Lit From Endor to Exegol - The State of the Galaxy Discussion Thread (Tagged Victory's Price Spoilers)

Spoiler

Mon Mothma should have just said the Jakku attack was a police action. Then you wouldn't need the Senate's approval

 

So, as I've given some thoughts to the current list of New Republic members, it both paints a picture of the government's reach and when mapped (I'm working on this, more to come!) shows a lot of interesting trends.

On the face of it, it matches the idea first mentioned in Before the Awakening that the New Republic is broadly stretched from the "Inner Core to the Outer Rim". This isn't surprising, but it is another sign that the new canon is more tightly bound thanks to the Story Group. The New Republic is the only galactic level power, but we also learn in the Propaganda guide that the New Republic was smaller than the Old Republic (and Empire at the height of it's domination). Given the egalitarian nature of the Senate and the New Republic almost going overboard to show the galactic populace that it has avoids the errors of the OR, this too fits well. Not every world joins, but the New Republic appears to maintain good relations with the galaxy's smaller regional powers.

In my initial mapping of the New Republic members I listed on the prior page, the following trends start to emerge:

1. Solid membership in the Core & Colonies, specifically in the Arrowhead and southern Core
2. Membership of worlds along major trade routes such as Corellian Run, Hydian Way, and Perlemian Trade Route.
3. Broad membership in the Mid Rim, strong in the Trailing Sectors and solid in the Slice.
4. Outer Rim membership is large, but concentrated in pockets. ORT in the Slice and Trailing Sectors seem to be heaviest.
5. Limited/scattered membership in the New Territories and Trans-Hydian Borderlands. Drawn a line from Comra in the west through Orinda, Ithor, and Taris. Anything above that line seems devoid the NR.
6. Nearly non-existent in the Western Reaches

The fun part about mapping out membership isn't so much the areas where the NR is (which aren't all the surprising and closely match old EU), but analyzing the gaps and starting to imagine where some of the lesser powers are. For starters, the New Territories are ripe to be expanded on. Ditto the galactic southwest. There are tons of pockets for minor powers (including those briefly mentioned in EE) and I hope they get expanded on.

--Adm. Nick

 

So it's a quilt?

 

As I fill out my map, I'd say that you can imagine the New Republic as a cohesive whole in the center of the map, but less monolithic than the old EU portrayal. Arms snake up and around the major trade routes, but huge chunks in the north (New Territories), southwest (Western Reaches) and even the central Mid Rim to the west of Hutt Space all seem mostly devoid of NR presence, at least at this point.

--Adm. Nick

 

Explains the FO interest in this area. At least according to the Propaganda book.

 

I'm curious about the lack of known Expansion Region worlds in the New Republic. According to First Order propaganda Finn saw in Before the Awakening, the FO "liberated" a labor camp on the Expansion Region world of Iktotch. Now, if we assume that is true in some form (a big if, given the lies fed to the FO troopers) that means the FO has a far enough reach through the Mid Rim to be involved on Expansion Region worlds pre-TFA. Does their territory snake that far into the galaxy, or are there just no NR Mid Rim worlds between them and that territory that they can get there without interference from the neutral worlds? Do we know the political allegiance of any Expansion Region worlds post-Galactic Civil War?

 

I have a feeling that the reason the list seems to favor the Core, Mid Rim, and Outer Rim over the other regions is because in general most of the well known (both in and out of universe) planets in Star Wars tend to be from those regions. (Ok I know that last part might be debatable, but personally if you asked me to name some Core, Mid Rim, and Outer Rim worlds off the top of my head I could list a few, but I'd struggle to think of any Expansion Region or Inner Rim worlds).

 

I'm trying to put a NR map in my brain. Broken wagon wheel spokes?

 

Hmm, according to the Wook, there are currently only 9 known canon planets in the ER. However, several of them are the homeworlds of fairly important species: Umbarians, Kel Dor, Togruta, and Thisspiasians are all from the ER. I have a hard time imagining that the Kel Dor and Togruta don't join the NR. Seems like the issue here might indeed just be a bit of oversight by the authors in using this region.

 

Yes, St. Expansion Region and St. Colonies.

 

The Empire is gone post-Concordance. Empire's End makes that clear. The government is dissolved, it's leaders war criminals, and it's bureaucrats pardoned. Sure, there are some remnant hold outs, but the point is that there is no "rump" Empire like we initially thought. Heck, Coruscant is "administered" by Amedda, but under New Republic supervision.

More to the point, my list of worlds is to show the New Republic at it's height, pre-Centrist worlds considering secession. We've got a two decade period where the New Republic controls a good chunk of territory. Two decades where there is no Empire, rump or otherwise. If you map out those worlds, the two biggest "gaps" are the New Territories in the north and the Western Reaches in the southwest. You can draw a line between New Republic member Comra, Orinda, Ithor, and Taris, then trace up the Hydian to Jelucan. Everything north of this line lacks a single confirmed NR member (as of yet, which we need to remember) in the new canon.

As for the Western Reaches, everything west of the Corellian Trade Spine in the Outer Rim, Mid Rim, Expansion Region, and Inner Rim is currently devoid of NR members too.

Basically, imagine the New Republic being pretty contiguous in the Arrowhead, the eastern portions of the Southern Core, the Slice (minus all of Hutt Space and some of it's bordering regions), and the Trailing Sectors. When I get my final map posted it will make more sense visually, but the point is that (based on current list of known canon worlds) the NR might control +/- half the known galaxy. A considerable chunk for sure, but far less than the 3/4's in Legends The Thrawn Trilogy and the late EU showing it essentially controlling all of civilized space.

--Adm. Nick

 

Yeah, for sure. I'm looking past the immediate post-Jakku year and jumping ahead to the era closer to Bloodline, when the Senate has thousands of senators and the New Republic appears to be at it's height of size. We know that the "rump" Empire withered away, so I'd be surprised if some semblance of an Imperial remnant exists even 2-3 years post Jakku. Time will tell, but its clear that the Empire dies at Jakku and that the First Order is born there.

I'll say this- I'm happy Chuck referenced some holdouts post-Concordance. They might not last longterm, but it allows for some cool stories in the early-NR years. Leia notes that she wants to focus on liberating those worlds, so it offers room for some smaller scale battles and cool little stories.

--Adm. Nick

 

Since it's relevant, I thought I'd quote this bit from the Propaganda book.

The use of "months" implies that the Imperial holdouts were indeed short lived, though I wouldn't put it past future authors to fudge the dates a little and make "months" into a year or three. But definitely no more hold outs after that.

Agreed, I've said before that as soon as the sequel trilogy is complete and writers don't need to worry as much about contradicting things, they'll tell stories to more fully explore and flesh out the era between ROTJ and TFA. I understand that the era is supposed to be peaceful, to give a sense that our heroes accomplished and to be the calm before the storm of the First Order. So I'm not asking for any big conflicts, but I'd still like to see them tackle an Imp warlord or a pirate or two.

 

That's a good theory. It's easy enough to imagine how that scenario would play out. Let's imagine a world like Eriadu or Corulag "holding out" post-treaty. The local moff/general/admiral refuses to accept that Amedda surrendered the Empire and chooses to dig in and fight. The New Republic initially would probably attempt to send an envoy, encouraging them to accept the Concordance and allow for free elections on the world. The New Republic is egalitarian, so it assumes that worlds will either vote to join or vote to be independent, but either outcome suits the government provided that the holdouts dismantle their forces and surrender peacefully. The moff refuses and continues to fight on. Eventually, a New Republic task force arrives, a battle ensues, and the Imperial holdouts are defeated.

But what next?

I'm very interested to learn how the reparations actually worked. Who actually paid them? Was the money pulled from the coffers of the fallen warlord/moff? Probably, but is it returned to the world? Or does it go in a general fund to repair worlds across the galaxy? Either way, I can see the threat of reparations eventually convincing a lot of Imperial worlds (occupied or loyal) to eventually choose to abide by the Concordance. Many may end up joining the NR (Kuat, Orinda, etc), but some may well choose independence.

That's why a story set during the immediate post-war period would be so fascinating to see!

--Adm. Nick

 

So they don't allow worlds to vote Empire? Some democracy the NR is turning out to be.

 

Well, the Empire is officially gone. I assume that the New Republic would allow a world to choose it's own form of government, provided that they didn't oppress others. The New Republic interestingly enough doesn't seem to feel the need to have the whole galaxy under it's roster. Quite the opposite. They are content to have worlds be independent and maintain peaceable relations, based on what the Propaganda guide said.

--Adm. Nick

 

To me there is "an Empire" Its the world's that refused to Join the NR, still believed in the "old ways" & latter (secretly) supported the FO.


LONG LIVE THE EMPIRE! MAY IT FOREVER REIGN!

 

Spoiler

The Confederacy of Corporate Systems may not be centered around business corporations but may be a reference to a fascist state.

I know, I know. Someone will make the obligatory snarky comment about how there's little difference but let's all try to be "edumacated" .

However, I doubt that any of the writers would go such a route and most likely it is a reference to worlds dominated by big businesses.

 

Spoiler

I am loving this new post-war situation - fertile ground for all kinds of stories particularly those about mercenaries.

I would really love a strategy game featuring the Union, Confederacy, and Latitudes in addition to the Empire and Republic. ( Latitudes can have star wars fringe aesthetics, Confederacy mixed of updated CIS stuff and Corporate Sector stuff, not sure what to do about the Union, but I would love to see what they could come up with)

 

I just hope they actually do post-war stories.

 

Spoiler

I'd see the "New Separatist Union" as being the "updated CIS" faction, as the name seems almost like it's banking on Separatist nostalgia, while the name "Confederacy of Corporate Systems" is ambiguous enough that it could be neo-Separatists or a Corporate Sector knock off.

If I could indulge in wild, completely unfounded speculation for a moment, maybe the Union is made up of more "independent" or "good" Separatist worlds (like Antar 4, New Plympto, or Sluis Van). They could have ships resembling the old CIS ones (but piloted by organic beings). Maybe the Confederacy is made up of the more "corporate" Separatist worlds (like Neimoidia or Skako), and since they don't want to get their hands dirty, they buy surplus Imperial and/or Rebel equipment and modify it with droids. TIEs have the pilots seat removed and replaced with a droid brain (those droid TIEs from Dark Empire?), or droids are made out of stormtrooper armor. Of course the Clone Wars made people wary of droid armies, so a lot of people would be upset with this. But the Confederacy has that legal loophole of "Hey, all those 'no droid army' laws were made by the Empire, which no longer exists! And we're not in your New Republic jurisdiction, so you can't do squat!"

I see the Latitudes as basically being the Zahn Consortium from the Empire At War game. (Which is fitting as Tyber Zahn also stole a super star destroyer, though his was the Eclipse and he only had it briefly).

I am absolutely positive the only reason we haven't had such stories (other than Bloodlines) is to avoid contradictions with the films, like that old 70's comic were Luke goes to a planet and learns the locals once met Obi-wan, Anakin, AND Darth Vader, Obi-wan's other apprentice.