Imperial remnant ( cold war ) After the Battle of Jakku and the surrender of the fragmented Galactic Empire to the fledgling New Republic , a remnant faction of staunch Imperials would eventually rise , refusing to submit and adhere to the terms of the Galactic Concordance . Despite the armistice , these hardliners would eventually become locked into a cold war with the New Republic before relocating to the Unknown Regions . History . The fallen Empire . Four years after the Battle of Yavin , the Galactic Empire was in a state of flux . Although Imperial forces secured a strategic victory against the Alliance to Restore the Republic one year earlier on the planet Hoth , during which they nearly quelled the entire rebellion , the continued conflict proved to be strenuous on the Empire ' s overall resources . During this time , a second Death Star was nearing completion over the Forest Moon of Endor , which , in the eye s of most Imperials , meant the imminent destruction of the Rebel Alliance . Emperor Sheev Palpatine ordered a large fragment of the Imperial fleet to Endor to guard the construction project . Before the battle station neared completion , a rebel fleet led by Admiral Gial Ackbar and General Lando Calrissian attacked and successfully managed to destroy the Death Star , killing both the Emperor and his enforcer Darth Vader in the process , as well as a large percentage of Imperial leadership . This victory proved to be a turning point in the Galactic Civil War , and within weeks of the battle , factionalism began to take shape within various elements of the Empire due to the massive power vaccuum left behind . As a result , various warlord s began to either increase their power bases or take their holdings and leave the Empire entirely , resulting in its overall splintering . Although Grand Vizier Mas Amedda did what he could to try and hold the Empire together , the real power of what remained of the Imperial establishment was in the hands of Fleet Admiral Gallius Rax , who declared himself " Counselor to the Empire " and set up a governing body called the Shadow Council . While the Empire remained fragmented , Rax managed to unite several warlords and establish a garrison of staunch Imperials on the desert world of Jakku . Rax then lured the fleets of the recently established New Republic to the world , where both navies would do battle . Little to the knowledge of forces on either side but the battle itself was orchestrated by Rax for the sole purpose of carrying out Emperor Palpatine ' s contingency plan , which would see the Empire torn down and rebuilt from the ashes of the true and loyal . This would be done by destroying the entire planet via the use of ancient Sith artifacts that were stored in the Observatory , an ancient facility on Jakku ' s surface . Rax was ultimately killed by Rae Sloane . Although the Empire lost the Battle of Jakku , Sloane managed to escape with some forces to the Unknown Regions , where her remnant would seek to colonize and consolidate Imperial supremacy over planets in deep space . Cold war . The Battle of Jakku proved to be the last devastating defeat of the Galactic Empire . Although the fighting continued , the Empire scored no major victories in the days following . With Rax ' s control over the Empire relinquished , Amedda successfully managed to negotiate an official surrender with Chancellor Mon Mothma of the New Republic . The two met on Chandrila soon after and signed what became known as the Galactic Concordance . The terms of the treaty stated that all Imperial fleet s were to be relocated to the Core Worlds and Inner Rim , where new borders of the Imperial remnant were drawn . Additionally , all Imperial Academies were to be closed , which would halt the continued training of stormtrooper s . Finally , heavy war reparations were to be paid to the New Republic . The remnant in the Core agreed to the terms of the treaty and ordered all remaining Imperial vessels into its new predetermined borders . The Imperial officer s who did not agree to the treaty ' s terms were ultimately branded as war criminals by Mothma . Still , many more elements of the Empire refused to obey the Republic ' s terms as the Core Worlds did , opting to remain heavily militarized . These hardliners saw themselves as true Imperials , having inherited the struggle against the Rebel Alliance . This led to thick tensions between the hardliners and the New Republic , despite the fact that both factions were technically at peace . Still , they proved viable threats to one - another after the conflict came to an end , both controlling militaries of their own , resulting in a cold war between those unified factions of the Empire that refused surrender and the New Republic . Even as other factions of the Old Empire remained at peace with or even opted to join the New Republic , the hardliners refused to let what they believed to be the last true vestiges of the Empire die . Reborn . At some point following the signing of the Galactic Concordance , some supporters of the Old Empire would make its way into wings of the New Republic Senate , mostly lobbying to the Centrist movement , which would eventually gain power two decades after the Battle of Yavin . Some members of the Centrist Party were secretly sympathizers of the Empire , wishing to partially restore it by returning central power to the Core Worlds under the New Republic ' s jurisdiction and building up its navy once more . Even as the Cold war continued , hard - liner forces would begin to relocate from Imperial space to the Unknown Regions , where they would have free rein to expand just as Sloane did with her forces years prior . In the Unknown Regions , the remnant could escape the notice of the Senate and rapidly rebuild the Imperial Navy away from the New Republic ' s prying eyes . While not fully regaining the strength that the Empire once had , the remnant successfully laid the groundworks for a successor state , the First Order .