N-K Necrosis

"Am I more in fact than just a droid? Am I alive, and perhaps&hellip;even the reincarnation of Grievous?"

- Necrosis's thoughts

N-K Necrosis was a highly advanced combat droid that was created from the cyborg body of General Grievous during the time of the Galactic Civil War. Origins of the N-K project began at end of the Clone Wars when Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi defeated Grievous during the Battle of Utapau. After Kenobi left the lifeless body on a landing platform in Pau City, the body was soon to be found by Imperial Stormtroopers after the execution of Order 66 in 19 BBY. The droid body, however, was stored for years in one of Emperor Palpatine's storehouses on Utapau. Doctor Nycolai Kinesworthy, also a cybernetic scientist, was hired by the Empire to create a highly advanced combat droid. Calling the project "N-K," which was an acronym derived from his own name, Kinesworthy established a shop on the planet of Kashyyyk. There, the scientist began work inside the isolated Myyydril Caverns under the control of dark side user, Merili. Kinesworthy, however, soon hired the unstable scientist, Treun Lorn, to help him move the project beyond its theoretical stage.

Kineworthy's knowledge of the concept of death helped him finalize the N-K project. After Lorn hired the assassin droid, IG-72, to round up a pair of outdated IG-100 MagnaGuards, Merili led the two scientists to one of Palpatine's secret storehouses on Utapau, which contained the dust collecting droid body of Grievous. Dubbing the completed project "N-K Necrosis," the scientist renamed the aging MagnaGuards to "NK-3." The droids, whom served as Necrosis' bodyguards, taught the newly reanimated Grievous how to fight with a lightsaber, which were the same techniques Grievous taught his MangaGuards nearly a decade prior. Necrosis' weapon of choice was the double-bladed lightsaber, which contained the crystal, Bane's Heart&mdash;Darth Zannah's gift from her master. However, in 1.5 ABY, a group of unidentified spacers stormed the Myyydril Caverns and destroyed Necrosis and his NK-3 bodyguards. The spacers then took whatever was deemed valuable, including the crystal, Bane's Heart.

Creation
At the end of the Clone Wars, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi defeated Confederate Head of State General Grievous during the Battle of Utapau. After Kenobi left the lifeless body on a landing pad within Pau City on Utapau, Imperial stormtroopers were sent to retrieve Grievous' shattered body from its resting place, after Order 66 was enacted. While Grievous' droid body armor was largely intact, most of the organic tissue, which was contained in a synthetic gutsack, had been destroyed when Kenobi used the cyborg general's own blaster to kill him. The remains of the droid body were sent to one of Emperor Palpatine's secret warehouses on Utapau, where Grievous's former starfighter, Soulless One, would later be kept. By the time of the Galactic Civil War, Doctor Nycolai Kinesworthy, also a highly regarded cybernetic scientist, was employed by the Galactic Empire to construct an advanced combat droid.

Kinesworthy was known to have studied the concept of death, as it fascinated him. The learning of death would later help him establish the "N-K" project&mdash;an acronym derived from his own name. The scientist recruited a well-known, but unstable, scientist named Treun Lorn, who helped Kinesworthy move the project beyond its theoretical stage. During the preliminary stages of the N-K project, Kinesworthy transferred the project to the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk. There, the project was presented to dark side user Merili, who allowed Kinesworthy to establish the project within the Myyydril Caverns on Kashyyyk. However, Kinesworthy needed supplies to finalize the project. Lorn hired assassin droid, IG-72, to round up two outdated IG-100 MagnaGuards. While the droid was doing so, Merili took both Kinesworthy and Lorn to Utapau. The dark side prophet gave the two scientists the droid body of Grievous, which would host Kinesworthy's experimental droid brain and be reanimated into the advanced combat droid, N-K Necrosis. The two MagnaGuards&mdash;renamed to "NK-3"&mdash;taught the reanimated Grievous how to fight with a lightsaber. The NK-3 droids utilized the same fighting techniques that Grievous taught the MangaGuards nearly a decade eariler.

Necrosis carried a variety of weaponry, as well as the deed to Grievous' starfighter, Soulless One. As his primary weapon of choice, Necrosis chose the double-bladed lightsaber. The lightsaber also contained the crystal Bane's Heart, which was given to Darth Zannah by her master, Darth Bane. He was also presented with the weapon which had, in fact, destroyed Grievous; a modified BlasTech DT-57 blaster, which had been dubbed the "Grievance Striker," as well as a Utapaun Nightblade. Due to the advanced heuristic programming from Kinesworthy's new droid brain, Necrosis became just as worthy of an adversary as the former host of his body had been, though Kinesworthy assured Necrosis that he was in fact better. Strangely, along with the considerable fighting prowess that he had acquired through training with the NK-3, Necrosis also acquired an almost Human penchant for analysis, and often wondered whether he was in fact superior to Grievous, and not simply a shell of him. He soon found himself wondering who Grievous was, feeling something akin to envy toward the living intelligence that had once inhabited the body. The answers he reached provided him with a sense of satisfaction, as he also pondered if he was in fact the reincarnation of Grievous and more than just another battle droid.

Death
In 1.5 ABY, a group of unidentified spacers stormed the Myyydril caverns during the height of the Galactic Civil War. Necrosis' cave, however, was protected by a watchful B1 battle droid, although the spacers got through the droid with ease. For Necrosis, the combat droid and his two NK-3 bodyguards engaged the group in a fierce battle. The spacers, however, defeated and destroyed both Necrosis and his NK-3 guards, and salvaged the remains of the corpses; taking anything that was deemed valuable, which included the crystal Bane's Heart, other weaponry, the deed to Soulless One, and parts of his droid body. The looted parts of his droid body, which were considered valuable components, were to be sold on the Invisible Market. It was rumored that Necrosis' armorplast mask had been bought by a high-ranking Imperial Admiral who displayed it as a Kaleesh work of art.

Personality and traits
Kinesworthy's droid brain, which was integrated into Necrosis' droid head, gave Necrosis the ability to think. During his life within the Myyydril caverns, Necrosis pondered if he was truly alive or was an reanimated being of the man who once lived in the droid body: Grievous.

Powers and abilities
Despite being a battle droid, N-K Necrosis was highly advanced in melee combat. Necrosis used the same lightsaber techniques that Grievous once taught his MagnaGuard bodyguards. Necrosis, however, was more powerful than his NK-3 droids. The droid's defense and devastating punishing blows were greatly increased, due to the fact he was using a double-bladed lightsaber. Unlike other lightsaber crystals, Necrosis' Bane's Heart was alchemically-treated, thus making the overall weapon more powerful than other lightsaber crystals. Because Necrosis and his NK-3 guards favored melee combat over ranged, their weapon ranged was greatly decreased if they were challenged by spacers who used ranged weapons.

Behind the scenes
N-K Necrosis first appeared in the Massively multiplayer online role-playing game, Star Wars Galaxies. In April 2005, a month before the theatrical release of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Sony Online Entertainment, the creator of Star Wars Galaxies, released the game's second expansion titled "Rage of the Wookiees". The expansion debuted the planet of Kashyyyk into the game, and introduced many playable quests, such as N-K Necrosis. Like all other quests in the game, N-K Necrosis dropped rare weapons, which included the lightsaber crystal Bane's Heart. In addition to the weapons that are only obtainable if the player kills the droid, N-K drops a deed to Grievous' starfighter and a cybernetic arm.

Star Wars author, Abel G. Peña, mentioned the character N-K Necrosis in two stories that described Grievous' life. The story, The Story of General Grievous: Lord of War, mentions the origins of N-K, and how he acquired the droid body of Grievous.

Inconsistencies
Differences between N-K Necrosis in Star Wars Galaxies and The Story of General Grievous: Lord of War are noticeable. In Galaxies, it's stated that Treun Lorn stole the N-K project from Kinesworthy and hid Necrosis deep within the Myyydril Caverns, thus making the quest harder for the players. Lorn requires the player to have a certain "crystal," which would spring Necrosis and his bodyguards to life. However, in The Story of General Grievous: Lord of War, Lorn doesn't attempt to kidnap the N-K project for himself. Due to the confusion between the two canon sources, this article assumes that the story's assumption is correct.