selkah received a message from Pin. He had already heard about Nosha's rescue, he wrote, and gave Selkah the coordinates for an abandoned and dilapidated temple on Ulica, a world in the Corporate Sector.
While traveling from Bothawui to Ulica via hyperspace, the crew prepared for their sudden mission. Selkah had revealed that Pin wanted the kids, to the consternation of Ali and Sentinel. The crew held a vote and decided to go through with the mission, and see what Pin wanted with the kids - specifically, his request that he bring the kids in person.
Upon arrival, Selkah, Ali, Val, Gilles and Bai took the technical to the Cathedral, leaving the kids in the technical when they went inside the Cathedral. Unknown to everyone except Ali, Sentinel sneakd away from the Sunstrider and helped the kids leave the technical and took them on a hoverspeeder to an area near the Cathedral. Entering the Cathedral, the crew found Pin by himself, standing next to an altar on a raised platform. The Cathedral itself was ruined, with crack riddled walls and broken windows. Gargarensis waited near the technical, riding an AT-RT.
Confronting Pin, he revealed his demand - the crew would hand over Grez and Nosha, or else he would reveal the existence of Selkah and the crew to the Empire's security services. In his role as an Inquisitor he had been keeping reports on them hidden, but could change that easily. Convinced by Selkah that he must explain why he needed the kids, Pin said he would use the children to enable him and another person - someone important to him - to be invisible in the force and almost impossible for other inquisitors to find them.
Selkah surprised everyone by offeirng Pin a chance to join the crew, and work with them. He seemed to consider the offer, but required the kids to be brought to him first. At that moment, Ali revealed the children were safe from the reach of Selkah and Pin. Fearing Selkah and Pin's intentions, he had hidden the children with the help of Sentinel. His suspicions had now been confirmed by an offer from Selkah to allow Nosha to be taken away to become a sort of slave for Pin's friend. Gilles confirmd the absence of the kids from the technical. Selkah was too shocked to force Ali to reveal their location, and after Pin spent several minutes demanding their location, he attacked.
Pin slashed Ali with his lightsaber, and forced Selkah back with a force push. Several mercenaries with attack dogs entered the room, but were held back by Val. Pin was overwhelmingly powerful, and a sniper kept taking shots through the Cathedral's broken windows with a disruptor rifle. As it looked like the crew might be overwhelmed, Gilles rammed the technical through the front wall of the Cathedral, allowing Bai to dash in between the technical and the rubble. Bai opened fire with his heavy repeater, while Gilles used the technical's rotary laser cannon. The covering fire allowed Selkah, Val and Ali to fall back to the technical and escape.
Barely escaping, the crew searched for Gargarensis, finding him in a damaged state in a nearby alleyway. Searching for their droid friend allowed Pin to catch up with them, along with two of his allies - heavy gunner and a sniper. In a short but brutal brawl, Pin was slammed by the technical into a building, while the sniper was incapacitated and the heavy gunner killed. But the crew had to run to escape approaching police gunships. Pin and the sniper were bundled up into the technical, which rushed to a nearby construction site for a pick up by the Sunstrider, piloted by Scuzzo Duzzo. Ichta manned the gunner's station, keeping the police gunships at bay. Val rushed to a starfighter and took off to provide cover for the ship while it escaped.
After escaping past the atmosphere and into hyperspace, the crew did their best to figure out what had happened. Ali and Selkah sought treatment from Gilles in the Sunstrider's medbay. Meanwhile, the others put Pin and the sniper in the Gozanti's airlocks. After some recovery, Selkah convened with Val and Bai. They came to the agreement that Ali aws a traitor and that he could no longer be tolerated. Cornering Ali, and Gilles, in the medbay, the trio made sure that Ali could not escape. The Zygerrian delivered a final rebuke of Selkah's dark path before she unleashed her hatred on him - her hate for foiling her plan, for his optimism, for her own past, for her enemies - and killed Ali.
With that, Chapter One of the Shards of the Republic campaign concludes. It lasted approximately 2.5 years IRL as of early January 2025, and had quite a few people involved. While the Crew is now only five people strong - Selkah, Ichta, Bai, Gilles, Val - the campaign will hopefully return!!!! Perhaps it will continue down this darker path, or perhaps things will change even more before the campaign resumes. In the mean time, this website may experience additional updates. Perhaps new artwork, new information, or even a mini campaign!! We hope you enjoyed learning about our adventures in STAR WARS. Thank you for reading this website and May The Force Be With You!
Astrogation