Grand Admiral Thrawn
Species: Humanoid
Sex: Male
Hair Color: Blue-black
Eye Color: Red
Height: 1.8 meters
Homeworld: Unknown
Political Affiliation: Empire
The highest-ranking nonhuman in the Empire's history was the regal, blue-skinned Thrawn. He would also become one of the New Republic's greatest threats.
Thrawn's origins are unknown. His blue skin, blue-black hair, and glowing red eyes marked him as an alien, but his species and home planet remained a mystery to all save the Emperor. Following Palpatine's ascendency to power, Thrawn had been placed in charge of the barbaric Unknown Regions. He was so successfull in bringing the worlds to Imperial control that the Emperor bestowed an unheard-of honor on him: Thrawn became one of the twelve Grand Admirals of the Empire, and the only nonhuman among them.
Thrawn continued his subjugation of the Unknown Regions, utilizing his incredible military and tactical genius for the Empire's greater glory. Analyzing and correlating threads of disparate information, he was able to pull stunning victories from certain defeat. His men came to respect and support him. Even those whose careers and military stations his own had surpassed considered Thrawn a remarkable leader.
Five years after the destruction of the second Death Star, Thrawn returned to the Empire's galaxy, only to discover it was no longer controlled by them. Palpatine was dead, and a New Republic had arisen to lead the planets to a peaceful future. Grand Admiral Thrawn quickly took control over the ships in the Imperial fleet, rallying the remnants and inspiring them to pull together for a carefully crafted attack on the Rebellion.
Thrawn's plans for the defeat of the Rebels had several parts. From his seat on the Star Destroyer Chimaera, supported by the competent Captain Pellaeon, Thrawn orchestrated these pieces in a way that almost brought the New Republic down.
On the planet Myrkr, he gained control of a species of creatures known as ysalamiri. These tiny rodents had the ability to push away the Force, making Jedi --and any minor Force user-- powerless. Then, on the forgotten planet of Wayland, inside the Emperor's storehouse Mount Tantiss, Thrawn gained three more elements of his plan: a cloaking device, the Spaarti cloning cylinders, and the services of the Dark Jedi Joruus C'Baoth.
The legacy of Darth Vader had left Thrawn the services of the ruthless Noghri. One of them, Rukh, served as his ever-present and ever-deadly bodyguard. Other Noghri became his personal Death Commando squadron, and he dispatched them to capture Leia Organa Solo so that C'Baoth could train her in the ways of the dark side. C'Baoth himself was attempting to lure Luke Skywalker into his clutches.
Using his spies and surveillance devices on Coruscant, Thrawn was able to track and dissect the Rebellion's movements. He refused to refer to the group as the "New Republic." They were traitors and rebels, undeserving of the legitimacy the other title bestowed on them.
Thrawn used his private chambers on board the Chimaera to meditate and to plan his strikes on the Rebellion. His spacious quarters were a museum of sorts, containing holograms of the galaxy's art treasures from hundreds of worlds. He believed that by understanding a species' art, he could understand their thinking and defeat them.
Besides the Chimaera, Thrawn's main fleet consisted of several other ships: the four other Star Destroyers, twelve Strike-class cruisers, twenty-two Carrack-class light cruisers, and thirty full squadrons of TIE fighters --in addition to the TIE squadrons already aboard the Star Destroyers.
To test the readiness of his fleet, Thrawn launched an attack on Bpfassh and two other planets in the Sluis system, ordering a hit-and-run attack. It was not meant to obliterate the Bpfasshi, but to frighten them into calling for New Republic reinforcements. The New Republic ships --if captured-- could be used to enhance Thrawn's own fleet.
The Grand Admiral also stole a complement of mole miners from Lando Calrissian's mining operation on Nkllon, intent on using them for his next move. His first main strike against the Rebellion was in the Sluis Van shipyards, but his takeover attempt was thwarted, and he withdrew.
Thrawn's scientists soon had found a way to use Spaarti cloning to provide an unlimited supply of soldiers.
The ysalamiri proved effective when the mad Jedi Joruus C'Baoth became difficult, unpredictable, and uncontrollable. Thrawn had special shoulder harnesses created for himself that allowed him to wear an ysalamiri at all times, protecting himself and those in close range from C'Baoth's powers. This was never more important than when --in a mad show of power-- C'Baoth took control over everyone on the Chimaera except for Captain Pellaeon and Thrawn.
Before any clones could be grown, Thrawn made several other strikes on the Rebellion. His cloaked fleet attacked the food-production planet Ukio and the metal-production planet Woostri. Finally, in a move designed to trap the New Republic leaders on their own planet, Thrawn's ships released cloaked asteroids into orbit above Coruscant. Only twenty-two asteroids were cloaked and deadly, but Thrawn had released three hundred sensor imaged to confuse the New Republic sensors.
While C'Baoth practiced making clones on Wayland, Thrawn was planning his next move. He wanted more capital ships, which were docked at the Bilbringi shipyards. During the attack on Bilbringi, he was surprised by the appearance of smuggler ships helping the Rebels. Thrawn's forces were defeated yet again, despite his expert tactical moves.
And then the randomness of the universe struck. Thrawn, who overestimated the loyalty of his people, was killed by the one closest to him. The Noghri assassin Rukh had learned that Thrawn had betrayed his people. Rukh killed him and escaped.