Imperial Knight lightsaber

"Make sure you can get your saber if you need it. I don't trust this bunch."

- Antares Draco to Ganner Krieg, while facing down a group of Galactic Alliance bodyguards

As early as 130 ABY, a standard model of lightsaber was used by the Imperial Knights, a Force-using order that served various Empires throughout their history. The uniform model represented both the Imperial Knights' unity and the emphasis of the Empire over the individual Knight. The lightsaber had a grey, cylindrical hilt that was partially covered by black ridges, and, 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 their training, following techniques outlined by the former Galactic Emperor Palpatine in his Book of Anger. Able to function both on-land and underwater, an Imperial Knight's lightsaber was one means which the Knights used to protect their Emperor, a task which was their organization's primary purpose. When not using the weapon in combat, an Imperial Knight kept the lightsaber clipped to his or her belt.

The Imperial Knights' lightsaber saw heavy use in 137 and 138 ABY during the Second Imperial Civil War. Early in the former year, the Imperial Knights Antares Draco, Ganner Krieg, and Princess Marasiah Fel employed the weapons during a battle against the Sith on the planet Vendaxa. The skirmish saw Cade Skywalker, a former Jedi who had abandoned his family's legacy and become a bounty hunter, pick up Marasiah's lightsaber and attack the Sith, a move that would prove to be his first step in reclaiming his heritage. When Imperial Knight Treis Sinde was later stranded on the planet Dac during the Sith Lord Darth Krayt's genocide of the native Mon Calamari, he used his lightsaber to battle the forces of Krayt's Empire alongside the Mon Calamari Rangers, often fighting while underwater. In the final stages of the war, Imperial Knights used their lightsabers in battles against the Sith on worlds such as Agamar, Taivas, and the galactic capital of Coruscant. During the latter battle, Emperor Roan Fel attempted to use a bioweapon to wipe out all life on the planet, which prompted Draco to use his lightsaber to slay Fel, thereby preventing his Emperor from committing an act of the dark side of the Force.

Description
"Jedi?''" "''Better. We're Imperial Knights."

- Monia Gahan, assuming that her lightsaber-wielding saviors are Jedi, is corrected by Sigel Dare

A standard model of lightsaber was used by every member of the Imperial Knights, an order of Force users who were active during both the Sith–Imperial War and the Second Imperial Civil War. Loyal to various Empires throughout their history, the Imperial Knights were an organization dedicated to protecting their Emperor or Empress and furthering whichever Empire he or she led. Their common lightsaber design was a symbol both of their unity and of their belief that each individual Knight was less than the Empire that they served. The weapon's hilt was gray and cylindrical, with black ridges covering less than one half of its curved surface. Its angled emitter produced a white blade that was able to function both on-land and underwater. Some customized lightsabers produced blades of different colors, such as a blue-bladed weapon carried by Marasiah Fel, an Imperial Knight and the princess of the Empire-in-exile. Imperial Knight Azlyn Rae once used an orange-bladed variation while sparring. During undercover missions, Rae carried a lightsaber of a different make that also produced an orange blade.

Although the organization used a common model, each Imperial Knight crafted his or her own lightsaber while training in the ways of the Force. The weapons were constructed in a manner similar to that of the Jedi Order; however, unlike their Jedi counterparts, Imperial Knights created synthetic lightsaber crystals rather than seeking out natural ones. Their method of constructing crystals was adapted from the writings of Palpatine, a late Sith Lord and former ruler of the Galactic Empire. Palpatine had detailed the creation of synthetic crystals in The Book of Anger, a tome of dark side lore that nevertheless contained some teachings&mdash;such as the crystal construction process&mdash;which were free of the dark side's taint. The Imperial Knights' construction process was bereft of ceremony and was afforded little more significance than when a new Force power or fighting technique was learned. Lessons in unarmed and vehicular combat, as well as in the use of Force powers, required as much of an apprentice's time as did lightsaber training, and the completed weapon was seen by each Knight as one tool in a larger combat arsenal.

Imperial Knights used their lightsabers in the practice of various forms of lightsaber combat, including two that were unique to their order: the aggressive Praetoria Vonil and the defensive Praetoria Ishu. In combat situations, Imperial Knights often complemented the use of their lightsaber with defensive cortosis gauntlets. Worn on their forearms, the cortosis-embedded gauntlets could block the lightsaber strikes of opponents and disable the blade for several minutes, in turn allowing the Imperial Knights to use their own lightsabers to counter-attack their defenseless foe. When not drawn, an Imperial Knight's lightsaber was usually clipped to his or her belt, where it visibly hung atop their crimson armor. The combination of white-bladed lightsaber and crimson battle armor was a prominent trait of the Imperial Knights that visibly distinguished them from their Jedi cousins. By itself, the lightsaber sometimes led spectators to believe that its wielder was a Jedi.

Early strikes
"Requiring us to leave our lightsabers on the ship makes guarding the ambassador more difficult.''" "''Good thing we smuggled them on anyway. Especially knowing our Galactic Alliance friends there have concealed blasters."

- Ganner Krieg and Antares Draco, while aboard the Wheel

The Imperial Knights' lightsaber was in use as early as 130 ABY during the closing stages of the Sith–Imperial War. When the conflict came to an end, Emperor Roan Fel of the Fel Empire was betrayed by his One Sith allies. In a ruse, four Imperial Knights used their lightsabers to protect Fel's security double when the Sith Lord Darth Krayt arrived on the galactic capital world of Coruscant to usurp the Imperial throne. As Krayt killed them with his own blades, the lightsabers of Fel and his loyal Knight Antares Draco concurrently saw action against LV8-series guard droids as the two fugitives escaped through the planet's Sublevel 12. Displaced from his throne, Fel became the leader of an Empire-in-exile, and his Imperial Knights continued to serve him as he opposed Darth Krayt's Galactic Empire. At some point prior to 137 ABY, Imperial Knight Eshkar Niin abandoned the vows he had made to the Emperor and used his lightsaber to kill Fel's wife, Elliah, before defecting to Krayt's Sith.

The year 137 ABY saw a heavy amount of conflict between the two Empires in one of the Second Imperial Civil War's most intense periods of fighting,  and Imperial Knights were routinely dispatched on missions throughout the galaxy by their Emperor. Early in the year, the Imperial Knight Elke Vetter employed her lightsaber in a duel against the Sith Hand Darth Talon, but was overpowered and killed by her opponent. Talon later led a group of Sith to Vendaxa to apprehend Princess Marasiah, who was being protected by Antares Draco and fellow Imperial Knight Ganner Krieg, as well as two Jedi and the smuggling crew of the pirate vessel Mynock. A number of Sith fell to the three Knights' blades during the subsequent skirmish. The captain of the Mynock was Cade Skywalker, a former Jedi and the heir to a powerful legacy who had forsaken his family's Force-using tradition years before and turned to a life of bounty hunting. During the battle, his first step towards reclaiming his legacy came when he picked up the lightsaber of a gravely-injured Marasiah and used it to attack the Sith.

As the war continued to rage, Draco and Krieg were sent by their Emperor to a space station known as the Wheel to serve as bodyguards to Imperial emissary Mingo Bovark as he negotiated an alliance with Galactic Alliance Remnant Admiral Gar Stazi. Although no weapons were allowed on the station, Draco and Krieg smuggled their lightsabers aboard and ended up using them to deflect blaster shots fired by Alliance soldiers when the meeting was sabotaged by Sith-employed spies. When the two Knights refused to surrender their weapons to Wheel Administrator Pol Temm, Temm declared the station off-limits to all of Emperor Fel's forces. The Emperor's own lightsaber later saw action on his Empire's fortress world of Bastion when the Sith Lord Darth Kruhl infiltrated the planet and attacked Fel in the Pellaeon Gardens. Fel used his weapon to deflect the Sith's lightsaber attacks, but when Kruhl's Force lightning disarmed him, the Emperor finished his foe off with a blaster pistol.

Piercing the Sith
"Is this how you welcome all visitors, Jedi?''" "Uninvited visitors who arrive with lightsabers'' in hand, yes!"

- Krieg and Shado Vao, while dueling at the Hidden Temple

When Fel sent Imperial Knights Treis Sinde and Sigel Dare to the planet Dac to sabotage the construction of an advanced Star Destroyer belonging to Krayt's Empire, the two successfully executed their undercover mission in plainclothes but nevertheless carried their lightsabers. Aided by several of the planet's native Mon Calamari, Admiral Stazi soon after seized the Destroyer in the name of the Galactic Alliance Remnant, and Darth Krayt consequently arrived on-world to declare a genocide of the Mon Calamari people. Sinde and Dare were on Dac at the time, and they used their lightsabers to cut through hordes of Imperial stormtroopers on their way to rescue several pilots of the Galactic Alliance Remnant in an effort to warn Stazi of the explosives they had planted. As Dare and the pilots took a shuttle into space, Sinde remained on Dac's surface and dueled the Sith Lord Darth Azard, thereby buying his comrades time to escape. After escaping from the Sith Lord, Sinde became trapped on the planet and joined forces with the Mon Calamari Rangers, who were actively resisting Krayt's Empire. Sinde fought alongside them in several battles, often using his lightsaber against Imperial forces while swimming through the planet's oceans.

While Sinde was on Dac, his Emperor pursued a formal alliance with the Jedi Order. Marasiah, Draco, and Krieg covertly followed the Mynock to a Hidden Jedi Temple on the planet Taivas, and when the princess's protectors departed their ship with lightsabers drawn, Skywalker and the Jedi Knight Shado Vao attacked them. Tensions died down after a brief lightsaber duel, and Draco and Krieg soon after joined Vao and the Mynock crew on a mission to the planet Had Abbadon to assassinate Darth Krayt. Aided by the ancient Jedi Knight Celeste Morne and her army of Rakghouls, the group did battle with Krayt and several of his Sith Lords. A number of the volatile Rakghouls were felled by the Imperial Knights' blades, and Krayt ultimately survived the encounter. Fel's alliance with the Jedi was only secured when he traveled to the planet Agamar to conduct peace talks with several Jedi representatives; more than ten Knights accompanied their Emperor to the meeting, and they fought alongside their new Jedi allies when a Sith strike force arrived. Many Sith were killed by the lightsabers of the Imperial Knights, who used their blades and cortosis gauntlets to protect their Emperor. Along with the Jedi, they were able to ferry Fel away from the planet.

With a three-way alliance between the Empire-in-exile, the Jedi, and the Galactic Alliance Remnant secure, Darth Krayt began a renewed military push against his enemies in 138 ABY. Draco, Krieg, Marasiah, and Azlyn Rae stood with the Jedi as they defended the Hidden Temple from a Sith onslaught, cutting down several Sith warriors who attempted to breach the temple's gates. Krieg and Rae used their lightsabers to bring down an Imperial walker. After evacuating Taivas, the allies struck at Krayt's throneworld of Coruscant, where Rae, Krieg, and Dare joined a strike team led by Skywalker that was tasked with bringing down the world's planetary shields. The Imperial Knights used their lightsabers to battle their way through Sith and Sith troopers on their way to the planet's central defensive computers; after they arrived, Krieg's lightsaber was one of several which disabled the computers and brought down the planetary shields, in turn allowing the allied fleets to attack.

The Emperor had his own plans to destroy the Sith, and, from the Star Destroyer Jagged Fel, he prepared to release a bioweapon onto Coruscant's surface that would destroy all life on the planet. As every Imperial Knight had vowed to kill the Emperor if he were ever to fall to the dark side, Draco engaged Fel in a lightsaber duel. The two Knights locked blades outside of an escape pod, and as Fel prepared to launch the weapon, Draco's blade pierced his chest, killing him. The Sith eventually retreated from Coruscant, and, during a funeral for the Emperor held on-world in the battle's aftermath, Marasiah was declared the new Empress and a member of the Galactic Federation Triumvirate. Draco and Krieg flanked her, holding their ignited lightsabers aloft as those in attendance mourned the death of the Emperor.

Behind the scenes
The Imperial Knights' lightsaber design first appeared in Star Wars: Legacy 0, a June 2006 preview issue of the impending Legacy comic series. The lightsabers have since appeared in a number of issues of Legacy,  as well as in its followup miniseries, Star Wars: Legacy&mdash;War. Further details on the weapon and its method of creation were revealed in 2009's Legacy Era Campaign Guide.

In the Legacy comics, the lightsaber's blade is consistently depicted with a white hue. Although the Legacy Era Campaign Guide and The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia similarly describe a white blade, Threats of the Galaxy asserts that the color is silver.

The Imperial Knights' lightsaber has been immortalized in plastic on several occasions. Miniature figurines of Antares Draco, Ganner Krieg, Sigel Dare, Marasiah Fel, and Roan Fel were released by Wizards of the Coast in 2008. All five figures pose with their lightsabers drawn. Additionally, from 2008 to 2009, 3 3/4 inch action figures of Draco, Krieg, and Dare were released by Hasbro. Each figure comes packaged with a lightsaber that features a removable blade.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Legacy 8: Allies
 * Star Wars: Legacy: Broken
 * Star Wars: Legacy: Trust Issues
 * Star Wars: Legacy 13: Ready to Die
 * Star Wars: Legacy 22: The Wrath of the Dragon
 * Star Wars: Legacy: The Hidden Temple
 * Star Wars: Legacy: Vector
 * Star Wars: Legacy: Fight Another Day
 * Star Wars: Legacy 35: Storms, Part 2
 * Star Wars: Legacy: Monster
 * Star Wars: Legacy 48: Extremes, Part 1
 * Star Wars: Legacy&mdash;War

Notes and references
Sable de luz de Caballero Imperial