Uueg Tching, a male member of the Kitel Phard Dynasty and the fifty-fourth Emperor of Atrisia, was famous for his ability to keep order through espionage, assassination, and deception. Through his direction, he was able to subvert over thirty rebellions to his rule; Uueg's empire was used as a basis for the Galactic Empire, which was founded by Palpatine some 3,000 years after Uueg's death.
Uueg's ascension to Emperor coincided with the discovery of several additional continents on his homeworld, but he was able to unify the continents through oppression, until the Atrisian Empire ruled the entire planet. Uueg was revered by many of his subjects, and he was constantly trailed by a cadre of scribes, who documented his teachings on scrolls, which eventually became known as the Sayings, lessons he hoped would help his descendants thrive when they reached power themselves. After his death, few members of the Tching Dynasty grasped his teachings, though those who did had very successful reigns. The Sayings became famous across the galaxy centuries after Uueg's time; they were quoted at Commission for the Protection of the Republic rallies, in historical documents, and were taught to all new recruits of Imperial Intelligence.
Uueg Tching was a Human male born over 3,000 years before the Battle of Yavin, at the height of the Galactic Republic. A native of Atrisia (also known as Kitel Phard), prime planet of the Atrisi system, and a member of the Kitel Phard Dynasty, he eventually became the fifty-fourth Atrisian Emperor. The Kitel Phard Dynasty was almost as old as the Republic itself, and was known for its violent philosophy—all disputes were settled with considerable bloodshed and open warfare. Uueg sought to change this.
Uueg had a keen mind for espionage, deception, diplomacy, and strategy, and he integrated each into his modus operandi, using them to great effect during his reign. Shortly after his ascension, several new continents were discovered on Atrisia, and Uueg was tasked with unifying the world and annexing the recently-discovered continents. Using various means—such as infiltration, assassination, and espionage—that were far more subtle than what was considered normal on his homeworld, Uueg was able to successfully increase the Atrisian Empire's rule, until he controlled the entire planet, both directly and indirectly. Under Uueg, a previously-unknown order was kept, and over thirty rebellions against him were quashed. His rule was considered by many to be tyrannical, though the majority of his subjects respected him, believing that he and the Kitel Phard Dynasty had established a golden age. Uueg also instituted Atrisian script as the native alphabet, expanding its usage to a planetwide scale for the first time since it was standardized by the First Atrisian Emperor.
Uueg was revered by many on his native planet, and during his time as Emperor, a group of scribes followed him everywhere, recording his teachings on how to rule an empire. He began to teach several potential heirs, with cold-blooded parables and analogies. One of his parables talked of a gardener, who was attentive enough to notice signs of decay within a tree he was caring for, and to cut through healthy bark to heal the tree. According to Uueg, those who utilized the tree were in the gardener's debt, for he had maintained the tree. The tree represented an empire, such as Uueg's; the rotting corruption of any kind; the person using its shade the subjects of the empire; and the gardener the being who presided over the empire and kept order. In another of his teachings, he stated there were three ways to defeat an enemy: via direct confrontation, to have him destroy himself, or to destroy him from within. Uueg advocated using all three methods when dealing with enemies.
He taught these lessons—which were later recorded by his scribes and dubbed the Sayings—to his heirs, and Uueg intended them to be a guide to his descendants. The scribes' writing was written in black ink on several scrolls, in Atrisian script, but many of Uueg's handwritten addenda were etched in red ink. Eventually, Uueg perished, and was replaced by a new Atrisian Empire of the Tching Dynasty.
Few of Uueg's descendants really mastered his teachings, though those that did—Oeana Tching, the so-called "Invisible Empress," and Eoaq the Expansive were the most well-known—were extremely successful in their reigns. The original document of the Sayings was kept safely in the Rare Books Department of the Atrisian Imperial Historical Library on Atrisia for over 3,000 years. Around 1500 BBY, a small number of copies of the Sayings was printed, in a propaganda effort by the then-Emperor of Atrisia, who wanted to showcase the supposed superiority of his ancestor in an attempt to make himself seem stronger to his fellow nobles.
The original manuscript of Uueg Tching's Sayings.
Uueg's empire, like the majority of such systems, only lasted for so long, and shortly prior to 539 BBY, the Atrisian Parliament wrested power from the nobles; one of the Parliament's first acts, in an attempt to highlight the power they had assumed and to raise money, was to publicly release the Sayings on an easily-accessible database. Hundreds of years later, the Sayings, particularly Uueg's quote about how best to deal with enemies, were widely-known across the galaxy. Tra-Skan-Lor, the Director of the Special Acquisitions Branch of the Library of the Republic was intrigued by the wisdom of Tching's Sayings and made his subordinates study them, causing the work to become deeply embeded within the Branch's culture.
During the Clone Wars, members of the Commission for the Protection of the Republic's SAGroup publicly quoted Uueg Tching's Sayings about the routing of corruption during a ceremony on Coruscant, meant to show their support for Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. Palpatine eventually abolished the Republic and formed the first Galactic Empire; it was modeled after the ancient empires of Atrisia, and others. In 1 BBY, Palpatine requested that the original manuscript of the Sayings be transported to the Galactic Museum on Coruscant, though before long it had again been moved, this time into Palpatine's personal vault of ancient treasures. Historians speculated that Emperor Palpatine simply wanted the scrolls as a trophy, as he had already mastered Uueg's ways. Uueg's Sayings were mandatory reading for new recruits of Imperial Intelligence. The Sayings original scrolls were taken to the Deep Core after the Liberation of Coruscant, and, despite her efforts, New Republic historian Corellia Antilles was unable to locate any trace of them. She hoped that recovering the scrolls would help improve relations between the New Republic and the Atrisian Commonwealth. Uueg's quote on defeating enemies was still well-known as of the Yuuzhan Vong War, starting in 25 ABY.
Uueg Tching was obsessed with power, and he clung to it with his life. Despite this, he was fiercely patriotic, and cared greatly for his subjects. He hated corruption, and he did what he could to ensure that it was not present during his regime. Uueg was a master strategist, and he had always had multiple ways to deal with his enemies. He was merciless during his reign, unifying his planet through violence and defeating those who were unhappy with his reign without remorse. He cared about the future, and hoped his descendants would utilize his teachings to great effect. Uueg was not above using unscrupulous means to achieve his goals, and espionage, trickery, and cold-blooded assassination were all the tools of his trade.
The character of Uueg Tching was first mentioned in the first edition of Greg Gorden's Imperial Sourcebook, in October 1989.
- Imperial Sourcebook
- Imperial Sourcebook, Second Edition
- "From the Files of Corellia Antilles" — Star Wars Adventure Journal 14
- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
- The Essential Atlas
- The Written Word on Hyperspace
- The Essential Guide to Warfare