ST The Factions of the Sequel Trilogy

Given our current lack of knowledge about the state of the galaxy in Episode VII, I'm interested to see what factions will exist. This all depends on whatever fate they choose for the Empire. If the Empire is gone, I can see them bringing in a new antagonist faction to face off against the New Galactic Alliance.
However I have a hunch that the Empire will still be a key player in Episode VII. This also may be a bit of a long shot but... that AT-AT foot.

These are the factions I speculate we will see in Episode VII:
The Galactic Alliance- Has governance over the majority of the galaxy, formed from the Rebel Alliance. Democratic system with a Parliament on Corellia.
The Galactic Alliance Fleet- Maintains territory with a large fleet of Mon Calamari ships and traditional X Wing squadrons in tandem with newer designs. Additionally maintains a strong but small ground army.
Galactic Alliance Peacekeepers- Fulfill similar roles to Jedi, as negotiators and agents, working for peace. The force contains a small number of highly unskilled force sensitives among it's ranks.

The Empire- The same Empire from the OT, but more fragmented. Maintains a strong grip on many Mid-Rim systems, who still pledge their loyalty to the Empire.
The Regional Governors- The Empire is still overseen by a council of regional Governors. They have a large enough military force, but are poorly equiped with old Stormtrooper armor and inferior ground assault vehicles.
The Imperial Navy- Excels with it's still strong fleet of Star Destroyers, which prove pivotal in the control of the Empire's borders.
The Imperial Knights- Formed from the Empire's old Inquisitor programme and remains relatively secret from the rest of the galaxy. Produces strong and fierce warriors who have begun to utilize the old Sith arts, as they are beginning to fully embrace the dark side. The big bad of the Sequel Trilogy, as this group slowly tries to reintroduce the ways of the Sith, in the form of an army; which could prove to be an unstoppable horde.

The Last Jedi- Following the events of Episode VI Luke has spent his days on Tatooine, staying out of the conflict, vowing only to return if there is a great need for the Jedi to return to the Galactic forefront. Luke has given a few Orphans, whom he has adopted as his own, basic Jedi training, so as to pass on what he has learned.

So that's my take on the factions we'll see in the Sequel Trilogy. How do you guys think the galaxy will be structure post Return of the Jedi?

 

Republic/New Republic - The government of good guys. I don't know what they'll call it, but it doesn't really matter so long as they're depicted as competent, moral, and good, unlike the Republic in the PT. Leia and Han will likely be the political and military leaders for this faction, respectively.

Imperial Remnant - I'd call this one a "possible." There's no guarantee that the Empire will play a role in the ST, but if they do then I doubt they'll be a full-fledged Empire anymore, more likely they'll be an EU-style remnant.

Jedi Order - I don't think we'll see a huge Jedi Order like in the PT, but I do think there will be a significant number of them–fifty, seventy, a hundred, whatever. Not thousands, but not just one or two, either. They'll be more like ROTJ Luke than PT Jedi.

Underworld faction - I would bet the underworld will play a significant role in the ST, whether it be the Hutts or Black Sun or the Mandalorians or whatever. I would personally like it if the main villains were actually Dark Jedi who took over a faction of the underworld and now threaten the Republic.

 

I'd like to see Mandalorians.
And not pacifist Mandalorians.

 

I wanna see Mandalorians, the Chiss Ascendancy and the GenoHaradan.

 

There's a Fraction to much Friction, in relation to the factions'...

 

I like the idea of Imperial Knights who aren't Sith. Instead of trying to become dictators, their goal would be to serve a dictator, something that would defintely make for an interesting third Force-using faction.

 

I'm not well read on the EU, so I would be happy if someone explains this to me. I don't really understand the concept of "Imperial remnant". The Republic and the Empire are not two different political entities fighting for territory, but two different ways of governing the same political entity (by democracy or dictatorship). Once the Emperor is dead, and given that a new senate is established, the Empire should be transformed back into a Republic (although this doesn't have to be a peaceful process, of course). Does the "Imperial remnant" elect a new Emperor? And if so, what is this Emperor in charge of exactly? A specific territory, or more like underground factions within the New Republic?

 

Militant Amish Mandalorians

 

I'd like to see Mandalorians who sell their weapons and armor to raise money for the poor.

 

I would like to see the galaxy subdivided into more areas that matter, rather than just the nice parts and the Outer Rim. Kind of like in Last Crusade where America, Venice, Germany and the Middle East all have different rules about what the heroes can do.

My hope is that our good guys are successors to both the Rebellion and Empire, reconciled and restored to democracy. The Rebels won and converted most of the Empire's people and things back into a New Republic or other good, democratic state, but in the chaos, they lost much of the galaxy. To me, it makes no sense to have an Imperial remnant fighting the New Republic. Hopefully, the Imperial Remnant is the New Republic. When our heroes are in this area, they can call on government aid.

As far as new factions, the first thing that comes to mind is greed. Greed seems to have a seat at the table among the villains of Star Wars. I'm not sure how the ideology of the Sith connects to love of money, but the evil of greed is something the writers have been bringing up repeatedly since TPM. It seems like a safe bet there will be a "business" faction for our enemies to fight. Not sure if they'll be bankers, Hutts, pirates or what, but it's a recurring theme. This can be our go-to opponent for games and books set between VI and VII, so as not to burn out on Sith. It's also where our heroes can go in and accomplish something without a war fleet, because they're fighting Jabba or Hondo types, not Palpatine types.

But real, galaxy-conquering Star Wars bad guys don't seem all that interested in resources, except in quantities big enough to build superweapons or armies. So we need a more serious faction. Either they're ruled by dark Force users, or they've made a deal with them. Cartoonishly evil, with trailer-ready, Maul-firing-up-his saber type visuals. Probably some sort of fascists or "true believers."

And finally, our good guys' allies. Maybe they're a rambunctious, puppy-like state that gets into trouble the Jedi are too sensible for, or a political damsel in distress that needs rescuing. They exist so that our heroes can have adventures in an area where they can go about openly and avoid having an "undercover" theme to every mission, but don't have the great power or prestige they might have in the Republic.

So that gives us a Jedi-empowered sector with the cool edge that comes from having some Imperial lineage, a less central good sector (perhaps Mandalore), a grubby, materialistic evil sector, and a scary, Sith-empowered evil sector.

 

Let's keep it simple... (Tl;Dr to the above)...

 

The idea is that many of the Imperial governors and officers refuse to accept the Rebellion as the new legitimate government even after Palpatine's death.

Result - part of the galaxy is under the control of the Rebels, part under the control of "Imperials without an Emperor".

They might select one from their own number, or fight amongst themselves, with the strongest winning.

 

There will be no "Empire" THIRTY YEARS after the battle of Endor. Go ahead and quote me. What's left to unify them? The closest thing we may see are some former imperial officers or governors who are now local war lords motivated by personal interests.

Don't worry; there will be plenty of enemies for the New Republic. Just because a faction fought on the side of the Alliance doesn't necessarily mean they'll want to be part of a New Republic. Sound familiar, Russia? China?

 

Ok, thanks for the explainer! Personally I think a more interesting concept would be a number of officers and other high-level officials creating some form of secret network within the New Republic (rather than in a separate territory) with the hope of orchestrating a "counter-coup". There was actually a very interesting article in Der Spiegel the other day about how a group of former Wehrmacht and SS officers created a secret army in Germany in 1949 (in the new West Germany, after the defeat of the Third Reich). Google "Germany secret army" and it will pop up. Scary but true! So it's not that far-fetched as a scenario. Although it might not be what JJ is going for tonally, so to speak (it has more of a "Captain America: Winter Soldier" ring to it).

 

I like the idea, but you're talking about something that happened within a decade of the fall of Nazi Germany. It'd work well for a Thrawn/Boba Fett/Wedge Antilles/Rogue Squadron spinoff perhaps, but now we're 30 plus years removed. I don't recall Nazi coups being a problem in 1980.

 

What will the Republic's symbol be? Bendu symbol, Starbird, a combination, or none of the above?

 

Love this idea!! The Republic vs the Empire war. Id hope they focus on both sides and not just the perceived good side.

 

I like the rumored idea of a "Cold War" between the Alliance and the Imperials, with covert missions and spies and paranoia on both sides. Could make for some fascinating storytelling and plot twists. I'd love to see turncoat Stormtroopers, corrupt Rebels, characters that betray our heroes, etc.

 

If the GFFA is in a "cold war", then I hope there is also many independent systems and smaller alliances.

That will allow for more espionage and political shenanigans than just "Alliance" versus "Empire".

 

I second this. This would mix things up and give us many factions for which each will tell their own tale. And it will be up to us to try and figure out each one. As long as its around 4 to 5 per movie, I don't see any reason for too much. It will keep us on our toes and invite us to root for who we want besides just good vs. evil.

 

That's about all I can keep up with.

 

I'm not convinced we had 30yrs of peace. I think there is no "galactic" governing body at this point. The Empire still exists, and the Alliance still exists, but more in equal size... they may or may not be in a cease-fire currently, but they are not friends.

 

This seems very plausible. I look forward to new factions emerging who are on nuetral ground.

 

From I've been able to put together and speculate about.

The New Republic: Established not long after the battle of Endore a galactic power. Funds smaller mobile task forces to keep the peace and fight the enemies of the state.

The Resistance: Is one of the One of the New Republic' s task forces, specifically one dedicated to fighting the Imperial Remnant.

The Imperial Remnant: The Term former regions of Imperial space, some allied with others adversarial towards one another, that were never fell to the Rebel alliance; And maintain Imperial style governance

The First Order: A recently ascendant faction of the Imperial Remnant that has entered into an arrangement with the Knights of Ren.

The Knights of Ren: A recently surfaced knightly order of Dark side Force users.

The Jedi Order: after having enjoyed a brief resurgence...has once again vanished.

 

These are the only confirmed factions to appear or be mentioned somehow in at least the seventh film:

First Order: A political and military junta that is in a war with the Resistance and is allied with the Knights of Ren. It utilizes Imperial assets that it has updated.

Resistance: A "splinter" organization that is at war with the First Order. It seems to have some loose ties with the former Rebel Alliance. They both use the Starbird logo, although in terms of canon, the Rebel Alliance uses a red-colored version, and it seems like the Resistance uses a blue-colored version.

Knights of Ren: An organization that has Kylo Ren as a member, most likely a Force-sensitive dark side organization. Seems like members take on the last name Ren.

This is what I personally believe will also appear some way in the sequel trilogy:

New Republic: Already confirmed to have existed post-Endor in Aftermath and Lost Stars. Formed from the Rebel Alliance. We do not know if it fell apart within those 30 years prior to the sequel trilogy timeline, but I personally think it's still around and is arming, funding, and training the Resistance in secrecy.

Order of Jedi: As I call them (it could just simply be the Jedi Order once again), because I think New Jedi Order is a mouthful. I personally believe they were destroyed within the 30 years, but will make a resurgence. So the order isn't necessarily permanently extinct.

Here's where I have had conflict:

Galactic Empire: Originally, I thought the galaxy was in a cold-war kind of scenario. New Republic versus Galactic Empire, with the Resistance and First Order being in a sort of hot proxy war. However, as more and more is announced with the First Order, it seems like the Empire truly is gone - which I personally wouldn't mind. It makes sense for it to have fallen within the thirty years.

Other Imperial states: It's also likely that the First Order isn't the only Imperial state. Perhaps there's an entire Imperial alliance (or "remnant"). Second Order? Third, et cetera? Or perhaps they all have different names? If this is the case, I predict the First Order is kind of the leader of this "coalition".

Or it may simply be just the First Order. No other Imperial factions.

So yeah... that's basically my personal idea. What do y'all think?