Maz's Castle

Maz Kanata is more than a thousand years old, a diminutive being with vast experience at surviving in the underworld. From her castle on Takodana, Maz has seen galactic powers rise and fall and felt the Force ebb and flow, seeking an elusive balance between darkness and light. She has given many a young smuggler a start by offering credits, equipment or connections, and helped many an old friend rediscover a lost path.

A lush green world in the galaxy’s Western Reaches, Takodana has long served as the base of operations for the diminutive pirate queen Maz Kanata, whose ancient castle is a haven for smugglers, brigands, scouts and spies from numerous worlds. Takodana has been largely spared war over the centuries, remaining neutral as galaxy-ruling regimes come and go around it.

Han Solo rose from an impoverished childhood on the mean streets of Corellia to become one of the heroes of the Rebel Alliance. As captain of the Millennium Falcon, Han and his co-pilot Chewbacca came to believe in the cause of galactic freedom, joining Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia Organa in the fight against the Empire. After the Battle of Endor, Han faced difficult times in a chaotic galaxy, leading to a shattering confrontation with his estranged son Ben.

Seemingly abandoned by her parents on Jakku, Rey grew up a scavenger amid the wreckage of war. Her life changed when she agreed to help a droid on an urgent mission for the Resistance. Rey discovered she was powerful in the Force, and sought out the vanished Jedi Master Luke Skywalker to train her. That ended in disappointment, as did her attempt to bring Kylo Ren back to the light. But the resilient Rey continued her training and learned the truth about her parentage and her mysterious connection with Kylo. She then faced her greatest test: a confrontation with fear and evil that would determine the galaxy’s fate.

The son of Han Solo and Leia Organa, Ben Solo was seduced by the dark side of the Force and renamed himself Kylo Ren: leader of the Knights of Ren, champion of the First Order, and apprentice to Supreme Leader Snoke. Driven to destroy the past, Kylo killed his father and his master, supplanting Snoke as Supreme Leader. But he remained haunted by his father’s death, his connection with the mysterious Rey, and the pull of the good in himself. In time, all three would help Ben Solo return to the light.

The First Order’s infantry units wear stark white armor derived from that worn by the Republic’s clone troopers and the Empire’s stormtroopers. Members of this new generation of stormtroopers are trained from birth, growing up with unit designations instead of names and fed a steady diet of First Order propaganda to ensure absolute loyalty. Where the Empire opted for numbing routine, the First Order’s training simulations and live-fire drills encourage improvisation on the battlefield, making these stormtroopers more dangerous than their Imperial predecessors.