Books The High Republic: The Eye of Darkness by George Mann

Marchion is the result of several generations of space Drow aiming to create an ultimate Jedi killer. The fact that he has at least some level of self-reflection (even considering to abandon his mission in favor to hedonistic lifestyle shortly before LotJ) is already impressive. Yes, Ro does what he does partly because of his sadistic nature, but also because the Jedi and the Republic are existential threats to the Nihil, so motivation for opposing them is less "just for the sake of being evil", more like "Carthage must be destroyed".

 

Who says that? Ro wants to destroy the Republic and has raids into Republic space.

I meant as a story, that these sectors weren't under republic control and it is looking to expand, while the Nihil try to stop them.

Um, "Carthage must be destroyed" was said when Carthage was just a city state, no empire no fleet. Rome killing them all is pretty close 'evil for sake of evil'.
Wanting to make your own nation is fine, wanting to destroy the entire government, it less so. it has a logic but it's a stretch.

 

Carthage was gradually regaining its power, firstly economical, and Rome remembered events of the Second Punic War well enough. Coexistence was not an option.

In this case the first is impossible without the second. Hutts can allow themself to coexist with the Republic because they have both enough power and stable political system. The Nihil has neither. Even if they make peace with the Republic, they will be eventually absorbed by it (with senior commanders of the Nihil probably finding it easier to just betray their underlings in return for pardon from the Republic and opportunity to keep stolen wealth),

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Ro understands that, thats why he continues to destabilize the Republic.

 

Being "not bankrupt" is not regaining it's power, defending itself from attack is not a threat to Rome. They still had no fleet and no Empire, recall the 3rd war was JUST a siege of the city of Carthage by Rome and it ended in genocide, by Rome.

Then to me it would be smarter to build up those systems. Since the Hutts prove you can live outside the Republic.

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I am nearly 2/3rds through and the people flipping on the Nihil seems to be happening already.
Ro is crazy, though. If he was just playing for time while he built I could get it, but he still wants to kill Jedi and Republic, just because.

 

I might be wrong, but it seems to me that Ro's motivation is a combination of

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pursuit of glory and extreme hatred for the Jedi, the Republic and other people trying to impose some sort of order in the galaxy. He doesn't care about establishing a stable government and intends to destroy and plunder until there is nothing left. Considering how big the GFFA is, his lifetime may not be enough for that. For me he will be content to die, if he is remembered as a great threat for the Republic and the Jedi Order, provided that he will not bow to anyone, while he is alive.

 

He basically says as much in this book.

 

He implied it, but obviously

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Ghirra Starros

didn't understand him.

 

It seems to me like the Nihil don't want independence or secession, that's too orderly.

They mostly just want anarchy outside Republic influence so they can do what they want and bully others and raid them, rule of the strong, not a government. Some are starting to think of becoming a government but that's a new idea for them and clearly not where their heads are at overall.

Not necessarily destroy the Republic, but at least neuter it to keep it away. And with Ro in particular also motivated by being against the Jedi and personal glory.

 

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Some of them want. Wonder if Falleen that talked with Ghirra is connected with Black Sun.

 

I think

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the few starting to push the Nihil to become a government will be one of the causes of their downfall- leading to infighting and low morale and poor management skills, something most never wanted.

 

Forgive me if this has already been said, but I like the fact that the book addresses the tension that might arise in the readership between the "Peace for a thousand years" purists and the obviously big geopolitical shakeup that is the Nihil's activities. Yes, they are a regional problem that is attracting a lot of attention, but for the majority of people in the galaxy life is going on as it has always gone on uninterrupted. There are other problems to be dealt with and other stuff is happening. We are just hyper-focused on this one hotspot.

And I like that because it gives the galaxy a sense of vastness.

 

It's not dissimilar to the rise of Daesh in terms of "that's going on over there." There was certainly trepidation in the US about it, but ultimately people still went about their lives, working, shopping and going to parties while Daesh tormented people in Iraq and Syria.

The galaxy is a big place. Even if the Nihil have attacked Corellia in the past year. Hell, they attacked Corellia as a snooty ball was going down with wealthy socialites masquerading as Nihil!

 

IMO, the Occlusion Zone was made too big

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even before its extension

to be just a regional problem, it should be bring much more destabilization that it was described in this book. At least comics

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include Hutt's expansion.

 

Or the current Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Russia is still attending events as if they aren't committing massive war crimes.

People live in bubbles.

Edit:

I am confused

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Why is Bell wrong for wanting them to go into the Occlusion zone as it expands? I can see argument that they can't do much as one ship, but it's better than nothing.
Also the "crew have people who need them" didn't they agree to go into the Occlusion zone with the fleet? did they think it would just take a day? I don't get it.

 

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1) Bell was clearly acting irrationally without a second thought.
2) Fleet had an opportunity to successfully oppose the Nihil. One ship would be an easy target, especially since not long before it was almost destroyed by just a relatevely small Nihil task force.

 

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1. How is taking advantage of a new and time limited opportunity "irrational"? When you need to ACT you must ACT, second thoughts can come later. If you are running to catch a train, you need to run, second thoughts will make you miss the train. I don't like this message that "acting in the moment is wrong".
2. Counter Argument: A fleet is a big target, the Nihil can wear them down with attacks, a single ship can run a guerrilla war against the Nihil.

Though it seems neither a fleet or single ship could do much, given all the scav droids that attack non-Nihil ships.

 

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1) Rushing to catch a train without a second thought can lead to the wrong train as well.
2) Fleet can run a guerrilla war as well, but with higher chances of survival.
Yeah, scav droids are an over-powerful weapon, although a fleet probably have a better opportunity to fight them since it has more starfighters and ion cannons.

 

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1. True, but if you stand still you will miss the train.
2. Not easily, since the fleet needs to resupply. And it would need a lot more supplies. Did the fleet have any resupply ships or do Republic ships carry all they need?
Eh it also could be a bigger target so more could be sent to overwhelm faster.

Over all I liked the story, the Nihil are getting interesting with factions some new stuff is set up for the future stories. Characters were good too.

 

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Regarding supplies - another big question for book is a complete lack of references to planetary defense forces fighting the Nihil in the Occlusion Zone. Resistance on Hetzal was started by unarmed workers.
It seems like droids need time to contact other groups, so the fleet can destroy swarms one by one with hit-and-run tactics.

 

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It has been a year so maybe the Nihil and mercs took them out. But yeah the lack of any organised forces is odd, maybe after the expansion.
Fleets are also easier to track, if the Nihil organise a fleet to counter then unless the Rep win with few losses they will lose in the long run. Any forces in the OZ would be in deep with no backup.

 

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It's mentioned in this book that the Nihil's headquarters on Hetzal are the old parliamentary building. And it's stated by government officials on Hetzal in Light of the Jedi that the planetary defense forces were small and underfunded.

So that would imply, at least in the case of Hetzal itself, that the planetary government and defense forces were largely routed and destroyed, if not dispersed, early on in the Nihil's rise to power in the Occlusion Zone. I can't speak for the other planets in the zone, but they have the feeling of being sparsely populated frontier planets. That implies that most of them probably didn't have any serious defense forces.

Even then it seems like the worlds of the Occlusion Zone rolled over too quickly. It's possible though that there are surviving planetary governments and defense forces that are simply biding their time rather than get involved in a protracted slugging match.

The planets in the Occlusion Zone feel like they were particularly vulnerable to being conquered once interstellar travel and commerce was upended. It seems very few planets were truly self sufficient in everything they needed. Perhaps this is the case of there being people willing to fight who nonetheless do not have the weapons and supplies to do so long term.

 

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Maybe the price of Republic's increasing help for this planets was a demand for demilitarization, as well as prohibition on using mercenaries. Thus by they became an easy target for the Nihil without the RDC's help, and mercenaries decided to join Ro.

Although at least Pantora still seems like a planet with defense forces capable to fight the Nihil.

 

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It seems more likely to me that a lot of these planets just didn't need a large planetary military prior to the Nihil raids. I doubt that the Republic would be pushing for demilitarization of its member worlds if the RDC is comprised of planetary defense forces temporarily "federalized".

I know a lot of us think of the Outer Rim as more chaotic and prone to crime, but it seems the region that became the Occlusion Zone was relatively stable prior to the Nihil popping up in force. So there just might not have been a serious need.

As an aside, I'm at the part in the book where the Stormwall has expanded up to Eriadu. I'm becoming increasingly convinced that Ghirra Starros is the stupidest character in the High Republic series. "Hey, let me give up my cushy Senator job to work with this anarchist nut case. He's clearly on the up and up. Oh, wait, he's a nut case. He's not actually trying to build anything. This is all just a destructive ego trip. Who'd have thought? He just said it clearly every time we discussed the subject."

I get she's plotting to undermine him, but that's only after she realizes Marchion's on a destructive ego trip. She was actually trying to make the Nihil work. So she's trying to build her own nation-state out of the Nihil, even though Marchion only wants to burn everything down.

And then there's her ploy on Coruscant. She claims she wants the Nihil to join the Republic? So...she gave up being a Senator...so she could become a Senator for somewhere else? Who would be stupid enough to buy that?

I get that she's trying to trick the Republic, but her reasoning is so thin, so stupid, that no one would ever actually take her at face value. She thought she had a chance of gaining some political legitimacy after a Jedi Grand Master was brutally eaten alive and that death was broadcast galaxy wide.

 

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My guess is that it will revealed later in Phase III that Ghirra was exposed as the Nihil's spy (IIRC, at the end of Phase I several characters were already close to it), so her joining them openly is an involuntary decision.