Confederacy of Independent Systems

For a millennium, the galaxy had been governed by the Galactic Republic from the planet Coruscant in the Core Worlds, and was in turn overseen by the Galactic Senate, which was led by an elected Supreme Chancellor. With assistance from the Jedi Order, who acted as peacekeepers, the Republic and thereby the galaxy had not endured conflict for an entire millennium. However, as the Republic carried on, the government began to become both weak and corrupt.

During this era of peace, heightening political tensions arose within the Republic a decade before the Clone Wars, such as when a group of usurpers on the planet Halcyon became discontent with the world's membership and wanted their world to be able to manage its own affairs. They kidnapped several members of Halcyon's planetary leadership and held them in a remote fortress where they prepared for assault while attempting negotiation with their hostages. Internal negotiations failed and led the Senate to eventually authorize the Jedi Order to intervene on Halcyon as mediators and enforcers if necessary. By 28 BBY, there was a growing number of senators in the Galactic Senate who valued loyalty to the planet they represented over loyalty to the Republic as a whole. These senators argued it was impossible to truly remain objective when discussing the entire galaxy.

The Invasion of Naboo by the Trade Federation exposed the unwillingness and inability of the Senate to resolve the crisis, which ended only after the Gungans and Royal House of Naboo united and forcibly ended the occupation. This lack of action was a result of years of corrupt and ineffectual governance by the Republic that had became mired in bureaucracy and layers upon layers of increasingly complex legal precedents, treaties, and obligations. The commerce guilds and trading corporations had also become disillusioned after laws were passed that would introduce taxes affecting all significant trade routes, implemented such that they would have the greatest impact on the poorer outlying star systems. These worlds were often forced into accepting one-sided deals and refused military protection, as the Republic continued to prioritize honoring centuries old agreements predating the admission of outlying planets.

Compounding this, the outlying systems and Rimward trade routes were plagued by pirates, hijackers and slavers. Due to the refusal of the Republic to create a military to police those sectors, the Judicial Department was completely overwhelmed, and could not adequately protect either the worlds along those trade routes, or the cargo vessels that traversed them. This forced outlying systems to begin creating their own militias to deal with the pirates, with the Outland Regions Security Force being foremost among them. Gridlock in the senate grew, as the number of votes needed to pass any type of legislation turned it increasingly into a place where senators bartered favors, earmarks, and votes for personal power without regard for their constituencies or the greater good of the Republic. Some began to believe that any attempt at change would require radical thinking and extreme actions, leading to discussions of secession from the Republic.

The first declaration of secession could be traced back to the Raxus Address delivered by Count Dooku, a former Jedi Master who had personally witnessed signs of discontent with the Republic and its corruption before joining the Sith in the hope of creating change, only to become immersed in the dark side and corrupted., In his address, which he delivered via a commandeered HoloNet-relay station in the Raxus system, the count denounced the Galactic Republic as a futile enterprise that was hopelessly burdened by corruption and favoritism toward the Core Worlds. Following the address, Dooku founded the Confederacy of Independent Systems and began the Separatist Crisis. Some believed he was merely one step ahead of Republic assassins after his speech. The fallen Jedi Master's words of inflammatory rhetoric would find receptive audiences among young intellectuals in Mid and Inner Rim universities. Both charismatic and exuding confidence, Dooku's message rallied thousands of individuals by recounting decades of experience within the Republic government and publicizing its hypocrisies, corruption and ineffectiveness.

Dooku's rebellious message mesmerized young psyches and spurred them into political activism. As the galactic crisis grew more and more heated, Dooku's appearances grew rarer and were announced with much shorter notice, with his message often spurning violence on polarized worlds. Thousands of disgruntled star systems ultimately seceded from the Republic and fully embraced the newly-created Confederacy of Independent Systems' fiery message of resistance. The idea that the Republic was distant, dispassionate, corrupt, and unworthy of membership ultimately marshaled disgruntled systems into a new galactic government. The agrarian world of Ukio found itself questioning what value it reciprocated for being the breadbasket of the Core Worlds, and after citing a litany of neglect, senatorial representatives of the Abrion sector tendered their articles of secession along with other worlds in the galaxy's hinterlands. The Hassarian people joined the Confederacy at some point.

The Confederacy also sought to gain prosperous Outer Rim world of Eriadu: with its location at the confluence of the Hydian Way and Rimma Trade Route, Dooku needed Eriadu's allegiance to control the Greater Seswenna and effectively collapse the Core back onto itself, undoing millennia of galactic exploration, conquest, and colonization. After negotiations and attending dinners with Eriadu's then-Governor Wilhuff Tarkin, the attempt to claim Eriadu's loyalty would fail, as Tarkin refused, believing that an ineffective yet unified galaxy was better than a fractured one. Thanks to Tarkin and several other holdouts, Dooku was unable to have the economic monopoly needed to force the Republic into negotiations. As a legislative branch, the Confederacy established a Separatist Senate under Dooku. The Republic, meanwhile, declared it illegal for its officials to hold formal talks with the Confederacy through the Republic Senate non-communication law to avoid making the Confederacy seem legitimate.

With the Separatist Crisis intensifying as more systems pledged loyalty to the Dooku separatist-government across the galaxy, causing uncertainty and fears that the Republic would be split into two, the Senate of the Republic moved towards the passage of the Military Creation Act, which would establish centralized armed forces to protect the thousand-year-old democracy for the first time. Meanwhile, Dooku had promised the Viceroy Nute Gunray that he would assassinate Senator Padmé Amidala of Naboo if he signed Dooku's treaty. The Viceroy accepted the offer, and Dooku dispatched Jango Fett to carry out Amidala's assassination.

Despite the failure of Fett's mission, Dooku was able to persuade the Trade Federation, the InterGalactic Banking Clan, the Techno Union, the Commerce Guild, and the Corporate Alliance to all sign a treaty on Geonosis and join together as the Executive Separatist Council. After pursuing Fett to Geonosis, Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi discovered Dooku's plot, and also learned that it was Gunray who ordered the assassination of Amidala. He was captured shortly thereafter and imprisoned by Dooku, but not before sending a message to the Jedi Council relating what he had discovered. Meanwhile, tensions between the Republic and the -movement peaked after the Republic learned of the size and significance of its army of battle droids, motivating the Senate to grant emergency powers to the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic, a position that was then occupied by Sheev Palpatine, the alter ego of Sith Lord Darth Sidious.

During the attempted execution of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, and Senator Amidala on Geonosis, a team of two hundred Jedi were sent to rescue the trio. The Jedi were attacked by a host of battle droids during the attempt, and were corralled into an arena. With the battle turning against the Jedi, Dooku gave the remaining Jedi forces a chance to lay down their arms, a choice which Mace Windu declined. In the next few moments, several Acclamator-class assault ships arrived over the arena, and engaged droid forces on the planet's surface, starting the deadly Clone Wars.

The arrival of the clones sparked a full-scale battle on Geonosis, with both sides taking heavy losses. Eventually however, the clone army began to gain the upper hand. This forced Poggle to order his soldiers to retreat and hide, but before he joined them, he turned over plans to the Ultimate Weapon—a secret project he had been contracted to build by the Separatists—to Count Dooku. As the battle raged on, Kenobi and Skywalker caught up to Dooku and tried to prevent his escape by engaging in a lightsaber duel, however they were defeated by Dooku with relative ease. Grand Master Yoda came to their rescue and engaged Dooku in a lightsaber battle. After realizing that he was outmatched by Yoda, Dooku fled Geonosis and the Separatist leadership retreated. Though they had suffered a defeat in battle, the goal of the Sith had been fulfilled; the Clone Wars had begun.

Shortly after the CIS retreated from and vacated its first capital world of Geonosis, the Separatists began to seize control of the major hyperspace lanes, separating the Republic from its army, and expand into the Outer Rim. The Clone Wars engulfed the galaxy incredibly fast. The speed at which the fighting spread convinced Dormé, a handmaiden to Senator Amidala, that the Confederacy had moved its forces out before the formal beginning of war against the Republic. Per her reasoning, the CIS had every reason to assume the events on Geonosis would be a victory and, thus, spread out its military for a big attack. Whenever the signal to deploy was given, the CIS military would reveal itself and finish the war just as it began. Instead, the arrival of the Grand Army of the Republic on Geonosis and its deployment across the galaxy complicated matters. Jedi Master Windu suspected the Confederacy's expansion into the Rim was part of a march to the Core. To Windu, it was a sign of how power followed in concentric circles: the growing Separatist forces would establish a foothold in the Rim before moving inward, continuing to advance until they reached Coruscant itself.

At some point, the Confederacy launched an attack on Phindar. Quermia remained loyal to the Republic but found itself surrounded by Separatist space, resulting in the Confederacy beginning a harsh blockade of the planet. With the outbreak of hostilities, many worlds either declared openly for the Separatists or declared neutrality, declining to support either side. Some of the neutral worlds banded together into a loose alliance, The Council of Neutral Systems, which also worked to establish mutual negotiation as an advisory group, not a breakaway government. Both sides negotiated with the neutral worlds, with the Republic trying to bring worlds back into the fold willingly if they had not declared for the Separatists due to fears that taking action against ostensibly non-hostile worlds would only increase sympathy for the separatist cause.

The war proceeded on many fronts. A force led by Asajj Ventress and General Whorm Loathsom succeeded in capturing Christophsis. After taking the planet, they targeted a small relief-force led by Senator Bail Organa, but the Confederate occupation was eventually defeated by Jedi Generals Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Skywalker's Padawan, Commander Ahsoka Tano, and their clone troopers. Later on Teth in Wild Space, the Separatists hatched a plot to deny the Jedi the alliance with the Hutt Clan that they so desperately needed and to establish an alliance with the Hutts themselves. Republic forces attempted to save Rotta, the infant son of crime lord Jabba the Hutt, from the Confederacy, who planned to kill the Huttlet and lay the blame on the Jedi Order. However, Skywalker and Tano effected a rescue of the Huttlet from Teth, and return him to Tatooine, thus gaining the support of the Hutts for the Republic.

After the annihilation of the Republic garrison, Ryloth was occupied and blockaded by the Separatist Droid Army. The army was led by Emir Wat Tambor, who oversaw the occupation from the city of Lessu. During the occupation, much of Ryloth was pillaged by the droid army on orders from the Emir. CIS forces were repeatedly attacked by a group of Twi'lek freedom-fighters led by Cham Syndulla, but suffered minimal losses. Eventually, the Republic Army assembled a force to liberate the planet, a goal they accomplished after much heavy fighting. The Republic captured Tambor, but his tactical droid escaped with many of the valuables he had looted from the Twi'leks.

However, soon the Confederacy would reveal during the Malevolence Campaign its massive new superweapon known only as the Malevolence, a Subjugator-class heavy cruiser, that was commanded by Supreme Commander General Grievous. It worked by firing a powerful ion cannon to disable enemy ships before destroying them with a barrage of more-conventional cannonfire. The ship gained the attention of the Republic after destroying the fleet of Jedi General Plo Koon in the Battle of Abregado. Koon was marooned in an escape pod, and rescued by General Skywalker. The Separatist Head of State then ordered Grievous to use the ship to attack an unarmed Republic medical center near the Ryndellia system. Having been alerted to the impending attack, the Republic dispatched a fleet to rescue the medical station. After a fierce fight, the ship was finally destroyed when Skywalker tampered with the ship's navicomputer and crashed it into a nearby moon.

The Confederacy would attempt to gain Malastare, which was of strategic importance to both the Republic and the Separatist forces, due to the abundance of natural resources on the planet. The Republic was keen to sign a treaty with the Malastare leadership – however, their plans were put on hold while the Separatist Droid Army invaded the planet. Due to the low number of military forces on the planet, the Republic forces were quickly overwhelmed and, in the face of certain defeat, authorized the use of an experimental Electro-proton bomb. In the ensuing blast, the droid army was shut down, and the battle won for the Republic. The leaders of Malastare then proceeded to sign the treaty with the Republic. However, a setback occurred when the plan by the InterGalactic Banking Clan and the Separatists to build massive new droid foundries on Geonosis was discovered by the Galactic Republic, who launched a second major planetary invasion of Geonosis to shut down the foundries that Archduke Poggle the Lesser had built there.

After their discovery on Cato Neimoidia, the Republic dispatched a massive detachment of clones to retake Geonosis and stop the production of battle droids. Following a difficult landing, the Republic forces managed to establish a landing zone at Point Rain near the factories. The Republic then disabled the factories' ray shield, making way for the rest of the clone troopers to safely land. As Poggle attempted to retake Point Rain, the main droid-foundry was targeted by the Jedi, who launched a major offensive against the factory. Unknown to the Separatists, the main assault was actually a distraction that would enable Padawans Ahsoka Tano and Barriss Offee to infiltrate the foundry and destroy the reactor core, thus blowing the factory up from the inside. Following this victory, the Jedi proceeded to destroy the remaining droid foundries on Geonosis, stopping the Separatist plans. Although the droid foundries had been destroyed, Poggle remained at large for a time, until he was captured in the catacombs underneath Progate Temple.

In order to gain much-needed support for their attempt at taking over Mandalore, the Death Watch briefly allied themselves with the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Mandalorian commandos performed sabotage-missions for the Separatists against Republic targets. One such mission involved a commando attempting to sabotage a Republic cruiser – the Death Watch commando was captured, but rather than surrender and submit to questioning, he committed suicide. His actions, in addition to false rumors, led many in the Republic to believe that Duchess Satine Kryze, the leader of the New Mandalorian government and head of the Council of Neutral Systems, was training a Mandalorian army for the Separatists.

The Jedi Council dispatched Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi to Mandalore to meet with Satine and investigate the rumors. At first, the Duchess and her advisers discounted any Mandalorian involvement until Kenobi showed holographic recordings of the Death Watch-saboteur. Having no other choice, she reluctantly revealed rumors of the Death Watch's return. The rumors were later proven when a Death Watch commando bombed the memorial shrine in the New Mandalorian capital of Sundari before committing suicide when Kenobi attempted to apprehend him. Left at the bomb-site was a holographic representation of the Death Watch symbol, further highlighting the group's return. During these events the leader of death watch — Pre Vizsla — communicated with Count Dooku who revealed his strategy. He would force the Republic into sending peacekeeping-forces to Mandalore. Dooku hoped this would lead the populace to view the Republic as invaders, and turn to the Death Watch to liberate them.

When Satine journeyed to Coruscant, Death Watch made a second attempt on her life. Mandalore's senator, Tal Merrik, was secretly in league with the Death Watch, and used his senatorial stamp to smuggle several assassin probes aboard the duchess' ship. This attempt failed, and once Satine safely arrived at the galactic capital, the Death Watch reoccupied their base on Concordia as a staging area for their impending invasion of Mandalore. A New Mandalorian scout reported this development to Prime Minister Almec.

However, the Prime Minister was not concerned because he believed that the Death Watch would never be able to take Mandalore without the support of the public. Meanwhile, the Republic Senate had decided to send peacekeeping forces to Mandalore after being shown forged evidence of a senior Mandalorian minister begging the Republic to send help. With the help of Kenobi, the Duchess was able to uncover the unedited version of the holorecording. After being shown the new evidence, the Republic Senate revoked its order to send peacekeepers to Mandalore. This shut down Death Watch's plans, and they canceled the planned attack on Mandalore and broke all ties with the Separatists.

Following the destruction of a Republic monitoring station, the Separatist army, led by General Grievous and Asajj Ventress, begin a daring invasion of the cloning world of Kamino. The aim of the campaign was to destroy the Republic cloning factories and thus deny the Republic more troops, turning the war in the Separatists favor. The droid army was to launch an invasion while Asajj Ventress stole the crucial genetic material needed to produce more clones. However their plan was foiled when Jedi General Anakin Skywalker intercepted Ventress and defeated her following a fierce lightsaber duel. The main droid army was also defeated by the clone troopers.

However, the setback did not stop the Trade Federation from blockading the moon Pantora in the system of the same name, in an attempt to force them to join the Separatist-alliance. As part of the conspiracy, the daughters of the Pantoran Chairman Papanoida were kidnapped and held hostage on the main ship of the Separatist-blockade. Following a daring rescue by Ahsoka Tano and Pantoran Senator Riyo Chuchi, the conspiracy was uncovered, and the Trade Federation was forced to remove its blockade.

Following a secret meeting between Padmé Amidala and Mina Bonteri, the Separatist Senate approved the start of peace talks between the Separatists and the Republic. However, these talks quickly fell apart following a series of plots by Count Dooku to destroy the peace process. Dooku ordered two attacks–the death of Mina Bonteri, and a bombing on the Republic capital of Coruscant. Following these, neither side had any desire to continue the peace-process. This cancelation came despite heated protests from Amidala, who pointed out that the moral responsibility of the war also had to be considered. This led to accusations by some members of the Republic Senate that Amidala had betrayed the Republic.

The Separatist fleet began a major space battle against a Republic flotilla over Sullust, with Asajj Ventress personally leading the Separatists against the Republic. However, the battle would turn when Dooku was ordered to kill his apprentice by Darth Sidious to prove his loyalty. Dooku ordered Ventress's reinforcements to return in an attempt to end his apprentice's life indirectly. Following the destruction of her command ship, Dooku presumed her to be dead, and ordered the recall of the armada from Sullust.

Contrary to Dooku's belief, Ventress escaped and survived her ordeal. Republic forces were in control of the ancient Temple of Eedit which acted as a front for the Republic's military outpost. In order to gain control of temple, a Separatist Army was sent to attack. The Republic sent two Jedi—Jedi Master Halsey and his Padawan Knox—and several ARF troopers. The Republic troops were able to hold back the Separatist forces and gained the upper hand in the battle. However, in order to test the powers of his new apprentice, Savage Opress, Dooku sent him to Devaron to finish the battle and destroy the Republic forces. Opress mercilessly slaughtered all the clones upon his arrival, including ARF Commander Trauma. Finding the two Jedi in front of temple's door, he attacked Halsey, and although the Roonan fought hard, Opress struck him down. Knox, after witnessing his master's death, attacked his master's killer. However, Opress effortlessly slashed him across the chest, sending him flying into the temple doors, dead. Upon successfully completing his mission, Opress returned to Serenno.

Following the capture of Jedi Master Even Piell, a highly-trained strike force led by Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker (along with Skywalker's apprentice Ahsoka Tano), attempted to rescue Piell and his command-crew from the Citadel–a high-security Separatist prison made specifically for Jedi. The prisoners were of special importance to the Republic because they possessed knowledge of the coordinates for the Nexus Route—a hyperspace lane which led directly to both the Republic and Separatist capital worlds. During the escape, Piell was killed but the vital information was passed onto Tano. Following a number of challenges, the team managed to escape the prison with the coordinates and most of the former prisoners. Following the defeat of the Republic during the First Battle of Felucia, the Republic army launched a second invasion attempt. During the invasion the Republic launched a series of major offensives on the planet. In retaliation, General Grievous sent a number of reinforcements to various Separatist outposts on the planet. In response, the Jedi intensified their offensive and managed to gain control of the planet and system.

Following the assassination of the previous Mon Calamari king, the Quarren attempted to seize control of Mon Cala with the aid of the Separatists. At the request of Prince Lee-Char, the Republic sent an underwater regiment as reinforcements for the Mon Calamari. After a fierce battle, the Quarren and Separatists emerged victorious and enslaved all the Mon Calamari. Not willing to give up on Mon Cala, the Jedi Council sent reinforcements in the form of the Gungan Grand Army from Naboo. During the ensuing battle, the Quarren came to the realization that the Separatists were only interested in capturing Mon Cala for themselves. With this in mind, they turned on the Separatist forces and defeated them.

Dooku later conspired with Grievous and Minister Rish Loo to launch another invasion of Naboo, a plot that would involve turning the Gungans against the humans there. Minister Loo began influencing Boss Lyonie through the use of a necklace. He influenced Lyonie to order an attack on Theed with the help of the Separatist Alliance. After Anakin Skywalker and Jar Jar Binks removed the necklace, Rish Loo attempted to kill Lyonie. Believing him dead, Loo went to the assembled Gungan Grand Army and told them that Lyonie was dead, ordering them to attack Theed immediately. Jar Jar, however, arrived at the event, posing as Lyonie. He denounced Rish Loo and canceled the order to invade Theed. Rish Loo then fled to his laboratory. Anakin followed Loo, fighting the probe droids sent to stop him. Meanwhile, Grievous and his army landed on Naboo and contacted Jar Jar (who they believed to be Lyonie) to ask why the attack on Theed had been canceled. Jar Jar entered Grievous's lander and attempted to stall the General. Eventually, Grievous figured out that Jar Jar was not Lyonie, and chased the Gungan outside, where he found his entire army deactivated. The Gungan army surrounded Grievous and told him to surrender.

Grievous replied by drawing two lightsabers, and killing several Gungan warriors. His rampage was stopped, however, when General Roos Tarpals stabbed him with an electric spear–yet during this heroic act, the cyborg also stabbed Tarpals through the heart, killing him. Just before he died, Tarpals drove his spear all the way through Grievous, allowing the rest of the Gungan warriors to disable Grievous with boombas. At the same time, Skywalker found Dooku's lair, after following Rish Loo to an ancient cliffside-structure. Unknown to Skywalker, the lair was actually a trap set by Count Dooku, designed to capture him. Dooku killed Loo for his incompetence, and following a lightsaber battle, involving Dooku and several MagnaGuards, Skywalker was captured and taken hostage. Shortly after Skywalker's capture, Padmé Amidala received a message from Dooku on her holoprojector. During the exchange, Dooku told Amidala that he had captured Skywalker. He then demanded that Amidala give back General Grievous in return for Skywalker. She reluctantly agreed, and the prisoner exchange took place shortly thereafter. Following the prisoner-exchange, the Separatist forces retreated.

After the assassination of senator Mee Deechi at the hands of Lolo Purs, the planet Umbara seceded from the Galactic Republic and joined the Confederacy, pledging the Umbaran Militia and its advanced technology to the cause. Because of this action, the Republic launched an invasion of Umbara. The Umbarans and the Separatists put up heavy resistance against the invaders. Despite their efforts and Jedi General Pong Krell's treason against the Republic, Umbara successfully became part of the Republic again.

The Confederacy, meanwhile, had formed an alliance with Queen Miraj Scintel, leader of the Zygerrian Slave Empire. As part of the deal, the Confederacy conquered a Togruta colony on Kiros and enslaved all of its inhabitants. However, their plans were foiled when the Jedi managed to track the missing colonists to the Zygerrian homeworld. The Jedi Council then sent Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Ahsoka Tano to infiltrate the slave markets where the colonists were being held. During their attempted rescue, Kenobi and Skywalker were captured. Kenobi was sent to a slave-processing facility, while Skywalker became the personal slave of the Queen. While being held as the Queen's slave, Scintel developed feelings for Anakin. When she was ordered by Dooku to kill him, she refused. As a punishment for her defiance, Dooku mortally injured her. Seeing his opportunity, Skywalker freed Tano, and carried the Queen onto a slave-ship, upon which he escaped.

Following Skywalker's escape, the Queen, before perishing, revealed to him the location of the processing facility where Kenobi and the missing Togruta-colonists were being held, Kadavo. Having discovered the location and told the Jedi Council, Skywalker and Tano arrived at the facility. They attempted to break into the facility but failed. Soon after their arrival, Republic reinforcements arrived, and the facility's defenses were soon disabled. With no hope of escape, Keeper Agruss attempted to kill the colonists by dropping them into a volcanic pit. However, his plan was foiled when Tano devised a plan to rescue the colonists, and he was killed. With the successful rescue of Kenobi and the colonists, the Jedi departed the facility, and destroyed it.

At the height of the Clone Wars, the Confederacy of Independent Systems held a peace conference with the Galactic Republic on the neutral planet Mandalore between representatives of both governments in an effort to end the pan-galactic conflict. The conference was presided over by Duchess Satine Kryze within her royal palace in the New Mandalorian capital Sundari. At the beginning of the meeting, Naboo Senator Padmé Amidala opened up the discussions, leading the Republic senators in the peace negotiations, but she was quickly rebuffed by Senator Voe Atell, who called for the Republic to declare the Separatist-state legitimate. However, before the delegates could further discuss their terms of peace, Lux Bonteri, son of the late Onderonian senator Mina Bonteri, interrupted the summit, and announced to the politicians that it was Count Dooku that had his mother murdered. This led young Bonteri to soon afterward be escorted out by Separatist commando-droids, allowing the discussion to continue. Shortly after his escape, however, the negotiations fell apart completely, along with hopes of gaining the full legitimacy it sought.

With Onderon's secession from the Galactic Republic at the beginning of the Clone Wars having been instigated by a Separatist coup, King Sanjay Rash found his regime, backed by the Confederacy of Independent Systems, challenged by a group of rebels organized by the young insurgents Steela and Saw Gerrera. The rebels hoped to restore the deposed King Ramsis Dendup to the throne. Seeing an opportunity to engage the Confederacy on another front, the Republic began to fund the rebels with credits and arms to combat Rash's occupational forces from the Separatist Droid Army. The Jedi High Council sent a team of advisors to train the rebels, along with some of the 501st Legion who were covertly inserted into Onderon, and who oversaw training-sessions at the insurgency's jungle camp. Midway through the training, the camp was attacked, and the lessons escalated into actual combat when a battle droid-squadron attempted to exterminate the rebels; however, the newly-trained rebels eliminated the enemy droid-squad.

The rebels then infiltrated the Separatist-occupied capital Iziz, conducting strikes on droid patrols throughout the city. They also targeted Iziz's main power generator to extinguish the battle droids recharging source, and also proving they were capable of challenging the Separatists and Rash. Count Dooku sent King Rash reinforcements under the command of the super tactical droid General Kalani. After the rebels attempted and failed to free the deposed King Dendup, King Rash ordered his public execution. However, his plans were foiled when General Tandin and his royal guards sided with the rebels during Rash's attempted execution of Dendup, helping Gerrera and her insurgents rescue Dendup, He also pledged the Royal Onderon Militia to their forces.

With Steela appointed by Dendup as their commanding general, the joint rebel and royal soldiers pulled out from Iziz, hoping to preserve civilian lives by isolating armed conflict to the eastern highlands. As full-scale fighting began, the rebels used the mountainous terrain against the Separatists, and despite heavy casualties, won the battle with the help of illegal rocket-launchers supplied to them though underworld contacts. Faced with this catastrophic defeat, Dooku contacted Rash and Kalani. Rash explained what had happened, and that they would need even more help to defeat the rebels. Dooku refused, not wanting another war to deal with. He commanded Kalani to call back all of the droid-forces from the planet, and withdraw to Agamar. As Rash angrily protested, Kalani shot the deluded king, killing him.

The Carida Incident was the result of a mission undertaken by the Confederacy of Independent Systems who sabotaged the Renown, a Venator-class Star Destroyer, by loading it with rhydonium canisters with the intention of ramming it into the Valor space station, the site of a Republic strategy conference. While escaping Abafar, the D-Squad took refuge in the Venator-class Star Destroyer, on which they planned to return the stolen Separatist encryption module, but they discovered it was overrun by droids. They undertook efforts to disrupt the Confederate plot and stop the ship from destroying a Republic strategy conference in the Carida system.

The Battle of Ringo Vinda took place outside a Separatist-controlled space station that surrounded the planet of Ringo Vinda. Initially the battle was moving in the favor of the Republic. However, the battle turned in the Separatists favor when a clone trooper, Tup, malfunctioned and executed Order 66 early, killing Jedi General Tiplar. With their momentum lost, the Republic had no option other than to withdraw. The unusual behavior of the Republic was noticed by Separatist Admiral Trench who reported it to Dooku, who then reported it to Darth Sidious. Sidious ordered the capture of the clone, which the Separatists successfully undertook before the Republic left Ringo Vinda. However, before Tup could be delivered to the Confederacy for study, he was recaptured by Anakin Skywalker and the Republic on the ongoing shuttle, with Kraken killed in the raid, and made it to Kamino.

Meanwhile, one the Confederacy's backers, the Banking Clan, which was previously deregulated, was on the verge of collapse. The Core Five were embezzling the funds needed for both sides, but Padmé and Clovis, who narrowly escaped the bounty hunter Embo on the planet of Scipio, presented the evidence of their embezzlements and Clovis became the new head of the Banking Clan. While Clovis worked to get the banks back to neutrality after Padmé and Separatist Senator Bec Lawise oversaw the transfer of power, Dooku had Clovis raise the Republic's interest rates, but leave the Separatist's rates untouched, despite his objections. The droid army, led by Dooku and a rebuilt Kraken, descended onto Scipio, invading the planet and defeated the Coruscant Guard led by Commander Thorn. Dooku proposed arresting Padmé, but Bec Lawise objected, stating the Separatist Senate would not allow for it, earning him a blast for his objections, and removing another Separatist Senator from the government.

Eventually, Republic forces led by General Skywalker came to Scipio to free the planet and Padmé, while Dooku and Kraken left the fighting to the remaining forces. The Republic won the battle, at the cost of Clovis's death, which allowed the Banking Clan to be placed under Palpatine, with the Republic no longer having to go bankrupt. However, a faction of the banks led by San Hill remained, while the Separatists could no longer get the loans from the main faction.

The Confederacy would attempt to commit a mass genocide on the people of Mahran under orders from Count Dooku. The planet was of strategic importance to the Confederacy because of its vast quantities of natural resources. In response, the people of Mahran begged the Jedi Council to send aid. The Jedi responded by sending Jedi General Chubor with a task force of clone troopers. However, they were too late to prevent Separatist forces from laying waste much of the planet, including the capital city. The Republic attempted to escort the remaining Mahranee off world but were stopped when the Separatists launched a massive attack, slaughtering all the civilians, Jedi and clones. After this massacre, Dooku attempted to lay the blame for the tragedy on the Jedi Council. This led the council to finally authorize an assassination attempt on the Count in a desperate bid to limit the war's casualties. The Jedi Council then sent Quinlan Vos under the guise of a bounty hunter to recruit Asajj Ventress, who previously came close to killing Dooku and knew much about him, to aid him in the assassination. Their first attempt on Dooku ended in failure with Vos being captured, with a final plan to assassinate him during the second battle of Christophsis ending in the apparent death of his former apprentice Asajj Ventress.

Darth Sidious had brought Maul to the Spire, a prison fortress controlled by the Confederacy of Independent Systems on Stygeon Prime. It was there that Sidious briefly interrogated Maul, and told Count Dooku to find out information about who and where the Shadow Collective leaders were. The goal was to make Maul believe that the Sith wanted to destroy the Shadow Collective, so he would seek out Mother Talzin. Meanwhile, Sidious was followed to Stygeon Prime by two Death Watch warriors, Rook Kast and Gar Saxon, under orders from Mandalore's Prime Minister, Almec to free Maul from the Spire.

After being freed, Maul was tracked to Zanbar by General Grievous along with a Separatist fleet. Dooku ordered Grievous not to kill Maul, simply to defeat and break his forces enough that Maul would seek out Mother Talzin's help. Grievous launched his forces towards the surface, and Maul's troops immediately began firing anti-aircraft weaponry at them. The heavy fire was not enough to repel the ships, however, so the Separatists pressed their attack and deployed all of their forces. After the Shadow Collective lost on Zanbar, Maul attacked Dooku and Grievous over Ord Mantell which led Maul to make his way into orbit and boarded Grievous' command ship. Grievous disabled the battle droid army after Maul gave him the choice to do so or die, and the cyborg general was taken into custody. Dooku, meanwhile, had engaged and defeated the Nightbrothers in battle, before being captured by the Shadow Collective forces.

Sidious and Grievous arrived to confront Maul and Talzin on Dathomir after finding out where Dooku was being held, the latter of whom had used her magick to take control of Dooku's body. This led to a lightsaber duel, in which Sidious quickly gained the upper hand against the Talzin-controlled Dooku. Talzin appeared in the flesh, returned to her physical form, and held off a Force lightning assault from Sidious and, eventually, Dooku. Talzin sacrificed her own life to allow Maul to escape, as Grievous fatally stabbed the Dathomirian witch through the chest while Maul fled from Dathomir. The Separatists, meanwhile, also attacked Maul's Black Sun and Pyke Syndicate allies, leading the mercenaries to end their alliance with Maul; destroying the Shadow Collective.

The world of Anaxes was attacked by a Confederate fleet under the command of Trench, starting the Outer Rim Sieges, as the Separatists' last stand to force the Republic into surrender. He besieged the Republic shipyards for weeks on end, exploiting the Techno Union's access to a secret Republic strategy algorithm. Even as the tide of battle began to turn against him, Trench remained intent on annihilating the Jedi and their clone infantry. In a last ditch effort, he activated a bomb beneath the assembly complex on Anaxes. However, Anakin Skywalker infiltrated Trench's flagship and forced the admiral to divulge the sequence to disarm the device. When Trench tried to retaliate, Skywalker drove his lightsaber through his chest killing him and ending the battle.

By the last days of the Clone Wars, the Republic had pushed back the CIS, taking away most of its territory and effectively only leaving it with a few systems in the Outer Rim. To wipe out the Confederacy's last holdings, the Republic was laying siege to the Confederacy in the Outer Rim and its holdings in other sectors, with battles taking place on Cato Neimoidia, Mygeeto, Saleucami, Kashyyyk, Felucia, Kaller, and Lokori while Grievous had launched an counter-offensive against the Republic, pushing its military to the the breaking point. In response to the assault, Jedi Generals were deployed to help the Grand Army of the Republic. The Confederacy was also involved in a confrontation with the Republic on Bracca, a planet in the Mid Rim. The Confederacy intended to take control of the Republic world with the help of sympathizers of the Scrapper Guild.

The Separatists had launched a surprise attack on the capital of the Galactic Republic, Coruscant and saw Chancellor Palpatine captured by Grievous and kept on board his command ship. However, this was a plan orchestrated by Sidious in order for Anakin to kill Dooku and replace him as Sidious's next apprentice, but no one was aware of the Sith Lords' true intention. The Republic sent General Kenobi and Master Skywalker to rescue the Chancellor. During their rescue attempt, they were confronted by Count Dooku and engaged him in a lightsaber duel. Dooku initially gained the upper hand, knocking Kenobi out, however, he was soon overpowered by Skywalker, who cut off his hands and then took Dooku's own lightsaber and held it to his throat along with his own, in a scissor position. At Skywalker's mercy, Dooku was betrayed by his master, as Palpatine ordered Anakin to kill him. Dooku was shocked and horrified, while likely also realizing that his own master used and betrayed him. Despite the fact that the count was an unarmed prisoner and that it was against the Jedi Code, he was nevertheless beheaded by Skywalker. After rescuing the chancellor, they escaped to the bridge where Grievous lay in wait for them. They engaged him in a duel and managed to defeat him, but he managed to escape.

Despite having lost a third of the attack fleet, Grievous then ordered the fleet to withdraw and became head of state of the Confederacy of the Independent Systems, who fled to Utapau, which was occupied by them sometime after a crystal incident, where he hid and met with the Separatist Council. After a brief disagreement with Nute Gunray, he ordered both him and other leaders to go to the Mustafar system where they would be safe. During his time there, his location was discovered by Clone Intelligence. This led the Jedi Council to send Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi to investigate. Having arrived in secret, Kenobi confirmed the presence of Grievous and ordered a full-scale assault on the settlement. During the ensuing battle, Grievous would be killed by Kenobi while trying to flee the sinkhole planet. Despite the survival of the Separatist Council, Grievous's demise marked the collapse of an effective command structure.

Following this, the Galactic Republic reformed into the Galactic Empire, with Palpatine declaring himself Galactic Emperor. On Mustafar, Darth Sidious conversed with the Separatist Council via hologram, with Gunray remarking confidently that their plan had gone just as the Dark Lord of the Sith had promised. Demoralized by their recent defeats, Gunray and the other leaders had wished to sue for peace, but did not know what Sidious had planned for them, who promised that his new apprentice would soon arrive to take care of them. Much to the councils' obliviousness, they were being betrayed by Sidious, who really sent Vader to eliminate them on Mustafar. Once Darth Vader landed, he entered the mining facility and slaughtered the Separatists, taking them out one by one with his lightsaber; he also destroyed the OOM-series security droids, an OOM command battle droid, and Neimoidian guards and aides who had assembled in the room with their leaders.

In rapid succession, Vader executed the Councilors, including Po Nudo of the planet Ando, Passel Argente of the Corporate Alliance, and Presidente Shu Mai of the Commerce Guild. He then set his sights on Tikkes of Mon Cala and Archduke Poggle the Lesser of Geonosis. Minister Wat Tambor of the Techno Union, who fled into a conference room, and Rune Haako of the Trade Federation were also soon killed and only Nute Gunray remained who begged for mercy but also was murdered by Vader. After the slaughter, Vader received the order to send a transmission to the Droid Control Ships of the Trade Federation to issue the immediate deactivation of all remaining droid units within the Separatist Droid Army. The signal spread throughout the galaxy, such as on Lokori, thus formally ending the war.

The ongoing blockade of Quermia came to its end with the fall of the Separatists. With the Separatist Droid Army shut down, the Empire had defeated the Confederacy, winning the Clone Wars and bringing about the collapse of the CIS. While the various federations and guilds that held power under the CIS were crushed at that moment, many of the corporations would survive into the new era. Others, however, would be absorbed into the Imperial government. The Trade Federation and Techno Union were nationalized by the Empire, while the Corporate Alliance, Commerce Guild, and Banking Clan remained active. In the case of the Banking Clan in specific, the Empire controlled the group after the Republic had claimed its banks during the war, yet the Imperials would allow the organization a degree of flexibility.

Immediately after the war, Grand Vizier Mas Amedda led a celebration of the Jedi Order's eradication on Coruscant and claimed to the crowd that the Jedi had been behind the "Separatist plots" that had threatened them. Sweeping into the former Confederacy's territory, the Empire proclaimed it was not the Confederacy's enemy, claiming their regime would treat all planets within the CIS fairly in exchange for their loyalty. In reality, however, all former Separatists would come to suffer under Imperial rule. Indeed, members of the Separatist Senate were arrested, and the capital of Raxus was occupied by the Imperial Military.

With the Confederacy's robotic armies withdrawn or outright defeated, the Imperial Army was able to march through former Separatist territory without fear of a military resistance. The Empire swiftly conquered and occupied Serenno. with at least one of the planet's cities, in view of Castle Serenno, destroyed via orbital bombardment. Quermia was finally liberated from the Confederacy's massive blockade with the government's fall but quickly fell under Imperial rule.

Seeking to make examples of worlds who continued to harbor secessionist tendencies, worlds like Kooriva, Murkhana and on Raxus Secundus, the formal capital of the Confederacy, which still hosted ex-Separatists, became targets of the Empire. One such example, assigned to Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, was on the once loyal Separatist moon, Antar 4. During the genocidal atrocities committed on the moon's population, Imperial forces made no attempt to sort the Separatists from the Imperial loyalists. This served to compel Raxus and other worlds to surrender all former Separatists to Imperial custody, or else suffer a similar demise to that of Antar 4.

The end of the Clone Wars was not acknowledged by all elements of the Confederacy, with some possibly not being unaware it was over, as the former Confederacy was absorbed into the fledgling Galactic Empire whose Navy began to root out the remaining surviving Separatist holdouts who had not surrendered and stopped fighting for at least four years after the Clone Wars.

The super tactical droid General Kalani, who assumed that the order was instead a Republic trick, and prevented the deactivation of his large garrison of droids marooned on Agamar in the wreckage of a DH-Omni Support Vessel that had crashed during a battle fought on the planet, where they would await for retrieval during the next seventeen years. Kalani's remaining forces consisted mostly of B1-series battle droids and a few droidekas, though they lacked any heavy vehicles or starships capable of leaving the planet. The munitions depot they were protecting at the base kept Kalani and his droids well-provisioned enough to still remain reasonably functional for almost two decades without resupply.

By the early Imperial period, remnants of the Confederacy of Independent Systems had fled into the Western Reaches. Various planetary populations of former Confederate worlds were dissatisfied with the lack of reconstructive action in the aftermath of the Clone Wars, joining the holdouts and thus swelling their numbers in their campaign against the Empire that lasted until until 17 BBY. Imperial shipyards like the one in orbit over Kartoosh, just outside of the Western Reaches, served as a repair hub for starships damaged in engagements with Separatists as well as salvage yards for captured vessels. The Bilbringi shipyards also served as a dismantling point for old Separatist warships. The Imperial forces were led by Tarkin, fresh from "pacifying Antar 4," who had been assigned to oversee operations by Emperor Sheev Palpatine himself. Both Tarkin and Lieutenant Commander Orson Krennic would utilize the conflict against the holdouts as a pretext to justify for the appropriation of numerous legacy worlds—worlds legally protected as ecological reserves—advancing the top-secret Imperial construction project occurring above Geonosis.

After the war, some Separatists took on lives that operated outside of the law; the prestigious General Kleeve took on the name "Jondo" and worked off the planet Lahn, In addition, the enterprising Imperial Navy officer Thrawn collected Separatist weapons and technology including a buzz droid. By 5 BBY, former Separatists were still among the rebels groups who defied the Empire. One such Separatist, Anto Kreegyr, was one of Luthen Rael's contacts.

Separatist military equipment (including battle droids) that survived the war was used by a number of pirate and resistance organizations including Berch Teller's rebel cell and the insurgent leader Nevil Cygni. A large amount of heavily modified Separatist equipment was used by the Alliance to Restore the Republic; examples include the IG-227 Hailfire-class droid tank, the Lucrehulk-class Battleship, and the Armored Assault Tank. The New Republic starfighter pilot Temmin Wexley's best friend was a former B1 battle droid named Mister Bones. While criminal organizations composed of re-purposed battle droids such as the Droid Gotra operated in Imperial Center's underground while some escaped notice all together. The destruction of many of the corporations that had allied with the Separatists opened a power vacuum, allowing smaller groups to step in; the Fardi clan took advantage of the opening, using it to rise into power without allying with large crime families.

During the Age of the Empire, the tale of the Clone Wars was frequently used as a warning to the galaxy of what could happen should the Empire and order fail. Soon after the Empire's formation, Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader observed the construction of the Death Star, a super-weapon which had begun construction shortly after the Second Battle of Geonosis by the Separatists. With the Separatists defeated and their leaders killed, the Death Star project was taken over by the Galactic Empire, who planned to use it to control the galaxy. Nineteen years later, the Death Star was used to destroy the planet Alderaan, killing all the inhabitants. The Death Star was later destroyed during the Battle of Yavin when a young Rebel pilot, Luke Skywalker, exploited a serious design flaw to destroy the battle station, making the battle a major Rebel victory in the Galactic Civil War.

An aging veteran of the Clone Wars, Colonel Shakara Nuress continued to see her enemies as Separatists, referring to the Alliance by the name, much to the amusement of her younger crew. After the Alliance to Restore the Republic was re-organized into the New Republic after it won the war, it was decided that the capital of the New Republic would be rotated periodically—addressing one of the main concerns of the Confederate systems.

A union of independent governments and thousands of star systems, the Confederacy of Independent Systems was a confederate government organized and directed by former Jedi Master, Count Dooku, who served as the government's Head of State throughout much of the Confederacy's duration. Acting through the Bylaws of Independent Systems, an established constitution that vested capabilities to the Confederacy's parliament, Dooku operated as an officiator within the legislature for congressional procedures. In theory, the CIS was thus a democracy with Dooku simply as its executive figure and senatorial leader. In practice, however, Dooku secretly held great power over the state and was granted even greater authority over it as the Clone Wars dragged on. He manipulated its senate and the overall state to meet the ends of the Sith. Instead of actually answering to the will of the people, Dooku answered only to Sidious, who, as Dooku's Sith Master, alone could order the count. To meet his ends, Dooku manipulated the senate.

Disparagingly referred to as "the Separatists" by those within the Galactic Republic, the Confederacy's ideological beliefs centered around minimal taxation and trade regulations, as it provided its member systems with an increase in control over their territories. Furthermore, the confederate government also offered assurances to its allies of a smaller and less centralized government, as well as freedom for local governments in order to privately maintain their internal affairs, while also offering egalitarian representation for governments that were left isolated within the galaxy's Rim regions from the Core Worlds and Republic Senate.

Although its system of government appealed to multiple intellectuals and self-styled "free-thinkers," those of whom were inhabitants of the regions beyond the core, the Confederacy developed and came against two extensive issues. Firstly, as the Republic was militarily opposed to the secessionist movement, the CIS government's members worlds were required to relinquish control and resources to Dooku and the Executive Separatist Council in order to maintain their war effort. In practice, such control allowed Dooku to exert great power over the state. Furthermore, Dooku and his officers—such as General Grievous—were free to use the CIS military to commit massacres without answering to the senate. Dooku's political supporters were left unaware and believed in the image of a humanitarian leader who acted in their best interest. While covered up by Dooku, who would deny such practices if asked about them, the Confederacy also made use of torture.

The second major problem faced by those who aligned with the Separatists came from the confederate government's laissez-faire stance in response to star systems' rights. Such a stance resulted in many Republic protections for workers, such as antislavery laws, autochthonous sentients' rights, and environmental exploitation and protection laws, being rendered ineffective. Unable to control their whole destiny and faced with a lack of those protections, localized resistances would emerge on numerous worlds out of dissatisfaction with the realities of separatism.

With the Clone Wars, Dooku was provided wartime powers by the Separatist Parliament that undermined its democratic values. Indeed, despite the ideals of his Separatist supporters, the CIS in practice was a state that saw Dooku able to implement executive orders in regards to governmental decisions, resulting in the undermining of the democratic process and making the parliament ineffective. The position of Head of State also granted the state leader direct power over the Separatist Council, an executive advisory and administrative body formed from the leaders of the major galactic corporations that supported the Confederacy, such as Trade Federation Viceroy Nute Gunray, Federation Settlement Officer Rune Haako, Techno Union Foreman Wat Tambor, Commerce Guild Presidente Shu Mai, InterGalactic Banking Clan Chairman San Hill, Corporate Alliance Magistrate Passel Argente, Senators Po Nudo, Tikkes and Rogwa Wodrata, and Geonosian Archduke Poggle the Lesser.

The Separatist Council managed much of the Confederacy alongside Dooku. Furthermore, it was also responsible for the oversight of the government's daily operations and vital planetary occupations, as well as additional situations that were related to its efforts in the Clone Wars. Much like the Separatist Senate, however, the council would find itself virtually powerless under Dooku's leadership. Instead, the group was to follow the will of the count and his Sith Master. Still, while Dooku needed to keep his Sith loyalties a secret from the Separatist Senate, the Separatist Council was more than aware of the existence of Darth Sidious and the Sith Order's control over the Separatist state. However, the council did not know that the entire Separatist government was to be destroyed at war's end. Unlike Dooku, who acted for the betterment of the Sith Plan, council members actually worked in the name of the Confederacy, as well as for their own profit in the case of corporate members like Gunray and Tambor. In the end, the Separatist Council was another group that was manipulated by the Sith and sacrificed for Sidious's greater goals.

However, following Dooku's death in the Confederacy's assault on the Republic capital world of Coruscant, control over the confederate government, its military forces and protection of the Separatist Council was vested to the cybernetic warlord General Grievous, who had served as the Supreme Martial Commander of the Separatist Droid Armies throughout the war's duration. A position held for only several days after Dooku's death, Grievous was silenced not long after his appointment to Head of State, which thereby transferred overall control of the Confederacy to a demoralized Separatist Council.

Headquartered on the Confederacy's capital world of Raxus Secundus, the Separatist Senate was a legislative body of senators that governed the confederate government, while also existing primarily for mutual defense and dispute mediation. Independent from the obsolete mandates and proprieties that bridle the Republic coupled with corruption, the parliament lightly directed the Confederacy under the supervision of Separatist Congress Leader and Speaker, Senator Bec Lawise. However, despite serving as the government's legislature, the Separatist Parliament was granted with minimal power in practice: despite the ideals of its members, the senate operated in practice only as an advisory body to Dooku and the Executive Separatist Council, which handled the government's funding and military-based matters. Even then, there were moments where the senate surprised Dooku. In such cases, such as Senator Mina Bonteri's proposed peace accord with the Republic, Dooku worked to undermine the actions of his own people.

Separatist senators were all from worlds and systems who joined the Separatist cause, including ones that had once been members of the Galactic Senate that continued to represent their constituents in the Confederacy, and had involvement in public affairs. The senate was seated on the Confederate capital planet of Raxus Secundus. Many loyalists and senators of the Republic believed that the Separatist senators were no more than pawns to Dooku. Furthermore, the senators of the parliament as well as the citizens of the Confederacy were repeatedly shielded from front-line reports of brutal campaigns waged by the Separatist Droid Army by the various elements of the Separatist hierarchy.

The Separatist Parliament was responsible for coordinating the mutual defense and mediating disputes between its members. It delegated most of its authority on taxation and trade regulation to its member systems, in accordance with the decentralized ideology of the Confederacy.

The various commercial entities who joined under the banner of the Confederacy of Independent Systems pledged their forces to the military, creating one sprawling group of droids as well as organic forces, and local warriors, and was often referred to as the Droid Army, and was headed by a Supreme Commander. These units were led by organic officers as well as tactical droids to lead ground and naval forces, which included of the T-series tactical droid and the more sophisticated super tactical droid. The Confederacy's droid army was the largest droid ground force in history.

The droid army was composed from the Trade Federation's battle droids to the security forces maintained by the Commerce Guild, InterGalactic Banking Clan, and Corporate Alliance, which donated not only its new B2-series super battle droids, but numerous foundries capable of producing thousands more droids for deployment as well as the OG-9 homing spider droids were a common sight on many front lines, and tank droids and AATs provided heavy firepower. while also consisting of local forces of the worlds under its control, who were of flesh and blood, however, government officials downplay this and stated that they were volunteers and not like the Republic cloned soldiers which had been pressed into service.

Its naval wing was originally made up of heavily armed bulk transports from Separatist member corporations, but, as the Clone Wars continued, Pammant Docks and other Separatist allies built capital ships to make a creditable fleet. These starships were filled with a variety of starfighters and crewed by B1 battle droids, within it fleet, it included the Subjugator-class heavy cruiser which had mega-ion cannons that could disable the power systems of entire fleets, rendering them defenseless against the ship's massive array of lasers.

When the Confederacy of Independent Systems was formed, it received limited galactic recognition from many other entities due to a lack of legitimacy from the Galactic Republic as a separate state, but they did receive secret support from several major galactic corporations. Intergalactic Association of Amalgamated Droid Builders was also aligned with the Confederacy, providing construction and service for the Separatists' Droid Army.

The New Mandalorians government, stayed neutral during the pan-galaxy conflict, and decided to agree to allow Mandalore as neutral ground to host an historic peace conference between representatives of the Republic and the Confederacy in an effort to end the Clone Wars, where the separatists sought full diplomatic recognition from the Republic, which it did not grant, a recurring issue since its birth as a separate state, but negotiations talks would result in failure.

The Confederacy moved to annex the Qiilura system during the Clone War. Later, they entered into relations with the Grysk Hegemony, a warlike species hailing from the Unknown Regions who had maintained surveillance on the Confederacy prior contact, they then decided to share information on cortosis, which was resistant against lightsabers.

With the Confederacy keeping close ties with certain criminal groups and mercenaries, several groups of pirates also signed terms with the Confederacy of Independent Systems to exclusively target the Galactic Republic during the Clone Wars, these were the Delmaasi, Iridium, Nuro, Red Fury Brotherhood, Merson and Nuala Marauders pirates, who were encouraged by Count Dooku to harass Republic supply lines. As a result of the Separatist alliance with such groups, their technology occasionally ended up in the possession of pirates or other such groups.

The Confederacy of Independent Systems population consisted of several different non-human alien groups, as well as near-humans, this being reflected in both its military and political as it hierarchy was largely dominated by non-humans. All species were seeking for fair trade, respect, and better representation in the Confederacy. Despite its many alien supporters, humans could occupy high ranking roles within the Confederacy, such as its head of state, Count Dooku, being a Serennian, as well as Onderonian King Sanjay Rash and senator Mina Bonteri.

During the Battle of Mon Cala, the Separatists exploited tensions between the Mon Calamari and Quarren by backing the latter. Count Dooku also ordered the enslavement of Mon Calamari prisoners and civilians. Despite supporting the Quarren, Dooku made a secret agreement with the Karkarodon leader Riff Tamson to crown him the new King of Mon Cala. The Confederacy later committed genocide against the Mahran species and attacked their homeworld, killing many civilians and refugees. In addition, the Confederacy also issued an order that all Mahrans were to be regarded as extremely hostile and killed on sight.

According to Dooku's propaganda, the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order were the victims of their own ambitions. He also alleged that the Supreme Chancellor was the pawn of corporate monopolies and that the Jedi had secretly created the Grand Army of the Republic to suppress the Confederacy's demands for reforms and equality. While the Republic's clone troopers were regarded as unwilling slaves who were regularly sent to their deaths, the Separatists sacrificed mainly droids. Dooku also claimed that the Confederacy's flesh and blood soldiers were willing participants who were fighting for freedom.

Count Dooku was the main leader of the Confederacy of Independent Systems who served as a unifying force in the Separatist State. Many Separatists viewed him as a single, seemingly invincible figurehead to rally around. Some observers like the Jedi Master Mace Windu believed that eliminating Dooku would lead to the disintegration of the Separatist movement. While the Separatists had other leaders like Separatist Congress Leader Bec Lawise, Senator Mina Bonteri, General Grievous, the Viceroy Nute Gunray, and Riff Tamson, all the other players within the Confederacy were controlled by Dooku. To boost morale, Dooku traveled to several worlds including Raxus where he gave rousing speeches defending the Confederacy's cause and war effort. Wherever he traveled, Dooku was greeted by large crowds. Unaware of atrocities like the Attack on Mahranee or General Grievous's campaigns, Dooku was respected enough within the Confederacy to be conferred with awards like the Raxian Humanitarian Award.

The Separatist State gained a vast transportation network as systems and sectors broke away from the Republic during the Separatist Crisis which served as means of both civilian and military transport to support its objectives. This included several major hyperspace lanes—which were considered trans-galactic highways—with their knowledge and existence dating back to well before the Galactic Republic. Their control was vital for maintaining an effective means of defense and security during the Clone Wars.

The Confederacy made use of the unauthorized holofeed network known as the Shadowfeeds to spread propaganda into Republic Space on the order of Count Dooku. Shadowfeeds were created through sabotage of legitimate HoloNet networks. However, Republic Intelligence was able to shut down many of these Shadowfeeds quickly, which eventually led to the creation of the Commission for the Protection of the Republic. The governor of the planet Eriadu, Wilhuff Tarkin, was responsible for frustrating Dooku by providing counterintelligence to shut down many of his Shadowfeeds during the Clone Wars.

The Confederacy of Independent Systems numbered at several thousand star systems, that had left the Galactic Republic at the start of the Clone Wars, which were planets primarily from the Inner to Outer Rim Territories, including the capital world of Raxus Secundus, among others, such as Geonosis, and Mustafar.

Several neutral and unaligned worlds also were annexed by the Confederacy as the war drag on, such as Dathomir, and Florrum. As noticed by Ahsoka Tano, populations on worlds occupied by the Separatist Alliance would at first closely follow every new rule put in place. However, they also made sure to see what reaction occurred when these directives were violated. Afterward, the local population would begin to push back against the occupiers, doing an extreme pushback if the Separatists were violent in their reaction.

The Confederacy was pushed back to the spiral arms of the galaxy during the Outer Rim Sieges in the third and final year as the Republic continued to keep the pressure in these territories, continuing to take place until the final days of the Clone Wars.

The Confederacy of Independent Systems first appeared in Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones. Early in production of Attack of the Clones, the various commerce guilds were to all employ the same type of battle droids that were used by the Trade Federation, albeit with different color schemes to differentiate allegiance, but it was later decided that having each guild have their own wholly unique droids would provide visual diversity.

The book Star Wars and History compared the establishment of the "Separatist Confederacy" and its declaration of civil war to the Confederate States of America seen in American history. The book suggests that the election of new leaders, Palpatine in the case of the Republic and Abraham Lincoln in the case of the American government, were the spark that created the respective separatist crises. The authors then note they do not seek to compare Lincoln to the fictional villain that is Palpatine, instead raising the connection to claim a change in upper leadership helped lead to war in both cases. Author Jason Fry also pulled from the American Civil War when crafting lore about the Republic harnessing its industrial power for the war against the Confederacy, taking the idea from the Union's industrial and manpower advantage over the CSA. While the CIS canonically outnumbered the Republic in military manpower thanks to its formations of battle droids, the Republic had managed to outpace the Separatists in industrial manufacturing by the end of the war, by which point the Confederacy was also losing much of its territory and thus was heavily outnumbered in a territorial sense. All the same, in a blow to any "heroic" narrative around industrial production that could be applied to the Clone Wars, the Republic's harnessed industrial might set up the military industrial complex that remained under the Galactic Empire.

• Disney Infinity 3.0
• LEGO STAR WARS: Celebrate the Season — "All I Want For Life Day"
• LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens
• LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
• Fortnite
• LEGO STAR WARS: Celebrate the Season — "LEGO Star Wars - 25 Years"

• The Art of Star Wars: Visions