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The years of Isard’s regency (39 - 42 rS) were a time of great change in the galaxy. The disintegration of the once invincible Empire continued,
independent states and rogue warlords proliferated throughout the galaxy, the rebel Alliance grew rapidly in size and span, and the galactic
economy faltered. By the time Isard seized power as a nominal regent or interrex in mid-39 rS, the Empire had lost control of almost all of the
Outer Rim Territories Region in the Phoney War, as well as a wedge of space reaching Coreward as far as Brentaal IV (Bormea Sector, Core
Worlds). The mass defections of rogue warlords and would-be empereurs en petit further fractured the Empire and reduced its territorial
holdings and resources; The Bacta War mentions that the greatest number of rogue warlords defected from Imperial service during Isard’s
regency, and in “Recon & Report: The Journey to Coruscant,” the notional author Dirk Harkness (of the independent anti-Imperial insurgency
group Black Curs) specifies that these warlord states were concentrated in the Expansion, Inner Rim, and especially the Mid-Rim Regions,
and warlord states are known to have claimed “key industrial worlds” (e.g., Balmorra, a major industrial world in the Core and home to Kuat
Drive Yards’ primary AT-ST factories as well as other military vehicles and combat automata, declared its independence in 40 rS under
Governor Beltane, as mentioned in The Essential Guide to Planets and Moons and Dark Empire II). Notable rogue warlords include the rivals
Supreme Warlord Harrsk near the Deep Core, High Admiral Teradoc in the Mid-Rim, Admiral Gaen Drommel, Grand Moff Governor Ardus
Kaine’s Pentastar Alignment in the Outer Rim, Moff Governor Par Lankin’s Lambda Sector, and rival Moff Governors Eyrgin and Prentioch
in Wornal Sector. Most significant is the self-styled Imperial Warlord Zsinj, whose conquests are said to amount to one-third of the galaxy by
the Rebellion Era Sourcebook.
Matters were complicated by the fact that the Alliance and the independent Black Curs resistance movement sabotaged much of Imperial
Center’s HoloNet communications systems and other parts of the intragalactic communications network, according to Harkness in “Recon &
Report: The Journey to Coruscant”; this is believed to have encouraged the increase in rogue warlordism, in addition to damaging
communications, command, and control between the Imperial State and its far-flung military and naval forces (an unanticipated side-effect to
this tactic is that a number of worlds which depended heavily on the Imperial State’s long-range communications monopoly in the absence of
functioning subspace communications networks were left completely isolated). The Empire was spread out and its forces diffuse, with a much
more concentrated opposition already possessing a beachhead in Bormea Sector within the Core Worlds Region (despite the fall of Brentaal,
the Imperial State held onto part of the Sector).
Isard evidently decided that the best way to deal with this situation was to consolidate the Imperial State’s forces around strategically vital
territories. Hence, she immediately ordered complete withdrawal of all military, naval, diplomatic, and bureaucratic personnel from countless
“worlds of lesser strategic importance.” In “Recon & Report: The Journey to Coruscant” (dated six months after the Battle of Endor, i.e., at
the same time as Isard’s coup d’état), Harkness describes the immediate effects of Isard’s synchronization policy (Harkness is evidently
unaware of her seizure of power and attributes it to “the Imperial Advisors who have assumed the Emperor’s role on Coruscant”). Concurrent
with the Imperial State’s withdrawal, factories and shipyards were shut down or scuttled and infrastructure was destroyed (Imperial engineers
dismantled factories and shipped major components and raw materials to more centrally located sites, to construct new factories elsewhere).
Installations and outposts in the Mid-Rim and Expansion Regions were particularly targeted for evacuation and withdrawal, explaining the
increase in rogue warlordism in those Regions. With galactic shipping having been badly shaken by the fall of Brentaal IV, the Imperial State’s
withdrawal meant that it was no longer profitable for major shipping firms to continue servicing many worlds throughout those territories
abandoned by the Imperial State, causing massive supply shortfalls throughout those territories. Worlds freed of the Imperial State’s control
were simultaneously “freed” of its business (e.g., feeding, clothing, and billeting Imperial personnel, provisioning Imperial military and naval
units, providing goods and services to personnel on liberty), and global economies plummeted into deep recession. As an example, “A
Campaign Guide to the Centrality” mentions that the Centrality, a former Imperial client state found between Hutt Space and the Cron Drift
in the Outer Rim Territories Region, suffered a major blow to its mining and agricultural industries after “the loss of the Empire’s huge
appetite.” Economic conditions throughout the Imperial State’s abandoned holdings in the Mid-Rim and the Expansion Region declined.
Some worlds were left without any government at all, and no protection from “warlords and independent marauders.” Economic conditions
were worsened by the takeover of warlord states, which imposed unfair and restrictive taxes (even relative to the Imperial State) on the
populations and commandeered planetary resources for their own war machines. Furthermore, the breakdown in galactic central authority and
coordinated naval force created an ideal environment for interstellar piracy, and in “Recon & Report: The Journey to Coruscant” Harkness
indicates that it became common practice for rogue warlords to use small fleets composed of lighter ships (“Carrack-class cruisers, Strike
cruisers, system patrol craft and Dreadnaughts”) in conjunction with one or two Star Destroyers to raid interstellar commerce and “supply
stations, factories and shipyards which provide resources unavailable in a warlord’s home sector.” Consequently, it became increasingly risky
to ship goods or raw materials (“rawmats”) to worlds or independent states that could not effectively patrol their space. The breakdown of
the Imperial State’s grip on its outlying territories brought commerce — the lifeblood of economy — grinding to a halt, as many of the major
shipping lines cut back service (having been affiliated with the Trade Federation in the old days, many of the major shipping lines became part
of the Imperial State’s merchant marine when the TradeFed was Imperialized early in the Imperial era, according to starwars.com’s Databank
entry “Mungo Baobab”).
Having withdrawn enormous amounts of military and naval assets from the Outer Rim, Mid-Rim, and Expansion Regions, Isard now had the
ability to redeploy those forces — “about half the remaining Imperial naval forces,” according to Harkness in “Recon & Report: The Journey
to Coruscant” — to defend key systems throughout the Core, Colonies, and Inner Rim Regions, primarily major shipyards, manufacturing and
heavy industry sites, and high-productivity agriculture worlds, but also strategic jump-points, communications centers, and commercial ports;
she also ordered the patrol of certain systems with “little strategic value” but of great symbolic importance (e.g., the Grand Vizier had ordered
the complete interdiction of Chandrila in Bormea Sector, and Isard evidently neglected to reassign the seven Imperial Star Destroyers deployed
to hold Chandrila hostage against a possible Alliance attack on Imperial Center). The Dark Empire Sourcebook states that as a result of this
policy, “vast regions of space were left defenseless as the Core systems were transformed into fortress worlds.”
Corellian and Kuat Sectors were heavily reinforced in order to protect the Corellian Engineering Corporation (CEC)’s and KDY’s stardocks
and shipyards. According to Harkness, at least fifteen Imperial Star Destroyers were deployed to Kuat and 25 to Corellia, in addition to
“numerous smaller vessels — Dreadnaughts, Strike cruisers, and Interdictors,” subjecting all ships entering either system to boarding and
thorough searches; other shipyard facilities throughout the Sectors were also fortified with smaller naval forces ranging from two to five
Imperial Star Destroyers and “numerous smaller naval vessels.” In particular, Admiral Roek’s Super Star Destroyer HIMS Aggressor and her
escort squadron of five Imperial Star Destroyers (cf. Darth Vader’s Death Squadron) were recalled and sent to Corellia, where the ruling
Diktat’s government was little more than the Isard regime’s puppet state. The Imperial State also reinforced Kelada, a major repulsorlift and
walker component factory world and site of an enormous Arakyd Industries repulsorcraft assembly factory; Isard assigned ten Imperial Star
Destroyers and “a myriad of smaller support craft” to defend Kelada, and construction of repulsorlift and walker systems increased
substantially to compensate for the loss of Balmorra’s facilities. Efforts were made to improve security on key agricultural worlds, including
the installation of Moff Gegren Throsen as head of Salliche Ag Corporation and its eighteen major agricultural worlds in the Core Worlds
Region (e.g., Salliche, Yulant, Ruan, and Broest), each of which was assigned two Imperial Star Destroyers for defensive and (as necessary)
occupational operations. However, Isard’s regime decided not to significantly reinforce the Sluis Sector despite the presence of major
shipyards like the Sluis Van stardocks and the Sector’s proximity to Alliance-held/Alliance-influenced territories, finding that the Imperial
State’s status as providing 90% of Sluissi business was adequate to guarantee Sluissi loyalty; one or two Imperial Star Destroyers were
ordered to each major facility, with “maybe four” assigned to defend the Sluis Van yards.
In The Essential Chronology, the New Republic Historical Council describes Admiral Ackbar leading an aggressive campaign pushing into
Imperial territory eight months after the Battle of Endor (i.e., two months after the start of the Isard regency), possibly in response to
suggestions made by Harkness in his report to New Republic Intelligence (NRI) regarding Isard’s fortification projects. Isard, concerned that
this campaign — which appears to have been the occasion of the Empire’s hard-fought rear-guard action at Notak in Before the Storm — might
be a prelude to a campaign on Imperial Center itself, “recalled hundreds of Star Destroyers to defend the capital planet and other key Core
Worlds,” i.e., she expanded her current policy of transforming the Empire into a interstellar fortress. Three weeks after the engagement at
Notak, Black Sword Command received orders to withdraw from the Koornacht Cluster in the Kokash and Farlax Sectors, and, per standard
operating procedure, to destroy whatever infrastructure could not be evacuated; the ordered withdrawal from Koornacht did not happen, and a
number of Imperial warships, including the Super Star Destroyer HIMS Intimidator, fell into Yevethan hands (the Imperial State mistakenly
believed that these forces were destroyed at Cal-Seti, “several sectors away” according to the Historical Council). At the same time, eight
months after the Battle of Endor, the chronically depressed Grand Admiral Ishin-Il-Raz, devoted Palpatinist and one of the founders of
COMPNOR, committed suicide by plunging his flagship HIMS Emperor’s Disciple into the Denarii Nova, according to “Who’s Who:
Imperial Grand Admirals” and The Essential Chronology. It is possible that Grand Admiral Danetta Pitta took advantage of the confusion of
Ackbar’s attack to bribe the Diktat and set himself up as de facto ruler and “protector” of the increasingly isolationist Corellian Sector, as
described in “Who’s Who: Imperial Grand Admirals” (unfortunately without providing a date); this presumably prompted Roek to go rogue
rather than return to Isard and account for his failure to hold the Sector, although this is not stated.
Having bulwarked the Empire against further aggression from the Alliance or warlord states for the time being, Isard faced a number of internal
problems. The huge (and overhead-free) gambling revenues derived from the Commonality had ceased to benefit the Imperial State earlier in
the year, as the Commonality had become independent when the Empire lost the Outer Rim in the Phoney War, according to Geonosis and the
Outer Rim Worlds. The Dark Empire Sourcebook indicates that the Corporate Sector Authority, a client state whose annual tribute to the
Imperial State supplied enormous sums of credits and valuable strategic materials, declared its independence and ended the Imperial State’s
privileged status. The same sources indicates that Lianna, homeworld of Santhe/Sienar Technologies (SST), the parent corporation of Sienar
Fleet Systems (SFS) — one of the Empire’s primary defense contractors — also declared its independence. Rather than risk losing both
altogether — as had happened with Balmorra and Balmorran Arms, which now sold its SD-6, SD-7, and SD-8 robotic infantry soldiers to the
Alliance of Free Planets, according to The Essential Guide to Droids — Isard allowed them both to slip quietly into full independence, with
the conditio sine qua non that both continue to do business with the Imperial State. Nevertheless, the loss of revenues seriously hurt the
Imperial State, and the diplomatic embarrassment of formally granting independence (a repudiation of the opposition to Separatism that was
once the raison d’être of the Galactic Empire) only encouraged secessionism . Still, it seems overall that Isard’s firm leadership was
nevertheless able to stabilize the disintegration of the Empire proper.
There was also the issue of the stormtrooper shortage. During the height of the Empire, the precise origin of the majority of the Imperial
Marines remained shrouded in mystery. Certainly, exceptional officer cadets and enlisted recruits were trained at the Military Academy and
boot camps of Carida, but this cannot have accounted for more than a mere fraction of the vast legions of Imperial stormtroopers. It was
evidently a well-kept state secret that at least 40% of stormtroopers were in fact clones (“GeNodes”), belonging to a number of different
templates, according to “Pax Empirica — The Wookiee Annhilation,” which identifies at least four templates. GeNodes were decanted fully
grown and immediately invented elaborate personalities and histories for themselves, having names and thinking they have families; they
recognized that others were clones, but were apparently unable to realize that they themselves were clones. “Soldiers of the Empire!”
describes a different procedure, without accelerated growth, which creates clones that do not have names and know that they are clones.
Significantly, “Pax Empirica — The Wookiee Annihilation” states that no GeNode has ever left the service, while “Soldiers of the Empire!”
indicates that the Imperial State maintains a “Troopers’ Rest camp on the holiday planet of Sochi” for retired clones. Cracken’s Threat
Dossier describes an immediate and unaccountable shortage of stormtroopers taking place after the Battle of Endor; the Heir to the Empire
Sourcebook mentions speculation that “perhaps the secret to training and recruiting the men inside the armor was lost with the Emperor and
his senior officers.” In The New Essential Chronology, the Historical Council notes that “in the five years since the Empire’s defeat at Endor,
the cloning technology that had once produced legions of stormtroopers had vanished, made useless by dwindling resources or destroyed
outright in accordance with Emperor Palpatine’s posthumous orders.” The Imperial State’s solution was to simply outfit Imperial Army
soldiers in the Imperial Marines’ distinctive white armor, so as to avoid a public perception of a waning Empire (although rarely permanently
stationed on planet, the white-armored stormtroopers, along with the TIE fighter and the Imperial Star Destroyer, were ubiquitous symbols of
the Imperial State’s might; such a symbol could not be allowed to lapse).
The quiescence of the Emperor’s Ruling Circle did not mean that Isard’s regime was free of rivals. Although she still commanded the loyalty
of three of the Galactic Emperor’s grand admirals — Grand Admiral Afsheen Makati and Grand Admiral Miltin Takel are said to have been
Loyalists by “Who’s Who: Imperial Grand Admirals,” and Isard herself indirectly indicates that Grand Admiral Thrawn is a Loyalist in
Wedge’s Gamble — a fourth member of the “Circle of Twelve,” Grand Admiral Josef Grunger, now claimed to be the legitimate ruler of the
Imperial State and the Galactic Empire. According to “Who’s Who: Imperial Grand Admirals,” Grunger had been supervising operations at
Gargon in the Mandalore Sector when he had received word of the Galactic Emperor’s death, and promptly became a rogue warlord and
established his supreme headquarters at Gargon, using his personal prestige to amass “within a year” (i.e., by 40 rS) a considerable armada,
including Roek’s HIMS Aggressor, along with thirty Imperial Star Destroyers and Victory Star Destroyers, sixty Strike cruisers, a hundred
Carrack light cruisers, and “various miscellaneous vessels.” Isard ordered Takel to retake Gargon, which had previously been his base of
operations — in fact, Grunger had seized Takel’s task force from his second in command while Takel had been at Endor as an observer — ,
but he repeatedly failed, and was under threat of execution. Presumably, the Warlord Zsinj was still busily expanding his holdings.
Six months after Isard’s seizure of power, in early 40 rS, one of Isard’s earlier schemes was beginning to backfire. She and the Grand Vizier
had conspired to establish the Church of the Dark Side to “help certain moffs retain power,” but the Church’s leaders were becoming
increasingly uncooperative and independent-willed. Additionally, several Grand Moff Governors — possibly the same ones that Isard had
created the Church to support — had been plotting to usurp control of the Imperial State from her. Grand Moff Bertroff Hissa, Grand Moff
Dunhausen, Grand Moff Muzzer, and Grand Moff Thistleborn formed the Central Committee of Grand Moffs and openly defied Isard by
calling a general convocation at Kessendra Stadium on Kessel (note that Hissa’s opening remarks in The Glove of Darth Vader imply that the
Central Committee existed before the Battle of Endor, but “Who’s Who: Imperial Grand Admirals” is very clear that it was formed afterward,
with Hissa as chair). There, the Central Committee declared the truth of the old rumors that the Galactic Emperor had a three-eyed son, and
announced that they would support his “right” to the Imperial Throne (the Dark Empire Sourcebook indicates that there was no
constitutional mechanism of any kind providing for succession, so strictly speaking there was no right of succession and therefore no heir
apparent). As their candidate for the Throne, the Central Committee put forward Trioculus, the ruthless Lord Overseer and Supreme Slavelord
of Kessel; he was in fact a pretender.
Reaction was mixed. One grand admiral — who has been identified as Takel, having fled from Isard following his failure to capture Gargon, but
who visually resembles Makati, a known Loyalist (note that Hissa’s keynote address mentions “grand admirals” as being in attendance) —
brought up Grunger’s claim of being the Empire’s legitimate ruler, and a Royal Guardsman who had converted to the Church of the Dark Side
questioned Trioculus’s right of succession without having received the Supreme Prophet’s “Dark Blessing.” Trioculus responded by
seemingly unleashing Sith lightning on both objectors, and in so doing convinced most of the attendants of the convocation — visually seen to
be larger than the old stone Senate Hall of the old Republic in Tales of the Jedi: The Sith War — that he was in fact the Galactic Emperor’s
son; they agreed to support the Legitimist pretender. Although the Central Committee and the new supporters from the convocation —
including Takel — provided an enormous power base for Trioculus’s pretensions, including territory seized by Committee member Moff
Disra from the late Rufaan Tigellinus (former grand admiral and Grand Moff Governor of the Core Worlds according to “Who’s Who: Imperial
Grand Admirals”), the majority of the Empire and the Armed Forces remained in Loyalist hands, supporting Isard’s regime, according to the
New Republic Historical Council in The Essential Chronology.
Trioculus’s powerful supporters in the Legitimist faction could not protect him from his own poor judgment and bad luck. “His Dark
Lordship” (as he preferred to be styled) received tentative pledges of support from Grunger and even COMPNOR, provided that he secure
the Supreme Prophet’s “Dark Blessing,” which the Supreme Prophet would give only to the holder of the glove of Darth Vader. Trioculus
promptly squandered his chances with a series of blunders that seemed calculated to make him appear as incompetent as humanly possible.
Among these blunders were the summary execution of Takel — the greatest commander among his partisans — because he had spoken out of
turn at a meeting with the Central Committee, and a growing infatuation with the Princess Leia of Alderaan, a high-profile leader of the rebel
Alliance. In The Essential Chronology, the Historical Council states that Isard took advantage of this infatuation by arranging for the escape of
Zorba Desilijic Tiure (alias Zorba the Hutt) from prison on Kip in Zorba the Hutt’s Revenge; the Princess Leia had killed Zorba’s offspring
Jabba Desilijic Tiure (alias Jabba the Hutt) in early 39 rS in Return of the Jedi, and Zorba’s consequent desire for revenge could not help but
bring him into conflict with the would-be “Emperor Trioculus.” The two did indeed come into conflict in a series of farcical events that
resulted in Trioculus’s emergence from Cloud City on Bespin encased in carbonite. Even that did not put an end to the three-eyed pretender’s
blundering, and his last mistake was to attempt to marry the Princess Leia; unbeknownst to him, the real Princess had been replaced by a
human replica ‘droid, and it shot and killed him during the wedding ceremony in Queen of the Empire.
Isard’s ploy and action by the Alliance had successfully put an end to the Legitimist pretensions. Unfortunately, the increasingly ambitious
Church of the Dark Side stepped into the fray. The Supreme Prophet — actually an Imperial Intelligence-sponsored charlatan impersonating
the Galactic Emperor’s personal counselor (and former Master Jedi) Kadann, Supreme Prophet of the Dark Side — renounced his “Dark
Blessing” on Trioculus, appropriated the glove of Darth Vader for himself, and declared that the new ruler of the Empire was to be “the Dark
One of ancient times,” for whom he would speak and act as executor in Prophets of the Dark Side. The leadership of the Church promptly
tried and convicted the Central Committee members of high treason, and sentenced them all to death (the creatively cruel and unusual
sentences were not actually carried out), annexing as much of their holdings as possible.
According to the Historical Council in The Essential Chronology, Isard was more concerned by this time with the Alliance’s three-month-long
ground campaign for control of the manufacturing world Milagro, located at a strategic hyperspace route junction, and was profoundly
annoyed by this latest development in the Trioculus Affair. She ordered one of her two remaining grand admirals, Afsheen Makati, to deal
with the Church of the Dark Side’s leadership; according to “Who’s Who: Imperial Grand Admirals,” Makati entertained a cordial hatred of
the real Supreme Prophet stemming from an incident during Makati’s attack on a rebel base on Thila during which the Supreme Prophet
humiliated him in front of his crew. According to the same source, while the pseudo-Supreme Prophet was trapped in the Lost City of the
Jedi on Yavin IV (where he had been left in Prophets of the Dark Side), Makati tracked down the Church’s headquarters aboard Space Station
Scardia in the Null Zone with help from the real Supreme Prophet’s former apprentice and bodyguard Azrakel (from The Dark Side
Sourcebook), and killed all of the remaining Church leaders. When the pseudo-Supreme Prophet returned to Space Station Scardia, Makati
destroyed it with long-range turbolaserfire. Isard brought the Trioculus Affair to a satisfying conclusion by executing the Central Committee
and stamping out the last vestiges of the Legitimist party; it should be noted, however, that one member of the Central Committee, Moff
Governor Disra, was not executed, as he remained in power as Governor of Braxant Sector in the Imperial remnants as late as the events of
Specter of the Past, set in 54 rS.
This personal success for Isard was matched by a number of setbacks for the Imperial State. The Imperial Army’s position on Milagro had
become untenable, and Isard ordered a Base Delta Zero operation, which Rear Admiral (Retired) Michael Unther defined in “A World to
Conquer” as “the Imperial code order to destroy all population centers and resources, including industry, natural resources, and cities.” The
execution of this order cost the Empire all access to Milagro’s manufacturing facilities — an economic and logistical loss not to be taken
lightly, even by an Empire with entire worlds like Metalorn from “A Princess Alone!” devoted to rawmat mining, industry, and
manufacturing; however, consistent with Isard’s policy of denying resources to the Alliance, the operation also prevented the Alliance from
benefiting from their victory over the Imperials in the campaign. At about this time, Makati was himself killed, and the Alliance executed
Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik — captured a year earlier at the Battle of Endor, according to “Who’s Who: Imperial Grand Admirals” — for
crimes against sapience, possibly in retaliation for the destruction of Milagro. Inquisitor Jerec, a former Jedi Master and distinguished
archaeological expert on the ancient Sith and other Force-related societies, took his dark Jedi disciples and rallied corporate sponsors in Ardus
Kaine’s Pentastar Alignment — Jerec and a number of other Inquisitors had allied with the Pentastar Alignment after the Galactic Emperor’s
death, becoming a Great InQuestor of Judgment according to “The Dark Forces Saga, Part 6: Outcasts and Megalomaniacs Welcome” — for
his search for the fabled Lost Valley of the Jedi, part of a plot to apotheosize himself and rule a vast new empire created in his own image as
seen in Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II. All the while Zsinj continued to expand his empire. According to The Essential Chronology and the Dark
Empire Sourcebook, a brutal campaign in the Inner Rim came to a bloody end at the Battle of Mindor, less than six months after Milagro’s
reduction (i.e., late 40 rS to early 41 rS); stormtroopers under Lord Shadowspawn fought to the death against the Alliance’s General Luke
Skywalker, whose victory “The History of the Mandalorians” attributes to crucial assistance from the Mandalorian Protectors (Skywalker
resigned his commission afterward in dismay over the bloodshed). And to add insult to injury, Grand Admiral Grant, the Tapani aristocrat
(probably a member of House Melantha) who had been left with no power base after the Battle of Endor and had promptly taken sanctuary in
Ardus Kaine’s Pentastar Alignment, defected to the Alliance in 41 rS, taking amnesty in exchange for military secrets and retiring to Rathalay
as the so-called “Last Grand Admiral,” according to The Essential Chronology and “Who’s Who: Imperial Grand Admirals.”
One of the few consolations of this period was that, shortly after Teshik’s execution (but necessarily before Grant’s defection) according to
“Who’s Who: Imperial Grand Admirals,” Grunger had swaggered into Corellian Sector in an attempt to use it as a staging point for an assault
on Imperial Center; he had come into open conflict with Pitta, and the spectacular clash of the grand admirals in the Battle of Tralus — only
the second time grand admirals had ever faced each other in battle — resulted in the complete annihilation of both, with Grunger’s Aggressor
and Pitta’s torpedo sphere destroying one another in the end.. A bare two years after the Battle of Endor, only Thrawn remained of the
Galactic Emperor’s famous Circle of Twelve (Grand Admiral Nial Declann had been killed aboard the second Death Star at Endor according to
“Who’s Who: Imperial Grand Admirals,” and The Essential Chronology claims that “grand admirals” had died in the explosion, which must
refer to another, still unknown grand admiral — probably Tigellinus’s replacement — and the New Republic must have believed at one point
that three grand admirals died aboard the Death Star, explaining their failure to account for the twelfth grand admiral; Grand Admiral Martio
Batch had been assassinated early on by his second in command, a partisan of the late Admiral Sarn who took Batch’s task force to join
Harrsk’s pocket empire near the Deep Core). Presumably Corellian Sector returned to its previous condition of a quasi-satellite state of the
Imperial State, with the Diktat again becoming a puppet of Isard, as this is the condition it is said by The Essential Guide to Planets and
Moons and Coruscant and the Core Worlds to have retained until the Diktat’s eventual replacement by a New Republic governor general; it is
possible that the Diktat’s poor taste in having allowed Pitta to take control prompted the gradual erosion of his power by the dictatorial Triad
of Sacorria, which Isard may have regarded as being more trustworthy, given that they had not been bribed by Pitta.
Nevertheless, despite losses of prestigious leaders, diplomatic debacles, and commercial and economic turbulence, Isard’s firm hand had
steadied the tottering Imperial State, and the Empire remained the dominant power of the galaxy, holding the Core Worlds, the Inner Rim, and
the majority of settled planets, according to The Essential Chronology. Despite the increasing prevalence of rogue warlordism, secessionism,
piracy, and the Alliance’s steady growth, the Empire retained the upper hand in the more-or-less Cold War, occupying a central position in
the galaxy and controlling the galaxy’s largest industrial, agricultural, and technological production centers. Isard’s policy of centralization and
consolidation, although probably substantially reducing the power of the Moff Governors — Isard’s new deployments were made at the
Imperial level, disregarding the traditional Sector-based defense posture in favor of synchronization — , served to strengthen the Empire’s
hold on its remaining territories. Logistically, the Empire’s position was also unmatched; all of its territorial holdings were relatively close to
its industrial and logistical base, and resources could be easily moved within its boundaries from one end to the other (if the Alliance wanted to
ship something from one end of its territories to the other, it would be required to make several hyperspace jumps around the Imperial
holdings at the center of the galaxy). The Imperial State also had unity of command; Isard’s autocratic rule tolerated no bickering over policy,
and decisions were made by fiat rather than by vote like in the Alliance’s Provisional Council. Despite the loss of the grand admirals —
Thrawn was still operating in the Unknown Regions, and was therefore of limited immediate value — Isard retained the services of the
formidable Grand General Malcor Brashin, seen in Force Commander, and General Tal Ashen, one of the Galactic Emperor’s favorite
generals, seen in Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns.
After many months of relative stalemate in the Cold War, the Alliance had decided on a campaign to seize Imperial Center itself, bypassing the
Empire’s fortified industrial base and hoping to knock the Imperial State itself out of the war. As part of this strategy, Imperial defector and
Rogue Squadron pilot Captain Tycho Celchu was sent on a reconnaissance mission to Imperial Center, but the scribe explains in The New
Essential Guide to Characters that he was captured “several months after Jerec’s death” and sent to Lusankya by Isard. The Essential
Chronology states that the Alliance nevertheless adopted a “stepping stone” strategy, capturing minor planets in series within Imperial space
to provide strategic jump points and bypassing well-defended planets and Sectors; part of this strategy was the reformation of Rogue
Squadron, which The New Essential Guide to Characters dates to “nearly a year” after “approximately one and a half years after Endor” (i.e.,
mid-41 rS). Seen in Rogue Squadron and The Essential Chronology, one of the most significant of the operations in this campaign was the
capture of Borleias, a small and relatively obscure outpost in the Colonies which provided a strategic jump point for the final assault on
Imperial Center itself. For her part, Isard had already determined that she would not fight to retain Imperial Center. Even before the fall of
Borleias, she recalled the post’s commanding general, a gifted botanist and virologist named General Evir Derricote, to Imperial Center in order
to prepare her “parting gift” to the Alliance: the Krytos virus, a carefully engineered contagion that could infect only nonhuman species and
could be treated only by Bacta. The Essential Chronology places Derricote’s work in the time period “6.5 - 7 years A.B.Y.” (i.e., 41 - 42 rS),
but The New Essential Guide to Characters specifies that it happened “three years after Endor” (42 rS), meaning that his work was completed
just as the year was winding down. The Krytos virus was immediately introduced to Imperial Center’s water supply, and Isard herself
disappeared to Lusankya — actually a Super Star Destroyer, HIMS Lusankya, built by KDY at the same time that Fondor Yards had
constructed HIMS Executor and hidden in the Imperial City, as seen in The Krytos Trap — and conducted business on Imperial Center via
holographic proxy. She then set about arranging for the planet to fall into the Alliance’s hands.
Admiral Ackbar described Imperial Center’s defenses in Wedge’s Gamble as centering on a set of “overlapping defense shields,” whose
geometry was arranged so that at no point was any part of the planet exposed by an opening in either shield. This primary defense was
supplemented by “Golan Space Defense stations,” which are said to be “comparable in power to a Star Destroyer,” augmented by “seven
Victory-class Star Destroyers,” “ground-based fighter groups,” and “fighter wings stationed in and around the ships, shipyards, and orbital
factories,” with the possibility that “orbital mirror stations and low-orbit skyhooks may have also been armed” (the Prince Xizor of Falleen’s
skyhook Falleen’s Fist was seen to be armed in Shadows of the Empire). Force Commander adds a sensor network on the planet itself which
is said to be able to detect and destroy any large amphibious landing force; Imperial Center’s second moon, Centax 1, had been converted to a
military staging base during the Clone War of 13 - 16 rS according to Jedi Trial, and it is unknown whether or not these facilities remained in
use in the Imperial era. Certainly, it is known from Pollux Hax’s description in The Illustrated Star Wars Universe that Imperial Center was
home to “spidery docking and starship repair yards” that “ride high above the planet, providing reconditioning facilities for the largest of
spaceliners”; the same source mentions that “spherical self-contained colony vessels, Imperial Star Destroyers, and huge luxury yachts are
built in the space-dock centers.” In any event, the Alliance’s latest intelligence indicated that HIMS Emperor’s Will and HIMS Imperator,
Imperial Star Destroyers with formidable reputations, were deployed to defend Imperial Center; instead, when Ackbar’s fleet arrived, it was
met only by HIMS Triumph and HIMS Monarch, Imperial Star Destroyers with only mediocre reputations. Imperial Center’s shields were
brought down by fifth-columnist action on the part of Rogue Squadron in Wedge’s Gamble, and a medium-sized amphibious force led by
General Brenn Tantor — a defected Imperial Marine officer — eliminated the sensor network in Force Commander, paving the way for the
main body under General Rand Talor to land in the Imperial City itself in Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns.
The Imperial forces were commanded by Isard’s Loyalist generals Brashin and Ashen, Brashin having concentrated his efforts on Tantor’s
forces, and Ashen on Talor’s. As the battle progressed, both forces retreated toward the Imperial Palace; Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone
Campaigns states that the remnants of the Imperial High Command joined Ashen in his last stand in the Palace. Evidently both Brashin and
Ashen lost their fights against the Alliance’s separate forces, as Children of the Jedi includes the Princess Leia’s memory of “the day the
Rebels had taken Coruscant,” which included the fact that the Palace “had been shelled hard and partially looted,” with “Rebel partisans
having killed whichever members of the Court they could catch.” The Princess Leia listed among these casualties “the President of the Bureau
of Punishments,” “the head of the Emperor’s School of Torturers,” “the court clothing designer,” and “any number of minor and completely
innocent servants of all ages, species, and sexes”; it is entirely possible that Brashin, Ashen, and the other officers of the High Command were
also lynched during this apparent loss of control over the Alliance’s troops. This would certainly explain why neither man is ever mentioned
or heard from again in the Expanded Universe, despite their prestige and importance.
Coruscant and the Core Worlds mentions the War Room, the Admiral’s Office, the Crypt (a “computer slicing and decoding center”), and the
ultra-sensitive Imperial Information Center — said to have contained “everything from ancient hyperspace maps to the plans for the first
Death Star,” while The Jedi Academy Sourcebook mentions that it “processed millions of political, economic, and military reports flowing in
from all of the vast domains of the Empire” and that “anyone gaining access to the information center could actually rewrite the most
important official Imperial records” — as being within the Imperial Palace itself; east of the Palace, on the site of the late Prince Xizor of
Falleen’s castle, was the Imperial Security Operations building, and an intercepted report by Imperial Intelligence quoted in the Imperial
Sourcebook, Second Edition adds that the Imperial Security Bureau Central Office is a “mammoth complex in Imperial City .” The Shadows of
the Empire Sourcebook mentions the Imperial Ministry of Land Management as being in Imperial City, and it is quite probable that most of
the Government ministries were headquartered there. Likewise it is highly probable that the Imperial High Command, as well as Navy
Command and Army Command, was also located on the planet (as suggested by the fact that the High Command barricaded itself in the Palace
with Ashen). The fall of Imperial Center would simultaneously be the loss of almost the entire infrastructure of the Imperial State, including
countless, irreplaceable records and files of diplomatic, defense, state security, intelligence, and financial matters. Two of the Imperial Army’s
finest commanders were lost during the battle, along with the entire remaining High Command. The Jedi Academy Sourcebook points out that
the New Republic had captured the Imperial Information Center intact, because “a power failure during the siege of Imperial City cut off the
air supply and power to the sealed center as the techs labored to wipe the computers.” No more than a fraction of the sensitive data on
Imperial Center could have been properly disposed of before the planet’s fall; indeed, it is specifically said that the New Republic gained
access to “important economic information on the worlds of the former Empire,” as well as “ultra-secure diplomatic codes still in use in the
Imperial Core” (still in use as late as 45 rS) and “organizational charts for intelligence operations running on Coruscant and other worlds.”
From the perspective of operational security, the successful capture of the Imperial Information Center alone was a catastrophe of
indescribable proportions.
Furthermore, quite apart from its strategic value as the Imperial State’s center of operations, Imperial Center was a symbol of galactic
civilization and authority. Wedge’s Gamble claims that “taking Coruscant would confer upon the New Republic a legitimacy it had not yet
earned in the eyes of much of the Empire’s citizenry,” and that without it many regarded the Alliance as being little different from the rogue
warlords and various other secessionist states. “Who’s Who: Imperial Grand Admirals” even mentions that Makati had been loyal to
“whomever ruled Coruscant’s Imperial City,” a sentiment repeated in The Bacta War, which remarks that although “a few brave individuals
declared themselves Warlords as soon as they heard of the Emperor’s death,” “a fair number of military leaders and politicians proclaimed
their loyalty to the Empire until Coruscant fell” (curiously, it is also claimed that the self-styled High Admiral Teradoc, having spent most of
his career in Rimward duty stations, “remained nominally loyal to the Empire until Coruscant fell,” contradicting his known desertion
immediately after the battle; perhaps his warlord state maintained a sort of informal alliance with the Imperial State). The fall of Imperial
Center in early 42 rS was a major loss to the Imperial State, far more severe than the fall of Brentaal. Just as Brentaal served as the catalyst for
the fall of the Grand Vizier’s regency, Imperial Center prompted the collapse of Isard’s. Immediately after the fall of Imperial Center, the
absentee dictatrix — who had all but vanished even before the disaster had happened — lost control of the Imperial State, and with it, the
Empire. She remained hidden in Lusankya on Imperial Center itself — now renamed Coruscant by the triumphant Alliance — while a coalition
took her place at the head of the Imperial State, according to Solo Command. In the absence of Isard’s dominating personality and unity of
command, the Empire’s fortunes took a turn for the worse, and plunged headlong into a humiliating period of chaos and confusion. The iron-
fisted dictatorship of Ysanne Isard had ended, to be replaced by the politicking and in-fighting of the heterogeneous Emperor’s Ruling Circle.
It has been said that there are two ways to fight a war, by generalissimo or by committee; the former leads to victory, the latter to defeat. The
Imperial State was now in the hands of a committee.
See also:
independent states and rogue warlords proliferated throughout the galaxy, the rebel Alliance grew rapidly in size and span, and the galactic
economy faltered. By the time Isard seized power as a nominal regent or interrex in mid-39 rS, the Empire had lost control of almost all of the
Outer Rim Territories Region in the Phoney War, as well as a wedge of space reaching Coreward as far as Brentaal IV (Bormea Sector, Core
Worlds). The mass defections of rogue warlords and would-be empereurs en petit further fractured the Empire and reduced its territorial
holdings and resources; The Bacta War mentions that the greatest number of rogue warlords defected from Imperial service during Isard’s
regency, and in “Recon & Report: The Journey to Coruscant,” the notional author Dirk Harkness (of the independent anti-Imperial insurgency
group Black Curs) specifies that these warlord states were concentrated in the Expansion, Inner Rim, and especially the Mid-Rim Regions,
and warlord states are known to have claimed “key industrial worlds” (e.g., Balmorra, a major industrial world in the Core and home to Kuat
Drive Yards’ primary AT-ST factories as well as other military vehicles and combat automata, declared its independence in 40 rS under
Governor Beltane, as mentioned in The Essential Guide to Planets and Moons and Dark Empire II). Notable rogue warlords include the rivals
Supreme Warlord Harrsk near the Deep Core, High Admiral Teradoc in the Mid-Rim, Admiral Gaen Drommel, Grand Moff Governor Ardus
Kaine’s Pentastar Alignment in the Outer Rim, Moff Governor Par Lankin’s Lambda Sector, and rival Moff Governors Eyrgin and Prentioch
in Wornal Sector. Most significant is the self-styled Imperial Warlord Zsinj, whose conquests are said to amount to one-third of the galaxy by
the Rebellion Era Sourcebook.
Matters were complicated by the fact that the Alliance and the independent Black Curs resistance movement sabotaged much of Imperial
Center’s HoloNet communications systems and other parts of the intragalactic communications network, according to Harkness in “Recon &
Report: The Journey to Coruscant”; this is believed to have encouraged the increase in rogue warlordism, in addition to damaging
communications, command, and control between the Imperial State and its far-flung military and naval forces (an unanticipated side-effect to
this tactic is that a number of worlds which depended heavily on the Imperial State’s long-range communications monopoly in the absence of
functioning subspace communications networks were left completely isolated). The Empire was spread out and its forces diffuse, with a much
more concentrated opposition already possessing a beachhead in Bormea Sector within the Core Worlds Region (despite the fall of Brentaal,
the Imperial State held onto part of the Sector).
Isard evidently decided that the best way to deal with this situation was to consolidate the Imperial State’s forces around strategically vital
territories. Hence, she immediately ordered complete withdrawal of all military, naval, diplomatic, and bureaucratic personnel from countless
“worlds of lesser strategic importance.” In “Recon & Report: The Journey to Coruscant” (dated six months after the Battle of Endor, i.e., at
the same time as Isard’s coup d’état), Harkness describes the immediate effects of Isard’s synchronization policy (Harkness is evidently
unaware of her seizure of power and attributes it to “the Imperial Advisors who have assumed the Emperor’s role on Coruscant”). Concurrent
with the Imperial State’s withdrawal, factories and shipyards were shut down or scuttled and infrastructure was destroyed (Imperial engineers
dismantled factories and shipped major components and raw materials to more centrally located sites, to construct new factories elsewhere).
Installations and outposts in the Mid-Rim and Expansion Regions were particularly targeted for evacuation and withdrawal, explaining the
increase in rogue warlordism in those Regions. With galactic shipping having been badly shaken by the fall of Brentaal IV, the Imperial State’s
withdrawal meant that it was no longer profitable for major shipping firms to continue servicing many worlds throughout those territories
abandoned by the Imperial State, causing massive supply shortfalls throughout those territories. Worlds freed of the Imperial State’s control
were simultaneously “freed” of its business (e.g., feeding, clothing, and billeting Imperial personnel, provisioning Imperial military and naval
units, providing goods and services to personnel on liberty), and global economies plummeted into deep recession. As an example, “A
Campaign Guide to the Centrality” mentions that the Centrality, a former Imperial client state found between Hutt Space and the Cron Drift
in the Outer Rim Territories Region, suffered a major blow to its mining and agricultural industries after “the loss of the Empire’s huge
appetite.” Economic conditions throughout the Imperial State’s abandoned holdings in the Mid-Rim and the Expansion Region declined.
Some worlds were left without any government at all, and no protection from “warlords and independent marauders.” Economic conditions
were worsened by the takeover of warlord states, which imposed unfair and restrictive taxes (even relative to the Imperial State) on the
populations and commandeered planetary resources for their own war machines. Furthermore, the breakdown in galactic central authority and
coordinated naval force created an ideal environment for interstellar piracy, and in “Recon & Report: The Journey to Coruscant” Harkness
indicates that it became common practice for rogue warlords to use small fleets composed of lighter ships (“Carrack-class cruisers, Strike
cruisers, system patrol craft and Dreadnaughts”) in conjunction with one or two Star Destroyers to raid interstellar commerce and “supply
stations, factories and shipyards which provide resources unavailable in a warlord’s home sector.” Consequently, it became increasingly risky
to ship goods or raw materials (“rawmats”) to worlds or independent states that could not effectively patrol their space. The breakdown of
the Imperial State’s grip on its outlying territories brought commerce — the lifeblood of economy — grinding to a halt, as many of the major
shipping lines cut back service (having been affiliated with the Trade Federation in the old days, many of the major shipping lines became part
of the Imperial State’s merchant marine when the TradeFed was Imperialized early in the Imperial era, according to starwars.com’s Databank
entry “Mungo Baobab”).
Having withdrawn enormous amounts of military and naval assets from the Outer Rim, Mid-Rim, and Expansion Regions, Isard now had the
ability to redeploy those forces — “about half the remaining Imperial naval forces,” according to Harkness in “Recon & Report: The Journey
to Coruscant” — to defend key systems throughout the Core, Colonies, and Inner Rim Regions, primarily major shipyards, manufacturing and
heavy industry sites, and high-productivity agriculture worlds, but also strategic jump-points, communications centers, and commercial ports;
she also ordered the patrol of certain systems with “little strategic value” but of great symbolic importance (e.g., the Grand Vizier had ordered
the complete interdiction of Chandrila in Bormea Sector, and Isard evidently neglected to reassign the seven Imperial Star Destroyers deployed
to hold Chandrila hostage against a possible Alliance attack on Imperial Center). The Dark Empire Sourcebook states that as a result of this
policy, “vast regions of space were left defenseless as the Core systems were transformed into fortress worlds.”
Corellian and Kuat Sectors were heavily reinforced in order to protect the Corellian Engineering Corporation (CEC)’s and KDY’s stardocks
and shipyards. According to Harkness, at least fifteen Imperial Star Destroyers were deployed to Kuat and 25 to Corellia, in addition to
“numerous smaller vessels — Dreadnaughts, Strike cruisers, and Interdictors,” subjecting all ships entering either system to boarding and
thorough searches; other shipyard facilities throughout the Sectors were also fortified with smaller naval forces ranging from two to five
Imperial Star Destroyers and “numerous smaller naval vessels.” In particular, Admiral Roek’s Super Star Destroyer HIMS Aggressor and her
escort squadron of five Imperial Star Destroyers (cf. Darth Vader’s Death Squadron) were recalled and sent to Corellia, where the ruling
Diktat’s government was little more than the Isard regime’s puppet state. The Imperial State also reinforced Kelada, a major repulsorlift and
walker component factory world and site of an enormous Arakyd Industries repulsorcraft assembly factory; Isard assigned ten Imperial Star
Destroyers and “a myriad of smaller support craft” to defend Kelada, and construction of repulsorlift and walker systems increased
substantially to compensate for the loss of Balmorra’s facilities. Efforts were made to improve security on key agricultural worlds, including
the installation of Moff Gegren Throsen as head of Salliche Ag Corporation and its eighteen major agricultural worlds in the Core Worlds
Region (e.g., Salliche, Yulant, Ruan, and Broest), each of which was assigned two Imperial Star Destroyers for defensive and (as necessary)
occupational operations. However, Isard’s regime decided not to significantly reinforce the Sluis Sector despite the presence of major
shipyards like the Sluis Van stardocks and the Sector’s proximity to Alliance-held/Alliance-influenced territories, finding that the Imperial
State’s status as providing 90% of Sluissi business was adequate to guarantee Sluissi loyalty; one or two Imperial Star Destroyers were
ordered to each major facility, with “maybe four” assigned to defend the Sluis Van yards.
In The Essential Chronology, the New Republic Historical Council describes Admiral Ackbar leading an aggressive campaign pushing into
Imperial territory eight months after the Battle of Endor (i.e., two months after the start of the Isard regency), possibly in response to
suggestions made by Harkness in his report to New Republic Intelligence (NRI) regarding Isard’s fortification projects. Isard, concerned that
this campaign — which appears to have been the occasion of the Empire’s hard-fought rear-guard action at Notak in Before the Storm — might
be a prelude to a campaign on Imperial Center itself, “recalled hundreds of Star Destroyers to defend the capital planet and other key Core
Worlds,” i.e., she expanded her current policy of transforming the Empire into a interstellar fortress. Three weeks after the engagement at
Notak, Black Sword Command received orders to withdraw from the Koornacht Cluster in the Kokash and Farlax Sectors, and, per standard
operating procedure, to destroy whatever infrastructure could not be evacuated; the ordered withdrawal from Koornacht did not happen, and a
number of Imperial warships, including the Super Star Destroyer HIMS Intimidator, fell into Yevethan hands (the Imperial State mistakenly
believed that these forces were destroyed at Cal-Seti, “several sectors away” according to the Historical Council). At the same time, eight
months after the Battle of Endor, the chronically depressed Grand Admiral Ishin-Il-Raz, devoted Palpatinist and one of the founders of
COMPNOR, committed suicide by plunging his flagship HIMS Emperor’s Disciple into the Denarii Nova, according to “Who’s Who:
Imperial Grand Admirals” and The Essential Chronology. It is possible that Grand Admiral Danetta Pitta took advantage of the confusion of
Ackbar’s attack to bribe the Diktat and set himself up as de facto ruler and “protector” of the increasingly isolationist Corellian Sector, as
described in “Who’s Who: Imperial Grand Admirals” (unfortunately without providing a date); this presumably prompted Roek to go rogue
rather than return to Isard and account for his failure to hold the Sector, although this is not stated.
Having bulwarked the Empire against further aggression from the Alliance or warlord states for the time being, Isard faced a number of internal
problems. The huge (and overhead-free) gambling revenues derived from the Commonality had ceased to benefit the Imperial State earlier in
the year, as the Commonality had become independent when the Empire lost the Outer Rim in the Phoney War, according to Geonosis and the
Outer Rim Worlds. The Dark Empire Sourcebook indicates that the Corporate Sector Authority, a client state whose annual tribute to the
Imperial State supplied enormous sums of credits and valuable strategic materials, declared its independence and ended the Imperial State’s
privileged status. The same sources indicates that Lianna, homeworld of Santhe/Sienar Technologies (SST), the parent corporation of Sienar
Fleet Systems (SFS) — one of the Empire’s primary defense contractors — also declared its independence. Rather than risk losing both
altogether — as had happened with Balmorra and Balmorran Arms, which now sold its SD-6, SD-7, and SD-8 robotic infantry soldiers to the
Alliance of Free Planets, according to The Essential Guide to Droids — Isard allowed them both to slip quietly into full independence, with
the conditio sine qua non that both continue to do business with the Imperial State. Nevertheless, the loss of revenues seriously hurt the
Imperial State, and the diplomatic embarrassment of formally granting independence (a repudiation of the opposition to Separatism that was
once the raison d’être of the Galactic Empire) only encouraged secessionism . Still, it seems overall that Isard’s firm leadership was
nevertheless able to stabilize the disintegration of the Empire proper.
There was also the issue of the stormtrooper shortage. During the height of the Empire, the precise origin of the majority of the Imperial
Marines remained shrouded in mystery. Certainly, exceptional officer cadets and enlisted recruits were trained at the Military Academy and
boot camps of Carida, but this cannot have accounted for more than a mere fraction of the vast legions of Imperial stormtroopers. It was
evidently a well-kept state secret that at least 40% of stormtroopers were in fact clones (“GeNodes”), belonging to a number of different
templates, according to “Pax Empirica — The Wookiee Annhilation,” which identifies at least four templates. GeNodes were decanted fully
grown and immediately invented elaborate personalities and histories for themselves, having names and thinking they have families; they
recognized that others were clones, but were apparently unable to realize that they themselves were clones. “Soldiers of the Empire!”
describes a different procedure, without accelerated growth, which creates clones that do not have names and know that they are clones.
Significantly, “Pax Empirica — The Wookiee Annihilation” states that no GeNode has ever left the service, while “Soldiers of the Empire!”
indicates that the Imperial State maintains a “Troopers’ Rest camp on the holiday planet of Sochi” for retired clones. Cracken’s Threat
Dossier describes an immediate and unaccountable shortage of stormtroopers taking place after the Battle of Endor; the Heir to the Empire
Sourcebook mentions speculation that “perhaps the secret to training and recruiting the men inside the armor was lost with the Emperor and
his senior officers.” In The New Essential Chronology, the Historical Council notes that “in the five years since the Empire’s defeat at Endor,
the cloning technology that had once produced legions of stormtroopers had vanished, made useless by dwindling resources or destroyed
outright in accordance with Emperor Palpatine’s posthumous orders.” The Imperial State’s solution was to simply outfit Imperial Army
soldiers in the Imperial Marines’ distinctive white armor, so as to avoid a public perception of a waning Empire (although rarely permanently
stationed on planet, the white-armored stormtroopers, along with the TIE fighter and the Imperial Star Destroyer, were ubiquitous symbols of
the Imperial State’s might; such a symbol could not be allowed to lapse).
The quiescence of the Emperor’s Ruling Circle did not mean that Isard’s regime was free of rivals. Although she still commanded the loyalty
of three of the Galactic Emperor’s grand admirals — Grand Admiral Afsheen Makati and Grand Admiral Miltin Takel are said to have been
Loyalists by “Who’s Who: Imperial Grand Admirals,” and Isard herself indirectly indicates that Grand Admiral Thrawn is a Loyalist in
Wedge’s Gamble — a fourth member of the “Circle of Twelve,” Grand Admiral Josef Grunger, now claimed to be the legitimate ruler of the
Imperial State and the Galactic Empire. According to “Who’s Who: Imperial Grand Admirals,” Grunger had been supervising operations at
Gargon in the Mandalore Sector when he had received word of the Galactic Emperor’s death, and promptly became a rogue warlord and
established his supreme headquarters at Gargon, using his personal prestige to amass “within a year” (i.e., by 40 rS) a considerable armada,
including Roek’s HIMS Aggressor, along with thirty Imperial Star Destroyers and Victory Star Destroyers, sixty Strike cruisers, a hundred
Carrack light cruisers, and “various miscellaneous vessels.” Isard ordered Takel to retake Gargon, which had previously been his base of
operations — in fact, Grunger had seized Takel’s task force from his second in command while Takel had been at Endor as an observer — ,
but he repeatedly failed, and was under threat of execution. Presumably, the Warlord Zsinj was still busily expanding his holdings.
Six months after Isard’s seizure of power, in early 40 rS, one of Isard’s earlier schemes was beginning to backfire. She and the Grand Vizier
had conspired to establish the Church of the Dark Side to “help certain moffs retain power,” but the Church’s leaders were becoming
increasingly uncooperative and independent-willed. Additionally, several Grand Moff Governors — possibly the same ones that Isard had
created the Church to support — had been plotting to usurp control of the Imperial State from her. Grand Moff Bertroff Hissa, Grand Moff
Dunhausen, Grand Moff Muzzer, and Grand Moff Thistleborn formed the Central Committee of Grand Moffs and openly defied Isard by
calling a general convocation at Kessendra Stadium on Kessel (note that Hissa’s opening remarks in The Glove of Darth Vader imply that the
Central Committee existed before the Battle of Endor, but “Who’s Who: Imperial Grand Admirals” is very clear that it was formed afterward,
with Hissa as chair). There, the Central Committee declared the truth of the old rumors that the Galactic Emperor had a three-eyed son, and
announced that they would support his “right” to the Imperial Throne (the Dark Empire Sourcebook indicates that there was no
constitutional mechanism of any kind providing for succession, so strictly speaking there was no right of succession and therefore no heir
apparent). As their candidate for the Throne, the Central Committee put forward Trioculus, the ruthless Lord Overseer and Supreme Slavelord
of Kessel; he was in fact a pretender.
Reaction was mixed. One grand admiral — who has been identified as Takel, having fled from Isard following his failure to capture Gargon, but
who visually resembles Makati, a known Loyalist (note that Hissa’s keynote address mentions “grand admirals” as being in attendance) —
brought up Grunger’s claim of being the Empire’s legitimate ruler, and a Royal Guardsman who had converted to the Church of the Dark Side
questioned Trioculus’s right of succession without having received the Supreme Prophet’s “Dark Blessing.” Trioculus responded by
seemingly unleashing Sith lightning on both objectors, and in so doing convinced most of the attendants of the convocation — visually seen to
be larger than the old stone Senate Hall of the old Republic in Tales of the Jedi: The Sith War — that he was in fact the Galactic Emperor’s
son; they agreed to support the Legitimist pretender. Although the Central Committee and the new supporters from the convocation —
including Takel — provided an enormous power base for Trioculus’s pretensions, including territory seized by Committee member Moff
Disra from the late Rufaan Tigellinus (former grand admiral and Grand Moff Governor of the Core Worlds according to “Who’s Who: Imperial
Grand Admirals”), the majority of the Empire and the Armed Forces remained in Loyalist hands, supporting Isard’s regime, according to the
New Republic Historical Council in The Essential Chronology.
Trioculus’s powerful supporters in the Legitimist faction could not protect him from his own poor judgment and bad luck. “His Dark
Lordship” (as he preferred to be styled) received tentative pledges of support from Grunger and even COMPNOR, provided that he secure
the Supreme Prophet’s “Dark Blessing,” which the Supreme Prophet would give only to the holder of the glove of Darth Vader. Trioculus
promptly squandered his chances with a series of blunders that seemed calculated to make him appear as incompetent as humanly possible.
Among these blunders were the summary execution of Takel — the greatest commander among his partisans — because he had spoken out of
turn at a meeting with the Central Committee, and a growing infatuation with the Princess Leia of Alderaan, a high-profile leader of the rebel
Alliance. In The Essential Chronology, the Historical Council states that Isard took advantage of this infatuation by arranging for the escape of
Zorba Desilijic Tiure (alias Zorba the Hutt) from prison on Kip in Zorba the Hutt’s Revenge; the Princess Leia had killed Zorba’s offspring
Jabba Desilijic Tiure (alias Jabba the Hutt) in early 39 rS in Return of the Jedi, and Zorba’s consequent desire for revenge could not help but
bring him into conflict with the would-be “Emperor Trioculus.” The two did indeed come into conflict in a series of farcical events that
resulted in Trioculus’s emergence from Cloud City on Bespin encased in carbonite. Even that did not put an end to the three-eyed pretender’s
blundering, and his last mistake was to attempt to marry the Princess Leia; unbeknownst to him, the real Princess had been replaced by a
human replica ‘droid, and it shot and killed him during the wedding ceremony in Queen of the Empire.
Isard’s ploy and action by the Alliance had successfully put an end to the Legitimist pretensions. Unfortunately, the increasingly ambitious
Church of the Dark Side stepped into the fray. The Supreme Prophet — actually an Imperial Intelligence-sponsored charlatan impersonating
the Galactic Emperor’s personal counselor (and former Master Jedi) Kadann, Supreme Prophet of the Dark Side — renounced his “Dark
Blessing” on Trioculus, appropriated the glove of Darth Vader for himself, and declared that the new ruler of the Empire was to be “the Dark
One of ancient times,” for whom he would speak and act as executor in Prophets of the Dark Side. The leadership of the Church promptly
tried and convicted the Central Committee members of high treason, and sentenced them all to death (the creatively cruel and unusual
sentences were not actually carried out), annexing as much of their holdings as possible.
According to the Historical Council in The Essential Chronology, Isard was more concerned by this time with the Alliance’s three-month-long
ground campaign for control of the manufacturing world Milagro, located at a strategic hyperspace route junction, and was profoundly
annoyed by this latest development in the Trioculus Affair. She ordered one of her two remaining grand admirals, Afsheen Makati, to deal
with the Church of the Dark Side’s leadership; according to “Who’s Who: Imperial Grand Admirals,” Makati entertained a cordial hatred of
the real Supreme Prophet stemming from an incident during Makati’s attack on a rebel base on Thila during which the Supreme Prophet
humiliated him in front of his crew. According to the same source, while the pseudo-Supreme Prophet was trapped in the Lost City of the
Jedi on Yavin IV (where he had been left in Prophets of the Dark Side), Makati tracked down the Church’s headquarters aboard Space Station
Scardia in the Null Zone with help from the real Supreme Prophet’s former apprentice and bodyguard Azrakel (from The Dark Side
Sourcebook), and killed all of the remaining Church leaders. When the pseudo-Supreme Prophet returned to Space Station Scardia, Makati
destroyed it with long-range turbolaserfire. Isard brought the Trioculus Affair to a satisfying conclusion by executing the Central Committee
and stamping out the last vestiges of the Legitimist party; it should be noted, however, that one member of the Central Committee, Moff
Governor Disra, was not executed, as he remained in power as Governor of Braxant Sector in the Imperial remnants as late as the events of
Specter of the Past, set in 54 rS.
This personal success for Isard was matched by a number of setbacks for the Imperial State. The Imperial Army’s position on Milagro had
become untenable, and Isard ordered a Base Delta Zero operation, which Rear Admiral (Retired) Michael Unther defined in “A World to
Conquer” as “the Imperial code order to destroy all population centers and resources, including industry, natural resources, and cities.” The
execution of this order cost the Empire all access to Milagro’s manufacturing facilities — an economic and logistical loss not to be taken
lightly, even by an Empire with entire worlds like Metalorn from “A Princess Alone!” devoted to rawmat mining, industry, and
manufacturing; however, consistent with Isard’s policy of denying resources to the Alliance, the operation also prevented the Alliance from
benefiting from their victory over the Imperials in the campaign. At about this time, Makati was himself killed, and the Alliance executed
Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik — captured a year earlier at the Battle of Endor, according to “Who’s Who: Imperial Grand Admirals” — for
crimes against sapience, possibly in retaliation for the destruction of Milagro. Inquisitor Jerec, a former Jedi Master and distinguished
archaeological expert on the ancient Sith and other Force-related societies, took his dark Jedi disciples and rallied corporate sponsors in Ardus
Kaine’s Pentastar Alignment — Jerec and a number of other Inquisitors had allied with the Pentastar Alignment after the Galactic Emperor’s
death, becoming a Great InQuestor of Judgment according to “The Dark Forces Saga, Part 6: Outcasts and Megalomaniacs Welcome” — for
his search for the fabled Lost Valley of the Jedi, part of a plot to apotheosize himself and rule a vast new empire created in his own image as
seen in Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II. All the while Zsinj continued to expand his empire. According to The Essential Chronology and the Dark
Empire Sourcebook, a brutal campaign in the Inner Rim came to a bloody end at the Battle of Mindor, less than six months after Milagro’s
reduction (i.e., late 40 rS to early 41 rS); stormtroopers under Lord Shadowspawn fought to the death against the Alliance’s General Luke
Skywalker, whose victory “The History of the Mandalorians” attributes to crucial assistance from the Mandalorian Protectors (Skywalker
resigned his commission afterward in dismay over the bloodshed). And to add insult to injury, Grand Admiral Grant, the Tapani aristocrat
(probably a member of House Melantha) who had been left with no power base after the Battle of Endor and had promptly taken sanctuary in
Ardus Kaine’s Pentastar Alignment, defected to the Alliance in 41 rS, taking amnesty in exchange for military secrets and retiring to Rathalay
as the so-called “Last Grand Admiral,” according to The Essential Chronology and “Who’s Who: Imperial Grand Admirals.”
One of the few consolations of this period was that, shortly after Teshik’s execution (but necessarily before Grant’s defection) according to
“Who’s Who: Imperial Grand Admirals,” Grunger had swaggered into Corellian Sector in an attempt to use it as a staging point for an assault
on Imperial Center; he had come into open conflict with Pitta, and the spectacular clash of the grand admirals in the Battle of Tralus — only
the second time grand admirals had ever faced each other in battle — resulted in the complete annihilation of both, with Grunger’s Aggressor
and Pitta’s torpedo sphere destroying one another in the end.. A bare two years after the Battle of Endor, only Thrawn remained of the
Galactic Emperor’s famous Circle of Twelve (Grand Admiral Nial Declann had been killed aboard the second Death Star at Endor according to
“Who’s Who: Imperial Grand Admirals,” and The Essential Chronology claims that “grand admirals” had died in the explosion, which must
refer to another, still unknown grand admiral — probably Tigellinus’s replacement — and the New Republic must have believed at one point
that three grand admirals died aboard the Death Star, explaining their failure to account for the twelfth grand admiral; Grand Admiral Martio
Batch had been assassinated early on by his second in command, a partisan of the late Admiral Sarn who took Batch’s task force to join
Harrsk’s pocket empire near the Deep Core). Presumably Corellian Sector returned to its previous condition of a quasi-satellite state of the
Imperial State, with the Diktat again becoming a puppet of Isard, as this is the condition it is said by The Essential Guide to Planets and
Moons and Coruscant and the Core Worlds to have retained until the Diktat’s eventual replacement by a New Republic governor general; it is
possible that the Diktat’s poor taste in having allowed Pitta to take control prompted the gradual erosion of his power by the dictatorial Triad
of Sacorria, which Isard may have regarded as being more trustworthy, given that they had not been bribed by Pitta.
Nevertheless, despite losses of prestigious leaders, diplomatic debacles, and commercial and economic turbulence, Isard’s firm hand had
steadied the tottering Imperial State, and the Empire remained the dominant power of the galaxy, holding the Core Worlds, the Inner Rim, and
the majority of settled planets, according to The Essential Chronology. Despite the increasing prevalence of rogue warlordism, secessionism,
piracy, and the Alliance’s steady growth, the Empire retained the upper hand in the more-or-less Cold War, occupying a central position in
the galaxy and controlling the galaxy’s largest industrial, agricultural, and technological production centers. Isard’s policy of centralization and
consolidation, although probably substantially reducing the power of the Moff Governors — Isard’s new deployments were made at the
Imperial level, disregarding the traditional Sector-based defense posture in favor of synchronization — , served to strengthen the Empire’s
hold on its remaining territories. Logistically, the Empire’s position was also unmatched; all of its territorial holdings were relatively close to
its industrial and logistical base, and resources could be easily moved within its boundaries from one end to the other (if the Alliance wanted to
ship something from one end of its territories to the other, it would be required to make several hyperspace jumps around the Imperial
holdings at the center of the galaxy). The Imperial State also had unity of command; Isard’s autocratic rule tolerated no bickering over policy,
and decisions were made by fiat rather than by vote like in the Alliance’s Provisional Council. Despite the loss of the grand admirals —
Thrawn was still operating in the Unknown Regions, and was therefore of limited immediate value — Isard retained the services of the
formidable Grand General Malcor Brashin, seen in Force Commander, and General Tal Ashen, one of the Galactic Emperor’s favorite
generals, seen in Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns.
After many months of relative stalemate in the Cold War, the Alliance had decided on a campaign to seize Imperial Center itself, bypassing the
Empire’s fortified industrial base and hoping to knock the Imperial State itself out of the war. As part of this strategy, Imperial defector and
Rogue Squadron pilot Captain Tycho Celchu was sent on a reconnaissance mission to Imperial Center, but the scribe explains in The New
Essential Guide to Characters that he was captured “several months after Jerec’s death” and sent to Lusankya by Isard. The Essential
Chronology states that the Alliance nevertheless adopted a “stepping stone” strategy, capturing minor planets in series within Imperial space
to provide strategic jump points and bypassing well-defended planets and Sectors; part of this strategy was the reformation of Rogue
Squadron, which The New Essential Guide to Characters dates to “nearly a year” after “approximately one and a half years after Endor” (i.e.,
mid-41 rS). Seen in Rogue Squadron and The Essential Chronology, one of the most significant of the operations in this campaign was the
capture of Borleias, a small and relatively obscure outpost in the Colonies which provided a strategic jump point for the final assault on
Imperial Center itself. For her part, Isard had already determined that she would not fight to retain Imperial Center. Even before the fall of
Borleias, she recalled the post’s commanding general, a gifted botanist and virologist named General Evir Derricote, to Imperial Center in order
to prepare her “parting gift” to the Alliance: the Krytos virus, a carefully engineered contagion that could infect only nonhuman species and
could be treated only by Bacta. The Essential Chronology places Derricote’s work in the time period “6.5 - 7 years A.B.Y.” (i.e., 41 - 42 rS),
but The New Essential Guide to Characters specifies that it happened “three years after Endor” (42 rS), meaning that his work was completed
just as the year was winding down. The Krytos virus was immediately introduced to Imperial Center’s water supply, and Isard herself
disappeared to Lusankya — actually a Super Star Destroyer, HIMS Lusankya, built by KDY at the same time that Fondor Yards had
constructed HIMS Executor and hidden in the Imperial City, as seen in The Krytos Trap — and conducted business on Imperial Center via
holographic proxy. She then set about arranging for the planet to fall into the Alliance’s hands.
Admiral Ackbar described Imperial Center’s defenses in Wedge’s Gamble as centering on a set of “overlapping defense shields,” whose
geometry was arranged so that at no point was any part of the planet exposed by an opening in either shield. This primary defense was
supplemented by “Golan Space Defense stations,” which are said to be “comparable in power to a Star Destroyer,” augmented by “seven
Victory-class Star Destroyers,” “ground-based fighter groups,” and “fighter wings stationed in and around the ships, shipyards, and orbital
factories,” with the possibility that “orbital mirror stations and low-orbit skyhooks may have also been armed” (the Prince Xizor of Falleen’s
skyhook Falleen’s Fist was seen to be armed in Shadows of the Empire). Force Commander adds a sensor network on the planet itself which
is said to be able to detect and destroy any large amphibious landing force; Imperial Center’s second moon, Centax 1, had been converted to a
military staging base during the Clone War of 13 - 16 rS according to Jedi Trial, and it is unknown whether or not these facilities remained in
use in the Imperial era. Certainly, it is known from Pollux Hax’s description in The Illustrated Star Wars Universe that Imperial Center was
home to “spidery docking and starship repair yards” that “ride high above the planet, providing reconditioning facilities for the largest of
spaceliners”; the same source mentions that “spherical self-contained colony vessels, Imperial Star Destroyers, and huge luxury yachts are
built in the space-dock centers.” In any event, the Alliance’s latest intelligence indicated that HIMS Emperor’s Will and HIMS Imperator,
Imperial Star Destroyers with formidable reputations, were deployed to defend Imperial Center; instead, when Ackbar’s fleet arrived, it was
met only by HIMS Triumph and HIMS Monarch, Imperial Star Destroyers with only mediocre reputations. Imperial Center’s shields were
brought down by fifth-columnist action on the part of Rogue Squadron in Wedge’s Gamble, and a medium-sized amphibious force led by
General Brenn Tantor — a defected Imperial Marine officer — eliminated the sensor network in Force Commander, paving the way for the
main body under General Rand Talor to land in the Imperial City itself in Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns.
The Imperial forces were commanded by Isard’s Loyalist generals Brashin and Ashen, Brashin having concentrated his efforts on Tantor’s
forces, and Ashen on Talor’s. As the battle progressed, both forces retreated toward the Imperial Palace; Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone
Campaigns states that the remnants of the Imperial High Command joined Ashen in his last stand in the Palace. Evidently both Brashin and
Ashen lost their fights against the Alliance’s separate forces, as Children of the Jedi includes the Princess Leia’s memory of “the day the
Rebels had taken Coruscant,” which included the fact that the Palace “had been shelled hard and partially looted,” with “Rebel partisans
having killed whichever members of the Court they could catch.” The Princess Leia listed among these casualties “the President of the Bureau
of Punishments,” “the head of the Emperor’s School of Torturers,” “the court clothing designer,” and “any number of minor and completely
innocent servants of all ages, species, and sexes”; it is entirely possible that Brashin, Ashen, and the other officers of the High Command were
also lynched during this apparent loss of control over the Alliance’s troops. This would certainly explain why neither man is ever mentioned
or heard from again in the Expanded Universe, despite their prestige and importance.
Coruscant and the Core Worlds mentions the War Room, the Admiral’s Office, the Crypt (a “computer slicing and decoding center”), and the
ultra-sensitive Imperial Information Center — said to have contained “everything from ancient hyperspace maps to the plans for the first
Death Star,” while The Jedi Academy Sourcebook mentions that it “processed millions of political, economic, and military reports flowing in
from all of the vast domains of the Empire” and that “anyone gaining access to the information center could actually rewrite the most
important official Imperial records” — as being within the Imperial Palace itself; east of the Palace, on the site of the late Prince Xizor of
Falleen’s castle, was the Imperial Security Operations building, and an intercepted report by Imperial Intelligence quoted in the Imperial
Sourcebook, Second Edition adds that the Imperial Security Bureau Central Office is a “mammoth complex in Imperial City .” The Shadows of
the Empire Sourcebook mentions the Imperial Ministry of Land Management as being in Imperial City, and it is quite probable that most of
the Government ministries were headquartered there. Likewise it is highly probable that the Imperial High Command, as well as Navy
Command and Army Command, was also located on the planet (as suggested by the fact that the High Command barricaded itself in the Palace
with Ashen). The fall of Imperial Center would simultaneously be the loss of almost the entire infrastructure of the Imperial State, including
countless, irreplaceable records and files of diplomatic, defense, state security, intelligence, and financial matters. Two of the Imperial Army’s
finest commanders were lost during the battle, along with the entire remaining High Command. The Jedi Academy Sourcebook points out that
the New Republic had captured the Imperial Information Center intact, because “a power failure during the siege of Imperial City cut off the
air supply and power to the sealed center as the techs labored to wipe the computers.” No more than a fraction of the sensitive data on
Imperial Center could have been properly disposed of before the planet’s fall; indeed, it is specifically said that the New Republic gained
access to “important economic information on the worlds of the former Empire,” as well as “ultra-secure diplomatic codes still in use in the
Imperial Core” (still in use as late as 45 rS) and “organizational charts for intelligence operations running on Coruscant and other worlds.”
From the perspective of operational security, the successful capture of the Imperial Information Center alone was a catastrophe of
indescribable proportions.
Furthermore, quite apart from its strategic value as the Imperial State’s center of operations, Imperial Center was a symbol of galactic
civilization and authority. Wedge’s Gamble claims that “taking Coruscant would confer upon the New Republic a legitimacy it had not yet
earned in the eyes of much of the Empire’s citizenry,” and that without it many regarded the Alliance as being little different from the rogue
warlords and various other secessionist states. “Who’s Who: Imperial Grand Admirals” even mentions that Makati had been loyal to
“whomever ruled Coruscant’s Imperial City,” a sentiment repeated in The Bacta War, which remarks that although “a few brave individuals
declared themselves Warlords as soon as they heard of the Emperor’s death,” “a fair number of military leaders and politicians proclaimed
their loyalty to the Empire until Coruscant fell” (curiously, it is also claimed that the self-styled High Admiral Teradoc, having spent most of
his career in Rimward duty stations, “remained nominally loyal to the Empire until Coruscant fell,” contradicting his known desertion
immediately after the battle; perhaps his warlord state maintained a sort of informal alliance with the Imperial State). The fall of Imperial
Center in early 42 rS was a major loss to the Imperial State, far more severe than the fall of Brentaal. Just as Brentaal served as the catalyst for
the fall of the Grand Vizier’s regency, Imperial Center prompted the collapse of Isard’s. Immediately after the fall of Imperial Center, the
absentee dictatrix — who had all but vanished even before the disaster had happened — lost control of the Imperial State, and with it, the
Empire. She remained hidden in Lusankya on Imperial Center itself — now renamed Coruscant by the triumphant Alliance — while a coalition
took her place at the head of the Imperial State, according to Solo Command. In the absence of Isard’s dominating personality and unity of
command, the Empire’s fortunes took a turn for the worse, and plunged headlong into a humiliating period of chaos and confusion. The iron-
fisted dictatorship of Ysanne Isard had ended, to be replaced by the politicking and in-fighting of the heterogeneous Emperor’s Ruling Circle.
It has been said that there are two ways to fight a war, by generalissimo or by committee; the former leads to victory, the latter to defeat. The
Imperial State was now in the hands of a committee.
See also:
| This site is for informational and entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement of any kind is intended. Star Wars and related materials are © Lucasfilm Ltd., which reserves all rights thereto. All original material is © Julius Sykes. Please do not use without permission. |
| This article was originally published on 6 February 2005. It was republished on 4 February 2007. The header was generously provided by Mr. Jamie Holm, using a pencil drawing of the Director of Imperial Intelligence done by the author in November 2004. |
