Warlord / Legends A warlord was a military leader who held civil authority over a region . It was also used to describe the leaders of certain alien clans . The term warlord was prominently used to describe leaders of Imperial splinter factions during the later parts of the Galactic Civil War . Imperial usage . Before Endor . Under the Galactic Empire , the ceremonial title of Warlord of the Empire was bestowed upon a select group of senior military commanders , primarily Grand Admirals and Grand Moffs , by Emperor Palpatine . An honorary rank , Warlords of the Empire did not have an assigned specific code cylinder or rank plaque . After Endor . After the Battle of Endor , the term " warlord " came to be applied rather indiscriminately to surviving leaders of the Imperial military and political apparatus . This usage of the term is generally associated with the fragmentation of Imperial space into mutually hostile localized despotates , but in reality , the situation was more complex than is often realized . Warlords were also sometimes referred to as " jarheads . " One of the three leading " warlords " , Treuten Teradoc , remained nominally loyal to Imperial Center for more than two years after Endor and , even after this date , Teradoc continued to use only his legitimate title of High Admiral , albeit now claiming authority over an Oversector in the Mid Rim that seems to have been his own invention . Two other prominent warlords , Harrsk and Zsinj , both used the title of Warlord in preference to their rank as Admirals , but while Harrsk ' s style of Supreme Warlord was his own invention , there is no evidence that either man had not been granted the title of Warlord legitimately before Endor ; in Zsinj ' s case , such a title would certainly fit with his command of the powerful Sector Group of the Quelii Oversector . The term " warlord " broadly came to denote those fleet commanders who rallied , and sometimes forcibly seized control of , Imperial ships and troop formations after Endor ; in this context , the term was used by members of the Cabal , approximately six months after Endor , with reference to Harrsk and Teradoc , while Teradoc at least was still nominally a loyalist . Mon Mothma , one of the leaders of the Rebel Alliance , had ominously warned of the risk of any commander having a Star Destroyer becoming a warlord shortly after the Battle of Endor . However , within the New Republic , the title of Warlord could be extended to include any surviving Imperial leader , military or civilian , including those like Ysanne Isard who dominated what remained of the New Order ' s legitimate administrative apparatus . This usage may merely represent propagandist attempts to undermine any sense of legitimacy these leaders still held , but it also shows how generic the usage of the term was . Breakaway warlords generally had two different motivations for leaving the Empire . The primary reason seemed to be to gain more personal power . A second reason was often that they felt that they could better resist the New Republic on their own than with the fragmenting Empire . Most breakaway warlords were concentrated in the Mid Rim , with a few exploiting the chaos in the Expansion Region and the Inner Rim . They often concentrated their resources in systems they formerly governed or patrolled , where they were already familiar with the populace and their surroundings . Non - Imperial usage . The title of Warlord was also used to describe military leaders of factions independent of the Empire , such as leaders of different Separatist holdouts or the Drackmarian warlord Omogg . In this context , it often referred to alien military freebooters who seized control of Rimward worlds , such as Qymaen jai Sheelal , but it was also used by military chieftains among the Human population of Brentaal IV , like Shogar Tok during the Clone Wars . Another warlord is the one that seizes control on Kariek .