Denetrius Vidian

The individual who would become "Count Vidian" entered the world around 60 BBY on Corellia. In his former life, he was a simple safety inspector by the name of Lemuel Tharsa, employed by the Interstellar Thorilide Guild. His work exposed him to the thorilide industry and fostered a deep aversion to the widespread corruption and bribery within the mining operations. During a business trip to Gorse in the Inner Rim, Tharsa contracted Shilmer's syndrome, a flesh-consuming disease acquired from the numerous unsanitary factories he visited. This illness ravaged his body, leaving him as little more than a collection of organs sustained by surgical intervention.

For a period of two years, Tharsa was unable to communicate, having lost most of his physical form. Eventually, he managed to establish basic communication with a caretaker droids. He was then reconstructed as a cyborg, complete with metallic limbs, a synthskin covering, artificial yellowish–red alien eyes (deliberately chosen for their unsettling appearance on a human face), and an artificial voice carefully selected through opinion research. With this new existence, Tharsa embraced the identity of "Count Denetrius Vidian." He concealed his past as a safety inspector and presented himself as a defense contractor turned whistleblower.

Driven by a desire to avenge himself against the corrupt mining corporations that nearly ended his life, Vidian cultivated a reputation as a prominent corporate investigator, even while residing in the Gorse medcenter. After acquiring shares in companies that manufactured comet-chaser harvesting vessels, Vidian secretly invested in Minerax Consulting approximately four years before the collapse of the Galactic Republic. Using his former identity, he became the company's chief researcher. Under the guise of Lemuel Tharsa, he authored reports that led to the closure of thorilide surface mining operations on Gorse and several other planets, causing several mining companies to go bankrupt. One of these companies was Introsphere, which later became Moonglow Polychemical. This action harmed the guild he once worked for, while benefiting the comet-chaser industry, which he largely controlled. Most of the mining operations affected were run by companies he had previously inspected.

In the final years of the Galactic Republic, Count Vidian gained popularity as a management expert, his texts achieving widespread recognition despite his reluctance to appear on the business HoloNets. Starting with a modest bank account, he amassed a fortune through electronic trading. Following the rise of the Galactic Empire, Vidian ingratiated himself with the new regime and became a member of Emperor Palpatine's cabinet. His management skills and charisma led to his assignment to accelerate production on Imperial mining worlds. Known for his work ethic, Vidian became notorious in industrial circles for his ruthless approach and prioritizing profits over people. His actions eventually attracted the attention of the rebel operative Hera Syndulla, who was part of a rebel network opposing the Empire.

Due to problems with the production of stormtrooper armor on the planet, Emperor Palpatine ordered Count Vidian and Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin to travel to Gilvaanen in the Inner Rim to investigate the unsatisfactory production rate. En route aboard the Imperial Star Destroyer Executrix, Vidian and Tarkin engaged in philosophical debates, with Vidian advocating for economic competition and Tarkin viewing it as a threat to the Empire's strength. Despite their differing views, the Emperor instructed them to collaborate and determine the cause of the slowdown in armor production on Gilvaanen. Distrustful of Vidian, Tarkin directed Commander Rae Sloane to investigate his background, revealing his success in launching the Gozanti freighter program on schedule and under budget.

Vidian and Tarkin visited Thetis Quelton's company, Quelton Fabrication, where they observed her testing a suit of Pikaati armor. Before their initial meeting with Quelton, Vidian reviewed the facility and its workforce, issuing seventeen recommendations to the military contractor to maximize efficiency, including converting the employee break room into a warehouse. Tarkin interrupted Vidian and confronted Quelton about her factory's poor production rate. Quelton responded that the Ithorian workers at Cladtech were slowing down production by delaying the assembly of interior armor components. At Quelton's request, Vidian and Tarkin agreed to address the issue at Cladtech.

At Cladtech, Vidian and Tarkin met with the Ithorian owner Mawdo Larrth. Vidian irritated Tarkin by defending the concerns of the striking workers. With the assistance of stormtroopers and Imperial Security Bureau personnel, they gathered the Ithorian workers for a meeting. In private, Vidian expressed his disapproval of Tarkin's investigation into his past. When Tarkin questioned his support for the striking workers, Vidian assured him that his only concern was improving production efficiency and pledged to resolve the matter.

Later, the ISB disrupted an illegal meeting of the Cladtech supervisors. While Tarkin wanted to execute the supervisors, Vidian persuaded him to refrain. Vidian then revealed Larrth as the instigator of the workers' strikes after reviewing recordings that showed him colluding with Quelton to incite the strikes. After interrogating Larrth, Vidian killed him by breaking his neck with his metallic fists. Vidian then informed the remaining workers that they were not in trouble and offered them a second chance to meet their production goals, warning that failure would result in death.

Privately, Vidian convinced Tarkin to merge Cladtech and Quelton into a single entity. They then met Quelton at her mansion, ostensibly to discuss the merger. There, Tarkin confronted her about her role in delaying stormtrooper armor production. Vidian then entered without invitation and revealed that Quelton had been introducing bottleneck spores into the filtration system of the stormtrooper helmets, which were deadly to humans. Before stormtroopers could arrest Quelton, she committed suicide by activating the hydrogen cyanide within her Pikaati helmet.

Following Quelton's death, Count Vidian contacted the Emperor via hologram and advocated for the "Imperialization" of Gilvaanen. Supporting Tarkin's assessment, he recommended placing Gilvaanen's armor production under the Imperial Department of Military Research for security reasons. Vidian appointed his aide Everi Chalis to oversee the restructuring. Vidian then suggested addressing inefficiencies in Star Destroyer resource production by visiting the mines and processors. Impressed by his service, Tarkin granted Count Vidian a Star Destroyer for his personal use. At Vidian's suggestion, Tarkin assigned a new captain with "no attachment to past practices."

When thorilide production in the Gorse system fell behind schedule, the Emperor dispatched Count Vidian to restore productivity. With the closure of mining operations on Gorse, all mining activity had shifted to the planet's moon, Cynda, which had previously been a nature preserve and tourist destination. The thorilide processing took place at several refineries on Gorse, including one operated by Moonglow Polychemical, the successor to Introsphere. For this mission, he traveled with Captain Rae Sloane aboard the Imperial Star Destroyer Ultimatum. Upon arrival, he overruled Sloane's orders for the mining ships to clear the way for the Star Destroyer, instructing her crew to back away from the space traffic. Dissatisfied with the slow pace of the mining convoy between Gorse and Cynda, Vidian ordered the Ultimatum to destroy the freighter Cynda Dreaming to instill fear in the local population and demonstrate that the Empire would not tolerate delays. Unbeknownst to Vidian, the surveillance operator Hetto had informed Hera about Vidian's visit to Gorse, and she had witnessed the freighter's destruction.

Count Vidian's initial destination was the thorilide mine on Cynda, where he was greeted by representatives from various mining companies, including Palfa, the Neimoidian director of the Cyndan Mining Guild. His first action was to declare Security Condition One, leading to the arrest of 46 potential agitators working in the Cyndan mines. His second action was to impose an age limit on the mining crew and dismiss older workers. When Palfa protested, the cyborg personally beat him to death in front of the miners and his stormtroopers. The dismissed workers were reassigned to more "suitable labor" on Gorse. To replace Palfa, Vidian instructed Sloane to inform Coruscant that there was a job opening at the Cynda Mining Guild.

When Vidian encountered one of the miners, specifically Okadiah Garson, Okadiah was shocked by the Count's appearance. In response, the Count menaced him with flaying and seized Okadiah by the throat. It was at this moment that a young man, Kanan Jarrus, intervened, aiming a blaster at Vidian. Kanan then engaged Vidian in conversation, successfully persuading him that Okadiah could be a valuable mentor to younger miners. Vidian, who had already committed a murder and was pressed for time, ultimately relented due to Kanan's reasoning. Unbeknownst to Vidian, Hera had secretly infiltrated the Cyndan mine and was observing his actions.

In one of the mine's higher chambers, while addressing a droidmaster and three assistants, an explosion beneath the surface triggered a sinkhole, causing the floor to give way. The droidmaster and his aides found themselves trapped under the resulting debris, but Vidian, aided by his cyborg enhancements, managed to escape the collapse. Despite the workers' pleas for assistance, Vidian coldly informed them that help would arrive and assured them that Cynda's crystal columns were designed to prevent such tremors. This explosion was orchestrated by Skelly, a dissident miner and a veteran of the Clone Wars, who opposed the mining operations on Cynda. Skelly's research had revealed the moon's fragile internal structure. Consequently, Imperial authorities initiated a manhunt for Skelly, deploying stormtroopers to Cynda.

After his departure from Cynda aboard the Imperial shuttle known as Truncheon, Vidian contemplated visiting Moonglow Polychemical on Gorse, an idea sparked by his conversation with Kanan. Initially, Vidian had planned to communicate with the planetary managers via hologram. However, he was soon contacted by Baron Lero Danthe from Corulag, a wealthy heir to a droid manufacturing empire with strong ties to the Emperor. Danthe, a political adversary of Vidian, had successfully convinced the Emperor to mandate a 50% increase in the weekly thorilide production rate. Subsequently, Vidian met with Captain Sloane on the Ultimatum's landing platform, informing her of his decision to personally inspect the refineries on Gorse. Although displeased by this change of plans, she acquiesced when he promised to secure her a permanent position as Captain of the Ultimatum.

Soon after, Kanan apprehended Skelly, deciding to turn him over to Moonglow security after the miner's bombing in Zone Forty-Two jeopardized the lives of other miners. Lal Grallik, Moonglow's chief operating officer, promptly notified Count Vidian of Skelly's capture. Vidian responded by announcing his intention to dispatch stormtroopers to arrest Skelly and to visit Moonglow personally at a later time. Secretly, he harbored a plan to dismantle the company, fueled by a personal grudge against its predecessor, Introsphere. Before the Empire could take Skelly into custody, Hera enlisted the help of the criminal gang known as the Sarlaccs to stage a diversion outside the refinery gates, facilitating his escape. Although Hera had considered recruiting him into the rebellion, she deemed Skelly too reckless and decided to part ways with him.

In the meantime, Vidian implemented a series of measures aimed at accelerating productivity on Gorse. He devised and implemented new traffic patterns for cargo vessels traveling between Gorse and Cynda, modified the subroutines of the Cynda loader droids, and initiated a security audit of Transcept Media Solutions' personnel. This audit resulted in the arrest of Hetto, a surveillance analyst in the company's surveillance division Myder's Mynocks, who had connections to Hera. In anticipation of his visit, he also reorganized three guilds, consolidated several equipment suppliers into a single entity, and even closed a medcenter, relocating its patients to a facility near the factories under the guise of expediting their return to work. His final directive was intended to obliterate any trace of his past as Lemuel Tharsa. Officially, Tharsa was still alive and listed as a mining consultant aboard the Ultimatum. Despite their unease with the ruthlessness of some of Vidian's directives, Captain Sloane and her officers complied with his orders.

On the eve of his visit to Gorse, Vidian received a communication from Baron Danthe, who informed him that the comet–chaser fleet had depleted a once-abundant source of thorilide–bearing comets. Furthermore, Vidian was irritated to discover from his aides that Danthe had been undermining his production plan to the Emperor. Although Baron Danthe offered to provide droids to expedite production, Vidian perceived his rival's offer as an attempt to seize control of an industry that he believed rightfully belonged to him. Enraged by this news and Danthe's interference, Vidian wrecked his stateroom in a fit of anger.

The following day, Count Vidian, accompanied by Captain Sloane and her troops, journeyed to the Moonglow Polychemical refinery aboard the Imperial shuttle Truncheon. As they flew over the medcenter he had ordered closed, he witnessed its scheduled demolition. During the Moonglow tour, he was hosted by Lal Grallik and her husband Gord, the head of ground security at the refinery. Unbeknownst to Vidian, Skelly, seeking to dissuade him from continuing mining operations on Cynda, and Hera, spying on Vidian, were both tracking his movements.

While Vidian and his hosts were examining a heavy bulk loader vehicle, his advanced sensors detected Skelly's presence, prompting him to challenge the intruder to reveal himself. Skelly identified himself as a whistleblower and implored him to halt mining on Cynda, citing the erosion of the moon's fragile crystalline structure. However, Vidian remained resolute in his determination to prioritize Imperial progress above all else and attacked Skelly, inflicting severe injuries. A wounded Skelly managed to escape by fleeing on the conveyor belt, but inadvertently left behind the holodisk containing his research. Upon Sloane's arrival at the scene, he dismissed the holodisk as inconsequential and declared his intention to destroy it.

During a tour of the refinery's xenoboric acid bath, Vidian received another communication from Baron Danthe. The Baron informed him that the Emperor had mandated a tripling of the thorilide production output. When Lal informed Vidian that the factory could not triple thorilide production within a week, Vidian shoved her into a trough of xenoboric acid, and then used a skimming pole to push her in further. Lal's murder was witnessed by the rebel operative Hera, who subsequently informed Lal's grieving husband Gord. Recalling his encounter with Skelly, Vidian decided not to destroy the holodisk, but use it to advance his plan to increase thorilide production by destroying Cynda. He promptly cut his trip short and decided to return to the Ultimatum.

Before Vidian could depart on the Truncheon, Skelly destroyed it with a bomb that resulted in the deaths of several Imperial personnel. An enraged Gord attempted to confront Vidian, but was subdued by the Count's stormtroopers. With his shuttle destroyed, Vidian commandeered a hoverbus to a nearby Imperial spaceport. However, he was pursued by Skelly, Hera, Kanan, and an enraged Gord. Before Vidian could board his second shuttle, Cudgel, Skelly detonated a second bomb, destroying the vessel. Vidian and his men survived and then confronted Hera, Kanan, Skelly, and Gord. While the rebels escaped on the hoverbus, Vidian battered Gord to death with his cybernetic fists.

Upon Captain Sloane's arrival, Vidian instructed her to dispatch Imperial forces, including two TIE fighters and Imperial Troop Transports, in pursuit of the rebels. However, the rebels managed to defeat their Imperial pursuers and abandoned their bus in a quarry before disappearing into the night. Meanwhile, Vidian departed on a third shuttle called Bastinade for the Ultimatum. Despite the rebels' escape, Vidian was pleased that his encounter with Skelly had provided him with an unexpected means of boosting thorilide production in the Gorse system.

Upon his return to the Ultimatum, Count Vidian initiated discussions with Captain Sloane and her science officer Lieutenant Kanna Deltic regarding his plans to obliterate Cynda. Despite the potential for tidal waves, groundquakes, and meteor showers that Cynda's destruction could inflict upon Gorse, Vidian remained unconcerned, asserting that the thorilide would endure the moon's destruction. The Count argued that the moon's destruction would simplify the extraction of thorilide by his harvester vessels and that refining could be conducted on these vessels. He dismissed Deltic's concerns that the moon's destruction could cause the fragile thorilide crystals to disintegrate. Vidian declared his willingness to sacrifice countless lives on Gorse to increase thorilide production.

To validate his theory that detonating Cynda would not destroy the thorilide crystals, he obliterated the mining encampment on the moon with a test blast, resulting in the deaths of all workers on shift at the time and the destruction of several mining ships. Based on these test results, Vidian asserted that Cynda's thorilide could be harvested for the next two millennia. To conceal Vidian's scheme, the explosion was attributed to Moonglow Polychemical, which was subsequently nationalized by the Galactic Empire. In reality, Vidian had falsified the findings by publishing fabricated test results under his former identity, Lemuel Tharsa. Secretly, Vidian's plan was to destroy Cynda and its thorilide reserves and implicate his rival Baron Danthe. While Captain Sloane would also be implicated due to her supervisory role, Vidian considered her to be merely collateral damage in his pursuit of victory. By discrediting Baron Danthe, Vidian intended to gain favor with the Emperor.

Following the test blast, Vidian instructed all mining cargo ships in the Gorse system to follow the Ultimatum to the Calcoraan system, where he maintained a depot that served as his operational base in the sector. Vidian's depot also housed substantial quantities of baradium-357, a highly flammable substance used in explosives. Imperial HoloNews reported that Vidian was leading a "heroic" effort to stabilize Cynda. Unbeknownst to the Count, the rebels Hera, Kanan, and Skelly had managed to infiltrate the mining convoy aboard the cargo freighter Expedient. They were joined by the Sullustan Zaluna Myder, who had decided to assist the rebels after being dismissed from her position at Transcept Media Solutions due to her friend Hetto's arrest for contacting the rebel Hera. Having uncovered Vidian's plot, the rebels resolved to prevent the Count from destroying Cynda. Vidian's actions also attracted the attention of Baron Danthe, who secretly contacted Captain Sloane and offered his assistance if needed.

Upon arriving at the Calcoraan Depot, Vidian escorted Captain Sloane on a tour of the depot's facilities. He had instructed his employees to reverse-engineer Baron Danthe's heatproof mining drones under the pretense of "maintenance." After showcasing the loading of the explosives to Sloane, he departed, claiming he needed to "file" a report with the Emperor. In his personal medcenter, Vidian fabricated a report that portrayed his Cynda project favorably to the Emperor. Utilizing the advanced sensors integrated into his cyborg body, the Count soon detected the presence of two intruders: Hera and Kanan, who had infiltrated the facility. Employing his mechanical body, Vidian swiftly overpowered the intruders.

Before Vidian could eliminate Hera and Kanan, he was incapacitated by a rogue interrogator droid that had been hijacked by Zaluna and Skelly. Under Zaluna's control, the droid injected Vidian with a cocktail of drugs concocted by Skelly, rendering him unconscious. Zaluna and Skelly then joined Kanan and Hera in Vidian's medcenter. With Vidian unconscious, the rebels proceeded to download his brain into a computer terminal. While examining Vidian's memories, the rebels discovered that the original Cynda test results indicated that the test blast caused the thorilide crystals to disintegrate and that the Count had sent a falsified report to the Emperor claiming otherwise. The rebels quickly realized that Vidian was planning to use Cynda's destruction to discredit Baron Danthe and gain favor with the Emperor. In addition, they found that Vidian and Lemuel Tharsa were the same person.

To safeguard Cynda and Gorse from Vidian's apocalyptic scheme, the rebels determined to persuade Captain Sloane to transmit the accurate report to the Empire. Kanan lured Sloane into Vidian's executive chambers and then restrained her with a stasis field. Impersonating an agent of the Emperor, the undercover Jedi Padawan and his rebel associates instructed Sloane to transmit the original report to the Emperor. Given that Vidian controlled all communications at the depot, they directed her to utilize the communications facilities aboard her Star Destroyer. Sloane reluctantly complied, and the rebels escaped the Calcoraan Depot in the Expedient. Before departing, the rebels also erased Vidian's memories of the preceding hour to conceal their actions.

Upon Vidian's awakening from his drug-induced sleep, Captain Sloane reported that they had been confronted by a group of rebels led by a man claiming to be an agent of the Emperor. Sloane had not sent the original report to the Emperor due to her skepticism over Kanan's claim that he was a deep undercover agent. Vidian, in a hasty attempt to ensure Sloane's loyalty and commitment to his plan, unintentionally aroused her suspicions after he promised to make her the youngest Admiral in the Imperial Navy, which prompted her to send the original report after all. After summoning security and locking down the depot, Vidian realized that the rebel intruders were trying to tamper with his planned destruction of Cynda. He ordered Captain Sloane to prepare her Star Destroyer Ultimatum, and several TIE fighters and Gozanti-class freighter carriers. Believing Cynda's destruction was imminent, he offered to make favors to Sloane and Captain Yale Karlsen.

Vidian journeyed to Cynda aboard the Forager, a specialized mining vessel composed of seven spheres, giving it the appearance of a large segmented insect. He intended to commence harvesting the thorilide immediately following the moon's destruction. According to Vidian's plan, Captain Sloane would initiate the moon's detonation from her Star Destroyer Ultimatum. Meanwhile, the mining fleet began depositing their explosive cargo onto Cynda's surface. Before they could complete their task, Kanan feigned mental impairment due to the coolant in his cargo of baradium-357, and began making threats across the intercom to confuse the mining cargo ships and provoke a response from Vidian.

Utilizing the Expedient, Hera and Kanan began disrupting the uploading process by attacking the TIE fighters escorting the cargo ships. The rebels then headed towards the Forager, but found that the ship was protected by a powerful deflector shield. The rebels then decided to board Vidian's ship, because it had a communications antenna through which they could broadcast a warning to the people of Gorse. Vidian's Forager was approaching the moon when one of his cybernetic crew detected the rebel freighter Expedient breaching the rearward gap in the Forager's shield. Before the Forager's defensive turrets could hit the ship, the Expedient managed to land in the ship's rear landing bay.

With the Forager breached, Vidian ordered his stormtroopers to repel the intruders. The four rebels fought their way through the ship's factory compartments, which included many large vats of xenoboric acid. Despite the intruders, Vidian was determined to continue the countdown, and was still waiting for the mining ships to finish loading into the final injection site on Cynda. The rebel Zaluna managed to breach Vidian's command center, but was quickly cornered by Vidian, who knocked the Sullustan woman unconscious. Soon, Kanan caught up to Vidian and tried to shoot him. However, the count's metallic body deflected the blasts and he destroyed Kanan's blaster with his cybernetic hands.

While Vidian wrestled with Kanan, Zaluna attempted to shoot him with her pistol. However, Vidian managed to grab her pistol during the struggle and crush the power cell, which blew up, blinding Zaluna. Despite the damage to his synthskin facial coating, Vidian was still in peak capacity and challenged Kanan to a duel. Before they could fight, Hera stormed the command room with a hijacked hover-forklift and rammed the machine into Vidian. Due to his metallic body, Vidian survived the impact. Following a heated verbal exchange, a defiant Vidian told the rebels that Cynda's optimal detonation window was only four minutes away.

At that point, Vidian encountered a new, unexpected obstacle to his plans. Captain Sloane ordered the Ultimatum's technical crew to rescind the Detonation Control link to the Forager and gave orders for her stormtroopers aboard the Forager to arrest the Count. Unknown to Vidian, Sloane had received a response from the Emperor's people, who had issued her with orders to stop the destruction of Cynda at all costs. Sloane charged the Count with numerous crimes, including multiple violations of the Imperial legal code: falsification of testimony to the Emperor, profiteering without the Emperor's permission, breach of faith with the Emperor, and attempting to damage or destroy vital strategic assets. Undaunted by Sloane's threats, Vidian revealed that he had another trick up his sleeve: he was still able to remotely control the Detonation Control uplink from the Forager.

In response, Sloane ordered her stormtroopers to kill Vidian's cybernetic crew. A three-way battle soon ensued between Vidian, the rebels, and Sloane's stormtroopers. Using his enhanced cybernetic body, Vidian deflected a blaster shot from a stormtrooper and then crushed the culprit's head with his bare hands. Sloane ordered her gunnery crew to target the Forager's transmission tower; effectively destroying Vidian's plans to detonate Cynda. As a result, the cyborg Count fled the control room, heading for the ship's hangar. In the midst of the chaos, Kanan and Hera escaped with the wounded Zaluna on a life pod.

The bombardment of the Forager released a flood of xenoboric acid which swept through the ship's corridors and facilities. Vidian's cybernetic body was badly damaged by the acid. Still defiant, Vidian attempted to use the rebels' baradium hauler to travel to one of the drill sites on Cynda and detonate the explosives in order to meet the Emperor's thorilide quota. Before Vidian could complete his plan, he was accosted by Skelly, who was in bad shape after Vidian's earlier beating and falling from a ladder during the rebels' initial boarding of the Forager. Skelly detonated a bomb which killed the two of them and destroyed the Forager in a fiery explosion.

The demise of Count Vidian above Cynda brought an end to his scheme to destroy the moon, thereby saving millions of lives on Gorse. To conceal his treason, Imperial HoloNews disseminated the false report that the efficiency expert had succumbed to a relapse of Shilmer's syndrome. Following Vidian's death, his rival, Baron Danthe, was granted oversight of the Gorse system. One of Danthe's first actions was to cease all mining operations on Cynda and restore the moon to its status as a tourist destination. Danthe also opened the sunward side of Gorse to mining, using his company's heat-resistant mining drones for that dangerous work. Due to the reestablishment of mining on Gorse, the planet's refineries were able to remain open.

Furthermore, Captain Sloane and Commander Nibiru Chamas also advanced in the Imperial Navy hierarchy as a result of their efforts to expose Vidian's deception to the Imperial authorities. Meanwhile, Hera and Kanan established a rebel cell after hiding Zaluna on a safe world.

In 3 ABY, while attempting to repair the damaged shuttle Bastinade in the Hoth asteroid belt, Lieutenant Deltic quipped to then-Commodore Sloane that, although she did not believe in reincarnation, she believed the Lambda-class' computer was the reincarnation of Vidian because of the trouble it was causing them.

During his time as the safety inspector Lemuel Tharsa, Count Vidian experienced feelings of inadequacy and frustration due to the pervasive corruption within the thorilide trade. As a result of his work as a safety inspector in the mining industry, Vidian contracted a debilitating illness known as Shilmer's syndrome, which severely impaired most of his bodily functions and left him unable to communicate for a period of two years, until he managed to establish basic communication with a medical droid. The ordeal of being trapped within his own mind for years transformed Vidian into an aggressive workaholic who held a disdain for other sentient beings, particularly those who interfered with his plans. He dismissed the Force as mere superstition, rejecting the tales of Jedi abilities that he had encountered.

Following his integration into a cybernetic body, Tharsa shed his former identity and reinvented himself as the intimidating figure known as Count Denetrius Vidian. His mechanical appearance instilled unease in those around him, as he had intentionally designed his prosthetic replacements and mechanical voice box to project an aura of intimidation. As a cyborg, Vidian barely considered himself a "person," an insecurity that was amplified by his mechanical augmentations, which some likened to those of Darth Vader.

Leveraging his business acumen and insider knowledge, Vidian sought revenge against the mining companies by publishing reports that discouraged surface thorilide mining in favor of space comet-chasing mining. As a workaholic, Vidian subscribed to the business mantra: "Keep moving, destroy barriers, see everything." After monopolizing the thorolide trade, Vidian established himself as a well-respected business guru. During the Age of the Empire, Vidian rose to become the Emperor's favored efficiency expert, tasked with enhancing productivity on underperforming worlds and systems. Known for his relentless pursuit of maximizing raw material extraction, Vidian often disregarded the well-being of his workers.

Initially, Vidian believed that competition was essential for ensuring efficiency. However, after thwarting a plot to sabotage stormtrooper armor on Gilvaanen, Vidian revised his views and supported Tarkin's recommendation to bring the planet's armor industry under the Imperial Department of Military Research. Vidian also diverged from Tarkin's endorsement of collective punishment, instead opting to execute the ringleader of the Ithorian strikers. Vidian also gave the workers a second chance but warned that failure would be met by death. Vidian was also known to study his subjects before meeting them.

Despite his success as a well-regarded business guru, Vidian harbored insecurities and fiercely protected his business interests, including the Gorse system's thorilide mining industry. While Vidian strived to meet the Empire's unrealistic demands to double and subsequently triple Gorse's mining output, his personal ambition to gain the Emperor's favor led him to reject assistance from perceived competitors such as Baron Lero Danthe, whom he dismissed as a "snotty upstart." Vidian's mining activities on Gorse's moon Cynda brought him into conflict with Skelly, a dissident miner and Clone Wars veteran who viewed mining as detrimental to Cynda's existence. Vidian's obsession with undermining Danthe and securing the Emperor's favor drove him to embark on a clandestine plot to destroy Cynda and its thorilide reserves. However, Vidian was ultimately defeated by the combined efforts of a group of rebels led by Hera Syndulla and the Imperial Captain Rae Sloane.

Furthermore, Vidian's fixation on increasing productivity and extracting all resources led him to devalue the lives of other sentient beings. Vidian possessed a volatile temperament and was prone to fits of rage when things did not go according to his plans. He was also capable of cold-blooded murder. On two occasions, he brutally murdered the Cyndan Mining Guild's Director Palfa and Moonglow Polychemical's Chief Operations Officer Lal Grallik when they were unable to meet his goals and expectations. During his tenure as the Empire's efficiency expert in the Gorse system, he implemented several draconian measures, including imprisoning dissident miners, dismissing elderly miners, and closing down a medcenter. In his scheme to destroy Cynda, Vidian showed little concern for the adverse environmental consequences that the moon's destruction would have on the people of Gorse.

Through his cybernetic enhancements, Vidian had access to a wide breadth of information based around his motto: "Keep moving, destroy barriers, see everything." With Vidian's formidable steel-coated body, he believed himself to have an "able body and thus an able mind." Vidian's electronic voice box on his throat could channel its output straight into comlink receivers near his "ears," private communication channels, giving himself total privacy in comlink and hologram conversations and thus "getting information directly, whenever possible." Through his cybernetic eye implants, Vidian was able to channel his vision directly into security cameras and computer systems, having data streamed directly into his retinas and "giving him the upper hand." His armor was woven with cortosis, which enabled him to be deflect blaster bolts and redirect the energy elsewhere. His lungs were also augmented to reject poisons.

Vidian was also a careful observer and took care to research all information that he knew about his subjects. This led him to ascertain that the Ithorian foreman Larrth was conspiring with Thetis Quelton to sabotage stormtrooper armor production.