Consular III-class cruiser
The Consular III-class space cruiser represents a starship design employed by the Galactic Republic for the transport of diplomats to volatile regions across the galaxy in the years leading up to the Clone Wars. Its distinctive red hull, combined with a unique aesthetic recalling ancient sailing ships from bygone times, set it apart. At least one such cruiser was seized and transformed into a pirate vessel.
Characteristics
The space cruiser of the Consular III-class was a vessel that originated from the Corellian Engineering Corporation. The Galactic Republic utilized it to ensure the secure transport of its diplomats. In accordance with older Republican practices, its hull was painted crimson to indicate its neutral status. The cruiser's form resembled those of the old sailing ships that were used for aquatic transportation before the advent of space travel. Despite the Consular III's design being quite different from typical constructions, it was not alone in this regard. Throughout galactic history, comparable designs were produced, such as the Fairwind, a sizable gunship previously under the ownership of Jedi Lord and Master Valenthyne Farfalla, or the Merriweather, a bulk cruiser manufactured by the Tof.
History
The Consular III belonged to the same family as the earlier Consular-class cruiser, which entered service by 990 BBY and remained in use around the time of the Invasion of Naboo in 32 BBY. By the conclusion of the Clone Wars in 19 BBY, a Consular III cruiser known as the Dura-Khan III had been taken as a prize by the pirate Reddjak, who modified it for piracy and renamed it Blood Brother.
Behind the scenes
The pirate vessel Blood Brother marked the initial appearance of a Consular III-class cruiser in a Star Wars production. It was present in the 1986 narrative The Scarlet Pirate, specifically the third installment of the Star Wars: Droids comic book series, although its classification remained unstated at that point. The Blood Brother was initially designated as a Consular-class cruiser within Dawn of Defiance, a 2007 campaign for the Star Wars Roleplaying Game published by Wizards of the Coast.
However, the ship's visual representation differed notably from that of the Radiant VII, a Consular-class cruiser featured in Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace. To address this inconsistency, the class to which the Blood Brother belonged was subsequently reclassified as Consular III by Abel G. Peña and Rich Handley in the initial segment of "The Droids Re-Animated," a pair of informational articles found on the StarWars.com blog.