Wookieepedia:Featured article queue/Week 45, 2011/0

The Imperial Knight lightsaber was a standard lightsaber model used by the Imperial Knights, an order of Force-users who were loyal to the Fel Empire and later Emperor Roan Fel's Empire-in-exile. The uniform design represented both the Imperial Knights' unity and the Empire's sovereignty over each individual Knight. The lightsaber had a gray, cylindrical hilt that was partially covered by black ridges; save for in customized variations, its angled emitter produced a white blade. Using a synthetic lightsaber crystal, each Imperial Knight constructed his or her own lightsaber during training, following techniques outlined by the former Galactic Emperor Palpatine in his Book of Anger. Able to function both on land and underwater, the lightsaber was one of several tools the Imperial Knights used to protect their liege, a task that was the core purpose of the order. In combat situations, Imperial Knights complemented their offensive lightsaber attacks with defensive cortosis gauntlets, which could disable an enemy's lightsaber blade and allow the Knight to attack. When not using the weapon in combat, an Imperial Knight usually kept the lightsaber clipped to his or her belt.

Imperial Knight lightsabers were used by the order as early as 130 ABY. They saw heavy use in 137 and 138 ABY during the Second Imperial Civil War, when the Empire-in-exile fought an insurgency against Darth Krayt's Galactic Empire. Early in 137 ABY, Imperial Knights Antares Draco, Ganner Krieg, and Marasiah Fel employed their weapons during a battle against the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Krayt's One Sith on the planet Vendaxa. The skirmish saw Cade Skywalker&mdash;a former Jedi who had abandoned his family's heritage to become a bounty hunter&mdash;pick up Marasiah's lightsaber and attack the Sith, a move that proved to be his first step in reclaiming his Jedi legacy. Over the next year, Imperial Knights used their lightsabers in battle against Krayt's forces on worlds such as Bastion, Dac, and Had Abbadon; Sith fell to Imperial blades in the war's final stages on both Taivas and the galactic capital, Coruscant. During the battle on Coruscant, Roan Fel attempted to use a bioweapon to wipe out all life on the planet. Draco was thus prompted to slay Fel with his lightsaber, thereby preventing the Emperor from committing an act born of the dark side of the Force.