The Written Word The Written Word was a StarWars . com article written by John Hazlett and published on March 5 , 2010 . Hazlett had previously authored Databank entries for the characters of Cane Adiss and Slyther Bushforb through the " What ' s The Story ? " initiative on Hyperspace , but " The Written Word " was his first full article for the " Star Wars " canon . The article concerned the various writing system s seen in " Star Wars " material , and retcon ned the into being an in - universe script , namely , High Galactic . In creating the article , Hazlett drew from a variety of disparate official " Star Wars " materials , primarily from West End Games , although he also paid homage to the fan publication " " . The article , when published , was illustrated with a series of images demonstrating the in - universe use of the various writing forms . Upon release , the article received high praise on StarWars . com , TheForce . Net , and the Jedi Council Forums , with authors Daniel Wallace , Edward M . Erdelac , Adrick Tolliver , and Nathan O ' Keefe registering their admiration for the work . Overview . " The Written Word " is a six page in - universe profile of several of the various written languages used in the galaxy , broken up in to several sections dictated by different scripts : Aurebesh , High Galactic alphabet , Tionese , Sith writing systems , Trade Federation Basic , Other systems , and Further reading . The article is illustrated with several images , demonstrating the use of the various scripts within the " Star Wars " universe . Its in - universe author is identified as Dr . Milanda Vorgan , and it is shown to be published within " The Shafr Anthology of Galactic Language , Second Edition " . The article explores the development and usage of the various writing systems , citing examples of their implementation and their gradual evolution throughout history . Development . " The Written Word " was written by John Hazlett , author of the StarWars . com Databank entries for Cane Adiss and Slyther Bushforb , which were published through the Star Wars . com feature , What ' s The Story ? Hazlett ' s previous work was published under his screen name of " jSarek , " and he had been further acknowledged as " Ris _ jSarek " in " The Essential Atlas " ( 2009 ) , written by Jason Fry and Daniel Wallace . Hazlett had served as an administrator on " Star Wars " fan - edited encyclopedia Wookieepedia prior to writing " The Written Word " , which was his debut official " Star Wars " article . As Hazlett discovered , the " Star Wars Miniatures Battles Companion " ( 1994 ) stated that Basic was written with a variety of systems , an idea corroborated by the appearance of the , which featured both Aurebesh and characters next to one another . With that as his basis , Hazlett went on to retcon the Latin , the , and the as in - universe writing systems , as each had appeared in canon sources without explanation . In writing the article , Hazlett chose to implement the technique of an in - universe author , selecting Milanda Vorgan , who originated as an assistant to the character of Garv Debble in " The Thrawn Trilogy Sourcebook " ( 1996 ) . To provide context for the character , Hazlett identified her as a professor at the University of Charmath , which originated in " The Star Wars Sourcebook " ( 1987 ) . He provided the article with an in - universe name : " , " and identified it as a publication of the Shafr Center , from " Race for the Tessent , " an article published in " Star Wars Gamer 9 " ( 2002 ) . Opening the article , Hazlett chose to quote his favorite " Star Wars " character , Voren Na ' al — specifically from " The New Essential Chronology " ( 2005 ) , a reference book which in turn cited Na ' al as its in - universe author . Although Hazlett acknowledged " Basic " as the standard designation for the common language in " Star Wars " , he had seen variations — " Galactic Basic " in " Star Wars Miniatures Battles " ( 1991 ) and " Galactic Standard " in both " " ( 1981 ) and on the copyright page of " Galactic Phrase Book & Travel Guide " ( 2001 ) . He conjectured that the various definitions were short forms of a longer , official designation , and so compounded them to create " Galactic Basic Standard . " Old Galactic Standard , which Hazlett cited as the origin of Basic , had been mentioned in Abel G . Peña ' s article " The Emperor ' s Pawns , " itself published in " Star Wars Gamer 5 " ( 2001 ) . Hazlett noted that the language was known by Arden Lyn , a character who had lived during the First Great Schism , around the time that the Galactic Republic had been formed , and so made the connection between Old Galactic as an older form of the " modern " Basic . Approaching Aurebesh . First , Hazlett covered the in - universe Aurebesh writing system , which had been created by Stephen Crane for the " Star Wars Miniatures Battles Companion " , and was in turn based on a form of script seen in ( 1983 ) . Since then , Hazlett noted , the script had been seen in the Prequel trilogy , the 2004 DVD release of , the TV series " " , and a number of other products , making it the most widely exposed form of writing in - universe . Since the characters shown initially in " Return of the Jedi " translated into a meaningless repeating pattern , Hazlett suggested that there were other ways to implement the Aurebesh characters , citing the of the Azure Imperium , which originated in " Coruscant and the Core Worlds " ( 2003 ) as a likely candidate . Abjads , as Hazlett later explained in his blog , required readers to fill in vowels depending the context of a given sentence . As the Azure Imperium included Anaxes , a world with ties to the Imperial Navy , Hazlett hoped to imply that the readout , featured on a control panel of the Imperial battleship " Executor " in " Return of the Jedi " , used the abjad . Hazlett tied the Aurebesh characters to Rakata n symbols , as it had been pointed out to him that some of the icons on the Star Map s in " " ( 2003 ) were variants on Aurebesh symbols . Due to the fact that the symbols were sparse , he decided to identify the Rakatan writing symbol as , wherein each symbol would represent a different word . The idea of adapting an alphabet out of characters from a disparate system was not without its basis in history : of the used Latin characters when creating the but associated them with entirely different sounds . In the section on Aurebesh , Hazlett referenced the Pre - Corellian language , which had originated in the " Galactic Phrase Book and Travel Guide " ; the Tionese War from " Geonosis and the Outer Rim Worlds " ( 2004 ) , and the character of Rin Assid , who was first referenced in " Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook " ( 1993 ) . Hatching High Galactic . In retconning High Galactic effectively into the appearance of Latin characters in the Star Wars universe , Hazlett noted that there was ambiguity as to whether the Latin characters actually existed as they appeared , or whether they were simply " translated " for the viewers ' convenience . The ambiguity , as he mentioned in his blog , was reflected in the nature of spoken Basic , which might literally be English , or something else altogether once again " translated " for the benefit of the consumer . The name " High Galactic " came from " " ( 1978 ) , and was later confirmed to be a common language in " Star Wars Roleplaying Game Saga Edition Core Rulebook " ( 2007 ) . As the Latin alphabet contains characters from the Greek alphabet , Hazlett found it important to tie together their in - universe analogues mentioning that the originators of High Galactic , the Alsakanese , borrowed from the Tionese language . Hazlett created the Republic Census , an extrapolation from the Imperial Census featured in " " ( 1980 ) . To explain why Latin signatures had appeared in West End Games products such as " The Truce at Bakura Sourcebook " ( 1996 ) , the " Heir to the Empire Sourcebook " ( 1992 ) , and the " Dark Empire Sourcebook " ( 1993 ) , Hazlett established that most Human signatories would utilize the High Galactic alphabet in an official manner . He established that it was common for advertisements to use High Galactic , explaining the Latin characters on many of the in - universe logos featured in West End Games products , as well as the " sound slug s " shown in " " ( 1993 ) , which were the in - universe method of storing music . When citing companies that used High Galactic in their logos , Hazlett mostly mentioned those established in canon , but did create Chrono - Bios Publishing — a reference to the publishing house , and intended to be the creators of the in - universe periodical " Chrono . " As Hazlett had noted that the names of C - 3PO and R2 - D2 were often displayed phonetically as " See - Threepio " and " Artoo - Detoo " respectively , he believed that their names were not being translated from Aurebesh for the benefit of audience , and so he established that they were usually identified in High Galactic . His mention of knock - off droids using Aurebesh was influenced by a comment made by Daniel Wallace , who once asked " … who could ever forget that great droid duo , Reshtoo - Dorntoo and Cresh - Threepethosk ? " Translating Tionese . The next section of Hazlett ' s work concerned the Tionese language , which he set up as the analogue for the Greek alphabet . The Tion Cluster itself had been created by Brian Daley in " Han Solo and the Lost Legacy " ( 1980 ) , and the language of Old Tionese had originated in " Shadows of the Empire " ( 1996 ) . When the Hyperspace article " " was published on December 7 , 2009 , as Hazlett was still working on " The Written Word " , drastic revisions had to be made , as it shed new light on the history of the Tion Cluster . In the same section , Hazlett made reference to the Cygnus Star Empire , which originated in the fan publication " " ( 1984 ) . Cygnus Spaceworks , which originated in the publication , had been made canon in the computer game " " ( 1993 ) , and the Cygnus B system had appeared many years prior in " Cantina Communications " , which was published in " Star Wars Official Poster Monthly 16 " ( 1979 ) . The prior appearances of Cygnus led Hazlett to believe it was reasonable to canonize the fanon " Cygnus Star Empire " as a result . Hazlett had originally intended to identify the Cygnus Star Empire as one of the Tionese splinter states that fell under Xim ' s empire , but his idea was damaged by two new releases . Firstly , " The Essential Atlas " ( 2009 ) placed the Cygnus B system on the far side of Hutt Space , far from the Tion Cluster . Secondly , the " Xim Week " article outlined all of the splinter states , leaving Hazlett no room to retcon the Cygnus Star Empire in . He struggled to find a solution as to why a Tion enclave would be located so far away from the Cluster , and so close to Hutt Space , but a solution was presented with the release of another " Xim Week " article , part 1 of " " ( 2009 ) . The article mentioned that several of Xim ' s allies had defected to the Hutts , having been bribed by Kossak Inijic Ar ' durv , allowing Hazlett to imply that Cygnus was one of those allies . Segregating Sith . Hazlett noted that the Sith appearing in " " ( 1996 ) and " " ( 1997 ) were highly in appearance , and so decided to establish an analogue between the two cultures . He did this by stating that their language had begun as , before giving rise to both an ecclesiastic script like the system , and a more common script such as the script . Hazlett then made reference to facts surrounding the Sith Empire established in Abel G . Peña ' s " " ( 2006 ) , as well as other Sith factoids presented in " " ( 2005 ) by James Luceno , and " " ( 2008 ) , also by Peña . Hazlett then made reference to several species who had been connected to the Sith . The first was the Arkanians , whose Sith connections had been established in " The Essential Guide to Alien Species " ( 2001 ) . Next were the Myke , whom Hazlett noted had been connected to the Sith / Human hybrids featured in " The Golden Age of the Sith " by fans , due to their physical similarities . Hazlett solidified the connection , and referenced the Kruskan from the " Bounty Postings " articles . What was identified as High Sith by Hazlett was intended to be the writing featured in " " ( 1994 ) . Another script , Massassi , was intended to represent writing present in Ralph McQuarrie ' s art of " The Illustrated Star Wars Universe " ( 1995 ) . Fan scrutiny of Darth Vader ' s armor revealed that most versions of the costume featured Hebrew letters on the chest box . Since that was the only context under which Hebrew characters had appeared within " Star Wars " , Hazlett thought it appropriate to make Sith the in - universe analogue for the script . To encompass other in - universe references to Hebrew , Hazlett tied Bunker 22 - Aleph , Storinal from " " ( 1998 ) and Task Force Aleph from " " ( 2000 ) to the Sith language , making the connection to the Hebrew letter " " ( א ) . To that end , he identified the " Aleph " - class starfighter from " " ( 2006 ) as having Sith connections , but since the described fighter looked little like the Aleph character and more like the " ' Ālaph , " he specified that it was named after a character from the Myke alphabet . Hazlett made reference to Hanod from " Wanted by Cracken " ( 1993 ) . He tried to resolve a discrepancy that had cropped up in " The Essential Atlas " , which had indicated that Supreme Chancellor Contispex I had created the Ordnance / Regional Depot s during the Pius Dea crusades , but Hazlett had remembered that Ord Antalaha had been established much later , during the Clone Wars , as per " Pirates & Privateers " ( 1997 ) . By introducing another new Ordanance / Regional Depot that had been created after the Pius Dea crusades with the original Ord Dalet , Hazlett hoped to support the earlier example set by " Pirates & Privateers " . Tackling Trade Federation Basic . The next script focused on by Hazlett was the writing style featured prominently on Trade Federation possessions in ( 1999 ) . Referring to " " ( 2006 ) , Hazlett found that the script was identified as " Galactic Basic numerals , " while the " Force Feedback " column in " Star Wars Gamer 4 " ( 2001 ) identified it as " Federation Basic . " As he found the " Force Feedback " example less generic , he decided to reinforce it , while identifying it fully as " Trade Federation Basic . " Hazlett referenced the ancient phonetic origins of Durese that had been covered in " , " published in " Star Wars Gamer 2 " ( 2000 ) . Although " Ultimate Alien Anthology " ( 2003 ) established Pak - Pak as being a nonverbal language , Hazlett opted to go with " Galactic Phrase Book and Travel Guide " description , which identified it as a verbal language , seeing as though the Duros and Neimoidians had clear vocalizing capabilities . Forming Futhark , fermenting Futhork . The next section of Hazlett ' s article approached the two forms of script seen on Naboo during " The Phantom Menace " . In devising a backstory for Futhark , he looked to the origins of Naboo itself , referencing Grizmallt and its Queen Tasia from " The New Essential Chronology " , from which Naboo ' s roots sprang . The author of " The New Essential Chronology " , Daniel Wallace had created an obscure easter egg with the name of Queen Tasia , which in would be " Reina Tasia , " — a reference to the Renatasia system from " Lando Calrissian and the Flamewind of Oseon " ( 1983 ) . As a nod to Wallace ' s easter egg , Hazlett created the Palazzo Reina . In order to illustrate the orthographic drift between the Naboo and Grizmallt over the years , Hazlett created a cultural " faux pas " on the part of the infamously clumsy Senator Jar Jar Binks . Hazlett felt the need to include Binks , noting that the character had appeared in very little material set after ( 2005 ) . The author made note of the fact that the readouts inside the N - 1 starfighter flown by Anakin Skywalker in " The Phantom Menace " are in Aurebesh , mentioning that the Naboo starships utilized the more common script . Ascertaining Atrisian . The last " Star Wars " script explored by Hazlett was what he identified as Atrisian script — the writing system seen frequently in games such as " X - wing " and " " ( 1995 ) . Hazlett did not realize that the script had appeared earlier in " Return of the Jedi " , as evidenced by an illustrative image included in the article when it was published . The Atrisian Empire and many of its pertinent details and history originated in " From the Files of Corellia Antilles , " published in " Star Wars Adventure Journal 14 " ( 1997 ) , although Hazlett was able to create a totally new wrinkle in its history with the Six Savage Viziers , an element that he was particularly proud of . In terms of the background of the script itself , Hazlett drew historical parallels with reform of the . He used the in - universe reforms to explain discrepancies between the script found in " X - wing " and " Dark Forces " , and the small , almost illegible writing originally identified as Atrisian script in " From the Files of Corellia Antilles . " Hazlett went on to reference the Special Acquisitions Branch from the " Imperial Sourcebook " ( 1994 ) , as well as the Tiss ' shar , a species of which the author was particularly fond . Also stemming from the " Imperial Sourcebook " was the Bureau of Operations ' Infiltration branch ' s appreciation for the writings of Uueg Tching . Hazlett referenced the script ' s use in " Dark Forces " directly , as well as its use in a reproduction of a monitor on the Death Star in " Star Wars " Screen Entertainment ( 1994 ) . Another element of " Dark Forces " referenced directly by Hazlett was the character of General Mohc , the game ' s principal antagonist . The author established Mohc ' s ancestry as Atrisian , feeling that it was in keeping with the character as presented in the game itself , and the history established in " The Dark Forces Saga " ( 2005 ) . Hazlett created two new authors of the Third Atrisian Period — it had been suggested to him that the name of " Uueg Tching " was a reference to the phonetic pronunciation of the popular acronym for West End Games , " WEG , " and so he decided to use the two new names to reference other " Star Wars " hobby game licensees — Uuotse and Daysaifor as nods to " WOTC " and Decipher , respectively . Hazlett made further references to West End Games products with the phrase " salting the ether , " from " Galaxy Guide 9 " , and the character of Crix Masst from " Wanted by Cracken " . Fashioning further reading . A late addition to the article was the " Further reading " section , which turned out to be one of Hazlett ' s favorite sections , as well as providing the work with a more natural conclusion and greater in - universe context . In doing so , the author created a slew of in - universe works from scratch . One of them , " " , was intended by Hazlett to essentially be an that would chronicle the development of Basic . Hazlett supposed that it would contain a great deal more texts than those included in " The Written Word " . " The History and Development of the Human Languages , Volume I " was attributed to the character of Dr . Arner Figgis , from " , " published in " Star Wars Adventure Journal 7 " ( 1995 ) . Hazlett ' s interpretation of the character led him to believe that he would lend the name of his work a more verbose feel , in line with ' ( 1776 ) , and ( 1956 ) . Another " referenced " work was " " , attributed to Dr . Corellia Antilles and Gideon Na ' al . Antilles originated in " The Gree Enclave " from " Star Wars Adventure Journal 8 " ( 1995 ) , but the character had received little exposure outside of the " Adventure Journal " up to that point . Hazlett felt that his reference of the character would be seen as " fresh , " but between his final submission and the actual publication of " The Written Word " , the character was mentioned in Adrick Tolliver ' s " Death in the Slave Pits of Lorrd " ( 2009 ) , " The Essential Atlas " , and " The History of Xim and the Tion Cluster " . The character of Gideon Na ' al was intended to be one of the children of Voren Na ' al mentioned in " The Thrawn Trilogy Sourcebook " , sharing the name of his maternal grandfather , Gideon Tarkin . Hazlett had originally identified the character as a Doctor , although he realized that the character would likely be too young for a doctorate at that point , and so the reference was removed . The last work mentioned by Hazlett was " Huttese Ain ' t What It Used To Be " , " authored " by one Dribba Vermilic Scaiti . The character was of particular personal significance to Hazlett , as one of his player characters in several " Star Wars " roleplaying campaigns was a young trend - bucking Hutt by the name of " Yuba Vermilic Scaiti . " Continuity . In addition to the works that were vital to the development of Hazlett ' s work and development of " The Written Word " , the article features several other ties to the greater Expanded Universe continuity . The Aurebesh chart is a slightly modified version of the one featured in " Star Wars Gamemaster Screen , Revised " ( 1996 ) , and in the Aurebesh section itself Hazlett made references to such Expanded Universe elements as Duro from " " ( 1989 ) , Axum from " Coruscant and the Core Worlds " , the Perlemian Trade Route from " " ( 1992 ) , and Foerost from " " ( 1996 ) . The High Galactic section saw references to Alsakan from the " Dark Empire Sourcebook " , the HoloNet from " Galaxy Guide 3 : The Empire Strikes Back " , and Industrial Automaton from " " ( 1993 ) , amongst others . Repurposed images from " The New Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels " ( 2003 ) and " Star Wars Miniatures Battles Companion " were used for illustration . Hazlett made reference to the " R - 22 Spearhead , " a vehicle created by Daniel Wallace in " The New Essential Guide to Characters " ( 2002 ) to substitute for early appearances of RZ - 1 A - wing interceptors , prior to their supposed in - universe creation . The Tionese section was illustrated with images of " Nu " - class attack shuttle from " " ( 2008 ) , the " Theta " - class T - 2c shuttle from " Revenge of the Sith " , and the " Lambda " - class T - 4a shuttle from " Return of the Jedi " . An illustration of Attack Pattern Delta from the " Rebel Alliance Sourcebook " ( 1990 ) , slightly modified to omit most of the text , was also used . Hazlett made several references to Lawrence Holland ' s " X - Wing " computer game series , mentioning the Greek - named squadrons featured in those games , the " Alpha " - class Xg - 1 Star Wing from " Star Wars : X - wing " , and the " Delta " - class JV - 7 escort shuttle from " " ( 1994 ) . Hazlett made reference to the " Mu " - class Model 2 shuttle from " " ( 1993 ) , and the Telgorn Corporation from the " Imperial Sourcebook " , amongst several other continuity nods . The Sith section featured a repurposed image of Darth Vader ' s chest panel from " " ( 1998 ) . Amongst the references made by Hazlett in this section were Ziost from " Tales of the Jedi : The Golden Age of the Sith " , Jaguada from " Dark Lord : The Rise of Darth Vader " , and Tund from " Lando Calrissian and the Starcave of ThonBoka " ( 1983 ) . For the Trade Federation Basic section , a chart from the " Force Feedback " column in " Star Wars Gamer 4 " was modified and reused as illustration . Hazlett made reference to the nationalization of the Trade Federation that was established in " Republic HoloNet News Special Inaugural Edition 16 : 5 : 24 " from " Star Wars Insider 84 " ( 2005 ) . The section on Futhark and Futhork featured an original image — a chart comparing Latin characters to the Futhork characters . Most of the references in that section were instrumental in Hazlett ' s development of the article , but another Expanded Universe reference was made with the mention of Nubia , which was established as an individual planet in " Coruscant and the Core Worlds " . In the Atrisian script section , Hazlett made a plethora of references to West End Games material , but was able to create several new continuity wrinkles , including the characters of Uuotse , Daysaifor , and Tra - Skan - Lor . Although " The Written Word " has passively influenced all uses of Latin , Greek , and Hebrew characters in " Star Wars " material , the article itself has not been directly referenced in later works . Several continuity issues have arisen since the article ' s publication . One such issue is the emergence of the Sith , developed in " " ( 2012 ) and expounded upon in the article " Speak Like a Sith " by Ben Grossblatt from " Star Wars Insider 134 " ( 2012 ) . The constructed language established by those publications bears no resemblance to the previously established High Sith and Common Sith writing systems established by Hazlett . In addition to this , the Aurabesh script was utilized in John Ostrander and Jan Duursema ' s comic series " " , particularly issues such as " " ( 2012 ) , which is set in a time period predating Hazlett ' s original conception of when the script was first used . Hazlett has since speculated that the discrepancy can be explained away by attributing it to the " inaccuracy " of Dr . Vorgan ' s in - universe writings . Reception . " The Written Word " was published on March 5 , 2010 , and was met with praise in its respective comments section on StarWars . com . Among those lauding the article were Tim Veekhoven ( Swilla Corey in the Databank ) and Edward M . Erdelac ( " Fists of Ion " ) . On the Jedi Council Forums , Hazlett received similar praise from Daniel Wallace , Kyle Jewhurst ( Nem Bees in the Databank ) , Nathan O ' Keefe ( " Tinker , Tailor , Soldier , Praji " ) , Greg Mitchell ( " Dusty Duck " in the Databank ) , Aidan Hennessy ( Pello Scrambas in the Databank ) , and Adrick Tolliver . Both O ' Keefe and Hennessy , however , had reservations over the need for the Latin alphabet to be retconned as an in - universe script , rather than simply being a fourth - wall conceit for the viewers ' and readers ' benefit . The article later received a glowing review on TheForce . Net from reviewer and eventual co - author of " The Essential Guide to Warfare " ( 2012 ) Paul R . Urquhart , who heralded Hazlett ' s work as possessing a " charming playfulness " while still being accessible to the most casual of fans . In particular , Urquhart was reminded of prefaces to his trilogy ; the reviewer went on to call the work a " splendid first contribution " to canon from Hazlett , despite the fact that Hazlett had contributed two Databank entries previously . Hazlett later wrote endnotes for his work , and was queried by Daniel Wallace as to what he believed the significance of the Hebrew lettering on Darth Vader ' s chest box could possibly be . Hazlett acknowledged the contested fan translation of " His Deeds Will Not Be Forgiven Until He Merits " but accepted that their purpose may be merely functional .