Tyber Zann

"I am Tyber Zann. Corruption is my weapon. And while the galaxy is distracted by civil war, I will strike."

- Tyber Zann

Tyber Zann was a Human crime lord from Anaxes who rose to prominence sometime after the Battle of Yavin during the Galactic Civil War and led his own faction, known as the Zann Consortium, a powerful crime syndicate. He would wage a personal war against the Galactic Empire as revenge for expelling him from the Imperial Academy.

Early life
"Everyone has a price."

- Tyber Zann



Zann was born on Anaxes, making him an Anaxsi, in 34 BBY, and first worked in the family firm, Zann Remanufacturing. He became bored and entered into running crooked sabacc games. As his reputation grew, he attracted the notice of rival local crime lords.

In order to protect himself, he tried to arm his gang with weapons stolen from his father's warehouses. Zann's father caught him, and as punishment, arranged for him to be enrolled as a cadet in the Academy of Carida.

Imperial service
"I was rapidly working my way up through the Imperial academy. But some took exception to my creative solutions for advancement and had me expelled. I vowed to make them pay for this indignity."

- Tyber Zann

One of the most promising students at the Academy, he used his Imperial service to make underworld connections, including with Jabba the Hutt. Just prior to Zann's graduation, he ran a smuggling racket that was actually a trap laid by the suspicious Imperials. However, his associate Urai Fen got word of the trap and warned Zann. He was suspected of weapons theft by Admiral Thrawn, who could only dismiss him from service, having found no firm evidence to connect him to the crime.

Life as a crime lord
"Time is money."

- Tyber Zann



Using the Imperial connections he made while in the military, Zann began to build up an extensive criminal organization known as the Zann Consortium. Zann collaborated with Jabba the Hutt until he stole a valuable and strange artifact from the Hutt on Felucia. However, while Urai Fen escaped with the artifact, Zann was arrested for "crimes against the Empire".

While Zann rotted away in the spice mines of Kessel, Urai Fen waited for the time Zann had set for his escape. By starting a riot on Kessel and hiring the crew of Millennium Falcon to pick him up, Zann made his escape, narrowly avoiding execution from a bounty hunter hired by Jabba.

After his return to freedom, Zann, along with his closest companion Urai Fen, gradually reestablished the Consortium as a power to be reckoned with from their headquarters on Ryloth. Among other things, the criminal organization would offer protection to worlds affected by the Galactic Civil War, having built up a sizable military force.

Lieutenant Izbela Saarrj of the Imperial Security Bureau wrote a report on his activities around 0 ABY, mentioning his use of spies to study the Star Dreadnought Eclipse, the first Eclipse-class Star Dreadnought, while it underwent construction. The Eclipse was armed with an axial-super laser and was larger than any star destroyer created prior.



Zann also made a treaty with Jabba the Hutt stating that he would not operate on Hutt worlds after a battle on Hypori. He was allowed to keep Saleucami and Hypori as a condition of the treaty.

He used his extensive crime network to influence the warring factions of the Galactic Civil War, siphon their credits, and sabotage their operations when necessary. During the course of his ascent to power, his forces fought against both factions of the war. He had his own flagship, an Aggressor-class destroyer named Merciless, for his navy. When fighting, he would sometimes make use of his own personal cloaking device that rendered him invisible. "Do you see, Urai? Billions of credits! Priceless works of art! Technical data hoarded for decades! There is more wealth in these vaults then even I can imagine!"

- Tyber Zann on the Emperor's vaults

Zann was also intent on discovering the mysteries of the ancient Sith holocron, stolen from Jabba while he was making a deal with the Galactic Empire on Felucia. He employed a Nightsister Silri, whom he freed on Dathomir in order to have her decipher the Sith artifact. Though she knew of the artifacts true importance, she withheld information from Tyber causing them to quarrel verbally on several occasions.



After Tyber, Urai, and IG-88 raided tibanna gas from Bespin, Xizor of Black Sun provided Tyber with a contact in the Empire, to whom he would sell the Sith Artifact. The negotiaton was a trap. Grand Admiral Thrawn's fleet engaged Tyber's; the Merciless was first revealed in the battle. During the battle Bossk stole the Sith Artifact and, eventually, gave it to Thrawn, who then left in the Star Destroyer Admonitor. After defeating the remaining Imperial fleet, Tyber returned to Ryloth.

After he and Silri had a "misunderstanding", Tyber promised to have every Nightsister on Dathomir annhiliated if she lied or withheld information again. He also made clear that his associate and friend, Urai Fen, would kill Silri if any attempt was made on Zann's life (as he mentioned to Tyber quite frequently).

What eventually happened to Zann and his Consortium is unknown, but their last known action involved taking over the Eclipse in 4 ABY in order to gain information on the Emperor's vaults, during the Second Battle of Kuat. Zann proceeded to steal billions of credits from Emperor Palpatine's personal vault network. After his theft, Tyber decided to abandon the Eclipse as it would be a "target even the Rebels could not ignore." He also decided to let the Rebels form the New Republic as he'd "always wanted to own a senator." The Eclipse was later recovered by Imperial forces, who continued its construction.

However, Silri secretly unlocked the holocron behind Zann's and Fen's backs. The artifact led her to an ancient Sith tomb, with thousands of Sith soldiers frozen in carbonite.

Personality
"I am in complete control, that's the way I like it."

- Tyber Zann

Zann was cold, methodical, ambitious, and ruthless, and had an arrogant streak, as evidenced by his steadfast confidence in himself. He liked to be in complete control of things and was also quite cunning. He was a criminal mastermind, a tactical genius, and adept at using most weapons of war. He could hold a grudge on people and would not let it go until he made them pay. Zann also seemed quite confident in his abilities, making his leadership abilities very powerful.

Zann wielded a blaster very similar to the Rawk chopped special, which was later favored by Cade Skywalker around 130 ABY.

Behind the scenes
It is possible that his name is a tribute to author Timothy Zahn.

It is also likely that the name Tyber refers to the fact that many of the people at Petroglyph used to work on the Command & Conquer series, in which Tiberium was first discovered along the Tiber River.



Zann was included in Star Wars Insider 89 at the request of LucasArts, who wished additional publicity for him. For his illustration in Insider 89, due to a lack of reference photos of the character, artist Joe Corroney followed a suggestion and based him on British actor Jason Isaacs, using a picture of Lucius Malfoy from the Harry Potter films.

Zann was voiced by Steven Blum in the Forces of Corruption trailer, and by Jake Eberie in the actual game.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption

Notes and references
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