Grain of salt time!

By DanteRotterdam, in Star Wars: Edge of the Empire RPG

Is it just me, or would the (presumable) head of state and the top military commander being married to each other present a massive conflict of interest in a Republic?

In the United States, the head of state and the commander of the military are the same person, so I'm not sure how marriage is a conflict of interest more than vesting all executive and military power in one person (instead of two). What are you considering that I'm not seeing?

Edited by Kshatriya

Is it just me, or would the (presumable) head of state and the top military commander being married to each other present a massive conflict of interest in a Republic?

In the United States, the head of state and the commander of the military are the same person, so I'm not sure what conflict you're considering that I'm not seeing.

This isn't the United States, it's the Galactic Republic and they are two separate positions.

Edited by PFElton

In the United States, the head of state and the commander of the military are the same person, so I'm not sure what conflict you're considering that I'm not seeing.

This isn't the United States, it's the Galactic Republic and they are two separate positions.

Possibly. But, for the sake of argument, if the head of state (which Queen Regent may not be) was in charge of the armed forces like in the US, wouldn't it be similar to the President being married to the General of the Armies? That would be definite conflict of interest by the standards set in the UCMJ.

Only because POTUS is the CINC. If the Queen Regent makes no military decisions and those are outsourced to the Senate, then no.

In the United States, the head of state and the commander of the military are the same person, so I'm not sure what conflict you're considering that I'm not seeing.

This isn't the United States, it's the Galactic Republic and they are two separate positions.

Possibly. But, for the sake of argument, if the head of state (which Queen Regent may not be) was in charge of the armed forces like in the US, wouldn't it be similar to the President being married to the General of the Armies? That would be definite conflict of interest by the standards set in the UCMJ.

Your UCMJ, for all we know the NR's UCMJ might actually require that marriage...

It's odd I grant you, but we're talking about a universe where a 2m tall green rabbit merc is totally ok.

In the United States, the head of state and the commander of the military are the same person, so I'm not sure what conflict you're considering that I'm not seeing.

This isn't the United States, it's the Galactic Republic and they are two separate positions.

Possibly. But, for the sake of argument, if the head of state (which Queen Regent may not be) was in charge of the armed forces like in the US, wouldn't it be similar to the President being married to the General of the Armies? That would be definite conflict of interest by the standards set in the UCMJ.

No, I totally agree with you; the Head of State and Military Commander being married is a conflict of interest. I was just explaining to kshatriya or whatever that we're not talking about D.C. here.

http://moviepilot.com/posts/2014/04/30/potential-massive-star-wars-7-spoilers-title-and-characters-revealed-1390250#!GH9LH

„Spoilers” below!

The insider claims that

- The full title of the film is ‘Star Wars: Episode 7 – The Order of the Jedi. The film was rumoured to be called ‘A New Dawn’ but that has recently been revealed to be an ‘in-canon’ novel to be released soon.

- Oscar Winner Lupita Nyong’o is also in the cast. She will be playing a character called ‘Asajj Ventress’. Nyong’o was not officially announced in yesterdays report but was one of the first names to have signed up after Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford.

- Daisy Ridley will be playing a member of the Solo Family.

- Max Von Sydow will be providing his voice only to a character that will run right through the new Trilogy.

- Luke Skywalker will be the ‘Obi Wan’ type character of the new trilogy.

- Han Solo is the High Commander of the New Republic

- Leia is now the ‘Queen Regent of the Republic’

- The Big bad is not a Sith Lord

This is more full of crap than most of the NFL Draft predictions I've read this week. Every bit of this is speculation, and they don't even mention Boyega? And young, dark-skinned Lupita Nyong'o will be playing a canonically-white (not Caucasian. Like, bone-white) character who would have to be about 50-something at this point in the films? Asajj appears in The Clone Wars, and The Clone Wars is now considered canon, after all.

Only because POTUS is the CINC. If the Queen Regent makes no military decisions and those are outsourced to the Senate, then no.

True. Though history has shown that having a committee as the final decisional authority for strategy and tactics is not the best way to effectively prosecute a war.

I think even in the Rebel Alliance, Mon Mothma could have issued orders to Ackbar (being the head-of-state, so to speak) but she probably wouldn't have contradicted his authority, since she had no military command experience, and also seemed to trust his judgment implicitly and not question it (though there are hardly examples to back up these assertions; Mon Mothma appears for all of one pre-Endor scene and never comments during the battle IIRC).

I just can't see that kind of "implicit trust, I can order you around but I won't" relationship working in a more formal democratic government like the New Republic though.

Actually, at least in the EU/Legends Alliance, she could override Ackbar she just did so rarely. I remember one book where Han mentions that at some point in the Alliance's history Ackbar and Madine had a joint project going which they had to scrap because Mon Mothma decided she disliked it.

I'm kind of torn about how I feel about the idea of Han basically taking on the military role of Ackbar.

On one hand I loved the scenes in X-Wing: Solo Command focusing on Han commanding a fleet. So I'm happy that the movies and new novels might include more scenes like that.

On the other hand I don't see Han dealing with the diplomatic and political aspects of a military high commander's role well. In fact I could easily see him pissing some diplomats or senators off and sparking a Republic civil war. Honestly I think Lando would be a better choice for military high commander than Han because he seems to be better on the diplomatic and political fronts of the position than Han. Plus of course Lando isn't romantically involved with or married to the Republic's head of state.

I always liked those because Han made a good foil to Zsinj; both were cunning characters with a bunch of tricks up their sleeves. But Solo was not the high commander in that series. He was in command of a small task force. He had the Mon Remonda and maybe a dozen or so other smaller craft supporting? The role is significantly different. Or at least read that way to me.

I agree. Like I said Han does a great job leading a fleet or task force but serving as High Commander of the Republic military is much different and I don't honestly see him doing as well there. I think he probably did spend some time as a fleet or task force commander before becoming high commander and I'm hoping if they ever do books set between ROTJ and the sequels some will show Han during that period, and I could easily see him assuming command of a fleet or task force in a time of crisis, like what will probably be occurring during the sequel trilogy, despite being high commander.

While I don't know how well Lando would do as a fleet or task force commander compared to Han I think he would do well with some more military experience and IMO he would actually do better in the High Commander's role than Han though.

http://moviepilot.com/posts/2014/04/30/potential-massive-star-wars-7-spoilers-title-and-characters-revealed-1390250#!GH9LH

„Spoilers” below!

The insider claims that

- The full title of the film is ‘Star Wars: Episode 7 – The Order of the Jedi. The film was rumoured to be called ‘A New Dawn’ but that has recently been revealed to be an ‘in-canon’ novel to be released soon.

- Oscar Winner Lupita Nyong’o is also in the cast. She will be playing a character called ‘Asajj Ventress’. Nyong’o was not officially announced in yesterdays report but was one of the first names to have signed up after Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford.

- Daisy Ridley will be playing a member of the Solo Family.

- Max Von Sydow will be providing his voice only to a character that will run right through the new Trilogy.

- Luke Skywalker will be the ‘Obi Wan’ type character of the new trilogy.

- Han Solo is the High Commander of the New Republic

- Leia is now the ‘Queen Regent of the Republic’

- The Big bad is not a Sith Lord

This is more full of crap than most of the NFL Draft predictions I've read this week. Every bit of this is speculation, and they don't even mention Boyega? And young, dark-skinned Lupita Nyong'o will be playing a canonically-white (not Caucasian. Like, bone-white) character who would have to be about 50-something at this point in the films? Asajj appears in The Clone Wars, and The Clone Wars is now considered canon, after all.

Ventress would be more like 70-something. RotJ was what...20ish years after TCW? Given that the OT actors have all aged 30+ years Ep. VII will probably be 20-30 years after RotJ, so we're looking at 40-50 years after TCW. Ventress was most likely at least 20, if not closer to 30 in the series.

I guess the question is do Nightsisters age the same way that humans do?

While I don't know how well Lando would do as a fleet or task force commander compared to Han I think he would do well with some more military experience and IMO he would actually do better in the High Commander's role than Han though.

True. Lando at least had previous legitimate administrative/organizational leadership experience! And he didn't do so bad being in charge of the starfighter forces at Endor.

While I don't know how well Lando would do as a fleet or task force commander compared to Han I think he would do well with some more military experience and IMO he would actually do better in the High Commander's role than Han though.

True. Lando at least had previous legitimate administrative/organizational leadership experience! And he didn't do so bad being in charge of the starfighter forces at Endor.

Yeah one of the things I hope comes from the new canon is a new version of the Battle of Tannab, since Lando's role in the battle of Tanaab was what convinced the Alliance to give him command of their fighters. . The EU Battle of Tannab shows Lando as a great pilot and trickster rather than a great commander, leader, and pilot.Plus it also involves Lando conveniently happening to be carrying a load of ship disabling Connor nets when the pirates hit Tanaab.

Edited by RogueCorona

Sounds dumb, not believing it.

I'm going to concur on this point. Honestly, those "rumors" read more like something from SuperShadow than the plot of a Star Wars film.

Then again, as much as I hope the new films are going to be good, I'm not expecting them to be.

As much as they kept tight about the cast, I doubt they would put this out there. This is pure speculation, all gained from dumpster diving news hounds. These are the scraps that were thrown away. For anyone that has taken one minute to look up the production cast of this movie won't believe this crap.

Here are my thoughts:

Han and Leia are not married and do not have children together.

Han is not in the New republic military, he went back to his smugglers ways, perhaps has a kid with someone, but always regretting leaving Leia.

Leia is not a Queen, either a Senator or Chancellor, not married, still in love Han

Luke is living on Tatoonie as a hermit like Obi-Wan communing with the force, not training a new Jedi Academy.

Some new threat has come to call the Heroes of Yavin and Endor back together after 30 years.

I am putting more faith in the writer of Empire Strikes Back to come up with a little bit better story line and ideas then presented by this "leak". I can't see any ties from the Clone Wars to this movie. If anything, they will try to tie in Rebels. I can't imagine seeing a "Clone Wars" specific character in Episode 7.

We had better have Dennis Lawson in this freaking movie too!!

Meh, my thoughts are rather generic:

Luke is training new Jedis.

Han and Leia are married with kids.

One or several of those will be among the protagonists.

The Empire is not dead yet.

Aliens run around, things blow up, blasters are fired, lenses flare and it will still end happily.

Segra82, your thoughts are exactly why I think the new movies will be different. People keep expecting the Heir to the Empire type of stuff. While I loved those books, that is not the new Star Wars movie I want to see. I really think they are going to shake up our expectations of what the stories should/would/have been. If they were just going to rehash old stories from other writers I don't they would have dropped 4 billion dollars on the franchise.

While you and many others could be dead one the story line, I really hope we get something a little more original and thought out, and less generic. I also don't think there wil be any lens flare in the movies. I know that has been a running gag since JJ was anounced, but I think he and Disney/LFL have enough sense to keep the look of the two "Star" franchises looking a lot different, and not clones of each other. I think these movies are going to look like Empire and Jedi. They are even going to be using the same film type.

I would totally be fine with Episode VII: Heir to the Empire, even if that means recasting the main aging actors. It also means that JJ Abrams can't screw with SW like he did ST!! I'm all for it! (one can dream)

With Abrams, (and I'm not a fan boy or anything) we have to keep in mind that he was brought in to the Trek universe to bring in the crowds. Trek has been niche for a long time, where as Star Wars has always been more "mainstream". I say this as someone that has a SW tattoo on one arm and a Trek tattoo on the other, so I walk both sides. I don't hate what he did to Trek, it was different it wasn't TNG, but I'm ok with that. I tend to prefer Trek on the little screen anyways and I hope Michael Dorn gets to make his Worf show.

Honestly I've known Trek longer than I have Wars. (I first saw a Trek movie in a theater when I was less than two weeks old, and first watched the OT when I was about 4 years old AFAIK.) I don't hate what Abrams did with Trek but I do think some mistakes were made, mistakes I hope won't be repeated in his Star Wars films. And I hope he gets over his apparent allergy to space battles which aren't one sided massacres, and a little more than a few shots before the kamikaze run or boarding party is launched, or both.

I think my biggest thing with Abrams is his tendency to add in scene obsuring lens flare. Seriously, in Super 8 and the ST movies, there were a couple of times you could see nothing but lens flare for about a full second. Super annoying. However, I think he said he is going to move away from that.

I've already bought my last comic. These Disney movies I may pass on as well. nah, just kidding myself, after all the new RPG is really good.

So now Harry Knowles at Ain't it Cool News is saying the working title is "The Ancient Fear." So load an even larger chunk of salt on that original report.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/67205

Maybe they're going with a Lovecraftian vibe.

I'm not buying it. Seen too many early rumors crash and burn.

- Leia is now the ‘Queen Regent of the Republic’

Seriously, does anyone who does post RotJ stories even know what a republic is?

Lol... I do. And Republics specifically prohibit any such figure as a Queen or King. America was founded as a Republic, specifically for this very reason.

Oh well...

I'm not buying it. Seen too many early rumors crash and burn.

- Leia is now the ‘Queen Regent of the Republic’

Seriously, does anyone who does post RotJ stories even know what a republic is?

Lol... I do. And Republics specifically prohibit any such figure as a Queen or King. America was founded as a Republic, specifically for this very reason.

Oh well...

Like the "queen" of Naboo? You know, the queen that was elected and was head of government for only a short period of time?