introduction

  

 

by webmaster mark newbold  
As Lightsabre continues to evolve from its beginnings as FantaWar in 1996, Wirezone in 1998 to Lightsabre in July 1999 and on to the huge site we have today it seems like a good idea to give some background to the many characters and locations on the Lightsabre site, not only as an informational piece but also as a way of cataloguing all the varied threads and histories accumulated since the first story contained herein, written back in early May of 1982.
That 1982 story was the very first Jan Lomona story. Entitled The Search Continues: Part One - Quest for Freedom it told the story of Princess Leia's search for a Carbonite-frozen Han Solo, aided by Lando Calrissian, Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca and the droids C-3PO and R2-D2.
Beginning on the pink-clouded world of Anga we follow Lando and Chewie as they are on the run from business associates and Imperial forces. Needing assistance they travel to the world of A-desando where they encounter an old friend of Lando's, Jan Lomona, a short, stocky and heavily accented administrator running the city of Ecaps. After the destruction of the city the group flee back to the Millennium Falcon and escape, leaving Jan to clean up the mess of the destroyed city. Subsequent rewrites would alter the Lomona character drastically and give him a fiancée Frans Latka, introduced in the second draft of Quest for Freedom.
Quest ended with a tender moment between Luke and Leia much like Splinter of the Minds Eye, this being the time between Empire and Jedi and before the revelation of their being brother and sister, and led into the second story, The Lydon Legacy taking our heroes, along with Jan and Frans, to the massive Chancai Trade Centre, where we meet Ziggy Teflon and Commander Treece for the first time. In 1983 a third story, The Search Continues was begun but never completed, but would have told of a massive Rebel/Imperial battle over the pirate world of Ruuthorne. This story, among many other uncompleted tales, shall be completed over the coming years.
The Quest rewrites continued and were entered into a writing contest in Bantha Tracks, the official fan club magazine. But 1984 was the year when the stories really took off.
After making friends with a fellow Star Wars fanatic Jonathan Hicks, it wasn't long before new audio stories were begun, Jonathan already having written Return of the Jedi - Two at the age of twelve, chronicling the return of Grand Moff Tarkin after his escape from the Death Star explosion. Using original characters alongside existing ones Jonathan and myself began making audio stories. For six years, Newbold-Hicks Productions [NHP] made stories primarily based on comic stories, including an adaptation of The Empire Strikes Back and a set of character talks that soon degenerated into farce - Cantina Talk, once the name of our forum. NHP soon began to make short, scripted Star Wars adventures starring Jan Lomona and Jonathan's character Goah Galletti. The catalogue of twenty adventures included The Solo Runs, four stories set before and just after Star Wars telling of Jans time on A-desando and Jewel of Janos, telling the story of Goah Galletti on the crystal-cored planet of Janos and his run-in with the Janos Executioners there.

The original NHP Jewel of Janos cassette cover
Ferrerean Warriors took Jan, Goah and a motley crew of fellow smugglers and rebels to the jungle world of Alorea where they encountered alien assassins in the employ of the Empire a full five years before the Noghri in Timothy Zahns Heir to the Empire. Glann Cipple was mentioned in the re-make of the Goah Galletti Story Part One - First Deal with Jabba the Hutt, followed by parts Two - Four, Death Star Chronicles, Jewel of Janos and The Spice Run. Trouble on Tantum V told of Goah’s crash-landing after the Battle of Endor, and The Tatooine Effect told of a botched double-cross Jan Lomona pulled on Jabba the Hutt.
During these years many of the primary NHP Star Wars characters were introduced. Himbimimam, Grin, Anzai Karoo, Boba Dallagra, Glann Cipple and Terrie Saffra, a character directly evolved from the Terrie character in the 1984 third draft of Quest for Freedom and expanded upon in 1987's Wrong Side of Hell.  Also introduced in Wrong Side of Hell were Dressel and Mister Spyte, also known as the Talismen. Paul Squire created a character, Lancer Gray, a Rebel agent who eventually morphed into the Imperial biker scout-turned-mercenary character Ryath Centaur, star of, among other stories Frayed at the Edge. The world of Amagad, Glann Cipple and the boundaries of the Setnin Sector itself were mapped out and named during an expansion of the NHP Universe stories in 1986 (NHP New Universe). But almost without doubt the most fertile time for character introduction was during the RPG (Roleplaying Game) era, starting in 1987.
Thanks to the regular weekly sessions the existing stories, planets and characters were given re-runs through their paces. New characters were introduced with the addition of new players. The gangster-ridden world of Amagad was fleshed out and its core denizens working for Glann Cipple were expanded upon. The Shadow Warriors were introduced, along with other gangs. Tarr Ranth, the Mandalorian-armoured bounty hunter created by Louis Turfrey joined the roster. And other characters including Paige Lomona, the energy-eating alien Kamira and Weale Galletti were created.
The first full-length story, Jan Lomona and the Sirens of Amagad was written between March and August 1998, based on a story treatment hammered out two years previously - and ending up almost unrecognisable from it. That story was instrumental in pulling together almost two decades of audio stories and written tales, along with role-play scenarios that have given these characters a life of their own, making it easier to write for them. And from that to Lightsabre, containing character, planet, starship, location and chronology guides along with over two hundred stories, synopsis and audio scripts as well as daily news, interviews, reviews, comic strips, link pages and everything an information hungry Star wars fan could ever need.
And so as Jan Lomona and Goah Galletti embark upon their third decade and the Star Wars Universe its fourth, here are twenty five-plus years worth of stories, characters and ideas from the Setnin Sector, the Mid-Rim and beyond.
Sit back, put on a Star Wars CD and enjoy.
mark newbold - writer, editor, guides  
Mark wrote Quest for Freedom, his first Star Wars story back in 1982 and had already completed a trilogy of stories by the time he and Jonathan Hicks began Newbold-Hicks Productions (NHP) in 1984.  Continuing with his main pursuit of writing while Jonathan concentrated on games mastering and building up the Setnin Sector through scenarios, Mark worked on detailed plans of Chancai and the back history of Jan Lomona (also his roleplay character) as well as other creations which include A-desando, Duze Jostenn, the Berone Sunrise and Cantarr bi-Romou, and began the early work on what has become the Lightsabre Guides section.
Mark began work on the Guide to the Setnin Sector as an aid to the roleplay games back in 1996, which swelled into what is currently on the site today.  In 1998 he wrote Jan Lomona and the Sirens of Amagad for the site (then known as Wirezone), which became the first major Lightsabre story and has been webmaster since taking over from Louis in June 2000, editor and oversees the Setnin Select programme.  Mark drew together what was then seventeen years of history and timelines taken from the NHP audio days, roleplay timelines (three in total), fiction timelines and others to make up what is now the Setnin Sector chronology.  He compiles all the Guides sections, cross-references each and every story into the various guides sections, chooses the Setnin Select images, oversees the links sections, writes articles for the Roleplay, Humour and Various sections, sets the questions for the Interviews and finds new guests, runs Richard Leparmentier's official website Admiral Motti and continues to add to the Chronology sections as well as writing for the site and was a part of the Celebration Europe Lightsabre team that raised over £1000 for Cancer Research UK.
Mark had an article published in Star Wars Insider #90 as well as four articles in Model and Collectors Mart, now known as TV Film Memorabilia Magazine.  He was also published in the online magazine the Star Wars Outsider and is a founding council member of S.W.O.R.A (Star Wars Outer Rim Alliance).
Mark lives in Lichfield, England with his wife Rebecca.
 
Internet Interviews
Fan Force Portugal
Star Wars Hungary
Lightsabre Interview
 
Published Interviews
Revenge - The Real Life Story of Star Wars Episode 3 - Revenge of the Sith
jonathan hicks - writer, artist, ex-roleplay editor  
Jonathan has been writing and drawing Star Wars since 1984 when he and Mark Newbold began Newbold Hicks Productions (NHP), a venture that continued until 1990.
By this time Jonathan was already an experienced games master, running regular games for Mark, Paul, Jason, Andy Curtis (the creator of Luschia Arkensaw, the Euphoria Station and other characters) Darren Houghton (creator of Colonel Cazinski, Kamira and…Coca-cola Man) Louis, Nick Gilmore, Paul Gilbert, Robin Oult, Dave Shields and Phil Thompson (AKA Peach Squadron).  This continuing experience with GM-ing became good groundwork for his later role as the editor and main contributor to the Roleplay section.
As well as this, over the years Jonathan has been Lightsabre’s main fiction contributor, coming up with many of the major stories and plot points and overseeing his numerous creations which include naming the Setnin Sector, Glann Cipple, Amagad, Carlonian Feese and most prolifically Goah Galletti.  He has also contributed images both computer assisted and hand-drawn to the galleries and the Setnin Selects and written articles for the various and humour sections.
Jonathan retired from the site in 2003 to concentrate on his own writing endeavours.
Jonathan has also had his short stories `It's Not in My Job Description' and 'Jumper' published in Focus, the British Science Fiction Associations magazine for writers.  In 2007 his first short story collection 'Those Dark Places' was published by Lulu.
Jonathan lives in Lichfield, England with his wife Lisa and son Bruce.
 
Internet Interviews
Lightsabre Interview
louis turfrey - writer, artist  
Louis Turfrey befriended Paul, Jonathan and Mark in 1992 when he joined the roleplay group that Jonathan was running at the time.  Along with Darren Houghton and Nick Gilmore, Louis put in many hours playing a wide and varied range of characters, and from here came the birth of Tarr Ranth, Nias Derril and Daemon Garr, all now important characters in his stories.
In 1994 he and Mark launched Fanta War, a short-lived publication that saw copies distributed at the United Kingdom Comic Art Convention (UKCAC)`94.  Later ventures included a Fanta War website launched in 1996, and Wirezone, which was where Jan Lomona and the Sirens of Amagad (a title thought up by Louis) first saw the light of day.  Initially operating as webmaster, Louis named and launched Lightsabre in July 1999, setting its initial design and layout as he has ever since, and proceeded to operate the site until June 2000 when Mark took over duties.
An occasional games master, Louis is one of the sites artistic contributors and is an expert with computers as well as  a columnist in 3 publications. Louis is the sites technical adviser and after Jonathan contributed the largest amount of stories to the site, concentrating on his favoured group of characters, the Jedi, as well as occasional entries in the Various section and was a part of the Celebration Europe Lightsabre team that raised over £1000 for Cancer Research UK.
Louis is a weekly contributor to Micro Mart magazine.

Louis lives in Lichfield, England and has two children, Star Wars and Doctor Who-crazy Ben and Bratz mad Jessica.
rebecca newbold - contributor, photographer  
Rebecca met Mark in March of 2006 and soon they realised that apart from having a future together they shared a love of science fiction.  As well as helping Mark find news articles for Lightsabre, Rebecca is also the site's photographer, snapping images for the site and helping compile convention reports and was a part of the Celebration Europe Lightsabre team that raised over £1000 for Cancer Research UK.
Rebecca lives in Lichfield, England with her husband Mark and 40 teddy bears.
jason brown - artist, roleplay editor  
Jason Brown has been a friend of Jonathan and Mark since the early 1980’s, when he was already a noted artist.  Many of the various designs of Lightsabre have come from Jason’s hand, including the original and revised versions of the Berone Sunrise, the layouts for Chancai and the design of the Imperial base from the 1986 What Lies Within story.  In 1986 Jason began a comic serialisation of Quest for Freedom and over the years as games master drew quick sketches that illuminated his stories (many set outside the Setnin Sector) beautifully.
Today Jason is in charge of the Roleplay section, a position he inherited from Jonathan Hicks.
Jason lives in Tamworth, England and has a son, Fabian.
paul squire - writer, consultant  
Paul Squire wrote Frayed at the Edge, his first Star Wars story back in 1988.  Already a lifelong friend of Mark, Paul then regularly role-played with Jonathan and Mark, doing many games with Jonathan, developing the Ryath Centaur character and well and truly integrating his creations into the fabric of Setnin.  As well as playing a character, Paul was the groups second most prolific games master, running many campaigns in a style totally different to Jonathans and adding a hard, tough edge to Setnin that helped define the sector and the famed Setnin Way.
Along with more short stories, Paul continued to develop his own batch of characters which revolved around the ex-Imperial Centaur, and by 1999 and the launch of Lightsabre was a regular contributor to the fiction section, adding many flourishes to the Chronology with his great memory of roleplay games from days past.
Paul pulled back from the site in 2003 due to time restrictions but still consults on story and character content and was a part of the Celebration Europe Lightsabre team that raised over £1000 for Cancer Research UK.
Paul lives in Heathcote, England.