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| Who’s Who Kinman Doriana |
Kinman Doriana was a career political operative active in the last days of the old Galactic Republic and the early days of the Galactic Empire. The
entirety of his known career was spent as a highly-placed member of the official family of Palpatine of Naboo, dating from his career as Galactic
Senator for Naboo, Chommell Sector (ca 27 BrS – 3 rS) throughout most of his term as Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic (3 - 16 rS).
Furthermore, he was at the same time an agent of the sinister Darth Sidious, Dark Lord of the Sith, and was even highly-enough placed in the Sith
Lord’s shadow organization to know the true nature of his religious and philosophical persuasions, even knowing the identities of his Sith
Apprentices; Doriana believed (incorrectly) that he was Sidious’s most highly-placed agent in the Palpatine Government.
It is not known when Doriana began working for Palpatine, but it was certainly some time prior to his first chronological appearance in Cloak of
Deception, set in 3 rS. Doriana is a virtual nonentity in the events described there; he attends a performance of The Brief Reign of Future Wraiths in
the Coruscant Opera House with Senator Palpatine, and is described along with Sate Pestage as “two of Palpatine’s personal aides”; it was Pestage
that checked the opera box’s privacy screen to verify its correct operation. He was present again with Palpatine and Pestage during the session of the
Senate in which Palpatine first suggested the Eriadu Trade Summit, but it was Pestage that carried Palpatine’s handwritten note to Supreme
Chancellor Valorum during the floor proceedings. Doriana accompanied Palpatine and Pestage to the humans-only club in Coruscant City’s midlevel
where Palpatine met with Nebula Front leader “Havac,” but it was Pestage who had verified Havac’s identity and background. Doriana again joined
Palpatine and Pestage at the Trade Summit at Eriadu, but by then Sidious’s machinations had already set in place the assassination of the Trade
Federation’s Executive Board Directorate, and Doriana did nothing at all.
Doriana was apparently one of the more frequently seen members of Palpatine’s official family, alongside Palpatine’s factotum, Pestage; certainly,
he was better known than Palpatine’s other aide, Ars Dangor, who rarely appeared in public. The scribe notes in The New Essential Guide to
Characters that by the time Palpatine became Valorum’s unofficial chief policy advisor in 1 rS, Doriana – “Palpatine’s personal aide” – had “become
linked to Valorum’s own aide, Sei Taria.” It is not known when Doriana began working for Sidious, but Outbound Flight does mention that it was
before the Naboo Crisis of 3 rS that precipitated Palpatine’s election as Supreme Chancellor (or President) of the Galactic Republic. If he engaged in
any clandestine missions for the Sith Lord at this time, they remain unknown.
Doriana next appeared in Outbound Flight, in which his duplicity becomes clearer. By 8 rS, Doriana was one of the senior members of the executive
office of the Supreme Chancellor, although his precise role remains unknown; he is consistently described in vague terms of “aide,” “assistant,”
“advisor” (or “special advisor”). Although he vocally opposed the Outbound Flight Project, Doriana had at the same time been responsible for
subtly nudging the project’s leader, the arrogant Master Jedi Jorus C’baoth, into inviting specific Jedi to accompany him on board Outbound Flight;
the Jedi were all selected by Doriana on the basis that they were “potential troublemakers” who might cause problems for Sidious later. He was
present in Palpatine’s office when the C’baoth demanded that full funding be restored to the Outbound Flight Project, and rebuked the arrogant Jedi
for his effrontery, insisting that he take a respectful tone when speaking to the Supreme Chancellor.
Palpatine sent Doriana on a mission to deliver certain datacards personally to Governor Caulfmar; he took the opportunity to perform a mission for
Sidious, stopping off at Barlok en route to deliver the datacards and helping set up an assassination attempt on Corporate Alliance Magistrate Passel
Argente in an elaborate plot to boost C’baoth’s public profile when he foiled the attempt; with the political capital gained from the incident, C’baoth
was able to obtain increased support for Outbound Flight, and the extragalactic survey soon departed from Yaga Minor with a full ship’s company
of 50,000 colonists and explorers, as well as six Jedi Masters and twelve Jedi Knights. Before their departure, Doriana – present as the Supreme
Chancellor’s representative – gave explicit instructions that “all personnel be given a compelte examination, including the taking of anlaysis-grade
blood and tissue samples,” ostensibly out of concern about “hive viruses or potential epidemics.” This genetic material probably contributed to the
creation of a clone of C’baoth that would subsequently display all of the original’s egomania, narcissism, and arrogance, being relegated by the
Galactic Emperor to service as Guardian of an out-of-the-way warehouse on Wayland, as seen in Heir to the Empire.
Doriana then met with Vicelord Siv Kav, of the Trade Federation, and planned for the interception and destruction of Outbound Flight, at Sidious’s
orders (Doriana was operating under the pseudonym of “Commander Stratis”). Using data provided by the Supreme Chancellor’s office, he laid an
ambush along Outbound Flight’s predetermined course, with a task force of fifteen ships provided by others among Sidious’s clientele (viz., two
TradeFed battleships, six Techno Union Hardcell class transports, and seven TradeFed escort cruisers, all manned by skeleton crews); unfortunately
for them, they ran afoul of a Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet patrol commanded by Force Commander Mitth’raw’nuruodo; in the ensuing fight,
Mitth’raw’nuruodo exploited Kav’s gross ineptitude and destroyed all the ships in the task force, leaving only the flagship SS Darkvenge so that he
could interrogate survivors; Doriana met with the Chiss commander personally, and attempted to convince him of Outbound Flight’s threat. Over the
course of his wrangling, Doriana revealed his true identity, claimed to be working on Palpatine’s orders, and then put Mitth’raw’nuruodo into
contact with Sidious himself, revealing his own dual allegiance. Doriana mentioned the possibility that Outbound Flight could cause irreparable harm
by coming into contact with the elusive ‘Far Outsiders,’ extragalactic aliens first mentioned in Rogue Planet.
In the event, Mitth’raw’nuruodo agreed to engage Outbound Flight, but tried not to destroy it; rather, he wanted to destroy the Vagaari horde, a
migratory species that raided and plundered as it roved. The situation spiraled out of control, however, and C’baoth’s tenuous hold on sanity
snapped, driving him into the dark side; he attempted to psychokinetically kill Mitthr’aw’nuruodo when the latter called to offer quarter. Doriana
panicked and activated radiation bombs that the Chiss commander had intended to use on the Vagaari; almost the entire ship’s company of Outbound
Flight – close to 50,000 people – were killed as a direct result of Doriana’s press of a button. In order to protect Mitth’raw’nuruodo and repay him
for his help, he helped muddle an already complicated legal situation vis-à-vis the salvage rights to Outbound Flight, taking advantage of Chiss
society’s rigid adherence to the letter of the law. Kav died shortly after in an ill-advised attempt to kill Mitth’raw’nuruodo, and Doriana returned to
Republic space aboard Darkvenge, offering Mitthraw’nuruodo a place in Sidious’s employ if he should ever venture out of Chiss space.
After Outbound Flight, Doriana’s next appearance in 13 rS marks a return to banality. According to “Boon Calls Loyalists a Shadow Government,”
Doriana appeared on the morning show Amberdawn in 13:4, where he casually dismissed Sy Myrthian political commentator Brookish Broon’s
claim that the newly-formed Loyalist Committee – a non-partisan policy steering committee established by Palpatine to help address the growing
Separatist crisis – was some sort of “shadow government that is running things outside the control of the Senate.” Doriana remarked rather pithily
that “it’s not much of a shadow government if someone as myopic as Mr. Boon can find it.”
Doriana’s last appearance (to date) is in “Hero of Cartao,” in which he reprises his role from Outbound Flight as Palpatine’s man on the scene and
Sidious’s fifth-columnist saboteur. By 14 rS, the Clone War had come into full swing, with Palpatine’s Loyalists of the Galactic Republic pitted
against the Count of Serenno’s Separatists of the Confederacy of Independent Systems; Outbound Flight mentions that Doriana was aware of
Serenno’s secret identity as Darth Tyranus, Sith Apprentice to Sidious himself (Doriana was also aware of the existence of the late Darth Maul,
Tyranus’s predecessor, and rumors about how he had died). Doriana was also aware of Sidious’s involvement with the TradeFed, which means that
he was fully aware that his activities on Sidioius’s behalf were directly providing aid and comfort to the enemy; he was knowingly committing
treason, as well as betraying his benefactor.
At Palpatine’s orders, Doriana traveled to Cartao (Prackla Sector), where he inspected Spaarti Creations with a view to using its unique technology
to manufacture more cloning cylinders for the Republic’s use; an experienced political operator, he came prepared. When Cartao’s resident big fish,
Pilester, Lord Binalie, objected that it was illegal for the Republic Government to commandeer Spaarti Creations, per Senate Directive 422 (Spaarti
Creations being “the single viable business of an entire sub-minority species,” viz., the Cranscoc, “governmental interference with its operation is
strictly and expressly forbidden”), Doriana parried by citing the newly-passed Senate Directive 3591, “authorizing Supreme Chancellor Palpatine
unlimited authority to commandeer any resource or group of resources he feels necessary for a swift conclusion of hostilities.” When the Lord Binalie
objected that Government conversion of Spaarti Creations would attract hostile Confederate attention, Doriana countered that the whole operation
would be handled clandestinely, under the cover of medical quarantine as “required by law for an outbreak of plyridian fever,” an outbreak he had
already taken steps to simulate. When the resident Jedi watchman, Master Jedi Jafer Torles, objected that the Jedi High Council “will not stand by
and allow [Doriana] to terrify the people of Cartao with fear of a nonexistent plague,” Doriana riposted with written instructions from the very same
Jedi High Council ordering Torles to cooperate with Doriana and his operation.
At the same time that Doriana and Commander Roshton were making plans for a clandestine conversion of Spaarti Creations for the manufacture of
cloning cylinders, Doriana was feeding vital information to Darth Sidious, prompting the sudden arrival of a TradeFed Lucrehulk class core ship,
with its stores of mechanized soldiers. With Cartao in Confederate hands and Spaarti Creations being prepared for mass production of D-90
advanced assault ‘droids, Doriana received word from Palpatine of a small Republic relief force, embarked on GRS Whipsaw, being dispatched to
assist the meager force of clone troopers at Roshton’s disposal on Cartao itself; Doriana was busily engineering a complicated scenario in which both
the Republic and the Confederates had committed military forces to taking and holding the planet, but both had too much invested in the use of
Spaarti Creations to risk damaging the factory itself. As tension reached the breaking point, a Republic assault transport collided with Spaarti
Creations and destroyed it; unbeknownst to all but Doriana, the transport was actually being remotely-controlled by one of Sidious’s agents, and
dressed up to appear to be full of Jedi Knights. As a result of the disaster, the destruction of Spaarti Creations was blamed squarely on the Jedi
Order’s “carelessness, stupidity, and arrogance.”
Sidious ordered Doriana to remain on Cartao “long enough to clean up any final details,” and then return to his post on Coruscant. One such detail, it
turned out, was the disposal of several thousand of the Spaarti cloning cylinders; although they were reported destroyed in the disaster, Palpatine
ordered that they be transported secretly to “an old underground fortress on Wayland that he recently reactivated.” When he offered to arrange for
their destruction, Sidious demurred, noting, “A few thousand extra cloning tanks will hardly make a difference to the war effort. Let Palpatine have
his little trophies.” These Spaarti cloning cylinders are presumably the same ones seen in the Mount Tantiss facility on Wayland in The Last
Command, but if so, then a great deal of construction must have been carried out after the transportation of the cylinders; Spaarti Creations only
manufactured clone cylinders in “Hero of Cartao,” whereas in The Last Command General Lando, Baron Calrissian of Bespin, remarked that “I think
the Emperor must have just picked up the cloning complex and dropped it in here whole.” In any case, the Historical Council writes in The New
Essential Chronology that “the Republic took a delivery of thousands of Spaarti cloning cylinders,” and that “these cylinders saw heavy use
following their installation on Wayland and other planets.”
Kinman Doriana was a fairly wily and versatile rules-lawyer, adept at manipulating law and regulation to his advantage. Sidious remarked that he had
many servants, but “few as clever and as subtle” as Doriana, and Palpatine was apparently so fond of him that he actually called him by his given
name rather than his surname; to his credit, he successfully carried out every mission Sidious assigned him, even in the face of significant and
unanticipated setbacks. In addition to his obvious procedural talents, he was skilled at less reputable activities, as well; although he has not been seen
to have Sate Pestage’s skills at marksmanship and clandestine operations, Doriana was able to do field work competently, and had the advantage of
several false identities – Commander Stratis in Outbound Flight and Kinman Drifkin of the Aargau Medical Observer Corps in “Hero of Cartao” – as
well as secret backdoor access to the Confederacy’s ‘droid armies; in “Hero of Cartao” he had a “magic backdoor lockout code” (“Barauch 797 filliae
gron 113”) that allowed him to freeze battle ‘droids with verbal commands, and another code (“Pinkrun 473 aprion 1811”) that allowed him to reset
portions of their memory. His facile command of these codes matches his ease with the access/security code he used on his holoprojector to contact
Sidious (Outbound Flight described it as “a simple matter of twelve letters and eighteen digits”).
“Hero of Cartao” portrays Doriana as a fairly average-looking man with thinning black hair. As of 8 rS, he lived in an apartment on the 238th floor of
the Third Ring Apartment Towers northeast of the Senate Rotunda in Coruscant City, Coruscant, which Outbound Flight describes as “a twenty-
minute air taxi ride” from the Supreme Chancellor’s Office in the Senate Office Building. He generally disliked the Jedi; Outbound Flight notes that
“nearly all Jedi struck him as pompous and arrogant and obscenely sure of themselves”; he had ample opportunity to find support for this
evaluation, as “Hero of Cartao” mentions that he was “the man who often delivered Palpatine’s messages to the Jedi Council.” At the same time, he
shared the Jedi preference for emotional control; he regarded it as “bad policy to let emotions of any sort rise to the surface.”
Doriana was first mentioned in Vision of the Future, in which the former Imperial Admiral Voss Parck – then serving with the neo-Palpatinist group
of ex-Imperials and Chiss expatriates called the Empire of the Hand – told former Emperor’s Hand Mara Jade the story of Mitth’raw’nuruodo’s
recruitment for the New Order. Jade regarded Doriana as having been “Palpatine’s right-hand man, supposedly one of the grand architects of his rise
to power.” Parck described him as have been “very much a shadow adviser,” someone who “few people ever even heard his name, let alone knew his
true position and power,” and mentioned that “among those who did [know Doriana’s true position and power] it was speculated that his untimely
death left a gap which Palpatine ultimately tried to fill with three other people,” viz., Darth Vader, Grand Admiral Thrawn, and Mara Jade herself.
Time appears to have distorted the correct details of the events that Parck was describing (time, or perhaps deliberate misrepresentation of the story
when it was related to him). The incompetent Vicelord Siv Kav’s task force of lightly-manned TradeFed ‘battleships’ – in truth converted
superfreighters – and escorts, Techno Union transports, was transformed into “handpicked units of Palpatine’s own private army, equipped with
fifteen top-line combat ships.” The fact that Kav’s task force had apparently forgot to raise its shields was left unmentioned, and the fact that the
men involved were so ignorant of starship technology that they had thought the interdictor gravity-shadow generator completely unprecedented
despite its common use by mundane rescue operators nearly a decade before in “Darth Maul: Saboteur” likewise went unreported. Force Commander
Mitth’raw’nuruodo’s clever victory over a group of rank amateurs became a stunning victory. Political operator Kinman Doriana was held to be
equal in value to an extraordinarily powerful Sith Lord, a tactically brilliant Grand Admiral, and a cunning and stealthy Emperor’s Hand. The distance
of time appears to have been kind to Kinman Doriana; it seems that no one who remembered him knew that Kinman Doriana, political operator and
traitor, never realized that Palpatine of Naboo and Darth Sidious were in fact the same man.
References:
entirety of his known career was spent as a highly-placed member of the official family of Palpatine of Naboo, dating from his career as Galactic
Senator for Naboo, Chommell Sector (ca 27 BrS – 3 rS) throughout most of his term as Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic (3 - 16 rS).
Furthermore, he was at the same time an agent of the sinister Darth Sidious, Dark Lord of the Sith, and was even highly-enough placed in the Sith
Lord’s shadow organization to know the true nature of his religious and philosophical persuasions, even knowing the identities of his Sith
Apprentices; Doriana believed (incorrectly) that he was Sidious’s most highly-placed agent in the Palpatine Government.
It is not known when Doriana began working for Palpatine, but it was certainly some time prior to his first chronological appearance in Cloak of
Deception, set in 3 rS. Doriana is a virtual nonentity in the events described there; he attends a performance of The Brief Reign of Future Wraiths in
the Coruscant Opera House with Senator Palpatine, and is described along with Sate Pestage as “two of Palpatine’s personal aides”; it was Pestage
that checked the opera box’s privacy screen to verify its correct operation. He was present again with Palpatine and Pestage during the session of the
Senate in which Palpatine first suggested the Eriadu Trade Summit, but it was Pestage that carried Palpatine’s handwritten note to Supreme
Chancellor Valorum during the floor proceedings. Doriana accompanied Palpatine and Pestage to the humans-only club in Coruscant City’s midlevel
where Palpatine met with Nebula Front leader “Havac,” but it was Pestage who had verified Havac’s identity and background. Doriana again joined
Palpatine and Pestage at the Trade Summit at Eriadu, but by then Sidious’s machinations had already set in place the assassination of the Trade
Federation’s Executive Board Directorate, and Doriana did nothing at all.
Doriana was apparently one of the more frequently seen members of Palpatine’s official family, alongside Palpatine’s factotum, Pestage; certainly,
he was better known than Palpatine’s other aide, Ars Dangor, who rarely appeared in public. The scribe notes in The New Essential Guide to
Characters that by the time Palpatine became Valorum’s unofficial chief policy advisor in 1 rS, Doriana – “Palpatine’s personal aide” – had “become
linked to Valorum’s own aide, Sei Taria.” It is not known when Doriana began working for Sidious, but Outbound Flight does mention that it was
before the Naboo Crisis of 3 rS that precipitated Palpatine’s election as Supreme Chancellor (or President) of the Galactic Republic. If he engaged in
any clandestine missions for the Sith Lord at this time, they remain unknown.
Doriana next appeared in Outbound Flight, in which his duplicity becomes clearer. By 8 rS, Doriana was one of the senior members of the executive
office of the Supreme Chancellor, although his precise role remains unknown; he is consistently described in vague terms of “aide,” “assistant,”
“advisor” (or “special advisor”). Although he vocally opposed the Outbound Flight Project, Doriana had at the same time been responsible for
subtly nudging the project’s leader, the arrogant Master Jedi Jorus C’baoth, into inviting specific Jedi to accompany him on board Outbound Flight;
the Jedi were all selected by Doriana on the basis that they were “potential troublemakers” who might cause problems for Sidious later. He was
present in Palpatine’s office when the C’baoth demanded that full funding be restored to the Outbound Flight Project, and rebuked the arrogant Jedi
for his effrontery, insisting that he take a respectful tone when speaking to the Supreme Chancellor.
Palpatine sent Doriana on a mission to deliver certain datacards personally to Governor Caulfmar; he took the opportunity to perform a mission for
Sidious, stopping off at Barlok en route to deliver the datacards and helping set up an assassination attempt on Corporate Alliance Magistrate Passel
Argente in an elaborate plot to boost C’baoth’s public profile when he foiled the attempt; with the political capital gained from the incident, C’baoth
was able to obtain increased support for Outbound Flight, and the extragalactic survey soon departed from Yaga Minor with a full ship’s company
of 50,000 colonists and explorers, as well as six Jedi Masters and twelve Jedi Knights. Before their departure, Doriana – present as the Supreme
Chancellor’s representative – gave explicit instructions that “all personnel be given a compelte examination, including the taking of anlaysis-grade
blood and tissue samples,” ostensibly out of concern about “hive viruses or potential epidemics.” This genetic material probably contributed to the
creation of a clone of C’baoth that would subsequently display all of the original’s egomania, narcissism, and arrogance, being relegated by the
Galactic Emperor to service as Guardian of an out-of-the-way warehouse on Wayland, as seen in Heir to the Empire.
Doriana then met with Vicelord Siv Kav, of the Trade Federation, and planned for the interception and destruction of Outbound Flight, at Sidious’s
orders (Doriana was operating under the pseudonym of “Commander Stratis”). Using data provided by the Supreme Chancellor’s office, he laid an
ambush along Outbound Flight’s predetermined course, with a task force of fifteen ships provided by others among Sidious’s clientele (viz., two
TradeFed battleships, six Techno Union Hardcell class transports, and seven TradeFed escort cruisers, all manned by skeleton crews); unfortunately
for them, they ran afoul of a Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet patrol commanded by Force Commander Mitth’raw’nuruodo; in the ensuing fight,
Mitth’raw’nuruodo exploited Kav’s gross ineptitude and destroyed all the ships in the task force, leaving only the flagship SS Darkvenge so that he
could interrogate survivors; Doriana met with the Chiss commander personally, and attempted to convince him of Outbound Flight’s threat. Over the
course of his wrangling, Doriana revealed his true identity, claimed to be working on Palpatine’s orders, and then put Mitth’raw’nuruodo into
contact with Sidious himself, revealing his own dual allegiance. Doriana mentioned the possibility that Outbound Flight could cause irreparable harm
by coming into contact with the elusive ‘Far Outsiders,’ extragalactic aliens first mentioned in Rogue Planet.
In the event, Mitth’raw’nuruodo agreed to engage Outbound Flight, but tried not to destroy it; rather, he wanted to destroy the Vagaari horde, a
migratory species that raided and plundered as it roved. The situation spiraled out of control, however, and C’baoth’s tenuous hold on sanity
snapped, driving him into the dark side; he attempted to psychokinetically kill Mitthr’aw’nuruodo when the latter called to offer quarter. Doriana
panicked and activated radiation bombs that the Chiss commander had intended to use on the Vagaari; almost the entire ship’s company of Outbound
Flight – close to 50,000 people – were killed as a direct result of Doriana’s press of a button. In order to protect Mitth’raw’nuruodo and repay him
for his help, he helped muddle an already complicated legal situation vis-à-vis the salvage rights to Outbound Flight, taking advantage of Chiss
society’s rigid adherence to the letter of the law. Kav died shortly after in an ill-advised attempt to kill Mitth’raw’nuruodo, and Doriana returned to
Republic space aboard Darkvenge, offering Mitthraw’nuruodo a place in Sidious’s employ if he should ever venture out of Chiss space.
After Outbound Flight, Doriana’s next appearance in 13 rS marks a return to banality. According to “Boon Calls Loyalists a Shadow Government,”
Doriana appeared on the morning show Amberdawn in 13:4, where he casually dismissed Sy Myrthian political commentator Brookish Broon’s
claim that the newly-formed Loyalist Committee – a non-partisan policy steering committee established by Palpatine to help address the growing
Separatist crisis – was some sort of “shadow government that is running things outside the control of the Senate.” Doriana remarked rather pithily
that “it’s not much of a shadow government if someone as myopic as Mr. Boon can find it.”
Doriana’s last appearance (to date) is in “Hero of Cartao,” in which he reprises his role from Outbound Flight as Palpatine’s man on the scene and
Sidious’s fifth-columnist saboteur. By 14 rS, the Clone War had come into full swing, with Palpatine’s Loyalists of the Galactic Republic pitted
against the Count of Serenno’s Separatists of the Confederacy of Independent Systems; Outbound Flight mentions that Doriana was aware of
Serenno’s secret identity as Darth Tyranus, Sith Apprentice to Sidious himself (Doriana was also aware of the existence of the late Darth Maul,
Tyranus’s predecessor, and rumors about how he had died). Doriana was also aware of Sidious’s involvement with the TradeFed, which means that
he was fully aware that his activities on Sidioius’s behalf were directly providing aid and comfort to the enemy; he was knowingly committing
treason, as well as betraying his benefactor.
At Palpatine’s orders, Doriana traveled to Cartao (Prackla Sector), where he inspected Spaarti Creations with a view to using its unique technology
to manufacture more cloning cylinders for the Republic’s use; an experienced political operator, he came prepared. When Cartao’s resident big fish,
Pilester, Lord Binalie, objected that it was illegal for the Republic Government to commandeer Spaarti Creations, per Senate Directive 422 (Spaarti
Creations being “the single viable business of an entire sub-minority species,” viz., the Cranscoc, “governmental interference with its operation is
strictly and expressly forbidden”), Doriana parried by citing the newly-passed Senate Directive 3591, “authorizing Supreme Chancellor Palpatine
unlimited authority to commandeer any resource or group of resources he feels necessary for a swift conclusion of hostilities.” When the Lord Binalie
objected that Government conversion of Spaarti Creations would attract hostile Confederate attention, Doriana countered that the whole operation
would be handled clandestinely, under the cover of medical quarantine as “required by law for an outbreak of plyridian fever,” an outbreak he had
already taken steps to simulate. When the resident Jedi watchman, Master Jedi Jafer Torles, objected that the Jedi High Council “will not stand by
and allow [Doriana] to terrify the people of Cartao with fear of a nonexistent plague,” Doriana riposted with written instructions from the very same
Jedi High Council ordering Torles to cooperate with Doriana and his operation.
At the same time that Doriana and Commander Roshton were making plans for a clandestine conversion of Spaarti Creations for the manufacture of
cloning cylinders, Doriana was feeding vital information to Darth Sidious, prompting the sudden arrival of a TradeFed Lucrehulk class core ship,
with its stores of mechanized soldiers. With Cartao in Confederate hands and Spaarti Creations being prepared for mass production of D-90
advanced assault ‘droids, Doriana received word from Palpatine of a small Republic relief force, embarked on GRS Whipsaw, being dispatched to
assist the meager force of clone troopers at Roshton’s disposal on Cartao itself; Doriana was busily engineering a complicated scenario in which both
the Republic and the Confederates had committed military forces to taking and holding the planet, but both had too much invested in the use of
Spaarti Creations to risk damaging the factory itself. As tension reached the breaking point, a Republic assault transport collided with Spaarti
Creations and destroyed it; unbeknownst to all but Doriana, the transport was actually being remotely-controlled by one of Sidious’s agents, and
dressed up to appear to be full of Jedi Knights. As a result of the disaster, the destruction of Spaarti Creations was blamed squarely on the Jedi
Order’s “carelessness, stupidity, and arrogance.”
Sidious ordered Doriana to remain on Cartao “long enough to clean up any final details,” and then return to his post on Coruscant. One such detail, it
turned out, was the disposal of several thousand of the Spaarti cloning cylinders; although they were reported destroyed in the disaster, Palpatine
ordered that they be transported secretly to “an old underground fortress on Wayland that he recently reactivated.” When he offered to arrange for
their destruction, Sidious demurred, noting, “A few thousand extra cloning tanks will hardly make a difference to the war effort. Let Palpatine have
his little trophies.” These Spaarti cloning cylinders are presumably the same ones seen in the Mount Tantiss facility on Wayland in The Last
Command, but if so, then a great deal of construction must have been carried out after the transportation of the cylinders; Spaarti Creations only
manufactured clone cylinders in “Hero of Cartao,” whereas in The Last Command General Lando, Baron Calrissian of Bespin, remarked that “I think
the Emperor must have just picked up the cloning complex and dropped it in here whole.” In any case, the Historical Council writes in The New
Essential Chronology that “the Republic took a delivery of thousands of Spaarti cloning cylinders,” and that “these cylinders saw heavy use
following their installation on Wayland and other planets.”
Kinman Doriana was a fairly wily and versatile rules-lawyer, adept at manipulating law and regulation to his advantage. Sidious remarked that he had
many servants, but “few as clever and as subtle” as Doriana, and Palpatine was apparently so fond of him that he actually called him by his given
name rather than his surname; to his credit, he successfully carried out every mission Sidious assigned him, even in the face of significant and
unanticipated setbacks. In addition to his obvious procedural talents, he was skilled at less reputable activities, as well; although he has not been seen
to have Sate Pestage’s skills at marksmanship and clandestine operations, Doriana was able to do field work competently, and had the advantage of
several false identities – Commander Stratis in Outbound Flight and Kinman Drifkin of the Aargau Medical Observer Corps in “Hero of Cartao” – as
well as secret backdoor access to the Confederacy’s ‘droid armies; in “Hero of Cartao” he had a “magic backdoor lockout code” (“Barauch 797 filliae
gron 113”) that allowed him to freeze battle ‘droids with verbal commands, and another code (“Pinkrun 473 aprion 1811”) that allowed him to reset
portions of their memory. His facile command of these codes matches his ease with the access/security code he used on his holoprojector to contact
Sidious (Outbound Flight described it as “a simple matter of twelve letters and eighteen digits”).
“Hero of Cartao” portrays Doriana as a fairly average-looking man with thinning black hair. As of 8 rS, he lived in an apartment on the 238th floor of
the Third Ring Apartment Towers northeast of the Senate Rotunda in Coruscant City, Coruscant, which Outbound Flight describes as “a twenty-
minute air taxi ride” from the Supreme Chancellor’s Office in the Senate Office Building. He generally disliked the Jedi; Outbound Flight notes that
“nearly all Jedi struck him as pompous and arrogant and obscenely sure of themselves”; he had ample opportunity to find support for this
evaluation, as “Hero of Cartao” mentions that he was “the man who often delivered Palpatine’s messages to the Jedi Council.” At the same time, he
shared the Jedi preference for emotional control; he regarded it as “bad policy to let emotions of any sort rise to the surface.”
Doriana was first mentioned in Vision of the Future, in which the former Imperial Admiral Voss Parck – then serving with the neo-Palpatinist group
of ex-Imperials and Chiss expatriates called the Empire of the Hand – told former Emperor’s Hand Mara Jade the story of Mitth’raw’nuruodo’s
recruitment for the New Order. Jade regarded Doriana as having been “Palpatine’s right-hand man, supposedly one of the grand architects of his rise
to power.” Parck described him as have been “very much a shadow adviser,” someone who “few people ever even heard his name, let alone knew his
true position and power,” and mentioned that “among those who did [know Doriana’s true position and power] it was speculated that his untimely
death left a gap which Palpatine ultimately tried to fill with three other people,” viz., Darth Vader, Grand Admiral Thrawn, and Mara Jade herself.
Time appears to have distorted the correct details of the events that Parck was describing (time, or perhaps deliberate misrepresentation of the story
when it was related to him). The incompetent Vicelord Siv Kav’s task force of lightly-manned TradeFed ‘battleships’ – in truth converted
superfreighters – and escorts, Techno Union transports, was transformed into “handpicked units of Palpatine’s own private army, equipped with
fifteen top-line combat ships.” The fact that Kav’s task force had apparently forgot to raise its shields was left unmentioned, and the fact that the
men involved were so ignorant of starship technology that they had thought the interdictor gravity-shadow generator completely unprecedented
despite its common use by mundane rescue operators nearly a decade before in “Darth Maul: Saboteur” likewise went unreported. Force Commander
Mitth’raw’nuruodo’s clever victory over a group of rank amateurs became a stunning victory. Political operator Kinman Doriana was held to be
equal in value to an extraordinarily powerful Sith Lord, a tactically brilliant Grand Admiral, and a cunning and stealthy Emperor’s Hand. The distance
of time appears to have been kind to Kinman Doriana; it seems that no one who remembered him knew that Kinman Doriana, political operator and
traitor, never realized that Palpatine of Naboo and Darth Sidious were in fact the same man.
References:
- “Boon Calls Loyalists a Shadow Government”. HoloNet News Volume 531, Number 51. Lucasfilm, Ltd, 2002.
- Luceno, James. Cloak of Deception. Del Rey Books, 2001.
- Wallace, Daniel E. The New Essential Guide to Characters. Del Rey Books, 2001.
- Wallace, Daniel E. with Kevin J. Anderson. The New Essential Chronology. Del Rey Books, 2005.
- Zahn, Timothy. Heir to the Empire. Bantam Books, 1991.
- Zahn, Timothy. “Hero of Cartao I: Hero’s Call.” Star Wars Insider No. 68. Paizo Publishing LLC, 2003.
- Zahn, Timothy. “Hero of Cartao II: Hero’s Rise.” Star Wars Insider No. 69. Paizo Publishing LLC, 2003.
- Zahn, Timothy. “Hero of Cartao III: Hero’s End.” Star Wars Insider No. 70. Paizo Publishing LLC, 2003.
- Zahn, Timothy. Outbound Flight. Del Rey Books, 2005.
- Zahn, Timothy. The Last Command. Bantam Books, 1993.
- Zahn, Timothy. Vision of the Future. Bantam Books, 1998.
| 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 15 March 2008. |