A Human male aristocrat of considerable wealth and arrogance, Burr Nolyds briefly held sway over the Galactic Empire in 11 ABY. He achieved this position as the leading figure of the Imperial Interim Ruling Council. Nolyds's initial rise within the Empire's political structure was fueled by his provision of crucial resources to the organization. His ambition for greater power led him to align with Carnor Jax, a former member of the Imperial Royal Guard, in Jax's scheme to assassinate Galactic Emperor Palpatine and claim the Imperial throne. Following Palpatine's demise, Nolyds secured a position on the Ruling Council of Jax's Crimson Empire. After Jax's subsequent death at the hands of his fellow Royal Guard, Kir Kanos, Nolyds assumed the role of acting head of the council and, consequently, ruler of the Empire.
Nolyds governed from a villa situated in the city of De-Purteen on the planet Ord Cantrell. He maintained a firm grip on power, rejecting Councilor Feena D'Asta's proposal for the declining Empire to seek peace with the New Republic, their adversaries in the Galactic Civil War. His reign was cut short when he was assassinated by Nom Anor, an accomplice of the manipulative Councilor Xandel Carivus. Nolyds met his end via a self-destructing message disk left by Anor in his private quarters. In response to the shocking event, the council, unnerved, selected the seemingly inept Carivus as Nolyds's successor, intending to manipulate him and discreetly investigate Nolyds's murder from the shadows.
During the era of the Galactic Empire, Burr Nolyds, a Human male of noble birth, leveraged his considerable fortune to furnish the Empire with essential resources. This act facilitated his advancement within the organization's political structure, ultimately securing him a position on the Imperial Ruling Council around 10 ABY. Following the death of Galactic Emperor Palpatine in 4 ABY, the council had amassed significant authority within the Empire. By 10 ABY, they had forged an alliance with Carnor Jax, an ambitious member of the Emperor's Royal Guard. When Palpatine returned in a clone body that same year and resumed control, Jax initiated a plot to eliminate him and seize power. Nolyds, dissatisfied with the Emperor's stringent control over his supporters, threw his support behind the coup.
The remaining council members shared a similar determination to safeguard their newly acquired authority. Together, they bribed the Emperor's physician to sabotage Palpatine's numerous clone bodies. As Palpatine commanded the forces of his Dark Empire in their ongoing Galactic Civil War against the New Republic, his final body was destroyed by his adversaries in 11 ABY. Jax then seized the Imperial throne, and Nolyds served on his Interim Ruling Council, a thirteen-member body that governed Jax's Crimson Empire with the former Royal Guard at its helm. However, the Imperial fleet, lacking orders from their Emperor, fell into disarray. Their retreat from the galaxy's Core Worlds led to the Empire's rapid disintegration. Many fleet commanders defied the Interim Ruling Council's directives, breaking away to establish independent warlord territories. Consequently, the Crimson Empire's domain was confined to a narrow strip of space stretching from the Outer Rim to the Colonies, the sole region still subject to centralized Imperial authority.
From their base on the planet of Ord Cantrell, Nolyds and the council governed from a villa within the city of De-Purteen. They delegated numerous decisions to the Empire's remaining Moffs. Jax had ordered the execution of some councilors who had planned to expose his coup, and Councilor Sarcev Quest, a close ally of Jax, abused his power and had dissenters imprisoned. Later in 11 ABY, Jax sought out fellow former Royal Guard Kir Kanos, perceiving him as a threat to the Empire. In an act of vengeance for Palpatine's death, Kanos murdered Jax on the planet Yinchorr, plunging the council into turmoil. They immediately turned against Quest, torturing him for a week before abandoning him on the moon Nar Shaddaa. Nolyds then assumed the position of acting head of the council and ruler of the Empire.
Upon Nolyds's ascension to power, the New Republic had recently launched attacks on the western fringes of the Empire's territory, successfully capturing the planet Phaeda. On Ord Cantrell, Nolyds convened a council meeting in a courtyard of their villa, where Councilor Feena D'Asta proposed that the only viable path to rebuilding the Empire in the face of New Republic pressure was to seek peace. Nolyds, in response, accused her of attempting to divide the council and enhance her own influence. He then reminded her that each councilor present already possessed considerable power due to their association with Jax, and adjourned the meeting, retiring to his private chambers.
However, a bomb concealed within a message disk had been placed on the floor of Nolyds's chambers by Nom Anor, an ally of Councilor Xandel Carivus who was assisting Carivus in his scheme to become the new head of the council. Unbeknownst to Carivus, Anor was an advance agent of the extra-galactic Yuuzhan Vong species, targeting the council to accelerate the Empire's collapse in preparation for a massive Yuuzhan Vong invasion of the galaxy. When Nolyds activated the message disk, it self-destructed, resulting in his death in the ensuing explosion. Shaken by the event, Councilors Mahd Windcaller and Norym Kim nominated Carivus as Nolyds's successor, believing him to be a weak-willed bureaucrat who could become the next target of their unknown assassin. Meanwhile, they intended to manipulate events and investigate Nolyds's murder from behind the scenes. After swaying other councilors to their side, Carivus was elected by a majority vote.
Nolyds's death was investigated by the Empire's Lieutenant Ganner, who discovered Kir Kanos's Royal Guard crest on the message disk, evidence planted by Anor. When Ganner found the same crest on the knife that Anor used to kill his next victim, Admiral Llon Banjeer, the Lieutenant suggested to the council that they were being targeted by Kanos, whom Jax had predicted would come after them. The Humanocentric General Immodet reached his own conclusion, accusing the council's non-Human members of seeking revenge against their Human counterparts. The power-hungry Carivus exploited the discord, using the murders as justification to establish his own private guard, whom he promptly used to arrest every non-Human councilor. With the council severely weakened, Carivus disbanded it and proclaimed himself the new Emperor.
Burr Nolyds, an arrogant aristocrat, utilized his wealth to propel himself into a position of power within the Empire. Despite being a staunch Imperial loyalist, he resented Palpatine's tight control and supported Carnor Jax's scheme to assassinate the Emperor. In Nolyds's view, Kir Kanos's unwavering loyalty to Palpatine after the Emperor's death was a misguided form of patriotism. Nevertheless, he considered Jax foolish for personally seeking out Kanos instead of dispatching stormtroopers to deal with him. Following Jax's death, Nolyds prioritized his own interests, striving to gain dominance over his fellow councilors.
As the ruler of the Empire, Nolyds was determined to maintain his grip on power. He opposed Feena D'Asta's suggestion of seeking peace with the New Republic, arguing that it would be tantamount to surrendering the Empire to its enemies. By the time of his death, Nolyds had accumulated numerous enemies. He publicly accused D'Asta of trying to increase her own power and dismissed the Whiphid Councilor Ch'Unkk's translator droid as a "metal toady." During his brief reign over the Empire, Nolyds was a gaunt man with white hair, fair skin, and green eyes. He typically wore blue and green robes and was known to talk to himself when alone, muttering that whoever had left the message disk in his chambers was uncivilized for leaving it on the floor instead of the table.
Burr Nolyds made his debut in the first issue of the comic miniseries Star Wars: Crimson Empire II: Council of Blood. The issue was penned by Mike Richardson and Randy Stradley, illustrated by Paul Gulacy, and published by Dark Horse Comics on November 11, 1998.