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The Fel Empire, also called the Galactic Empire, Reborn Empire, Fel Imperium, New Empire or simply the Empire, was a hereditary monarchy in the Outer Rim Territories. The Fel Empire was the restoration of the First Galactic Empire, which had fallen during the Galactic Civil War, formed some time after 44 ABY following the ascension of Jagged Fel to the throne, which was formed from the Imperial Remnant, a successor state of the Old Empire which was established in 12 ABY.

The New Empire was ruled by the Fel dynasty and shared many characteristics with its original incarnation established by Galactic Emperor Palpatine, such as the Council of Moffs, centralized rule, the Force-sensitivity of the Emperor, and, to a notably lesser extent, xenophobia. However, unlike Palpatine, a tyrannical Sith Lord steeped in the dark side of the Force, the Fels encouraged the proliferation of light side Force-users and peacefully spreading influence through the Victory Without War campaign, even forming a Jedi Order analogue known as the Imperial Knights and a charity program called the Imperial Mission.

The Fel Empire became the dominant power in the galaxy once again by the conclusion of the Sith–Imperial War, replacing the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances, only to be replaced in turn with a new Sith Empire a few days later, forcing those loyal to the Fel dynasty into exile.

History[]

Establishment[]

Following the Battle of Endor and the death of the Dark Lord of the Sith Emperor Palpatine during the Galactic Civil War, the Galactic Empire was toppled by the New Republic and soon fell into infighting; with several different offshoots and factions being formed to fill the void left over.

It is not clear if the official name of the government under the Fel dynasty was anything other than the "Galactic Empire", but c. 12 ABY, the Imperial Remnant had emerged as one of the true successors to the Empire, with military power being held by the surviving Moffs of the Moff Council, in alliance with Grand Admiral Gilad Pellaeon as Supreme Commander, with the relatively small fragment of territory it came to rule—though Imperial loyalists themselves usually spoke of "Imperial Space" or simply as "the Empire".

By the end of the Yuuzhan Vong War, the Imperial Remnant had become apart of the reorganized New Republic, now known as the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances, allowing Gilad Pellaeon to succeed Sien Sovv as Supreme Commander of the Galactic Alliance Defense Force, signifying the level of cooperation and integration of the former galactic government with the new one, at least at that time period. The appointment of former Imperial General Turr Phennir, however, as the Supreme Commander of the combined Confederation military may indicate the existence of secessionist sympathizers within the semi-autonomous Remnant.

At some point, following its participation in the Second Galactic Civil War, the Imperial Remnant once again began to gain strength. Under Jagged Fel, who started the Victory Without War program, took the title of Emperor of the revived Galactic Empire. Its capital was Bastion, and became one of the most fortified planets in the galaxy. Despite the Fel Empire officially being at peace with the Galactic Alliance, several Moffs still held a distaste for the Galactic Alliance, leading to personal cold war-esque hatred that lasted for several decades.

The Sith–Imperial War[]

Main article: Sith–Imperial War

Over a century after the Battle of Endor, the One Sith sabotaged the Ossus Project, a massive reconstruction effort employing Yuuzhan Vong-terraforming techniques to restore worlds devastated by the Vong War, to the detriment of the planets' inhabitants and killing millions in the process. The New Jedi Order and the Galactic Alliance soon found itself facing a secession movement mirroring that of the Separatists during the Clone Wars. The Empire used this situation to entice Alliance member worlds to secede and become part of Imperial space. But the Empire wanted all of the Alliance worlds, including its capital.

Eventually, the Moff Council, at the behest of High Moff Morlish Veed and Moff Nyna Calixte, invoked the Treaty of Anaxes against the will of Emperor Roan Fel, and in 127 ABY, the Sith-Imperial War broke out, and the One Sith allied with the Empire. The war resulted in the fall of the Alliance and the reestablishment of the Galactic Empire as the primary galactic government. The remnants of the Alliance were absorbed into the Empire, but the Galactic Alliance Core Fleet remained, and continued to fight the resurgent Empire. Shortly after the fall of the Alliance, the Emperor called upon the entire New Jedi Order to surrender and subject their will to the Empire. Some of them did, becoming Imperial Knights, while the others held to the will of the Force and retreated to Ossus.

The coup[]

Main article: Attack on Emperor Fel

After the Alliance defeat and the Massacre at Ossus, the Sith under the command of Darth Krayt turned against Emperor Roan Fel. He launched a daring coup, marching with his cohorts straight into Fel's audience chamber himself, and killing the man who sat on the throne. After the man's death, Krayt sat himself in his place. Noting the confusion and outrage from the members of the Moff Council who were present, he laid out the facts of life for them.

Faced with little choice, the Moff Council swore loyalty to the new Dark Lord of the Sith. For the first time since Darth Caedus during the Second Galactic Civil War ninety years prior, a Sith Lord held both sway over the Empire and the galactic seat of power. At once he set about imposing order on a galaxy that sorely needed it, but this too was an incomplete victory. The "Emperor" he had killed had been a double; the real Fel was a fully trained Imperial Knight and would surely have defended himself, rather than just stand there and let himself be slain. It was imperative that the real Fel be found before he recruited allies among the Moffs, the military, or those Jedi who had survived the massacre at Ossus.

Insurgency and restoration[]

Main article: Second Imperial Civil War

Not all of the Empire recognized Darth Krayt's authority. Over the years, forces loyal to Fel gathered on Bastion, awaiting the return of their true Emperor. With the Imperial Knights leader Antares Draco and the 501st Legion commander General Oron Jaeger at his side, Fel took control of the planet in 137 ABY, knowing that Krayt would be wary to amass a frontal assault on the heavily fortified planet. With the Fel Empire a thing of the past, Fel led an Empire-in-exile. As the factions of Krayt and Fel grew larger, units that once served with each other were now forced to fight against one another for control of territory around the galaxy.

Government and politics[]

The Fel Empire was ruled by an Emperor, a sovereign ruler for life, yet the Moff Council led by the Grand Moff held considerable power, and advised him. By all accounts, the reign of Roan Fel was relatively benevolent, and had far less of the abuses of power and tyrannical excesses of the Old Empire under Palpatine, though he was not above playing power games for the sake of maintaining his authority.

By the time of Fel's reign, the Empire's infamous bigotry against non-Human species had faded to the point that stormtroopers had aliens among their ranks and the Imperial Navy had at least one non-Human admiral, namely the Kel Dor Sha Dun.

The Moffs not only governed sectors, but also managed both the Imperial Military and Imperial Intelligence, as well as other institutions such as the Imperial Mission and the Imperial Diplomatic Corps, and held enough power to invoke treaties and to launch wars. Still, some, such as Moff Geist, longed to return to the days when the Empire was under the complete control of the Council.

The Imperial Knights were former Jedi who, while technically remaining on the Light Side of the Force, owed their loyalty to the Emperor rather than to the Force itself after the events of the Sith-Imperial War. They acted as bodyguards to the Emperor, although they also had orders to immediately kill the Emperor should the latter irrevocably fall to the Dark Side.

Astrography[]

The Fel Empire's territory originally consisted of a few "backwater" sectors in the Outer Rim Territories that bordered the Unknown Regions, located in the northern quadrant of the galaxy. At some point following the Second Galactic Civil War, the Empire briefly gained further territories across the galaxy. However, the Sith–Imperial War saw most of the territories of the Empire along Galactic Alliance, save a few worlds, absorbed into Darth Krayt's Sith-controlled Galactic Empire.

The capital of the Empire was originally Bastion but it was briefly moved to Coruscant, keeping in tradition with its original incarnation. However, Bastion continued to play an important role in Imperial affairs.

Behind the scenes[]

In Star Wars Insider 87, John Ostrander describes the Fel Empire as "not as inherently evil [as the earlier Empire], but still not a republic, not a democracy. It's the rule of the few, or the one, over the many. It has a lot of strengths; it has a substantial amount of weaknesses. It values power more than anything else."

The term "A New Order with a Personal Face" recalls the reformist policies of Czechoslovakia during the Prague Spring in 1968, which were broadly described with the slogan "Socialism with a human face" (in Czech: "socialismus s lidskou tváří") as a contrast to the repressive authoritarianism that defined the Soviet Union and its various satellite states. But whereas the Fel Empire would succeed to a certain extent in this regard, a Moscow-backed invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Warsaw Pact would abruptly end the Prague Spring, forestalling democratization in that country until the the late 1980s.

Appearances[]

• Legacy (2006) 1 (First identified as Reborn empire)
• Legacy (2006) 8
• Legacy (2006) 20 (In flashback(s))
• Legacy (2006) 21 (In flashback(s))
• Legacy (2006) 41 (In flashback(s))
• Legacy (2006) 43 (In flashback(s))
• Legacy—War 2 (First identified as Fel Imperium)

Sources[]

• Star Wars Insider 87 (First mentioned)
• Star Wars: Legacy (2006) 0
• Star Wars Insider 88
• Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide: Special Edition
• Star Wars: Legacy (2006) 0½ (First identified as Fel Empire)
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia (as New Empire)
• Legacy Era Campaign Guide (First identified as Galactic Empire)
• The Essential Atlas
• Galaxy of Intrigue
• The Essential Guide to Warfare
• Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide: Updated and Expanded

Notes and references[]