Second Galactic Empire (Independent Project)

[Admiral Felire]

I agree with Primus on this. A central mean that might be somewhat above or somewhat below in any central time period. But otherwise pretty close to stable.

New trends (this millenia long hair with beards is in style, next millenia short hair with no beards is popualar) exist but they do not necessary cause that much of the standards of galactic connection to falter.

I think the rise of Palpatine might have caused the mean to move a little, but not much. What I mean by this is that for 25,000 years the galaxy thinks the Republic is the best form of government, then Palpatine comes in and then 1,000 years after he dies the galaxy decides (without any evil pressure) to become an Empire again. The mean moved.

Like I said, I think technology stays generally the same. But some millenia ships are designed with more militaristic bent, while other millenia they are designed for aesthetics and not tactical purpose. It does allow us to have some change and some new things but at the same time keep it Star Wars.

There will still be droids, and Coruscant and sectors and the senate and all the other things that make Star Wars star wars.

--

I should note that didn't we decide that the culture of the Second Empire returned to the culture of the First Empire in terms of aesthetics and other such things. But I also think that the point Primus makes about allowing us to take trends from previous eras is a good one.

The Galactic Society is, on the whole, incredibly stable. There are centuries, no millennia, when nothing untold happens galaxy-wide. While conflict occurs and exists on the planetary and maybe multi-planetary scale they only rarely leave the sector level. That the history of the galaxy is pretty much a straight line with only few ups or downs, like Ancient Egypt or China rather than modern Western world.

[Darth Raptor]

All right, so I shouldn't go out of my way to impress upon the reader that this is the future, because that doesn't mean anything beyond "everyone you know is dead".

It occurs to me that any attempt to portray the kind of cyclical shifts that are plausible could easily be mistaken for local idiosyncrasies. It doesn't help that we don't see much of civilian life ever. One thing I'd like to address more with this project is the day to day life of your average, middle-class, law-abiding citizen. But then we run into issues of what's "normal".

[Admiral Felire]

Yeah, besides the fact that most of the heroes of the Galactic Civil War era are deceased, there really isn't much different in the galaxy at large. At least that is how I think about it.

I also agree with you that stories and articles about the day-to-day lives, politics and whatnot of the worlds of the Empire are interesting and cool. They don't interfere with galactic-level situations, but that means little when one considers the scope of the galaxy.

[Illuminatus Primus]

All right, so I shouldn't go out of my way to impress upon the reader that this is the future, because that doesn't mean anything beyond "everyone you know is dead".

It occurs to me that any attempt to portray the kind of cyclical shifts that are plausible could easily be mistaken for local idiosyncrasies. It doesn't help that we don't see much of civilian life ever. One thing I'd like to address more with this project is the day to day life of your average, middle-class, law-abiding citizen. But then we run into issues of what's "normal".

Saxton gave the example that certain public services or institutions might fall out of favor. For example in less libertarian phases, many civilians might be comfortable relying on common hyperjump beacons instead of on-board hyperdrives. And you can do other things, perhaps Kuat's on hard times, and is more like a combination of Naboo (on the surface, a quaint but insular aristocracy), Nar Shaddaa and Ord Mantell (for the space-borne habitats and yards). Maybe major centers have shifted to Dac or to Fondor. Or maybe worlds we've never really visited. Maybe decidedly second-class Core Worlds and shipbuilders, like Duro, are now dominant. Maybe after the Civil War, and the NJO conflict, the NR declined to really rebuild the Federal District and opened a brand new one, bulldozing the Works. So maybe the old Senate Building of the prequels, being a museum, is in a relative ghost town, is poorly maintained, still has war damage, and few people go on tours anymore. Maybe by now long-delayed projects finally go through. Maybe Ord Mantell is cleaned up and looks like Naboo. Maybe Duro too. Maybe a famous world like Chandrilla has been since BDZed or something. Maybe language has changed, and political culture. Perhaps the meaning and linguistics of "Chief of State" have shifted back to "Supreme Chancellor", or the EU's "President." Maybe they have Colleges instead of Ministries and Commissioners instead of Ministers. Or Secretaries. Maybe the Armed Forces have been restructured, and are a quasi-Canadian common force with departments overseeing deep-space combat, suborbital/extraatmospheric combat, and surface/subsurface combat. Maybe the Tagge's are now pauper princes. Maybe the Sith really are extinct, and the other Force cults are old revivals, like the Krath, or brand new or barely forming now. Maybe the Hutts don't dominate the criminal underworld anymore (of course, we could reform the confused concept of the Hutts). On the other hand, maybe long-seperated and evolved remembrances of the Heroes of Yavin are now important. Maybe the House of Organa-Solo is extremely influential (and only a quite small set of family lines in it are Force-sensitive at all anymore). Or maybe Ackbar's descendants are an influential Outer Rim political pillar, like the Tarkins of Eriadu. Maybe new non-Republic institutions are really powerful, like hereditary Republican veteran officers' associations (their Society of Cinncinatus) of the Civil War, forming the social core of the reconstituted Generationals. Maybe having ancestors who fought in the wars back then is a major mark of patrician status in the galactic pecking order.

[Admiral Felire]

While I will not be speaking for any particular point that Primus made in the preceding post, I will say that that sort of thinking is something that I completely and totally support. I figure that we can change certain things like that but that despite that fact the main aspects of technology and society and culture do not change.

I should note that this general trend could include periods in which the latinization of certain words would be common. In addition, in some periods its considered proper to cloak the advanced technology of the Republic with primitive trappings while in others its better to show them outright. In the last example I am looking toward the Senate Chamber depicted in some comics about the ancient war against the Sith tens of thousands of years in the past. I wouldn't be surprised if each fo the benches had integrated computer support hidden in its backs or behind various panels. This would then be in comparison to the modern Senate Chamber with its floating pods and visible advanced technology.

[Admiral Felire]

Project Note

Due to various reasons that have no relation to this post, this thread and the concept of the Second Galactic Empire has become officially divorsed from the EU Fic Project.

That won't have much effect on the actual ideas presented in this thread, but it will make it so that it is an independent unrelated topic. What this actually means is that what is considered canon for backstory of the Second Galactic Empire has reverted to the actual canon and backstory of the Star Wars franchise.

That means that the Prequel Trilogy, the Origional Trilogy, the Expanded Universe period, the Yuuzhan Vong War and the Legacy Era of books all happened and count without change to their events.

What will not be counted is the Legacy Era comics which takes place about 100 years after the latest novel. That sees the birth of a new empire which goes against the point of this thread, and thus will be ignored for the most part. In addition, the Second Empire thread will not be holding the ascension of a Fel to the Imperial Throne as automatically canon, unless decided otherwise.

As a final point, despite this thread no longer being connected or affiliated with the EU Fic project, that does not mean this thread is closed to members of that project. While I won't personally be participating in that project, there is nothing wrong or stopping others from working in both that one and this one. The more members, the more ideas presented, the more suggesstions made, the better that this thread and the idea of the Second Empire can be.

So it is with all my hope, that interest is and can be maintained for the continuation and development of this project. That participation continues and that new and improved ideas come about.

Thank you.