The Minos Cluster was a part of the regions known as the Outer Rim Territories[1] and the Western Reaches.[2] It was situated in grid square M-20 of the Standard Galactic Grid and on the super-hyperroute known as the Rimma Trade Route, which linked it to the celestial bodies Dagobah and Kal'Shebbol.[1]
During the time of Zare Leonis's attendance at the Galactic Empire's officers academy on the planet Arkanis, the star cluster was having much trouble with smugglers and crime rings. Colonel Julyan lectured students in his Strategy and Tactics class regarding events in the sector. Thanks to the class-three intel/courier clearance granted to them, cadets at the academy could access real-time data on the Empire's activities in the cluster in regards to fleet movements, informants' tips, arrest records and more. Leonis, who was secretly only attending the academy with the intention of rescuing his sister, nevertheless found the information fascinating.[4]
Behind the scenes[]
In the new Star Wars canon, the Minos Cluster was first mentioned in Servants of the Empire: The Secret Academy, a 2015 junior novel written by Jason Fry.[4] The cluster originated in the Star Wars Legends continuity, where it was first mentioned in the 1990 sourcebook Galaxy Guide 6: Tramp Freighters, authored by Mark Rein-Hagen and Stewart Wieck and published for use with West End Games' Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game.[5]
The Minos Cluster later made its first appearance in the 1993 roleplaying adventure "Parts is Parts," written by Wallace D. Greer for use with Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game and published in the sixty-eighth issue of the Challenge magazine. Since the article was released outside of the Lucas Licensing process, its canonicity with respect to the Legends continuity was never confirmed.[6]
The first appearance of the cluster in a canonical source within the Legends continuity was in "Lumrunners," a short story authored by John Beyer and Wayne Humfleet and published in the ninth issue of the Star Wars Adventure Journal magazine on February 1996.[7] In 2008, The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia established that the events of[8] the closing scenes of the 1980 original trilogy film, Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back,[9] took place in the Minos Cluster, thereby establishing that film as the cluster's de facto first Legends appearance.[8]
Appearances[]
- The High Republic: The Eye of Darkness (First appearance, simultaneous with audiobook)
- The High Republic: The Eye of Darkness audiobook (First appearance, simultaneous with print edition)
- The High Republic Adventures (2023) 1
- Servants of the Empire: The Secret Academy (First mentioned)
Sources[]
- Star Wars Galaxy Map
- SWCA 2022: 7 Things We Learned from the Lucasfilm Publishing Behind the Page Panel on StarWars.com (backup link)
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Star Wars Galaxy Map
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Star Wars Galaxy Map places the Minos Cluster in the area of space Star Wars: The Galactic Explorer's Guide identifies as the Western Reaches.
- ↑ Jedi Avar Kriss steals a ship in exclusive excerpt of new Star Wars: The Eye of Darkness novel by Ross, Dalton on Entertainment Weekly (November 2, 2023) (archived from the original)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Servants of the Empire: The Secret Academy
- ↑ Galaxy Guide 6: Tramp Freighters
- ↑ "Parts is Parts" — Challenge 68
- ↑ "Lumrunners" — Star Wars Adventure Journal 9
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, Vol. II, p. 26 ("Haven")
- ↑ Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back