Herron Dade

Herron Dade, a Human male, was born on the planet Gandle Ott. Gandle Ott is located within the Kathol sector of the Outer Rim Territories. During the periods when Gandle Ott was under the dominion of the Galactic Empire, and subsequently under the control of Warlord Moff Kentor Sarne after he withdrew the sector from the Empire following the death of Emperor Palpatine at the Battle of Endor, Dade held the highest ranking position among the native population within the government. He served as the commander of the planetary militia, holding the rank of General. Despite his service to the Imperial government, Dade harbored no affection for the Empire, although he never publicly expressed these sentiments.

In the year 8 ABY, Moff Sarne was ousted from his capital on Kal'Shebbol by the forces of the New Republic. Sarne retreated to Gandle Ott with the majority of his forces, where he falsely claimed to be organizing a massive fleet with the intention of purging the sector of both pirates and Rebels. He refrained from mentioning his defeat at Kal'Shebbol and commenced the process of offloading supplies from Crimler Naval Base. Following Sarne's departure, the inhabitants of Gandle Ott discovered that he had transferred the majority of Imperial personnel stationed on the planet to his fleet—including the Governor—and had departed with the bulk of the planet's defense force.

With the absence of Imperial command authority on Gandle Ott, the Bank parliament, which had previously been relegated to an advisory role under Imperial control, re-established its authority over the planet. Sarne had deliberately left behind the Imperial Vice-Governor, Marja Lang, due to her unwavering loyalty to the Empire over himself. Lang subsequently began consolidating her power base among the remaining abandoned Imperials. Dade, relieved by Sarne's departure and determined to prevent Gandle Ott from falling under external control once more, initiated his own efforts to build a power base and displace Lang as the Acting-Governor. His strategy involved re-establishing the dormant position of President of the Bank parliament, a position that had been abolished when the Empire assumed control of Gandle Ott, and positioning himself as the leading candidate for the role. However, Dade harbored significant concerns regarding the planet's diminished capacity to defend itself against the pirates that plagued the sector.

A few days after Sarne's departure, the New Republic CR90 corvette FarStar entered orbit in pursuit of the rogue Moff. Due to existing work obligations, Dade was unable to participate in the governmental delegation, headed by Acting-Governor Lang, that greeted the FarStar crew at Montrol Spaceport. While Dade had no intention of allowing external forces to once again govern Gandle Ott, he welcomed the New Republic's presence and hoped to secure their endorsement as Gandle Ott's "native son." The following day, despite his demanding schedule, Dade presided over the Ceremonial Mushroom Cutting, which he utilized to symbolically declare Gandle Ott's independence from the Empire. He encountered the New Republic delegation for the first time and leveraged their presence at the ceremony to legitimize his position. Dade emphasized the necessity for Gandle Ott to assume control of its own affairs in the wake of the Imperial departure, and he became the focal point of attention for the media during the event, while Lang, who had been strategically maneuvered into attending the ceremony by the General, displayed boredom throughout the proceedings.

In the days that followed, Dade remained occupied with consolidating the military and security forces still stationed on the planet, limiting his availability to meet with the FarStar delegation to evening engagements. Through information gathered from CUTH-BRT-92-X3, the BRT supercomputer that managed Gandle Ott's capital settlement, Montrol City, he discovered that Gorak Khzam, the Rodian First Officer of the FarStar, had previously been a member of the Sabiador Slavers. Given that Khzam had concealed his past from his crewmates, Dade capitalized on this leverage to influence the Rodian into persuading the rest of the FarStar delegation to support the General. On the evening of the second day of the FarStar's visit, Dade hosted a private dinner for the New Republic delegation and ninety-five other guests at his private estates. On the fourth day of their visit, Dade and other military officials convened with the FarStar delegation to discuss potential military assistance that the New Republic could offer to Gandle Ott. After spending several days on the planet, during which diplomatic relations were established between Gandle Ott and the New Republic, the FarStar departed to continue its mission.

Herron Dade was characterized as a gaunt Human with iron-gray hair and a matching mustache, known for his chain-smoking habit involving chak-root. As a military professional, Dade lacked subtlety and diplomatic finesse. While he occasionally made inappropriate or awkward remarks, he maintained popularity among the planet's inhabitants. Dade firmly believed that he could leverage his popularity to ascend to the position of President of Gandle Ott. Similar to many of his fellow natives, Dade harbored no affection for Sarne or the Empire, but he kept these sentiments to himself. Following the Empire's departure, Dade welcomed the presence of the New Republic but remained steadfast in his belief that Gandle Ott should govern itself, viewing Lang and her Imperial faction as a threat to this objective. Dade possessed a talent for discerning people's true intentions and had access to extensive data collected by CUTH-BRT-92-X3.

In his capacity as head of the planetary militia, Dade received training in the use of blasters and was proficient in operating vehicle-mounted weaponry. He also possessed expertise in ground assault tactics and had experience with explosives and security systems. Dade demonstrated an understanding of the workings of a bureaucracy, possessed knowledge of law enforcement procedures and tactics, and specialized in investigations specific to Gandle Ott. Furthermore, he was well-informed about the Ott system in general. He routinely carried a comlink and a ceremonial hold-out blaster.

Herron Dade made his debut in Death Is Remotely Possible, which was the third RPG adventure featured in The DarkStryder Campaign, published by West End Games in the year 1995. Throughout the course of the adventure, the player characters are required to address CUTH-BRT-92-X3's efforts to impede the FarStar from pursuing Sarne, an interference that manifests in a variety of ways, including near-fatal traffic incidents and the deployment of an assassin droid against them. Dade, alongside Lang, is one of the officials to whom the players can report these occurrences, along with their suspicion that CUTH-BRT-92-X3 is responsible. Dade treats the information seriously and launches an investigation into the matter, which leads to his discovery of protocol modifications made to the unit by Moff Sarne. CUTH-BRT-92-X3 is subsequently taken offline, and technicians are employed to restore the droid to its normal operating state. Given that the player characters have the option of reporting to either Dade or Lang, this article refrains from making any assumptions as to which official investigates the claims of CUTH-BRT-92-X3's aberrant behavior.