Igni Irae
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: Expand on Tephrike. Codify a major player on the planet.
Image Credit: Here. Here.
Canon: N/A.
Permission: N/A
Links: Into Darkness, After Darkness, Tephrike, Cassius, Jedi Covenant, Disciples of the Vader, Republican Guard, Firemane Industries, Temple Guard, Diona, Elpsis, Unchained, Inheritors of the Light Father, Heroes of Purity, Palmyra's Wail, Elpsis, Archangel, Army of Light, Yuuzhan Vong.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Organization Name: Dominion of Light.
Classification: Totalitarian Government, Jedi Theocracy.
Affiliation: Mahtara, Tephrike, Jedi Inquisition, Cassius.
Organization Symbol:
Description: The Dominion of Light is a fundamentalist, Jedi-led theocracy that controls most of Tephrike. It came into being as a result of the civilisational brought about by the Dark Age. When the Gulag Virus ravaged the Galaxy, Tephrike descended into chaos. Millions died from disease or factional infighting. The nominally democratic federal government proved incapable of resolving the crisis, so the Jedi led a coup to remove it from power and impose a junta.
What started as a temporary, emergency regime soon degenerated into a repressive, totalitarian dictatorship. The Jedi were corrupted by their power and the horrors of war, as they were forced to make increasingly ruthless choices. They became the very thing they sought to destroy, while still believing they served the greater good. The Dominion believes that all aspects of society must be governed in accordance with the principles of the Light and that only the wise Jedi are capable of interpreting the will of the Light.
For this reason, democracy is regarded as corrupt. Officially, the Dominion maintains that the rest of the galaxy is still in a Dark Age, and it is the sole bastion of Light in a world that has fallen into sin. The Dominion is opposed by the Republican Guard and the Disciples of Vader. Recently it has clashed with Firemane Industries. The de facto leader of the Dominion is Jedi Master Mahtara, the Battlemaster of the Windian Jedi.
The official state ideology of the Dominion is Mace Windu Thought. Fittingly, the Dominion and its Jedi idealise Mace Windu, regarding him as a Jedi paragon who would have saved civilisation and reformed the corrupt Republic if he had managed to kill the evil Chancellor Palpatine. Suffice to say their view of Jedi principles is rather warped. Ironically, it probably has more in common with the likes of Jorus C'baoth or the Jedi Covenant. The state exerts control over almost every aspect of daily life in the Dominion, such as commerce, housing, education, food, healthcare, and even, to a degree, reproduction.
The old Tephriki Federation collapsed under the strain of the Gulag Virus, ethnic divisions, famine and warlordism. In a response to this, as well as various rebellions and separatist movements, the Dominion strives to exert direct control the centre. The justification for this is that it is dedicated to the noble ideal of governing every citizen fairly and equally through a body that represents the entire nation. This is supposed to prevent petty warlords from gaining power. Thus it seeks to standardise as much as possible and make local authorities subservient to its massive bureaucracy.
The Dominion maintains a command economy. All economic activity is supposed to be controlled by the state and a manager is supposed to receive the same wage as an ordinary worker. Officially, the state supplies every citizen with the goods and services according to need, not class. Thus those who have the greatest need for food and healthcare are supposed to get it. In practice, the command economy is plagued by corruption, poor management and low labour productivity. While conservative elements argue that this can be solved by simply enforcing Dominion rules even more rigorously, more 'liberal'-minded officials promote a relative liberalisation of the economy. Some provinces have started to pursue a more flexible course, allowing peasants to keep larger shares of the harvest and even encouraging individual plots of land on a small scale. But economic life is still tightly controlled by the central government.
While all Dominion citizens are equal, some are more equal than others. There exists a privileged category of bureaucrats and officers whose positions can only be granted to them with the approval of the Windian Jedi. Together with the leaders of the Windian Jedi, they constitute the 'new class'. These individuals form patron-client relations with other officials. Their status gives them access to privileges such as improved healthcare, private vehicles, higher quality housing and the right to buy wares in special shops reserved for the elites. Thus they do not have to stand in line to buy basic foodstuffs and consumer goods. Moreover, they can use their power to bestow patronage on their clients within their sphere of responsibility. Some can even get away with violating the Dominion's moral purity laws. Their neighbourhoods are always clean.
The boundaries of several provinces - typically based on ethnic or cultural divisions - have been redrawn in order to assure greater 'equality and unity'. At times this has gone hand in hand with the 'relocation' of entire populations to areas deemed more suitable to house them. In spite of or perhaps because of this high degree of centralisation, the Dominion is quite reliant on local authorities to enforce its will. It uses a popular movement called the Followers of Light to rally the masses and spread its ideology. Meanwhile, Force-Users are organised in the Windian Jedi Order, the only Force-Sensitive organisation allowed in the Dominion. Other key stakeholders are the Grand Army of Light and the Harmonious and Compassionate Inquisitors of the Public Wellbeing for Defence Against the Depredations of the Dark Side and all its Manifold Evils. The latter is usually shortened to Jedi Inquisition because the Dominion makes everything so damn long.
GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
Headquarters: Nexus City.
Domain: The Dominion of Light is a governing body and holds sway over a large part of Tephrike, with Nexus City as its capital. It exercises a totalitarian control over its subject population, using fear, terror, propaganda, economic and social incentives to keep its people in line. However, its rule is not unconested. Several dissident factions and warlords oppose its claim. The two most prominent ones are the Disciples of the Vader and the Republican Guard. While the Dominion is the strongest faction, it has been unable to fully subjugate them. Firemane's arrival on Tephrike and the fall of Fortress Purity to its forces have weakened the Dominion, but it still remains a formidable foe.
Notable Assets: Aside from Nexus City, the Dominion controls several Tephriki villages and cities such as half of the City of Harmonious Industry. It maintains a harsh command economy, which means that all industrial and agricultural facilities within its territory are state-owned. Agriculture is divided into collective farms and state farms. The former are fun by farmers as joint enterprises in which the inhabitants are supposed to share everything. The latter are operated directly by the central government. In either case, the farmers must follow a production plan set by the Ministry of Plenty. The bureaucrats responsible for setting these quotas tend to live far away.
Moreover, it has several mines, forced labour camps and penal colonies. On the military front, the Dominion fields the Grand Army of Light. The Temple of the Fallen Grace serves as a hidden redoubt. Moreover, the Dominion has constructed the pompously named Bastions of the Impenetrable Faith, a series of fortifications and defensive bulwarks to protect its heartland.
SOCIAL INFORMATION
Hierarchy: The Dominion is a religious theocracy. The State and the Windian Jedi Order are one, with the former being subordinate to the latter. In theory there is a Senate. Indeed Nexus City has a Senate building that resembles the one the Galactic Senate used to convene in on Coruscant. However, it has never seen use because career politicians are regarded as venal and corrupt. Instead power is vested in the Jedi High Council and the Grandmaster. In practice, many Grandmasters have been a puppet of the army for decades. This state of affairs came about after the military put an end to the Cultural Revolution and placed the Grandmaster at the time under house arrest. Recently, the Grandmaster and the Inquisition conspired to retake power, fomenting a war with Firemane in the process.
War broke out, but the Grandmaster was toppled by a coup. Today the Jedi High Council has been disbanded. In its place, the Dominion is governed by a smaller, more compact war council led by Battlemaster Mahtara and her associates. The small directory is composed of senior Jedi Masters, high-ranking Generals and bureaucrats. Jedi Battlemaster Mahtara is a career officer and the only Jedi who still remembers the days before the Dark Age because she is of the same species as Yoda. Key offices are that of Battlemaster, Grand Inquisitor and Barsen'thor. At this point in time, the position of Grandmaster has been kept vacant.
Mahtara has refused to take the title to show she is fighting a war. Certain elements within the government have proposed that in the future, the Grandmaster should be elected by an assembly of all Jedi Masters. Mahtara has been noncommittal, as she intends to keep her options open, but is privately sympathetic to the idea of introducing term limits. Of course, since Yodalings have a very long life span, she may influence the course of the Dominion for centuries to come, unless she is killed by some unforeseen twist of fate.
Beneath this level of administration, the government is organised into various ministries, each responsible for a field of policy or aspect of life. The most important ones are the Ministries of Harmony, Health, Enlightenment, Plenty and Peace. Harmony is responsible for ensuring ideological purity and controls the police force, including the religious police. Health regulates all aspects related to healthcare, which includes the mandatory harvesting of eggs and sperm and the growth of new citizens in nursery complexes. It runs the Blessed Lineage Project - a programme to select the best and brightest of the Dominion and clone them.
Enlightenment is responsible for the media, propaganda and education. All forms of cultural expression, such as theatre, cinema, music, and books, are regulated by it. Plenty controls the centrally planned economy, assigns citizens to their jobs and doles out coupons. The Ministry of Peace runs the Grand Army of Light. In the aftermath of the conflict with Firemane, Mahtara created a new government body called the Ministry of Resettlement and Reunion. Firemane's bombardment of Nexus City displaced thousands of civilians, so this ministry is responsible for relocating them to safe areas, constructing homes for them and putting them to work. Not all ministers are Jedi and the bureaucracy is staffed with Non-Force-Users. Indeed, most bureaucrats, even in relatively senior positions, are Non-Force-Users or Force-Sensitives whose Force affinity is too weak to merit training. However, at the end of the day the Jedi are in control.
In rural areas individual landholdings have been organised into collective farms. These are run by the Peasants' Labour Army. In the cities, each habitat has a habitat warden, who is responsible for ensuring the good behaviour of the inhabitants. Several habitation complexes form a Circle, supervised by a Circle Warden, who in turn reports to a District Warden. Mayors and governors are appointed by the central government. Sometimes the Dominion confirms the choice with a sham election, especially when it is assimilating a new area, but these 'elections' are meaningless. Non-Force-Users are organised in the Followers of Light, a mass movement that exists to propagate the teachings of the Windian Jedi among the masses and teach them to be devout to the Light. Every government organisation, factory, agricultural collective and administrarive division has a cell of Followers.
The Jedi are organised in the Windian Jedi Order, the only Force-Sensitive Organisation permitted in the Dominion. It maintains a hierarchy similar to the classical Jedi order: Initiate, Padawan, Knight, Master and Grandmaster. As mentioned above, the last position is presently vacant. However, many Knights and Masters also have military ranks. Ranks include Jedi Commander, Jedi General and Jedi High General. The highest rank is that of High Marshal, which is reserved for the Battlemaster. Some Jedi Masters are awarded the title of Jedi Lord, exercising direct control over crucial provinces. These tend to be border areas, newly incorporated regions or those that have strategic resources. This is a position rather than a rank though and rarely permanent. The Jedi Inquisition has its own table of special ranks.
Though officially answerable to the central government, some have described the Inquisition as a state within the state. Recently it has been purged to make it more accountable to the government and ensure it serves as a punitive and counterintelligence organ of it, not as its master. It runs a large number of black sites, prison camps and penal colonies across the Dominion, most often in desolate or remote areas. Its convict labourer have supplied a lot of the labour force for gargantuan engineering projects. Canal digging to maintain the Dominion's crippled agricultural system is extremely common, acting as a supplement to the more sophisticated techniques used by the Ministry of Plenty. In the past the Inquisition pursued many independent business ventures, such as ore mining, the timber industry and attempts to create an independent arms industry. Most of these projects went poorly. With the ascent of Mahtara, they have almost universally been cancelled.
The Inquisition's primary role in fulfilling its mandate is as a state security force, responsible for supressing dissent against the dictatorship of Light. The Inquisitors are believed to have an enormous network of informers across the entire Dominion. They also maintain their own military forces separate from the Grand Army. However, recent events have weakened the Inquisition. The Grand Inquisitor's intrigues sparked a war with Firemane, and he was later slain by Elpsis. Many Inquisitorial armed formations and 'special purpose units' have been disbanded or absorbed by the Grand Army. The agency is in the process of being reorganised. This has been accompanied by a purge. However, certain Inquisitors have refused to follow orders from the new administration.
The Inquisition is only responsible for political crimes though. Normal felons are left to the Wardens of the Eternal and Just Light, the regular police force of the Dominion. The Wardens include both the uniformed police and plainclothes detectives. Fire brigades and civil defence also come under their umbrella.
Membership: In principle all the people of Tephrike should be members of the Dominion. This is obviously not the case, as the planet is divided between various riven factions that include revolutionaries, Sith cultists and warlords. The Dominion claims to be the planet's sole legitimate government and regards the areas that resist its rule as rebellious provinces. However, because they are seen as having been corrupted by the Darkness, people who live in territories that are conquered - or liberated, dpending on one's point of view - by the Dominion must undergo a lengthy process of reeducation before they can be considered full citizens of the Dominion. People born in Dominion territory are obviously members since the theocracy - quite literally - grows them in laboratories, educates them and determines their lives. Force-Users are conscripted by the Windian Jedi Order. Ideally this occurs in infancy, before they can form attachments.
The Jedi theocracy treats both males and females as equals. While the Dominion has been responsible for many barbaric and frankly insane policies, it is not sexist one way or the other. Dominion is multispecies and, in fact, extremely opposed to racism. Indeed, one of its official policies is to ensure a balanced representation of the sentient species that inhabit Tephrike. After all, Tephrike's first Jedi Lord, Zaras Dant, was a Duros, and her successor Tiyan Kree was a Devaronian. Mahtara is from Yoda's species and her apprentice Kyrric is a Kel Dor.
This contrasts with the human supremacist beliefs of the Vaderites, who regard non-humans as lesser beings. However, there is one species that has no place in the Dominion's utopia: Yuuzhan Vong. The Dominion regards them as abominations, as they have no presence in the Force. The same applies to anyone else who is Force Dead. Moreover, while the Dominion is strongly opposed to racism, it is extremely conformist rather than multicultural.
All its citizens must be subsumed into the extremely conformist culture of the Dominion, and so the regime done its best to eradicate the culture and customs of the people it rules over. It calls this policy The Three Togethers: Eat together, live together, work together. Everyone must be the same. For instance, a Mirialan who has the typical tattoos of her species would be accused of 'bourgeois nationalism' and 'chauvinism'.
Climate: The climate is characterised by paranoia, isolationism and religious fervour. Siege mentality is an accurate description. The people of the Dominion believe that they are the last bastion of Light in a Galaxy that has been consumed by Darkness. Because of the near-constant war against the Republican Guard, an anti-Force-User rebel group, and the Disciples of the Vader, a fanatical Sith cult that worships Vader as a god, the nation is on a war footing. The appearance of Firemane and the destruction of the Jedi Temple of Nexus City has only intensified this.
The new regime has implemented a policy of total mobilisation for the war effort. All major state-run enterprises are being subjected to rigorous inspection. Those found wanting are being closed and individuals not engaged in 'useful' work are conscripted into the army or labour force. Government departments have been subjected to the same procedure. The aim is to maximise manpower for the military and the armaments industry. This comes at the expense of civilian sectors not seen as essential to the war effort. All civilian resources are being subordinated to this cause.
The Dominion strives to control every aspects of its citizens' lives and to mould them into obedient, productive subjects. Indoctrination goes hand in hand with control over the media, a secret police and campaigns to mobilise the citizenry. Citizens require a permit to change their workplace, residence or simply to travel. Reproduction is controlled by the state. Dissent is ruthlessly squashed by the secret police. An individual's education, profession and place of residence is supposed to be determined by the state.
The citizen lives in a habitation complex assigned to him by Dominion bureaucrats. In more well-off places such as Nexus City, said compley will be fully-furnished, hae power, be free of construction defects, actually exist and be ready for immediate habitation. It will house his entire section and be located close to his workplace. Close is, of course, a relative term in some cases. It should provide him with everything he needs, thereby freeing him from the need to use precious coupons to buy a bed or a table. Kitchens and bathrooms are communal on every floor. Hoarding is considered a serious offence.
Within his habitation, the resident has access to entertainment channels, but these are all provided by the Ministry of Enlightenment. Furthermore, he has a channel specifically dedicated to his work and job. It keeps him well-informed about the Windian Jedi Order's vision of a brave new world, the Dominion of Light's victories, and how dark the world outside of the Dominion is. Needless to say he is constantly monitored. Citizens must be careful about what they say or who they confide in, lest they be denounced for heresy and arrested by the religious police.
Every habitat has a habitat warden, who is responsible for the conduct of every inhabitant. Under the supervision of the habitat warden, residents regularly meet for faith sessions in the communal room. They watch patriotic movies, proclaim their faith in the Dominion of Light and perform self-criticism. Every resident is encouraged to produce a statement detailing his or her ideological errors, no matter how minor those might be, and reaffirm their renewed belief in the Windian Jedi. While large numbers of citizens have been concentrated in the cities, many live in rural areas.
Indeed, the Firemane bombardment of Nexus City has motivated the Dominin to relocate many civilians to less exposed areas. Within the collective farms, everything is supposed to be shared. The local leaders are responsible for assigning jobs, managing farming activities and organising inhabitants into production brigades. In practice, the production targets set by the bureaucracy are often unrealistic. Private landowners have been expropriated. Because Tephrike has been isolated for so long, the Dominion considers self-sufficiency in food production to be essential. However, failed government policies have often led to shortages. For all of the Dominion's pretentions of equality, it has been very repressive of its peasantry. Most Dominion citizens receive their food through a public distribution system run by the Ministry of Plenty.
Citizens who show exceptional commitment to the Light or manage to exceed production quotas at work are rewarded with medals, economic and social benefits. They receive more valuable coupons, preferential habitation, promotions or access to rare goods. It goes without saying that the government keeps track of these Heroes of the Light. Any privileges it grants its citizens can be easily withdrawn. Needless to say there are special shops accessible only to members of the nomenklatura - in short the elite in the Windian Jedi Order and the State.
There are shortages in many basic consumer items, leading to rationing. Besides the built-in shortages caused by planning priorities, shoddy production of consumer goods limits actual supply. Shortages mean either empty shelves or long waiting lines. Failed economic policies have at timed led to famine. To this day the Dominion denies that the Great Enlightenment caused the Great Famine. The bureaucracy that manages the Dominion has grown so large that even its theoretically ominpotent leaders have difficulty controlling it, let alone getting an accurate idea of what it's actually doing on a day-to-day basis.
Officially, all citizens are equal, but nonetheless the Dominion has the equivalent of an upper or middle class. It is mostly comprised clones whose templates distinguished themselves serving the Dominion. Critics liken them to a caste, as they form the de facto elite. Naturally the fact that the economy is state-controlled leaves ample room for corruption, allowing government officials and Jedi to enrich themselves. Of course, all new-born are supposed to be raised by the state. But influential clones often manage to play a role in raising their clones, seeing them as offsprings or siblings.
Clones in high-ranking positions have created their own patronage networks and look out for those who shared their appearance and DNA. For instance, some factories are run by 'dynasties' of clone managers who had the same template. Another group of clones may have a stranglehold over the literature department of the Ministry of Enlightenment. The Dominion understands that sometimes a clone does not manifest the same skills as their template, so those who display exceptional talent in other fields are be permitted to switch roles later in life. But this is only allowed rarely, though things have become more fluid recently.
Of course, these patronage networks are not unassailable. The Dominion's central government is worried that such 'family groups' in the regions away from Nexus City could threaten its absolute power and that the loyalties among the members of these groups would be obstalces to the implementation of its objectives. The solution to this problem is to carry out an occasional purge or bring in outsiders to shake up entrenched power structures. Many anti-corruption campaigns have pursued the agenda of breaking up old networks. At the same time, these very networks are essential to keep the Dominion functioning. Corruption and clientelism are an inevitable result of autocracy. That said, most clones live mundane lives.
From early on, young citizens are taught to dedicate themselves to what is considered to be the one true faith. Jedi healers perform miracles, thus proving that the Light cares about the faithful. On the flip side, those who oppose the order are not merely enemies of the state, but also unbelievers, darksiders and heretics. Great monuments have been erected to glorify the Jedi heroes of Tephrike and their equally glorious forebears, and most art serves propaganda purposes. Within the Dominion's cities, the benign visage of the Grandmaster can be seen on propaganda posters that cover the walls of public buildings.
Indeed, every citizen is advised to put a portrait of the Grandmaster in the living room of his or her apartment. Likewise, pilgrimages to giant statues are encouraged. Not everyone in the Dominion is evil. Indeed one finds plenty of soldiers and Jedi in the lower ranks who earnestly believe they are doing what is best for their country and their people. However, the upper ranks are filled with fanatics or cynics who use ideology for their own ends. There is no tolerance for dissent. Particularly extreme deviants undergo a Force-induced memory wipe. Stripped of their original personalities, they are meant to be docile labourers who serve the order without question, for an empty mind is a pure mind. Others are sent to forced labour camps.
That said, average subject of the Windians receives a limited education, but he receives one and, provided he pays lip-service to dogma and does not break any of the many, many laws, he has a high degree of job security, a social safety net and is reasonably safe in his life. His life is very regimented and there is little to buy with his coupons, but he is largely safe. Provided he does not get caught up in a terrorist attack or get sent to the frontlines. The Inquisition is a fairly small agency and not even represented in some settlements. It is heavily reliant on denunciations from the common people. By contrast, the Vaderites treat all non-humans as chattel. But there are so many laws to obey.
This is not to say that every citizen is a religious zealot. Indeed, privately there is a lot of cynicism about the Dominion's ideology. Derogatory jokes about overbearing government bureaucrats and Jedi are common. Black market trading is forbidden, yet a lot of common citizens purchase wares on the black market. Indeed, sometimes it is the only way for a factory to get the resources it needs. However, at the same time the Dominion is their main frame of reference.
Many of its citizens know nothing except the Dominion and regard it as a stabilising force, especially compared to say the chaotic, slaveholding ways of the Vaderites. As a result, the government does have popular support. Offworlders will be greeted with suspicion and generally be regarded as demons or dark side worshippers. Thus foreign travellers who somehow find themselves in Dominion territory can expect to be questioned by the secret police. Recently, Battlemaster Mahtara, the Dominion's de facto military dictator, has implemented some pragmatic reforms to make the regime more functional and less self-destructive. In some ways, citizens can breathe more freely now simply because the security forces have actual enemies to fight and cannot squander resources. Nonetheless, it is still a very unpleasant place to live.
The old moral purity laws are still on the books, but some have been suspended for the duration of the emergency. Officially, the Dominion's government would still like all citizens to be grown in a medically sanctioned way in a laboratory, but it has bigger concerns at the moment. Some Dominion leaders have been quietly advocating comprehensive reform, such as the reintroduction of hard currency. They advocate an economic system that allows a free market subject to overall state control and where socialised enterprises operate on a for-profit basis.
The reformists argue that the command economy is inefficient - which it is - and leads to waste and squandering of resources. Thus it encourages the negative tendencies it is supposed to combat. These forces also advocate allowing citizens to marry and reproduce as they wish. These reformists have aroused the ire of conservatives, who believe they have succumbed to the dark side. It is pertinent to note that even the boldest reformists do not propose a return to democracy. None of the major stakeholders of the regime want to risk being held accountable for the crimes they have been complicit in.
Reputation: Tephrike has been isolated from the rest of the Galaxy for centuries. Its isolation came to an end recently when Firemane made first contact with the planet. Thus very few people outside of Tephrike would have an opinion on the Dominion. Firemane initiated diplomatic negotiations with the Dominion. But an extremist faction within the theocracy, led by the Grandmaster and the Grand Inquisitor, sabotaged the talks by orchestrating an attack on the Firemane delegation.
Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori, the daughter of Firemane's bosses, was captured in the attack and interned in a concentration camp, where she was subjected to torture and brainwashing. As a result, Firemane declared war on the Dominion. The extremists were latter toppled by a faction opposed to the war course, but by then the damage had been done. Hence Firemane's view on the Dominion is extremely negative. The Unchained hate the Dominion, regarding it as tyrannical. This is no surprise since the Unchained are comprised of former political prisoners who were imprisoned in Dominion concentration camps.
Closer to home, both the Republican Guard and the Disciples of the Vader oppose the Dominion. The Guard does so because it regards the Dominion as oppressive tyranny and wishes to free Non-Force-Users from the control of Force-Users. They also regard the Force as a curse and prohibit its use. They maintain terrorist cells in Dominion territory. By contrast, the Vaderites are Vader-worshipping Sith who believe it is their destiny to eclipse the Light, enslave non-humans and bring about the rebirth of their god.
Thus they wish to destroy the Dominion. Its worship of order is anathema to their Social Darwinist ways. Within the Dominion itself, there are many dissidents who regard it as oppressive, but it also has a significant degree of popular support. Supporters include true believers, but also pragmatists who find the alternatives to be more abhorrent and believe the Dominion alone can assure stability. After all, the Vaderites hate non-humans and regard Non-Force-Users as lesser beings, while the Guard reviles Force-Users and is strongly influenced by Vong.
Those who conduct active resistance are outnumbered by citizens who just want to get on with their lives. Moreover, its opponents are divided. Those who live in the Dominion and oppose it must tread carefully and be cautious about who they confide in, lest they are denounced to the religious police. Because the Dominion has been around for so long, even dissidents might share some of its preconceptions and prejudices due to being moulded by its propganda.
Curios: New-born citizens receive a tracking chip so that the state can monitor them. Citizens are encouraged to wear a portrait of the Grandmaster on a badge pinned to their chest. Wearing cheap, Force imbued talismans, good-luck charms and other enchanted items is also common. These items are supposed to ward off dark spirits and protect the wearer's mind from Dark Side temptations. The members of the Windian Jedi Order carry Force-imbued blades, halberds, pikes and so on. Lightsabres are incredibly rare on Tephrike. In contrast to classical Jedi, the Windian Jedi also commonly wear armour, often imbuing it with the Force.
The Dominion government has imposed a dress code on its citizens. Homogenisation is supposed to produce equality. Clothing is supposed to be frugal and functional. While allowances are made for certain species, the code is supposed to be as monolithic as possible. Most citizens wear a simplistic jumpsuit, unless they are a part of an institution that has its own uniform, such as the armed forces or the Windian Jedi. The jumpsuit is easy to manufacture in large batches and resistant to wear and tear.
Citizens also receive a colour-coded armband that denotes their role in society. Even grooming is regulated by a government department. There is a fixed number of officially approved haircuts for men and women. Windian Jedi wear Jedi robes that resemble those of the ancient Jedi order. Makeup and extravagant clothes are considered a sign of Sith decadence. The Vaderites are fond of using chemical weapons, so every citizen is issued a gas mask to wear in the case of a poison gas attack.
Rules: The Dominion of Light follows an extremely warped interpretation of the old Jedi Code:
"There is no emotion, there is calm.
There is no ignorance, there is obedience.
There is no passion, there is serenity.
There is no chaos, there is order.
There is no death, there is the Light."
This is the code every Dominion citizen learns from an early age. Their mind set has been shaped by the economic, political and social collapse brought about by the Gulag Virus. Tephrike descended into lawless chaos, as riven factions squabbled over resources and millions died. The Jedi took control to restore order, but their good intentions were soon corrupted. They came to believe that the Gulag Virus been a Dark Side conspiracy and that only Jedi, who acted in accordance with the will of the Force, could rule the planet. Non-Forcers are deaf to the Force and thus require the guidance of the wise Jedi. To achieve salvation, all citizens must revere the Light, for it is their only shield against the Darkness. The Windian Jedi are the Vanguard of the Followers of Light.
To be keepers of the peace, Jedi could not be at the beck and call of career politicians and capitalists. They had to take control and shape society in accordance with what they considered to be the will of the Force. As a result, their rules and beliefs are more than a little bizarre. Though they idolise Jedi such as Yoda and Mace Windu, they have more in common with the likes of the Jedi Covenant, Atris and Joruus C'baoth. The Dominion's beliefs are collectivist, totalitarian and fundamentalist. Believing that the Jedi had failed in their duty to protect the innocents of the Galaxy, they resolved to never let the Dominion fall.
This became a convenient rationalisation of the fact that they had created an enormous prison camp the size of a country. Dominion believers maintain that they are creating a harmonious utopia with no classism or racial strife, no poverty and no crime, guided by enlightened philosopher-kings who place the common good above their own selfish interests. Jedi regarded as best-suited to rule because they can divine the will of the Force and are raised to serve the greater good. This obviously requires the rest of society to obey them. It is not enough for Jedi to adhere to the true Code. Rather every single member of society must embrace it, lest the Dark Side corrupt their way of thinking.
From birth, new-born children should be communally raised in nursery complexes owned by the benevolent Windian Jedi order, without knowing their progenitors. The enlightened Jedi consider sex even inside marriage to be sinful, for lust is a cardinal sin. They suggest all males and females register for mandatory sperm and egg harvesting, before having permanent operations to prevent such sin occuring. Thus the miracle of life can occur in a medically sanctioned way without putting citizens at risk of being seduced by the Dark Side. This rule has been suspended for the duration of the emergency, though it is still on the books and children should still be communally raised.
A tracking chip is implanted into new-born. In keeping with the abolition of family units, there are no family names. Instead every citizen receive an occupational surname upon being assigned a job. An example would be Mara Technician, Carius Pilot or Eeth Soldier. Jedi forego surnames entirely. Diona, a Jedi Knight, would be called Jedi Diona. This is supposed to combat selfishness. Every citizen is part of the community of Light and should have no attachments outside of it. The greater good of the community takes precedence over the individual good. Dominion society is highly collectivist. Alone, the individual cannot achieve anything. Indeed, it will fall prey to the temptations of the dark side. Only by standing together, under the guidance of the wise Jedi, can a person become something greater. As a result, Dominion citizens are exhorted to regard themselves as part of the collective. Fittingly, most housing is communal and workplaces tend to be set up in such a manner that encourages group activities.
Nurseries raise the new-born, then they are sent to an educational complex, where they are taught to become loyal, hard-working citizens. Naturally the state will decide their profession via a standardised test, and their entire education will be all about excelling in the particular field the order has chosen for them. This enlightened caste system ensures that every citizen knows his place in society. Moreover, their accommodations are chosen for them, because all common citizens are assigned a spot in a habitation complex. There they live in urban communes, under the watchful eye of the order's monitors. It should be noted that these edicts are far more difficult to enforce in remote settlements far away from the centre, meaning that enforcement is not universal.
In the glorious Dominion, there are no natural births - officially, at any rate. Sexuality is criminalised, for passion and lust lead to the dark side. It is worth noting that this rule tends to be observed in the breach in rural areas or remote settlements, where it is not practical to enforce and few officials try. Family bonds are viewed as selfish, for each individual should devote themselves to the community and the propagation of the Light. The Dominion clones those who were useful and had good skills, not really understanding that the process could not create a complete copy. This especially applies to Jedi, elite soldiers, technicians, researchers and others who possess skills that make them valuable to lose.
The Dominion opposes capitalism as it promotes greed and gluttony by glorifying wealth and consumerism. This is a reaction to stark class disparities and corruption in old Tephrike society. To combat materialism, currency has been abolished. It is not possible to use credits in the Dominion of Light. Instead, every citizen receives a fair share of coupons. These coupons determine exactly what they can be traded for. From each according to his ability to each according to his needs. Private ownership is considered a great evil because it leads to greed - and thus the Dark Side of the Force. The order provides everything a citizen could ask for - education, an apartment, clothes, food and drink. So there is no need for money. Businesses, farms and so on have been nationalised and the economy is centrally planned. There is a universal labour duty and strikes are forbidden. The Dominion believes that it has a duty to care for its citizens, and so it has implemented free healthcare. However, in actual fact it is pretty bad most for the most of the common people.
Worship of the Light is the only accepted form of religious expression. All other religious faiths and Force cults are prohibited. This not only encompasses dark side cults, but also alternate light side ones. Nonbelievers, heretics and deviants face severe punishment. The Jedi of the Dominion believe that the Jedi failed by being unable to prevent the outbreak of the Gulag Virus. Hence they are in a way motivated by guilt. Their great role model is Mace Windu, the Jedi Master who led a failed coup to topple Chancellor Palpatine and thus prevent the Sith from taking over the Republic. Because the Dominion believes that only Jedi can commune with the Force and thereby divine its will, all top positions are occupied by Jedi. The Dominion regards Jedi as warriors of the Light who have the duty to smite those who serve the Dark Side. They are scornful of more pacifist interpretation. Indeed, they believe that Jedi who reject the path of the sword are not Jedi at all, for their passivity helped the Darkness ascend.
Goals: To destroy the invaders, infidels and Sith. To unite Tephrike under the banner of the Dominion of Light. To protect the faithful from the Darkness and be the guardians of peace and justice on Tephrike.
MEMBERS
Master Mahtara is the most senior official in the Dominion and its new leader following the death of Grandmaster Aegus. The Jedi Master is a Yodaling. Her long life span means that she was alive when the Gulag Virus was unleashed and remembers the old days. Deep down she knows that the Dominion has strayed from the Jedi Code, but believes the old ways failed, making her complicit in many of the Dominion's totalitarian measures. Freedom produced chaos and so she chose order. The madness and zealotry of her peers forced her to take control after trying to mitigate the damage their actions caused. It was she who destroyed Palmyra, an act that causes her a great deal of guilt.
However, she prioritises ends over means, has a great capactity for ruthlessness. Mahtara is a formidable duellist, focusing on Ataru. She is a powerful practitioner of Battlemind, Protection Bubble, Dampen Force and Severe Force. She specialises in buffing herself and her allies and negating or severing the Force powers of her enemies. She is also an experienced battlefield commander and strategist. Time will tell whether her skills will be sufficient to ensure the survival of the Dominion and perhaps its transformation into something better.
Jedi Bekk (NPC): In the aftermath of her coup, Mahtara reshuffled cabinet a bit. Given her troubles with the late Grand Inquisitor Antonius, she wanted someone reliable in charge of the religious police. An outsider who could administer Commissar justice where needed, but was also not a nutcase. Her choice was Jedi Master Bekk, a male Zabrak. He disdains informants and refuses to reward them without proof. If they rumour monger they get punished.
Bekk has no secret police background, but his former position as head of the Council of Reflection and Understanding has prepared him well for handling sensitive cases. Officially, this organisation is supposed to mediate disputes between Jedi as well as provide assistance to those who are experiencing temptation. In that role, it watches over the mental health of Jedi. However, it has a darker side, since it covers up incidents that would embarrass the Windian Jedi Order.
The new Grand Inquisitor has pulled the plug on many of the Inquisition's vanity projects, such as the construction of a huge canal, its autonomous arms industry and most of the brainwashing camps. Instead he has reemphasised its role as an internal security force and punitive organ. Bekk has orthodox Winduist beliefs, but follows the party line. He advocates collective leadership over one-man rule. In keeping with this, he is a critic of the cult of personality. It is said that he possesses an encyclopaedic knowledge of the works of Zaras Dant and Tyian Kree
Sivron Administrator (NPC): The Ministry of Enlightenment is headed by a Twi'lek called Sivron, a Non-Force-User and long-time functionary in the Followers of Light. Sivron served as the head of the political department of a state farm and later as editor of the Followers' main newspaper. He is an old oligarch and power broker put there because there because Mahtara needs to get the old elite on side. Sivron took a leading role during the gruelling siege of Windustad, where he served as a Confessor. This helped propel him to high office, but also took a toll on his health.
The ideological code promoted by him has long defined cultural production in the Dominion, censoring artists, writers and intellectuals. He has a talent for anticipating the wishes of his superiors and negotiating obstacles in such a manner that raise his status. Part propagandist, part bureaucrat, Sivron prides himself on being the most cultured member of the ruling group. He enjoys playing the piano and holding 'team-bonding' outings at his country home. He possesses the necessary talent as an orator to translate and relay the Dominion's message to the masses, promoting what the regime calls its monolithic ideological system. The masses are supposed to watch the Dominion's movies and plays, and, through watching, fully internalise devout reverence towards the Dominion as their mother and father.
In order to reach far away areas of the Dominion that are disconnected from its communications infrastructure, Sivron has promoted the use of agitational trains and water ships. These carry professional agitators and missionaries equipped with propaganda materials. Sivron has never killed anyone personally, but been complicit in the execution or cover-up of many Dominion crimes. He has also been responsible for indoctrinating countless impressionable youths.
He works closely with Division Five of the Inquisition. This department deals with censorship of the media and combating ideological deviation in the sphere of arts and the education system. Sivron is a huge film fan and has written a book on filmmaking. Working as a propagandist has given him the perfect excuse to dominate the cinema and the opera. According to him, artists must repudiate two extremes: the art-for-art's sake doctrine of the revisionists and the dogmatists' tendency to stress only ideology while ignoring artistry. As a Non-Force-User, Sivron cannot seize power for himself. This makes him a safe choice. Mahtara personally dislikes him because he is conniving, venal and slimy. It is convenient for him that this is a position with relatively little danger.
Jedi Ganodi (NPC): Ganodi is the Chief Healer of the Windian Jedi Order. Aside from overseeing the Dominion's healthcare system, she is responsible for the growth, education and health of clones. The female Rodian genuinely cares for her flock, albeit in a rather patronising way. She has a habit of referring to the clones as her 'single spirit broods'. Her attitude annoys Mahtara a bit, but she is good at her job. The Ministry of Health and all Jedi healers answer to her. Her office keeps detailed files on all clone 'bloodlines' in the Dominion. Humanitarian aid and relief work are part of her portfolio.
She is a formidable healer, with an affinity for Force Slow, Malacia, Morichro, Crucitorn and an impressive knowledge of anatomy and biology. These qualities make her very dangerous if she ever desires to be. However, she tends to downplay her capabilities, insisting she is a precision scalpel rather than a broadsword. Ganodi has an interest in alchemy. While the Dominion condemns Sith alchemy, it has its own brand of alchemical practices. Officially, it draws upon the Light.
She met Elpsis briefly when the latter was a brainwashed drone of the Dominion. Ganodi had taken charge of a sanctuary that had been set up to accommodate bombing victims who had been wounded during Firemane's attack on the Jedi Temple and other installations in Nexus City. This allowed her to help people, but had the welcome side-effect of keeping her away from the chaos in the capital. It kept her safe from both Firemane bombs, and the power struggle between the Grandmaster and Mahtara.
The indoctrinated Elpsis - known by her Jedi name Roxane - helped her tend to a young, severely injured Padawan whose leg had to be amputated. Ganodi was strict, but not unkind to 'Roxane', treating her as another assistant instead of a pariah. However, she was content to leave the girl's conditioning intact instead of help her break free.
Marana Technician (NPC): Marana is a human physicist, mathematician and bureaucrat. She is a clone of Lara Technician, an extremely gifted codebreaker and mathematician who gained renown by cracking a Vaderite encryption device. This allowed the Dominion to score a major intelligence coup. For a while, her template was a hero, but she was later arrested for 'irregular activites'. One of Marana's siblings, Mara Technician, served the Dominion as a comms technician and cryptologist. During the Netherworld War, she was able to decrypt Republican Guard codes and determine that they intended to attack Fortress Purity. Her bosses did not believe her, but she was able to reach Mahtara through Kyrric.
Today, Mara is no longer part of the Dominion, having defected to Firemane. Her 'sister' is still a loyal servant. Indeed, Marana has become quite important in the hierarchy. She is an analyst who came to Mahtara's notice for her abilities to manage logistics and people. Mahtara recognises talent and privately believes that the Dominion has squandered the talents of many skilled people. Marana has had to contend with distrust from purist elements.
Nonetheless, she has been made responsible for organising a mass levy to fight the invaders and reorganising the industries to streamline them. Her official title is Plenipotentiary for the Mobilisation of the Faithful. Her office is responsible for achieving a total mobilisation of civilian resources in support of the war effort. Within certain boundaries, she has broad authority to issue directives to civilians and civilian sectors.
This includes instituting labour cutbacks in the government and civilian economy to free up manpower for the armaments industries and the military. Of course, in practice her authority is limited by vested interests, but it is still quite broad. She has annoyed many bigwigs by drafting their domestic servants and closing many special shops and restaurants. She has also drastically reduced the number of citizens exempt from the conscription.
Moreover, she oversees the massive underground train network that provides strongholds such as the Bastions with supplies, ammunition and troops. Marana was heavily involved in the constrution of the Bastions. While officially not a government minister, she attends the session of the streamlined War Council.
Melanie Administrator (NPC): A Mirialan official from the Followers of Light who has risen to the position of regional governor due to the losses the Dominion has sustained and her ability to be a little smarter about how to use resources. Some hardliners still want to purge her for her heretical thoughts about rewarding workers and allowing initiative, but she gets protected so long as she delivers results. Melanie has made a vital contribution to the Dominion's war effort by supervising the evacuation of military factories from endangered areas such as the City of Harmonious Industry and their reassembly in safe territory the enemy cannot touch.
She is related to Mel, a clone who used to be employed in the Ministry of Enlightenment but fell victim to a purge and, after a brief stint in a penal unit and then as a smuggler, ended up in Serene Springs, an Inquisition black site. There she joined a group of prisoners who were plotting to escape. Elpsis also ended up being imprisoned her and Mel won her freedom during the prison revolt. Melanie is Mel's template and tried to shield her clone from the secret police. Indeed, her clone used to look up to her. But now she in the stars and Melanie is still on Tephrike. Conservative Dominion leaders have attacked her methods as 'Sith-capitalist'. Melanie has been careful to avoid criticising Mace Windu Thought and in fact presents her approach as fully in keeping with it.
Instead of interrogating employees about their loyalty to Mace Windu Thought, she looks for people with strong technical or managerial skills. When questioned about this, she claims that she is teaching them about Mace Windu Thought on the job. She has downplayed the importance of the seemingly omnipresent Confessors and other ideological watchdogs who excel at purges, but lack practical skills outside of that.
Privately, she has stressed that 'Jedism does not mean shared poverty' and argued that the Dominion should 'seek truth from facts'. Within her province, she has introduced limited local reforms to encourage initiative and reward meritorious workers. When poor farmers in a rural village secretly implemented a system that made each household responsible for their profit and losses of production, she protected them from being punished for heretical activities. She argues that planning and market mechanisms are not incompatible and that a policy should not be rejected outright just because it is not associated with Windu or the founders of the Dominion.
Eeth Soldier (NPC): Eeth is one of Mahtara's closest allies. He is, in fact, a clone of the long-dead Kozon Bok, a grizzled Zabrak soldier who was Mahtara's mentor and taught her how to think tactically and strategically. Eeth rose through the ranks of the First Legion, a unit exclusively composed of Kozon clones, to become Mahtara's right hand. A natural and practical leader in the clone army, he is a good fit for Mahtara, to whom he is particularly loyal. His keen ability to strategise, combined with his steady nerves and fierce combat style in the heat of battle, have earned him the respect of his fellow clones.
His knowledge and skill on the battlefield have earned him the rank of Clone Marshal Commander, the highest rank a clone can achieve in the Grand Army of Light. Eeth served as a field commander during the Netherworld Event, rallying fragmented clone units and helping repulse the Republican Guard's offensive. When the Grandmaster ordered the First Legion to march to Fortress Purity to defeat the combined forces of Firemane and the Guard, he chose loyalty to Mahtara over his oath to the Grandmaster. Later he helped his mentor take control.
Jedi Karros (NPC): Eeth Soldier serves under Jedi Karros, a human Jedi High General. A hard-bitten military man, he is missing an eye. He is nicknamed Sith Slayer due to his accomplishments, but this is a nickname he does not encourage. He prefers a steady, attrition approach. Karros sees himself as prudent, just and devout. His detractors consider him severe, arrogant, bigoted and cruel. He is a coarse man who cares little for philosophy, learning or the finer things in life. He is most at home on the battlefield.
Karris is not an articulate speaker, but no one disputes that he is very effective at doing his job. Physically strong and imposing, the Jedi Guardian is a formidable duellist and tank with a focus on physical augmentation. Karros gained his monicker by routing a Vaderite army at the Battle of Kleidion, taking many Vaderites prisoners.
At his command, captives who refused to repent were blinded - all of them. Then he sent them back home. In his words: "If the Dark Side is your strength see your way home." He then had those who collapsed or strayed from the path shot. For a while he served as the Jedi Lord of a troublesome border area, leading several relentless counterinsurgency campaigns against Republican Guard partisans or other rebels.
Diona: A a human Jedi Knight of the Dominion and a former agent of the Inquisition. Born as a clone of a martyred Jedi, she was inducted into the Order and trained as a warrior. She served the Dominion in many battles. In the process she committed horrible actions, forcing herself to suppress her conscience and become a living weapon dedicated to defending her country by any means necessary. Eventually she joined the Inquisition. It was she who captured Elpsis and served as her jailer.
Over time the two bonded. Unable to continue serving her masters, Diona rebelled and helped the Firemane operative escape. Her future is an uncertain one now, though she seeks to atone for her crimes. She has joined Elpsis' platoon for the time being, but intends to return to Tephrike. Diona is a capable duellist, with a focus on Force Meld, defensive abilities and telekinesis. Diona's remaining clone siblings still serve the Dominion. The fact that she is a traitor to her sisters weighs heavily on Diona, as she is loath to fight them.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
Originally Tephrike was colonised centuries ago in the days of the Old Republic. The Jedi set up a small enclave to mediate disputes between corporate interests and alien settlers. When the Republic was transformed into the Galactic Empire, the Imperials occupied the planet, purged the local Jedi enclave and established a human supremacist regime. Though the colonial regime was short-lived, its policies left scars on the planet. But this was the distant past. However, all was not well. Tephrike's democracy was unstable, characterised by short-lived coalition governments, political and economic polarisation as well as racial strife. But this was nothing compared to the horrors that would be unleashed when Zero committed his insane terrorist act.
The pathogen was brought to Tephrike by the crew of an Alderaanian merchant ship, who'd contracted the virus. Thus it was an accidental import. By the time people began to drop like flies, contact had been lost with the Galactic Alliance. Like on so many other worlds, entire Tephriki cities descended into chaos and panic. Security forces, medical doctors and Jedi to make sense of the crisis and hold back the storm that was sweeping across the planet. In some towns, the unrest coincided with outbreaks of racial violence. It was in this situation that the Jedi decided to assume a protective stance. They were, in their own mind, the only body that could be considered neutral and objective. Furthermore, it was their duty to protect the people. Having lost all contact with the rest of the Order, many of them feared that they might be the last Jedi left.
By that point in time the Tephriki had lost contact with Coruscant. Emissaries were dispatched to find out what was going on in the outside Galaxy. Most never returned. Panic broke out. Desperation drove people to do desperate things. Rumours that there was a cure but the rich were hoarding it spread like wild fire. There was no cure, but people wanted to believe in one. The result was violent unrest. Blood flowed in the streets. As the situation worsened, doomsday cults arose. The federal security forces and the Jedi Knights found themselves beleaguered, forcing them to carry out harsh crackdowns. Isolation soon led to shortages.
Many common people flocked to the Enclave, believing that the Jedi could offer them protection and healing. It was hoped their mystical powers could cure the sick. However, Jedi healers were just as baffled by the plague as medical practitioners across the Galaxy. Soon the enclave was overflowing with refugees and the Jedi were forced to turn people away, for they could not risk an outbreak. When some civilians tried to storm the enclave, force had to be used to drive them off.
Tephrike's situation kept deteriorating. A Grand Coalition government, composed of five parties, took power and ruled through emergency decrees. The strongest party in the Coalition was the National Liberal Democratic Party of Tephrike. Detractors said that it was neither national nor liberal nor democratic. It was led by Guy Aybel, a Duros politician.The political landscape had already been polarised before the outbreak. Now party militias clashed in the streets. Groups such as the Gungan Homeland Movement, the Quarren League and the Pan-Human Front raised their own private militias and fought over scarce resources. Desperate measures were taken in an attempt to stem the outbreak. Areas were cordoned off and the houses of infected were often sealed. Entire city districts were turned into no-go areas. Lynching became common. The Jedi tried to meditate between the riven factions, but were drawn into the fighting. Disconcent grew in their ranks, as they felt the politicians were using them for their own selfish gain to suppress rebels who had legitimate grievances.
It was an incident called Bloody Sunday that broke the camel's back. On this day, unarmed demonstrantors, led by a priest who was ironically a police agent, were fired upon by Yuuzhan Vong government troopers as they marched to Parliament. The soldiers would later claim that the protesters had been violent and that shots had been fired from within the crowd. There is a grain of truth to this. However, there is no doubt that the vast majority of the protesters were unarmed civilians. A few young Jedi had come to see the rally. When the protest reached a pitch, and the soldiers opened fire many around her were killed, including Younglings, recalling the famous massacre committed by Clone Troopers and Vong Warriors centuries ago. One of the injured Padawans was a young Jedi called Mahtara, the future Battlemaster of the Dominion.
The government appointed a committee to conduct an investigation. A number of low-level soldiers were punished, but few changes took place in the upper ranks. This incident was the catalyst for the Jedi coup. A radical Duros Jedi Master called Zaras Dant acquired many followers when she proclaimed that it was time for the Jedi to do their duty and save Tephrike from itself. Only they could see the bigger picture and look beyond race, class or party. Centuries ago the Jedi had failed the people by not recognising Palpatine's true nature and stopping him from destroying the Republic. Now they had failed the Galaxy again by not preventing the outbreak. For all they knew, they might be the last surviving Jedi. They could not stand by and let Tephrike tear itself apart. Nor could they continue being stooges of corrupt politicians.
Her beliefs were extremely controversial. But Zaras got her way, though the council vote was a close one. At first the charismatic Jedi Master seems to have intended to hand over power to an elected civilian government once the crisis had passed. Hence a number of members of Tephrike's parliament gave their tacit consent to the coup. She gathered a following among the Tephriki Jedi, but also members of the security forces who had grown disillusioned with the system. On the day of the coup, the putschists cut Palmyra's lines of communication with the outside world, seized its garrison, broadcasting studios, parliament building and government ministries. In concert with disgruntled soldiers, the Jedi stormed Government House, the residence of the Prime Minister.
It was Young Mahtara who arrested Gul. When it all came crumbling down, the Prime Minister sickened her with his cowardice. He was found by her hiding inside a cupboard. He promised to make her rich if she helped him escape. Disgusted by his craven attitude, she hit with the pommel of her lightsabre, then turned him over. Most of the members of his cabinet were arrested, but some managed to evade capture and go underground or flee to cities held by the loyalists. The coup also triggered a pogrom against Palmyra's Yuuzhan Vong community. Many Duros and Gungans were targeted as well. This had not been the intention of the Jedi putschists, but armed militias seized the chance to settle old scores. When Jedi tried to protect civilians from attacks, they came under fire. This affirmed the radicals' belief that only a firm hand could restore order and save the planet.
Zaras now believed thar she could only trust herself, her fellow Jedi and the Light. Deciding that politicians could not be trusted, she abandoned the united front strategy. When legislators arrived at Parliament building, Zaras appeared at the head of a contingent of soldiers. After her soldiers had disarmed the parliamentary guards and secured the exits, Zaras stepped into the hall to address the equal parts outraged and afraid legislators.
In her speech, Zaras denounced them as venal, cowardly and selfish. It was, she said, time to put an end to their sitting in this place, which they had dishonoured by their contempt of all virtue and defiled by their practice of every vice. Like the Senate of the Galactic Republic, they would sell their soul to darkness for a few pieces of aurodium. Was there a single virtue remaining among them? Was there a single vice they did not possess? They had no regard for the greater good. Through petty theft and fighting amongst themselves, they had lost the right to lead this world. She concluded her speech by declaring: "Go, get out! Make haste! You venal slaves be gone! So! Take away that shining bauble there, and lock up the doors. In the name of the Light, go!"
A number of lawmakers were arrested, the rest were escorted out. The building was placed under lockdown. It would later be converted into a hospital for those in need. With the civilian government dissolved, Zaras proclaimed herself the first Jedi Lord of Tephrike. She appointed a mixed cabinet composed of Jedi Masters, military officers and apolitical technocrats. She declared that it was her heal goal to unite Tephrike, give hope to the hopeless, restore clean government and banish the plague that had ravaged the planet. But many contested her rule. Uprisings sparked in several provinces. Ironically, the Jedi junta was soon forced to adopt many of the measures of the old government to contain the spread of the plague. The containment measures were having an effect, but were unconscionable for some.
Forces that were loyal to the old government and members of the opposition who rejected the new régime as tyrannical united in the Alliance of Democratic Forces. A few Jedi and some Neutral Force-Users joined their ranks. The capital became a battleground. During fighting in the capital, Mahtara ran into her old teacher, who was protecting civilians. Tallak had reluctantly accepted the overthrow of the old government, but the dismantlement of constitutional government and the creation of a Jedi military junta was a step too far for him. Mahtara would not fight her old teacher, but she could also not join him.
The Jedi were few in number, so the junta ordered mass conscription of Force-Sensitives. In many cases, they could only be given minimal training. Personnel shortages forced young Jedi into positions they would have otherwise only obtained after after a far longer period of training, if at all. Eventually the Jedi forces were able to secure Palmyra, Tephrike's capital, abd break the ADF's siege. It helped that while the Alliance was united in its desire to overthrow the Jedi junta, they had little unanimity beyond that. As with many rebel coalitions, they were very fractious. However, the junta suffered a powerful blow when Jedi Lord Zaras Dant was assassinated by traitorous bodyguards while she was boosting her soldiers through battle meditation. Ironically, a rogue Jedi Knight had helped facilitate the assassination. He was arrested and executed.
Tyian Kree, a Devaronian Jedi Master, emerged as the new Jedi Lord. A charismatic, fierce woman, she shared Zaras' belief that it was the Jedi's duty to take control. However, she took things a step further. Zaras had been a reluctant ruler and ruled as a largely secular military dictator. By contrast, Tyian was a theocrat. With large swathes of the populace at the risk of starvation, the Jedi Lord implemented a policy of requisitions. All spheres of economic life would be nationalised, those who did not work would be conscripted into labour battalions and hoarding would be punished severely.
Tyian was very ambitious - and had unknowingly fallen to the Dark Side. Obsessed with the idea that the Plague had been a Sith conspiracy and that agents of darkness lurked everywhere, she saw the uprisings sparking across the planet as confirmation. The infrastructure for a dictatorship had already been put into place by Zaras, but Tyian finished what her predecessor had started by implementing a totalitarian theocracy. For it was the only way to ensure that the Light would not be eclipsed by the forces of Darkness. In order to save the last vestiges of civilisation, the Jedi would have to harden their hearts. Furthermore, they would have to spread their beliefs to the common people, lest they become pawns of the Darkness. The Dominion of Light was born.
Tyian's rule was opposed by remnants of the ADF, secessionists, rogue Jedi who believed the order has gone too far and a myriad dark cults. Ultimately many of these opposition forces would be united under the banner of the Republican Guard and the Disciples of the Vader. Jedi Mahtara began her ascent as a military commander during this time. The Dominion strengthened its hold on Tephrike, launching campaigns to bring the rebellious provinces under control and deliver aid to those in need. But it also grew more ruthless. Sometimes the populace and enemy soldiers had to be compelled through terror to submit. Those infected by the plague had to be isolated. They could not waste time with imprisoning hostile Force-users and redeeming them through gentle persuasion. Civilians had to be conscripted to serve as soldiers or labourers - at gunpoint if need be. In time the Dominion initiated a cloning programme to preserve its best servants. It also began to regulate the reproductive rights of the people under its control.
Palmyra had suffered severe damage due to the fighting and the Dominion's leaders did not feel secure in the city. So Tyian ordered the construction of Nexus City. It was supposed to be a city on the hill, a sanctuary for the innocent and a shining example to the rest of Tephrike. Tyian's forces laid siege to Red Coral City, an underwater settlement of Gungans and Nautolans where remnants of the old government had sought refuge. However, some clone trooper units defected and were able to help turn the battle into the rebels' favour. The settlement would become the headquarters of the Republican Guard, a radical rebel faction that opposed Force-user dominance.
Tyian died of a heart attack. After her death, the Jedi Generals elected Norn Astur as her successor. Though a Jedi Master, he lacked his predecessors' authority and charisma. To legitimise his claim he assumed the title of Grandmaster. In all fairness to him, he and his comrades believed that they were the last Jedi in the Galaxy. He was still busy asserting himself when the Dominion's leaders learned that one of their Jedi Commanders, a young Jedi Knight called Cade Seward, had fallen to the Dark Side and declared himself Dark Lord of the Sith.
Cade was born after the start of the Dark Age. Thrust into combat at a young age, he was thrust into combat. It was a chaotic time. Jedi ruled over vast swathes of territory as Jedi Lords, seeking to impose order by any means necessary. They dispensed justice, requisitioned supplies to feed population centres under their control and commanded armies. For some the strain proved too much, and the siren call of the Dark Side could not be resisted. Reaching officer rank, Seward was part of a bloody campaign against rebels in Tephrike's jungles.
These rebels considered the Jedi theocracy illegitimate and sought to restore Tephrike's pre-Gulag Virus Republic, though in practical terms they were another warlord faction. The campaign was not going well, for though the Jedi forces could deploy impressive firepower, they were harassed by guerillas and plagued by disease. Increasingly, food and clean water became scarce. Disease and malnutrition caused higher casualties on both sides than actual combat. Fast growing creepers grounded their transports. Morale was understandably poor. Some soldiers made the mistake of eating the wrong plant and suffered from hallucinations that a number of cases drove them mad. Jedi Knight Seward took command over a section of the forces after his superior was fragged by mutineers.
Bitten by a nasty mosquito, Seward was afflicted with malaria. Suffering from the effects of the diseases, which caused headaches, fever and uncontrolled seizures, he experienced bizarre visions. Even as a child, he'd received Force visions, but now these were more intense. In his fever dreams, he saw a towering warrior clad from head to toe in black armour, with his face covered by an imposing mask. The figure handed him a scarlet lightsabre and, in a cold, gruff voice, ordered him to break the chains the Jedi had placed upon him and eclipse the light.
It took some time, but eventually Seward succumbed. Drawing upon his somewhat incorrect knowledge of history, he deduced that the masked man in black had to be the legendary Darth Vader. He shared his revelations with a few subordinates. Some refused to heed his bold vision. They were put to death. The rest swore allegiance to him. Secretly reaching out to the rebel forces, he struck a deal with them, and led the Jedi loyalists into an ambush. Holding his own troops back from the fighting, he proceeded to turn on the rebels. Conveniently, they were in a poor state as well and so a good number of their soldiers joined his cause when he promised them revenge and booty.
After taking over a few settlements and assimilating various militias and bands of marauders into his army, he began his dark crusade. At first dismissed as a mere bandit, the Windian Jedi Order eventually realised that this rogue, who had begun to call himself Darth Malitia, was an actual threat. This changed after he had won several victories over them. Supporters of the Dominion were massacred en masse or turned into Sithspawn abominations. He also did not shy away from using nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. The Dominion was driven to radicalise even further. All aspects of life were subordinated to a total war policy. Eventually the two armies met at Palmyra, still damaged from the earlier civil war. The city was devastated by the brutality of the fighting. Tactical ballistic missiles, chemical weapons, artillery and Force magicks caused large-scale devastation.
Jedi General Mahtara, the future Battlemaster of the Dominion, was one of the Jedi commanders who faced Menace in the field at the ruins of Palmyra. She received her promotion to Master in the field after holding off a Sith attack. However, the battle was going ill. Both the Dominion and the Sith troops fought fiercely. Humanitarian conventions had been abandoned in the favour of what was considered efficient. The Sith gained ground by conducting a ritual to summon a huge Deadly Field and raising the dead as zombies. Rumours claimed that Darth Menace intended to use blood sacrifices to open a gateway to Chaos. In this hour, Mahtara was authorised to unleash a terrible nuclear weapon.
Troubled by the use of this weapon, yet desperate, Mahtara insisted on accompanying the bomber crew that would drop the weapon upon Palmyra. It was not possible to evacuate all Dominion troops and Jedi in time, as they were still locked in combat with the Sith legions. Lacking conventional stealth systems, the bomber was concealed by illusions. However, a Sith mentalist managed to see past the concealment and the bomber came under fire. Insisting on completing the mission, Mahtara gave the order to drop the bomb. Palmyra ceased to exist. But the Sith crusade came to an end. Menace's forces retreated, going on the so called Arduous March. He was eventually slain by one of his lieutenants. The Vaderites regrouped at Castle Maysaf, but their bid to conquer Tephrike had failed.
On paper, it was a victory for the Dominion. In the years to come the Dominion launched several counterattacks to retake terirtory lost to rebel forces. It established itself as the dominant faction on the planet. But victory had come at a staggering cost. Palmyra had not just been destroyed, it had been irrevocably tainted. Attempts to cleanse the dark taint failed. The contaminated ruins were placed under lockdown. Feeling immense guilt about her actions, Mahtara put down her lightsabre and resigned from active service. Perhaps under more pragmatic leadership, the Dominion might have been able to reunite Tephrike under one banner and rebuild the planet, as far as that was still possible. However, this was not to be. Instead it experienced a descent into zealotry, which reached its peak when the Blue Guards initiated the Cultural Revolution.
New leaders came to power. Men and women who knew nothing except the Dominion. Looking back at the older generations of Jedi, they saw failures. The wars had hardened them and inured them to to their horrors. And they believed that to prevent another Collapse, the entire society of the Dominion would have to be indoctrinated in accordance with their warped understanding of Jedi principles. Cloning became a fixture rather than a provisional measure to solve the manpower crisis and replenish the decimated population. Intercourse was declared to be sinful. Instead the miracle of life must take place in a medically sanctioned way inside a laboratory, thereby eliminating the risk of citizens succumbing to lust, as it led to the Dark Side. All new-born must be raised by the state. Free enterprise was abolished.
The Dominion's leaders planned the total collectivisation of the economy. Millions of people were supposed to be mobilised to construct dams, reservoirs, and other irrigation projects. New factories, oil refineries and mega-farms were planned. The leadership proclaimed an offensive on all fronts to drag Tephrike into a brave new world. The programme included forced resettlement. Countless pasants lost their land and possessions, being forced to join collective farms. Tens of thousands of residents were forced to leave the cities and sent to work in industrial sites, farms or gargantuan hydraulic projects. Because low-level officials were afraid of punishment, they altered statistics to show success and conceal difficulties; the leaders in Nexus City believed the false reports and demanded greater productivity and agricultural and industrial quotas. Predictably, failure was blamed on false consciousness and sabotage.
The Great Enlightenment, an economic and social campaign to rapidly transform the country's economy through rapid industrialisation and collectivisation ended in failure. It was an important factor in the Great Tephriki Famine. It was supposed to create a world of plenty, but spawned just the opposite. The calamity weakened the position of Grandmaster Tsal Te Mong, whose policies were criticised by members of the Jedi Order and the cabinet. This led to the rise of the Blue Guards. They were a paramilitary social movement composed mostly of students, Padawans and young Knights. They saw themselves as a revolutionary youth organisation and Grandmaster Tsal Te Mong as their commander-in-chief. They saw it as their duty to dismantle Tephrike's pre-Dominion past and crush all opposition to its rebirth as a theocratic utopia.
The catalyst for the Blue Guards' destructive campaign was a play called Rai Hui Dismissed from Office. Ben, the man who wrote the play, was a historian and Jedi scholar who grew interested in Rai Hui. Rai had been dismissed and unjustly imprisoned for criticising the destructive policies of Prime Minister Winston Stakes, a pre-Dark Age Tephriki politician. The play was a tragedy in which an honest official and Jedi carried the complaints of the people to the Prime Minister at the expense of his career. It portrayed Rai as an honest magistrate who sought an audience with the corrupt billionaire. Rai then criticised Stakes directly for tolerating the corruption and abuse perpetuated by his officials, laying the blame for Golden Future Fusion Reactor meltdown at his feet. The Prime Minister was so offended by Rai's criticism that he dismissed Rai from office. However, Rai was restored after Stakes was forced to resign.
The Blue Guards saw the play as allegorical criticism of the Grandmaster. At the time, Tsal was under fire because his economic collectivisation policies had produced disaster. They started as a small grass roots movement, but soon grew in power. Seeing them as a means to secure his grip on power, Tsal endorsed them. They waged a campaign against the Four Olds (old culture, old thinking, old habits and old customs). Backed by the Grandmaster and the so called Gang of Three, they unleashed a wave of terror.
In the new utopia, everything, material or spiritual, that was contaminated by the past, had to be jettisoned so that a new and more beautiful could emerge. According to them, the key which would unlock this radiant future was religious consiousness. The results were disastrous. Without the Great Enlightenment and the Cultural Revolution, it is likely that the Dominion would have been able to crush the Vaderites and the Republican Guard. Instead, both groups rebel groups were able to expand and transition into becoming significant threats.
Eventually the Blue Guards' reign of terror spurred the army into action. Even the Inquisition had become unnerved. Retired Jedi Master Mahtara ended her retirement after one of her Padawans had been targeted. She herself wassubjected to a 'Criticise Mahtara' campaign the Jedi who had helped assassinate Zaras had been her teacher. Realising that the Dominion was on the brink, she conspired with a clique of generals to put an end to the madness. The Blue Guards were disarmed, but Mahtara took thing a step further by smuggling herself and some loyal associates into Nexus City. There she took command of a legion of clone troopers loyal to her and placed the Grandmaster under house arrest. When he refused to give a speech legitimising their actions, the putschists used an impostor. Tsal was strangled when forces loyal to him tried to free him from captivity.
As far as the public knew, the Gang of Three had represented a Sith cabal and the army was acting in accordance with the will of the Grandmaster. Later a somewhat reduced High Council convened to elect a new Grandmaster, who was a puppet of the army. This might have been the moment for change. However, Mahtara had lost her faith in freedom. To her it lead to chaos. So she chose order over liberty. So while the new regime moderated the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution, closed several centres of repression and issued an amnesty for most prisoners, the substance of the regime remained the same. Instead, its totalitarian nature was refined as the new powerbrokers sought to create a system of total control over their populace. Creating a harmonious, orderly society required growing and moulding citizens for specific roles. Obviously their grip was the strongest in Nexus City and the other core territories of the Dominion. Conditions varied in the remote provinces. Harsh counterinsurgency campaigns were waged against rebel forces there. It was a brutal, dirty war on both sides of the conflict.
Mahtara remained a key player in successive Dominion administrations, eventually reaching the position of Battlemaster. When Grandmaster Kalija tried to break out of the gilded cage and exercise true power, she was quietly eliminated. Since then few Grandmasters left the palace after being put into power. Under the leadership of the fanatical General Kennobi, the Dominion waged a campaign of conquest to annex Mon Calamari communities that had managed to remain neutral during the war.
One underwater city was destroyed in order to make an example. However, Dominion troops were targeted by partisans. As a reprisal measure, the Dominion deported many Mon Calamari, forcing them to leave their homelands so that they could be controlled. Moreover, the Inquisition expanded its network of detention centres and penal colonies. One of the most infamous that was set up during this time period was the Tranquility Vocational Education and Training Centre, also called Transformation Through Education Centre IX. Many Mon Calamari accused of 'heresy' were interned here. The leader of the Mon Calamari rebels, a man called Aruunzeb, swore bloody vengeance. He joined the Republican Guard and inflicted a grievous defeat on the Dominion's water fleet.
The Dominion was once again put to the test by the Netherworld Event. The mass disapearances disrupted a grand offensive against opposition forces. Unrest broke out in Nexus City. The Republican Guard took advantage of the fact that its primary enemies had been weakened by the Force being thrown out of balance. The rebels launched the Hundred Days' Offensive. One of their leading commanders was General Aruunzeb. Around the same time, the Vaderites had had a civil war that brought Darth Krieg to power. Krieg had discovered a book that told the true story of Vaders' redemption. In actuality it was a Galactic Civil War for Dummies type book. Regardless, it had led him to conclude that the Vaderites must forsake the Dark Side. He rallied slaves and members of the underclasses to his banner, promising them freedom. Having renamed himself Darth salus, he extended an olive branch to the Dominion, urging reunification. Of course, he expected to be in charge. He was rebuffed, and so he declared the Jedi to be heretics. The Vaderites made a secret pact with elements of the Republican Guard leadership and entered the war as their de facto cobelligerents.
The weakened Dominion was backed against a wall. To buy time and make every enemy victory as costly as possible, Mahtara implemented scorched earth policies. At the same time she used subterfuge to drive a wedge between the two unwieldy co-belligerents. With many Vaderites more interested in marauding, the Republican Guard bore the brunt of the fighting. Their attempt to seize Fortress Purity, a crucial breastwork on the way to Nexus City, ended in a rout and the expected mass uprising of Dominion citizens did not materialise. Their offensive ground to a halt. Krieg was later murdered by Vaderites, who swiftly returned to Dark Side worship.
Jedi Master Aegus was elected as the new Grandmaster. Prior to his ascent to supreme office, he had been the Barse'thor of the Order. At the time he was known for his kindness, moderation and compassion. He had become popular with the small folk by fearlessly walking into homes whose inhabitants had been infected with a deadly disease and using his powers to heal them or alleviate their pain. He had also exposed corruption in the Order and punished Jedi who had been abusing their students. However, the Netherworld Event had a negative effect on his psyche. He was wounded in a poison gas attack, which left him temporarily blinded. During his recuperation he was tormented by apocalytic visions. These did not cease after his election. They took a toll on his sanity.
Realising that he was unsuitable yet unable to replace him so soon, Mahtara sought to isolate Aegus from the machinery of government. The Grandmaster was kept in his palace and fed fake reports about the state of the country. This only increased his resentment. Grand Inquisitor Antonius, a conniving political operator, played on his growing paranoia. It can only be speculated what would have happened if things had taken their normal course.
However, the Dominion's core beliefs where put into question when outsiders suddenly showed up in Tephrike's orbit. The outsiders were not dark side demons, but a Firemane expeditionary fleet, led by Tegaea Alcori. Initial contact was violent. A Dominion starfighter squadron was wiped out after attacking the fleet. Then Firemane landed on one of Tephrike's moons and seized a Dominion base. Thereafter Jedi Master Airla contacted the Firemane commander in the name of the Council.
The High Council was divided on what to do. Some wanted to go to war against the infidels, others advised moderation. The Battlemaster was in the latter category. Though suspicious of the outsiders, she also saw their arrival as an opportunity. Moreover, she deemed it vital to stop them from making common cause with the Dominion's enemies. Jedi Master Airla was charged with negotiating with them. The Grandmaster was not informed, having been distracted with exaggerated news of a great victory over the Sith. However, Grand Inquisitor Antonius conspired to sabotage the talks.
When a Firemane delegation landed at Nexus City, they were received by Airla. The initial talks between her and the Firemane diplomat were amicable, but tense. They came to a premature end when soldiers dispatched by the Grand Inquisitor opened fire on the delegation. A fierce fight ensued. Regular Dominion trooper, believing that the outsiders had attacked their comrades, joined the battle. Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori, the adoptive daughter of Tegaea, was captured by the Inquisition and spirited away to a brainwashing camp. Moreover, some Firemane-allied pilots were shot down. Pursued by Dominion troops, they were saved by the Republican Guard.
Mahtara was outraged, but the balance of power had shifted. Riding a wave of religious fervour, the Grandmaster took control, declaring that the outsiders were Sith who wished to destroy the Dominion. Firemane's demands for the return of the prisoners were rebuffed. In response, the corporation declared war. Mahtara was wise enough to leave the Temple after Firemane started bombing the shield generator of Nexus City. This turned out to be a wise choice as the shield fell and the Temple was levelled. Firemane bombed communication centres, Jedi academies and military installations. The Grandmaster and the Grand Inquisitor retreated to a bunker, while Mahtara defeated assassins sent by the Inquisition. Realising the folly of her superior's actions, Mahtara linked up with her allies and went underground. There she plotted to remove the 'tyrant' and ordered her agents to find and secure the captive Elpsis, who was being held at a black site and brainwashed by the Inquisition.
The Dominion retaliated by deploying powerful strategic missiles against Firemane's fleet. These represented their strategic reserve, only to be used in the direst of circumstances. Mahtara's agents were able to secure two of the missiles, but the others were launched. One destroyed a Firemane corvette, the other was stopped by tractor beams before it could do the same to their command ship. Firemane made an uneasy alliance with the Republican Guard and landed ground troops to take Fortress Purity. At the same time a task force was dispatched to locate and rescue - or avenge - the lost Elpsis. Ironically, Mahtara was trying to secure her as well and so both task forces ended up clashing. Elpsis was eventually able to overcome her brainwashing and killed the Grand Inquisitor, inciting a prisoners' revolt. Jedi Diona, a remorseful Inquisitor, helped her overcome her captors.
Meanwhile, a brutal battle was fought at Fortress Purity. There the fanatical General Kennobi led the defence. The Dominion troops compensated their technological inferiority through bloody-minded determination, kamikaze pilots, mass use of Force-Users and by deploying a weather control machine. They hoped that their enemy would be bled white and withdraw. The storm made it hazardous for Firemane to deploy bombers and gunships. The Republican Guard had the manpower, but was initially reluctant to deploy in full force, as it had failed here before and did not trust its new allies. Dominion militia and Jedi were well-entrenched and many units fought to the last man. However, Firemane orbital strikes prevented reinforcements from reaching the Fortress. The defenders were trapped. Eventually the fortress fell to the allied forces, though the price in blood was considerable. In the last stages of the battle, the Dominion commanders deployed a brigade of Younglings to cover their retreat. They went on a suicidal death charge.
The Grandmaster was apoplectic when he heard of the defeat. Alarmed by this, Jedi Cassius, Aegus' own clone, conspired with his fellow Jedi Councillors Varus and Karana and the Temple Guard to assassinate Aegus. Officially, it was declared that the kindly Grandmaster had been killed by Firemane Sithspawn bombs while he was touring the ruins to help trapped survivors. Using secret backchannels, Cassius sent a message to Mahtara, inviting her to enter Nexus City. Forces loyal to the Battlemaster initiated Operation Apotheosis.
Ironically, it had originally been drafted as an emergency continuity of government operations plan issued to the Reserve Army to execute and implement in the event of a catastrophic event or a general breakdown of civil order, such as a nuclear war, a mass uprising or the outbreak of a new Gulag Virus level plague. Now it was used to unseat the government while maitaining the facade of loyalty. Tanks surrounded government buildings and communications were cut with the outside world. Government officials deemed disloyal were placed under house arrest or shot. After heavy fighting, soldiers stormed the headquarters of the Inquisition.
When Mahtara convened the High Council, she came with an escort of clone troopers. This was a clear breach of sacred Council rules. She found that many Masters were unwilling to accept her coup. Enraged by what she saw as ignorance, she declared the Council dissolved and bid them to go in the name of the Light. Cassius agreed to serve on the new council of war that would replace the moribund body and she appointed him as her deputy.
The Battlemaster addressed the nation, explaining that the Grandmaster had been murdered by Sith. Grand Inquisitor Antonius was branded a closeted Sith, who had been responsible for the Dominion's woes and deceived the kindly Grandmaster. Aegus would be more useful in death as a martyr than he had ever been in life. Some Jedi Generals went rogue, but having an elder stateswoman at the helm ensured continuity of government. However, the Dominion's situation was grim. The Republican Guard's standards had been planted on Fortress Purity, which they had renamed Fortress Solidarity Moreover, the Dominion no longer had Elpsis in their custody and hence could not use her as a bargaining chip to make a deal with Firemane.
Mahtara realised that in order to survive, the Dominion would have to change. It would also have to alter its strategy, as the old methods would not work. Ironically, in a way the invasion was a good thing. She reflected bitterly that despite the losses, it was the challenge and the loss of their corrupt leaders which made the Dominion a viable force. Many of the more fanatical, irrational officers had perished at Fortress Purity or met 'accidents' in the days after. This made the Dominion a stronger foe for its enemies. However, it had to rush troops to the City of Harmonious Industry - once known as Vortanstad - after the local Jedi Lord denounced the new regime and the Republican Guard launched an assault on the city. The result was a bloody battle that left the heavily industrialised city split into a Dominion and a rebel zone.
While Mahtara was busy getting her house in order, Dominion troops encountered a new group of outsiders. They called themselves Archangel. This time extremists did not sabotage diplomatic negotiations. The newcomers appeared to be opposed to Firemane, or claimed to be that at any rate. They offered the Dominion more advanced weapons and war machines. In return they asked for raw materiels and captives. It was a devil's bargain, but far from the first the regime had made. The initial shipments were small, but field tests proved promising, which gave Dominion morale a boost. Now the Dominion mobilises for a life or death struggle against its foes. Now that the Dominion's leaders are aware that life exists outside Tephrike, they also seek to catch up by acquiring more advanced technology.
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