Back to Episode I
Manek, Mitul, and Uttara. The three gladiator greats of the Capitol Arena.
Manek is seated, Mitul standing, and Uttara on the floor. These three gladiators were all instumental in the ILF's terrorist activities.
Uttara is younger than Manek, Mitul older. As with Manek, their exact ages are not really known, and both were subject to the same growth acceleration.
Mitul is romantically interested in Manek, who is not as responsive as Mitul would like him to be. Regardless, they consider eachother brothers.
And lastly ofr toady...Druj and the IPF (Iridonian Police Forces).
an ex-Lieutenant, Goverenor General Druj, 25, took over the Iridonian government after the President was assassinated by the ILF. He assumed military control of the situation, forming alliances with the Galactic Senate, Commerce Guild, and other corporate groups to bring development and military power to Iridonia, promishing to use his newly aquired weaponry to wipe out the lower echelons of Zabraki society that were sponsoring the ILF.
Zabraki's wer often categorized based on the number and size of the horns on their head. It had been a historical conception that the fewer and smaller your horns were, the more civilized you were. While society "had moved past this stage" recent tensions with the ILF had re-opened the conncetion between terrorism and those Zabraki's with many large horns.
The IPF troopers were a synthesis of Police and Military, they were incherge of every aspect of civilian life under Druj's regime. Their primary task was to elimnate the terrorist ILF. Once tha was completed, Druj and the IPF promise to dissolve.
In case you haven't figured out. Druj and Manek are extremely at odds with eachother. This is the main conflict of Episode I.
Druj is the one standking in the image.
The other two are just sampels of IPF troopers. There really won't be any development within the ranks. They're very much stormies, but with skill.
Much more to come soon. I have over 100 drawings for thsi series and I'm not even close to being done, but I have to get back to work.
I'm primarily an artistst, and not a writer. But I am trying to branch out....
Hence I'll conclude with the introduction. There is no opening crawl...because they're annyoing 🙂
Chapter 1
“As you can see commissioners, I have a real problem here. This is not the time to be questioning my methods. My people need your support, not your doubts.”
–Governer-General Druj to Special Senatorial Comission on Iridonian Affairs
14 Years Before the Battle of Geonosis
Rapid footsteps echoed softly on the permacrete walls of the Iridonian public sewer. A shadowy figure, slightly hunched, disappeared in the dark, moldy bends of the tunnel. Reaching a large cavernous space, he stopped, his black eyes scanning the decaying walls. His breathing was deep but measured, and the spotlights on his head briefly teased out the details of one side tunnel, then the next. Unvoiced whispers reverberated along the walls, calling his attention.
Manek’s eyes darted to the tunnel just to the left. Pausing for a second, he reached out, feeling the warmth and familiarity from the tunnel. He moved towards it, and slipped into the darkness.
Rounding a final corner, he came to a flattened area where several pipes merged. There, several young men and a woman or two reclined against the rounded tunnel walls. They shuffled their legs out of Manek’s way as he passed, greeting him with slight bows of their heads.
Kenobi, the most respectable character in Star Wars. What spawned this adventure?
"For over a thousand years, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy."
Bias. "So what I told you was true, from a certain point of view."
What if you were a slave, brought up on a desert planet.
What if you trained by a Jedi to tap into power you've never dreamed of.
What if you were rescued by the Jedi an trained to be a leader.
What if you pushed into a war.
What if you found out that you were to fulfill a prophecy, bearing the legacy of an Order.
What if everything you've ever been told...
...was a lie.
Some more artwork. I've continued to write.
Darth Maul. The Qui-Gon Jinn of my story.
Manek. Manek is the Anakin of the story.
Mitul. One of Manek's childhood friends on Iridonia (Tatooine)
Avia A fellow Jedi and General of Manek's at teh Jedi Academy and during the Clone Wars.
Basic points of the story:
One thing that disturbed Queeq about my rewrite of the PT is that the main character was not going to be Anakin....or even human. I really don't want to rewrite Anakin. He's not that significant of a character to me, and since I don't have to write to fit the OT, I can be flexible.
I guess what I'm writing is more of a PT companion, a side story to the whole saga. So why is this relevant?
What if there was an alternative to Anakin being the chosen one? What if there was another Jedi who demonstrated exceptional skills and power in the force, a Zabrak, who started his Jedi education late, just like Anakin.
The Order would divide into camps. The human-centric Jedi would naturally pull for Anakin, the popular, charismatic, golden haired dream boy of the jedi order. Yet Anakin is spoiled, overconfident, and whiny. Another camp pulls for the underdog, Manek.
But Anakin's publicity campaigns during the Clone Wars, promoted by his close friendship with Palpatine are just as such, and maybe the real "chosen one" is someone else. Anakin becomes the face of the Clone Wars, the hero of Coruscant and the rest of the Republic, as does his Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, who has blindly believed in him since day one.
Yet Manek, with his exceptional skill and darker past, is the alternative.
Perhaps Palpatine chose who would become the "chosen one."
I know they will contrast. Anakin will be as he is in the films: spoiled, whiny, popular, showed with attention and praise, everyone's hero. Anakin still falls. Manek "falls" as well.
Right now I kind of see it as Anakin becomes Vader in the flesh before he gets the suit. Manek is the person thats left over in Anakin, his better side.
Manek will likely fight Vader at the end as the "Battle of the Heroes"...however I'm still working that out and I don't know if I want Manek to have three Epic battles in a row. I don't know if the plot can take that and I don't want it to become ROTS where the whole movie is a giant disjointed lightsaber fight.
They might fight, repeatedly. (I happen to recall Luke fighting Vader in Episode II and III of the OT and I try to get my inspiration from within Star Wars itself) 😉