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| Who’s Who Delvardus |
Delvardus (d. 47 rS) was a space warfare officer (SWO) in the service of the Imperial State in the late 30s rS, and is noteworthy in that he is one of
the most accomplished war criminals in the recent history of the galaxy far, far away, on the same level as the Empire’s Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin
and the Confederacy’s General Grievous. After the Galactic Emperor’s death at the Battle of Endor in 39 rS, Admiral Delvardus – he is referred to as
such by Coruscant and the Core Worlds – was among the first to abandon the Imperial State and strike out on his own as a rogue warlord; The New
Essential Chronology mentions that he “laid claim to most of the worlds near the Rimma Trade Route, until battles forced him into the Deep Core.”
Following in the footsteps of the first warlord, the self-proclaimed Supreme Warlord Harrsk, Delvardus eschewed his admiral’s flag and assumed the
title “Superior General,” the precise significance of which is unknown (a superior general is the head of a religious order, in which sense “superior” is
the noun and “general” the adjective rather than vice versa). He would retain his hold on his Deep Core pocket empire for the next six years.
In both The Essential Chronology and The New Essential Chronology the New Republic Historical Council mentions that “surviving warlords such
as Harrsk, Delvardus, and Teradoc swore obedience to the same master and fought under the same banner” when the Galactic Emperor returned from
the Deep Core in 45 rS, and The New Essential Chronology surprisingly states that before the Time of Destruction following the re-conquest of
Coruscant, these ‘lapsi’ fought alongside Loyalists “that did not yet know of Palpatine’s return,” indicating that Delvardus and the others did know,
which raises the question of whether or not Delvardus was one of those summoned to Byss to pledge his allegiance to the Galactic Emperor anew; he
may have been one of the Galactic Emperor’s ‘agents of chaos’ or ‘wreckers’ during this period of the ‘great interregnum’ from 39 to 45. Reverting to
his proper title of “Admiral,” Delvardus served as a fleet commander during Operation Shadow Hand, and in that capacity he re-conquered Metellos
for the Empire; Coruscant and the Core Worlds mentions that “an Imperial armada under the command of Admiral Delvardus routed the New
Republic defensive fleet and shelled the planet in a cruel and wholly unnecessary show of force, killing more than five billion people.”
After the final death of the Galactic Emperor and the destruction of Byss, Delvardus abandoned the Empire a second time and returned to his base of
operations in the Deep Core. There, Delvardus established his headquarters on “a small world on the outer fringe of the habitable band from its sun,
an arid place of rusty sands, barren rocks, and labyrinthine canyons left over from ancient, long-dried floods,” and built his fortress in one of the
canyons, according to Darksaber. Instead of amassing huge fleets like many of his counterparts, Delvardus hoarded his money and resources and
began construction of an Executor class Star Dreadnought outfitted with “stealth armor,” which he named Night Hammer (his second in command,
Colonel Cronus, estimated that this Super Star Destroyer was “worth twenty” of the commonest mile-long Imperial class Star Destroyers, each of
which cost not less than 3.88 billion credits apiece, thus setting Delvardus’s expenditure at about 77.6 billion credits). When “Fleet Admiral” Daala –
her authentic rank was actually corporal, and she had never been a commissioned officer – called a détente council at Tsoss Beacon among thirteen of
the most powerful warlords remaining in 47 rS, Delvardus was the third to arrive, but was unimpressed with Daala’s “talks” – delusional and simple-
minded, Daala still referred to “the Empire” as though it still existed, apparently having missed the fact that the Imperial State had been destroyed
and no central, overarching authority existed – and recognized the supposed détente as “a poorly disguised power grab,” refusing to cooperate with
the other warlords, none of whom had spent as much money as he on military buildup. Faced with the fact that she was not as accomplished a
diplomat as she was an adulteress, Daala opted to simply murder the warlords with nerve gas; Delvardus, realizing that he was going to die,
attempted to kill her with a makeshift knife, but succumbed to the gas before he could reach her. Daala delivered his body to his second in command
Cronus and demanded that he join her zombified Empire, threatening to destroy him with the forces she had usurped from the other warlords if he
should refuse. Cronus acquiesced, and Night Hammer became Daala’s flagship (she promptly got it destroyed at Yavin IV in a useless attack on Luke
Skywalker’s Jedi Praxeum).
Delvardus was described in Darksaber as “a tall and skeletal man with dark-brown hair and shock-white eyebrows that stood out like electrical
discharges from his forehead; he had a square chin bisected by a deep cleft.” He wore an ornate bemedalled uniform covered with insignia, medals,
badges, and other accouterments of rank; however, this was not entirely an expression of vanity or egomania, as he demonstrated in Darksaber that
one of his shoulderboards concealed a strut, and that he could clip together several of the badges and medals and attach them to this strut to form “a
wicked-looking, if primitive, knife.” When faced with the reality of his imminent death, he assembled this weapon and attempted to kill the
treacherous Daala, but died of the effects of her nerve gas before he could do the galaxy a favor by slitting her throat.
References:
the most accomplished war criminals in the recent history of the galaxy far, far away, on the same level as the Empire’s Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin
and the Confederacy’s General Grievous. After the Galactic Emperor’s death at the Battle of Endor in 39 rS, Admiral Delvardus – he is referred to as
such by Coruscant and the Core Worlds – was among the first to abandon the Imperial State and strike out on his own as a rogue warlord; The New
Essential Chronology mentions that he “laid claim to most of the worlds near the Rimma Trade Route, until battles forced him into the Deep Core.”
Following in the footsteps of the first warlord, the self-proclaimed Supreme Warlord Harrsk, Delvardus eschewed his admiral’s flag and assumed the
title “Superior General,” the precise significance of which is unknown (a superior general is the head of a religious order, in which sense “superior” is
the noun and “general” the adjective rather than vice versa). He would retain his hold on his Deep Core pocket empire for the next six years.
In both The Essential Chronology and The New Essential Chronology the New Republic Historical Council mentions that “surviving warlords such
as Harrsk, Delvardus, and Teradoc swore obedience to the same master and fought under the same banner” when the Galactic Emperor returned from
the Deep Core in 45 rS, and The New Essential Chronology surprisingly states that before the Time of Destruction following the re-conquest of
Coruscant, these ‘lapsi’ fought alongside Loyalists “that did not yet know of Palpatine’s return,” indicating that Delvardus and the others did know,
which raises the question of whether or not Delvardus was one of those summoned to Byss to pledge his allegiance to the Galactic Emperor anew; he
may have been one of the Galactic Emperor’s ‘agents of chaos’ or ‘wreckers’ during this period of the ‘great interregnum’ from 39 to 45. Reverting to
his proper title of “Admiral,” Delvardus served as a fleet commander during Operation Shadow Hand, and in that capacity he re-conquered Metellos
for the Empire; Coruscant and the Core Worlds mentions that “an Imperial armada under the command of Admiral Delvardus routed the New
Republic defensive fleet and shelled the planet in a cruel and wholly unnecessary show of force, killing more than five billion people.”
After the final death of the Galactic Emperor and the destruction of Byss, Delvardus abandoned the Empire a second time and returned to his base of
operations in the Deep Core. There, Delvardus established his headquarters on “a small world on the outer fringe of the habitable band from its sun,
an arid place of rusty sands, barren rocks, and labyrinthine canyons left over from ancient, long-dried floods,” and built his fortress in one of the
canyons, according to Darksaber. Instead of amassing huge fleets like many of his counterparts, Delvardus hoarded his money and resources and
began construction of an Executor class Star Dreadnought outfitted with “stealth armor,” which he named Night Hammer (his second in command,
Colonel Cronus, estimated that this Super Star Destroyer was “worth twenty” of the commonest mile-long Imperial class Star Destroyers, each of
which cost not less than 3.88 billion credits apiece, thus setting Delvardus’s expenditure at about 77.6 billion credits). When “Fleet Admiral” Daala –
her authentic rank was actually corporal, and she had never been a commissioned officer – called a détente council at Tsoss Beacon among thirteen of
the most powerful warlords remaining in 47 rS, Delvardus was the third to arrive, but was unimpressed with Daala’s “talks” – delusional and simple-
minded, Daala still referred to “the Empire” as though it still existed, apparently having missed the fact that the Imperial State had been destroyed
and no central, overarching authority existed – and recognized the supposed détente as “a poorly disguised power grab,” refusing to cooperate with
the other warlords, none of whom had spent as much money as he on military buildup. Faced with the fact that she was not as accomplished a
diplomat as she was an adulteress, Daala opted to simply murder the warlords with nerve gas; Delvardus, realizing that he was going to die,
attempted to kill her with a makeshift knife, but succumbed to the gas before he could reach her. Daala delivered his body to his second in command
Cronus and demanded that he join her zombified Empire, threatening to destroy him with the forces she had usurped from the other warlords if he
should refuse. Cronus acquiesced, and Night Hammer became Daala’s flagship (she promptly got it destroyed at Yavin IV in a useless attack on Luke
Skywalker’s Jedi Praxeum).
Delvardus was described in Darksaber as “a tall and skeletal man with dark-brown hair and shock-white eyebrows that stood out like electrical
discharges from his forehead; he had a square chin bisected by a deep cleft.” He wore an ornate bemedalled uniform covered with insignia, medals,
badges, and other accouterments of rank; however, this was not entirely an expression of vanity or egomania, as he demonstrated in Darksaber that
one of his shoulderboards concealed a strut, and that he could clip together several of the badges and medals and attach them to this strut to form “a
wicked-looking, if primitive, knife.” When faced with the reality of his imminent death, he assembled this weapon and attempted to kill the
treacherous Daala, but died of the effects of her nerve gas before he could do the galaxy a favor by slitting her throat.
References:
- Anderson, Kevin J. Darksaber. Bantam Books, 1995.
- Anderson, Kevin J. and Daniel E. Wallace. The Essential Chronology. Del Rey Books, 2000.
- Carey, Craig R., Chris Doyle, Jason Fry, Paul Sudlow, John Terra and Daniel E. Wallace. Coruscant and the Core Worlds. Wizards of the
Coast, Inc., 2003. - Wallace, Daniel E. with Kevin J. Anderson. The New Essential Chronology. Del Rey Books, 2005.
| This site is for informational and entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement of any kind is intended. Star Wars and related materials are © Lucasfilm Ltd., which reserves all rights thereto. All original material is © Julius Sykes. Please do not use without permission. |
| This biography was originally added in 2005. It was republished on 7 October 2007. |