For the Republic: Sith, the Galactic Plague
by Her Excellency Cecily Eleanora Marie de Demici, Senator of Onderon
"We, the Beings of the Galaxy, in order to form a free union of planets, establish justice, provide for common peace and prosperity, and to secure liberty for all beings, do ordain and establish this New Republic. Let the stars sing! Let the planets shout! Let the Republic begin!"
It was in these words that the Galactic Republic was forged anew over 800 years ago after the historic defeat of the accursed Sheev Palpatine, known now as Darth Sidious. Centuries have passed since the New Republic was given form, but it is by these words that the free people of the Galaxy continue to live and prosper.
The concept is a simple one: a collection of independent states join together as one in the name of a government by law, not by people, where freedom and justice are assured for all those who would have it. Objectively this is perhaps the purest and most righteous pursuit undertaken by any single species or group of species in the history of life as we know it. Thus, it begs the question: what force could possibly vie for the destruction of such benevolence?
The answer of course is as old as the Republic itself: the Sith, and yet this answer does not satisfy as it begs further question. Why is it the purpose of the Sith to see our prosperity foiled? Why are they so wholly opposed to the rule of law and the equality of all sentient beings? Why?
1.1 In the Beginning
To understand this we must first explore the very origin of the Sith itself. It may come as a surprise to know that, despite popularly held beliefs, the Sith and the Republic did not spring fully formed alongside each other. As any historical scholar will tell you, the Sith as we know them, were not established until approximately 18,000 galactic standard years after the founding of the first Galactic Republic in 25,053 BBY[sup]1[/sup]. It began as all good versus evil narratives do: with many years of largely uninterrupted prosperity and as many narratives continue, it was finally disturbed by the emergence of an innocently conceived, yet ultimately more sinister world view.
I speak of course of the first 'dark' Jedi who, in opposition to traditional Jedi teachings, sought to draw their power in the Force from their emotions... in other words those who sought to utilize the dark side. While there exists endless discourse on the entire history of the matter, the short of it is that in 24,500 BBY the first of many Great Schisms[sup]2[/sup] of the Jedi Order occurred. After the defeat of the dark Jedi, their threat was greatly reduced and did not resurface until 7,003 BBY with the Second Great Schism that launched the Hundred-Year Darkness. It is important to note that this conflict also marks the first time that the Republic and the Jedi Order fought together, en masse, against the dark side.
Ultimately, the dark Jedi were again defeated, but this great war ensured the lasting organization and cooperation of these exiles in the effort to undermine and destroy the Republic and the Jedi Order. In truth, it was the failure of the Republic to hunt down and eradicate these traitors that gave birth to the Sith.
Now that we know the abridged history of the Sith, we can begin to explore in depth the motivation behind their hatred of the Republic and the ideals which we hold sacred.
1.2 A Tradition of Oppression
The Sith as we know them and the Sith as they were are two very different things. The original Sith were not all that evil at all until encountering the surviving exiles of the Hundred Year Darkness. Indeed, the Sith were originally a race of highly force sensitive beings who inhabited a handful of planets in the Outer Rim[sup]3[/sup]. It is believed that these Sith were a relatively uncivilized people given to widespread barbarism and infighting, that is until the arrival of the exiles who beguiled these beings with their mastery of the Force.
The exiles were revered as deities and were all too happy to assume what they ordained to be their rightful place as subjugators and masters of the Sith people. Not that the Sith species was at all opposed to their subjugation, on the contrary they welcomed the much needed stability that their new overlords provided them. In turn, the exiles partook in extensive interbreeding in an effort to harness the force-sensitivity of the species, which they did rather successfully, until the word Sith no longer referred to the species, but rather the collective of descended exiles as a whole.
Their society was governed through a law by mortal men, enacted through fear and enforced through violence. It was ruled by powerful Sith Lords and eventually by the Sith Emperors who would preside through sheer terror and destroy any who opposed their absolute authority. Suddenly we are arrived at the answer to our question: why do the Sith seek to destroy the Republic? Because freedom, liberty, equality, and justice, all of the things that give life to democracy, are wholly beyond their comprehension. Not only are these ideals merely absent from their history and culture, but we have clear evidence of a persistent effort to eradicate the very essence of these concepts from the minds of their people.
This tradition of oppression has persisted long after the end of their first great empire and has been passed down through the private teachings between Master and Apprentice for millennia until truly they have become incapable, in every sense of the word, from forming coherent thought about democracy. Now, like their uncivilized ancestors, that which they cannot understand they abhor and fear without equal. This is why they seek to destroy us and several times in our history they have nearly succeeded.
1.3 The Historic War on Democracy
Since the Hundred-Year Darkness, the first true war between the Republic and the wielders of the dark side, the Sith have assaulted our people countless times, in vain, in the hope of destroying our annoyingly persistent pursuit of a more perfect democracy. Arguably beginning with the Hundred-Year Darkness, the War on Democracy by the Sith has not been a collection of spontaneous wars throughout history, but has in fact been a continuous organized effort by the forces of evil to wage a perpetual war against the Republic. The various conflicts of which are mere segments of a the greater whole.
In all, the Sith, in some form, has engaged the Republic in more than dozen major conflicts spanning almost ten thousand galactic standard years from the start of the Hundred-Year Darkness in 7000BBY to the end of the Galactic Civil War in 19ABY and continuing into the present day with the One Sith. However, despite their seemingly endless onslaught against the Republic, the Sith have won very few decisive victories and have consistently been repelled by the forces of good.
The first of these victories that could be considered truly major was during the Great Galactic War with the sacking of Coruscant in 3653BBY which resulted in several Republic states being ceded to the Sith Empire. The economic depression that followed completely crippled the Republic until 3642BBY with the start of the Galactic War and he subsequent humiliating defeat of the Sith Empire.
The second major victory and by far the most successful effort of the Sith in recorded history, was not one of military prowess, but of cunning and political intrigue that was initiated by the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, better known as Supreme Chancellor (later Galactic Emperor) Sheev Palpatine and his many apprentices. Undoubtedly one of the most powerful and successful Sith Lord of all time, Palpatine almost single-handedly orchestrated the fall of Republic through the puppeteering of the Separatist Movement and the Clone Wars.
Palpatine's reign continued for almost half a century before his eventual defeat at the hands of the Rebel Alliance. After his demise, the Republic was reorganized into the New Republic and though it has since undergone many changes, its guiding principles have remained the same. Unfortunately, so have those of our perpetual enemy.
1.4 For the Republic
As the Republic sprang anew from the ashes, so to did the terror of the Sith, naming itself the One Sith and ordaining itself the rightful rulers of the Galaxy, the Galactic Republic has been at near constant war with the Sith since their conception and for the first time in centuries the freedom of sentient beings to govern themselves is under threat of serious and irreparable loss.
Approximately seven years ago, the Galactic Capital of Coruscant was sacked and we were forced to retreat to my home planet of Onderon. Since then our efforts to repel the forces of darkness have been met at every turn with insurmountable resistance the likes of which have not been seen since the Galactic Empire. Our homes, our freedoms, our very lives are daily threatened by the presence of this great evil in our Galaxy and it is the Republic that continues to stand against the coming tide.
The question is whether we shall stand alone, or more appropriately, whether we shall allow ourselves to stand alone. The Sith has ever been a plague on the Galaxy. A disease for which we cannot sufficiently produce the cure, a poison for which there is no antidote. The Republic is not the only one susceptible to the fatal and highly infectious illness of the Sith, for history has taught us that none are safe from their ever reaching lust for power. So why then must we alone endure as the anti-bodies of the Galaxy?
If we hope to eradicate the One Sith and truly the Sith, all peoples, all sentient beings must stand united against them. We must set aside our petty squabbles over this collection of asteroids or that, we must forgive centuries old offenses and treacheries, we must abandon our political manifestos and alliances, and we must fight. The Republic, the Jedi, the Mandalorians, the Hutt Cartel, the Techno Union, the Imperial Remnant, and every independent planet and system that holds life and liberty sacred.
Only then will we finally be rid of this... Plague on the Galaxy.
