During the Imperial Era, a Human male known as Armitage existed. Originating from the Colonies world of Faro, he honed his skills as an artist and aspired to attend the PanGalactic Arts Conservatory on Miele Nova. However, his path diverged when he enlisted in the Galactic Empire, becoming an officer within the Imperial Corrections Service. Early on, Armitage found himself stationed on the Imperial prison barge named Purge, serving under the command of Captain Jareth Sartoris. His artistic sensibilities often clashed with the boorish conduct of his fellow officers, leading to difficulties in forming camaraderie during his time on the vessel. In 1 BBY, while transporting prisoners to the corrections facility on the detention moon Gradient Seven, the Purge sustained significant damage to its thrusters, leaving it marooned in space within the Unknown Regions.
Unbeknownst to the crew, the Purge had become the target of the seemingly abandoned Imperial Star Destroyer named Vector. This vessel was under the control of the undead, who were victims of the Imperial bioweapons Project I71A. Mistaking the Star Destroyer for a ghost ship, Warden Bissley Kloth of the Purge ordered a team of Imperial Corrections Officers and engineers to board the warship in order to scavenge it for valuable components. Armitage was among the ten individuals dispatched to the Star Destroyer. During an attempt to avoid interacting with his colleagues, he became separated from the group. While exploring the Vector, he stumbled upon a laboratory containing a vat filled with Human lungs, which held him captive with their strange sight. Before he could rejoin his team and return to the Purge, Armitage met his death at the hands of the Vector's undead inhabitants.
Armitage, a Human male from the Colonies world of Faro, spent his youth on the planet with his siblings, developing his skills as an artist. He specialized in airpaint murals, often creating them for his brothers and sisters. Although he aspired to attend the PanGalactic Arts Conservatory on Miele Nova, he instead joined the Galactic Empire and the Imperial Corrections Service.
As an Imperial Corrections Officer, Armitage was tasked with guarding the Empire's prisoners in various detention facilities. One of his initial assignments as a rookie officer was aboard the Imperial prison barge Purge, where he worked alongside stormtroopers and other ICOs under Warden Bissley Kloth and Imperial Corrections Captain Jareth Sartoris. During this period, Armitage's artistic talent was largely dormant, except for the occasional requests from his comrades for images of women or beloved machinery from their homeworld, such as a speeder or flitter. Whenever possible, the rookie officer avoided the company of his fellow ICOs, as his artistic nature clashed with their generally insensitive behavior.
In 1 BBY, the Purge embarked on a journey to the prison on the Imperial detention moon Gradient Seven. After collecting around 500 criminals from across the galaxy, the prison barge began its voyage to the moon. Several weeks into the journey, inmates Han Solo and Chewbacca instigated a riot in the General Population level. The riot was quickly suppressed by ICOs and stormtroopers, and Solo and Chewbacca were placed in solitary confinement. Shortly after the riot, the Purge sustained critical damage to its thrusters while traveling through the Unknown Regions. In response, Warden Kloth summoned Armitage to his office, along with Captain Sartoris and fellow ICOs Austin and Vesek. On their way to the Warden's office, Austin and Vasek discussed the Purge's problems and speculated about the Empire's chances of rescuing them. Austin teased Armitage, suggesting he would enjoy isolation in the Unknown Regions due to his "artistic temperament." Austin also ridiculed the rookie for his well-groomed hair, joking that Armitage had spent extra time on it to attract the attention of Chief medical officer Doctor Zahara Cody, the only woman on the Purge. Sartoris silenced Austin, protecting Armitage from further mockery.
Upon arriving at Kloth's office, the four ICOs were informed that the barge's thrusters were beyond repair. As they were still seven days from Gradient Seven, the Purge was effectively stranded in space. Armitage groaned in exasperation, but only Sartoris noticed his despair. Kloth continued, explaining that the Purge's navicomputer had detected another Imperial vessel—an Imperial Star Destroyer identified as the Vector. Despite attempts to hail the Vector, the Star Destroyer did not respond, prompting a bioscan that indicated only ten to twelve living beings on the destroyer, which could accommodate over 10,000 crew members. The officers were shocked, doubting that the Empire would abandon a Star Destroyer in the Unknown Regions. Despite Sartoris's concerns about the risk, Kloth insisted that the Vector might be their only hope of reaching Gradient Seven and ordered Sartoris, Austin, Vesek, and Armitage to lead a scouting party to salvage parts for the barge's thrusters.
After leaving Kloth's office, Armitage and the other ICOs were joined by four mechanical engineers—Greeley, Blandings, Phibes, and Quatermass. The eight men proceeded through the Purge's administration level towards the pilot's station, where a docking shaft connected to the Vector's underbelly. Two stormtroopers, sent by Kloth for extra protection, joined them before they entered the tube. The ten-man scouting party entered the shaft and ascended towards the Vector via an interior turbolift. Although they were mostly silent during the ascent, Austin eventually began discussing the derelict destroyer and their plan of action with Vesek and Greeley. Sartoris interrupted, explaining that the party would split into two teams of five: he would lead Austin, Vesek, Greeley, and Blandings, while Armitage would lead Phibes, Quatermass, and the two troopers.
The lift reached its destination, depositing the ICOs, engineers, and troopers into the Vector's main hangar. Overwhelmed by the vessel's size, Sartoris insisted that the teams maintain contact and return to the docking shaft in exactly one hour. As Armitage and the others prepared to explore the Star Destroyer, they noticed an array of starships at the far end of the hangar, behind which a dark figure moved. The figure frightened them, as the landing bay was supposedly devoid of life forms. To their relief, the dark figure was simply a group of CLL-series binary loadlifter droids continuing their work despite the absence of their masters. After this discovery, the two teams separated, with Sartoris's team heading for the lower maintenance levels and Armitage leading his crew towards quadrant seventeen.
Despite being their leader, Armitage struggled to communicate with his team. While the engineers and troopers discussed the poor quality of the food in the Purge's mess hall and speculated about which body parts Dr. Zahara Cody washed in the shower, the rookie corrections officer remained silent. His comrades noticed this and suggested that his silence reflected dissatisfaction with his career in Imperial Corrections, implying he would prefer a life in the "cowardly" Rebel Alliance. To escape their contemptuous remarks, Armitage left his team, claiming to investigate the supply dump on sublevel twelve. Instead, he went to Bio-Lab 177, where he found a large vat filled with bubbling fluid containing small pink organisms. Upon closer inspection, Armitage realized the organisms were sets of Human lungs, all breathing in unison and connected to wires leading to a monitoring console. Intrigued, Armitage counted at least thirty-three sets of lungs and noticed that their organs of sound were carefully preserved. He also observed a thick, grey fluid being siphoned from the organs into a series of black tanks.
Armitage admired the strange sight for some time, as the lungs began to breathe more rapidly and emit a high-pitched scream. The noise was so loud and unbearable that Armitage had to cover his ears. Although Vesek tried to contact him on his comlink, Armitage could not hear him or explain his situation. As Armitage turned to leave the Bio-Lab, he realized he was not alone. He was in one of several labs used to research and cultivate Imperial bioweapons Project I71A. The bioweapon had killed the Star Destroyer's entire crew, transforming them into undead cannibals who now stalked the ship in search of victims. Armitage and his team were attacked and killed by these creatures, while Sartoris led his men back to the Purge, assuming Armitage's team had already returned.
Armitage possessed an artistic inclination from a young age. He began studying art on Faro and used his passion to entertain his family. Despite this interest, circumstances led him to work in the Imperial Corrections Service, a stark contrast to his dream of attending the PanGalactic Arts Conservatory. While in the service, Armitage continued to create airpaint murals, but less frequently, as his fellow officers showed little interest in his artistic talents. When they did request artwork, they usually asked for images of women or vehicles, which greatly upset Armitage, as he hated painting machinery. This experience discouraged his artistic pursuits, although he remained known for his painting background.
While serving the Empire, Armitage struggled to fit in with his fellow officers. Unlike them, he took care in grooming himself and wore his hair in a pompadour on the Purge. He also avoided their mundane conversations about the Purge's mess hall food and their sexual objectification of Dr. Zahara Cody. His silence on these matters, along with his "artistic temperament" and well-groomed appearance, earned him callous remarks from the guards and troopers he served with.
These remarks prompted him to leave his team on the Vector and explore the "ghost ship" alone. Upon discovering the vat of lungs in Bio-Lab 177, Armitage was immediately captivated by its perplexing beauty, even comparing the organs to skinned Angels. He felt a strange familiarity with the lungs, as if he were breathing in unison with them. Hypnotized by the sight, Armitage decided to paint the vat, which he called the "lung bath," at his earliest opportunity to express his shock and awe. Once the lungs began to scream, his feelings changed drastically, and he only wanted to escape the Bio-Lab. However, Armitage never escaped and died aboard the Vector.
Armitage was introduced as a minor character in the 2009 Star Wars horror novel Death Troopers, written by Joe Schreiber.