Gilder Varth

Gilder Varth, a male Human, lived during the later years of the Galactic Republic and established himself as a naval officer. Varth participated in the Clone Wars, a violent struggle between the Republic and the separatist Confederacy of Independent Systems. In 19 BBY, he commanded a vessel during the Battle of Coruscant, a conflict to gain control of the Republic's capital planet, Coruscant. His bravery in the battle led to a subsequent promotion.

Following the establishment of the Galactic Empire, the Republic's successor, Varth rose to the rank of admiral in the Imperial Navy. Varth became involved in the Sarlacc Project, a secret Imperial initiative to build a prototype Super Star Destroyer warship, and was responsible for directing funds and resources to the project. The admiral was tasked with transferring funds to the Hutt crime lord Darga in exchange for slaves to be used in the construction of the vessel. As the project progressed, Varth received reports of high death rates associated with the operation.

Around 17 BBY, the Empire assigned Varth the task of securing evidence of the disloyalty of Bail Organa, a prominent Imperial senator from Alderaan who was secretly supporting the emerging Alderaanian Resistance anti-Imperial insurgency. To achieve this, Varth established contact with Organa and, over several months, provided secret information about the Empire to the senator. As a cover, the admiral presented himself as a former loyal Imperial supporter who had become disillusioned with the Empire's corruption of the values of the old Galactic Republic. Furthermore, he pretended to be concerned about discoveries he had made regarding the Empire's secret activities.

As the next phase of his plan to expose Organa, Varth collaborated with Valin Draco of the Empire's Inquisitorius order of Dark Jedi to infiltrate Varth into the Alderaanian Resistance. According to a plan known only to Varth and Draco, the admiral was arrested and imprisoned on Felucia at the isolated Vanishing Place prison, located deep within the Felucian jungle, to entice Organa to arrange his rescue, thus providing Varth with the opportunity to integrate himself into the rebel movement. Varth was held in Detention Block F-1A, a small, cramped communal detention center within the prison. Over the following days, Varth received no special treatment from the prison guards and sustained minor injuries, including a swollen and bruised right eye and blood stains around his mouth, while his Imperial uniform became tattered.

Organa received information from his agents about Varth's imprisonment on Felucia. Just over a week after the admiral's incarceration, Organa sent a team of freelance agents to rescue Varth, hoping that the information held by the admiral would enable the Alderaanian Resistance to strike a significant blow against the Empire. As a deception to further validate Varth's image as a genuine traitor to the Empire, Valin Draco arranged for a transmission to be sent to the Vanishing Place prison, advising that Draco would be arriving on Felucia to personally take custody of Varth aboard the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer Assiduous for transport to the Citadel Inquisitorius, the Inquisitor headquarters on Prakith. Draco's message also instructed that Varth should be administered interrogation chemicals between 27 and 54 minutes before transfer to a shuttle and that the prison's medical technicians should ensure Varth was well-rested and in good health.

The operatives dispatched by Organa infiltrated the Felucian prison and freed the admiral. Varth was puzzled by the presence of the freelancers, as he had anticipated Organa sending Resistance forces rather than independent agents to rescue him, but he agreed to accompany the team nonetheless. The agents led Varth to a secret entrance to the prison in the facility's ventilation system, where they attempted to escape. However, Imperial stormtroopers blocked their path, and the operatives instead fought their way through the prison, escorting Varth onto the building's roof. From there, Varth and his rescuers were picked up by the Baudo-class star yacht Banshee. The admiral was then transported to a rendezvous point at a secure location in the uninhabited Zandrax system and taken aboard the Alderaanian Resistance EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigate Resurgence. Varth was greeted by the vessel's captain Adrian Verana and escorted away by several Alderaanian Security agents for questioning.

The Resurgence served as a mobile safe house for Varth, remaining in deep space, away from hyperlanes and inhabited worlds. Over the following weeks, the Alderaanian Resistance debriefed the admiral, with Captain Verana personally overseeing Varth's safety and interrogation. The Resistance made a concerted effort to avoid mentioning Organa's name in Varth's presence, to avoid confirming the senator's support of the rebels until the admiral's true loyalties were determined. Demonstrating his sincerity, Varth revealed information about the Empire's clandestine activities, including his peripheral involvement in the Sarlacc Project. However, he claimed ignorance of the Sarlacc Project's true purpose, asserting that the Empire had reassigned him due to concerns that his morals made him a liability.

Directly supporting the rebels' efforts, Varth began wearing the uniform of an Alderaanian ship's officer and was tasked by Verana with gathering more information about the Sarlacc Project. To that end, Varth planned a mission to investigate Darga the Hutt's connection to the project and determine the nature of the goods Darga was trading with the Empire. With Verana's permission, Varth enlisted the team of agents who had rescued him from Felucia and received authorization to pay them a moderate amount of credits for their services. The admiral convened a briefing on the bridge of the Resurgence, instructing the operatives to identify Darga's location on Cato Neimoidia and gather intelligence about the Hutt's criminal operation. The mission was successful, leading the Resistance to discover that Darga was supplying tibanna gas from Bespin for use in the Sarlacc Project.

Several months later, the team of Alderaanian Resistance agents who had previously assisted Varth discovered data on Nizon indicating that the Sarlacc Project was being directed from Coruscant. Varth, Verana, and the crew of the Resurgence spent the next few days analyzing the information, leaving the admiral exhausted. Varth and Verana decided to send the team of Alderaanian Resistance agents to Coruscant to locate and infiltrate the headquarters of the Sarlacc Project to obtain further information about the Imperial operation. In preparation for the mission, Varth procured the necessary licenses and permits for the agents to land their starship at Cloudscape Platforms, a private Coruscant spaceport. Once the preparations were complete, Varth and Verana summoned the operatives for a meeting in a briefing room aboard the Resurgence, instructing them on the specifics of their mission. The agents then departed for Coruscant.

The operatives dispatched by the Alderaanian Resistance to Coruscant located and destroyed the headquarters of the Sarlacc Project. Following the operation, Varth plotted to lure the agents into a trap, deeming them too skilled to continue serving the Resistance. The admiral arranged for Imperial Security Bureau agent Tavik Moern to pose as an Incom Corporation weapons technician named Pavel Trenol, supposedly a survivor of the destruction of the Sarlacc Project headquarters. Varth then sent the operatives a message via a pirated HoloNet signal, tasking them with contacting "Trenol" at a flophouse in the Gnawer's Roost district of Coruscant, claiming that the technician sought to defect to the Alderaanian Resistance in exchange for providing information on the offensive specifications of the Super Star Destroyer prototype. The admiral also instructed the agents to signal him once they had met "Trenol" so that Varth could arrange their return to the Resurgence. Moern was then to ambush and kill the Alderaanian Resistance operatives when they found him.

With his plan to eliminate the Resistance agents in motion, Varth chose his moment to betray the Alderaanian rebels and return to the Imperial fold. Varth provided the Empire with the location of the Resurgence and its supporting flotilla, triggering an attack by two Imperial Star Destroyers against the Alderaanians. Varth abandoned the Resurgence during the chaos of the battle and joined the Imperial forces, donning a pristine Imperial uniform. The agents whom Varth had attempted to ensnare on Coruscant survived the admiral's trap and returned to the stricken Resurgence. As the operatives fled the floundering frigate, Varth sent a transmission to their starship, revealing his true loyalty to the Empire and ordering the agents to stand down and allow their vessel to be boarded. The operatives ignored his instruction and fled into hyperspace.

Following his return to service within the Empire, Varth maintained a close working relationship with Inquisitor Draco. With Draco's approval, the admiral took control of the minimal crew assigned to the incomplete Super Star Destroyer prototype. This vessel was under construction in orbit around the world of Byss, located within the Beshqek system. Varth was also placed in charge of a Golan space defense platform, tasked with providing protection for the unfinished Star Destroyer. Due to his distrust of an entirely Human crew, Varth made certain that the majority of the space station's personnel consisted of droids, thus reducing the number of Humans present. However, he permitted a select group of elite operatives loyal to Emperor Palpatine—the leader of the Galactic Empire—to join the crew of the Golan platform.

After an encounter with the Alderaanian Resistance on Prakith, Inquisitor Draco escaped to the Super Star Destroyer being built above Byss. With Varth's consent, Draco assumed authority over the Golan defense platform responsible for guarding the Star Destroyer. The Inquisitor's ambition was to command the Super Star Destroyer and its accompanying fleet upon its completion, viewing the admiral as his primary obstacle to gaining control of the massive warship. Draco had a vision foretelling that his final battle with the Alderaanian rebels would occur over Byss, but he intentionally kept this information from Varth. The Inquisitor believed that a victory over the insurgents would allow him to surpass the admiral in stature and establish his suitability to lead the Super Star Destroyer.

Shortly time thereafter, just as Draco had foreseen, a fleet composed of Alderaanian Resistance ships and allied smuggler groups journeyed to the Beshqek system with the intention to assault the Super Star Destroyer prototype. From the bridge of the Super Star Destroyer, Varth oversaw the Imperial defense, instructing his supporting fleet to engage the attacking forces. Suspecting a possible deception, Varth issued orders to the Golan defense platform, which was safeguarding the Super Star Destroyer, to deactivate the tractor beam securing the vessel. This would allow the prototype Star Destroyer to enter the battle. However, before the tractor beam could be disengaged, the Alderaanian Resistance agents who had previously rescued Varth from Felucia boarded the station and were confronted by Draco. Varth contacted the Golan platform, demanding an explanation for the delay in disabling the tractor beam. He then witnessed, through a display screen, Draco's defeat and death. Subsequently, Varth addressed the agents via the display screen, expressing his disappointment that they had survived the attack on the Resurgence and predicting that they would not live to see his triumph over the rebels.

Under Varth's command, the still-incomplete Super Star Destroyer activated its turbolasers and fired upon the Golan platform's anchoring structure, releasing it from the tractor beam's grip. The admiral then ordered the Super Star Destroyer to execute a micro-jump through hyperspace, positioning it at the forefront of the conflict. Shortly after, Alderaanian starfighters exploited a breach in the vessel's superstructure and detonated the Super Star Destroyer's primary reactor, leading to the ship's destruction and Varth's death. This defeat of the admiral and the loss of the prototype ship marked the first major success of a resistance faction against the Galactic Empire.

Gilder Varth had a slightly stout physique, short-cropped blond hair, blue eyes, a light complexion, and a thick mustache. He was a direct, though not unkind, man of action. Intelligent and practical, he grew impatient when forced to wait. He favored brief and to-the-point meetings, minimizing small talk in his interactions.

Varth was a man of honor who displayed notable bravery during his service in the Clone Wars as a naval officer. Later, he demonstrated unwavering loyalty to the Galactic Empire. He was fully dedicated to his scheme to infiltrate the Alderaanian Resistance and was keen to earn Bail Organa's trust in order to trap the senator and his operatives. After being freed from captivity on Felucia, Varth was initially cautious about revealing the details of his staged capture, hesitant to share information due to uncertainty about the allegiances of the freelance agents who had rescued him.

The admiral presented himself to the Alderaanian Resistance as a genuine defector, but his body language while working with the rebels concealed his true motives. His deception was natural, and he easily convinced the insurgents of his sincerity. However, he struggled to adjust to life outside the rigid structure of the Imperial Navy, feeling uneasy in the Alderaanian uniform given to him by the resistance group, though his professionalism prevented him from voicing any objections to his new attire. He found it difficult to abandon some of his old Imperial habits while undercover. As a subtle indication of his true loyalty to the Empire, while briefing the Alderaanian Resistance team that he was sending to investigate the Sarlacc Project on Coruscant, he inadvertently referred to the world as "Imperial Center," the official Imperial designation for the world, instead of "Coruscant," the name commonly used by the rebels.

The Alderaanian Resistance operatives that Varth sent to Coruscant exceeded his expectations by successfully uncovering the true nature of the Sarlacc Project. This led him to feel a begrudging respect for the resourcefulness that the agents had demonstrated. Following his betrayal of the rebels to the Empire, Varth was full of bluster and during the Imperial attack on the Resurgence he attempted to coerce the team of Alderaanian Resistance operatives into allowing themselves to capture despite him not being in a position to prevent their escape. He was later disappointed at his failure to kill the agents during the ambush of the Alderaanian Resistance fleet. During the battle with the rebels over Byss, Varth was confident of victory and eager to crush his assailants, considering the Alderaanian Resistance's revolt against the Empire to be farcical.

Varth was a skilled pilot and proficient in vehicle combat, the handling of blaster pistols, and the use of other basic weaponry. In addition to Basic, he was also fluent in High Galactic.

Gilder Varth was a recurring character in the Dawn of Defiance campaign, a series of role-playing adventures set within Star Wars Legends continuity that was published on Wizards.com between 2007 and 2009 as a tie-in to the Saga Edition of Wizards of the Coasts' Star Wars Roleplaying Game. Varth was first mentioned in Dawn of Defiance: Gamemaster Primer, an outline of the Dawn of Defiance campaign by Rodney Thompson published on October 4, 2007, and made his first appearance in the opening instalment of the campaign, The Traitor's Gambit, also by Thompson. He went on to feature in in Dawn of Defiance modules A Wretched Hive, The Core of Corruption, A Reckoning of Wraiths and Jaws of the Sarlacc, receiving his first visual depiction in The Core of Corruption, in an illustration by Elizabeth McLaren.

In The Traitor's Gambit, it is noted that Varth participated in the Battle of Coruscant, a battle fought between the forces of the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems, but it is not specified which side of the battle he fought on. An inconsistency exists regarding Varth's hair color; The Traitor's Gambit states the admiral's hair color to be grey whereas the image of Varth that appears in the The Core of Corruption portrays him as having blond hair. This article assumes his hair to be blonde since The Core of Corruption is the later of the two sources.

Within the Dawn of Defiance campaign, player characters assume the roles of Alderaanian Resistance agents tasked with rescuing Varth from imprisonment on Felucia and later undertaking various missions for the Resistance at his direction. During the player characters help Varth to break out from the Vanishing Place prison in The Traitor's Gambit, Varth is reluctant to engage in combat against the Imperial guards and offers tactical support only. However, it if pressed by the players the admiral does reluctantly brandish a blaster and assist in the fighting. If the players are unable to identify an escape route from the prison, Varth remarks that he had overheard his guards referring to a command center on the second floor of the facility and recommends that the operatives head there and make their way to the prison roof.

At the start of the setting of A Wretched Hive, Varth has not obtained confirmation that Bail Organa is supporting the Alderaanian Resistance and was the orchestrator of his rescue from Felucia unless the player characters provide him confirmation of the senator's involvement. The adventure also recommends that Varth appear in roleplaying adventures set between the events of The Traitor's Gambit and A Wretched Hive, to allow the players further opportunities to familiarize themselves with his character.

In The Core of Corruption, Varth assigns the player characters to investigate the Sarlacc Project on the planet Coruscant and is possible for him to offer the player characters remuneration of up to 5,000 credits each and access to equipment and weapons from the stores of the Resurgence in return for undertaking the mission. He also extends the players the temporary use of a light freighter for use in the assignment if they lack access to a starship. If the player characters have their own vessel, Varth offers to arrange for any necessary repairs to the ship to be completed prior to the agents undertaking the mission. In A Reckoning of Wraiths, Varth sends a transmission to the player characters to reveal that his defection to the Alderaanian Resistance had been a deception and he converses with the agents only while their exchange stays productive and courteous.

The conclusion of Jaws of the Sarlacc, the final instalment of the Dawn of the Defiance campaign confirms that Varth is killed during the battle over Byss and the Super Star Destroyer prototype eviscerated. This article therefore assumes Varth's death in the battle to be the official outcome. The adventure does however advocate that if the player characters fail to destroy the Super Star Destroyer prototype during the battle over Byss then this could act as a crux for a new roleplaying campaign with Varth as an antagonist. It is suggested that in this scenario, the existence of the new Star Destroyer is not publicly disclosed by the the Empire and Varth resolves to keep awareness of the new vessel secret until the Emperor demands otherwise. Under Admiral Varth's command, the Super Star Destroyer strikes unseen against targets throughout the galaxy. The player characters then lure Varth and his ship into a trap and attempt to eradicate the Super Star Destroyer once and for all.