Galactic Empire (Dimensional Universe)

"We are an Empire ruled by the majority! An Empire ruled by a new Constitution! An Empire of laws, not of politicians! An Empire devoted to the preservation of a just society. Of a safe and secure society! We are an Empire that will stand for ten thousand years!"

―Galactic Emperor Palpatine

The Galactic Empire, also known as the New Order, the Old Empire, the First Galactic Empire, Palpatine's Empire, the Universal Imperium, or simply as The Empire, is the universal government established by Supreme Chancellor Palpatine to replace the Galactic Republic in 19 BBY and bring Sith rule to the Universe.

The Republic, which had lasted intermittently for 25,034 years, ended following a period of intense political turmoil and the devastation of the Clone Wars. After General Grievous was defeated at the Battle of Utapau, and shortly after the leaders of the Confederacy of Independent Dimensions were killed on Mustafar by Darth Vader, Palpatine began a purge of the Jedi Order, declared himself Galactic Emperor (Emperor of the Universe), and reorganized the Galactic Republic into "the first Galactic Empire".

Origin
"We stand on the threshold of a new beginning. In order to ensure our security and continuing stability, the Republic will be reorganized into the first Galactic Empire! This will be for a safe and secure society, which I assure you will last for ten thousand years. An Empire that will continue to be ruled by this august body and a sovereign Emperor, with absolute powers for life."

―Emperor Palpatine, in his Imperial Inaugural Address

The Empire can be said to have begun with the scheming aspiration of the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, whose alter ego was Senator Palpatine of the planet Naboo of the Star Wars dimension. Using the Trade Federation as a pawn to initiate the blockade of Naboo, he used manipulation of the crisis, as well as of Queen Padmé Amidala, to call for a Vote of No Confidence in Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum, and ultimately to become Chancellor himself. When his Sith apprentice, Darth Maul, was killed by Obi-Wan Kenobi on Naboo, Sidious took on the former Jedi Count Dooku as his new apprentice. Count Dooku then joined with the Trade Federation under Viceroy Nute Gunray and several hundred thousand other commercial organizations and dimensional governments to form the Confederacy of Independent Dimensions. This group, known as the Separatists, ignited a war with the Galactic Republic known as the Clone Wars. It was named after the clone troopers used by the Republic.

Palpatine was an efficient and effective leader who quickly brought to an end the great corruption in the Galactic Senate; his power was greatly increased as a result of the Clone Wars as the Senate willingly furnished more and more emergency powers to Palpatine. Eventually, the Senate lost most of its power and became little more than a formality that Palpatine had to go through to pass his laws. Yet the Senate did have a symbolic power at least; Chancellor Palpatine still hid behind the pomp and circumstance of appealing to the Senate, but his power existed in his control over billions of Senators that he had brought into his own web of corruption. However, Anakin Skywalker discovered that Palpatine was a Sith Lord and, after having informed Jedi Master Mace Windu of his discovery, a Jedi task force, led by the Master Windu himself, attempted to arrest him. After a brief duel, Palpatine appeared to be defeated. Skywalker arrived and demanded Windu spare the life of the Sith Lord. Deeply troubled, Skywalker nonetheless helped Palpatine kill Windu, and thus became the Chancellor's new apprentice, Darth Vader. Palpatine then proceeded to carry out the Great Jedi Purge, which eliminated almost all of the millions of Jedi, and had Darth Vader eliminate Viceroy Nute Gunray and the other Separatist leaders on the fiery world of Mustafar, as well de-commission the vast majority of the Separatist armed forces, thus bringing an end to the Confederacy of Independent Dimensions and the Clone Wars in general. Secure in his power and position, Palpatine used the so-called Jedi rebellion to issue the Declaration of a New Order and declared himself Galactic Emperor in 19 BBY.

Many people of the new Empire enthusiastically supported the vision outlined in the Declaration of a New Order, largely due to the violence that had plagued most of the Universe for so long. Several million Senators wholeheartedly supported the new government while a number of several thousand more cautious senators chose to watch and wait to see how the new government would handle the affairs of state. It promised to trade frailty for strength, chaos for order, and uncertainty for decisiveness. In retrospect, the foundation of the Empire had already been set down during Palpatine's chancellorship and all potential threats eliminated; therefore, the transition from Republic to Empire was relatively smooth.

It is important to note that not all of the Senators liked what they saw. In fact, the Petition of 2000 sought to bring the worries of these Senators to Chancellor/Emperor Palpatine. This petition was led by Bail Organa, Mon Mothma, and Padmé Amidala. Palpatine's dismissal of their concerns was one factor that led Organa and Mothma to begin planning a resistance against the Empire.

Imperialization
With the rise of the Galactic Empire, all the institutions of the old Republic found themselves either dismantled or modified beyond recognition. There was a riot of renaming all things "Imperial" to glorify the new Emperor: overnight, the Coruscant Sector was renamed the Imperial Sector, Coruscant itself was renamed Imperial Center, and Universal City was renamed Imperial City. The Galactic Senate became the Imperial Senate. The Grand Army of the Republic became the Imperial Army, while the Republic Navy became the Imperial Navy. The four intelligence agencies of the Republic (Senate Bureau of Intelligence, Republican Intelligence Organization, Chancellors' Intelligence, and the Investigation Bureau of the Republic Library) were combined to form Imperial Intelligence, with former SBI director Armand Isard at it's head. The Presidential Palace was rebuilt and expanded, becoming the Imperial Palace, eclipising all other buildings on Imperial Center. The former Commission for the Protection of the Republic (COMPOR) was renamed the Commission for the Preservation of the New Order (COMPNOR). Within days, there were few names left to remind people there had ever been a Galactic Republic.

During the first few years of the Empire, the Universe saw the single largest military buildup in history. A council of Regional Governors (Moffs) was established to more efficently govern the many regions and dimensions of the Empire. Popular support for the policies of Emperor Palpatine's administration was high.

The dark times
As the Imperialization process unfolded, the Emperor consolidated his power by launching Purges against his opponents, most notably the Old Republic officers, whom he had not been able to seduce to his side. Palpatine's first purge of the Imperial Navy occurred just two weeks into the Empire's rule.

The Emperor saw the respected Caamasi as a threat to his New Order, so he ordered the devestation of their home planet Caamas. A group of Bothan inflitrators were responsible for sabatoging Caamas' shield generators, thus leaving the planet vulernable to Imperial orbital bombardment. The once beautiful world was devestated during the attack, turned into a poisoned wasteland. The peaceful Caamasi were dispersed throughout the Universe. In 18 BBY, the Emperor constructed the huge, asteroid-shaped, and magically resistant superweapon Eye of Palpatine in order to use it to destroy a Jedi enclave at Hogwarts Academy in the Harry Potter dimension. However, the efforts of Jedi Master Plett, Academy Professor Dumbledore, Jedi Knight Callista Ming, and students Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ronald Weasley resulted in the irrepairable sabatoge of the superweapon. The Jedi at Hogwarts were able to escape.

The Empire also committed other acts of brutality across the Universe. About the same time as the sabatoge of Eye of Palpatine, a group of beings on the planet Ghorman in the Star Wars dimension were protesting the tyranny of the Galactic Empire. Moff Willhuff Tarkin's flagship was blocked by peaceful protestors who stood on the ship's landing pad and refused to move. With explicit permission from Emperor Palpatine, Tarkin landed the flagship anyways, killing or injuring hundreds. This came to be known as the Ghorman Massacre. Other acts of tyranny committed by the Galactic Empire included the savage murder of the Admirals of Federation space (semi-autonomous under the Republic, it was completely incoporated into the Empire in 18 BBY), the sabatoge of the computer system of the I-Robot dimension, the massacre of the Betazoid population, the utter destruction of numerous Comical, Animated, and Television dimensions, the brutal "replacement" of numerous dimensional or regional governments, and the enslavement of numerous species across the Universe, including the Vulcans, Andorians, Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians, Dominion Changelings, Jem'Hadar, Vorta, Trill, Voth, Kazons, Gorns, Borg, Mon Calamari, Ewoks, Lurrians, Wookiees, Jawas, Geonosians, Gungans, Kaminoans, and Na'vi.

Many Jedi also rebelled against the Emperor's regime. Padawan Olee Starstone and a group of Order 66 Jedi survivors along with Jedi Master Roan Shyrne attempted to re-establish the Jedi Council but were unsuccessful. The group fled to Kashyyyk to discover any more Jedi survivors, but the Empire launched a massive invasion of the world. Darth Vader killed Roan Shyrne and most of the rest of the Jedi, but Starstone barely escaped with her life. Later on, the Empire bombarded the planet in response to a Wookiee slave rebellion. More then 1 billion Wookiees died in the bombardment, but one slave, Chewbacca, managed to escape the planet. Meanwhile, Jedi Master Ferus Olin, along with a group of his friends including fellow Jedi Master Solace, caused much havoc in Imperial-controlled dimensions. These included a armed rebellion in the Patriot dimension, the provocation of anti-Imperial civil dissent in the Forrest Gump and Gladiator dimensions, the politcal resistance of Imperial-backed puppet rulers Elizabeth I of Elizabethan England, George III of Georgian Great Britain, and Peter I of Imperial Russia in the Historical dimensions, the two Jedi break-ins of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, the irrepairable sabatoge of a Imperial computer system in the Tron dimension, the devestating raids on Imperial scientific labatories in the Aliens dimension, and the destruction of a Imperial Garrison and Munitions Center on Romulus. Eventually, however, Olin was seduced to the dark side and his accomplices killed by Darth Vader. Also on Vulcan, a group of Jedi including Master Tsui Choi and Jedi Knight Bultar Swan, amongst others, planned to draw Darth Vader into a trap and kill him. Due to exceptionally bad planning and tactics, every one of these Jedi were killed, by Vader and his stormtroopers. However, Vader's suit was slightly damaged.

In 1 BBY, the Emperor and Vader were targets of a attempted coup by a group of treacherous Imperial military and political officers lead by Grand Moff Trachta of Imperial Center Oversector. Trachta saw the Sith as foolish and archaic, and believed that the Empire should not be ruled by a two-man cult. The conspirators planned to use a batch of altered stormtroopers loyal only to them to destroy the two Sith Lords. However, their plot failed due to internal fighting amongst the conspirators, the destruction of the altered stormtrooper batch, and the fighting skills of their targets.

Attempted Resistance to Imperial Rule and present events
After the true nature of the Empire became clear, three of the most influential Imperial Senators, Bail Organa of Alderaan, Mon Mothma of Chandrila, and Garm Bel Iblis of Corellia, along with numerous others began plotting a secret resistance against the Galactic Empire. However, their plans were doomed to fail. In 10 BBY, Darth Vader learned Organa's "daughter", Princess Leia Organa, was actually his daughter. With the Emperor's permission, Vader installed a Imperial governor on Alderaan, making Queen Breha Organa a puppet, took Leia and began training her in the Sith ways, and tortured and executed Organa. In 3 BBY, Mon Mothma organized a minor resistance cell in the Star Wars dimension, but shortly after was killed by Imperial agents. In 2 BBY, Senator Iblis was exposed for his activites in fermenting civil dissent in the Star Wars and Star Trek dimensions and was captured, tortured, and executed.

In some dimensions across the Universe, limited rebellion or civil dissent did break out. In the Forrest Gump dimension, protestors staged non-violent anti-Imperial assemblies, public meetings, and rallies. The Emperor eventually ordered the devestation of the dimension, and more then 800 million innocent civilians died. In the Gladiator, Transformers, and Terminator dimensions, minor rebellion broke out, with raids against Imperial installations and the murder of Imperial officials in those dimensions. In the Star Trek dimension, some planets also engaged in dissent. On Aldea, the Aldeans revolted, destroying several Imperial vessels. On Ligon V, the Ligonians revolted as well, murdering hundreds of minor Imperial officials. And on Romulus, the Romulans engaged in a massive slave rebellion. These too, were brtually cracked down.

These minor threats of rebellion allowed the Emperor to endorse the Tarkin Doctrine of rule by fear of force rather then force itself. If anything, Palpatine decided that the unrest occuring in some dimensions would allow him to remove the last vestige of the Republic (the Senate) and consolidate his autocratic power in the Universe. In 0 BBY, shortly after the Destruction of Alderaan, the Emperor declared a state of emergency and dissolved the Imperial Senate. Thus the last traces of the Old Republic were swept away.

A key instrument in the enforcement of the Doctrine is the powerful superweapon, the Death Star, a moon-sized space station with sufficent firepower to easily destroy a single planet with a single discharge of it's powerful superlaser. Whereas many planets can afford planetary deflector shields capable of warding off virtually any conventional attack, none can defend against the power of that weapon.

To this day, the Galactic Empire continues it's opression and brutality over the Universe largely unopposed.

Government and politics
The Galactic Empire is ruled with absolute power by Emperor Palpatine, with Sate Pestage as Grand Vizier, and Darth Vader as Supreme Commander of the Imperial Military and Military Executor. Other major officials include Grand Moff Willhuff Tarkin, Grand Admiral Thrawn, Intelligence Director Ysanne Isard, Imperial Advisor Janus Greejatus, and others. Agents and Sith apprentices in service of the Empire include Emperor's Hand Mara Jade, and Vader's apprentices Galen Marek and Leia Skywalker. Imperial rule is authoritarian and despotic. There is barely any civil rights and dissidents are punished harshly. Any opposition, in any form, to the Empire is not tolerated.

The Galactic Empire is actually more centralized then the Galactic Republic. Sections are grouped into dimensions, which in turn are grouped into oversectors. These are ruled by the Moffs and Grand Moffs (the Dimensional and Regional Governors, respectively). They excerise power in the different regions of the Universe. This is in great contrast to the organization of the Galactic Republic, in which senators were placed in control of some dimensions, while others were semi-independent protectorates, associate states, or allies. The dimensions of the Empire are no longer allowed a say in the government, but are kept in line through fear of force.

Galactic Emperors
The current and thus far, only Galactic Emperor is Palpatine, having ruled from the inception of the Empire in 19 BMY. In the wake of the Clone Wars, he, as Chancellor, had transformed the remains of the Galactic Republic into the Empire, therefore introducing autocratic rule over the entire Universe. Before him, leaders had been elected for fixed terms. However, now a issue of Imperial succession arose.

Legally, Palpatine's immediate successor to the throne would be his Enforcer, chief Lieutenant, and Sith Apprentice, Darth Vader. After Vader, the next person in the line of succession would be his own daughter and apprentice, Leia Skywalker. After her, would be his other apprentice, Galen Marek or "Starkiller". After him, the next in line would be Grand Vizier Sate Pestage. After the Vizier, the next in line would be Grand Moff Willhuff Tarkin. After Tarkin, there would be a series of other people in the line of succession, including Grand Admiral Thrawn, Intelligence Director Ysanne Isard, and numerous others.

However, the Emperor constantly has searched for ways to live forever, in order to reign for eternity. His search has lead him to the discover the process of spirit transfer, and also uncover secrets on Sith Healing and the maintaining of a healthy frame.

Executive Branch
The executive branch consists primarily of the Imperial Inner Circle, a body of advisors who run the Empire's day-to-day governance in Emperor Palpatine's name and execute his will. Ministers, advisors, and secretaries form the ranks. The real power below the Emperor and his Inner Circle is in the hands of the Grand Moffs and Moffs, like Willhuff Tarkin. They were granted supreme authority over their regions after the dissolution of the Imperial Senate in 0 BMY.

This excerise of power is backed up by the use of state terrorism in the form of the Tarkin Doctrine, named after it's creator, Grand Moff Willhuff Tarkin. The Doctrine threatens force rather then the use of force to control dissent; the Ghorman Massacre is a prime example. The instrument of enforcing the Doctrine is the Imperial Military, which includes quintillions upon quintillions of stormtroopers, as well a massive fleet of trillions upon trillions of imitditating warships such as the Star Destroyers. The Death Star repersents the height of this policy.

Legislative Branch
After the formation of the Galactic Empire, the Galactic (Universal) Senate was reorganized into the Imperial Senate. But unlike the Galactic Senate, which had held both legislative and executive power, the Imperial Senate held only legislative power (and even that also in the hands of the Galactic Emperor) by orders of the Senate Constitution. The Senate could advise the Emperor, at least symbolically, and work on the Imperial budget. However, the Emperor could introduce, modify, and veto Senate legislation, and both called and dismissed the Senate to meeting. So the Senate was practically powerless and was dissolved by Emperor Palpatine in 0 BBY to remove the last constitutional limit to his power.

The Imperial Senate, since 0 BBY, has been replaced as the Imperial legislature by the Imperial Inner Circle, the Emperor's body of advisors. The Circle already was the center of government administration and law even before the Senate was dissolved.

Judicial Branch
Until 0 BBY, the Supreme Court of the Galactic Republic, along with the courts of the Dimensions, remained in operation. However, since government power was centralized in the hands of the Emperor and his aides, the Court was little more then a formality. All decisions were approved, modified, or revoked by the Emperor, who also convened and dismissed the Court at will. The Court, as well it's dimensional sub-divisions, was finally dissolved in 0 BBY, along with the Imperial Senate, thus removing the last traces of the Galactic Republic.

Even before the Court was dissolved, the head of the Imperial criminal justice system has been the Procurator of Justice. The Procurator is charged with administering sentences in worlds and dimensions, supervising the justice system, administering the Imperial prison system, and proscueting political prisioners and dissidents.

Other Imperial organizations
To strengthen his hold on power, the Emperor has created various government, military, or intelligence organizations that are loyal only to him. These include COMPNOR, the Imperial Intelligence Agency, the Inquistors, and the Dark Side Adepts. Palpatine also uses the Emperor's Hands as agents and special assassins that do his bidding. Mara Jade is the most notable of these Hands.

The Emperor allows these organizations and their leaders to build power bases of their own. Sometime he gives them conflicting duties or responsbilities. This makes administration of the Empire less efficent, but insures that the Emperor remains the source of all political power.

Economy
The Galactic Empire has a very complex and diverse economy. Following the Clone Wars, the Empire started a process of stabilization and expansion of the economy. Although the Empire has centralized economic procedures and exerted greater control over the industries, it has little effect on much of the Universal economy. The Empire has, however, nationalized numerous banks or corporations. These include ones that supported the Confederacy during the Clone Wars or ones with great wealth which the Empire could exploit. Corporations and banks nationalized by the Galactic Empire include the Trade Federation, the Corporate Alliance, the Commerce Guild, the Techno Union, the Bank of Bolias, Utopia Plantita Shipyards, Historical Arms Manfacturing, the Jumping Jack Flash Back, and Sienar Fleet Systems. Other corporations, such as Kuat Drive Yards, Chancellor Industries, Tagge Corporation, and Merr-Sonn Inc are largely left alone by the Empire, due to their extreme loyalty. Many other companies who support the Empire also also left alone, unless they act in opposition to Imperial interests. However, the Empire has created the Ferengi Commerce Zone in the Ferengi and Tholian territories of the Star Trek dimension, and in the Star Wars dimension, has expanded the Corporate Sector Authority to encompass 30,000 star systems. In return for the support given to the Corporate Sector Authority, the Galactic Empire collects 3% of the total Corpoate gross product, 9% of all construction material, and 20% of all raw elements in the Corporate Sector. The Empire also collects 34% of the profits of the Ferengi Commerce Zone. In exchange, both are granted a great amount of political and military autonomy.

The Empire has dedicated it's vast economic resources and quintdillions of dataries to expand the Imperial Military and to fund a series of scientific developments in a wide variety of fields. Examples include the further refinement of the transportation system, the development of the Death Star, and the construction of more advanced and more powerful Super Star Destroyers. This military buildup has resulted in the Imperial Navy fielding trillions of warships, the Imperial Army having quintillions of soldiers, and the creation of a vast force of trillions of stormtroopers.

The Imperialization of the Trade Federation by the Galactic Empire has created a void filled by smugglers to address strong demand for shipping created by the Imperial controls. Smugglers have thirved during the Imperial rule as independent operators or as part of larger organizations. Examples are Talon Karde, Han Solo, Booster Tarik, Cyrano Jones, and Harcourt Mudd.

The currency of the Galactic Empire is the Imperial Dataries. The Dataries are backed by the immense wealth of the worlds Muunilist in the Star Wars dimension, and Bolias in the Star Trek dimension. The rich resources of the Avatar dimension also support the Dataries. Every dimension in the Universe uses the Imperial Dataries. It is very common and widespread.