Having just gotten Insider 88, I was looking at "Heritage of the Sith" and noticed a bunch of Sith concept art from TPM and AOTC appearing in it. Are there any specific characters that they're supposed to represent? I'm particularly curious about the one on the page that talks about Xendor, namely whether that actually is Xendor.

Sue, is there something we should know? Are you okay?

I mean, if you start "dropping bits," that sounds like a major health issue. I'd see a doctor, STAT!

Thanks for the update on Allegiance.

Sue can we expect an expanded summary of Allegiance in the near future? And where exactly will Allegiance take place? In Wild Space or just the Outer Rim Territories or maybe the Corporate Sector?

Now, if only the problem of the missing Rebellion # 3 was resolved, I would get a good night's sleep...

That's about all I want to say at this time

Does that mean we will get a more precise placement when the novel hits the stores?

On the Plagueis novel:

Are we to assume that even those lesser known EU sources are being taken into account? For instance, the Darth Maul Journal (and some other sources that escape me right now) show Sidious training Maul as a young child.

That would seem to either indicate that:

(a) Sidious is training Maul behind Plagueis back, which doesn't entirely jive with his dialogue, as I recall, but might just be him trying to make himself look like the one and only big bad Sith to young Maul.

or . . .

(b) That the Plagueis novel has to take place sometime either when Maul is VERY young or not born yet, which would have to make it, what, a good 25 years (give or take) before TPM, at the very latest?

(Of course, the latter scenario of Plagueis being dead before Sidious trained Maul would also necessitate that the Vader Guide's ambiguity as to whether it was Sidious or Plagueis that created Anakin would be completely cleared up, as Plagueis would've been dead at least a decade before Anakin was conceived/created.)

While we're on the topic of timeline positions, is there an official placement for the Plagueis novel yet, and if so, what is it?

There's a semi-official timeline position. We've had one story conference with Jim Luceno, working out the general direction of the novel. As it stands now, it takes place... well... it's kind of hard to pinpoint exactly. As you know from the movie, Sidious kills Plagueis, so it takes place while the both of them are alive. Yeah, I know, that's pretty obvious. It's in the years just prior to Episode 1. Well, you probably figured that out, too. The majority of the novel will take place when they are both adults. Does that help? That's about all I want to say at this time.

Yes, it's the official title.

Great! Thank you!

While we're on the topic of timeline positions, is there an official placement for the Plagueis novel yet, and if so, what is it?

"A Forest Apart" takes place shortly after Han and Leia's wedding, so around 8 ABY. I believe the age given was based on erroneous information regarding the timing of Rebel Dawn. Lumpy's birth year is approximately 1 BBY.

15 BBY for Droids has been in use since Insider #73 (2003), if not earlier.

3 ABY for the Ewoks movies have been in use since Behind the Magic (1998), if not earlier.

These two timeline positions supercede any timeline positions released before those sources. If you have an official source released after the publication of the above sources that lists a differerent timeline position, let me know.