Star Wars eXpanded - SWX for short - is an Italian website about Star Wars and its universe. It hosts the most complete unofficial databank available in the Italian language.

Online since May 2005, the site bears many initiatives, including a durable partnership with Panini Comics that led to the print of some recent Star Wars graphic novels in translation.

The original SWXEdit

The momentum behind the birth of SWX dates back to the first years of 2000: KuroKo, Eterea and Achilleterzo, all of whom were rolegame players at the time, could not tolerate the lack of an exaustive and reliable Italian-speaking source on the Star Wars Saga. Hence, they decided to take the challenge and make one of their own. After months of collection, translation and design, the founders were ready to open the doors - right after the release of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.

Their original project was meant to be a full entertainment experience, including a databank-based narrative game and a virtual city which never saw the light.

In the mean time, since 2000, BlackstarKronos had been gathering information about the Empire and the Galactic Civil War from the most diverse sources. He and BobaFonts were working towards the creation of a dedicated HTML database, known by the name of "Imperial Archives", to be published on the most popular Italian Star Wars portal of the time, GuerreStellari.net. However, in Summer 2005 - after months of difficulties, delays and false starts - Blackstar got in touch with Eterea and moved the whole project to the newborn site, fascinated by the possibilities of such a layout.

The original SWX portal featured the following sections:

• The HoloNet held deepening articles about specific topics such as Canon and Expanded Universe.
• The Videogames section was dedicated to spoilers and reviews concerning graphic adventures by LucasArts.
• The Imperial Archives were meant to be a guide to those files involving the Galactic Empire and its political heirs, such as the Imperial Remnant and the Fel Empire - a pathway to their history, government and military.
• Chronology: a typical timeline of the Star Wars history, compiled by staff member Fedelokomma and joined by minor timelines concerning different subjects such as Galactic Emperors, Chiefs of State, Sith Lords, etc.
• Downloads: an ever-expanding area which hosted rarities and the woldwide-famous Star Wars Fonts developed by BobaFonts.
• Miniatures: a branch dedicated to the well-known Star Wars Miniatures by Wizards of the Coast.
• The Force: a reasoned guide to the mystical field known as the Force and to the different philosophies, powers and organizations related to it.

The first version of the SWX DataBank was built in the same custom-made skin and divided into ten categories: Planets, Characters, Locations, Weapons, Vehicles, Spaceships, Organizations, Space Stations, Astronomy, History, Miscellanea.

SWX 2.0Edit