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How hard is it for an individual to amass power in the Star Wars universe? I'm not talking about political power- I mean taking some robots, finding a lifeless system and using the raw materials to make themselves their own private fiefdom.

Of course, once you got that far, there is always the drive to grab more...

So does this happen? Does the (insert government here) have a method of dealing with it? Or is hypermatter so hard to make that you can't just use duplicators and construction bots to form an empire?

If some guy just bought or discovered a planet somewhere and used some droids to play Emperor without threatening anyone else, I doubt any one would care much during the Republic. During the Empire, they might stay below the radar for a while (like Lando at Cloud City), but eventually the Empire would likely hear about it and they'd be forced to either except Imperial rule or suffer the consequences.

I would think it would be pretty hard for just your average person to amass the funds for an expedition to create a little personal empire. The first problem is just finding a place that isn't a)claimed by someone who will kick your ass or b)ridiculously useless. A system/planet that would be ideal for strip mining would most likely be strip mined already or in the sights of the various megacorporations for strip mining. Assuming you have a place, you will have to buy things to defend your realm from said megacorporations, and from just pirates, partisans, and possibly government forces (depending on whom you have already pissed off in the process of getting your little fiefdom), and buying the equipment to actually strip mine the place, most likely from a megacorporation that would be very interested in why person x is buying millions of mining droids, and a starship to carry them to point b.

I think it would be feasable during the Republic. Lot's of people have at least small private star ships, and droids seem reasonably cheap to. As long as your private world kept to itself, the government will likely leave alone.

During the Empire, you'll be nationalized.

The Romulan Republic wrote:I think it would be feasable during the Republic. Lot's of people have at least small private star ships, and droids seem reasonably cheap to. As long as your private world kept to itself, the government will likely leave alone.

During the Republic, megacorpotions had Senate seats, all one needs to do is compile a report stating that person x is acting unlawfully due to the corporation's claim on the system, the Republic sends out a nice task force, possibly with a jedi if the corporation is important/whiny enough to solve the dispute.

Again, the Megacorporations are the real threat to an operation like the one in the OP, not a government.

Karmic Knight wrote:

The Romulan Republic wrote:I think it would be feasable during the Republic. Lot's of people have at least small private star ships, and droids seem reasonably cheap to. As long as your private world kept to itself, the government will likely leave alone.

During the Republic, megacorpotions had Senate seats, all one needs to do is compile a report stating that person x is acting unlawfully due to the corporation's claim on the system, the Republic sends out a nice task force, possibly with a jedi if the corporation is important/whiny enough to solve the dispute.

Again, the Megacorporations are the real threat to an operation like the one in the OP, not a government.

The Republic did jack about the invasion of Naboo, a sector capital. What makes you think they'd bother about some private planets in the rim or something as long as they didn't make any waves.

The megacorporations would be a threat though. You'd have to set up on a small poor world that the corporations don't want. But where's the fun in that?

The Romulan Republic wrote:If some guy just bought or discovered a planet somewhere and used some droids to play Emperor without threatening anyone else, I doubt any one would care much during the Republic.

I agree. If someone with money set themselves up as king of some planet out in the middle of nowhere, and didn't bother anyone, I'm guessing no one would give a shit. If he/she were on some planet that a corporation or the government wanted for whatever reason, then they'd probably be eliminated sooner or later. Given my understanding of the Star Wars galaxy, though, there are numerous areas of space that no one has any interest in.

Location has a lot to do with it. Naboo was rather backwater and provincial at the end of the Old Republic, so building up a small empire on the Rim or beyond is feasible. Hell, Kamino is an example of this: Deleted from the records, yet amassing the GAR. Brakiss does something like this in The New Rebellion, and is mostly left alone until he starts making trouble. Even during the Empire, Thrawn was able to carve out a sizable empire in the Unknown Regions, ostensibly for the Empire, but the chaos after Endor made that rather moot.

Unfortunately, you'll have to first find a planet rich in resources that hasn't been claimed yet (meaning far Rimward), then be rich enough to afford the equipment to exploit those resources to produce. If you managed to get one of those Coruscant building droids, then it would be rather simple task after that to construct your droid playland. If you're really good at cards, you could probably con some poor shmuck into handing over the deed to a planet or city (Han with Dathormir, Lando with Cloud City), too. Then it's nice and legal and you won't need to worry about corporations or the government sticking their noses in.

I think the big costs that would make such an operation less feasible would come from defending the fiefdom from starship based threats. It would take a lot of cash to get a ship, preferably ships, that could defend the planet from orbital bombardment or siege.

Darth Fanboy wrote:I think the big costs that would make such an operation less feasible would come from defending the fiefdom from starship based threats. It would take a lot of cash to get a ship, preferably ships, that could defend the planet from orbital bombardment or siege.

Even then you wouldn't be safe from a hit and run attack. Your best bet would be to just stay below the radar, or try to cut a deal to get a bigger faction to protect you. If you have to defend yourself, though, you're better off sinking money into a theater shield. At least then you might have time to call for help, or evacuate before they bombed you into oblivion.