Following another year of bloody conflict, the fractured Empire made its last stand over the sandy wastes of
Jakku against the
New Republic, resulting in many casualties on both sides. Defeated and facing severe internal unrest, the Empire was forced to sign the
Galactic Concordance, severely limiting its ability to wage war and ushering in its transformation into a mere rump state.
[5]
OriginsEdit
"
It's time to start over. That is our first order. To begin again. And to get it right, this time."
―
Rae Sloane to
Brendol Hux[src]
Following the
Battle of Jakku,
Grand Vizier Mas Amedda and the
New Republic Chancellor Mon Mothma signed the
Galactic Concordance, which dissolved the Empire.
[14] In response, many Imperial
nobles, technologists,
[15] warlords,
[5] and officers fled into the
Unknown Regions in an effort to escape the prying eyes of the New Republic. They used information derived from
Grand Admiral Thrawn[14] who hailed from the
Chiss Ascendancy,
[16] and the survey teams and
droids that the late
Emperor Sheev Palpatine had sent to explore the Unknown Regions. At the request of the dying
Counselor to the Empire Gallius Rax, Grand Admiral
Rae Sloane, and
Commandant Brendol Hux rendezvoused with the
Super Star Destroyer Eclipse. Sloane saw an opportunity to rebuild the Empire.
[14]
There, isolated from the galaxy, these Imperial hardliners formed the First Order, which was influenced by the principles of the fallen government.
[5] With the New Republic now the dominant force in the galaxy, it continuously stressed upholding the values of democracy throughout the stars. In spite of such, however, the New Republic was not without its critics, many of them disgruntled sympathizers of the Old Imperial ways, some of whom were a part of the political structure. Once disagreements between the loyalists and Imperial sympathizers became too severe, the latter group seceded, whereupon they established the First Order along with the former elements of the Imperial military that still inhabited the Unknown Regions. While some in the
Galactic Senate applauded the notion, others realized that without New Republic supervision, the Order would return to the draconian ways of its predecessor.
[8] Because it descended from the Empire in ideology, the First Order, upon being formed within the Unknown Regions alongside various former Imperial officers, technologists, nobles, and other pro-Imperial supporters, intended to reclaim their legacy.
[6]
Supreme Leader Snoke commanded the First Order from the shadows.
With many of the Emperor's servants carrying some of the regime's greatest military secrets to the Unknown Regions, the First Order began a massive militarization effort to produce a technologically superior military to the former Galactic Empire, keenly aware that it lacked the superior numbers of the former state. Numerous shipyards, bases, and research facilities were built on newly explored star systems and colonized worlds as the Order slowly expanded and plotted its eventual return to the galaxy at large. Growing in size and strength, the First Order came under the command of
Supreme Leader Snoke, a powerful
dark-side user served by his apprentice,
Kylo Ren. With Snoke's successful manipulation of Kylo Ren to the dark side of the Force, his apprentice and the
Knights of Ren destroyed Luke Skywalker's attempt to restart the Jedi Order, with subsequent purges and hunting down those with Force affinity, much like the previous
Inquisitorius of the Old Empire.
[5]
Subverting the New RepublicEdit
"
The First Order is a remnant born of a war thirty years gone. Yes, they persist, yes, they continue, but by all accounts they do so barely. They are, at best, an ill-organized, poorly equipped, and badly funded group of loyalists who use propaganda and fear to inflate their strength and their importance."
―
Major Lonno Deso of the
Republic Navy[src]
In the years leading up to the
destruction of the
Hosnian system, the First Order quietly bided its time preparing for its eventual war with the New Republic. To generate funding to refit and rearm the former
Imperial fleet, the First Order used a militia group called the
Amaxine warriors as proxies to fund the
Nikto crime lord Rinnrivin Di's
cartel. Seven years prior to the "
Napkin Bombing" at the
New Republic senatorial complex on
Hosnian Prime, the First Order used the Amaxines to inject billions of
Credits as start-up capital into Rinnrivin's cartel, turning the hitherto minor cartel into a major crime syndicate. Establishing a mutual relationship with the Amaxines, Rinnrivin embarked on lucrative smuggling and gambling operations with the proceeds being channeled through shadowy corporations and
Centrist sources back to the First Order, which used the money to rebuild its fleet.
[7]
In addition, the First Order also recruited several Centrist senators like
Lady Carise Sindian as clandestine agents who worked to subvert the New Republic from within. Many Centrists, an informal faction in the New Republic's
Galactic Senate who favored a stronger central government and
military, admired the Old Empire's leaders and practices. Another proxy of the First Order was
Arliz Hadrassian, a former
TIE fighter pilot who had become the leader of the Amaxine warriors. While Hadrassian saw the Amaxines as the vanguard of the First Order, Lady Carise regarded her as too volatile to manage. Hadrassian in return was impatient with the Centrists for refusing to secede from the Republic.
[7]
The First Order's operations were almost exposed when Rinnrivin Di's criminal activities began to exact a devastating toll on the planet
Ryloth's offworld trade. In response, the New Republic
senators Leia Organa and
Ransolm Casterfo embarked on an investigation which uncovered Rinnrivin's links to the Amaxine Warriors. However, the two senators failed to discover the First Order's linkages to the Amaxines and Rinnrivin's cartel. In an attempt to sow chaos, Arliz Hadrassian
bombed the New Republic's senatorial complex. This set in motion a chain of events that led to the death of Rinnrivin and the destruction of most of the Amaxine warriors' forces on the planet
Sibensko. Hadrassian killed herself after
assassinating the New Republic senator
Tai-Lin Garr. While most New Republic senators and media believed that the demise of Rinnrivin's cartel and the Amaxines eliminated all threats to the Republic, Leia disagreed and established the
Resistance in response to the Republic's complacency.
[7]
Following the assassination of Tai-Lin Garr, Lady Carise and her Centrist counterparts began preparing a motion to secede from the New Republic in order to join and support the First Order.
[7]
Preparing for warEdit
Starkiller Base, the First Order's headquarters during their military mobilization
For the three decades after Endor, the First Order largely escaped galactic attention, with many in the New Republic
Senate believing that it posed no real threat to the galaxy at large. Echoing these sentiments,
Chancellor Lanever Villecham argued there was no need for concern as long as the First Order adhered to the dictates of the
Galactic Concordance. Despite this, the Order blatantly defied the accords by ushering in the mass mobilization of superior
stormtrooper forces, along with violating Republic bans on the sale of weaponry to the First Order and its rules governing capital ships. Testing the resolve of the New Republic, small skirmishes occasionally erupted between the First Order and Republic, all while the Starkiller operation sought a suitable planet for implementation.
[5]
With the First Order's growing threat and rapid mobilization for war, prominent members of the Republic voiced concern over this successor state, with the most vocal being
Leia Organa. Scoffed at by the Senate at large for being an alarmist and warmonger, Organa used her influence as a prominent member of the former Alliance to recruit many former military officers left forgotten by the
Military Disarmament Act passed by the Galactic Senate. Funded by like-minded senators who shared Organa's fears about the First Order, the
Resistance came to serve as the opposing force and check to the Order's growing power, sparking the
Cold war.
[5]
Despite this, members of the Republic Senate were mired in corruption and bureaucracy, with senators such as
Erudo Ro-Kiintor colluding with the First Order for promises of wealth and power, with large sums of credits being discretely transferred to him through the
Corporate Sector Authority. As a result, the Resistance was forced to work on its own until it could obtain irrefutable evidence of First Order violations of the peace that could be presented to
Republic Command. During
Operation: Sabre Strike, the
Resistance pilot
Poe Dameron and General Organa discovered that Senator Erudo had been colluding with the First Order and that he had valuable information about
Lor San Tekka, whom Organa believed could lead them to her brother,
Luke Skywalker.
[3]
