For many years, I avoided this game due to an initial bad gaming experience. I am a rabid fan of Science Fiction and Gaming, so my lapse in this game for so many years seems odd to me now. Most of my Science Fiction Role Playing was in Traveller (all versions) and some Hero Games. Now I have come to enjoy the excellent game system and universe of Star Wars. It is so much more than Rebels vs. Empire.
The latest campaign I'm in takes place during the early Second Republic. The Empire had devolved into warring states while the Republic rebuilds from the devastation. However, Grand Admiral Thrawn has returned and is forging a united empire for his master: the reborn Emperor Palpatine! The saga is based off the Jedi Academy books.
My character, Nardo the Hutt (Word 97 document) is a most strange Hutt. The Hutts have a saying:
If not us, then someone else. Why not us?
Well, Nardo felt a higher calling and became the only known Hutt Jedi. No one outside of the Jedi Academy and the Hutt Council knows of Nardo's calling, and even the Academy students can't believe it - even when they meet him. Nardo had an uphill challenge convincing Luke Skywalker of his sincerity and calling. Nardo fights the popular conception of the Hutts as a self centered, greedy, and manipulative race. To the many criticisms of his race and his choice to become a selfless mystic of the Jedi, he answers "Why not me?" From these humble beginnings a Jedi has arisen. Misunderstood by everyone, this passive seeming Hutt desires harmony and diversity. Forced by circumstance to use his powers against the resurrected evils of the fallen empire this Hutt has become a respected Jedi.
Nardo and his teammates have been lucky. In these troubled times, his Smuggler friend has made a handsome amount of profit in legal business. Nardo's share and connections have enabled him to purchase a used Sky Blind Scout Ship. Members of the Bureau of Ships and Services went insane when they realized what had fallen into "civilian" hands: a fully stealth equipped ship. Nardo's reply to the hysterical demands of petty bureaucrats was short: a missive from the Ministry of Defense authorizing the purchase and a personal note: "Why not me?" The ship is named The Million Petaled Lotus (insert link here) and has an Ithorian gardener to tend it copious interior foliage. The interior is a hot house of plants and no floor nor wall can be seen - only the lush foliage of a tropical garden.
Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately for the storyline, it turned out one of our own was the assassin behind Mon Mothma's poisoning and the death of many critical Republic ministers. She was our most skilled bargainer, too.