Raith Sienar/Legends

"I keep an independent mind."

- Raith Sienar

"In the long run, that could be extremely unwise."

- Wilhuff Tarkin

Raith Sienar was the head of Santhe/Sienar Technologies and later CEO of Sienar Fleet Systems, which was responsible for producing the Galactic Empire's TIE starfighters.

He also contributed to the design of the Death Star, particularly its spheroid shape and moon-size dimensions.

Early life
Raith Sienar came from a long line of starship builders. Five millennia prior to his birth, his ancestors designed warships for Empress Teta during the Unification Wars. This earned the Sienar family enough credits to ensure that the Sienar lineage would be wealthy for generations.

Sienar was born about sixty years prior to the Battle of Yavin. In his youth, he left his family company and, backed by inheritance, he funded many hyperspace expeditions, mapping dozens of new hyperspace routes and discovering many systems in the unknown regions. When he was eighteen, he attended lessons at Rigovia's technical university with some of the future Phluthroid-project creators. By age twenty, he had made his own fortune. He seemed to also have had some type of military training.

Raith's father groomed his son into becoming the CEO of Sienar Technologies, the family’s most profitable company. It made grand vessels for both the Republic and the Trade Federation.

He lived in an apartment at 500 Republica on Coruscant.

Early career
To prepare himself for a career as a starship designer, he assumed a false identity and went undercover in many major competitors, including Corellian Engineering Corporation, Baktoid Armor Workshop, and Incom Corporation.

Sienar spent time with the Xi Char of Charros IV, makers of the Vulture droid, mastering the art of precision engineering, and picking up some valuable information on the way. When the Xi discovered a "nonbeliever", they hired bounty hunters to kill the spy. Sienar led the assassins through space before finding an uncharted black hole&mdash;one he had discovered earlier but "failed to report". The unsuspecting assassins plunged into the black hole and died.



When he returned, he was granted his own workshop under Sienar Technologies, his family company. This workshop was called Sienar Design Systems (SDS). SDS specialized in one-of-a-kind contracts with wealthy clients. SDS had a secret lab, called Advanced Projects Laboratory, which was responsable for coming up with the T.I.E. starfighter.

Several years before the Battle of Naboo, the Xi Char made another attempt on Raith Sienar's life. Both Raith and his father were attacked by mercenaries on a pleasure cruise. Raith fled the vessel, but his father, Narro Sienar, perished. When news of Narro's death reached the Sienar Technologies, the board gave Raith full control of the company.

Rise to prominence
Around the time of the Blockade of Naboo, Raith diverted funds from Sienar Technologies to his private company, SDS. Raith began expermenting with non-Republic contracts and made the cloak capable Scimitar for Darth Sidious and his apprentice, Darth Maul. He denied that he ever did this, but the primary design belonged to his company. He also began to design an Expeditionary Battle Planetoid which later evolved into the Death Star.

Three years after the Battle of Naboo, Commander Wilhuff Tarkin, Sienar's new friend, convinced Raith to lead an expedition force to Zonama Sekot, the living planet, and secure a number of the living ships. Essentially, their expetition failed, partially thanks to interference from Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Padawan, Anakin Skywalker. After the Zonama Sekot excursion, Tarkin took credit for Raith's Expeditionary Battle Planetoid. Surprisingly, Sienar did not express interest in the design so Tarkin was able to mold it into the Death Star.

Six years after the Battle of Naboo, Sienar produced a prototype yacht that Nute Gunray gave to Toat for the latter's conquest of Maramere.

When Palpatine ascended to the title of Galactic Emperor, he created Sienar Fleet Systems, SFS, and produced the TIE/ln starfighter, TIE/sa starfighter, TIE/I starfighter, and later, the TIE/Advanced starfighter. Other SFS products which were used in the Imperial Navy were the Skipray Blastboat, the Interdictor Cruiser, and in conjunction with the Cygnus Spaceworks, the Lambda-class shuttle.

Even after the fall of the Empire at Endor, the SFS continued to crank out new designs. Some of the last designs made under the Sienar name were the TIE crawler and the Predator starfighter.

Sienar was responsible for designing the twin ion engines used in many of the starfighters of the era including ships from other companies such as Kuat Drive Yards's Alpha-3 Nimbus-class V-wing and the Eta-2 Actis-class interceptor.

He, unlike Bevel Lemelisk or Umak Leth did not dedicate himself to colossal space stations or superweapons, but primarily worked on smaller craft. Due to this, billions died under the weapons of his war machines, making him undoubtably one of the most ingenious inventors in Galactic history.

Sometime between the Battle of Endor and the return of Palpatine, Sienar was assassinated. Control of the company passed on to Valles Santhe.

Appearances

 * Rogue Planet
 * Starfighter: Crossbones


 * Star Wars Republic 50: The Battle of Kamino
 * Labyrinth of Evil
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (novel)
 * Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse