- "Were it simply my position, I would tell them—well, I hold this office quite voluntarily—quite unnecessarily if the truth were told. I like it, but not so much that I'd betray a fellow sabacc enthusiast and gentleman adventurer I admire."
- ―Lob Doluff, to Lando Calrissian
Lob Doluff was the Administrator Senior of the Oseon system during the Imperial Period. A very wealthy man, Doluff entered civil service because of a desire to help the common people of his home system, one of the richest in the galaxy. Doluff was a passionate sabacc lover and lesai addict, a vice that Sorcerer of Tund Rokur Gepta—in the guise of wealthy industrialist Bohhuah Mutdah—used as leverage to compel Doluff to aid him in entrapping Lando Calrissian, a gambler and smuggler whom Gepta had a personal grudge against. However, Doluff came to like and respect Calrissian, and attempted to aid the offworlder in his confrontation with Gepta.
Biography[]
- "I have no latitude in this; my instructions are clear, detailed, and unavoidable."
- ―Lob Doluff, to Lando Calrissian
A native of the wealthy Oseon system, Lob Doluff came from a rich background, but an inner desire to serve the region's less fortunate drove the Human male to pursue a career in politics. By 3 BBY, Doluff had ascended to the position of Administrator Senior of the system,[1] located in the Centrality,[2] living in an estate on the wealthy asteroid Oseon 6845. As Administrator Senior, Doluff was responsible for maintaining the Oseon's meager social services and keep the peace, while also answering to the whims of the system's elites. Doluff was an able man at the job, but ran into a personal and professional crisis in 3 BBY. Bohhuah Mutdah, one of the galaxy's richest beings and a resident of Oseon 5792, embroiled Doluff in a scheme to entrap an offworld smuggler named Lando Calrissian, whom Mutdah appeared to have a personal grudge against.[1]
Mutdah placed significant pressure on Doluff to aid in capturing Calrissian, threatening his family, his business interests, and lastly threatening to expose his addiction to the illegal drug lesai. Doluff ultimately acquiesced, luring Calrissian to the Oseon by sending him a message inviting the skilled gambler for a high-stakes sabacc game.A few days into Calrissian's stay in the Oseon, he was attacked in his ship's hangar by a member of a Renatasian militant group, killing the man in self-defense with a stingbeam. As the Oseon had strict laws against possession such personal arms—an offense that carried with it the death penalty—Calrissian was immediately imprisoned. As it happened, it was a fortunate turn of fate for Doluff, placing Gepta's target in his custody and streamlining his opportunity to send him into Mutdah's clutches.[1]
Instead of simply executing Calrissian, Doluff offered him the chance to clear his name by catching Mutdah in a drug sting on Oseon 5792, a mission made highly hazardous due to the ongoing Flamewind. However, sending Calrissian to his death did not sit right with Doluff, who in an effort to give the man a fighting chance, sent with him some backup: police officer Bassi Vobah and Imperial narcotics officer Waywa Fybot, directing them to arrest Gepta and bring him back to stand trial. Doluff remained behind on Oseon 6845, hoping desperately for Calrissian's success and attempting to bury his anxieties in the drug lesai. As it happened, "Mutdah" was not Mutdah at all, but Sorcerer of Tund Rokur Gepta, who had killed and impersonated the real Mutdah in an effort to avenge a previous gripe with Calrissian. Although Fybot, unbeknownst to Doluff, was one of Gepta's agents, Calrissian managed to escape with his life.[1]
Personality and traits[]
- "By the Core, Captain Calrissian—Lando, if I may—I do admire you! You're a gambler through and through, not just at the table."
- ―Lob Doluff
A pear-shaped man with an ingratiating and friendly demeanor, Lob Doluff was personally as wealthy as anyone in the Oseon, he carried with him a sense of civic duty that pushed him into politics, where he often struggled to reconcile his mandate to serve the society's ultra-rich with his genuine desire to help the masses. His own wealth helped—Doluff found that it afforded him a latitude uncommon for civil servants, and allowed him to defy his social betters on occasion. Doluff took satisfaction in his job, but faced a severe crisis of conscience when he became caught up in the schemes of Rokur Gepta. Doluff had come to like and respect Lando Calrissian during his time playing sabacc with the offworlder, and the idea of sending him to his death sat very poorly with the Administrator Senior. In the end, Doluff took the initiative to try to turn the tables and give Calrissian a chance.[1]
Doluff was color-blind, which caused a lack of appreciation for the Oseon's famous Flamewind, an annual stream of radiation that lit up the skies with color and served as a major tourist attraction. Doluff was both a passionate sabacc player and a gracious loser, which he did often against gamblers like Calrissian, who saw Doluff as an overly cautious player not cut out to be a real gambler. He also had an interest in flowering plants, growing a number of them at his estate on Oseon 6845. Doluff used his well-known love for such lifeforms to hide his addiction to lesai, an illegal narcotic produced by mold found on the back of a lizard species native to Zebitrope IV that allowed users to go without the need for sleep—Doluff hid several such lizards in a terrarium in his office. Doluff used lesai to assuage feelings of anxiety and guilt as well, but found that contrary to popular beliefs, the drug did not erase his emotions.[1]
Behind the scenes[]
Lob Doluff appeared in Lando Calrissian and the Flamewind of Oseon, a novel written by L. Neil Smith and released in 1983.[1]
Appearances[]
- Lando Calrissian and the Flamewind of Oseon (First appearance)
