History of the Galactic Empire

In the Beginning...

Very little is known about the Empire before the time of EmperorDrayson, and so widely he is considered to be the first serving Emperor in the faction's history, previously an Admiral of the Imperial Navy, his rise to power remains a mystery. What is known however is that during a short civil war, one of his officers, Captain Vodo Bonias destroyed Drayson's Fleet in the final naval battle of the campaign. The then young Dark Acolyte of the Obsidian Order annexed Drayson's remaining followers and declared himself Emperor of the Galactic Empire. Broken and beaten, Drayson was forced to flee the Empire vowing that he would return again someday, stronger than ever. Many months later, Vodo opted to step down and take the title of Moff for unknown reasons. His successor, another servant of the Dark Side, was Navy Commanding Officer Suntzu. The new Emperor was only on the throne a short while when a new civil war erupted, this time between the Army and Navy. General Balsaraph the leader of the Army accused Moff Vodo of encouraging Suntzu to instate policies which favored the Imperial Navy over the Army. Balsaraph was overwhelmed by the Moff's forces and ran stealing a small number of Star Destroyers in the process. The General soon allied himself with former Emperor Drayson and created the Order of Darkness, though in time the new faction's power collapsed as its support drew thin, allowing the Empire to recover it's stolen ships. The group believed that Suntzu had in fact only been a puppet for Vodo though the truth was never discovered, shortly after the incident the Moff forced Suntzu to step down, placing one of his many apprentices, Spytek, on the throne in his place.

The Rise of Piett

Under Spytek, the Empire enjoyed a brief period of peace and prosperity until the ambitions of a rising officer, Admiral Piett, would upset the balance of power once again. Angry over the many weaknesses and mistakes of Emperor Spytek, Piett led his followers in the Imperial Navy to overthrow the young Emperor. The revolt was successful and short, and in the end the Sith Lord Piett took the throne. Piett, a much stronger Emperor than Spytek was able to remain free somewhat of his former Master and teacher, Vodo. Piett's strong will kept the Empire prosperous as the new Emperor established and maintained policies which led the government into a new golden age of conservatism. During his reign, few advancements or changes occurred in the structure or policies of the Galactic Empire. Eventually, the betrayed Sith Master Vodo took his revenge on his old apprentice by inciting a new revolt. The voices of reform in the Empire had for a long time been silenced by Piett, and now they sought his removal under the leadership of Vodo. The revolution was unsuccessful and Piett had many of the ring leaders rounded up and tried. Grand Admiral Veynom, Admiral Gunther von Esling, and Surface Marshall Trey Connel were captured and accused of treason but were later pardoned by the Emperor. Sith Master Vodo Bonias escaped with the help of then Captain Machkhit and Fleet Admiral Simms. Piett was unable to identify the many others who were working secretly for Vodo; eventually he succumbed to paranoia, fearing further revolts, and chose to flee the Empire, seeking a peaceful retirement on the Outer Rim.

The Great Break and the Core

The Emperor and Dark Lord of the Sith, Piett, was gone. For nearly a year he had led the Galactic Empire through one of its most prosperous ages. In his wake, the Empire was left without an apparent heir, civil war quickly erupted as the few remaining Sith followers slipped into the shadows following their leader Vodo. Two candidates emerged during this conflict, Grand Admiral Veynom, leader of the Imperial Navy, and Executor Trey Connel, leader of the Imperial Government. The fighting was brutal, it lasted weeks, the Empire was wrenched apart, but in the end, Connel arose victorious. Veynom, his fleet broken and battered, retreated with his followers, which included much of the Imperial High Command into the core of the galaxy. In a last ditch gamble, the Grand Admiral took a personal ship and left to the very edges of the galaxy, to the vast unexplored part of space known as the Unknown Regions seeking ancient secrets and allies that might restore the Empire's former glory. In his absence he left Fleet Admiral Simms in charge of the fleet with the instructions to seek out a suitable system where they might forge a fortress from which they might strike back at their enemies some day. After a great many weeks of searching, the small fleet of Star Destroyers happened across a small uninhabited system which appeared to be uncharted, the location was ideal; the fleet immediately secured the area and setup a large base camp on a temperate planet in the system. In the passing months, the fleet explored many nearby systems while establishing several small, fortified cities on the planet's surface. Deciding that they did not wish to be associated with Connel's Empire, the group chose to call themselves the Imperial Core, in the belief that they were the Core of the once mighty Galactic Empire; they then named their new home Bastion to symbolize their strong determination in restoring the Empire's glory.

Benefiting from anarchy rising during the Empire's civil war, the Rebel Alliance, a group wishing to establish a new republic as the galactic government grew strong while rallying many former Imperial Systems to their cause. The now diminished forces of the Galactic Empire were unable to enforce their rule over such a vast territory.

The Rise of Charon

Over the course of the next half year, the Imperial Core drew support from many pro-Imperial Systems which had been discarded by Emperor Connel, becoming a sizable government in their own right. Connel was unable to neither stabilize the Empire nor stem the tide of the growing support for both the Rebel Alliance and Imperial Core. And, in a short time, Connel planned to abdicate the throne at the behest of his advisors while giving his support to a new Emperor, Mccarthur. Shortly before he could make his abdication public however, he was killed (presumably) when his shuttle exploded enroute to the Imperial Palace, although his body was never recovered. Unfortuantly, Mccarthur was able to accomplish little more than his predecessor. His designated heir, Charon, ascended to the Imperial Throne.

A New Threat

About this time, the galaxy was further shaken when a broken transmission was relayed to the holonet from the outer rim. The sender, Grand Admiral Veynom had discovered an old secret in the unknown and was trying to make contact with his followers, instead his message was intercepted by rogue agents and made public. Unable to properly secure his message because of the many relay points, the Admiral encoded it with a series of puzzles and clues. The meaning of the message was further disrupted by a series of faulty holonet receivers that wiped out many lines of text. Ultimately it was his old followers in the Imperial Core who deciphered the meaning of the message which revealed the location of an old Death Star weapon that was hidden in an unexplored region of the Outer Rim. The group quickly tracked down the weapon, intending to take command of it for use against their enemies. Unfortunately, the weapon itself proved to be incomplete and irreparable, though the operation was still of great value to the Core in that they recovered a veritable treasure trove of lost information and data from much older times. Additionally, the speed with which they solved the Admiral's puzzle and the mounds of recovered information granted them a great deal of prestige in the galaxy as more systems and people flocked to the banner of the Imperial Core. During this time, Fleet Admiral Simms was revealed to be force sensitive, Jennifer Dreighton was then chosen to act as steward for the government so that Admiral Simms could spend time focusing on his force abilities.

Return of the Sith

Some months later, the Sith returned to the limelight under the leadership of the Sith Master and former Galactic Emperor, Warlord Vodo Bonias. The Warlord quickly joined his Sith followers with the Imperial Core, forming a new faction, the Dark Empire, now the third largest faction in the Galaxy. Fleet Admiral Simms returned as well, serving as the new Emperor's second in command and newly named Dark Lord of Sith. It was roughly a year later when the two Lords mysteriously arranged the return of the Dark Empire to the Galactic Empire. An action which sparked a ferocious debate and uncouth riots within the Galactic Empire, although no known cases of disobedience or disloyalty were recorded in the Dark Empire as a result of this event. Charon, ever distrustful of Vodo and his followers agreed to the merger reluctantly, but was allowed to remain on the throne. Count Uebles, an Imperial aristocrat and member of the Dark Empire was chosen as the compromise for Executor. Many Dark Empire officers and leaders were hereafter integrated into the Galactic Empire in a variety of positions; Warlord Vodo in turn formed a secretive fleet outside the chain of command that incorporated many loyal and high ranking officers as well as several Dark Jedi. Later this sect would become known as the Order of the Dark Hand. Vodo also managed to preserve the secretive MJ-12 intelligence branch which had been essential in the Dark Empire's success.

The Hidden Dark Lord

Charon's hate and distrust ran deep, in time his paranoia grew to exaggerated proportions and often he and his officers lashed out at Vodo and his followers. Around this time, the often used terms “Charonist” and “Vodoist” arose to describe those who remained loyal to Charon, and those who supported Vodo in his bid for the Imperial Throne. The final straw came several months after the merger, Charon ordered the ISB General Byden to arrest Vice Admiral Dreighton, CO of the Dark Hand Fleet and to seize the fleet's assets in the middle of a combat operation. The Fleet was brought back to Coruscant where it was initially dissolved. These actions constituted such an outrage that eventually Vodo's supporters rose up against Charon, Count Uebles revealing himself to be a powerful Dark Lord of the Sith seized the opportunity and ascended the throne, while out of kindness offering the former Emperor a position in the Imperial High Command. Instead, Charon incited many Imperials loyal to him into defection while not actually defecting himself, the former Emperor disappeared leaving the Empire in a state of chaos, many officers and enlisted throughout the many branches of the Empire left, still a vast majority of the Imperial population remained, many of the defectors themselves vanished or took shelter within a variety of pirate and service factions that were already unfriendly to the Empire. In the wake of this catastrophic event, Emperor Uebles reorganized the government of the Empire, appointing new Moffs and other leaders. Other branches underwent similar reforms over the next year as the Empire attempted to pull itself back together and ultimately Uebles' reign was marked as a period of major reform though he was unable to achieve much success in reviving the Empire. When he finally stepped down, Executor Vodo once again assumed the mantle of Emperor. During Uebles reign, many victories on the battlefield were afforded to the Empire despite its internal problems, these include Operation Beta*, Operation Tenax, Uvena, Alderaan, and Tatooine. It was also during the reign of Uebles that Admiral Zerk came into prominence.

Operation Beta was a historic campaign against the Falleen Federation which resulted in the cleansing of the planet Falleen, the deaths of many prominent Falleen Leaders, and the submission of the faction to the Galactic Empire.

The Second Reign of Vodo

The Dark Lord Vodo took the Imperial Throne at a time when the Empire was still suffering through internal problems brought about by the cowardice of Charon. Immediately he introduced reforms for all the branches. He brought Imperial Intelligence under the charge of COMPNOR and placed Grand Vizier Bach as the branch leader. He then promoted Zerk and put him in charge of the Imperial Navy while changing the old Navy structure and modifying it with many improvements. Under Vodo, the academy system was revised, restructured, and reinstituted. Many such changes were brought about by the new Emperor, and by the time of his 1st Anniversary as leader of the Galactic Empire, the faction was once again a strong and thriving community. His rule was off to a great start and he didn't appear to be slowing down. A few months into his reign, the Empire declared victory in two more major campaigns, at Allied Tion*, and the Bacta Wars*, further boosting Imperial morale and power. It was near the end of his first six months however that problems first started arising in Admiral Zerk's Navy, conflicting management styles between Zerk and his officers is perhaps the best way to describe these problems. And, within a short while, many dissenting officers signed a petition to the Emperor, requesting Zerk's removal from the Navy. The change was reluctantly made, and Vice Admiral Goth, Zerk's XO, was placed in charge of the Navy while Zerk was promoted to Grand Moff of the Imperial Government. Despite this change, the Grand Moff maintained a major influence over Naval Structure and Policies, and he continued to clash with many ranking Naval Officers. After only a few months in the saddle, Vice Admiral Goth retired his commission in the Imperial Navy without formally stating his reasons for doing so. Under normal conditions, Goth's XO would have succeeded him directly, but the Grand Moff decided to go a different route, he chose to push for a series of reforms. For almost a month, the Admiralty and other senior Navy officers debated possible changes for the new reform, Rear Admirals Crog and Slicer were the main voices in the debate, and when the dust settled they were granted a temporary joint leadership of the Navy while the reorganization took place. When the designated time was up, both were promoted to full Admiral; Crog was selected as the new NCO, and Slicer as his XO.

Allied Tion was a successful campaign against the New Anzat Order in the Allied Tion Sector which resulted in a civil war within the NAO at the end of which control of the faction was given to the Empire.

The Bacta Wars was a campaign that decided who would control the galaxy's supply of Bacta which resulted in an Imperial monopoly of the product.

A New Revolution

In the months following the radical changes to the Navy developed by the ppAdmiral[[ty in co-operation with Grand Moff Zerk, renewed arguments took center stage as old Charonists grew enraged with more pieces of their old dynasty now crumbling. Using Zerk as a rallying point, former Charon supporters incited a number of enlisted and officers into open revolt under false pretenses. The Charonists dismiss Emperor Vodo in peaceful negotiations, launching their own plans shortly after. Within mere days following these events, Admiral Slicer and Captain Pangborn rallied a majority of the movements' supporters around a Vodo friendly platform and signed a new peace treaty with the Emperor leaving the new rebellion devastated and crippled. A week later, a number of Charonists and former Imperials were arrested and executed for treason against the throne as what was left of the New Imperial Order propped itself up with funding from several pirate groups. Forced into hiding among the many empty regions of space, the group lives with little money, few ships, and a deep hatred for everything the Galactic Empire stands for.

Growth of an Empire

After quelling the dissent within its ranks, the Empire progressed at a rapid pace under the continued leadership of Emperor Vodo; its membership continued to grow while achieving victories against its many enemies throughout the galaxy including the Eidola Pirates, Trade Federation, SoroSuub Corporation, and the Kathol Republic. The vanguard of this progess is the passing of the City-State Accords has brought approximately 65% under the direct influence of the Galactic Empire, the 12 Colonies, and Mandalore. Many consider this to be a new Golden Age for the faction, a time of successful reform with the help of experienced leaders, a time when once again the Empire is the clear forerunner in all fields: military, scientific, economic, and political.

The First Imperial Union

In a historic move to bring about order and peace to the galaxy, Emperor Vodo signed a mutual-defense accord with King Jessy James of the Hapes Consortium. Designed to counter the threat from the Rebel Alliance, Falleen Federation, and SoroSuub Corporation, the treaty brought the economies of the two largest governments in the game, as well as defense forces, in order to bring about joint growth. The First Imperial Union allows eventual paths for City-State Allies to join the Union. The Imperial Union has united more people in the galaxy since the Old Republic. The future of the galaxy looks extremely bright for all those who believe in the New Order.