A6
TriNebulon WeeklyDarth Metus was Never the Problem
By Auteme Denko-Durren
Many suspicions have been raised about the recent vote of no confidence and the resignation of the Vicelord. After all, the last time a long-running Sith head of state stepped down, he continued to commit atrocities with the backing of the empire he’d built. Darth Carnifex is a despicable man, and his empire has flaws and evils baked deep into its core.
But Isley Verd—and the Confederacy—are different from the Sith Empire, something that can easily be forgotten when one sees the title of Darth applied to the head of state. It is a name that strikes fear, creates images of terrible wars, debaucherous empires, and the most sinful of people. Isley Verd, however, never used this title as a weapon. Instead, the name Darth Metus was simply a shield, a moniker to protect the Confederacy from what was once its greatest rival on the galactic stage.
The fact is, Darth Metus was never truly a Sith.
When he attends to his affairs he wears a suit and tie, not battle armor or esoteric robes. When he speaks, he speaks more often in pride of his nation than pride of his own power. When he manages the state, rarely does he steer it towards wars to curb rivals or gain power.
It is easy to view his resignation with suspicion. Could this be some terrible ploy for him to retreat to the shadows, puppeteering the future of thousands of systems? Would he, like his once-father-in-law, become an invisible terror, biding his time and striking out at his fancy? Is he, like many other Sith, a manipulator, schemer, deceiver?
But I would argue that, seeing the Sith Empire fall and the no-confidence vote pass, Verd simply realized that the Confederacy no longer needed the great and powerful Darth Metus to defend them anymore. He is a deceptive man, certainly, but that deception served as a shield for the Confederacy; an ingenious buffer to any sudden attack from the Sith Empire.
Throughout the recent decades, cataloguing the rise and fall of many galactic powers, it had been the Confederacy, Silver Jedi, and Sith Empire that had stood longest. With its democratic nature and relatively neutral stance, the Confederacy could count on the Silver Jedi not to attack; the Sith, however, were the wild card. There are few left in the galaxy that believe true Sith could seek genuine peace with anyone else—Verd understood that. So he took up the mantle of Darth Metus as a ploy to ensure that the greatest threat to the Confederacy would never have reason to harm them. After all, surely an emperor’s son-in-law would be no threat to the Empire.
A non-aggression pact, near-continuous fighting between the Silver Jedi and Sith, and eventually the Third Imperial Civil War—all without an ounce of conflict between the Confederacy and Sith—proves that Verd’s play had bore fruit, perhaps even greater than he had expected.
At a personal level, Isley Verd does not play the part of a Sith whatsoever. I have met him twice in person, though each time briefly, and with few words from him. Yet I did not get the sense that he was an evil or dark man; his manner was ever humble and calm, and never—whether in person or in his many public appearances—have I seen him overcome with emotion in the way that might denote a Sith. While I cannot speak for his past, the man who was Vicelord never seemed menacing or manipulative, and certainly not evil.
But still! I hear you cry, But still it could be deception! That’s the way of the Sith! It’s possible, very much so—many times before have Sith deceived even the most skilled of Jedi of their nature, and I am most certainly not the most skilled of Jedi. Yet I must ask, why? Why would he resign? To gain more power, more freedom? He held the highest office in a powerful nation, with enormous executive power and a vast military. Were he a genuine Sith, would that not be the place of greatest power? If he were indeed to become some shadow emperor, would that not make things more complex and further raise suspicions about the Confederacy’s future actions? I would not dismiss Isley Verd as a fool so easily.
Even so, it seems there is indeed a great flaw in Verd’s plan to protect the Confederacy from the Sith—he was unable to tell even some of his highest-ranking officials of his true intentions, leading to mixed reactions from both his own state and the many other nations of the galaxy. Whether it was Confederate High Command schmoozing with Sith Lords on Dromund Kaas, or even deploying an enormous armada to the Sith’s defense at Dantooine, it seems that the Confederacy’s relationship with the Sith was almost too close for their official stance. Perhaps, through Verd’s use of his title, many had assumed that not only were the Sith at peace with them, but that they should be actively cooperating. Therefore the motivations of so many systems to vote against their Vicelord are the most surprising to me. The Confederacy has so often presented itself as a united front, a near-utopia away from the ‘struggles between light and dark’, yet with only meager inspection it seems there are a million fractures along the purple curtain that dominates the galactic south.
It was, of course, the figure of Darth Metus himself that was the easiest ‘flaw’ to draw attention to internationally—bringing up the fact that a Sith headed one of the largest nations in the galaxy would never be a cause of relief for a Jedi, much less for the Ashlan Crusaders who have seen the evils of the Sith first hand, or the New Imperials who had suffered under the Empire’s rule previously. Perhaps in some twist he realized too late that a Sith was not what his nation needed at its head; with the Empire crumbling, no longer did the Confederacy need the shield that was Darth Metus.
Verd or the Confederacy are not without fault. Whether it is perfidy at Dantooine, the slaughter of innocents above Ryloth, the continuous military expansion, the close relationship with the Sith Empire, the lack of action against other threats to the galaxy, the active harboring of criminals wanted by the Silver Jedi, or the oft incoherent messaging of the highest echelons, there is much to make amends for and much to change in the future of the Confederacy. Though I admittedly have few expectations for the next Vicelord (appointing Exarchs without massive corporate conflicts of interest would be a start) I think that the Viceroyalty and the people of the Confederacy should continue to push their influence on their nation. Unseating the first, only, and unopposed head of state, legally and without conflict, should be a sign that change can happen by the legislative branch’s hand, and a sign that people should have trust in the system they have voted in. The means to build a better, more accountable, more responsible state are within reach, and I hope that the will to build it is there.
To the rest of the galaxy, I hope a modicum of patience and trust can be given to the Confederacy—and, should they waste it, at the very least we can prove that Darth Metus was never the problem.
