After the destruction of Emperor Palpatine at the Battle of Endor, the Empire split up into various remnants that erupted into civil war. Each of these factions were led by warlords that all competed to be the true successor to Palpatine. This series of articles will be detailing each group, their leaders, history, and ultimate fate.
1. The True Galactic Empire (4 ABY-11 ABY)
For this first part, I would like to go through what I am calling the “true” Galactic Empire, starting with Sate Pestage all the way to Natasi Daala. There were many Imperial splinter groups, but there was a centralized faction on Coruscant (eventually on Byss and other worlds) that was considered the true continuation of the Empire. In other words, this first section is detailing the entire history of the Empire after the Battle of Endor. This faction eventually evolved into the United Warlords Fleet and the Imperial Remnant, which are considered the true successor state to the Galactic Empire after the Imperial reunification. You could call them all the same faction, but I am splitting them up because, after Jax’s defeat, there really was no longer centralized authority after Palpatine until the Imperial reunification by Pellaeon and Daala. Up until Carnor Jax, there was a clear leader of the Empire. After that, until Pellaeon and Daala, there wasn’t. This is the longest section out of all of them, so that is why I am putting it on its own post. I was also considering putting the Dark Empire and Crimson Empire as separate factions, but the Dark Empire is a restored Galactic Empire, while the Crimson Empire is the remnants of it led by Jax, so I went ahead and considered them a part of the “true” Galactic Empire. Also, I did use Wookieepedia for a lot of this information, just to make sure the details were precise, so if something is wrong, blame them.
- Sate Pestage (4 ABY): Sate Pestage was the highest ranking Imperial advisor and considered the right hand man of Palpatine. After Palpatine’s death, he assumed control of Coruscant and Imperial controlled worlds as the Interim-Emperor. However, the other Imperial advisors turned on him, along with Director of Imperial Intelligence Ysanne Isard, after he attempted to make a deal with the New Republic in exchange for immunity and planetary holdings. However, it was also said that Pestage escaped to Byss and was killed there. It is believed that one of these individuals was a clone.
- Ysanne Isard (4 ABY-7 ABY, 9 ABY (reemergence)): Ysanne Isard was the Director of
Imperial Intelligence during the Galactic Civil War. After Palpatine’s death, she served
Sate Pestage as an advisor before overthrowing him. She was the presumed leader of the Empire after his death, and she controlled all of Coruscant’s forces. As the New Republic edged closer to Coruscant, she developed the Krytos virus to kill all aliens within the Republic fleet, but she failed, and she escaped Coruscant in her Executor-class Star Destroyer, the Lusankya. She went to Thyferra and supported a political coup, but Rogue Squadron defeated her on the planet. She was presumed dead, and the Lusankya was captured by Rogue Squadron. She survived, and hid during the Thrawn campaign. She would eventually be contacted by the Reborn Emperor, and she pledged to return the Lusankya back to the Emperor. She failed, and she was shot dead by Iella Wessiri.
- Grand Admiral Thrawn (9 ABY): Thrawn was the only non-human Grand Admiral within the Imperial Fleet. Because of his xenophobia, Palpatine had sent him to the Unknown Regions, but Thrawn used that opportunity to build his own personal empire. After Palpatine’s death, Thrawn returned to the galaxy to unite the shattered Imperial forces. He managed to be the only Imperial warlord to do this. His massive military campaign was nearly successful, but he would be killed by his own Noghri bodyguard Rukh, after Leia Organa Solo uncovered a conspiracy about Thrawn and the Noghri people. Thrawn’s success was largely due to the support from the Imperial Ruling Council on Orinda, Ardus Kaine of the Pentastar Alignment, and Delak Krennel of the Ciutric Hegemony. Captain Gilad Pellaeon was his second-in-command, who was the officer responsible for leading the Empire’s Death Squadron (the fleet of Star Destroyers at the Battle of Endor) to safety after the destruction of the second Death Star.
- The Dark Empire (10 ABY-11 ABY): Shortly after Palpatine’s demise aboard the Second Death Star, his spirit entered the body of an Emperor’s Hand named Jeng Droga on the Deep Core world of Byss until he could fully possess the body of a clone of himself. He began to build a restored version of the Galactic Empire, which he called the Dark Empire. This Empire was more heavily focused on using the dark side of the Force, with Palpatine intending to eventually rule the Empire exclusively using the dark side. Palpatine would reveal himself in 10 ABY. Palpatine would recapture Coruscant, and would launch an attack on Mon Calamari, a key shipyard for the New Republic, using powerful superweapons known as World Devastators, which could destroy entire worlds by using its tractor beams to pull the world apart, and the planet’s resources would be collected by the Devastators to be used for the Empire’s benefit. During this time, Luke Skywalker feigned an alliance with Sidious, and he leaked the override codes to the superweapons, and Luke and his twin sister Leia Organa defeated Sidious by using Sidious’ own Force storm against him, destroying him and the Eclipse, a dreadnought that could destroy an entire fleets with its axial laser. Palpatine would later return in another clone body. Palpatine’s brush with death caused him to go insane, and he launched the Galaxy Gun on the galaxy, yet another superweapon, and managed to destroy many Imperial warlords that opposed him and caused the New Republic to scatter. However, Carnor Jax, an Imperial Royal Guard, was disturbed by Palpatine’s behavior, and he tampered with Palpatine’s clone DNA that made his dark side presence cause them to deteriorate even further. Palpatine was finally destroyed on Onderon, and Byss was destroyed, causing the Empire to fracture again. Carnor Jax would succeed him. - The Crimson Empire (11 ABY)- After Carnor Jax successfully sabotaged the Reborn Emperor, he would take over as Emperor of Palpatine’s Dark Empire, or at least what was left of it. Many Imperials did not acknowledge Jax as the Emperor, but Jax’s rule represented the last vestige of the Imperial state created by Palpatine. Jax did not rule for long, as he was assassinated by Kir Kanos, his rival Guardsman, and Burr Nolyds would assume his position, but he would be killed by the Yuuzhan Vong spy Nom Anor, who then installed Xandel Carvius, who would also be killed by Kir Kanos when the New Republic successfully captured Ord Cantrell. For a year, the Empire would return to a power vacuum, with many warlords warring with each other for power.
- Admiral Natasi Daala (11 ABY-12 ABY): Admiral Natasi Daala was the first woman to become an Admiral in the Imperial Navy. Despite this, she did not have much of a role during the Galactic Civil War because she had been assigned to oversee the construction of superweapons in the Maw Cluster at the Maw Installation. There, she oversaw the development and construction of the Death Star and the Sun Crusher. Upon her accidental discovery in 11 ABY, she had finished the Sun Crusher, a starfighter-sized superweapon capable of wiping out entire star systems. During her exile, however, she had no idea that the Emperor and her lover Wilhuff Tarkin were dead. When she discovered this, she started a campaign with the Sun Crusher and her handful of Star Destroyers against the New Republic, which failed. After this, she allied herself with Vice Admiral Pellaeon (who served various warlords after Thrawn’s death) and killed all of the major Imperial warlords by uniting them at Tsoss Beacon, including Blitzer Harrsk of Zero Command, Sander Delvardus of the Eriadu Authority, Treuten Teradoc of the Greater Maldrood and the Federated Teradoc Union, and Malfkla Yzu of the 15th Deep Core Reserve Fleet. She then united all of these fleets into the United Warlords Fleet, therefore starting a new era of Imperial reunification.
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