Star Wars: Exodus Visual Encyclopedia
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A Nickname is Born

Why Cadden Blackthorne, you might ask? What a very good question!

Cadden Blackthorne is the name of an Imperial Warlord/Grand Admiral character I made during the peak of my interest in Star Wars gaming, long before the invention of Star Wars Galaxies. Until the SWG community was made, he had only gone through some minor modifications, but his core personality had always remained the same. He was loosely based off of a mix between Grand Admirals Thrawn and Zaarin, but with my own personality thrown into it as well.

However, Cadden Blackthorne was not my original online nickname. The very first one I had, when I was first introduced to online Star Wars RPing, back at the height of Windows 3.1 (millennia ago!) was VaderBoy. Why? I dunno... my brother thought of it, and at the time I enjoyed it. Though, obviously, I literally outgrew that nickname as time passed on.

At any rate... the height of using my "Cadden Blackthorne" nickname was during my Star Wars gaming, when I made a group called the "Imperial Death Armada" (hey, if Star Wars can get away with cheesy names, so can I! :)), whereupon we had a whopping eight (or so) members. Yeah, needless to say, I think that only lasted about four months 'fore we fell apart.

Later, I took my nickname with me to the X-wing vs. TIE Fighter editing community (later to expand into X-wing Alliance) and made a few missions, and even started up my own editing group - which thereafter fell apart about a year later, with no real projects made. None of my original missions survived the several computer wipes and cleanups I've done since then, so no portfolio for you! Even though I'm not much in that community anymore, I still hold a name there, and from time to time people gotta ask where I am, so I pop in and say I'm not there (which is a major contradiction, but I enjoy those moments anyway) and pop back out.

When SWG was created, I was taking a look-see at what different things one could be. When I was sorely dissappointed that I would not be able to (effectively) transfer the Cadden Blackthorne that I made in-game, I decided to remake the character. And, so, taking one of my favorite characters of all-time, the infamous Boba Fett, I created a Fett-clone (little did I know how ironic that term would become) with some of my personality thrown into the mix, and began my RPing as a bounty hunter.

Of course, as the roleplaying community grew to need bounty hunters less and less, due to the sudden uprising of governments, I had to accomodate Cadden to slowly develop into who he is today. The rest, as they say, is history.

The Man Behind the Mask

Though some people have identified me under various terms - some less-appealing than others - I am still who I have always been. People see my less-appealing "side" and automatically make the huge mistake of assuming that's just who I am. Which, frankly, I don't give a damn (I love movie puns!), and generally I just shrug it off, saying, "That's your opinion of me, and nothing more." True, sometimes it can be accurate, but hey, like anyone in the Exodus community truly knows anyone else....

Anyhows... who am I? Well, aside from the info you see on that synopsis bit above, I'm also a fairly patient, ambitious individual who just wants to find his place in this busy world that we live in today. I'm a goal-focused individual. I look at the outcome, and I make steps to acheive it. Of course, life often gets in the way of plans, but nevertheless, I always try to achieve each of those steps to the ultimate prize, so-to-speak.

Despite the fact it took me an extra year to do so (due to a brash decision in college - and major - changes), I graduated from my local community college with an Associate in Business, and went on to finish it off with a Bachelor's Degree in Small Business Management/Entrepreneurship. From there... who knows?

Say What?

I'm often a critical thinker, and a deep one at that. Not to mention I analyze the crap out of most stuff... but I can also fairly easily make decisions on the spot (though I'd prefer not to). And, often, if nothing else makes sense, I just follow my gut instinct - hasn't failed me yet!

I've tried oh-so-desperately to re-develop Cadden into something much closer to who I truly am, personality-wise, but so far it's become more and more of a challenge to do, just due to who he used to be. Should there be a board-wide reset some day, preferrably while I'm still around and actively RPing, then I would immediately jump at the opportunity to make Cadden into a more closer-to-Steven character as I am capable of doing (without making RPing him a boring task :P).

The Future

Ah, yes, the topic of yesterday, the news of today... the product of tomorrow. Everyone thinks about it on a normal basis, whether they know it or not. What does the future have in store for me?

Simply put, I plan to reach for the stars. Literally. Deep down, it is a deep and personal goal of mine to be up there. And not just doing anything, no siree. I'm planning big. Huge. We're talking about reaching for impossible goals and making them a reality. For more information, you can check this out. (Note from author: this has become a very huge topic of discussion amongst us "space junkies" lately, given Obama's lack of intelligence when it comes to the space agency. I remain hopeful that the Orion program, as it was under the Bush Administration, will return before I get to that point in life.)

Favorite Sayings

Current Quote

"The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible."
Arthur C. Clarke

This quote has granted me a new meaning, but it is not quite my favorite one. But, for me, it speaks in volumes about who I really am.

Favorite Quote

"Reach for it. Push yourself as far as you can. And never give up, never.."
Christa McAuliffe

This struck me on a very personal note, and had since given me a new perspective on my life.

Video Games

This, as you may know, is my pass-time. My hobby. One of my favorite leisure activities. I've played many, and look forward to playing many more. For your reading pleasure, here is a list of games I am currently working on (this does not include free-play in games I have beaten):


Here is a list of my all-time favorites (my "top ten"). I have attempted to list these in order, but for me to place games in a ranking order is a daunting task. Therefore, this list should not to be taken literally:

  1. Mass Effect/Mass Effect 2/Mass Effect 3
  2. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
  3. Game of Thrones
  4. Dragon Age: Origins/Dragon Age II
  5. Batman: Arkham City/Batman: Arkham City
  6. Assassin's Creed II/Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood/Assassin's Creed: Revelations
  7. God of War II
  8. The Witcher
  9. God of War
  10. Knights of the Old Republic

The Map Project

Cadden Map

Cadden's "extreme makeover" version of the MBT galaxy.

Aside from the Visual Encyclopedia, I am making the huge contribution to the community by providing a new, completely made-over version of our now-obsolete old version, based off of Modi's map. This is a very big project, and has taken a long time to work on, and yet is still a WIP. Currently, there is no estimated completion date available.

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