Cylo

"The universe is old. We are running out of time. I desire progress..."

- Cylo-V

Cylo-V was the fifth incarnation of a humanoid male doctor who cybernetically enhanced himself into an immortal system capable of assuming another body when the previous one died. Cylo-V's predecessor, Cylo-IV, worked as an agent of the Emperor, Darth Sidious, to create cybernetically-enhanced individuals who, without the need for the Force, could potentially replace Sidious' apprentice, Darth Vader, after Vader's failures during the Battle of Yavin and the assault on Cymoon 1's Weapons Factory Alpha.

After the death of Cylo-IV at the hands of Darth Vader's assassin droid 0-0-0, who interrogated the fourth form of the doctor in order to learn about his association with the Emperor, Cylo-V was activated at his research base. Shortly after he awoke, Vader launched an attack on the research base in order to eliminate the possible competition for his place as the Emperor's enforcer. Cylo-V broke off the fight between Vader and his enhanced subjects, Aiolin and Morit Astarte, and revealed his plans to Vader. The Emperor soon arrived to inspect the potential replacements, and Cylo-V unleashed them against Vader.

Biography
"When the last didn't return, my next body was activated. I've created a personality map small enough to be simulated efficiently. Add memory banks and plug-in calculation systems, and I am an immortal system. I am something new. And far from human."

- Cylo-V, to Darth Vader

Doctor Cylo created a map personality of himself, completed with memory banks and plug-in calculation systems, to make himself into an immortal system. When one body died, another was activated at his research base with no memory of what had happened to the old body. Cylo came to believe that technological superiority was inevitable and that mystical aspects of the universe, such as the Force, were obsolete. To that aim, he begun research on creating new forms of life, depending on technological augmentations, which he created using illegal alien parts smuggled to his research base in conjunction with cybernetic upgrades.

Cylo's work had begun before the onset of the Clone Wars, during which time his work was funded by the Astarte line of Celanon. However, their support of the Separatist Alliance during the war earned them the wrath of the Galactic Empire once the war ended. The Astarte line gave their children, Morit and Aiolin, to Cylo to protect them from Imperial reprisals. Cylo integrated the two children into his experiments, turning them into cybernetically-enhanced warriors. In addition to this, Cylo entered the service of Darth Sidious, the ruler of the Galactic Empire, and he begun pushing for the Emperor to replace his apprentice, Darth Vader, with his specimens as enforcers while the Dark Lord would be reduced to a ceremonial position. Originally, the Emperor considered these plans as a result of Vader's crippling defeat on Mustafar which left him weakened. However, Vader's failure to stop the destruction of the Death Star and the subsequent loss of Weapon Factory Alpha on Cymoon 1 led Sidious to put Cylo's plan forward.

After Vader met Cylo's fourth body in the Imperial Palace on Coruscant, he became suspicious of the Emperor's plans and hired bounty hunter Black Krrsantan to find and capture him. Once Cylo-IV was captured, Vader ordered his new droid, 0-0-0, to torture the information about his work for the Emperor from him. 0-0-0 inadvertently killed Cylo-IV during the interrogation but not before discovering the location of his research base and the existence of his specimens.

Personality and traits
"Be grateful I did not program myself to be capable of holding an illogical grudge."

- Cylo-V, to Darth Vader

Cylo-V appeared to be human but had grafts from multiple species, notably the green scaly Rodian skin and black eye in place of his right eye. The rest of his skin was light, and he had grey hair and a light goatee &mdash;a contrast to Cylo-IV, who had darker hair. He also had cybernetic implants across his head and neck.

Cylo-V believed that the universe needed to evolve and that progress was inevitable. He also believed that organic species were running out of time and that the Force was obsolete. He also continued the work of Cylo-IV by creating new specimens who he planed to introduce as new enforcers for the Emperor. He believed that men like Vader lacked the vision to see that they needed to evolve, but that the Emperor did not lack that vision. However, he did believe that Vader represented a bridge between the "old world" and his new world, seeing as Vader was more machine than man.

Cylo also removed his tendency to hold grudges from his system, so he did not blame Vader for the death of Cylo-IV. Instead, he claimed that he would have done the same thing in Vader's place.

Behind the scenes
"I cannot tell you anything about that dude, except that he's important, and he definitely has a Rodian's eye."

- Kieron Gillen, author of Star Wars: Darth Vader

Cylo-V first appeared in Star Wars: Darth Vader 5: Vader, Part V during which time his nature was explained after the death of his fourth body. The fact that he has a Rodian's eye and cybernetics is meant to imply "the sort of things this guy might get up to," according to Gillen, who also said that finding out who the character is will be "one of the core elements" of the Star Wars: Darth Vader series. Gillen further stated that the creative team went back and forth on which type of alien look to use for the character's right eye, before finally settling on a Rodian.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Darth Vader 5: Vader, Part V
 * Star Wars: Darth Vader 6: Vader, Part VI