Sifting through some bios on the official Star Wars website - here are a few tidbits of note and some new photos that have emerged since the film opened.
Admiral Ackbar: After the Battle of Endor, Ackbar became a Grand Admiral in the New Republic, winning many victories including the pivotal Battle of Jakku. He retired to Mon Cala, but was coaxed back into service with the Resistance by Leia Organa.
The Resistance: A small, secretive private military force, the Resistance was founded by rebel hero Leia Organa to monitor the actions of the First Order. Most New Republic power brokers tolerate the Resistance while regarding Organa and her fighters as dead-enders with an unfortunate fixation on the past. Organa's cash-strapped movement relies on credits, ships and equipment quietly funneled to it from the few senators who share her concerns.
The New Republic: The Rebel Alliance became the New Republic after its victory over the Empire at the Battle of Endor. Eager to win over the war-weary citizens of the galaxy, the New Republic revived the Senate, signed a peace treaty the Galactic Concordance with the Empire's remnants, and drastically reduced its military capabilities. That policy aroused the ire of rebel hero Leia Organa, who warned that elements of the Empire were still seeking power. Sidelined from the political process, Organa founded the Resistance to oppose the Empire's successor state, the mysterious First Order.
Hosnian Prime: The capital of the New Republic, Hosnian Prime is a cosmopolitan world on the outskirts of the galaxy's Core Worlds region. One of Mon Mothma's reforms in establishing the New Republic was that member worlds would host the Senate on a rotating basis, a sharp break from the millennia in which Coruscant was the center of galactic power. But Hosnian Prime's tenure as Senate seat makes it the target of a terrifying attack by the First Order.
First Order: The New Republic's rise reduced the once-mighty Empire to a rump state hemmed in by strict disarmament treaties and punishing reparations. But in the galaxy's Unknown Regions, former Imperial officers, nobles and technologists plotted a return to power, building fleets and armies in secret. This movement became the First Order, ruled by Supreme Leader Snoke, and is now ready to reclaim the Imperial legacy.
First Order Riot Control Stormtrooper: Stormtrooper units assigned to keep order on worlds within First Order territory are trained in riot-control tactics and given non-lethal equipment though all carry standard weapons in case situations spiral out of control. Riot control stormtroopers use betaplast shields and Z6 batons to keep crowds at bay or to shock or pummel an opponent.
Snoke: The Supreme Leader of the First Order, the mysterious Snoke has no permanent base of operations, preferring to contact his underlings from a mobile command post. Snoke is powerful with the dark side of the Force, and seduced Kylo Ren into abandoning the Jedi path to become his apprentice.
Lor San Tekka: A legendary traveler and explorer, Lor San Tekka is a longtime ally of the New Republic and the Resistance. After the Battle of Endor, San Tekka helped Luke Skywalker recover secret Jedi lore that the Empire had tried to erase, and Leia Organa hopes the old scout can now help find her brother. Following decades of adventure, San Tekka retired to live simply on Jakku, where he follows the dictates of the once-forbidden Church of the Force. But his retirement is fated to be anything but peaceful.
Maz's Castle: The ancient edifice known as Maz's castle sits on the shore of a lake on Takodana, a site rumored to have been a battleground for the Jedi and Sith. The castle is simultaneously aged and state of the art, with sensor grids and advanced communications gear sprouting from worn stone battlements. Inside Maz's castle, pirates, smugglers, spies and all manner of scoundrels mix and mingle, searching for loans, information, equipment, repairs -- or kicking back to enjoy music, food and drink or games of chance. All must obey their host's prohibitions against politics or war.
Great photo of Rey at the AT-AT.
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