Quorl Matrin was the Imperial Governor of the planet Stenos during the Galactic Civil War. Formerly an Imperial Senator, Matrin led the Imperial invasion and occupation of Stenos, which succeeded due partly to the complete apathy of the Stenax natives. Afterwards, Matrin—a lover of archaeology and avid collector of obscure artifacts—became obsessed with finding an ancient lost statue of the Stenax deity Vol, eventually hiring smuggler Rik Duel to find the idol. Duel's discovery of the statue finally roused the ire of the Stenaxes, who ripped Matrin limb from limb in order to regain their artifact.
The statue of Vol that became Quorl Matrin's obsession.
Matrin previously served in the Imperial Senate, where he became acquainted with Alderaan's Leia Organa. A close friend of Grand Moff Bertroff Hissa, Matrin was eventually named the Governor of the planet Stenos, a world with a history that piqued his interest—an avid collector of esoteric artifacts, Matrin had long been intrigued by the legend of the native Stenaxes' lost statue of their god Vol. Matrin and his troops had little trouble securing the world despite the Stenaxes' imposing size and martial prowess, as the natives befuddled Matrin by seemingly not paying any attention at all to the Imperial occupation. The successful invasion also chased out an active Rebel cell led by Colonel Pejanes Kindar. Shortly after the Battle of Yavin, Matrin hired a group of smugglers led by Rik Duel in order to track down the statue of Vol, which he had grown to covet.
Duel and his gang eventually achieved this through the unwitting aid of Rebels Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Leia Organa, who had arrived on Stenos to investigate Kindar's disappearance. After finding the statue—buried in a temple that formerly served as Kindar's base—Matrin moved his stormtroopers in to attack the Rebels but kept watch on Duel, having never trusted the man. That allowed him to discover Duel attempting to escape Stenos with the statue, cutting him off with a company of soldiers at his back. Duel handed the artifact over, but as Matrin prepared to execute the smuggler, he was interrupted by the pounding wings of hundreds of Stenaxes determined to regain their important religious totem. As the man holding the statue at the time, Matrin became the direct target of the Stenax attack. Although he was presumed killed, his remains were too badly disfigured to allow for proper identification.
Possessing an appropriately domineering and superior attitude for an Imperial governor, Quorl Matrin was cunning and duplicitous, attributes that served him well when dealing with lowlifes like Rik Duel. Matrin was a collector of obscure artifacts and went to great lengths to acquire them— the Stenax statue of Vol was a particular obsession, a piece Matrin sought for years. Matrin also became deeply interested in Stenax culture itself, particularly the natives' refusal to acknowledge the Imperial occupiers, to the point where it became a major goal of Matrin's to get the Stenax to react to him in any way. Matrin had a warm and friendly relationship with Grand Moff Bertroff Hissa, calling him by the nickname "Troff." Matrin and Hissa shared a passion for archaeology, and Matrin often amused Hissa with impressions of his superiors, including one of High Prophet Jedgar that Hissa found particularly hilarious.
Quorl Matrin appeared in Star Wars (1977) 70, written by Mary Jo Duffy, illustrated by Kerry Gammill and Tom Palmer and released in 1983.
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