A male individual lived during the final years of the Tionese War, which was fought between the Galactic Republic and the Honorable Union of Desevro & Tion from 24,000 BBY to 23,900 BBY. Growing up on Little Atullus, as a boy they moved with their parents to Okator VIII, where they had purchased a land property. The family established a farm there, keeping a herd of local whellays and growing several types of plants. The boy helped at the farm, shepherding the whellays with the assistance of several shakwulfs. They eventually got used to, and then became happy with, the busy pastoral life.
Months before the end of the Tionese War, however, the boy's life changed when a group of Tionese warships arrived at Okator VIII with the intention of destroying the local Republic settlements. Away from the farm at the time, the boy witnessed the decimation of several inhabited locations before finally rushing back home before it, too, could be destroyed. They were too late, as one of the warships set the farm on fire, with the boy helplessly observing the destruction of their home and the death of their family's whellays and their favorite shakwulf, Brun.
Weeks later, the boy traveled to the Republic world Abhean to enlist with the Republic Military. Mere months after the former farm-boy became a Republic soldier, the Tionese War ended, and they eventually became assigned to the Republic fortress world Falang Minor. There, the soldier monitored starship traffic, intelligence, and transmissions originating in the Tion Cluster. After having served on Falang Minor for twelve years, the soldier recorded an account of the attack on Okator VIII that they imprinted on a Baragwin sense lattice, with the record being kept in the Palace of Memnii on Caamas twenty thousand years later.
The Republic soldier spent their childhood on Okator VIII (situated between Abhean and Roche in the red-colored territory).
During the Tionese War, which was fought between the Galactic Republic and the Honorable Union of Desevro & Tion for roughly a century beginning in 24,000 BBY, a boy was born into a family living as part of the Republic on the Inner Rim astronomical object Little Atullus. At some point, the boy's parents invested their life savings into a land property on the Divide celestial body Okator VIII that was offered by a group of traders from the Core Worlds planet Brentaal. The boy and their parents eventually left Little Atullus for Okator VIII, where they began to establish a farm in a valley.
The boy's first job, while their parents built a cabin and cleared out fields, was to capture the local creatures known as whellays by putting out bait in Okator VIII's forests. On the first day, the boy caught six of the creatures and gave each of them a name, with their parents having neglected to tell them the whellays were meant for the family to cook and eat.
Eventually the boy settled into the busy life at the farm. The family kept a herd of whellays, and the boy was entrusted with shepherding them with the assistance of domesticated shakwulfs. The boy would let the whellays, tended by a shakwulf, out at dawn and then signal the creature to bring the herd back home after lunch. The following afternoon was usually spent in grooming the coats of the whellays and checking their hooves as well as monitoring the creatures for signs of coming into estrus and researching their lineage-books to determine the best pairings. In shearing season, the boy would stay in the barn into the night helping out their parents with the whellays.
Besides helping maintain the whellay herd, the boy's morning duties included tending the several types of plants the family was growing. The boy weeded saria, harvested nectar from charsby orchards, and tapped loam for ripe galt-gourds. In the evening, the family ate dinner, after which the boy was occupied with repairs and lessons. From time to time, the boy and their family went to town, where they would hear the latest news on the progress of the Tionese War.
Months before the war's end around 23,900 BBY, the boy, accompanied by their favorite shakwulf, Brun, was tracking down a lost whellay in Okator VIII's forests when they witnessed the arrival of a group of Tionese warships intent on destroying the Republic settlements on the celestial body. The boy heard the approach of one warship and then saw two additional vessels. One of the ships destroyed Derway Township by detonating a pressure bomb, and the explosion knocked the boy to the ground and temporarily disabled their hearing.
Acting on their training to protect the whellay herd from any danger, Brun ran back toward the farm. After the boy observed the Tionese decimation of Duny Gap and Shillagh Hollow settlements, they noticed a warship hovering over the farm and followed Brun. They arrived just in time to watch the farm, including the animals and plants there, being set on fire by the Tionese vessel's attack run, after which the warships left Okator VIII.
On Falang Minor, the soldier helped the Republic monitor the Tion Cluster.
Five weeks after the Tionese attack, the boy was able to hail a scoutship that allowed them to leave their adopted homeworld forever. Although they were encouraged to talk about their experience on Coruscant, the capital world of the Republic, the boy refused and instead traveled to the Republic world Abhean to enlist with the Republic Military.
Eventually the young man was made a Republic soldier. Four months later, however, before they could join the fight against the Tionese, the war ended in a victory for the Republic. The soldier was eventually assigned to Falang Minor, one of a series of Republic fortress worlds established along the Coreward boundaries of the Tion Cluster. Placed under the command of watchmen of the Jedi Order, the soldier's duties included monitoring starship traffic, intelligence, and transmissions originating in the star cluster. After having served on Falang Minor for twelve years, the soldier imprinted an anonymous audio-visual account on a Baragwin sense lattice. They recorded a brief narration of their early life as well as an account of the Tionese attack on Okator VIII.
The sense lattice containing the soldier's narration eventually became one of the oldest records preserved in the Palace of Memnii on the planet Caamas. Although the structure was destroyed in 19 BBY, at least one copy of the soldier's account remained intact in the possession of a traveling memnii exhibit.
Regarding their original homeworld of Little Atullus, the boy who would later become a Republic soldier noted that they partially agreed with the sentiment prevalent there during their childhood—that colonists could lead better lives on the worlds beyond the region known as the Rim. The boy characterized the traders who sold their parents a land property on one such celestial body, Okator VIII, as "hotshot."
The soldier referred to the Hutts (pictured) as "devil-slugs."
After their family moved to Okator VIII, the boy initially felt lonely but eventually got used to life at a farm. Over time, they forgot about Little Atullus, only continuing to see it in their dreams. At first the boy only tolerated their daily routine, resenting the fact that they had to take lessons after a day of working at the farm. At some point, however, they realized that they were happy with their new life, with their contentment fueled by their intense familiarity with their environment. When they caught six whellays on their first day of luring the creatures in by putting out food in the woods, the boy imagined that they were a god of the forest. The boy knew the shakwulf named Brun from the creature's first moments as a blind pup. Brun became the boy's favorite shakwulf companion, and the latter was confident the former loved them more than anything else in the galaxy.
During their childhood, the Republic soldier was aware of atrocities the Tionese had committed against the Republic, as well as the possibility that the Republic had reciprocated. Ultimately, however, the boy was convinced that Okator VIII's remoteness from the Tion Cluster rendered the threat of war irrelevant to their adopted homeworld, despite the fact that at the beginning of the conflict, the Tionese had penetrated the Republic's territory as far as the Core Worlds. In addition, the boy believed that Xim, the Human ruler of a large interstellar empire centered in the Tion Cluster who had died more than a thousand years earlier after being defeated in a war against the empire of the Hutt species and the location and circumstances of whose death later scholars disagreed on, had been eaten by the Hutts. The boy referred to the Hutts as "devil-slugs" and believed they had consumed Xim in order to obtain his supposed powers.
After witnessing the destruction of their family's farm during the Tionese attack on Okator VIII, the soldier came to believe that the worst thing about the experience was the fact that they had arrived at the farm in time to see it immediately before its decimation. As a result, they had noticed that Brun had brought their whellay herd back home—which proved to be the creature's doom. As the boy witnessed the animals being set on fire by the attack, their resultant suffering seemed excessively long to them, and they only wished that the creatures would stand still so as to quicken their death.
Following the attack, the boy turned down the suggestion of telling their story at the Republic's capital, instead opting to enlist with that government's military for a chance to fight the Tionese who had destroyed their home. The war's end denied the soldier that chance, and eventually they were posted on Falang Minor, where they helped monitor the Tion Cluster. They disliked that world's barren nature and harsh climate, and they also lamented the passive nature of their assignment, which gave them too many opportunities for introspection. Although the soldier initially hated the Tionese for their deeds, that disposition made them constantly feel sick, and they let go of the hatred.
Ultimately, however, the soldier felt that it was their duty to perform their responsibilities, believing that they were chosen for the task when the Tionese warships arrived to destroy the Okator VIII settlements. The soldier deeply distrusted the people who had destroyed their home and believed that everyone in the Republic should forever share that distrust. In an account of the attack on Okator VIII recorded after having served on Falang Minor for twelve years, the soldier's grim attitude toward the Tionese led them to express their conviction that Republic agents on that world would always keep monitoring the Tion Cluster.
During the time they spent in their family's farm as a boy, the Republic soldier became well-acquainted with their surroundings. They could recognize individual trees in the forests surrounding the farm; every outcropping in the nearby hills; and every depression and ridge of the farm's orchards. Over time, the boy also learned to recognize each of their family's whellays by their individual smell and whicker.
In addition, the boy became familiar with the sounds made by the engines of tradeships and courier starships regularly visiting Okator VIII. That familiarity allowed them to instantly realize the foreign nature of the Tionese warships that had arrived to destroy the local settlements, and the boy's knowledge of the Tionese War allowed them to specifically recognize the warships as Tionjacks upon sight. During his service in the Republic Military, the soldier acquired the skills necessary to perform their duties, which included monitoring starship traffic, intelligence, and transmissions.
The unnamed Republic soldier was originally meant to serve as the narrator of an in-universe section in the 2012 reference book The Essential Guide to Warfare by Jason Fry and Paul R. Urquhart; however, the section, titled "A Soldier's Story: Lights in the Darkness," was cut before the book's release. The section, which both Fry and Del Rey editor Erich Schoeneweiss characterized as "poignant" and which Fry further described as "one of my favorite bits of writing that wound up on the cutting-room floor," was later renamed "The Watchman's Tale" and was released in 2014 as part of Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Warfare Author's Cut, a series of articles published on the StarWars.com Blog containing various cut content from The Essential Guide to Warfare.