The next big Star Wars project is The High Republic, a series of novels set in the Golden Age of the Republic (300 BBY to 100 BBY) written by Claudia Gray, Justina Ireland, Daniel José Older, Charles Soule and Cavan Scott. Following a group of Jedi Knights stationed on the Outer Rim of the Galaxy on the Starlight Beacon, The High Republic kicks off in Soule's Light of the Jedi, set in 232 BBY when a devastating event unleashes chaos in this frontier region, knocking ships across the galaxy out of hyperspace and instigating the Nihil's attack of Trymant IV.

While there's still a lot of mystery surrounding the Starlight Beacon, here's what we know right now.

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What Is Starlight Beacon?

The Starlight Beacon itself is a space station built in the middle of the unmapped regions and the Jedi's base of operations out on the Galactic Frontier. "As a symbol of all that's good, the Republic is about to launch Starlight Beacon into the far reaches of the Outer Rim. This new space station will serve as a ray of hope for all to see," reads the opening crawl of the series.

The station was designed to serve as a lighthouse for ships and civilizations beyond the Outer Rim, the wild frontier of the Galaxy. It was also horrendously expensive; the only comparable projects in terms of size, ambition and materials are actually the Empire's Death Stars, and their cost was directly linked to their volatile kyber-crystal core, which had to be contained and directed using massive amounts of rare metals.

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If the High Republic was the Golden Age of the Jedi, and the Jedi and the Sith share roughly the same devices but with opposing intentions (lightsabers, holocrons..,) it is then fair to assume that the underlying technology of the Starlight Beacon could be the same as the one powering the Death Stars, only that instead of using the power of kyber crystals for destruction and fear, the Starlight Beacon would offer hope and guidance for the inhabitants of the Unknown Regions.

The other significant difference is that Death Stars were designed to move around to better terrify all the corners of the Empire, while the Starlight Beacon is supposed to remain in a fixed spot outside of the Republic. Given the instability of the Unknown Regions, this immobility against unmapped cosmic currents must have been a miraculous feat of engineering.

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The Unknown Regions Are Very Dangerous

Kyber crystals are living minerals imbued with the Force, and the Force itself acts as a beacon in the dark. However, broadcasting's one's location and territorial interests in or near the Unknown Regions is not a great idea, regardless of any noble intentions. For instance, the Chiss Ascendancy, the notoriously isolationist civilization that spawned Grand Admiral Thrawn, kept its system's coordinates secret even from their allies, as they risked attracting the unwanted attention of other struggling species competing for resources, terrifying Force-sensitive creatures from Greater Space, freelancing space pirates or a smorgasbord of all three.

Which is what apparently happens in The High Republic. The villains of the series series are the Nihil, a group of "space vikings" pillaging vulnerable planets before retreating to unmapped space with their loot. The Nihil wear heavy helmets with breathing tubes that give their heads the appearance of evil scuba divers. They have been presented as what the Jedi fear the most, but this doesn't seem quite right -- while the Jedi might abhor the devastation that Nihil's raids leave behind, it's unlikely that they fear mere space pirates. In Star Wars there's always a bigger fish, puppeteering their minions to snuff out any light, hope or guidance threatening their supremacy. In this case, that hope is the Starlight Beacon.

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Whatever happens in The High Republic, the Starlight Beacon survived in some form until 3 ABY. Marvel's Star Wars #9 (which will release in December) links the Station to an undercover mission led by Leia and Lando called Operation Starlight. In this arc, he role of Starlight Beacon will be essential to reassemble the Alliance Fleet after it was scattered to the winds in the Battle of Hoth, fulfilling once again its function of illuminating the path through the darkest of times. This means, Star Wars fans are likely to get more information about Starlight Beacon sooner rather than later.

Star Wars: The High Republic begins Jan. 5 with Star Wars: The High Republic -- Light of the Jedi, by Charles Soule.

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