Name: Benedict Götz Starsgård
Age: 52
Species: Human
Height: 6'
Weight: 189 lbs.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black and Grey

Homeworld: Commenor
Affiliation: The New Republic, The Commenor Self-Defense League

Titles:

Senator of Commenor
President of the Commenor Self-Defense League

Family:

Stella Starsgård (née Wayland), wife of 15 years
Donna Wayland, mother-in-law
Calder Starsgård, son
Saga Starsgård, daughter
Thyra Starsgård, daughter

Force Sensitive: No
Weapons: Galactic Empire-issue sonic blaster pistol

Vessel: Pinnacle-class luxury ship

Personality:
Starsgård considers himself a "man of action." He is quick to make decisions based on his principles without necessarily considering the consequences of his actions. He has many of the qualities of leader and is good at rallying others to his cause, but lacks the long-term vision to form a lasting movement. He has a poor understanding of those who disagree with him and why, which often places him outside of the majority opinion in the Senate. However, he is aware of his shortcomings and welcomes criticism from those he knows and trusts, such as his wife Stella, while harshly resisting criticism from those he does not. He is patriotic, and although he is willing to put the needs of Commenor ahead of his own, he generally sees those needs as one-and-the-same. He is fiercely protective of his family, his planet, and in his own way, the New Republic.

Information:
Like many from Commenor, Benedict Starsgård is fiercely independent-minded. Having witnessed the fall of the Old Republic and participated in Commenor's years-long resistance to the Empire as a young man, he is wary of centralized government and, as a New Republic senator, advocates for the dual principles of self-determination and self-defense for Republic worlds. His support for a larger and more powerful New Republic fleet to deter the First Order places him in a small, but loud minority in the Senate that opposes the Military Disarmament Act. He is, however, a reluctant supporter of the Galactic Concordance, and does not support a renewed state of war.

Concerned at the New Republic's apparent vulnerability to the First Order, and its inability to assert itself in internal disputes among Republic worlds, Starsgård took matters into his own hands and convened on Commenor a conference of worlds who shared his concerns. The result was the Treaty of Commenor, establishing the Commenor Self-Defense League—a pooling-together of planetary fleets for mutual defense, in the absence of a New Republic fleet. As the president of the League, Starsgård commands a large, but poorly-organized starfleet widely-criticized as a threat to the Galactic Concordance. Starsgård insists, however, that his League is interested only in self-defense and keeping the peace among Republic worlds, as the Republic itself is unable to do.

Starsgård is sympathetic to the Resistance, but has no relationship with it and denies that his Commenor Self-Defense League supplies the Resistance with ships and weapons—though, in fact, it does so without his knowledge.