E-3PO

• Appeared in:
  
  I
  II
  III
  IV
  V
  VI
  CW

• Homeworld:
  Mechis III

• Size:
  1.67 meters

• Affiliation:
  Galactic Empire

• Type:
  Protocol droid

• Manufacturer:
  Cybot Galactica

• 

From the Expanded Universe

They say every family has its black nerf. The same often rings true for droid production lines. While most protocol droids are designed to be courteous and polite, one particular subset of the Cybot Galactic 3PO series was the exact opposite.

The E-3PO series was a specialty line of protocol droid produced during the Galactic Civil War. Housed within its internal components was the TechSpan I, a propriety module that made it possible to interface with Imperial networks, and most importantly, with often rare or undocumented technologies of Imperial subcontractors. With a limited production run and great expense, E-3POs developed an awareness of their special status. This often led to defective metaprogramming over time, resulting in arrogance or haughtiness. Most E-3POs looked down on their fellow droids, particularly civilian-issue models with obvious after-market additions intended to stave off obsolescence.

It was this personality flaw that caused the megalomaniacal droid IG-88 to use E-3POs as his remote photoreceptors throughout the Empire. IG-88's sleeper programming, inserted at the factory level on the massive production world of Mechis III, would often cause aberrations in droid personalities. Given the E-3PO's already legendary poor disposition, IG-88 could contaminate scores of Imperial protocol droids without drawing much attention.

E-3POs saw such limited distribution among Imperial droid pools that few bothered ever applying individual names or indicators to their serial numbers. They were just simply known as "E-3PO." One particular E-3PO attached to the Imperial Death Squadron was transported to Cloud City to serve as translator liaison with the colony's Ugnaught engineers.

E-3PO was set on being miserable throughout the entire assignment. The paranoid droid believed his Imperial masters were out to destroy him, by forcing him to work with beings who were known for dismantling and melting down otherwise salvageable droids.

While he was translating an Ugnaught's instruction for converting the carbon-freezing chamber's chemical intermix ratios and settings to properly maintain a human test subject's hibernation, the Imperial crew assisting the conversion took to nicknaming E-3PO "E-Gregious." Insulted, the silvery droid stormed out in a huff. Passing a gold-hued protocol droid on his way out, the sour E-3PO uttered a scathing invective to the innocent droid.

After the Imperial takeover of Cloud City, E-3PO remained on permanent assignment on the floating city, serving as Ugnaught liaison for Captain Treece. The droid's brusque tones saw him constantly reassigned throughout Cloud City. When the Imperial occupation fled Bespin, E-3PO was later obtained by the New Republic. Intelligence agents gleefully pored over E-3PO's systems, hoping to find valuable data. The only inside information recovered concerned Imperial dining and casual attire preferences -- the TechSpan module had been hastily removed years previous by an exasperated technician trying to lighten the droid's sour disposition once and for all.

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This entry was developed by Hyperspace members "The Phantom Calamari" and "ejmacki" with some introductory text provided by "Fisty Fiham."