Imperial Remnants

Imperial Remnants, also known as Imperial hideouts, or the Remnant Empire, were the leftover segments of the Galactic Empire scattered throughout the galaxy. These remains encompassed various successor states, such as enclaves governed by former Imperial governors and fiefdoms controlled by warlords, along with loyalist military holdouts, including the dispersed and fragmented Imperial Navy, as well as former Imperial Army strongholds where personnel maintained some level of control. Despite their presence across the galaxy, the Imperial Remnants were dispersed and disjointed, because Galactic Emperor Sheev Palpatine had failed to provide any instructions for succession to the Imperial throne.

Despite this fragmentation, some Imperial Remnants secretly collaborated through the Shadow Council to undermine the New Republic, harboring dreams of the Empire's resurgence. These holdouts, which violated the Galactic Concordance, were sometimes collectively referred to as the Imperial Remnant. However, the clandestine nature of their operations made this term contentious, as some within the New Republic doubted the remnants' collaboration, dismissing the rumors as alarmist conspiracy theories.

The Battle of Endor, which saw the destruction of the Death Star II battle station by the fleet of the Alliance to Restore the Republic, along with the deaths of Galactic Emperor Sheev Palpatine and his apprentice, the Sith warlord Darth Vader, dealt a significant blow to the Galactic Empire. Even though its rule over the galaxy remained technically in effect, protests erupted on numerous planets, including the galactic capital of Coruscant, fueled by Princess Leia Organa's holographic message conveying news of the events to the galaxy's inhabitants. Immediately following the battle, the Alliance transformed into the New Republic and officially declared war on the remnants of the Empire, beginning with an attack on the Imperial outpost on Endor to eliminate all Imperial presence from the system.

As the Imperial Navy struggled to coordinate their next actions and the bureaucrats on Coruscant debated the selection of Palpatine's successor, the fleet of the New Republic launched an assault on the Core Worlds, increasing the pressure on the Imperials. For a year, the war raged between the weakening Empire and the New Republic, as the New Republic Senate finally reconvened on Chandrila and the new government began to consolidate its control over much of the galaxy. Eventually, the command structure of the Imperial government fractured, leaving Grand Vizier Mas Amedda powerless amidst a growing rebel presence on the once untouchable Imperial throneworld. Despite Grand Admiral Rae Sloane, the new Navy chief, devising plans to retake the capital from the fleet evacuation point in the Annaj system, Fleet Admiral Gallius Rax, Palpatine's protege, refused to allow their execution, secretly setting the stage for the Empire's reconstruction as a reimagining of his master's legacy. With their forces abandoned, the Imperial Security Bureau placed Amedda under house arrest in the Imperial Palace for his own protection, as they continued to fight an increasingly hopeless battle for Coruscant, entrenched in the Federal and Verity Districts.

Rax's plans accelerated the Empire's organic collapse; by deliberately isolating Amedda on Coruscant, the admiral ensured the disintegration of any semblance of organizational structure. Indeed, in the aftermath of the Battle of Endor, officers abandoned in distant corners of the galaxy began forming independent military alliances and factions, utilizing the vast resources at their disposal. Prominent among these were the one formed in the Anoat sector by its Governor, Ubrik Adelhard, who deployed his sector fleet in the Iron Blockade and propagated the falsehood that Palpatine was still alive to maintain his citizens' loyalty; the one maintained on Velcar by its governor Ecressys; Visler Korda's faction in the Rekkana work camp; and Imperial territory G5-623, which included Kashyyyk and was commanded by Grand Moff Lozen Tolruck. Alliance forces swiftly eliminated most of these factions, although some, like Ecressys' remnant, collapsed naturally due to their leaders' lack of desire to govern, preferring instead to amass treasures and escape. Others, such as Moff [Royen]'s fleet, formed purely out of circumstance – in Royen's case, being cut off from Imperial supply lines – and had no interest in fighting the New Republic or preserving the Empire. Even within the ranks of those forces that remained loyal to the main Empire, some individuals' faith in the regime had been critically undermined. Imperials like Colonel Soran Keize and Commander Ciena Ree became disillusioned with the Empire, but remained in its service out of a sense of duty to those under their command or fear of retribution against their loved ones.

Despite the rapid collapse of these early remnants, they established the groundwork for more organized efforts through the networking of like-minded Imperials. One of the earliest attempts to form a neo-Imperial coalition was made by Grand Moff Adelhard, who contacted Reyna Oskure, an Anzati mystic, to secure her support for his remnant. Oskure, in turn, was contacted and supported by the Acolytes of the Beyond, who, under Emperor's adviser Yupe Tashu, sought to destroy the New Republic before it could grow. During the final stages of the Galactic Civil War, the New Republic utilized MG-100 StarFortress SF-17 heavy bombers contracted from Slayn & Korpil, deploying them against stubborn Imperial holdouts besieged by the emerging government.

While the New Republic fought the Imperial Remnants on multiple fronts and Coruscant was ravaged by civil war, Gallius Rax initiated Palpatine's Contingency plan, inspired by the game of Shah-tezh. With Emperor Palpatine – the game's Imperator – gone, Rax had to clear the board and prepare the Empire for a rebirth. To that end, Rax sought to test the strongest players in the galactic battle for dominance and enlisted Grand Admiral Rae Sloane's assistance. Eventually, some of the highest-ranking remaining officers of the Navy and Army gathered for an emergency summit on Akiva, inviting Sloane to join them. Sloane kept Rax's survival a secret and kept the Fleet Admiral informed of the proceedings, including the formation of an Imperial Future Council. Rax – posing as "The Operator" – subsequently contacted Admiral Gial Ackbar of the New Republic about the summit, triggering an attack by Commander Kyrsta Agate, which resulted in the deaths of participants Moff Valco Pandion and financier Arsin Crassus, as well as the capture of General Jylia Shale and adept Yupe Tashu. Barely escaping the battle, Sloane confronted Rax about his betrayal, forcing the Admiral to admit that this was merely a test of the supposed "best" the Empire had to offer; only the truly capable, such as herself, would be allowed to join his new Empire.

Following the confirmation of Sloane's loyalty, Rax appointed her as the new figurehead of the Empire, finalizing Mas Amedda's informal sidelining as the Emperor. Simultaneously, he began contacting other "worthy" Imperial forces in the Vulpinus, Queluhan, and Recluse's Nebulae, as well as on Almagest, the Ro-Loo Triangle, and the Inamorata. He also secured the cooperation of the factory worlds of Zhadalene, Korrus, and Belladoon and identified several Imperial leaders who could be useful enough to sit on the council of his future Empire. These included Sloane, Grand Moff Randd, General Hodnar Borrum, Commandant Brendol Hux, and propagandist Ferric Obdur. Once preparations were complete, Rax had Sloane arrange the rescue of Hux and his son Armitage from custody and departed for the Vulpine Nebula to prepare the future council. As soon as the Huxes were safely on board, Rax revealed himself to them and welcomed them to the Empire's Shadow Council, which was to prepare the ground for the new order's final strike against the New Republic.

As Rax was finalizing the preparations for the Contingency plan, he also sought to weaken the New Republic's newfound power and Sloane's ambitions. To that end, he had the Grand Admiral organize a series of peace talks with the New Republic government, represented by Chancellor Mon Mothma, and the military, represented by Gial Ackbar. The negotiations were to be hosted on Mothma's homeworld of Chandrila, under the auspices of the Galactic Senate. Despite Rax's assurances that Sloane and the New Republic officials would be safe, he secretly deployed several mind-controlled prisoners from the Ashmead's Lock facility who, during the peace talks, turned on their hosts and severely wounded the Chancellor, Commodore Agate, and supposedly killed General Crix Madine and Advisor Hostis Ij. Sloane's crew was also instructed to attack her, which they did as soon as she attempted to return to him and confront his betrayal. The Grand Admiral escaped at the last moment on board a freighter.

With the New Republic crippled and his greatest rival supposedly eliminated, Rax gathered the Shadow Council and, after proclaiming himself the Counselor to the Empire, ordered their armies to head to the barren planet of Jakku. There, Rax claimed they would be trained and strengthened for their decisive battle with the New Republic; in truth, he hoped the planet's conditions – secretly his own homeworld – would further purge the unworthy among his ranks and allow only the most capable to follow the Empire's final journey to its new location: the Unknown Regions. Despite his optimistic predictions, the desert and the planet's absence of any large-scale cities or civilizations proved detrimental to the stormtroopers and their officers' mental and physical well-being. Rax's armies were reduced to savages who frequently terrorized the local populations – as well as each other – while the Counselor ignored his subordinates' requests to finally take them off-world. Instead of organizing a viable battle plan against the impending attack he fully anticipated, Rax focused on kidnapping local children with the assistance of Niima, a Hutt, to forge them into child soldiers who would be loyal to his new Empire from birth. He also maintained the Observatory, a secret base on the Plaintive Hand plateau that housed a borehole to the planet's core, intended to destroy it along with both the unworthy Imperials and the attacking New Republic fleet, as well as his select few's exit strategies: a replica of Palpatine's personal yacht, the Imperialis, and a star map to the Unknown Regions based on former Grand Admiral Thrawn's notes of the area.

While Rax schemed on Jakku, Grand Admiral Sloane secretly plotted her return to power. Having discovered Rax's ultimate hideout through clues in his apartment on Coruscant, Sloane and New Republic operative Brentin Lore Wexley traveled to the planet, where they located some of Rax's scattered forces. Observing the army's discordant and unorganized state, Sloane was infuriated with the Counselor who, while tasked with maintaining his Empire, had actually driven it into the ground. Meanwhile, while searching for her, Norra Wexley's team, a New Republic soldier, located the Imperial fleet stationed over Jakku and returned to Chandrila to notify the government. After a chaotic discussion in the Senate, in which the first vote to condone military action failed to pass, the New Republic finally decided to attack Rax's army in full force, bringing an end to the Empire once and for all.

With the impending New Republic assault, Rax finalized preparations for the ultimate realization of his vision: the Empire's rebirth. After successfully capturing Sloane, who was caught spying on his operations, he forced her to witness a horrific scene: his meticulously trained child soldiers brutally massacring a group of stormtroopers, alongside Officer Obdur. Having subdued Sloane, Rax delivered a speech to his assembled forces, urging them to defend their Empire and annihilate the invading forces. As the initial New Republic warships materialized in the planet's orbit, Rax, accompanied by the Huxes, their child soldiers, and Adept Tashu, entered the Observatory. Their goal was to activate the borehole and escape aboard the Imperialis. In a display of sardonic humor, Rax presented Tashu with several relics of the Sith Empire before casting him into the borehole, triggering the chain reaction that would obliterate the planet. However, before he could join his comrades on the Imperialis, Sloane, accompanied by Brentin Wexley and his wife Norra, confronted him. The trio overwhelmed the Counselor, and Sloane delivered a fatal gunshot wound to his abdomen. Subsequently, the Grand Admiral assumed his position on the yacht and fled the planet towards the Unknown Regions.

Despite the sudden absence of their leadership, the remaining Imperial forces, emboldened by Rax's impassioned address, engaged the New Republic forces with unwavering determination. The New Republic fleet comprised the three Starhawk-class Battleship Mark Is Unity Unity, Concord, and Amity, along with two MC80 Star Cruisers, including Home One, and a contingent of frigates and corvettes, all under the command of Gial Ackbar. Despite facing numerical and technological disadvantages, the Imperials successfully repelled the initial New Republic assault, destroying the Amity and the Freedom's Dawn, while inflicting severe damage on the Canny Bargain. Moff Randd orchestrated the defense from the Executor-class Star Dreadnought Ravager, which served as the formation's centerpiece. It was closely guarded by numerous Imperial-class Star Destroyers, which used their deflector shields for protection. The ISDs would briefly move aside, allowing the Ravager to unleash devastating turbolaser barrages upon the New Republic fleet, before resuming their tight formation, thwarting Ackbar's repeated attempts to penetrate their lines.

The turning point arrived with the destruction of the Amity, caused by Captain Groff, commander of the ISD Punishment, who panicked and rammed the New Republic vessel with his ship. This created a temporary breach in the Imperial formation, which Ackbar immediately exploited by ordering the Concord to infiltrate the fleet and directly attack the Ravager. Despite sustaining heavy damage from the remaining Imperial forces and succumbing to Jakku's gravitational pull, the Concord ensnared the Star Dreadnought with its tractor beam, while New Republic starfighter squadrons disabled its engines, causing both vessels to plummet to the planet's surface and burn up. This event irreparably disrupted the meticulously planned tactics devised by Randd and his staff, leaving the ISDs to fend for themselves without support. The battle quickly descended into chaos, with some Imperial commanders resorting to trapping New Republic ships with their tractor beams and then intentionally crashing their vessels into Jakku, resulting in mutual destruction. Simultaneously, New Republic fighters penetrated the Imperial lines, attacking the same vessels from their flanks. Soon, New Republic ground forces, led by General Carlist Rieekan, began landing on the surface aboard U-wing support craft, engaging the stormtroopers defending the Imperial research facility. Despite the Imperials' unprecedented ferocity, New Republic troopers encircled them by dividing their units, gradually gaining ground kilometer by kilometer. Although the major fighting concluded within a day, some Imperial hardliners continued their futile resistance for months after the peace treaty was signed.

Amidst the ongoing Battle of Jakku, Emperor Amedda's private chambers were infiltrated by a youthful insurgent group known as the Anklebiter Brigade. Initially intending to assassinate him, the children were persuaded by Amedda to rescue him from his ISB bodyguards, who had become increasingly aligned with Rax and were actively preventing him from leaving. The Brigade delivered Amedda to the New Republic, where he proposed initiating peace negotiations. However, his offer was rejected by Mon Mothma, who recognized that Amedda's authority over the Empire was largely symbolic. Amedda remained in New Republic custody until the Imperial defeat on Jakku confirmed Rax's demise, making him the sole remaining leader of the Imperial government. With his powers effectively restored, the Emperor was finally permitted to meet with New Republic representatives in Hanna City on Chandrilla. In the presence of Chancellor Mothma, Princess Leia, and Mothma's advisors Sinjir Velus and Sondiv Sella, Amedda signed the official document of the Galactic Concordance, formally surrendering the Galactic Empire to the New Republic under specific conditions and bringing an end to the Galactic Civil War. According to the Imperial Instruments of Surrender, all Imperial officers who survived the war but failed to comply with the Concordance's provisions were to be considered war criminals. Exceptions were made for non-combatant civilian officials, such as Amedda, and suspected unwilling or coerced collaborators, who received pardons and were enrolled in the New Republic Amnesty Program.

Following the collapse of Rax's efforts, the Empire was fragmented and dispersed throughout the galaxy. Sloane and the Huxes journeyed to Emperor Palpatine's flagship, the Eclipse, which was concealed deep within the Unknown Regions. Joining a select group of individuals already in hiding, they established a formidable military coalition. This faction remained hidden from the New Republic for decades, accumulating power, resources, and troops, before re-emerging in 29 ABY as an alternative to what some perceived as a failing and corrupt New Republic.

Other Imperial remnants survived the Battle of Jakku and the subsequent mass arrests by intentionally or forcibly breaking away from Rax's alliance before the conflict. These included the Yomo Council, who refused to participate in the gathering of forces above the planet and were subsequently destroyed by Sloane's 204th Imperial Fighter Wing, the Chadawan government and its fleet, which were cut off from their route to Jakku by New Republic starships under the command of General Hera Syndulla, and Grand General Kenner Loring's forces, who opposed Rax's leadership and established a stronghold on Malastare. Some of these remnants dissolved or were destroyed in the months following the signing of the Galactic Concordance. Others peacefully retreated into the Core Worlds, the Colonies, and the Inner Rim, where they were allowed to remain as long as they refrained from engaging in any major offensives against the New Republic. These forces, situated in some of the galaxy's wealthiest regions, eventually formed the political party of the Centrists, who gained prominence in the Galactic Senate by advocating for a more centralized government akin to the Imperial Senate.

In the years following the Battle of Jakku, the New Republic encountered no significant opposition from the remnants of the Empire, leading to a gradual underestimation of the potential threat. However, groups of former Imperial officers were scattered throughout the Outer Rim, beyond the watchful eyes of the New Republic. These warlords established dominance over small, isolated territories that remained under Imperial control, engaging in piracy and raiding of settlements to sustain themselves. One such remnant was located in an abandoned refinery on Morak, where a number of former ISB agents and troopers, including General Valin Hess, remained in hiding, occasionally dispatching HCVw A9.2 juggernaut transports to collect unrefined rhydonium to power the facility. Another remnant, led by Jakku escapee Grand Moff Randd, was concealed within the Queluhan Nebula, where they plotted their return to power.

Around 9 ABY, word of Grand Admiral Thrawn's survival following his exile to beyond began to circulate throughout the galaxy. These rumors eventually reached his former subordinate, Captain Gilad Pellaeon, who remained steadfast in his belief in the Chiss's ability to reclaim power, even after so many years. Pellaeon convened a group of remnants to prepare for a full-scale assault on the New Republic under Thrawn's command. These Remnants named themselves the Shadow Council, in remembrance of Rax's failed attempt at seizing the New Republic, and deliberately avoided direct contact to prevent the Republic from perceiving them as a potential threat until it was too late.

The new Shadow Council included the forces of ISB Moff Gideon, who established a headquarters on Mandalore following the destruction of its warriors in the Great Purge. Gideon sought to create a new breed of supersoldier, combining the genetic material of a Force-sensitive, the armor and technology of the Mandalorians, and the cloning technology of the Kaminoans, to reclaim the galaxy. To achieve this, he established a research facility and staging grounds on the planet Nevarro to advance the technology needed for his project under Doctor Penn Pershing. His plans were thwarted by Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin, who rescued Gideon's test subject, Grogu, and, along with local Bounty Hunters' Guild representative Greef Karga, eventually drove his forces off of the planet and destroyed his base.

Gideon was forced to confine his operations to the Mandalore system, but was discovered by Lady Bo-Katan Kryze when his fighter/bomber squadron destroyed her family castle. Kryze and Djarin then led an assault against his base, accompanied by Kryze's allies, leading to the site's destruction and Gideon's death.

With the Chiss poised to become heir to the Empire, the rumors of Thrawn's return to power originated from starship-builder Lady Morgan Elsbeth, who had become one of Thrawn's closest allies during the Galactic Civil War. While operating in the shadows in the city of Calodan on Corvus to evade New Republic prosecution, Elsbeth, a survivor of the Nightsisters, received visions of Thrawn's survival in her dreams. These visions were manipulated by three fellow Nightsisters, the Great Mothers, who had encountered Thrawn during his exile on the extragalactic planet Peridea and agreed to assist him in exchange for passage to the main galaxy.

Firmly believing in her visions, Elsbeth had her allies in the Santhe Shipyards of Corellia begin modifying SSD hyperdrive cores and shipping them to the [Denab system](/article/denab_system], believing that the path to Thrawn's location began there. Despite Elsbeth's arrest and surrender to the New Republic by former Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano, construction of the cores continued unabated, with all finished engines being integrated into a supersized hyperspace transport ring, the Eye of Sion. The shipment of the final core was interrupted by the arrival of General Syndulla and Tano, who suspected Elsbeth's influence over the shipyards following her mysterious liberation from custody by two Force-sensitives. Despite their surprise, shipyards personnel engaged the two, allowing transport CT-O5 carrying the core to escape to its destination. General Syndulla narrowly managed to plant a homing beacon on it, which she and a squadron of New Republic T-65B X-wing starfighters tracked down to investigate, only to find the Eye ready and jumping to hyperspace.

On board the starship, Elsbeth and her rescuers, Baylan Skoll, Shin Hati, and their captive, Sabine Wren, successfully completed the journey through the intergalactic void and reached Thrawn's location. Upon their arrival on Peridea, they rendezvoused with his Star Destroyer, the Chimaera, and began loading it with supplies in preparation for the return trip. Despite the attempts of Bokken Jedi Ezra Bridger, who was also stranded on the planet, Wren, who joined him, and Tano, who managed to reach Peridea herself in a purrgil to stop him, Thrawn escaped the far galaxy onboard the Eye of Sion, taking his forces with him in his Star Destroyer with Bridger secretly going back to help the New Republic finally bring his archenemy to justice.

Thrawn's return ignited another bloody conflict in which his forces waged open warfare with the New Republic. The details of this campaign remained classified for decades, with historian Captain Beaumont Kin noting in his book The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire that many publications about it were actively suppressed. Fellow University of Coruscant historian Chalm Plesk, embedded within the New Republic Defense Fleet at the time, wrote about the conflict in his book The Last War Against the Galactic Empire: On Deployment with the New Republic Fleet, which was heavily censored.

By 21 ABY, Imperial forces were shattered and scattered across the vast expanse of space, but a persistent Imperial remnant endured in the Unknown Regions, forging a new command structure. At that time, this emerging command was still in its nascent stages, existing in a rudimentary and obscure form. Indeed, the remnant forces in the Unknown Regions were primarily composed of scattered hideouts. The Corporate Sector Authority secretly forged an alliance with this remnant, providing funding and support. However, Enric Pryde, who was dispatched to the CSA under the codename "Steadfast," recognized that the CSA would readily abandon the remnant if it served their financial interests. The First Order was established in 21 ABY by the Unknown Regions remnant, with Pryde becoming a key figure within the regime. Pryde also became a servant for the resurrected Emperor Palpatine and the Sith Eternal within the First Order again.

The Imperial Remnant was first introduced in the 2015 novel "Lost Stars," which was released on September 15, 2015. However, the term "Imperial remnant" did not officially enter Star Wars canon until the third issue of the four-issue comic miniseries Star Wars: Shattered Empire, which was released on October 14, 2015.

In Star Wars Legends, the Imperial Remnant made its first appearance in the 1996 novel Before the Storm, the first book in the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy. Eventually, the Imperial Remnant would be led by Gilad Pellaeon until he was killed by Tahiri Veila in the Second Battle of Fondor.