Sander Delvardus
From Wookieepedia, the Star Wars wiki.
| Sander Delvardus | |
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| Biographical information | |
| Died | |
| Physical description | |
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| Hair color |
Dark brown |
| Chronological and political information | |
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Sander Delvardus was an officer of the Imperial Starfleet who struck out as a rogue warlord following the Battle of Endor.
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[edit] Biography
Sander Delvardus was a tall man, somewhat angular and ungainly in appearance. He had a prominent cleft chin, and bushy eyebrows which turned white in later life, contrasting with his darker hair. He was a member of the extended Tarkin family. His career before Endor is largely obscure, but after that battle, he seems to have been one of the first Imperial officers to establish himself as an independent despot.
He initially postured as ruler of the space around the Rimma Trade Route—perhaps including the capital of Oversector Outer at Eriadu—before subsequently withdrawing into the Deep Core after a series of military reverses.
However, apart from this solitary reference little is known of Delvardus in the years immediately after Endor, in contrast with Treuten Teradoc and Blitzer Harrsk, who were frequently named together as the two premier warlords. Six years after Endor, Delvardus reappeared, leading an attack on the strategic energy-producing world of Metellos and the defending fleet of New Republic warships. The armada he led was one of many that participated in Operation Shadow Hand, emerging from the Deep Core at the reborn Emperor Palpatine's order. After defeating the defending forces, he followed up with a savagely punitive orbital bombardment, killing in excess of five billion beings.
While the Imperial Ruling Council attempted to assert its control in the rimward sectors of Imperial space, the warlords fought each other in battles to gain control of what remained of the Galactic Empire's military might in the Deep Core. Delvardus was known to have been diverting massive amounts of credits into a secret project, although initial inspections of his headquarters revealed only a superficially imposing stone fortress in a canyon on an unknown, arid planet, with relatively modest garrison commanded by Colonel Cronus. In fact, Delvardus had been hoarding resources—perhaps for many years—to finance one of the most spectacular military projects undertaken after Endor: the construction of a new Super Star Destroyer, equipped with modifications like black stealth-armor and extensive slave circuitry—a ship he named the Night Hammer.
In 12 ABY, as the massive battleship was nearing completion, Delvardus, along with Harrsk, Teradoc and ten other Imperial warlords, was invited to Admiral Daala's council at Tsoss Beacon, to discussion a cooperative effort to reunite the Empire. Delvardus did not reveal his new command ship, but like the other warlords, he refused to cooperate and termed Daala's effort "a poorly disguised power grab". He was the first to attempt to leave, forcing Daala to lock the doors; but recognizing the impossibility of cooperation, Daala and Vice Admiral Gilad Pellaeon executed the warlords with nerve gas. Vicious to the last breath, Delvardus assembled his makeshift knife from his various medals, but died out of reach of his assassins.
Daala brought the fallen warlord's body to his fortress, where Cronus, now head of Delvardus's forces, agreed to join her Empire. Daala, now effectively Supreme Commander, transferred her flag to Delvardus's Super Star Destroyer and recommissioned it Knight Hammer to serve as her command ship in her subsequent attack against the Jedi Knights.
[edit] Rank Controversy
An uncertainty concerns Delvardus' rank. During his attack on Metellos in Operation Shadow Hand, he held the rank of Admiral, but he was also recorded under the title Superior General, which he had invented for himself, and which seems to be a calque on the Imperial Army position of High General. He may have used it in the period immediately after Endor, and he certainly used it when he once again became an independent warlord after the destruction of Byss. As a warlord, he wore a uniform decorated with medals and epaulettes, although these are both recorded as legitimate additions to Imperial full dress uniforms, and elements of his insignia could be assembled to create a functional bladed knife for use as a holdout weapon.
If his style of "Admiral" is correct, as it would most likely be given his service under the legitimate Imperial ruler at the time, it is worth noting that, as well as a substantive rank, variations on this title could also be positional designators within the Imperial Navy, denoting command of a capital ship force of squadron size or larger—commands which could conceivably be held by men also holding a specific Army-style rank of General. It may also be relevant that Cronus, who seems to have been his senior subordinate, held only the relatively modest rank of Colonel.
[edit] Appearances
- Darksaber (First appearance)
