Journal of the Whills
The Old Republic was the Republic of legend, greater than distance or time.
No need to note where it was or whence it came, only to know that... it
was the Republic.
Once, under the wise rule of the Senate and the protection of the Jedi
Knights, the Republic throve and grew. But, as often happens when wealth
and power pass beyond the admirable and attain the awesome, then appear
those evil ones who have greed to match.
So it was with the Republic at its height. Like the greatest of trees,
able to withstand any external attack, the Republic rotted from within
though the danger was not visible from the outside.
Aided and abetted by restless, power-hungry individuals within the government,
and the massive organs of commerce, the ambitious Senator Palpatine caused
himself to be elected President of the Republic. He promised to reunite
the disaffected among the people and to restore the remembered glory of
the Republic.
Once secure in office he declared himself Emperor, shutting himself away
from the populace. Soon he was controlled by the very assistants and boot-lickers
he had appointed to high office, and the cries of the people for justice
did not reach his ears.
Having exterminated through treachery and deception the Jedi Knights, guardians
of justice in the galaxy, the Imperial governors and bureaucrats prepared
to institute a reign of terror among the disheartened worlds of the galaxy.
Many used the Imperial forces and the name of the increasingly isolated
Emperor to further their own personal ambitions.
A small number of systems rebelled at these new outrages. Declaring themselves
opposed to the New Order, they began the great battle to restore the Old
Republic.
From the beginning they were vastly outnumbered by the systems held in
thrall by the Emperor. In those first dark days it seemed certain the bright
flame of resistance would be extinguished before it could cast the light
of new truth across a galaxy of oppressed and beaten peoples....
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