Bellator-class dreadnought

Bellator-class dreadnought

The Bellator-class dreadnought, also known as the Bellator-class Star Destroyer, was a warship in the Imperial Navy, as well as a divergent design in the Mandator-series of Star Dreadnought.

Description
The Bellator-class was a model of dreadnought based on the earlier Mandator I-class and Mandator II-class dreadnoughts. It was 800 meters shorter, essentially a scaled-down version of the Mandators. Built for speed, it sacrificed armaments to gain higher velocities than its Mandator-class predecessors. This philosophy separated it from its cousin, the Mandator III-class dreadnought, which was built to be larger and more heavily armed than the previous Mandators. The Bellator-class had two reactors that protruded underneath the superstructure. The class was also marked with a ridge-structure in front of its command tower. The tower itself was similar to the towers on a number of other Imperial warships, like the Imperial-class Star Destroyer and the Executor-class Star Dreadnought. The dorsal surface mounted a large array of weapons.

History
The Bellator-class was a design based on the Mandator- and Mandator II-classes. It diverged from its predecessors by being shorter and faster and the design was referred to in the Imperial Military as a "fast dreadnought".

Several Bellator-class dreadnoughts were observed being serviced and refueled at the Naval Station Validusia. At least one Bellator-class was involved in a fleet exercise that involved an Altor-class replenishment ship refuelling an Assertor-class Star Dreadnought and an Allegiance-class battlecruiser simultanously. At some point prior to the Battle of Hoth, Captain Firmus Piett and Admiral Kendal Ozzel of Death Squadron observed several Bellators that were part of a fleet gathering. The fleet in question was a high-mobility fleet.

At least one Bellator-class dreadnought appeared to be in service with the New Republic during the Thrawn Crisis, flying in formation alongside a fleet of Imperial-class Star Destroyers adorned with the New Republic logo, as well as a Procursator-class Star Destroyer. The fleet was joined by the Heroes of Yavin, flying in the Millennium Falcon.

During Luke Skywalker's capture and transport to Byss in 10 ABY, a Bellator-class vessel was present during a fleet maneuver of various Star Destroyers around the planet.

Behind the scenes
"The design just looked so mean when I first saw it, like some very angry bear prowling the forest. The idea was a fast battleship/battlecruiser, built to hunt destroyers and worry dreadnoughts. I kept the dagger shape narrow and long, since it gave a real sense of menacing speed to the whole ship."

- Ansel Hsiao

This design originated as a background vessel in Dark Empire 2: Devastator of Worlds, drawn by Cam Kennedy. It was later remade as a detailed 3D fanon vessel by Ansel Hsiao and displayed on his 3D modelling site. The background ship had previously been cataloged by Curtis Saxton as the "anonymous star cruiser #5" on his technical fansite.

When Hisao first saw the design in Dark Empire, he compared its appearance to a very angry bear prowling the forest. He envisioned it as a fast battleship/battlecruiser designed to hunt destroyers and even worry dreadnoughts. For his 3D work, he kept the dagger-shaped hull of the ship narrow and long in order to invoke a real sense of menacing speed throughout the whole ship. The class-name chosen by Hisao is the Latin word for "warrior". Approached by Lucasfilm Licensing to provide artwork for The Essential Guide to Warfare, Hsiao submitted his own designs in addition to new models, along with their names. The names were recorded in LFL's Holocron continuity database.

Creating the detailed model, Hsiao gave it the designation of "Star Battlecruiser". It was later changed to "dreadnought" on the basis of the Anaxes War College System classifications created by Jason Fry for his book, Essential Guide to Warfare. This was displayed in his seventh round of endnotes for the book. A similar change was made with the Allegiance-class battlecruiser, which on Hsiao's site was listed as a Heavy Star Destroyer.

In the book's endnotes, Jason gave several facts about the class as well as others done by Hsiao, which is now canon information. He also gave two accounts; in-universe and out-of-universe on the method behind the design of the Bellator. The in-universe explanation, supplied in the History section, mentioned the divergence of the Mandator III and the Bellator from their predecessor designs. The out-of-universe explanation was that the Essential Guide to Warfare accidentially combined separate design specs for the art and text for the famous humpbacked ship in Dark Empire.

In addition, according to Ansel Hsiao on Stardestroyer.net forums around the time Essential Guide to Warfare was released, both he and Jason Fry planned to make all the Mandator-series, in addition to the Bellator-class, humpbacked vessels similar to the one that appeared in Dark Empire, although nothing of the sort made it into the final cut by the time of its release. However, the intended humpbacked hulls of the Mandator-series was nonetheless implied in Jason Fry's endnotes.



In addition to Hsiao's book illustrations, the Bellator can also be seen in two other paintings, both by Tommy Lee Edwards. The latter of which uses a picture from Hsiao's personal gallery as a background, where the ship appears as one of the vessels closest to the bridge in the foreground of the image (the rear being partially obscured by Admiral Ozzel's head), and another of the same class is seen a brief distance away facing the bridge. The Hsiao picture in question was named "Strategic Reserve" by him.

In a promotional video made for Bioware's online rpg game, Star Wars: The Old Republic, one of the shots depict Odile Vaiken watching a Star Destroyer (implied to be the Harrower-class Dreadnaught) being built. The details on the vessel correspond to a similar shot of the Bellator found on Ansel Hsiao's site, right down to gun placements and hull features. Hsiao, commenting on the picture as well as the image angle of an Imperial-class Star Destroyer he designed that was used in Star Wars Galaxies: The Price of Victory Trading Card, "Imperial Starfleet," remarked that it amused him endlessly that they used his work.

Appearances

 * Dark Empire 2: Devastator of Worlds