2008-01-16 - Bulwark Against Time Speech

A speech delivered by Palpatine in the first days of the Clone Wars.
"Citizens of the Republic, inhabitants of the galaxy, and all living beings, I am Doraman Stelruin Palpatine, Supreme Justice of the Republic. I have not spoken this publicly for nineteen years, but the fires of war that even now engulf our galaxy must end even the most hermetic self-imposed isolation."
Palpatine stands implacably still, silent for a moment, and then continues. As his voice gathers momentum, it becomes by turns soft and sweet, oily, or rasps like wind-driven sand on sensitive flesh. "Four days ago, Ord Mantell was snatched away from the Republic and doused in the savage fuel of destruction. Ransacked by monsters, plundered by sentient beings so greedy and vile that I can only call them demons in sentient form, Ord Mantell fell under shadow and is now lost to us. Merr Sonn has been torn from the Republic. And the pillars of the Republic--Thyferra, Bothawui!--waver. A Republic of twenty thousand years is shaken to its core! 
"Time is like an endless river which rolls with infinite force through the ages, submerging everything, shattering every institution, unbinding every tie, erasing every memory. All that is unworthy and all that is worthy are equally expunged by its infinite power." 
Palpatine raises his voice. Now it begins to thunder. "And in this river of time, there is nothing but misery. No happiness can survive, but it is swept away like flotsam in the flood. No justice, but it is drowned. No peace, but it is shattered by the endless crushing power of the river of time. But there is one thing that stands against the infinite destructive power of time like a dam against that terrible flood: The Republic! For a thousand generations, the Republic has stood against the flow, unbent, unbeaten, a mighty bulwark to check the destructive power of the ages!
"Today our bulwark is threatened with a wave that seeks to overtop it. Today our enemies surge like a black flood, and this one immortal institution which has brought peace and justice, peace and order, is to be cast down. *A slow laugh.* But I am not afraid of this threat. For a thousand generations, the Republic has met and shattered each successive wave. What is the Black Empire but another attempt to crush the invincible--the Order that has safeguarded the Galaxy for twenty thousand years. Even now, the Republic gathers for its counterattack.
"If you believe that the Republic will fall--if you believe that Nash Dragen will triumph--if you believe that a thousand generations of justice will be undone by the whim of a single man--then you shall pay the price for your blindness, and shall suffer for your want of vision. Coruscant will never fail. Here there burns a light that lights the universe. Peace and order will be restored throughout the Galaxy!"
"I call upon the Senate to realize their importance. I call upon the Senate to understand their responsibilities. Chancellor, Treasurer, Ministers, and Senators, know that the Galaxy is in your hands. Know that peace and order are yours to bestow. We are assaulted by an enemy that lurks upon the outskirts and hides in the dark places of the galaxy. They will fail, they will fall, but that is not enough.
"Senate and People of the Republic! For a thousand generations you have built our bulwark against the storm of time! Now place the final building blocks! Let our light shine out from Coruscant to the furthest corners of the Galaxy! Abolish the dark places where, immersed in fear and discontent, the minions of disorder and chaos fester. Lance the boils and burn the hives of scum and villainy! Let the freedom and justice of the Republic fill our galaxy. You live in dark times--burn against the darkness and it will be abolished. 
Palpatine says, "It would be useless to say more. Enemies of the Republic, you who would ride the stream of time to shatter peace and order, freedom and justice, you are of no consequence. You will be swept away. Before the twenty-thousand-year virtue of the Republic, there can be no victory, only a destruction so absolute that the historians will find no trace of you. Those who waver: you face a simple choice between light and darkness, peace and war, order and chaos, freedom and tyranny, life and death. And those who fight for the Republic--know that although you face all the forces of a great and monstrous foe, and though the darkness may overpower you and you may fall blind and numbed, still you are champion of a great light that will not be put out. In the end, you cannot fail. Farewell--I shall speak to you again."
Category:January 2008 RP Logs