Reginald Barkbone

"Barkbone substituted the absent leg with a peg of cybernetic design, though I sadly cannot say the same for his brain."

- Grand Admiral Rufaan Tigellinus

Reginald Barkbone, Scourge of the Seven Sectors, was a swashbuckling pirate pursued by the Empire during the Galactic Civil War. A Poss'Nomin male, he was the figure of much myth, infamous for many audacious heists and daring escapades in his flagship, the Robber Baron. Noted for his flamboyance, Barkbone sported a lightfoil and spoke Lok Pirate's Cant, keeping a Kowakian monkey-lizard atop his shoulder at all times to repeat his every word. His most famous exploits included a raid on the palaces of Hapes, a fracas with Imperial Royal Guards on Axion, and a successful voyage through the Fire Rings of Fornax; at the cost of his leg, eye, and mind, respectively. The Loronar navy attempted to apprehend Barkbone, vainly pursuing the Poss'Nomin bandit for a month.

After the Battle of Yavin, the Imperial Navy made Barkbone's apprehension a priority, tasking Grand Admiral Rufaan Tigellinus with his capture. Tigellinus chased Barkbone around the galaxy to no avail, but was determined to capture the relentless freebooter.

Scourge of the Seven Sectors
"Me worst spell in space? No, 'twarnt sailing through the fire rings of Fornax. 'Twas the month I spent on the run from the Loronar navy, an' stuck with a vegetarian galley droid."

- Reginald Barkbone

Reginald Barkbone was a male member of the three-eyed Poss'Nomin species who lived as a pirate during the Imperial Era. A being surrounded by myth and supposition, he had become infamous by the early years of the Galactic Empire, earning the moniker "Scourge of the Seven Sectors." At various points in his career, Barkbone was active in the Outer Rim Territories, the Mid Rim, the Expansion Region, the Inner Rim, and the Colonies, striking at an array of targets. Barkbone's flagship was a stolen Star Galleon-class frigate, the Robber Baron, though he also had a number of Incom corsairs at his disposal. He was known as a sly, savage operator, mentioned in the same breath as notorious pirate Gir Kybo Ren-Cha, as well as the Thalassian slavers and Black Hole Gang, considered some of the most pernicious marauders operating in the Outer Rim Territories.

Barkbone was infamous for a slew of implausible, heroic feats. His most famous accomplishment was a successful journey through the Fire Rings of Fornax, an exceedingly difficult task  and one which saw Barkbone lose his mind. Rufaan Tigellinus of the Imperial Navy claimed to have witnessed the voyage. The Poss'Nomin freebooter lost one of his legs while plundering palaces on Hapes, but he replaced the severed limb with a cybernetic peg and returned to his piratical vocation. On another occasion, the Robber Galleon was pursued for a month by the Loronar navy, but Barkbone was not apprehended. The pirate claimed it was his least enjoyable interlude in space, because the COO-series cook droid in the galley was programmed to produce only vegetarian food.

Imperial pursuit
"One way or another, I vow to wipe Reginald Barkbone from the fabric of space forever&hellip;"

- Grand Admiral Rufaan Tigellinus

Barkbone clashed with members of the Imperial Royal Guard on Axion in the Expansion Region at some point. After pillaging the planet, he attached a limpet mine to a GNK power droid while running from Imperial Guards. The shell of a Gonk droid was extremely durable, but when cracked the internal generator exploded with force; Barkbone's mine achieved this, and he was able to shoot his way to freedom in the blast and resulting pandemonium. He escaped, but the endeavor cost Barkbone one of his eyes and half his face.

Shortly after the Battle of Yavin, the Imperial Navy stepped up its pursuit of Barkbone, and Grand Admiral Rufaan Tigellinus was tasked with his apprehension. In his Star Destroyer Avatar, Tigellinus claimed to have chased the Robber Galleon from the Colonies to the Outer Rim Territories. During the Avatar 's hunt for Barkbone, he carried out a heist in the Tapani sector, stealing a lightfoil in the process. Though Tigellinus's attempts to stop Barkbone's rapacity were fruitless, several of the Poss'Nomin's crew members were captured, and under interrogation they helped corroborate the Empire's records on Barkbone, separating fact from fiction. Grand Admiral Tigellinus wrote a succinct report for Maximillian Seerdon of the Imperial Security Bureau after a prolonged and futile pursuit; this report was in turn given to Grand Vizier Sate Pestage, placing Barkbone alongside other such pests to the Empire as smuggler Dash Rendar and outlaw tech Klaus Vandangante. Tigellinus was a rabid Humanocentric so had personal motivation for the capture of Barkbone, a non-Human. His report was disdainful of the Poss'Nomin's character and mental state, but Tigellinus recognized his threat.

Personality and traits
"More cutthroat than the Thalassians, more underhanded than the Black Hole Gang, and more preposterous than Gir Kybo Ren-Cha&hellip;"

- Grand Admiral Rufaan Tigellinus

He spoke Lok Pirate's Cant, as well as a bizarre dialect of Basic, every word of which was annoyingly repeated by a dwarf monkey-lizard who sat on his shoulder.

buccaneer

Behind the scenes
"p. 153: Here you'll see the first of two references to Reginald Barkbone, legendary pirate of the Seven Sectors. No tie-ins here. I just like pirates."

- Daniel Wallace

Reginald Barkbone was created by Daniel Wallace for The New Essential Guide to Droids in 2006. Barkbone is presented with a "classic campy pirate feel," and was inserted because he was partial to such hackneyed pirates. While working on Underworld Appendix: Swoops, Spice, and Wretched Rogues, the online supplement to Star Wars Insider 89, Abel G. Peña realized no pirates had been included in the article and having been amused by Barkbone's brief appearance in The New Essential Guide to Droids, decided to include him. Daniel Wallace endorsed the expansion of Barkbone's backstory, with the caveat that he retained his character as an archetypal pirate. Underworld Appendix, co-written by Peña and Ryan Kaufman, was published several months after The New Essential Guide to Droids. Barkbone subsequently received an entry in The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia in 2008.

Notes and references
Reginald Barkbone