The Story: Dawn of the Republic

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Malon

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Chapter I — The Fall of the Old Republic

War!

The return of the Sith, in the form of the Sith Brotherhood, sparked years of bloody war all across the galaxy, which reshaped the galactic maps as they were known.

In the earliest stages of the war, the valiant defenders of the Republic, known as the Border Alliance, struck several decisive blows against the rising Sith threat: first at Serenno and then in the heart of Sith territory, on Yavin IV. The Sith's problems were made manyfold when infighting within their own ranks brought about the destruction of the Great Temple on Korriban. But the Sith were a hard menace to kill, and these Sith seemed to grow even more powerful despite their early defeats.

While the Sith pestered the edge of Republic space, terrorizing the rim worlds of Onderon and Zeltros, as well as the neutral world of Saleucami, the Republic Senate authorized the organization of a true fighting force: the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), which mobilized to protect Republic interests on its outskirts. The newly minted GAR protected Zeltros first, driving the Sith from the planet, before turning their focus to the liberation of Serenno, which was another success. Attempting to capitalize on their victories, GAR ventured to Onderon, where they at last met their match, only to be saved at the last moment by the arrival of the Jedi Army. Together, the Jedi and the Republic repelled the Sith and—in a truly historic moment—Onderon ceded to the Jedi Army.

Elsewhere, the Jedi, who had taken the Sith threat seriously from the beginning, fought their first true battle against the Brotherhood on Felucia—a battle which ended the streak of Sith loses and resulted in a defeat for the Jedi. Disillusioned by the war and the Jedi's recent losses, the Jedi Knight Alexander Karn seized control of the Army's only Star Destroyer and flew it into the listening post on the holy world of Ilum, crippling the Jedi's facilities in that sector, though the ship was eventually salvaged and saved by several brave Jedi who managed to remove it from the rubble in the aftermath of the devastation.

Despite this brazen act of devastation, the Jedi Army managed to recover and strike out at Telos. The battle resulted in Telos falling into the Army's hands,
and the Army used their new territory to establish a new listening post to replace the one that they had lost at Ilum. Nevertheless, the Jedi were becoming just as prone to infighting as the Sith and, led by the fallen Jedi Knights Shae Vis, Kyrene Amytas, and Kalli Wren, a group of disgruntled Jedi conspired against the Order and bombed the Jedi Temple on Tython. The damage done, at least one of these fallen Jedi, Shae, fell to the dark side of the Force and joined the Sith Brotherhood.

The failures within the Jedi, as fate would have it, were too much of a burden on the shoulders of the Jedi Lord, Bao Zo, and he ultimately resigned his post and vanished—replaced by Sihkar Tarei. And, meanwhile, as the Jedi coped with their shortcomings, the Sith continued their march across the Outer Rim, instituting the Burning of Saleucami, which brought the planet formally under Sith control.

Following the assassination of Darth Sigrùn, Darth Solum—Dark Lord of the Sith and a new figure on the galactic stage—tragically burned the entire planet of Ithor and swore more planets would suffer a similar fate, launching a personal campaign aimed at the enemies of the Brotherhood. Meanwhile, Darth Venator and fallen Jedi Shae Vis assassinated the newly risen Jedi Lord, Sihkar Tarei, striking yet another crucial blow at the heart of the Jedi war effort. Disgusted, the Order rebuilt its Temple on Tython and forbade the Army from setting foot within its corridors again; subsequently, Vosrik Tanari was named Tarei's successor as Jedi Lord.

Elsewhere, the Republic was having troubles of its own. No longer willing to be subservient to the Republic, or content defending its borders, cousins Ral and Caedryn Vizsla began rallying likeminded Mandalorians to their side with a singular goal in mind: to undermine the Republic in order to obtain freedom for their people. Their group, Ha'rangir's Chosen, began the work, setting out to accomplish the schemes of the two cousins with the eventual plan being to take Mandalore back from the Republic. To this end, they robbed information from the Grand Army of the Republic and were responsible for the assassination of key public figures. However, Ral's plans were undermined and he was nearly assassinated by his enemies, leaving him a broken amnesiac on a backwater world.

After Ral's disappearance, a Mandalorian by the name of Prudii Kyramud emerged and banished Ral's cousin, Caedryn, before seizing leadership of the Chosen for himself. He reformed the cousins' organization into Death Watch, a Mandalorian extremist group with similar intentions. There was one critical difference, however: Death Watch was willing to work alongside the Sith. With their new Sith allies, Death Watch terrorized the Republic, murdering several Republic agents and countless innocent Republic civilians in the process. As Death Watch grew, they claimed territory in the Outer Rim: namely, Tatooine and Geonosis. They also assisted the Sith in their skirmish with an organization known as the Accord, forcing said faction back to the Christophsis region of space, where the Sith ultimately crushed the Accord—killing the Republic Supreme Commander, Vak'rosh Stratakar, who was there to lend aid to the people of Christophsis, in the process.

Shortly afterwards, with news of Death Watch's activities spreading, a revolt began on Mandalore to rid Republic control over the planet. There, Talia Al'Saif, led a group of Mandalorian liberators to attempt to seize control over their homeworld. The Battle of Mandalore saw the two fronts united, and Death Watch fought alongside Al'Saif's liberators in a fight that wrenched Mandalore from the hands of the Republic. At long last, the goal of the original Chosen was achieved: Mandalore was in the hands of its rightful owners once again. And, when the fighting was over, Death Watch was reorganized into an official government to rule over Mandalorian territory. The Mandalorian Dominion was born.

But there was little time for jubilation and celebration. The Mandalorians had won their freedom from the Republic, but their Sith allies expected payment for their role in assisting Death Watch. For, while the Mandalorians were fighting for control of their home, redeemed Jedi Knights Shae Vis and Corvo Vis (formerly the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Venator), along with a Jedi strike team, broke into the citadel of Darth Solum, the reigning Dark Lord, and kidnapped her before fleeing to Coruscant. Mustering their forces, the Sith Brotherhood and the Mandalorian Dominion launched a devastating attack on Coruscant to free Darth Solum. Though Solum was rescued, thanks to the combined efforts of Darth Cain and the newly christened Darth Malon, she was stripped of the Force on the Jedi flagship before she was able to be rescued.

The Battle of Coruscant also saw Talia Al'Saif confront Prudii Kyramud over his allegiances to the Sith. She was assisted by a mysterious warrior named Asterion, secretly Ral Vizsla, one of the Chosen's founders, in reaching the center of the fighting—where the Mand'alor, Prudii Kyramud was located. There, in a tragic battle that saw the two friends come head-to-head over the future of the Mandalorians, Al'Saif emerged victorious and Kyramud was ultimately killed. The death of Prudii Kyramud ultimately severed Mandalorian ties with the Sith, freeing the Mandalorians from their chains at last; and, with his dying breath, he proclaimed Talia Mand'alor. Asterion revealed himself as Ral, who had now returned to the Mandalorians with his memories restored. Nonetheless, his return and Prudii's death did little to affect the outcome of the battle. Coruscant fell into the hands of the Sith, striking a gruesome blow to the Republic and its Jedi defenders.

In the aftermath, the Sith Brotherhood and the Mandalorian Dominion rapidly grew whilst the Republic and the Jedi licked their wounds. The Dominion swept in and took Bothuwai, while establishing roots on Bandomeer, Taris, Eshan, Manda, and Rothana, among other worlds. Meanwhile, the Sith took the critically important planet of Thyferra, which gave them a monopoly on the production of bacta and acted as a tremendous boost to their war effort. Meanwhile, Darth Solum initiated an effort to restore herself to the Force, taking one of her rescuers, Darth Malon, as her apprentice. The two ventured to the planet Voss, where they acquired an ancient Sith holocron detailing a series of Sith rituals that would return her to the Force. Once the initial rituals were done, Darth Cain as brought in, and together, the three Sith Lords restored the Dark Lord to her rightful throne.

With the Sith Brotherhood in a time of unprecedented growth, the Supreme Leader, Kyuss Thaun, summoned the higher-echelon of Sith society to Coruscant where he was anointed Emperor by Darth Cain. From that day forward, and after one hundred years in shambles, the Sith Empire was restored on the ashes of a planet that had once been the jewel of the Republic. The Sacred Band of Ziost, which had served the Sith for centuries, was reorganized into the Imperial Legion, and the forces of darkness were finally unleashed upon the galaxy in full once again.

Their first target was the Jedi holy world of Ilum. Together, the Empire's Sith Lords, including a restored Darth Solum, invaded the Jedi Temple on Ilum and captured the temple's massive kyber crystal—which they then used as a super weapon, channeling the immense energies of the dark side in an incredibly wicked ritual that tore a hole in space-time and launched a devastating attack on distant Tython. As a result, the entire planet of Tython, along with much of the Jedi Order secluded there, was completely obliterated, leaving a massive wound in both the Jedi Army and the Force itself.

Shortly after Tython's destruction, Darth Malon challenged his Master for her place as Dark Lord of the Sith. The two Lords dueled on Solum's self-proclaimed homeworld of Rhen Var, where, after a tedious duel, Malon emerged victorious and slew her in lightsaber combat. Taking up the mantle of Dark Lord himself, Malon’s ascension was not without its own challenges. Around this same time, Corvo Vis and Malak Thorne conspired against the Empire. After cleverly filling a droid with bombs, Malak then allowed this droid to detonate during a Moff meeting, slaying a vast number of the Sith upper political echelon and several Sith Lords. This was a massive set back for the Sith, leaving Malon charred, but more determined than ever. Instead of wasting time reeling from the attacks, Malon immediately worked to consolidate Solum's power base and adding it to his own. Together, he, along with the Emperor and Darth Cain, struck out to enact the endgame of the Sith: the ultimate demise of the Republic and Jedi.

Their plan was a success. Disguising themselves aboard a series of supply freighters bound for the Republic capital at Chandrila, the Sith bypassed the Republic's defenses and launched a fatal attack at the heart of its government: the Senate. There, in the Senate Rotunda, the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Malon, fought Jedi Grand Master Annileen Draay. During their battle, the Emperor Kyuss Thaun was killed in combat against Jedi Knight Shae Vis, and, with his dying breath, conferred the position of Emperor to Malon. Though Kyuss died in the fighting, the Empire succeeded in bombing the Senate building, crippling the Republic beyond repair. The Sith escaped the planet, and Malon was officially anointed as the second Emperor of the Sith Empire shortly thereafter.

With the Senate gone, the glue that held the Republic together was gone with it. Over the course of the next several months, the Republic decayed until it finally collapsed. With the Republic gone, and the Sith Empire ascendent, the remaining Jedi Knights of the Jedi Army — which began to call itself "the Army of Light" — were all that was left to hold back the darkness of Sith oppression and the galaxy entered a new, dark age...



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Chapter II — The Dark Times

(5 standard year timeskip)

The five standard years that followed the fall of the Old Republic was a time of seismic shifts in the galaxy. The Sith Empire, invigorated by new leadership and success on the warfront, continued to grow at an unprecedented rate, while the Mandalorian Dominion grew into a formidable force in the galaxy; meanwhile, the valiant Jedi Knights continued to fight for peace and justice across the galaxy.

As the Republic died, the Sith and Mandalorians seized their opportunities to grow. Capitalizing on their position at Coruscant, and led by their ferocious new Emperor, the Sith swept into the Core Worlds, which fell to the Empire's ever-advancing war machine. Emperor Malon himself led the assault on the beautiful planet of Alderaan, which was among the last to fall under the iron fists of the Empire. With the Core firmly under the control of the Empire, the Sith ruled, for the first time, from the galactic center—from the city-world of Coruscant itself.

At the same time, the Mandalorian Dominion continued its growth, expanding to control the entirety of the Mandalore sector, along with the nearby Eshan sector and the Prackla sector, which was in the Expansion Region. As the Dominion grew, strife began to emerge between the Prime Minister's office, which desired alliances with the galactic powers, and Mand'alor, who argued that the Mandalorians would simply be enslaving themselves all over again if they allied with the Sith—and that an alliance with the Jedi was out of the question (as the Mandalorians and the Jedi had always been enemies). During this period of strife, Caedryn Vizsla returned from his exile and abdicated the position of Manda'lor. In the end, his war faction won out, and the Prime Minister's office was abolished in favor of a more militaristic leadership to the Dominion—which would rely upon the clan-rule of the ancient Mandalorians.

Meanwhile, the Jedi Knights valiantly fought to protect territory that had formerly been members of the Republic. As a result, Jedi territory expanded to encompass the southernmost territory of the Republic, particularly the southern Inner and Mid Rims. With Tython still fresh on their minds, the Jedi too restructured themselves to more adequately prepare to deal with the immense work that lay ahead of them. And, while they fought to protect the Republic former citizens, they also fought to avenge those Jedi that had been so ruthlessly destroyed by the Sith years prior when the then-fledgling Empire struck its blow on Tython.

The result of this period of expansion was a sort of stalemate between the three great galactic powers. While the war showed no signs of slowing, none of the three main factions appeared willing to work with the others, as all were locked in a race for arms and territory to get an upper hand on their enemies. To this end, for instance, the Sith Empire swept away the remnants of the Sith Brotherhood's influences, completing its reformation into a true Empire. This "new" Empire ran like a well-oiled machine and, within its confines, the Sith entered a new golden age.

With victories rolling in on the warfront, and the Empire's new operations running smoothly, the Emperor turned his sights to the Unknown Regions, where he had long sensed a growing disturbance that greatly unnerved him. Seeking out the source of this disturbance, the evil Emperor focused his attention on the jungle world of Jakku in the Western Reaches, which had been described as a "gateway" to the Unknown Regions. There, he planned to examine just what exactly was causing the disturbance he felt in the Force, as well as its implications to his Empire and the galaxy as a whole...




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Chapter III — Dawn of the Republic

(Now)

Now, five standard years after the fall of the Old Republic, the war rages on. The machine of the evil Sith Empire continues to steamroll across the galaxy, while the Mandalorian Dominion grows more powerful, into the warrior people so-often talked about in legend. All the while, the courageous Knights of the Jedi Army continue to fight for the restoration of justice in the galaxy. Fortunately for them, a new spirit of democracy is rising up in those they foster under their care—one that could result in a "new" Republic that is far grander than its older counterpart ever could have been...
 
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