The Empire of the Hand, also referred to as the Hand or just the Empire, was located in Wild Space of the galaxy, described as network of alliances with natives by the outside and was based on Nirauan. It was first established as a shadow empire of Grand Admiral Thrawn and set up strongholds against other more dire threats in the Unknown Regions. Thrawn believed it could serve as a bulwark against the Yuuzhan Vong, a purpose it finally fulfilled at the end of the Yuuzhan Vong War as the Empire of the Hand seamlessly disappeared. However, Jagged Fel had become leader but opted to keep the Hand non-entangled.
The Empire of the Hand origins came from the Galactic Empire efforts to explore and pacify the Unknown Regions under Galactic Emperor Palpatine. In these yet unexplored territories, Thrawn commandeered efforts to map great swathes of territory and bring security to the Unknown Regions as well as overseeing colonization and developing connections with the various species, and sought to protect it from the varied threats residing there, while laying the groundwork for the Empire of the Hand against the threat of the oncoming Yuuzhan Vong. After the Galactic Empire spiralled into chaos after the Battle of Endor, the Empire of the Hand emerged powerful enough to open preventive strikes on the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium and was also able to finally defeat and killed the warlord Nuso Esva and his forces at the battle of Quethold. With the threats in the Unknown Region seemingly quiet, the Grand Admiral decided the time had come to return to the Galactic Empire.
Under the leadership of Admiral Voss Parck, a select group of top Imperial officers, including General Soontir Fel and Commander Stent, and a cadre of Thrawn-loyal Chiss upheld Thrawn's vision and believed he would return to them ten years after his announced death. The Hand were informed by the New Jedi Order that Thrawn was indeed dead and allowed the clone of Thrawn to be destroyed, with the Jedi agreeing to keep the Hand existence a secret. However with the clone gone, the Hand lost its designated heir and consequently its legitimacy. However, the Hand assisted the Chiss Ascendancy and the New Republic against a third Vagaari.
During the Yuuzhan Vong War, General Soontir Fel appeared to be the leader of the Hand and sent Force Spike, a division of Syndic Mitth'raw'nuruodo's Household Phalanx, to help the Imperial Remnant and New Republic. But the Hand vanished sometime during the late stages of the war, having completed its purpose as the Yuuzhan Yong began to lose to the Galactic Federation.
However, the Empire of the Hand had ultimately survived, far from the notice of the galaxy at large. Although rumors persisted that the Hand had either collapsed or been absorbed by another power, Imperial Head of State Jagged Fel of the Imperial Remnant discovered that the Hand was still an active state but kept the secret of the Hand's survival to himself for security purposes.
Mitth'raw'nuruodo confers with Darth Sidious.
Thrawn made his first contact with the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious—the Sith persona of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine of the Galactic Republic—in 27 BBY, at the time of the destruction of the Outbound Flight. The Sith Lord and the Chiss Commander agreed with the idea that an unknown and powerful threat was rising in the Unknown Regions.
Soon after the Declaration of a New Order, Captain Voss Parck of the Victory-class Star Destroyer Strikefast discovered Thrawn in exile on a remote planetoid in the Unknown Regions. Thrawn insisted he return to his people to protect them, but was convinced by Parck that by offering his service to the Galactic Empire, he would be better equipped to do so. Thrawn was convinced by Parck's reasoning and accompanied him to Coruscant.
Upon reaching the Imperial Capital, Thrawn formally met Emperor Palpatine in person. Impressed by the Chiss, Palpatine decided to have Thrawn trained as an Imperial officer. After rising through ranks of the Imperial Military and sharing many ideas with the Emperor about the Unknown Regions, Thrawn was tasked with a mission to explore and pacify those as yet unexplored territories. However, in order to keep the true purpose of the mission secret, and because there was still resentment among the Imperial hierarchy about the heights to which the non-human Thrawn had risen, his assignment was disguised as an undermanned cartography mission, a seeming exile as punishment for his involvement with the losing side in one of the Imperial Court's petty feuds. In truth, the Emperor provided Thrawn with an enormous supply of ships and manpower.
Using the vast resources of the Imperial Navy, Thrawn mapped great swaths of territory in the name of the Galactic Empire. Voss Parck and Dagon Niriz, the commanders of his flagship, the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer Admonitor, were assigned to serve under Thrawn during his mission of exploration and conquest. Both men eventually became Thrawn's greatest supporters and were the first Imperial officers to join the Empire of the Hand. During his expedition to the Unknown Regions, he established laboratories, military installations, intel centres, listening posts, garrison bases, and shipyards and had plotted the equivalent of 250 sectors. for Emperor Palpatine.
The Imperial Star Destroyer Admonitor, Thrawn's flagship.
Thrawn also reestablished contact with the Chiss. Much of Thrawn's own people flocked to his banner because they had been battling many dark threats from the Unknown Regions, and looked to Thrawn as a new source of hope for the Chiss. However, the Empire of the Hand was viewed with distrust by the Ruling Families of the Chiss Ascendancy, who still considered Thrawn an outcast from Chiss society, especially after his infamous campaign. But agreeing with Thrawn's vision, many Chiss Aristocras unofficially supported Thrawn's renegade actions.
In 10 BBY, Thrawn built a vast information complex on Nirauan, the Hand of Thrawn, and made it his base of operations.
In 2 ABY, Thrawn defeated a group of Ebruchi pirates and captured their leader Creysis. Though he went through great lengths to avoid capture, Creysis ultimately underestimated Thrawn. Creysis was captured when a tracking device led the Chiss Admiral to his base, where Imperial forces easily overwhelmed the pirates and apprehended its leader.
501st Unit Aurek-Seven on Kariek.
Two years later, Thrawn, who was mapping the Unknown Regions one once, heard that Emperor Palpatine had been killed during the Battle of Endor, Grand Admiral then returned to his Hand of Thrawn base on Nirauan. However, as the Galactic Empire collapse, he found his forces in the Unknown Regions dwindling as ships were recalled.
Meanwhile, the Ssi-ruuk launched a series of incursions into the known galaxy, as well as near Chiss Ascendancy. Thrawn responded with preventive strikes on the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium. Nevertheless, the Ssi-ruuk attacked several minor Chiss worlds, capturing several Chiss as entechment subjects. Ultimately, their aggressive actions incurred the wrath of the Chiss Expansionary Defense Force, which retaliated with a devastating counter-attack on Ssi-ruuvi space. As a result of the Chiss's military strikes against the aggressors, the Alliance to Restore the Republic was able to defeat the Ssi-ruuk more easily.
By 8 ABY, Imperial territory in Wild Space had become the Empire of the Hand, and were finally defeated and killed the warlord Nuso Esva at the Attack on the Red City.
The assassination of Thrawn
In 9 ABY, Grand Admiral Thrawn returned to the known galaxy and launched a massive and brilliant campaign against the New Republic. But despite his genius, Thrawn was betrayed and killed at the Battle of Bilbringi.
Thrawn had left the Empire of the Hand behind under the leadership of Admiral Voss Parck. Parck, a select group of top officers, including General Soontir Fel and Commander Stent, and a cadre of Thrawn-loyal Chiss were given the responsibility of upholding Thrawn's vision and expanding his empire. None of them believed that the Grand Admiral was truly dead, having been told it was another of Thrawn's strategies, as he said he would return to them ten years after his announced death.
Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade in the Hand of Thrawn
During the Caamas Document Crisis, the Empire of the Hand was discovered by Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade when they were searching for the source of the clones and mysterious starfighters that had suddenly appeared. They found the Hand of Thrawn and met Parck, Fel and Stent, still waiting for Grand Admiral Thrawn's return. Luke and Mara informed them of Thrawn's death. The Jedi refused to join them but accepted to not reveal the existence of this shadow empire. They found an almost mature clone of Thrawn and a map of the Empire of the Hand. They decided that the clone had done nothing wrong yet so they wouldn't destroy it, but when two defense droids attacked them, they involuntarily destroyed the clone to escape. Before they did, R2-D2 managed to download an unaltered copy of the Caamas Document. Following this, Cavrilhu Pirates, who were following Skywalker and Jade, attacked the Hand of Thrawn. The Hand's forces retreated, and the base was repaired and in use again by 22 ABY.
In 22 ABY, the Empire of the Hand was involved in a local conflict on the planet Kariek. Stormtroopers of the 501st Legion were dispatched to overthrow a warlord who had invaded and conquered Kariek, where he established a tyrannical regime.
In the same year, the Empire assisted the Chiss Ascendancy and the New Republic against a third Vagaari invasion. The Vagaari were defeated in the Chiss Redoubt by the Chiss, the Jedi and the Empire. In the aftermath of the battle, many of the surviving colonists from Outbound Flight chose to join the Empire of the Hand.
After the death of Thrawn's clone, the Empire of the Hand lost its designated heir and consequently its legitimacy.
During the Yuuzhan Vong War, General Soontir Fel appeared to be the leader of the Hand. Admiral Parck's fate is unknown. Fel sent Force Spike, a division of the Syndic Mitth'raw'nuruodo's Household Phalanx, to help the Imperial Remnant and New Republic. This force was commanded by his son, Colonel Jagged Fel. This group would stay in the known galaxy fighting the Vong for several years.
The Empire of the Hand seemed to disappear sometime during the late Yuuzhan Vong War. The Jedi believed that the Killiks destroyed it, while the Chiss claimed that it was merely absorbed either by the Imperial Remnant or the Chiss Ascendancy itself. However, remarks made by Aristocra Chaf'orm'bintrano shortly before the Swarm War suggested that the Empire of the Hand was simply disbanded. That being said, Formbi was affiliated with the Hand, and therefore may have known that it had survived. Many of the Hand's officers, such as the Fels, joined the Ascendancy.
Despite their absence in the years following the Yuuzhan Vong War, the Empire of the Hand had ultimately survived, far from the notice of the galaxy at large. Although rumors persisted that the Hand had either collapsed or been absorbed by the Chiss Ascendancy, Jagged Fel discovered that the Hand was still an active state. It is unknown who was in command of the Hand at this point. As Head of State of the Imperial Remnant, Fel kept the secret of the Hand's survival to himself for security purposes.
Natasi Daala, the deposed Chief of State of the Galactic Alliance and admiral of the Maw Irregular Fleet developed a plot to seize control of the Remnant. With his position threatened by Daala's ambition to become Empress, Fel mobilized a fleet of loyal supporters and moved to destroy Daala and her subversives with a preemptive strike at Exodo II. At the same time, he requested aid from the Empire of the Hand, which dispatched a vanguard of three Chiss Star Destroyers to aid the Remnant and its leader. After converging on Daala's position, a battle commenced to determine the future of the Imperial Remnant.
Many of its political and social values gradually infiltrated the Imperial Remnant, thanks in part to the leadership of Gilad Pellaeon, a former follower of Thrawn, as well as Jagged Fel, a warrior of the Hand who went on to be Emperor of the Remnant. The recruitment of aliens and female Humans into the Imperial Military's ranks, as well as the decrease in xenophobic behavior, continued as the Remnant steadily reemerged as a resurgent Empire by 130 ABY.
Thrawn, founder and first leader of the Empire of the Hand, a successor state to the Galactic Empire
The Empire of the Hand composed of native species that Grand Admiral Thrawn found in the Wild Space that adopted the order and efficiency of Emperor Palpatine's New Order, but without the Emperor's megalomania, the Tarkin Doctrine, and the institutionalized xenophobia. Its capital was located in the Hand of Thrawn, the Grand Admiral's main fortress based on Nirauan.
The Empire of the Hand operated like a confederacy and allowed its subjects self-rule in Wild Space as opposed to conquering them through brute force, while it worked to form alliances with the native governments of the Unknown Regions and protect them from the various threats the resided both within and beyond. Unlike the Galactic Empire, it accepted the alien races that into the ranks of their military. The connection between the Old Empire and the Empire of the Hand was kept mainly for historical aspects, but also for the psychological value as well.
Jagged Fel, the steward of the Empire of the Hand
By 44 ABY, Jagged Fel, the leader of the Imperial Remnant, also led the Empire of the Hand, however, the two roles were separate. While Fel resided on Bastion rather than Nirauan, he retained the power to summon fleets and other assets of the Hand.
A Nssis-class Clawcraft
The Empire of the Hand had it own ethics were based on Thrawn's vision of war. It was an original combination of Chiss and Imperial tactics personally arranged by the Grand Admiral, such as respect of the enemies, careful consideration of soldiers' lives, surgical strikes, demonstrative invasions, preventive strikes and the significant use of intelligence gathering.
The Hand of Judgement, an elite squad of five Stormtrooper deserters.
At some point, Thrawn became a Syndic within Chiss society. With his new-found title, he created his own House Phalanx, a typical Chiss paramilitary organization. Although the creation of a personal warrior retinue did not make Thrawn more respectable amongst his own people, it enabled him to recruit many Chiss sympathizers who could publicly voice their support for him. The paramilitary organization also had Phalanx soldiers, and commandos which were the elite among the elite.
The Hand held Imperial-class Star Destroyers, Victory-class Star Destroyers, Immobilizer 418 cruisers and many more. TIE/LN starfighters, TIE/sa bombers, TIE/IN interceptors, and TIE/sr starfighters were used as well. Zeta-class long-range shuttles, Lambda-class T-4a shuttles served as primary transports for the Hand's forces. Strike-class medium cruisers, and Carrack-class light cruisers were used as well. Golan space defense platforms also made its use with the Hand. All Terrain Armored Transports, All Terrain Scout Transports, Imperial Juggernauts, Swoops, and Imperial Troop Carriers were used by the Hand for support of its ground forces.
The Empire of the Hand was a government that was mostly completely isolated from the wider galaxy, however it did remain in contact with Galactic Empire after the Battle of Endor.
With the combined technologies of the Galactic Empire, and the Chiss, the Hand was able to develop new fighters. These would be called Nssis-class Clawcraft.
The maser, a strong and powerful kinetic energy was developed as well.
A-Racks were also developed, they served as trooper carriers. They carried up to a total of ten troopers.
When Thrawn discovered the cloning cylinders on Wayland, he sent many of them to the Hand. On a frozen moon within the Unknown Regions, Thrawn authorized a project before his death, which involved making Sith-Jedi like warriors using deceased DNA of Jedi and Sith.
The Empire of the Hand during the Thrawn campaign
The Empire of the Hand was located in Wild Space, with its capital being Nirauan. It was speculated that there were few Imperial colonies in the Empire of the Hand, but it is likely that a whole network of alliances with the natives existed and the local species would colonize neighbouring planets.
In 22 ABY, the Wild Space system Kariek joined the Empire of the Hand.
- The Essential Chronology
- The New Essential Guide to Characters
- The New Essential Chronology
- Starships of the Galaxy, Saga Edition
- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
- The Essential Atlas
- The Unknown Regions
- The Essential Guide to Warfare
- The Essential Reader's Companion
- "Imperial Icons" — Star Wars Insider 148