The Story: Dawn of the Republic

[Dawn of the Republic]

Welcome to Star Wars: Dawn of the Republic, the latest storytelling era here on The Star Wars RP! This timeline is set over one thousand years before Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, during the days of the Old Republic. We are still in the time prior to the fall of the Old Republic, the rise of the Galactic Republic from the films, and the fall of the Sith. We have three main factions: the Republic, the Sith Brotherhood, and the Jedi Knights, as well as a slew of independent factions. These factions drive the story of Dawn of the Republic.

This thread will give you a basic overview of the backstory of Dawn of the Republic, and it will be regularly updated as the timeline moves forward. For more a more detailed look at the backstory, you can read the Republic History, the Sith Brotherhood History, and the Jedi History threads.

Backstory: Before the Dawn​

For nearly a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights have been the guardians of peace and justice in the Republic, which, for a time, governed its corner of the galaxy through peace and prosperity. But in the thousands of years after the Republic's founding, the first Dark Lords of the Sith came to power on the Twin Worlds of Moraband and Korriban. Seeking to use the dark side to conquer the galaxy, the old Sith Empire began a reign of terror that lasted for millennia. At one point, the old Empire even took over much of the galaxy, ruling from Coruscant before they were pushed back by the Jedi and the Republic.

One hundred years ago, the Sith Empire fought its final war. The Republic and Empire alike were devastated by the brutal and bloody war, but in the end, the Sith Lords were consumed by infighting. This allowed the Republic and the Jedi to strike a fatal blow, and the Sith Empire was destroyed. The Sith became a shell of what they once were, a powerful civilization reduced to ashes.

In the century since, however, the Sith reorganized themselves into the Sith Brotherhood. Their Supreme Leader commands its many forces, the Lords of the Sith and the warriors of the Sacred Band of Ziost alike. In recent times, the Sith Brotherhood began making strides towards the northernmost Republic territory. Alarmed by the prospect of a new Sith invasion, the northern worlds asked the Galactic Senate to raise a new Republic Army to combat the Sith threat. The Senate, located on the Republic's capital of Chandrila, was content with the peace that the Republic had won a century ago and was unwilling to break it.

The inaction of the Senate prompted the northern worlds to take matters into their own hands. They rallied their planetary militias and defense fleets and formed the Border Alliance, a military force that operates with the tacit approval of the Senate but largely outside of the Senate's purview. Together, these worlds prepared to take the fight to the Sith—as were the Jedi Knights, who mobilized to once again fight to restore the balance in the Force.

Neither was prepared for what they would face.

As war broke out across the galaxy, the Sith Brotherhood's numbers and territory rapidly swelled; likewise, the Republic's fragile peace was shattered and, soon, the government which had stood for peace and freedom in the galaxy collapsed under the weight of its own shortcomings. At the same time, the triumphant Sith were able to reorganize their Brotherhood into a thriving and powerful Empire, and marked the return of their empire by destroying the Jedi world of Tython and ransacking the Senate on Chandrila.

With the Republic in decline, the Jedi Knights swept in to prevent too many systems from falling into the advancing hands of the Sith Empire. The Mandalorian Dominion, which was also a product of the war, also jumped at the opportunity to expand their own influence beyond their borders. Now the three powers fight amongst one another. For the Sith, their never ending quest for galactic domination continues; for the Mandalorians, a chance to for glory against the greatest enemies of their time; and, for the Jedi, a desperate struggle continues to restore peace and balance to the ever-darkening energies of the Force...