Galactic Empire

The history of the Galactic Empire is the history of the Old Republic, a government founded as a bastion of civilization that lasted 25,000 years. However, this beacon of order eventually became corrupt and decadent, a blight on the very heart of galactic society that was the breaking point for many formerly loyal worlds who could simply take no more.

Entire sectors, and many corporate entities, broke from the ancient Republic with most rallying under the banner of the newly formed Confederacy of Independent Systems. Loosely united to prevent Republic attempts to support Loyalist resistance movements on their worlds, they quickly amassed an army of mercenaries and battle droids. The Separatists used this diverse force to smash Republic Holdouts in their claimed domain. Their assault on Ord Mantell, site of a major Judiciary Forces arsenal, is considered by many to be the start of the conflict now titled by the galactic community as the Clone Wars.

The Galactic Senate panicked when news of the Judiciary Forces' defeat on Ord Mantell reached the halls of Coruscant. For generations the Republic fielded little more than police forces in addition to a handful of less than capable soldiers and ships focused more on pomp than ability who never left the Coruscant system. As such, the Senate and Supreme Chancellor Kor'vas Or'kee of Bothawui did the unconventional: They commissioned an army of clones from many different worlds to supplement the various sector defense and judiciary forces.

The Republic remained on the defensive, yet lost many Mid Rim worlds to the Separatist forces. Many early clones succumbed to the condition known as "clone madness," turning on comrades in the heat of battle as their own genetics betrayed them. Fortunately, such occurrences became fewer in number, but only after Judiciary Forces veterans of the Stark Hyperspace War successfully petitioned the Senate to restore both the Army and Navy of the Republic by nationalizing and merging clone, Judiciary, and planetary defense forces into those resurrected defenders of the Republic.

The Clone Wars raged for the next decade. Countless worlds were scoured of life, some by chemical or biological weapons while others were reduced to slag by turbo laser fire or had their atmospheres ignited. A siege of the Separatist capital world of Raxus officially ended the war as a starving Separatist Congress surrendered to the victorious Republic forces.

Supreme Chancellor Or'kee served in his office for eleven and a half years, far longer than allowed by the Constitution. To maintain stability during the war, the military backed his continued control of the Republic. Yet the Bothan enjoyed his accumulated power. To distract the citizens of a ravaged Republic from his own corruption, Or'kee established a secretive war crimes court that answered only to him, known formally as the Chancellor's Tribunal for Crimes Against the Republic. It was independent from the Supreme Court and lacked any Senatorial oversight. While many cheered the idea of justice finally being dealt to Separatist leaders, others worried over the Chancellor's apparent power grab.

Their fears were soon realized as the anonymous tribunal judges issued the names of those arrested and to be tried. All ten initial names were members of the Republic Army, Navy, or Loyalist resistance movements. Or'kee claimed it was to "heal the wounds of a divided Republic."

While the military High Command and the Security Council remained silent on the matter officially, Admiral of the Fleet Draco Tanos of Argai ordered the removal of all Senate Guard officers and commandos, including even his honor guard as a Security Council member, from his *Victory*-class flagship. As Naval Chief of Staff, he encouraged other naval commanders to quietly do the same for their own safety. In conjunction, many Senators protested the arrests of Republic War heroes and made petitions to the Supreme Court to file an injunction. On the worlds where the arrested were held in high regard, protests and riots erupted.

On the suggestion of Naval Chief of Staff Tanos, the Security Council fortified the Coruscant system and even Coruscant itself to maintain order. Chancellor Or'kee, in his paranoia, believed it to be a power grab against him. In an effort to cripple apparent military opposition, Or'kee ordered the demobilization of much of the armed forces. In addition, he pressured several prominent officers into retirement, including the Army Chief of Staff and the Chief of the Defense Staff. Attempting to weaken Tanos's direct influence over naval affairs, the Chancellor appointed the Tionese native to Chief of the Defense Staff and filled his previous position with a sycophant from Bothan Space.

Unfortunately for Or'kee, his plans quickly unraveled as the first of the accused, General Nottap of Corellia, was declared guilty after a mere three hour trial. As the man considered responsible for keeping the Corellian Sector free from the Separatists and a decorated war hero, further planets became outraged. Combined with another list of those Republic officers arrested for trial, the Republic was once more on the brink of civil war.

No longer could Draco Tanos sit idly by. Using sources in the Republic's diverse intelligence agencies, he located the Tribunal's detainees and remobilized several special forces units, not only freeing the unjustly accused and sentenced but capturing the anonymous judges. On Coruscant, military forces seized control of the central Holonet hub, activating the Emergency Broadcast System. All Republic forces were ordered to remobilize as Order 5 and Order 65 were brought into effect. The Supreme Chancellor was declared unfit to serve and command authority was transferred to the Chief of the Defense Staff.

Or'kee and several key members of his cabinet were arrested during the declared state of emergency. By law, Draco Tanos was declared Interim Chancellor as the Senate debated and argued over the future of the Chancery. Several Senators took the Interim Chancellor's previous words to heart, declaring themselves the "New Order" faction with the politically neutral Tanos as their honorary leader.

The New Order's proponents espoused an end to government corruption and a move towards militarism. Such ideas held sway with many core world Senators and those who watched their worlds crippled along the frontlines of the war. It appealed as well towards nationalist groups such as the Commission for the Protection of the Republic (COMPOR) and its SubAdult Group.

The war ravaged Jedi Order, its numbers depleted by ten years of fierce fighting, remained silent during this time of strife. A majority opposed Or'kee during his tenure, but they were initially hesitant to support what seemed to amount to a coup against the legitimate government. Younger Jedi, shocked by the horrors of the Clone Wars or still managing to maintain some sense of idealism, began supporting COMPOR in spite of the mindset of their Masters. When respected JedI Master Oren Tepcas, both a pre-War Council member as well as one of the many JedI who served under Tanos in the Tion Campaign, declared his support for his old friend and Interim Chancellor a surge of Jedi came out to formally offer their own support to the new government.

While discussion in the Galactic Senate heated up, Draco Tanos took the initative and struck the Republic's problems on three fronts. He formed the Republic Security Bureau, formed from to investigate corruption at all levels of government on COMPOR's suggestion, resulting in the arrests of several high profile Republic officials. After formally restoring the military to its wartime levels, Interim Chancellor Tanos personally organized strikes against Separatist holdouts across the Rim, crippling further guerilla fighting against the Republic. In addition, he focused credits and resources to rebuild the infrastructure of worlds ravaged by the Clone Wars, even including former Separatist worlds that had formally pledged their allegiance back to the Republic.

As the Interim Chancellor's popularity grew, COMPOR rally attendance surged and many traditionalist Senatorial incumbents soon found themselves replaced by New Order challengers. To many, the New Order factionalists represented a restoration of law, justice, order and a strong central government. All were seemingly impossible ideals to expect from Coruscant mere months before.

With the New Order adherents firmly with a majority in the Senate, COMPOR became an official government funded agency and received limited authority over many reconstruction and settlement efforts. Millions of refugees from obliterated worlds were relocated to help establish colonies along newly discovered routes in the Deep Core. Many of these ancient worlds were rich in mineral wealth and natural resources but had had never been touched by civilization. These resources paid for the colonies' expansion while the resources themselves went to reconstruction efforts across the galaxy.

For over half a year, the galaxy waited while the Senate debated the future of the Republic. After Draco Tanos gave an inspirational speech evoking many of the greate empires and monarchies that predated and founded the Republic as symbols of order and unity, New Orderists had their answer on the Republic's future.

Empire. A unifying empire with a single ruler confirmed for life by a democratically elected Senate. When proposed by the New Orderists it met with initial skepticism. Could a single man bring peace and justice to the galaxy? Such opposition soon passed as the cultural centers of the galaxy were reminded of their own imperial and royal glories. The idea of Empire spread like wildfire, igniting imaginations dreaming of a galaxy untied, of romantic ideas of serving their emperor, and that even the poorest of citizens could rise to greatness not by family wealth but by their own deeds and merits.

Seven months into his tenure as Chancellor, the Galactic Senate proclaimed a reluctant Draco Tanos as Galactic Emperor. The next day, Empire Day, the new Emperor formally declared the reorganization of the Galactic Republic into the first Galactic Empire. With this Declaration of Empire, the new government saw increased central power as the New Order was codified into law. The Commission for the Protection of the Republic became the Commission to Preserve the New Order (COMPNOR) and was made a full fledged arm of the government. Imperial Intelligence, newly established as the various intelligence agencies of the Republic were combined into one body, joined COMPNOR's Imperial Security Bureau in an effort to actively end the most prevalent corruption that could be discovered in the newly formed Empire.

Emperor Draco Tanos personally approached the Jedi Order and gave them two options: Swear fealty to the Emperor and Empire as Imperial Knights to become a full fledged branch of the new government or retire and embrace civilian lives after registering with Imperial Security. While several aging Jedi accepted their well deserved retirement as celebrated war heroes and some younglings were returned to their parents, the vast majority followed the examples set by Masters Oren Tepcas and Barok-Ji. The Jedi Order knelt before their Emperor and pledged fealty, rising as Knights of the Empire.