Hey all, I’ve been looking for these articles everywhere, they’ve obviously been pulled off the Star Wars website. Does anyone know where I can find these to read?
I needed those too. Ta! I’m still trying to work out the Cuitric Hegemony/Battle of Tantive V nuances. Drommel’s article This logic served Drommel’s psyche well. After Endor, he abandoned his Imperial masters and started his own campaign against the New Republic. Headquartered around his home system, he gained allies and momentum in a string of easy victories (most called them massacres) against defenseless Alliance safeworlds. But disinformation lured Drommel into the Tantive system where the Guardian was routed by New Republic forces in conjunction with the opportunistic warlord Admiral Krennel. Krennel’s article For years, Krennel ruled as the crown “prince-admiral” of Ciutric, expanding his influence to nearby sectors by means of his barbarous methods, running other warlords like Gaen Drommel and Walang Grazz out of business.
I’ve always wondered how Krennel ran Drommel out of business when the latter had an SSD and the former only had a handful of ISD’s.
The Battle of Tantive seems to coincide roughly with the Cuitric Hegemony founding now, @Vialco, as Krennal was involved. So the NR Second Fleet reaches as far around the Rim as Tantive, defeating the Stenax, staging assaults on Cuitric (according to the Encyclopaedia General Kre’frey lead this assault) and then after the Battle of Hast pulls back to Mon Calamari. After the Battle of Tantive, Drommel’s sector territory is undoubtedly exposed, and him having to secretly provision Solleux and the crippled Guardian means Krennal can take advantage.
The attacks on Ciutric make sense-punitive strikes against Krennel to keep him at bay. Oplovis sector is very close to Ciutric. I wonder if Krennel ever annexed it or even just raided it occasionally. That would explain why Drommel had such trouble repairing Guardian. I still think it's such shame that beautiful warship lay ruined and unused for over a decade. At least the New Republic was able to fix it up again and Ackbar used it to end the war at Anx Minor.
Is there a basic timeline of the entire warlord period somewhere? I am forever lost as to who was in power when and for how long. You read some of that stuff and assume these buffoons ruled for decades, when the timeline can only really support what, 3-4 years at most? Or do we assume an unofficial system of warlords predated the Emperor's demise and just gets codified after Endor breaks the spell of allegiance.
@Jedimarine, while Warlord of the Empire was an official title, which Grand Moffs, Grand Generals and Grand Admirals could aspire towards. Zsinj, Pashna Starkiller and Thrawn all had the title. Post-Endor, the southern quadrant saw warlords Moff Prentioch, Admiral Delvardus and Moff Larkin emerge as major warlords, but lesser rogues existed such as Moff Eyrgen and Tavira. In the very distant Outer Rim, Moff Sarne went rogue in the Kathol Sector. Most of these warlords only lasted two years, with Delvardus fleeing into the Deep Core, Tavira into Zsinj’s territory, and Sarne is defeated separately just before Thrawn’s return. In the east most of the region is taken up by the Hutt secession, but Grand Admiral Pitta initially sets up his warlord state in the furthest most Outer Rim of Hutt Space. Pitta abandons his holdings when he bribes the Diktat of Corellia to accept his protection and he himself is destroyed shortly after the Glove of Darth Vader Crisis. Kessel around that time became the capital of the Moff Central Commitee, which had influence over Bespin, Hoth, Tatooine and Mon Calamari, with the Prophets of the Dark Side sequestered in the Null Zone in the northern Mid Rim. In the north, Kaine attempts to claim most of the quadrant but is opposed by Grand Moff Zsinj (who is nominally loyal at this point). The territory to the west of the Hydian Way is shortly after broken up further by Admiral Drommel seizing the Oplovis Sector, Moff Grazz going rogue, and Krennal usurping the Cuitric Hegemony. Krennal dominates Drommel and Grazz by the time Zsinj goes rogue in 6 ABY, and he himself is defeated in 8 ABY. Between the Hydian and Perlemian we see Admiral Screed go rogue after Endor, also Grand Admiral Grunger and Grand Moff Nivers. Nivers is captured by the Rebels while the Nagai-Tof War is ongoing, Grunger dies shortly after the Moff Commitee defeat, and Screed is executed by Zsinj in his campaigns to seize this region. A notable overlap lay between Zsinj and Hutt Space which was Admiral Teradoc, who arrested the local Grand Moff, and held that territory for three years, until the fall of Zsinj, when he interfered in the Imperial and New Republic annexation of Zsinj’s territory. He then fled into the Deep Core, leaving minimal holdings around the Antemeridian Sector as a remnant - which his brother manages. The Pentastar Alignment, Krennal, Oplovis Sector and Teradoc’s rim holdings join Thrawn’s Confederation. After Thrawn’s death Teradoc abandons his holdings, Drommel holds Solleux alone and Krennal is defeated. The region ends up merely the Pentastar Alignment, a few Moffs, the independent D’Astan Sector and the Antemeridian Sector after Byss is destroyed, and they all join Pellaeon’s True Empire in 12 ABY at the end of the warlord era. Acting more secretly in the region was the Restored Empire, until its ultimate defeat ten years after Endor. The Deep Core was initially only holding Harrsk, but shortly after admirals Kosh Teradoc and Yzu set up there, and Delvardus fled there too in 5 ABY. The four join with Palpatine Reborn, and after the destruction of Byss are joined by others including nine others. Daala kills all thirteen, but Yzu’s faction - led by Grand Moff Gann, remains independent until 18 ABY when the NR gets around to finishing off Gann’s holdings around Prakith. In short, most warlords are gone by 6 ABY, with a new surge of them after Byss is destroyed, and then only a handful left by 13 ABY. The very last ones are done by 18 ABY. The Second Imperium styles itself as a legitimate successor until 25 ABY.
Minor gripe: the only reason why Prentioch and Lankin are described as major warlords is because their territory was mapped in the atlas, which doesn't say much besides that they were named and had explicit sectors under command. The Atlas only ever expands upon known and named governments and territory, and even then not all of them. Prentioch only ever held three sectors. Lankin held a sector that, while it was an industrial powerhouse was still a single sector. Grunger likely held more territory and power than Lankin for example despite his territory never being mapped, and there are a good amount of unnamed warlords in Darksaber who likely held significant influence too, considering their competition.
Sin, you really got keep a collection of these detailed posts, for when you make that wiki you promised.
I’ll get there one day. Promise, @Jedimarine. And @Carib Diss, I don’t think that there are any sources that state Grunger held more than Grunger. What with the Mandalore Sector being divided between him and Fenn Shysa.
Grunger by definition could only have as much territory as himself. But if you meant Lankin, Grunger had a seriously considered claim to the throne to the point of being considered the most serious challenger to the Central Committee,, was planning to attack Coruscant directly presumably to overthrow Ysanne and her coup, and what little we know of him frames him as highly regarded even among Grand Admirals, An executor and 30 ISDs is also not only oddly specific but is on the upper end of throwaway numbers. I think the reason why his sphere of influence was never mapped is that it would naturally overlap with Zsinj's, but during the warlord period people not knowing who was in charge where is sort of the point in a way that all those clean borders wind up downplaying. Grunger likely was even supported by the likes of Zsinj if only as a means to an end of countering Ysanne.
I assume that he actually did learn a thing or two from his time under two Grand Admirals, Tigellinus and Thrawn. He also had surely been paying attention to how other SSDs had been combatted. Clever use of his Interdictor SD, ImpStar II, and a Wing or so of fighters could indeed be enough to take out an SSD, or at least force it to flee. Trench Run Disease, a massed starfighter attack, and possibly careful tactical suppression from Binder while Reckoning hit it from the rear. The EU has plenty of other examples of SSDs going down when carefully attacked by much smaller forces. Also, if Krennel had badly damaged Guardian, it would also explain how the New Republic had an easy time at the Battle of Tantive V immediately afterwards.
...fun fact: we later see some of Walang Grazz's leftover Troopers in Dark Empire, right in the very first few pages. Grazz still could have been alive, as he was only said to have been run down by Krennel, not outright killed. If nothing else, it provides a convenient explanation for the Red Dot Troopers from Dark Empire that were part of the EU for decades and yet were never detailed. Grazz having been a Moff prior to going rogue would indicate that he had some definite fixed territory. He must have controlled at least a Sector somewhere on the Rim near the Ciutric Hegemony.
...from the 1978 Poster Monthlies. This is some of the very earliest EU continuity, and it actually matches up rather well with the post-Endor Warlordism that would later be established. It would also be the very earliest mention of Imperial Warlords in the EU, and also makes all of the fragmenting of the Empire make more sense if it was already starting to happen prior to Yavin.
@SheaHublin, I absently wonder if Grazz is a candidate for a warlord that retreated to the Deep Core and became one of the thirteen after Byss. I am absently headcanoning that Krennal’s four Destroyer fleet - Reckoning, Decisive, Emperor’s Wisdom and Binder - is what came to the aid of the New Republic Second Fleet at the Battle of Tantive IV. Because the Emancipator was raiding Cuitric, and ends up needing repairs at Hast - where it is ultimately damaged for over a year by Admiral Banjeer about this point, I am assuming the Battle of Cuitric preceded Tantive and then Hast.
Nothing at all precludes Grazz from having been among the Tsoss 13, and I'll include him among that group. After being forced out of his Rim holdings, which were at least one Sector (one near to Krennel and the Ciutric Hegemony) he retreated with large numbers of his Troops into the Deep Core and eventually became part of Operation Shadow Hand, with his Stormtroopers being among the Imperial surface forces on Coruscant as we see them in Dark Empire. Grazz was NOT one of the "6 former Starfleet Commanders." While nothing actually precludes him having been in Naval service prior to becoming a Moff, whatever Fleet he might have had might have been lost to Krennel, and any theoretical Evakmars to transport his Troopers probably were seized by Clonepatine. Several sources mention another, post-Byss Battle of Coruscant that drove the Imperial forces off the planet and allowed the New Republic to reclaim it. The only Imperial forces known to have been on Coruscant during Shadow Hand were those of the Ruling Circle (under General Balan) and from the visual evidence above (it cannot be a coincidence in-Universe) the forces of Grazz. After Byss and his defeat on Coruscant, Grazz was very diminished in power and influence. Descriptions of the occupying Imperials being "driven off" by the New Republic indicate that some at least survived to retreat, presumably back into the Deep Core. At least some of them would presumably be among the aggregated "millions upon millions of Stormtroopers" mentioned in Darksaber.
@SheaHublin - the Hegemony had territory in the Cuitric Sector, and parts of the Sprizen, Nijune and D’Astan sectors. In-theory, the Sprizen and D’Astan sector territory was acquired after Zsinj’s Empire collapsed. So perhaps the Nijune Sector was Grazz’s sector - or the Tragan Sector.
If Grazz was known more for his ground forces than for any Fleet capabilities than it would be logical to look for a nearby Rim Sector with known above-average Troop deployments. Riders of the Maelstrom confirms that (in a very overlooked lore item) both the Albarrio Sector under Moff Vanko and Relgim Sector under Moff Torpin each had several million Troops deployed to them: ...so just between those two Sectors, to the near West of Cuitric, 7.2 Million Imperial Troops were deployed circa 0 BBY. The two Moffs, or at least Torpin, were presumably disgraced or even executed for their failures against the pirates, as we never hear from them afterwards in any lore, though I would reckon that Vanko would have been spared given his personal connections with Palpatine (he's one of the few Imperials confirmed to know about his Sith powers), his immense respect throughout the Military, and his personal heroism in leading Stormtroopers directly into battle against the Maelstrom pirates. Torpin, for his cowardice and lies, was probably replaced, and having him replaced by Walang Grazz meshes very nicely with other continuity and established astrography. Vanko gets a hero's celebration and a nice retirement, Torpin gets the disintegration booth. So Grazz took over from Torpin, and while we know that the superior of Torpin Grand Moff Denn Wessex managed to stay in power for some time after the events of Maelstrom (per Crisis on Cloud City), we don't know what ultimately happened to him and for that matter what happened to the Greater Relgim Oversector that he governed. It's also uncertain that he was even still alive into the post-Endor Warlord era. We also don't know the full extent of Greater Relgim, and it's possible that it also encompassed the Sectors bordering the Cuitric Hegemony. Just looking at the Outer Rim Sector map shows how likely it is. Nothing actually rules out Grazz as having eventually taken control of all of the Greater Relgim Oversector after Wessex. Whatever later happened between him and Krennel, Grazz still had more than enough surviving Troops to later occupy Coruscant during Operation Shadow Hand, a task that certainly would require a few Million troops. On a related Scale of Numbers continuity note, Riders confirming that 1.5 Million Troops per Sector being the average across the Empire means that quite a few Sectors must have had substantially greater deployments. Whether or not those also counted towards the totals for the typical Oversector Group is uncertain, but Greater Relgim at least must have also had more Troops than just the ones in Albarrio and Relgim (Sector).
I recall Vanko was one of the original Moffs, no - so implied to be a Grand Moff later on? But that's mighty curious about the troop deployments.
Oh yes, that bit about the troop deployments has a lot of continuity implications. On Vanko, yes, he was one of the original 20 Moffs, but so was Denn Wessex, to whom he was later subordinated as Riders outright says. Vanko never himself ascended to Grand Moff as did some of the original 20. The Warfare Guide only says that the Oversectors later became power bases for future Grand Moffs, not that the original 20 themselves all became Grand Moffs. Other evidence from the Vader comics confirms that for some time into the Imperial era Tarkin was the only Grand Moff, and then Trachta as the only other GM. The Imperial Sourcebook itself has always said that as of 0BBY the "number of Grand Moffs is growing" and so were the resources assigned to them. As it all relates to Grazz, we know his original pre-Endor power base was somewhere near Cuitric, and Greater Relgim fits perfectly, particularly with the large troop deployments. It's a safe assumption that he was Wessex' replacement as the GM of Greater Relgim, having previoudly taken over from Torpin as Moff of Relgim. And yes, having a normal Sector called Relgim and the parent Oversector being Greater Relgim is a bit confusing.
Seswenna and Maldrood and Queilli and Bright Jewel and Corellian oversectors would like to join that club.
I absently wonder if the various astrographical Oversector overlaps only exist on a 2D map, but if a 3D rotatable 360 degree map of the Galactic Sectors would in fact show no overlap... Anyway, a further Grazz thought occurs to me: if he is known to have been a Moff and likely a Grand Moff, what prevents him from being the same Darksaber Warlord who went by the title "High Moff"?
