Nharqis'I

The Nharqis'I was a black-colored starless nebula in the Outer Rim Territories' Veragi sector. It was associated by many beings with death and was said to be home to the mythical leviathan known as the Nharqis'Al. In 3 ABY, the Galactic Empire's Imperial II-class Star Destroyer Interrogator was entering the nebula in order to investigate it. At that time, the Star Destroyer's captain Jovan Vharing, observed the Nharqis'I while waiting to meet Imperial High Inquisitor Antinnis Tremayne in the latter's waiting room. The nervous Vharing, expecting to be executed for the failure of his subordinate officer, contemplated the nebula until the arrival of Tremayne, who then indeed promptly killed the captain.

Description

The Nharqis'I was a little-known starless and featureless black nebula^[3] located in the Veragi sector of the Outer Rim Territories.^[1] Its name, which shared similarities with the Old Corellian phrases Nhar'qual^[4] and "Min min vil ut valle Nharqis"^[5]—meaning "dark death"^[4] and "I will eat your ashes," respectively^[5]—was, despite its romantic appeal, a crude modification of a term in a lingering smugglers' dialect^[3] that referred to a killing field^[6] and was interpreted by Captain Jovan Vharing of the Galactic Empire to mean "the death place." Mythological beliefs associated with the Nharqis'I claimed the existence of the leviathan known as the Nharqis'Al, who was said to lurk inside the nebula,^[3] and many beings associated the forbidding region of space with death,^[6] with it potentially reminding one of apparently endless continuity.^[3]

History

Captain Jovan Vharing contemplated the Nharqis'I shortly before his death aboard the Interrogator while it was entering the region. — Captain Jovan Vharing contemplated the *Nharqis'I* shortly before his death aboard the *Interrogator* while it was entering the region.

In 3 ABY,^[7] the Empire's Imperial II-class Star Destroyer Interrogator under the command of Vharing moved in to investigate the Nharqis'I. While the Star Destroyer was maneuvering into the mouth of the nebula, the captain was observing the movement of the vessel through a viewport in the waiting room of Imperial High Inquisitor Antinnis Tremayne, who had summoned Vharing after the latter's Senior Lieutenant Leeds had ordered a disastrous attack on^[3] the Inner Rim^[8] planet Qlothos. The nervous captain, who mused that he would be executed by Tremayne if the Inquisitor's actions were as predictable as the dark void of the Nharqis'I, wished that he could lose himself inside the nebula since he considered the waiting room even colder and more forbidding in comparison.^[3]

When Tremayne finally entered the room, he did indeed promptly kill Vharing via the use of telekinesis. While observing the black robes of the Inquisitor, the dying captain imagined himself being drawn into the fabric and into an alternate world as dark and starless as the Nharqis'I. Vharing subsequently had an after-death experience in which he, mistakenly believing himself to have survived the meeting with Tremayne, eventually found himself on the Interrogator's bridge. He observed the starship's crew preparing to leave the sector, with areas of stars becoming visible through the portions of the receding nebula, and briefly wondered when the order to depart had been given before shrugging the thought away.^[3]

Behind the scenes

The Nharqis'I first appeared in the short story "The Longest Fall," which was written by Patricia A. Jackson, illustrated by Chris Trevas, and published in the November 1996 eleventh issue of West End Games' Star Wars Adventure Journal magazine.^[3] The 2009 reference book The Essential Atlas placed it in grid square K-2, although both the book^[2] and its StarWars.com Online Companion misspelled the nebula's name as the Nharqis'l, with a lower-case "L."^[1]