User:Lord Hydronium/Workbench

"He is a Jedi&hellip;a man of honor!"

- Ganathan subject

Empatojayos Brand was a Jedi Knight and survivor of the Great Jedi Purge. The Padawan of Yaddle, Brand graduated to Knighthood after the Battle of Naboo in 32 BBY. He served the Jedi Order and Republic in the following years, and in 22 BBY was sent to negotiate an end to the decades-long Sepan Civil War, albeit unsuccessfully. Within months the Clone Wars began, and Brand flew a Delta-7 Aethersprite-class light interceptor as part of a Jedi strike team in the Battle of Geonosis that opened the war. Brand became a Jedi General during the war, leading his clone troopers to victory in the Battle of Bassadro.

When the Clone Wars ended, however, the Jedi were declared enemies of the Republic and Brand was hunted down by Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader. Brand's ship was damaged by Vader near Nar Shaddaa, and the grievously injured Brand was left to die. However, he was rescued by the nearby and technologically primitive Ganathans. They fit him with a prosthetic body, and Brand became the King of Ganath.

In 10 ABY, a damaged ship called the Millennium Falcon arrived in Ganathan Space. Brand learned from its passengers, Han Solo and his wife Leia Organa Solo of the New Republic, that Vader had been defeated, but the war continued to rage against Emperor Palpatine, who had discovered a way to cheat death by transferring his consciousness between clone bodies. Brand also learned that Leia's brother Luke Skywalker was rebuilding a New Jedi Order and accompanied the Solos back to their safeworld of New Alderaan. After an Imperial attack, Brand joined Skywalker and the New Republic in their flight from the Empire. Brand eventually accompanied Skywalker in a last-ditch attempt at stopping Palpatine on the world of Onderon. Though injured by Palpatine in the fight, Brand was able to capture his soul, and upon dying carried it to the Netherworld of the Force, where the former Emperor would be held prisoner by all departed Jedi for eternity.

Life as a Jedi
Empatojayos Brand was a member of the Jedi Order, the Padawan of Jedi Master Yaddle. Brand passed the Jedi Trials and became a Jedi Knight after the Battle of Naboo in 32 BBY. He would be Yaddle's last apprentice. Brand received some of his training in the ways of the Force from Master Yoda as well. In 22 BBY, Brand was dispatched along with fellow Jedi Bultar Swan and Chellemi Chuovvick to the Sepan sector to negotiate a peace to the long-running Sepan Civil War, between the worlds of Dimok and Ripoblus. During the months-long negotiations, hostilities came to a halt, but upon the Jedi's return to Coruscant fighting flared up again.

Only months later, war broke out on the planet Geonosis, as Jedi and the Galactic Republic's new clone troopers were dispatched to that world to rescue the captured Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi from Count Dooku, leader of the secessionist Confederacy of Independent Systems. Brand flew a Delta-7 Aethersprite-class light interceptor into battle with a strike team led by Mace Windu. Upon arriving at Geonosis, Brand and his squadron joined with Master Adi Gallia to stop Cavik Toth, an ally of Dooku, from deploying a chemical weapon called trihexalon, or "hex," onto the surface of Geonosis. Brand and his wing intercepted Toth's fleet above Geonosis. Between Brand and the other Jedi the squadron was able to destroy Toth's Hex Deployers, then defeat the Sabaoth Destroyers that Toth brought in as reinforcement. The pirate Nym and allied ships arrived shortly thereafter in support of the squadron; with their help, Toth's plans were waylaid and Gallia was able to kill Toth.

Geonosis turned out to be the opening battle of the galaxy-wide Clone Wars, and in the war Brand became a Jedi General. In 21 BBY, Brand and his clone troopers went to Bassadro, a mineral-rich world that the Confederacy had occupied. The Battle of Bassadro lasted twelve days and was ended when Brand led his battalion to the dormant volcanic ranges that offered cover for the Separatist forces commanded by Major Domb Treetor. Brand ordered concussion missile strikes against the rock formations, removing the Separatists' cover and creating a storm of shrapnel that sliced through the mining village of Agao-Nir, destroying many of the battle droids stationed there, and according to the Confederacy's Shadowfeed news service, four hundred villagers. Treetor surrendered, and Bassadro was retaken for the Republic.

Flight to Ganath
In 19 BBY, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine declared the Jedi enemies of the Republic and ordered their extermination, then transformed the Republic into a Galactic Empire with himself as Emperor. His new apprentice Darth Vader hunted down the Jedi, including Brand. Brand fled in a ship, but it was destroyed near Ganathan Space, an isolated pocket of space within a radioactive gas cloud. Brand's body was ruined, and the Jedi drifted through empty space in a pressure suit until he was rescued by the Ganathans, a race of people with limited space-faring capability who power their technology with steam. Brand was outfitted with a Ganathan-designed cyborg body to keep him alive, his legs replaced with repulsors and his arms with prostheses. Because he was strong in the Force, the Ganathans made him their king.

Brand believed that Vader had killed all the remaining Jedi. With no contact of the outside world, he remained unaware of events in the galaxy at large. of Vader's eventual death, or of Palpatine's death and return in a clone body, and assumed that Vader had become a powerful warlord in charge of many star systems.

Return to the fight
In 10 ABY, another ship penetrated the gas cloud: a New Republic vessel called the Millennium Falcon, carrying Han Solo, his wife Leia Organa Solo, his copilot Chewbacca, and Jedi purge survivor Vima-Da-Boda, all fleeing the bounty hunter Boba Fett. Upon entering the cloud, the damaged Falcon nearly ran into the Ganathan battleship Robida Colossus, which towed them back to Ganath. While they were en route, Ganathan Tower Command contacted Brand, presuming he would be interested to know of the outsiders. Brand met them at the spaceport, and immediately recognizing Leia and Vima-Da-Boda as Jedi, ordered the guards surrounding them to lower their guns. Brand identified himself to them as Jedi and the two women confirmed it.

Personality and traits
In his youth, Brand was vain and confident.

Jedi days
Brand was a Padawan of Jedi Master Yaddle, a friend of Bultar Swan, and a veteran General of the Clone Wars, fighting at the Battle of Geonosis and other engagements. During the Battle of Bassadro, a force of clone troopers under Empatojayos Brand retook the planet from the Confederacy of Independent Systems which intended to use its resources for the construction of new battle droids.

During the fighting, Brand led his battalion to the dormant volcanic ranges that offered cover for the Separatist forces commanded by Major Domb Treetor. Brand also ordered concussion missile strikes against the rock formations, creating a storm of shrapnel that sliced through the mining village of Agao-Nir, wiping out almost every battle droid stationed there. Utterly defeated, Major Treetor surrendered, and Bassadro was retaken for the Republic.

News of Treetor's surrender was broadcast on Republic HoloNet channels, though the Separatists were quick to ensure reporters knew the 'true' reason for the Major's surrender—supposedly, Domb Treetor surrendered to Brand only to save the citizens of Agao and other nearby settlements from further warfare.

When Emperor Palpatine reorganized the Galactic Republic into the Galactic Empire and initiated the Great Jedi Purge at the end of the Clone Wars, Brand found himself an enemy of the Empire and fled for his life.

Left for dead
Maimed in a space battle with Darth Vader's cruiser, Brand was left to drift amidst the turbulent and highly irradiated clouds near Nar Shaddaa, to die a slow death from radiation poisoning. He survived long enough for a Ganathan scout to pick him up and take him to Ganath in a pocket of clear space within the uncharted depths of the clouds. Brand's injuries were too critical for the Ganathan's archaic technology to repair and his torso was placed into a bulbous metal shell that moved via repulsorlifts. Lightsaber blades were integrated into at least one of his arm prostheses. He became King of Ganath, and during his reign, he believed he ruled with justice. Because of his isolation, he had no idea what was going on in the galaxy. He set out into the galaxy once more when the Millennium Falcon came to Ganath.

Ultimate sacrifice
"Luke&hellip;Palpatine will die with me. He will never return. The Force&mdash;and all the Jedi who went before us&hellip; will make sure of that. Goodbye, my friend."

- Brand's last words

Later, he joined with Luke Skywalker in his campaign against the resurrected Emperor Palpatine. He was mortally wounded by a bolt of Palpatine's Force lightning during the Battle of Onderon. Upon death, he took the Sith Master's malevolent spirit with him, ensuring that it could never return again.

Behind the scenes
In the audio drama version of Dark Empire II, Brand was voiced by Joe Hacker.

Brand mistakenly appears in the background of the marriage scene in the comic Star Wars: Union, set eight years after his death.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter
 * Republic HoloNet News Core Edition 14:2:12: Republic Army Liberates Bassadro
 * Dark Empire II
 * Empire's End
 * Star Wars: Dark Empire audio
 * Star Wars: Union
 * Star Wars: Union