AAT (Armored Assault Tank)

Rather than use flesh-and-blood warriors, the Separatists prefer mindlessly loyal soldiers that are easily controlled. The soulless ranks of their armies are dominated by tall, thin B1 battle droids built as mechanical imitations of their Geonosian designers. Battle droids can be controlled by centralized command centers such as the Trade Federation’s enormous Droid Control Ships, or programmed for independent action. They often suffer programming glitches that manifest as personality quirks. Battle droids are dim-witted and no match for clone troopers or Jedi, but they weren’t designed to be smart – they were designed to overwhelm Republic civilians through sheer numbers, something they do very effectively.

One of the wealthiest corporate organizations in the galaxy, the Trade Federation controlled most of the interstellar shipping passing through the Rim territories. The Trade Federation was headed by Viceroy Nute Gunray, and even had its own representative in the Republic Senate to lobby for even greater power. On the orders of Darth Sidious, the Trade Federation sent its battle droids to invade Naboo to create a government crisis. During the Clone Wars, the Trade Federation secretly signed on as a member of Count Dooku's Separatist organization, though representatives in the Senate tried to deny this.

The Confederacy of Independent Systems, also known as the Separatist Alliance, was a collection of star systems and corporate titans that left the Republic and fought for independence against the Republic’s clone armies and Jedi Knights. The charismatic former Jedi Count Dooku was the Alliance’s political leader, while its military power came from credits and assets donated by powerful galactic trade groups. No one suspected that the Alliance was actually a tool of Darth Sidious, who had engineered the Clone Wars as part of a Sith plot to rule the galaxy.

STAPs are lightweight reconnaissance and patrol vehicles used by the battle droids of the Trade Federation army (and later, the Separatist Alliance). Incorporating repulsorlift technology, the STAP (single trooper aerial platform) is a slim, agile craft sporting a pair of blaster cannons. STAPs are often deployed as support vehicles in conjunction with larger craft.

Lok Durd, a weapons developer and general in the Separatist army, conceived of the Defoliator as a means of eradicating living troops and terrain while leaving the battle droid forces unscathed. Once detonated, a Defoliator capsule creates a growing radius of destructive energy that scorches all living matter in its path. To launch these specialized warheads, Durd developed the DDT -- the Defoliator deployment tank -- a modified AAT that can support a heavy artillery launcher as its primary turret armament. For increased stabilization, the tanks lower skirt extends further back than a standard AAT, increasing the length of the vehicle to over 12 meters.

A clumsy, well-meaning Gungan outcast on Naboo, Jar Jar Binks struggled to prove his worth throughout his life. Putting his awkward past behind him, Jar Jar left the swamps of Naboo to enter the even murkier waters of Coruscant politics, becoming a representative for his people in the galactic capital. There, his best intentions and eagerness to serve were exploited by scheming Senators and others in positions of power.