Sheev Palpatine

### Affiliation

Galactic Republic (Senator, Supreme Chancellor), Galactic Empire (Emperor), Sith (Darth)

## Personal History

### Past

Republic Senator from Naboo, elected to Supreme Chancellor following no confidence vote in previous Chancellor.

Oversees the Clone Wars period, with fellow Sith Dooku overseeing the opposing Confederacy of Independent systems.

Reorganizes the second Galactic Republic into the Galactic Empire.

Dies on the *Death Star II* after attacking Darth Vader's son, Luke Skywalker.

## Connections

**Anakin Skywalker**- Sith apprentice. Palpatine draws Skywalker to Dark Jedi status.

**Count Dooku**- Fellow Sith, possible apprentice.

**Qymaen Jai Sheelal**- Due to Dooku's involvement in Jai Sheelal's maiming and reconstruction, Palpatine was a target for revenge.

**Padmé Amidala**- Queen of attested home planet.

## Assessment

### Summary and Action Points

A main source of frustration. Due to the Rule of Two, he is one of the only examples of Sith behavior most on Earth have. He propagates the Blood Purity Doctrine and engages in terracidal plans.

May possibly have been attempting a variant on Vitiate's omniphagous immortality ritual, or an inefficient fear harvest.

Tie to Vitiate. Express vehement disagreement.

### Strategic Assessment

The actions of the Sith following their defeat in 3,948 RE bear significant similarities to Darth Vitiate's designs, indicating that they may have studied the Sith Emperor's war plans. It is unclear whether they did so with full knowledge of his true intent and interfering factors in play, or in ignorant desire for a forgotten age of Sith victory.

What is clear, however, is that Sheev Palpatine did not possess the power or knowledge that Vitiate gathered before his ascendance Emperor of the Sith. The Ritual of Nathema would be of great interest to a Dark Lord with the desire for Imperial glory or immortality. There is also no evidence that he created any individuals akin to the Servants or Lord Scourge, which would have indicated his potential to complete the full ritual.

The Clone Wars, subsequent rebellions, and activation of the Death Star would have theoretically provided sufficient death to initiate a planetary-scale ritual, but there is no evidence that Palpatine ever initiated the Qâzoi Kyantuska necessary for a single being to survive Vitiate's technique, or that any Force-sensitives during these periods were aware of a void left by the Force's absence. The destruction of Nathema is known to have required the compelled participation of several thousand Sith Lords. The consumption of Ziost required several days of bloodshed, and word of the event could not be suppressed.

It is possible that Palpatine could have completed such a ritual prior to his known involvement in galactic events, but the destruction of his Empire does not suggest this. A death of some days or even months can be advantageous, but Palpatine has not resurfaced for thirty years as of the last known time point in Timeline 2 (5,005 RE). The Empire has collapsed, and his greatest monuments to death and fear have been destroyed. There is no benefit in this. No other power that necessitated seclusion has yet been identified. There is some small chance that Palpatine imitated Vitiate further in the cultivation of a second Empire in uncharted space, but this seems unlikely. In absence of evidence, it is reasonable to assume that this is not the case. Palpatine is dead. He may persist as a spirit, but he has failed.

The Jedi evidently remain uncertain as to how Palpatine hid himself so close to them. This is a trivial question. Both Jedi and Sith have a long history of disguising themselves as Force-blind, or even as an adherent of their enemy's philosophy. The administrators of the Dalonbian sector and the work of Jedi Master Barel Ovair are two of the most illustrative examples of Sith infiltration of the Republic and Jedi Order respectively. Palpatine benefited from the ignorance and complacency of the Jedi Order, and thus achieved his hollow victory.