This story was inspired by George Lucas' early drafts of the first Star Wars film, wherein references to The Skywalker, the Ashla and the Bogan, the Jedi Bendu, and Padawaan Learners may be found.  I have taken some names from these drafts as well, such as King Kayos.  Readers are encouraged to hunt for them.  The names, Mace Windu and Usby C.J. Thape are from an early version of the Star Wars story outline written by Lucas.  Part of the prophecy of the Skywalker is taken from script draft two of the first Star Wars film ("...in the time of greatest despair, there shall come a savior, and he shall be known as the Son of the Suns.").  The letters of the Aurebesh are from the Star Wars Roleplaying game.  Blackhole is adapted from a character from Russ Manning's Star Wars newspaper strips.
        George Lucas was once asked in Starlog what The Journal of the Whills is, but he declined to define it.  This story is my attempt to use creatively the hints which have been given on the subject, in order to tell one possible version of the Journal saga.  I have used a quotation from The Journal of the Whills which may be found in the Star Wars novelization by George Lucas and Alan Dean Foster.  This version of the Whills and their Journal is otherwise my own creation.
        The poem, "'Truth,' said a traveller," is by Stephen Crane, and it may be found in the book "Poems of Stephen Crane," page 4, Copyright 1964 by Gerald McDonald, Thomas Y Cromwell Co. NY.
        The proverbs of Max Erman are adapted from "Desiderata," by Max Ehrmann, Copyright 1927.  Desima Derata thanks Mr.  Ehrmann for her name.
        This story was inspired by a tale from Jewish history.  During the siege of Jerusalem by Vespasian and his Roman Legions, the Sanhedrin decided to preserve the teaching of the Jewish Law no matter what happened to the Jewish state.  Despite the fact that the Zealot party had forbidden anyone to leave the city, Rabbi Johanan Ben Zakkai was smuggled out in a coffin.  "Reb" Zakkai met with Vespasian, and won permission to peacefully set up an academy for teaching the Law in the town of Yavneh.  Other scholars joined him, and in Yavneh, the Rabbis eventually determined the canonical order of the books of the Bible.  In "The Preservers," Rabbi Zakkai's namesake strives to preserve a book which holds the importance of the Bible, from the depredations of the Star Wars galaxy's Imperial Legions.  If the reader were to notice similarities between the Rabbis and the Whills, and the Talmud and the Journal, these are also no accident.
        Finally, the following people are commemorated by the brave Duro crew: Web page designer Ethan Platten, Fan fic authors Charlene Newcomb and Alice Hadden, and the keepers of the Star Wars Fan Fiction Library, Deborah Brennan and Susan Gator.

-Brendon Wahlberg