Tresk Im'nel:

Did anyone else notice that Grand Admiral Takel is wearing gloves in the header illustration for the SWI 66 article?

Hmm, I suppose he is. It looks like Thrawn is too in that illo, though.

Originally, Dan gave Declann black gloves and even a black cape to reflect his Dark Side leanings. This description was dropped from Declann's bio for the Insider revamp, but Joe still draped a cape over Declann's shoulders.

LOL! Good point. I just think the more Germanic pronunciation goes well with the spelling of his first name. I even go so far as to assume the "j" in Josef is pronounced as "y,"

I originally intended it to sound like "Joseph" but over the years have become partial to the "Yosef" pronunciation.

As someone used to having his name pronounced in two different forms on a regular basis ("A-bowl" and "Ah-bell"), I'm fairly comfortable with the ambiguity of Grunger's name. Folks can choose whichever they prefer.

Take care,
Abel

Is it not possible that the Battle of Taulus, in which the HIMS Aggressor was destroyed, took place a few months or weeks after Rogue Squadron, therefore allowing continuity to flow more easily.

Another possibility could be that the Star Destroyer was under Admiral Grunger's command, but he still did Isard a few favours every now and then? Didn't he declare himself "leader of the Empire?" After the Triculous affair, he may still have had some connections with Isard, and he agreed to retake Corellia from Grand Admiral Pitta.

As a fan myself, I can sympathize with this kind of frustration. As an author, I can now also sympathize with the difficulties of writing in a shared universe. Between Dan and myself, we have basically all aspects of the EU covered, and pound for pound tend to reconcile more continuity gaffs per product than arguably any other writer of Star Wars. That certainly doesn't justify anything, but hopefully puts things in perspective.

Oh, we (well, at least I) do have perspective, which is why I made sure to put the ". . . or not. " in my post. You two HAVE done a tremendous job of reconciling continuity errors, to a higher degree than any other author I can think of (although Fry and Stackpole probably get honorable mentions, they're still well behind you two).

Teshik's execution was nothing necessarily just, just politics as usual . . . Tragically, Teshik was perhaps the least "evil" of the GAs. Life's tough.

Indeed. I think you managed to craft a genuinely tragic tale with Teshik in 4 paragraphs, which is an impressive feat.

Dan and I had a sequel of sorts to the GAs planned for Polyhedron, when it unexpectedly dropped its SW content. But like the GAs piece, originally penned for Gamer, we may resurrect it.

Cool. Though it would've been handy to have some RPG stats flying around, even if it meant I had to back-convert them to D6 . . .

I had intended for Grand Admiral Josef Grunger to be an Alderaanian Marine at a point earlier in his career. This was ultimately cut from the GAs article, though his Alderaanian heritage made it into a Fact Files card, I believe.

Interesting. Fact Files made cards of the Grand Admirals? Do you (or anyone else reading this, for that matter) know anything more about this?

forcing him jump through more hoops...

As a fan myself, I can sympathize with this kind of frustration. As an author, I can now also sympathize with the difficulties of writing in a shared universe. Between Dan and myself, we have basically all aspects of the EU covered, and pound for pound tend to reconcile more continuity gaffs per product than arguably any other writer of Star Wars. That certainly doesn't justify anything, but hopefully puts things in perspective.

The Aggressor, unfortunately, fell into a sort of blind spot between us. In our defense, I can only say that the Aggressor reference did not explicitly contradict any existing EU, only overlooked a correlation that would've made sense. The Aggressor mentioned in the X-wing novels was never specified as a Super Star Destroyer, and we have at the very least one example of SDs of different classes taking on the same name, as in the Victory SD and Super SD both named Iron Fist.

Take care,
Abel

Silly Dan:

Could he have held both positions simultaneously?

Hey Silly Dan. Tigellinus was beloved: intelligent, highly capable, a smooth talker, and young.the idealized Imperial. With that kind of pull, it certainly might've been possible for him to be recognized as both a Grand Admiral and Grand Moff, at least informally. The Committee of Grand Moffs certainly saw it that way when they offered Tigellinus to join them.

Tresk Im'nel:

*Gee, I feel bad about forgetting to tell Mr. Corroney what a good job I thought he did on SWI 66 at the time he posted here. *

I'll pass the word along Tresk.

jSarek:

I just got back from my local B&N today having learned that they STILL don't have #80 in yet; the cool gossip I've heard about this article has already sold me on the issue.

Cool, I hope you've been able to enjoy it!

Take care,
Abel

Hey folks. I thought this post from another thread would interest you guys:

• "Any plans for a reference on the Alderaan War Ships?"*

+I'm always on the look-out for opportunities to use seemingly contradictory references. I haven't had much success integrating the non-pacifist Alderaan references from earlier sources, though. For instance, I had intended for Grand Admiral Josef Grunger to be an Alderaanian Marine at a point earlier in his career. This was ultimately cut from the GAs article, though his Alderaanian heritage made it into a Fact Files card, I believe.

Take care,
Abel+

Hey folks! Thank you for the warm reception.

Nex:

Did the Emperor choose a new GA after Tigellinus switched over to a more political role, and dropped the Grand Admiral title?

It was our intention that the Insider article be all encompassing concerning the original GAs, and thus it's our opinion that no GA was appointed to fill Tigellinus' position after he became a Grand Moff. I believe Dan intends to take an official stance on this in an upcoming project.

Back to Grand Admirals, How did Makati die? In the Insider it only says he "met his end."

Dan and I have been called out on this repeatedly. Makati's fate was intentionally left ambiguous. Makati was the only other GA besides Thrawn that Tim Zahn had referenced himself, and therefore Dan and I thought it was only fair to allow the inventor of the Grand Admirals tell the tale of Makati taking the Final Jump if he so chose.

Take care,
Abel

Halagad:

It's nothing too exciting, but a GA (Takel) does get a quick reference in the Mandalorian article.

Yep. That leads me to my next question, since I don't have the Marvel comics - when did Dala die? It had to be before Endor, because Grunger had staged his coup in the Mandalore sector by then.

I agree Tresk. Dan did a great job of coming up with a unique background for Declann.

So did you guys divide up the Grand Admirals and each of you did six, or was it just happenstance that Dan did most of the work on this one?

Indeed. In an issue of Dark Horse's Empire series, perhaps?

Probably our best chance; I don't think the novels are going to be swinging in the direction of the Rebellion or early NR anytime soon.

Tresk Im'nel:

*I chanced upon a copy of SWAJ 1 Vol. 11: the one with Command Decision! And Spare Parts by Pablo Hidalgo, but that's off-topic. It was the only SWAJ he had left lying around. Quite a lucky find, IMO. *

Ah.the first Star Wars rpg product I ever bought. Spare Parts was the only story, up until that point, that was kind of story I'd been craving as a fan a long time fan.

Nex:

I'd like to see (ex)Grand Admiral Grant show up with the Galactic Alliance. He left Imperial service and retired. According to Insider, he would have like to have squared off against Thrawn, but the NR never contacted him. He's (presumably) still alive, so I'd like to see him.

You just might get your wish, Nex. I was going to finish off Grant in the Mandalorian piece to tie up that loose end, but after talking with Dan Wallace, he came up with a a very cool idea for the Last Grand Admiral's last stand. Hopefully we'll see that some time soon.

Take care,
Abel