Torture

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Throughout the galaxy, any practice by which severe pain and/or suffering was inflicted on a being, whether physical or mental, was considered torture. Torture could be used for such purposes as obtaining from them or a third party information or a confession, as punishment for an act an individual had committed or was suspected of having committed, for intimidating or coercing individuals, or for discriminatory reasons of any kind. Torture was also occasionally the adverse byproduct of either medical or scientific research, studies, or procedures, and usually occurred without the expressed consent of the victim. Often times torturous methods were initiated by the directives of heads of state, though other individuals or groups were capable of inflicting torture for the same reasons. However, another motive for torture was simply for sadistic gratification of the torturer.

Contents 1 History 2 Description 2.1 Methods 2.1.1 Bone breaking 2.1.2 Branding 2.1.3 The Burning 2.1.4 Chemical torment 2.1.5 Cutting and stabbing 2.1.6 Deprivation 2.1.7 Electrocution 2.1.8 Force-augmented torture 2.1.8.1 Sith poison 2.1.8.2 Through Sith sorcery 2.1.8.3 Force lightning 2.1.8.4 Other Force abilities used for torture 2.1.9 Worms and insects 2.1.9.1 Artery worms 2.1.9.2 Bloodslugs 2.1.9.3 Lava fleas 2.1.9.4 Muscle maggots 2.1.9.5 Piranha beetles 2.1.10 Mental anguish 2.1.11 Physical torment 2.1.12 Scientific/medical methods 2.1.13 Secret locations 2.1.13.1 Anakin Solo 2.1.13.2 Lusankya 2.1.13.3 Secret bunkers 2.1.14 Technology 2.1.14.1 Analysis grid 2.1.14.2 Carbon freeze 2.1.14.3 Dreypa's Oubliette 2.1.14.4 The Embrace of Pain 2.1.14.5 Nerve disruptor 2.1.14.6 Scan grid 2.1.14.7 Spineray 2.1.15 Torture droids 2.1.15.1 Krath torture droids 2.1.15.2 One of a kind 2.1.15.3 IT-09 2.1.15.4 EV supervisor droid 2.1.15.5 The Galactic Empire 2.1.15.6 IT-0 2.1.15.7 IT-904 2.1.15.8 IT-1 2.1.15.9 IT-3 3 Strength of will 3.1 Force resistance 4 Cultural significance 4.1 Balawai 4.2 Entuurians 4.3 Hutts 4.4 Nightsisters of Dathomir 4.5 Mandalorian conditioning 4.6 Tusken Raider lifestyle 4.7 Yuuzhan Vong methods 5 Organizations, specialized factions/departments 5.1 Galactic Alliance Guard 5.2 Imperial organizations 5.2.1 ISB 5.2.2 Imperial Intelligence 5.2.3 The Inquisitorius 5.2.4 Department of Punishment 5.2.5 School of Torturers 5.3 Sith Intelligence and Assassination 5.4 Sith training 6 Consequences 6.1 Death 7 Appearances 8 Sources 9 Notes and references 10 External links

[edit] History

Torture was widely considered as a gruesome and unethical practice.^[1]. Despotic governments such as the Krath in the Empress Teta system^[2], the Galactic Empire^[3], the Corporate Sector Authority ^[3] and the Absolutes on New Apsolon^[4] often coerced prisoner into revealing sensitive information through the use of intimidation and torture.^[3] The Galactic Republic was founded on the principles of law and justice, and torture was against the bylaws of the Galactic Senate. After Palpatine assumed the position of galactic Emperor, the Imperial Senate approved the Emperor's call for more freedom in the treatment of the enemies of the Galactic Empire ("in times such as these, extreme measures can be called for").^[5] Under Imperial rule, there was intense demand for torture droids and torture equipment of all kinds.^[3] After the fall of the Empire, the New Republic took a firm stand against the use of torture . However, torture equipment and droids were still manufactured in secret and were often used by criminals and Imperial Remnant worlds.^[3] During the reign of Darth Krayt more than a century later, the agency in charge of torture was Sith Intelligence and Assassination.^[6]

Torture varied in both method and purpose between species. Some species, such as the Yuuzhan Vong, glorified pain not only as a motive for action, but also as a state of living. The Vong warrior caste derived perverse pleasure from their own pain and from the pain of others.^[7]

[edit] Description

[edit] Methods

There was no set standard as to what could or could not be used for torture. Victims were usually held in place with restraints or rendered immobile by other means, so as to lessen any potential opportunity for a successful escape. Physical torture methods ranged from a beating with nothing more than fists and boots,^[8] to the use of sophisticated custom designed devices such as the IT-O Interrogator droid. Other types of torture could include sensory manipulation^[4], or sleep deprivation^[9], uncomfortable extremes of heat and cold^[10], loud noises^[11] or any other means that inflicts physical pain. Psychological torture used non-physical methods to cause extreme mental suffering.^[12]

[edit] Bone breaking

One way to torture the victim was to break one or more of the bones in her or his body. When the young Rebel Deena Shan was confronted by Imperial Captain Rishyk, Rishyk decided to toy with her before killing her,^[13] and got the idea of breaking every single bone in her body.^[14]

[edit] Branding

Branding involved using red-hot metal to hideously burn the victim's flesh.^[15] The same effect could be achieved by lasers; when Princess Leia was forced to fight Darth Vader on Mimban during the Galactic Civil War, Vader was merely toying with her, repeatedly slashing her skin with his lightsaber, leaving several black scorch marks on her body.^[16]

[edit] The Burning

The Burning was a form of torture involving the use of a blaster set at low power, to scorch the flesh of an individual's body, leaving only blood-smeared bone. Usually, the interrogator would begin with a leg; immobilizing the victim, then continuing the process with other parts of the victim's body, burning off the flesh, inch by inch. Other prisoners were usually made to watch, as part of a psychological torture meant to break their will.^[17]

Jedi Historian Tionne Solusar fell victim of an act of violence very similar to the Burning. During the Confederation-Galactic Alliance War, the Galactic Alliance Guard was ordered by Colonel Jacen Solo to kill every Jedi at the Jedi Praxeum on Ossus. To draw other Jedi out of hiding, Master Solusar was held fast by Major Salle Serpa, who fired his blaster several times, burning away the lower part of her leg and most of her arm. Tionne fell to the ground writhing in pain, as the helpless Jedi trainees looked on. Then, as a literal "insult to injury", Serpa fired another blaster shot at the stump that was Tionne's brutalized arm, searing off even more flesh and bone.^[18]

[edit] Chemical torment

Almost ten years before the Battle of Naboo, Jedi Master Tahl was kidnapped by the Absolute Balog, injected with a paralyzing drug that kept her conscious, but immobilized, and put in a sensory deprivation device. She was still alive when her love, Qui-Gon Jinn, arrived to rescue her, but the damage to her inner organs was severe, and he was unable to save her.^[19]

Imperial torture devices were often equipped with diagnostic scanners that would anticipate a prisoner's loss of consciousness, with chemical injectors keeping her or him awake and conscious during every second of the ordeal.^[20]

The Imperial Moff Sarne was fond of using exotic and painful pharmaceuticals to torture his prisoners. The liquid was injected into the victim's body with a hypo syringe, making the prisoner feel like the blood was boiling in their veins.^[21]

Imperial Intelligence employed many kinds of interrogation drugs, like Xebonica and Mangoriza, to tear information from the prisoner.^[22]

Bavo-6 was a powerful liquid chemical notable for being used in the large syringes of IT-0 interrogation droids. The serum could lower pain thresholds, stimulate cooperation and trigger hallucinations.^[23]

OV600 was a truth serum which caused the victim's flesh to break out in a painful rash if the drug detected the symptoms of lies.^[24] Another powerful truth drug was skirtopanol^[25], whereas loquasin had the peculiar effects of compelling the victim to talk, but the drug alone couldn't force the victim to say what the interrogators wanted - the victim could just as well talk, or even sing, about something else.^[26]

Titroxinate was a potent neurotoxin which could be used both as a biological weapon^[27] and as a torture method^[28].

After Cade Skywalker was captured by the Sith, he was taken to Darth Maladi's laboratory, where he was tortured for a whole day, being injected with lethal ixetal cilona again and again, to see if he was able to heal himself.^[29]

[edit] Cutting and stabbing

During the Clone Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Alpha-17 were presumed dead after an explosion during the Battle of Jabiim.^[30] They had actually been captured by the Dark Jedi Asajj Ventress, and transported to her stronghold on Rattatak. There she tortured them to obtain information about Republic troop movements. One of her methods was cutting Alpha with a knife again and again.^[31] When Leia Organa Solo was captured by Nom Anor during the Yuuzhan Vong War, she was hit across the legs again and again with a heavy, sharp object.^[32]

[edit] Deprivation

To soften up the victim and break down their resistance before the actual torture session, the victim could be deprived of sleep^[33], or be kept waiting without food or water for long periods of time. Another way to achieve this was to make the prisoner watch other victims being tortured, like their own friends or family.^[4] Jedi Knight Ben Skywalker suffered in this manner, while watching his friend Lon Shevu be tortured to death by the Sith apprentice Tahiri Veila.^[34]

[edit] Electrocution

In 29 BBY, while being a prisoner of the Twi'lek Kh'aris Fenn, the Jedi Master Tholme was introduced to Fenn's droid AX/RX, which tortured the Jedi Master through powerful electric jolts. Fenn ordered the droid to keep torturing Tholme until he was oblivious, but Tholme used the Force to drop his vital signs, making the droid believe he was unconscious, before throwing the Jedi in a cell.^[35]

Shortly after the declaration of the Galactic Empire, the smuggler Schurk-Heren was shackled to a table and electrocuted by Haka Hai's men, to make him reveal where he hid the contraband he had promised to sell Hai. When Schurk-Heren passed out, they proceeded to treat one of his companions, the Nosaurian Bomo Greenbark, the same way, but Bomo escaped by pretending to also be unconscious, and then using his horns to break the chains holding him.^[36]

One week after Endor, the Rebel pilot Ten Numb was captured by the sadist Imperial General Weir, who tortured the Rebel with electricity from a live wire. Numb soon broke and supplied Weir with all the information he wanted, including sizes and secret locations of military forces.^[37]

The force pike, or electro-jabber, was a spear with a vibrating power tip moving at extreme speed. At lowest setting, the spear would deliver excruciating electrical shocks, higher settings could result in paralysis and death, and at maximum setting, it could slice through everything from flesh and bone to thin durasteel plating. The weapon could be used for self defense, but also as a torture device. The Emperor's Royal Guards used the force pike mainly as a ceremonial weapon, but sometimes for other reasons; torture was one of them.^[38]

Similar electric torture devices were shockprods^[26] and high-voltage^[39] electroprods^[40].

[edit] Force-augmented torture

Force-users were capable of torturing individuals in unique ways, due to their abilities in the Force, inherent or otherwise.

[edit] Sith poison

Poisons were a tool, often implemented for a number of reasons during torture sessions. One such concoction was Sith poison; was a dark side-infused toxin created through the arts of Sith alchemy. Once introduced to the bloodstream of a Force-sensitive individual, the poison wears away their resistance to the dark side of the Force. The victim suffers from extreme anguish while being consumed by the dark side, over a prolonged period of time.^[41] Ulic Qel-Droma was administered a Sith poison by Lord Satal Keto, whilst being tortured by specialized droids, and interrogated about his intentions on Keto's homeworld.^[42]

[edit] Through Sith sorcery

Sith sorcery granted its masters an affinity for a power that subjected victims to bouts of utter terror, anguish, and despair. By influencing a person's mind, the sorcerer could make a victim relive their worst fears or nightmares, to such an extreme that the victim would be driven to madness in a desperate attempt to escape the horrors, only to feel them inside their head and mind instead, as the power attacked all aspects of the victim's sensory perceptions. At one point, this technique was used by the female Sith Lord Darth Zannah, which left the Anti-Republic Liberation Front member Cyndra in a permanent catatonic state.^[43]

[edit] Force lightning

Force lightning was a well known Force ability associated with Sith and the Dark Side of the Force. The attack channeled Force energy down the user's limbs, hurling arcing bolts of electricity from the wielder's hands. Force lightning caused unbearable pain , while slowly diminishing the victim's life. It was also nearly impossible to deflect.^[44]

In 3,998 BBY, the Jedi Master Arca Jeth was captured by King Ommin of Onderon. With the assistance of the Sith Lord Freedon Nadd's spirit, the king attempted to torture Arca to the brink of death with a lightning-based attack, believing that the Jedi Master would be forced to call upon the dark side of the Force to save himself. At that point, Ommin planned to destroy Arca's body and raise the fallen Jedi as a dark side spirit. ^[45]

In 3,956 BBY The Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Malak captured Jedi Bastila Shan. In order to make her fall to the dark side he relentlessly tortured her for a week through the use of force lightning. She eventually fell to the dark side and became his apprentice although she was later eased back to the light side by a redeemed Revan.

In 31 BBY, Jedi Master Quinlan Vos embarked on a mission to the Twi'lek planet Ryloth, in search of his missing apprentice, Aayla Secura. When Quinlan confronted Aayla's uncle Pol Secura, who had taken her and was feeding her glitteryll (a powerful memory reducing narcotic), he tortured the Twi'lek man with Force lightning. Just as Pol confessed about where the supply of glitteryll was coming from, he was accidentally Force pushed from a balcony by Aayla.^[46]

In year 4 ABY, when the Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker refused to join Emperor Palpatine, the Emperor tormented Luke with Force lightning, beginning with an agonizing but non-lethal barrage, working his way gradually upwards in lethality in order to maximize Luke's suffering, seemingly deriving pleasure from Skywalker's torment.^[47]

[edit] Other Force abilities used for torture

The Sorcerer of Tund Rokur Gepta developed a Force ability called torture by chagrin, in which the subject was forced to relive all the worst memories and horrors of their life, everything from the merely embarrassing ones to the painful ones, but would not experience anything but the fear. The victim was forced to relive their nightmares over and over again, for days or weeks, until their will and resolve were utterly crushed. A few years before the Battle of Yavin, Lando Calrissian was captured by tortured Gepta, who subjected Lando to his unique torture method. Fortunately for Lando, he was able to escape.^[48]

Around 18 BBY, Darth Vader embarked on a mission to Vohai, in search of new cloning technologies. On Vohai, Vader was attacked by the Emperor's Hand Sa Cuis, who was easily overpowered by the Dark Lord. Vader then tortured Cuis via Force choke, bringing him to the brink of death again and again, in an attempt to force Cuis to reveal who sent him. He was subsequently killed by Darth Vader when he refused to reveal his employer.^[49]

Three years after the Battle of Yavin, Darth Vader tortured Princess [[|Leia Organa Solo|Leia]], as well as Han Solo and Chewbacca, on Cloud City, knowing their anguish would reach Luke Skywalker through the Force and draw him to Bespin where he could be captured and delivered to the Emperor.^[50]

Even some proponents of the light side resorted to torture on occasion. Jedi Knight Etain Tur-Mukan tortured the terrorist Orjul mentally by projecting her own fear of being devoid of any direction into his mind by way of denial. Ignoring his gasping, squealing, panting and sobbing, she tortured him for an hour, before Orjul broke down and revealed everything. Etain justified her actions by claiming that she did it all without anger, which a Jedi wasn't supposed to feel, and that being serene made her actions acceptable.^[8]

[edit] Worms and insects

[edit] Artery worms

A torture method favored by the Nightsisters of Dathomir involved force feeding^[51] or injecting the victim with^[52] liquid containing artery worms^[51]. Burrowing through the victim's veins^[51], the worms would feed off the arteries^[52]. A Nightsister would survive after a day of torment; but others would die, unless they were given a potion containing witch blood, which would rid the victim of the worms, provided they hadn't reached their heart^[52].

[edit] Bloodslugs

The Lyran bloodslug was an omnivorous parasite used as a form of torture and punishment by the crimelords of Lyran IV. This slug could grow anywhere from 1 to 6 centimeters long. In its dormant state, it could take nourishment by eating wheat and grain, burrowing through piles of grain by exuding a trace amount of a powerful, toxic acid. If they got close enough to a sleeping (or restrained) person, they would use their venom to burrow into the person's body, and start feeding off the victim's viscera, slowly draining the her or him of blood over a period of several weeks. The host would slowly go insane from the pain, and eventually die.^[53]

[edit] Lava fleas

In their larval state, the Mustafar lava flea were worm-like borers about half-a-meter in length. The worms fed on the mineral rich rock-dust from the inner caverns of Mustafar, using acidic enzymes to break down the rock into needed nutrients. There were disturbing reports of the acid-filled pre-flea worms being used as a ghastly form of torture.^[7]

[edit] Muscle maggots

Muscle maggots were burrowing insects that entered their victims through their muscle tissue, causing extreme pain and anguish. The Dark Jedi Asajj Ventress used these insects on Obi-Wan Kenobi in her stronghold on Rattatak. There, Ventress tortured Kenobi in order to obtain information about Republic troop movements.^[54]

[edit] Piranha beetles

Emperor Palpatine himself was quite fond of torturing the ones of his subordinates who had earned his displeasure, such as Death Star I engineer Bevel Lemelisk. The Emperor subjected Lemelisk to numerous tortures, the first of which was having Lemelisk blinded and consumed by piranha beetles, ultimately resulting in Lemelisk's apparent death. To capitalize on his suffering, the Emperor would preserve Lemelisk's mind, and after each of his "deaths", would transfer his essence into that of a pre-existing clone body. Lemelisk was forced to endure seven of these grueling punishments in all.^[55]

Jabba the Hutt used a kind of bloodsucking worms as a form of torture of prisoners in his palace.^[56]

[edit] Mental anguish

Threats of physical torture could sometimes be just as effective as actually carrying out the action. The mere mention of physical pain, harm, or death was often times enough to cause the most determined resistors to cooperate. Mandalorian Protector Mirta Gev was one such individual. While under the custody of the Sith Lord Darth Caedus and his apprentice Tahiri Veila, Gev was threatened with disfigurement; Lady Veila intended on misshaping Gev's face, if she refused to disclose who it was that cut off Lord Caedus' arm. Mortified by the threat, Gev relented, and told everything she knew. Veila would use other unconventional methods of manipulations, such as the sexual advances she made towards Ben Skywalker, in hopes of him divulging the whereabouts of the secret Jedi base. The son of Luke Skywalker utterly refused her.^[34]

One of the many torture methods of the Yuuzhan Vong involved a type of psychological torment where the Vong would feign the prisoner's execution again and again by repeatedly drawing the victim to within centimeters of the Sharp teeth of a yammosk.^[12]

Doctor Akanseh was an accomplished surgeon and a great philanthropist who was captured by Moff Kentor Sarne after the Battle of Endor. Moff Sarne confiscated Akanseh's private medical suite, and forced the doctor to work for him as an interrogator. Akanseh tried to carry out his duties in his own manner. Rather than resorting to torture, he attempted to convince his subjects to trust him enough to disclose the information willingly. He knew that if he couldn't obtain the information in this manner, the prisoner would be turned over to Imperial interrogators and their savage droids, or worse, Akanseh might be forced to perform the act himself. Once, while interrogating a stubborn resistance fighter, Sarne decided to drop in for a spot inspection to make sure the doctor was performing accordingly. Akanseh was forced to chemically torture the prisoner, or face the same fate himself if he didn't produce results soon. After being freed by New Republic forces, Akanse joined the crew of the FarStar corvette, who were tasked to hunt down Moff Sarne. Deeply regretful of his service as Sarne's interrogators, he hoping to make up for what he did.^[21]

[edit] Physical torment

Most times, torture was simply the act of subjecting the victim to prolong physical torment, ranging from kicks and punches to stabbings, proddings, or similar acts of violence. often times the victim was left severely injured, sometimes unconscious, or even on the brink of death.^[34]

The Mandalorian Walon Vau performed physical torture upon a group of captured terrorists, in the days just after the first anniversary of the start of the Clone Wars. Vau, along with a team of Mandalorians, clone troopers and Jedi Knights was assigned to destroy a Separatist spy and terror network on Coruscant. They captured group of Separatist terrorists, M'truli, Gysk and Orjul, and took them to a soundproof apartment. There Walon Vau proceeded to beat information out of them, to the point that the walls were splattered with blood.^[8]

[edit] Scientific/medical methods

During the Mandalorian Wars several later, the Mandalorian scientist Demagol used the conquered people of the Outer Rim as subjects for his grisly studies. The doctor was particularly interested in finding a biological base for Jedi powers.^[57] Initially, Jedi were kidnapped for this purpose, before hostilities with the Galactic Republic surfaced,^[57] and a number of Jedi captured on Suurja poured into his lab on Flashpoint Station, to serve as new research subjects.^[58] When the Arkanian offshoot Jarael was captured by Mandalorians while impersonating a Jedi, she was taken to Flashpoint, where other Jedi were being tortured and tested by the Demagol. After arriving she met with Squint, a Jedi who had also been made into a prisoner. Upon seeing that he had a new test subject, Demagol wanted to study Jarael immediately. Squint, however, protested and insisted that he go in Jarael's place since he had already (and privately) discerned that she was not a Jedi, and knew that there were trials only a Jedi could survive.^[58]

Roughly ten years before the Battle of Naboo, Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn was captured and brought before the famed scientist Jenna Zan Arbor, who was studying the traits of Force-sensitive individuals (with hopes of genetically engineering Force sensitivity into normal beings). Her "experiments" included phlebotomy and torture, designed as test of Qui-Gon's endurance.^[59]

The scientist Leonis Murthé was fond of experimenting on living beings, finding new ways to make them die and experimenting with how long he could keep them screaming. Active during the reign of the Galactic Empire and years afterwards, the doctor eventually admitted that he gave up any science pretense long ago, and was simply doing it for his own personal pleasure.^[60]

[edit] Secret locations

[edit] Anakin Solo

During the Confederation-Galactic Alliance War, Darth Caedus had the Embrace of Pain installed in a secret hangar bay on board his command ship, the Anakin Solo. There, he used the Embrace to torture his cousin, Ben Skywalker, hoping to turn him to the Dark Side.^[18]

[edit] Lusankya

In 1 ABY, when the Star Dreadnaught Lusankya was commissioned for use by the Galactic Empire, it was taken to Coruscant and buried underneath Imperial City. While stationed there, a section of the Lusankya was used as a private corrections facility by the Director of Imperial Intelligence, Ysanne Isard. To thwart any potential escape attempts, the prison was fitted with a rotating artificial gravity generator. Prisoners believed they were right side up, but in truth, were upside down, so that any attempts to dig themselves to freedom would only lead them deeper within the prison. Isard used the dreadnaught's facilities for her Imperial intelligence-gathering needs, usually including torture and interrogation. Isard was ruthless during interrogation sessions with Lusankya's' prisoners, employing multiple methods as required— torture, drugs, and psychological conditioning—to learn what she desired.^[61]

Alderaan native Tycho Celchu was also sent to the Lusankya, having been captured during a failed spy mission to Coruscant. Isard tried to condition Celchu, and turn him into one of her agents, but the methods were too extreme and left him catatonic.^[62] The Corellian pilot Corran Horn was imprisoned within the bowels of the Lusankya, where he was tortured by Isard for vital New Republic secrets. When Isard realized that Horn would reveal nothing, she had him placed in the general population of the prison, where he would later escape.^[25]

[edit] Secret bunkers

During the reign of the Galactic Empire, there existed several secret interrogation chambers close to the solid surface of Imperial City. The constructions were disguised as nondescript, run-down buildings, but in reality, they were sealed bunkers protected by strong metal walls. The inside of the bunkers were a showcase of tools designed to induce pain; Racks, bed platforms with manacles and electrical rods, pain-inducing drugs and serums, interrogation droids and so on.^[63]

After the New Republic's capture of Coruscant, EVS-6962, a construction droid under the supervision of Wedge Antilles, inadvertently uncovered a secret Imperial Interrogation Center during its routine tear-down assignments.^[64]

[edit] Technology

[edit] Analysis grid

Shortly after the Battle of Endor,the Zeltron Dani was captured by the Nagai agent Den Siva^[65], who subjected her to weeks of mental torture and clinical study^[66] before she was rescued^[65]. Eager to study the make up of her species, Siva subjected Dani to the analysis grid, a device designed to detect the physiology of species, by firing coherent beams of energy through a specimen.^[65]

[edit] Carbon freeze

Carbonite was a metal alloy that was mixed with Tibanna gas, compressed, and flash-frozen, encasing materials for transport in an incredibly strong metal alloy. The freezing of living subjects in carbonite was used as a form of torture; the process was excruciating, and the victim was placed in a form of stasis hibernation, while still experiencing a form of consciousness.^[67]

[edit] Dreypa's Oubliette

In the days of the Old Sith Empire, torture was known to be a common practice, so much so that ancient Lords of the Sith constructed terrible devices and chambers for which their torturous methods could be carried out. One such prison was Dreypa's Oubliette, crafted by a Sith Lord of the same name. When a victim of Dreypa's was placed inside the oubliette, they would endure what was described as a living death, being subjected to such torment for as long as they were held captive. Lord Dreypa intended this prison to contain a rival Sith named Karness Muur, and the powerful talisman within his possession, but Dreypa's plan never came to fruition.^[68]

[edit] The Embrace of Pain

The Embrace of Pain was an organic, rack-like restraint used to torture prisoners. A victim was kept face down in restraint bands, and tortured while the creature would read the electrochemical outputs of the victims nerve impulses and evaluate her or his brain chemistry. The resultant data was used to keep the pain at constant and optimum levels.^[38] The device had a number of different tools made to create pain, including stretching of ligaments and joints, acid, electric shocks, sharp devices, needles ^[69], thorns, injected biotoxins^[18] In at least one case, the victim was stripped naked, and all of his hairs pulled out. When the victim was at the brink of dying, the Embrace would tend to the prisoner's body by lowering them to the floor and letting them sleep for a time, while tending wounds and injecting the prisoner with enough water and nutrients to keep them alive.^[69]

[edit] Nerve disruptor

The Agonizer-6 nerve disruptor was an Imperial torture and interrogation device resembling a small, three-legged droid.^[38] A built-in droid brain would^[38] closely monitored life indicators like heartbeat, nerve functions and respiration^[3] to keep the her or him alive until interrogation was complete^[38] The disruptor pushed the victim into her or his limits, physical as well as mental. Microfilament injectors caused pain and dispensed truth drugs, while stimulators worked on sensitive nerve clusters, causing aches, tingling, pain or uncontrollable spasms. Nerve stimulation was also used to induce altered states of mind, ranging from euphoria, relaxation and bliss, to fear, panic and uncontrollable terror. Emotional states could be artificially enhanced, eventually destroying the victim's mental defenses and break their will.^[3]

[edit] Scan grid

The scan grid was a rack-like device originally designed to analyze metals, gathering data by emitting electrical charges.^[38] When Han Solo was tortured by Darth Vader at Bespin, Vader utilized a Cloud City scan grid^[38] which had been heavily modified with additional tools designed for torture, including microsurgical vibroscalpels, an electroshock assembly, diagnostic scanners and chemical injectors^[20]. The scanners would anticipate loss of consciousness while the chemical injectors kept the victim awake, forcing Han to endure every measure of pain without passing out.^[20]

According to Director of Imperial Intelligence Ysanne Isard, Vader created the design himself.^[25] Earlier during the war, Lieutenant Zuud of Imperial Intelligence used the same, or a similar, device to torture the Rebel agent Jorin Sol^[70], and Isard herself would use yet another version to torment Corran Horn several years later. Whereas the original only worked on the pain receptors, Isard's device stimulated the receptors for heat and cold as well, making it feel like one's flesh was burning and the bones were chilled to absolute zero.^[25]

[edit] Spineray

Spinerays were biologically engineered Yuuzhan Vong creatures used for stimulating the nervous system, both for medical purposes and as a means of torture.^[38] The provoker spineray could be manipulated to cause pain to selective nerve arrays^[71], whereas the tracer spineray was capable of issuing pain to certain receptors with micromillimeter precision^[72].

[edit] Torture droids

[edit] Krath torture droids

In 3996 BBY, while reigning as Emperor over the Empress Teta system before the Battle of Yavin, Lord Keto, kept dissidents in line with the regular use of torture droids. Although their technology was seemingly antiquated, Keto's son Satal found them nonetheless effective when he became ruler of Empress Teta.^[73] Some droids could be modified from their primary functions to serve as torture droids. Satal Keto, leader of the Sith-inspired Krath, used ordinary medical droids and modified them to perform surgical tortures on individuals.^[42] Ulic Qel-Droma was a victim of Keto's torturous ways. When Ulic attempted to infiltrate the Krath, Lord Keto had the Jedi restrained in the dungeons of the Krath's Iron Citadel, where Krath torture droids administered excruciating punishments to him.^[42]

[edit] One of a kind

Kh'aris Fenn owned a torture droid with the designation AX/RX, capable of inflicting pain through powerful electric shocks.^[74]

Another example was the SD-XX droid. Dubbed "Double-X, Sd-XX was Darth Caedus' personal security droid Confederation-Galactic Alliance War. At the end of the war, the droid had been given new assignments as a torture droid, and was tasked with torturing Ben Skywalker to find the hidden base. After the droid failed to get any information out of Ben, SD-XX was sent to hunt him down after Ben escaped.^[34]

[edit] IT-09

Many decades before the Battle of Yavin, the IT-09 served the crime lord Ribogga the Hutt, hovering near his throne whenever he was entertaining his unsavory guests. After the end of his regime of crime in the Cularin System, it was employed by the SoroSuub company, which had no official need of interrogator droids, and had the droid reprogrammed as a quality control agent.^[75]

[edit] EV supervisor droid

The EV supervisor droid was manufactured by MerenData, and planned as a manager droid that could oversee and increase the efficiency of droid labor.^[76] During production, the EV motivators for the supervisor droids were mistakenly swapped for MDF motivators, contraband hardware designed for torture droids.^[76] MerenData didn't notice the error until after ^[77] - hundreds of faulty droids had gone out. ^[76] The manufacturer blamed it on industrial sabotage, but others attributed it to a fatal combination of malicious intents and stupidity. The mix-up also exposed that MerenData were building illegal droids for the House of Tagge.^[76] According to several industry surveys, production lines were the droids were employed boasted a high efficiency rating.^[77], and that the faulty models were outperforming the standard EV units at droid worker motivation.^[76]

But then the stories trickled in.^[76] The MDF Motivator had given the corrupted droids a rather malicious personality, along with a tendency to utilize painful forms of discipline ^[77] The combination of the MDF motivator's sadism and the EV's power of positive management lead to catastrophe. In a hotel on Indu San, the slowest droids on a hotel were given to oil baths set on fire. Worker droids on Eriadu were having their feet melted to the floor to prevent them from leaving their stations.^[76] A report in Cynabar's Droid Datalog described how an EV-droid supervisor working in an automated bulk freighter mistreated the droid crew so badly that an angry astromech droid blew it out the airlock.^[78] The droids' brutality extended to the rare cases where they were tasked to supervise organics; on Kadril, employees were prodded with high-voltage electroprods.

MerenData panicked, and made every effort to recall the corrupted droids, but some of them found homes with owners unfazed by their sadistic personalities.^[76] One example was certain pirate groups in the Outer Rim modified their EV droids into torture droids and slave pen supervisors.^[78]

EV-4D9

One example was EV-4D9, employed by the crime boss Ploovo Two-For-One.^[76] One of its previous owners had noticed the droids habits, and enhanced its brutality even more by a little bit of programming, processors from an older torture droid and adding a few pain tools, including a thermal drill, an arc welder, a plaststeel cutter and three solution injectors that could by loaded with a variety of pain- and truth-serums. The droid eventually came into the ownership of Lotas.^[77], a bounty hunter employed by the crime boss.^[77]

EV-9D9.2

Yet another unit was EV-9D9.2, which took over as chief of interrogation on the assembly moon of Telti.^[76] This droid was a second generation administrative droid descended from the prototype EV-9D9. When the New Republic mechanic Cole Fardreamer, who was turned over to EV-9D9.2 after a run-in with Dark Jedi Brakiss' in the latter's droid factory, experienced first-hand why the droid was said to be twice as ruthless as its predecessor. Cole managed to escape with the help of R2-D2 and C-3PO, who rallied the other droids against EV-9D9.2.^[79]

EV-9D9 (Eve-Ninedeenine)

The most notorious EV droid was EV-9D9^[76], former head of automated security on Cloud City, and supervisor of the droid pool at Jabba the Hutt's palace^[80]. Even though she left a series of broken droids in her wake, victims of her sadistic streak,^[80] it is unknown whether she ever harmed any organic beings.

[edit] The Galactic Empire

Interrogation droids were used almost exclusively by the Galactic Empire and other tyrannical governments. After the Empire rose to power, most droids programmed to cause harm to organic creatures were outlawed, but interrogation droids remained legal, and their existence was not a well-kept secret; rumors of their horrifying techniques and cruelty spread throughout the Empire. ^[81] High Inquisitor Mox Slosin, one of the Empire's most efficient interrogators, provided keen insight during the development of the Imperial IT-0 interrogation droids. Many of the sadistic tendencies shared by Slotin and other Imperial Inquisitors and ISB agents were programmed into the droids^[77], and as a result, Imperial torture droids tended to have decidedly sadistic temperaments.^[3]

The use of torture droids were ostensibly forbidden in the modern Imperial Remnant.^[23]

[edit] IT-0

The IT-0 (Eyetee-Oh)^[82] was a series of Imperial torture droids developed by the Department of Military Research during the reign of the Galactic Empire ^[23], though the droid was originally devised by the ancient Sith as an instrument to torture their prisoners (and not necessarily for information)^[83]. The glossy black globe moved about on small repulsor lifts^[23], and was dotted with pain-producing equipment, all linked to each other, and adapted from top-of-the-line medical droids and assassin droids^[82]. Combining sophisticated medical science and psychiatric modules with interrogation and torture programs^[84], the droid would monitor all body functions searching for weaknesses to exploit, chemical as well as physical,^[82] in order to apply maximum pain with minimal damage^[84]. Precise stimulation of nerves assured that the victim was feeling excruciating pain while being kept conscious.^[82] Some of the equipment and program modules were modified assassin droid parts, linked to medical droid diagnostic and operating modules.^[84] The Death Star was stocked with IT-0s, exclusively to the domain of detention personnel and security. Few others could bear to watch them in action.^[82]. The droid was especially popular among the Imperial Inquisitors.^[83] They were capable of monitoring vital signs to prevent the onset of unconsciousness or catalepsy^[85], even bringing the victim back from the brink of death, only to endure further torture ^[23]. After the victim submitted to the ordeal, the IT-0 would evaluate her or his truthfulness, based on heart rate, muscle tension and voice patterns.^[23]

The torture droid's painful equipment included:

• An oversized hypodermic injector syringe to inject liquid chemicals, including Bavo-6^[23]
• An Internal reservoir of drugs, ranging from mind altering to lethal^[82]
• Acid jet^[23]
• Searing flesh pincer^[23]
• Laser scalpel^[23]
• Power shear^[23]
• Grasping claw^[23]
• Sonic torture device^[85]
• Electroshock assembly^[85]
• Needles^[86]
• Torches^[86]

The droid was also equipped with a vocabulator producing speech; this had seldom been required, as the devices dotting the black sphere spoke for themselves.^[23]

[edit] IT-904

IT-904 was once an Imperial interrogation droid that was purchased at an auction by the bounty hunter Dej Vennor. Vennor had the droid extensively modified, and was given augmented with additional armaments, along with an upgrading of its memory and processing capability. Unlike most other IT-droids, the IT-904 was fiercely independent and had was highly sarcastic when dealing with organic lifeforms of all kinds.^[87]

[edit] IT-1

The IT-0 was inevitably succeeded with new models with more refined torture equipment ^[23], like the IT-1, which was one of the available tools used for interrogation in the Death Star, along with IT-0.^[82]

[