Kessendra Coronation

In the wake of the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY, the dreaded Galactic Empire had been defeated by the Rebel Alliance after a year-long conflict known as the Galactic Civil War. Not only its second Death Star battlestation had been destroyed, but its leaders, the Galactic Emperor Palpatine and the Supreme Commander Darth Vader, were dead. While the Grand Vizier Sate Pestage officially took control of the Empire, his right to rule was almost immediately contested. Many other Imperials declared themselves independent. After a sixth-month reign, Pestage's command was circumvented by Ysanne Isard, Director of Imperial Intelligence. While Isard succeeded in maintaining the Empire and fending off aggressive warlords for a time, a majority of the Empire's Grand Moffs united under the banner of the Central Committee of Grand Moffs, in an attempt to subvert her claim to rule the Empire.

Since rumors had long circulated that the late Palpatine had sired a three-eyed mutant son, Bertroff Hissa, the unspoken leader of the Central Committee, sought to use these superstitions. The Grand Moffs conspired with Trioculus, Hissa's lifelong protégé and Supreme Slavelord of Kessel, under the pretense that he was indeed Palpatine's long-lost heir. Meanwhile, the so-called Supreme Prophet Kadann—who had in fact been replaced by a Bimm con artist named Rajah Ubooki—revealed the existence of the indestructible right-hand glove of Darth Vader, claiming that only the man who could locate that glove and wear it would rule the Empire. Although Ubooki and his Prophets were frauds, their Church of the Dark Side had been created to entice the Imperial populace, and the Bimm's "prophecies" had powerful influence.

Almost as soon as the general public heard of the glove of Darth Vader, the Central Committee decided to hold a massive gathering in the stadium of Kessendra, the capital city of the planet Kessel, intent on using the place to promote their proposed champion for the Imperial throne. The Central Committee summoned thousands of attendants from all the levels of the Imperial hierarchy, from the decorated warlords and grand admirals to the stormtroopers and lower-ranking officers. Even the slaves and the droids were invited, along with their overseers. Unbeknownst to the Imperials, the enemy New Republic acquired intelligence that the gathering would take place through its Senate Planetary Intelligence Network. Because of that, the New Republic droid partners C-3PO and R2-D2 were sent to the Kessendra Stadium disguised as Kessel mining units so they could spy on the gathering.

Grand Moff Hissa revealed that the rumored son of Palpatine did exist, and that he had lived on Kessel for years. Upon the announcement, the audience collectively gasped in awe, and a grand admiral inquired about the identity of the alleged Imperial heir. Supreme Slavelord Trioculus then made a dramatic entrance, which plunged the ceremony's attendants into silent terror. Trioculus then delivered a brief speech, insisting on the continuity between the reign of his "father" and his future rule. When Hissa ordered the gathered Imperials to bow and accept their new Emperor, a certain Royal Guard stood up in the crowd. The Guard objected there were others who claimed to be the new ruler of the Empire, including Grand Admiral Josef Grunger. Almost immediately, a grand admiral rose and expressed his concerned that Trioculus did not wear the Glove of Darth Vader, as the prophecy required. In response, the Supreme Slavelord invoked his purported lightning power of the Dark Side" to torture the two dissenters. That display of mystic force had an immediate impact on the attendants, who pressed to pledge their loyalty to him. What the audience did not know was that their new Emperor was not even Force-sensitive and wore a implanted device that allowed him to shoot lightning bolts.

While the bulk of the shattered Imperial Navy—including Captain Gilad Pellaeon and his Imperial II-class Star Destroyer Chimaera—remained loyal to Isard, a significant number of Imperials still ranged themselves under Trioculus' banner. Following the success of the Coronation, the new Emperor met the Grand Moffs and the Grand Admiral Miltin Takel in his palace. Since many pro-Imperial citizens had faith in the pseudo Kadann's prophecy, the new Emperor ordered the Moffs to begin a galaxy-wide search for the lost glove of Vader in order to gain the support of the self-proclaimed Prophet. At the same time, he tasked the Moffs with finding a location for his new headquarters and started campaigning against the burgeoning New Republic. In the meantime, unbeknownst to even the Central Committee, Palpatine had returned to life in a clone body on the Deep Core world of Byss. Through the Church of the Dark Side and Sate Pestage, he manipulated Trioculus, filling him with dreams of grandeur. In reality, the mutant slavelord was merely a lightning rod to distract the New Republic while the original Galactic Emperor kept hiding in a secret citadel, preparing the rise of a new Dark Empire.

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