Lit The Empire's future: the First Order, or the Fel Dynasty & Imperial Knights?

Yeah and I can't help but think that was running in the wrong direction. I'm glad we have the First Order who are imminently comprehensible. I just hope they, too, can be reached.

 

Why do villains have to comprehensible again?

 

Because it's good writing.

 

Depends on the story.

See Cthullu.

And the Vong were, it just took a while.

To say the medieval Arabs and Europeans, the Mongol Horde was an incomprehensible force, at first. So were the Europeans to the Native Americans. Etc.

Sometimes you need an enemy that's unfamiliar. Some would say the First Order is too familiar a villain.

 

Cthulhu works better not as an enemy but as force of nature the heroes have to deal with. That's my take at least.



And the Vong were, it just took a while.

I think I would have preferred something more akin to the Romans or Imperial Japan (Kilrathi?) than the Vong.

But it's my preference.

The NJO was a success but not to my cup of tea, generally.

 

The FO is basically millennials doing OT cosplay with terribly obvious British accents. The imperial remnant to the feels seemed more multi faceted, alive, dynamic, relatable, yet fitting in the Star Wars universe. And Roam Fel is dignified even when he goes crazy and has to be put down he had a feel to regality and seriousness about him. Ren and Hux antics almost seem like a fourth wall breach.

 

And yet it was the First Order which destroyed the Republic and began a new age of peace and order across the galaxy.

Bwhahahahahaahhaa.

 

We gotta remember that the Fel Empire must've been a multi-sided organisation as it expanded to encompass more than its original sectors. Sure, the original ones would've been loyal to the Fel Dynasty alongside with perhaps the Northern Outer Rim (I can imagine the Fels being seen as appealing to the Tionese, perhaps a few cousin royal marriages here and there...) but we have to remember that much like the first Empire, it ended up being near-galactic BEFORE the war with the GA. I've already said that a large majority of the Krayt Empire's forces was made up of surrendered GA elements considering Krayt is just using the bureaucracy of the GA with an added Moff Council and a removed Senate while the Empire-in-Exile essentially IS the Fel Empire, but there's also 'wonderful' individuals like Morlish Veed and Nyna Claxite. I wouldn't be too surprised if those guys were 'children' of Daala's Irregular Fleet. We'll probably never find out what happens immediately after the Daala-Jagged Fel stand-off but I could imagine her sticking around in the Remnant to avoid prosecution. The Moffs and military aren't gonna say 'no' to getting access to those Metal Crystal Phase Shifters...

 

I don't think there's any sign that Krayt's Empire's military is aided by elements of the Galactic Alliance military. I think the entirety of Krayt's military is composed of the Imperial Remnant, which chose to follow Krayt as the galactic emperor because he was recognized by their Supreme Commander in Morlish Veed as well as due to Krayt's proven record as a military leader against the Jedi/Vong/Alliance.

I agree with you the Victory Without War Program, the Yuuzhan Vong War reconquest, and so on made it so that the Galactic Empire was probably a superpower by the events of Legacy. Also, the Separatists driven out of the GFFA by Jacen Solo's actions also would have weakened the Galactic Alliance.

 

I'm not saying that its GA loyalists willingly serving Krayt, I'm more of saying that lots of the 'just doing my job for the Galaxy' parts of the Army just put on Stormtrooper uniforms and continued doing what they did before. This is more or less noted in the Legacy Campaign Guide, where a big part of the GA Army ends up being folded into Krayt's military. We also have to remember that the Vichyesque GA government known as 'Galactic Alliance Space' that we never get informed of the borders of are under Darth Krayt's suzerainty, rather than Roan Fel's.

 

Fair enough on having the Campaign Guide say so.

 

I don't recall a GA puppet government in Legacy.

 

Yeah, I recall a couple of collaborators but it seemed much more like the Empire ruled the galaxy directly.

 

I remember them referencing that the Triumvirate still existed.

 

This is the best summary of the Empire vs. First Order I've read yet. Yes, the basic difference is that as far as the old Imperial leadership was concerned, the Empire was a means to an ends (power), whereas for the First Order, it's an ends in itself (a galaxy properly ordered as it was meant to be).

Edited to add: or, well, so it appears. Hux and the rest of the leadership from TFA seem that way for sure, but we still don't know what Snoke's deal is.

 

This. I had mixed feelings about that entire plotline, but I really liked her. And while it hadn't occurred to me, you're right - why all the attention to Cade who clearly doesn't want the damn hero mantle, when there's Marasiah waiting right there? Gah.

 

I thought it was pretty clear that they were a mix-and-match that borrowed from many different religions, though I'd forgotten that the Aztecs were among them (the human sacrifice thing, right?) The caste system felt like it was borrowed from Hinduism, complete with Untouchables. The god-king figure at the top of society felt like the Emperor's role in Japanese Shintoism. The entire premise of the story, that after decades of wandering in the void, they're finally coming to a galaxy that "the gods have given to us," feels ironically more Biblical than Muslim - the GFFA is their Promised Land as Canaan was for the Hebrews after all that wandering in the desert. At the end of the day there are actually very few Islamic references in the Yuuzhan Vong religion.[/quote]

 

Had to look over Legacy and ended up just reading the whole thing again but... its mentioned in Legacy #8: Allies. Its brought up that the GA Triumvirate has had its authority reduced in what amount of GA Space was allowed to exist. The term 'Galactic Alliance Space' was used. Guessing even if Roan didn't want the war, he couldn't help but troll the Alliance with a callback from the old New Republic vs Imperial Remnant days...

 

It could be a question of politics, Marasiah is a Imperial Knight do the jedi really want one of those arrogant fools to be the saviour of the galaxy?

 

On the note of the two Empires, in Legends Cassio "Graphs and the Command" Tagge died onboard the Death Star whereas in Nu-Canon he survived. Could that have had some latent effect on the Empire's strategies? We know he was the Supreme Commander. There's obviously other changes in appointments, like Armand Isard being in charge of the ISB so it seems to be more of FBI than Gestapo and an actual rival to Imperial Intelligence, and like I mentioned before Mas Amedda being put in charge instead of Sate Pestage. All of those could've had varying changes. Maybe Armand wins out over the struggle with his daughter so she never becomes a post-Endor warlord, but Armand himself is easy to throw his lot in with Rax's crew and he's offed?

 

Versus a drug using bounty hunter and former pirate. Really, not only was Marasiah criminally underused but she was constantly damseled too. She didn't seem to be a very powerful Imperial Knight despite the fact she's a Skywalker and she doesn't really have much effect on the main plot. Certainly, she also seems to be heavily under her father's thumb and Roan doesn't seem to have given her much in the way of responsibilties.

She's not second in command of the Empire by everyone's reactions.

 

Cade is not interested in ruling the galaxy or change it in to what he image is best for it and lacks his own PR department. For the Jedi he is probably the better chose.

 

I would really strongly disagree as it shows a complete lack of regard for his free will.

 

I have always interpreted the skywalkers as having some sort of metaphysical significance. They aren't just mere mortals they are beings with a deep and abiding connection to the force and are instruments of its will. They are in some ways the center of galactic history. For those reasons Cade has to take up the mantle his personal feelings and anguish he must cast aside because the universe itself demands it!

Just looked up GAS on Wookieepedia it seems it was only mentioned once in Legacy. Funny though I don't recall it being mentioned in the EA or EGW though.