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Approved Lore Republican Guard

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"I only know one truth: It's time for the Jedi end."
- General Aruunzeb. May have also been said by a wise Jedi many centuries ago.

"The oppressed people can liberate themselves only through struggle. This is a simple and clear truth confirmed by history. When existing institutions exist merely to enslave, rob, and oppress the people, the people have the eternal right to rebel against and overthrow those institutions. When government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny."
- Synthia Vao

"Even though large tracts of Tephrike have fallen or may fall into the iron grip of the Vaderites and their odious Jedi kin, we shall not flag or fail. Weese shall go on to the end. Weesa fight in Vortanstad, weesa shall fight on the seas and oceans, weesa fight fight with growing confidence and growing strength on the land, we shall defend our nation, whatever the cost may be. Weesa shall fight on the beaches, weesa shall fight in the jungles; weesa shall fight in the fields, and in the air; weesa shall fight in the hills and in the slave camps where our brethren still suffer under the tyrants' whip; weesa shall never surrender.

And if, which I do not for a moment believe, Red Coral City be subjugated and starving, our partisans will carry on the struggle until the flag of liberty flies over Nexus City, Almopia, Hope Falls and everywhere else where the oppressors reign. Weesa are the spark that will light the fire that will burn the Dominion and the Vaderites down."

- Chancellor Odoh Senks

"Partisan warfare is a people's warfare; an attempt to carry out this type of war without the population's support is a prelude to inevitable disaster."
"The partisan must move amongst the people as a fish swims in the sea."
"The Force is incompatible with a free society. The Force grants an individual supernatural power to oppress and manipulate their fellow sentients. A single trained Force-User can carry out horrible acts of destruction. A Force-User may deceive themselves into believing that they can use it for good without succumbing to temptation. He may start out with honest intentions. But it is a taint that spreads the more it is used. The only recourse is to protect the cursed from himself and the people from him."
"Jedi and Sith are two sides of the same coin."

- Extracts from the 'Green Book'.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all beings are created equal, that they are endowed by nature with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and freedom from the oppression of the Force."
- From the Declaration of Rebellion

OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent
: Expand on Tephrike by codifying one of the main groups on the planet. The Republican Guard also provides a contrast to Forcer-dominated or influenced societies, which tend to be the norm in Star Wars. They have been introduced in an ongoing thread and will play a major role in future rps set on Tephrike.
Image Credit: Here. Here. Here.
Permissions: Can use Firemane tech because I own the company.
Links: Dominion of Light, Disciples of the Vader, The Republican Guard is the Strongest, Into Darkness, After Darkness, Red Coral City, Tephrike, Vortanstad, Palmyra's Wail, Gentis, Amidala Asylum.

GENERAL INFORMATION
Army Name
: Republican Guard.
Classification: Rebel Alliance.
Affiliation: General Aruunzeb, the free people of Tephrike, Red Coral City, Mezha Krazhmir, Synthia Vao.
Army Symbol: Rebel Alliance Starbird.
Description:
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The Republican Guard is a secularist, revolutionary army and rebel movement native to Tephrike. It is in a state of war with the Disciples of the Vader, a Sith cult that worships Darth Vader as a god, and the Dominion of Light, a fundamentalist Jedi theocracy that follows a warped interpretation of the old Jedi Code. Like its two competitors, the Republican Guard is a child of the apocalypse. The outbreak of the Gulag Virus sent Tephrike spiralling into chaos. Cut off from the rest of the Galaxy and ravaged by the plague, the planet experienced famine, isolation, technological regression and civil war. The federal government collapsed, giving way to warlords and gangs. The local Jedi enclave tried to restore peace, but their benign intentions turned evil over time and they created a totalitarian theocracy. Their dominance was soon contested by Sith cultists, who preached a mixture of Vader worship, human supremacism and Social Darwinism.

The Republican Guard rose to oppose both of these factions. In contrast to its enemies, the Guard idolises the Old Republic and the Rebel Alliance, though it is also influenced by the Imperial Remnant. It is also staunchly opposed to Force-users, viewing the Force as a disease and blaming it for the calamities of the past few centuries. Originally it was started by remnants of Tephrike's pre-collapse government, nativist parties of aquatic aliens and deserted Dominion clone troopers. Though officially committed to democracy, in practical terms wartime exigencies have turned the rebels into a military junta. Most unusually, it has a strong Yuuzhan Vong element, for their Force Dead nature makes the Vong ideal shock troops. It helps that they face persecution in Jedi and Sith territory. The Guard is staunchly secular, regarding Force religions as a means 'space wizards' employ to oppress the common people. As a result, all forms of Force and use worship have been prohibited.

In terms of composition, the Guard focuses on mobile light infantry. Militia and partisans are supplemented by elite shock troops. The latter receive better equipment and training. The Guard only has limited access to aircraft and none of its craft can leave the atmosphere and enter space. Many of their armoured vehicles use treads or wheels rather than repulsor propulsion. Owing to Tephrike's centuries of isolation and the fact that blasters are less practical in the jungle, many of their soldiers use slugthrowers and other projectile weapons rather than blasters. Many of their vehicles are old, dating back to the Galactic Civil War and the Clone Wars, or even beyond. Others are modified civilian vehicles with weapons mounted on them.

However, their partnership with Firemane has allowed the rebels to modernise their arsenal a bit. More modern weapons tend to be restricted to elite units though. A crack unit of shock troopers or an elite commando unit like Viper Company might have access to sealed armour, but the rag-tag militia and conscripts may have to satisfy themselves with a flak vest, a gas mask and a rebreather. However, the Guard is not the type to throw its soldiers at the enemy. Resources are scarce and even with foreign support, the territories they control have a small population and a very limited industrial basis. This means the Guard must conserve manpower. As a result, it prefers to use cunning, surprise, subversion and trickery. Commanders who are careless with the lives of their soldiers tend not to last long. The Guard's partisans are very skilled at asymmetrical warfare. This includes the use of terrorist tactics against their enemies. The Republican Guard has both male and female members. Indeed, female representation is substantial.

There is a strong siege mentality within the rebel army and the territory controlled by it. The Guard is fighting a war and - rightly - believes that its enemies would eradicate it if given the chance. It also views its foes as pure evil. There is a lot of suspicion about spies and infiltrators. In their culture and daily life, the rebels idealise the old Galactic Republic, seeing it as a bastion of democracy, sentient rights and good governance. Indeed, ballads and theatre plays glorifying the deeds of the Grand Army of the Republic are common - by contrast, the Dominion of Light does the same for the Jedi. Many of the inhabitants of its territory include citizens who fled the Jedi or Sith controlled areas - or were rescued during raids on labour camps. The guiding values of the government and society at large are resilience, sustainability, duty, order, and good governance. There is room for a lot of offbeat things, but laziness is not one of them. People must obey their superiors and do the jobs they have been assigned to and be vigilant.

The Guard supports social justice and social welfare policies. Indeed, it has quite a few proponents of workers' self-management and cooperatives. However, the war, primitive infrastructure and lack of resources have kept them from implementing many of their proposed progressive reforms beyond the most basic. As supplies are scarce, they seize a lot of what they require via raids or by 'taxing' villages under their 'protection'. Resistance fighters also try to smuggle subversive literature and leaflets into the territory controlled by the Force cultists. This goes hand in hand with carrying out terrorist attacks against their enemies. Overall, the Republican Guard is a morally grey faction. It has principles many would consider noble, but is willing to use very ruthless means to achieve its goals. One of their credos is: “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.”. 'The Republican Guard is the Strongest', also known as 'Jedi Masters, Dark Lord', is a popular marching song for Republican Guard soldiers.

The Guard makes extensive use of Tephrike's networks of waterways. A number of their bases are located underwater. This is no surprise since one of their sources of support are aquatic aliens. For this reason, the Guard has a specialised division of frogmen, which has played a key role in many of its operations. However, the waters of Tephrike are dangerous, for sea monsters abound. It is a culture that prizes frugality and views wastefulness and laziness as cardinal sins. If someone is disabled, the government will find them a desk job. Caring for veterans who suffered injuries or bereaved family members of dead soldiers is viewed as an important obligation on the part of the community. Extensive accumulation of private wealth is heavily frowned upon and regarded as a sign of decadence. Patriotism is widespread and encouraged by the leadership.

The Guard is strongly opposed to racial discrimination and human supremacism. It strives to ensure equal representation of Tephrike's races. The rebel faction also upholds clone rights. This is very pertinent since many of Tephrike's people are clones. The Dominion in particular makes extensive use of cloning. The rebels regard the Jedi's use of clones as just as heinous as the chattel slavery practised by the Sith. They have clinics that attempt to cure the clones' sterility. In stark contrast to the puritanism of the Dominion, the Guard has liberal views about sex and procreation. It differentiates them from the, in their eyes, soulless Dominion and sadistic Vaderites. They need as many people as they can, which requires people having children. Encouraging this is helpful and since both men and women are conscripted, they have communal creches set up by the old and wounded.

Force-users are regarded as afflicted by a malignant disease. Some of the members of the Republic adopt a maltheist viewpoint, seeing the Force as some sort of malevolent deity, but this is a minority position, as it clashes with the Republican Guard's generally secularist outlook. Children who manifest Force powers in rebel territory are subjected to brainwashing and a good bit of mental trauma to associate the Force with bad things. Mental conditioning, drugs and technology are used to suppress Force use. Those who are regarded as too dangerous to be released back into society are isolated. Serious cases are turned Force Dead. The Guard is hesitant about making this a general policy because the process is imperfect, so not everyone survives it. Likewise, they do not want to murder lots of people who have been born with a curse through no fault of their own. At the same time, they must be controlled to keep them from succumbing to it.

Being an insurgency that has managed to seize control over a few provinces, the resistance has imposed a war economy on those it seeks to liberate - whether they want to be liberated or not. As it was founded by rebellious clone troopers, joined by various alien races, this faction is highly militarised, with universal conscription. The Republican Guard's 'capital' is Red Coral City, an underwater settlement originally founded by Quarren and Gungan colonists. It also maintains rebel cells in Dominion and Sith territory. These clandestine groups vary in size. Some are small cells no larger than three operatives, others are full-fleded rebel regiments and brigades that have carved 'liberated zones' out of enemy territory.

The Guard can rather ruthless in terms of the methods it uses against the Dominion of Light and the Vaderites. Use of terror is considered integral to weaken and destroy local government, strengthen the revolutionary apparatus, proselyte among the populace, erode the control and influence of the enemy. Captured Jedi and Sith are often shot out of hand or experimented on to discern the nature of their powers and devise counters. It should be noted that such tactics are the norm on Tephrike. Both the Dominion and the Sith have set up what amounts to a slave state in their respective territories.

Republican Guard has made frequent use of terror tactics against its enemies. Murder, kidnapping, torture and general intimidation are a routine part of Guuard operations and are calculated to cow the populace, liquidate opponents, erode the morale of Dominion and Sith government employees, and boost tax collection and propaganda efforts. It is meant to demonstrate that both the rural and urban dweller are powerless against the Guard. Terror extends beyond targeted murders and kidnappings, and includes the mortaring and shelling of population centres. Republican Guard commandos usually carry cyanide suicide pills. Many Rebel leaders use various Villip biots, allowing for secure communication that cannot be interrupted.

Due to its conventional weakness, the Guard has been forced to pursue a strategy of asymmetrical warfare for most of its existence. To build up logistical support, it has created an integrated network of bases, sanctuaries and lines of communication. To maximise surprise, the Guard makes ample use of deception measures. These range from use of camouflage to denial and deception. An example for the latter is leaking false intelligence, the construction of dummy or decoy structures, vehicles or military formations, simulating false comms traffic, leaving false trails through use of diversions etc. Needless to say this requires rigorous operational security. The Republican Guard's aerial forces are fairly weak. Their assets are widely dispersed to make them more difficult targets for Dominion and Sith attacks, especially bombing raids. The Sith in particular are fond of carpet bombing.

The Guard seeks to gain support among the civilian population through a mixture of propaganda, intimidation and by winning hearts and minds. Particularly in remote areas, the Guard is the sole source of humanitarian aid, governance and protection. Guard soldiers and workers distribute supplies, provide medical care, education. They also help peasants bring in the harvest and train self-defence militias. However, at the same time they tax the locals in the liberated areas, conscript civilians as soldiers or labourers and practically paint a target on their backs by setting up weapons caches, supply dumps, underground bunkers and tunnels.

This exposes them to the search and destroy campaigns conducted by both the Dominion and the Sith. These often involve the wholesale destruction of villages suspected of aiding the rebels, deportations and massacres. Freedom is never free, and so the Guard sees the hardship the people must undergo as an unfortunate, but necessary sacrifice on the road to the liberation of Tephrike. Many Guard formations are named after heroes of the old Rebel Alliance, such as Ackbar, Raddus and Wedge Antilles. Others take their name from great Yuuzhan Vong warriors. By necessity, Republican Guard logistics are characterised by austerity. The rebels are masters of improvisation and good at making the most out of scarce resources. However, this also leads to looting. At varying points in time, they have been reliant on getting a lot of their supplies by raiding. Because many Republican Guard formations are only lightly armed, not tied down to static positions and tend to operate in small units, they can cover a lot of ground and move with remarkable speed, even over difficult terrain.

As their web expands, the Guard becomes more bold, seeking to create parallel governments in the liberated zones and strengthen its hold on the masses. This also involves the elimination of officials opposed to them. Once they have strengthened their grip, a humble village might have become a Republican Guard support base. The Guard is not shy about using manipulation and intimidation to get its way, but is also good at tapping into local grievances to attain popular sentiment. Local grievances are carefully noted by Republican Guard officers so that they can be used to entice recruits.

Partisans are exhorted to aid the locals, such as by protecting them from bandits and wild animals or helping them bring in the farmers. In some areas the Guard is the only source of justice. Republican Guard units have also been assigned construction duties to construct shelters and homes for civilians who were the victims of air raids. Its medics also provide medical care for civilians in the liberated zones. The rebels help the locals build dams, dikes and houses, clear away rubble after enemy air strikes and rescue trapped civilians. The logic of the Republican Guard is that the people are the water the partisan fish swim in. The fish can flourish only if the temperature of the water is right. The people provide the partisans with food and information. Partisans may be able to force the people to provide aid against their will, but such action can only be taken against a minority. The majority of the civilian support must be voluntary rather than coerced.

This rosy image should not detract from the fact that there is a strong element of coercion and intimidation, even if it is not always direct. A villager in a liberated zone has little choice but to provide shelter, tribute and food for the rebels. Moreover, they are compelled to help expand the territory under rebel control by supplying manpower for the construction and maintenance of supply depots, tunnels, fortifications, munitions plants and other facilities. The orphanages and refugee camps supported by the Guard are also recruitment centres. Furthermore, it is the law that all Force-Users must be rounded up and quarantined for their own good.

SOCIAL INFORMATION
Headquarters
: Red Coral City, Tephrike.
Goals: Resist tyranny. Liberate Tephrike from the control of the Force cultists and warlords and unite it under the banner of a secular, democratic republic. Now that they know that there is still life beyond Tephrike, they also seek to acquire more modern technology to both augment their forces and hopefully rebuild their broken homeworld.
Manifesto and Training Manual: Each Republican Guard recruit is issued a copy of the Green Book, a training and induction manual. Aside from outlining the group's ideology, it includes a statement of military objectives, tactics and conditions for victory over the rebellion's enemies. It acts as a manual of conduct, political manifesto and introduction to the organisation.

Chain of Command: Like any military, the Republican Guard has a hierarchy. Comparisons can be drawn to the Rebel Alliance of yore. While the Alliance was committed to restoring freedom to the Galaxy, it was very top-down. Its leadership was packed with Senators, royals and officers. The Republican Guard is a top-down rebellion, rather than a bottom-up one. Rebellions may be built on hope, but they require command and control...especially since oftentimes disparate rebel groups spend more time fighting each other than the oppressor they are rebelling against. Moreover, the Guard lacks many of the advantages the Alliance had. Essentially, the Republican Guard is led by a military junta with some sops to democracy.

The junta is called the Council of National Salvation. Aside from determining policy and major tactical and strategic decisions, the Council chooses a Chief of Staff. This is usually a member of the body, though sometimes an outsider is chosen. The Chief of Staff appoints an adjutant general and a general headquarters, which consists of various departments heads for fields such as logistics, training, intelligence, finances, operations and planning, security, propaganda, civil affairs, communication with Firemane and the organisation of air drops. Other departments of note are the Directorate of Diversions and the Directorate of Civil Resistance. The former conducts active and passive sabotage, organisation of self-defence units, liberation of prisoners and hostages and the execution of collaborators. The latter maintains morale among civil society, encourages passive resistance, reports and documents Dominion and Vaderite war crimes.

The Guard has a political wing called the Popular Front and maintains a senate in the liberated territories. This assembly elects a chancellor. But due to the constant state of emergency, the leader's term is always extended. The Popular Front is a big tent of revolutionary movements opposed to the Vaderites and the Dominion. The Popular Front maintains a degree of direct democracy on the level of villages and towns under its control, allowing for the democratic election of local government. However, the political wing is subordinate to the military. For a while, the Republican Guard experimented with an elected officer corps. Thus proved impractical, so it was abolished, though it still sees use among a number of militias. Where the Guard is able to establish political control, it will set up a revolutionary government. This tends to take the form of a revolutionary committee. It may also act as an organ to coordinate revolts. For instance, the Republican Guard zone in Vortanstad is governed by the Provisional Revolutionary Committee. However, as the divided city is a war zone, the military headquarters retains a lot of power.

On paper, a Republican Guard division has a regulation strength of ten thousand soldiers, including support forces such as artillery, signals, engineers, medistic and logistic units as well as regular combatants. However, the actual number of soldiers fluctuates strongly. Like many rebel groups, the Guard likes to inflate its numbers a bit. The Guard utilises a system of three - three cells are a squad, three squads a platoon, three platoons a company, three companies a battalion. The Guard does not have many heavy artillery pieces, so use of mobile mortars is common. Special units such as sappers, pathfinders, signals etc. are assigned to companies and battalions. The Guard makes heavy use of snipers, who provide long-range suppressive fire and eliminate targets of opportunity, especially officers and Force-Users. utilises a system of partisan cells in territories occupied by its enemies. They are often deployed on the platoon level. Many of the Republican Guard partisan groups that operate in enemy territory are very small, but some are large enough to form regular combat formations and impose a parallel government.

Reputation: Tephrike has been isolated for centuries, so few outsiders would have an opinion on them. Both the Dominion and the Vaderites have an extremely low opinion of the Guard, since it opposes them and vice versa. The Vaderites see Non-Force-Users as lesser beings who must be brought to heel and treat Vong as abominations that deserve extermination. The Dominion see them as chaotic rebels who have been led astray by the Dark. Many citizens in Guard-controlled territory regard them as liberators who are standing up for the common people.

However, this view is not universal. Families who have suffered under their anti-Force-user policies are more likely to have a negative opinion, such as when Force-Sensitive children are ripped from their families and incarcerated in the asylum. The opinion of the inhabitants of areas Republican Guard partisans operate in is mixed. On the one hand, the partisans provide protection against bandits and oppressive rulers, but they also requisition resources and conscript civilians as labourers or soldiers. Moreover, their actions make the civilians a target for enemy reprisals. War is hell and Tephrike's civil war has been particularly brutal.

Overall, the Guard is a morally grey group with good and bad sides. Throughout its campaigns against its enemies on Tephrike, the Guard has acquired a reputation as a fierce, implacable and ingenious opponent. Its aptitude for guerrilla warfare and its resilience has won it grudging respect from its enemies. However, it is correctly regarded as less capable at fighting conventional, set-piece battles, especially over an extended period of time. Firemane has mixed feelings on the Guard. It is commonly viewed as the best of a bad lot. Its enemies, the Dominion and the Vaderites, are regarded as evil, but the Guard's view on Force-Users obviously makes relations difficult, as Firemane is led by a Dark Jedi.

It is pertinent to note that the group is not free of internal conflict. For one, the Guard is multiracial and Tephrike has often suffered from racial strife. Some groups have split off for ideological or political reasons, producing off-shoots that the Guard regards as rivals. The group seeks to create the widest possible revolutionary bloc and regards competitors as splittists whose existence diminishes its support base, thereby putting the struggle for liberation in jeopardy. Requisitions by Republican Guard troops can also produce violence, potentially pitting them against the people they are supposed to liberate.

Beliefs: Be loyal to the Guard, serve the people, no compromise with Jedi and Sith. The Force is a malignant disease and those who have been afflicted with it must be protected from themselves for their own good and that of the community. From its point of view, the Republican Guard champions the common people. It is the advocate of the 99.9%. All those who have been born without the Force and suffer under the yoke of Force-wielders. It works tirelessly to restore peace and fight for the freedom of the oppressed. It makes the streets safe, distribute food to the hungry, provides emergency medical care, inspires hope in people who otherwise would have none and protects Force-Sensitives who have been born in its midst from themselves. The Guard sees itself as the last bastion of liberty, egalitarianism, justice, multiculturalism and tolerance.

It seeks to establish an egalitarian, multispecies, republican state where one's position is decided by merit and not an affinity for a mystical energy field. It is resolutely opposed to the genetic aristocracy represented by Jedi and Sith. Both cults are two sides of the same coin, using their powers to deceive the masses. The Guard affirms freedom of religion, but this does not extend to faiths that venerate the Force or those who have an affinity for it. By contrast, Yuuzhan Vong have been welcomed into the movement, though the caste system and technophobia have been largely done away with. The Vong religion is one of the permitted faiths, though the Tephriki variant has diverged a fair bit from orthodoxy. Interestingly, the Guard's anti-Force viewpoints has spawned some groups that idolise the Force Dead. Moreover, the Guard supports clone rights. It regards the way the Old Republic and the Dominion used their clone troopers as slavery.

The Guard is committed to establishing an egalitarian, democratic state. However, they are a rebel movement at war, and so they are effectively governed by a military junta for the duration of the emergency. The Republican Guard has established a political wing called the Popular Front. It unites several political and social movements that support the revolutionary cause. The most potent ideology is Vanguardism, which posits that a force of professional revolutionaries must act as the vanguard of the common people. Furthermore, it regards the army as the main instrument of poltiical change. However, it is not the only ideological strand in the Guard. While the Chancellor of the liberated areas is elected by a popular assembly, he or she is confirmed by the Council of National Salvation, a junta of senior generals.

The Guard values resilience, discipline, thrift and preparedness. There's also a free press, which is allowed to criticise the régime. However, due to emergency wartime legislation, this criticism must operate within certain bounds. Essentially the press is allowed to criticise individual leaders or policies, but not the general line. Thus no journalist would suggest making peace with the theocratic factions or treating Force-users like normal people. The Guard attributes the downfall of the Old Republic to Jedi and Sith conspiracies. Tephrike's long isolation and inaccurate records have given them some rather unorthodox views. Thus they believe that Sidious and the Jedi conspired together to foment the Clone Wars so that the Force blind could be brought to heel.

Their view of Luke and Leia is more charitable. Both are seen as well-intentioned people who were duped by their masters into continuing the cruel war. According to this point of view, Luke went into exile and renounced the Force because he realised the harm Force-users had caused. He hid the Jedi's sacred scriptures to keep future generations from repeating the same mistakes. Sadly, even burning the holy texts was not enough. Jedi Rey fought the Yuuzhan Vong and the First Order was led by Supreme Leader Thrawn. Snoke was a failed Sidious clone who believed he was the true emperor. Interestingly, the Vong are whitewashed, for they are regarded as righteous crusaders who saw the evil of Jedi and Sith and stood up for the common man.

General Jar-Jar Binks was a brave warrior who fought in the Clone Wars and later led the Rebellion and the Resistance to many victories. The Guard also has a positive view of General Gentis, the Imperial Headmaster who tried to overthrow Emperor Palpatine in order to put an end to the needless loss of life caused by his endless wars. The Guard postulates that Gentis wanted to create a secular state that balanced freedom and order. His coup came close to succeeding, but sadly failed.

As mentioned above, the Guard treats the Force as a curse. However, it rejects exterminating all Force-users. This would be impractical anyway. It is also seen as barbaric. Instead it tries to cure them. Young Force-Sensitives are indoctrinated to associate the Force with bad things. From the perspective of the Guard, a child who happens to be born sensitive to the Force is someone to be pitied. However, they require treatment, lest they become a danger to themselves and the community. The embrace of pain is often used on captive Jedi or Sith. Attempts have also been made to turn Force-Users Force Dead. The Guard believes that Force-Users who have been 'cured' and deemed sufficiently stable should be allowed to live their lives. Nonetheless, they are still monitored to ensure that they do not succumb to their curse. Some elect to undergo dangerous procedures to be turned Force Dead in order to attain full rights.

COMPOSITION INFORMATION
Army Size
: Medium. The Republican Guard is a partisan movement that operates on a planetary scale, but lacks power projection ability beyond their homeworld. They are the smallest of the three main factions on Tephrike.

Composition: The forces of the Republican Guard represent a mixture of poorly armed, low-tech militia troops and elite forces equipped with more advanced weapons and often staffed with Force Dead soldiers. Their military doctrine stresses surprise, guerrilla tactics, outmanoeuvring and outflanking opponents. This is in keeping with the Guard's belief in a protracted People's War. By contrast, wasteful wave attacks are frowned upon. The Guard's air force is fairly weak, as it does not work too well with their amphibian operations. What aerial craft they have tend to play a support role to the ground and aquatic forces. It also has no space fleet.

Republican Guard soldiers favour an arsenal consisting of high powered slugthrowers, harsh melee weapons, and light armor, usually worn with camouflage paint or colouration. The rebels have a limited manufacturing basis and blasters are more difficult to maintain in the jungle. Thus projectile weapons are more common. Flechette launchers and pulse wave weapons also see use. Many weapons are salvaged, stolen or built by the rebels. As a result, their weapons and ammunition lack standardisation, which can cause logistical issues. Lately, Firemane has started to provide the rebels with weapons such as more modern blasters, Boltguns and Magnetic Repeaters. However, many of these weapons tend to be limited to select units. The Guard also makes use of speeders, in a more limited fashion, basic tanks and armoured personnel carriers. These tend to use wheels or treads rather than repulsor propulsion. Republican Guard forces include but are not limited to the following:

Viper Company: Formally known as Viper Company, 14th Liberation Battalion. Viper Company is an elite unit of Force Dead commandos, Force hunters and partisans. The unit is mixed species, including humans, Yuuzhan Vong and other aliens. What all members have in common is that they are Force Dead, meaning they excel at combat against Jedi and Sith.

They excel at raids, ambushes, infiltration tactics, hunting Force-Users and what some would call terrorist attacks. The members of Viper Company have a knack for stealth, being adept at blending into their environment. This is particularly apparent in jungle warfare. They are very skilled at setting traps, striking unexpectedly and then vanishing. Resources are scarce, so their training emphasises disciplined marksmanship over blazing away. They are often deployed ahead of more conventional forces to scout out enemy lines, set up an overwatch position and eliminate high-value targets, especially Force-Users. Once battle is joined, they will provide support for regular troops. Their stealthiness and mobility can allow them to slip past enemy defences and strike unexpectedly.

The Vipers are led by Mezha Krazhmir, a Yuuzhan Vong soldier. The Vipers have their origin in Yuuzhan Vong refugees who swore vengeance on the Vaderites after the latter targeted them for extermination. Having made themselves a name as fierce fighters, they joined the Republican Guard and have served the cause ever since. The Vipers played a crucial role in the Second Battle of Fortress Purity, in which they fought alongside Firemane's elite Reaper Squad. It was the Vipers who first penetrated the entrance to General Kennobi's underground base.

Territorial Liberty Guard: More commonly called the Territorials. A Republican Guard militia set up by the Provisional Revolutionary Commitee, the administrative body responsible for governing the part of Vortanstad controlled by the Republican Guard. The Territorials are a unit of irregulars and serve as an auxiliary formation. Territorials have a strong presence in Vortanstad, an industrial city that is divided between the Dominion and the Republican Guard.

Their main duties are keeping public order, combating Dominion infiltrators and agents as well as smuggling and profiteering. If need be, they are also deployed on the frontlines. They can scout, clear mine fields, carry out incursions fill breaches in allied lines. Or, to put it plainly, be used for forlorn hope charges. Moreover, they man the checkpoints in the Republican Guard liberated zone. Martial law is in effect, and it is their job to enforce it. Furthermore, they guard depots and provide security during the distribution of food and medical supplies.

However, the quality of the Territorials varies. While there are many honest Territorials, others have joined the militia purely to get a licence to kill so that they can settle old scores or use their new position to enrich themselves. Needless to say these corrupt Territorials tend to switch uniforms the moment their present allegiance becomes inconvenient to them. They do not represent all Territorials, but there are criminal elements who wear the uniform to legitimise their activities. Other formations that are part of the Territorials have been influenced by the Communards, the anarchist wing of the Guard. These tend to be very zealous and brave, but also hard to discipline from above. This movement advocates direct democracy, decentralisation and making it compulsory for Force-Users to be turned Force Dead. The Republican Guard's high command has assigned Commissars to the Territorials provide political education and weed out unsuitable elements.

Fury from the Deep: Formally known as the Oceanic Strike Force. They excel at operating in aquatic environments, including deep ocean. Formed by General Aruunzeb to strike back against the Dominion after it targeted his home city as a 'terrorist camp'. The task force is composed of Mon Calamari, Quarren, Gungan and Nautolans frogmen. It is never wise to mess with aquatic peoples on a planet filled with seas and rivers, which Tephrike happens to be.

The frogmen excel at scuba diving and swimming underwater. The fact that they draw their recruits from amphibian humanoids is a boon. After all, Mon Calamari can stay underwater for an almost indefinite period of time. Nautolans have low-light vision and can breathe underwater. Quarren can descend to depths of three hundred metres without any breathing or pressure apparatus. Gungans have hardy lungs and can hold their breaths for extended periods of time. These racial qualities allow the Furies to cut down on gadgets that human frogmen might need.

They are equipped for extended periods of underwater swimming, and particularly for military reconnaissance and demolition. Given the nature of their work, they excel at stealth and surprise attacks. They can be deployed to assault fuel stations, surface ships and so forth. A typical mission would be to perform an act of sabotage by putting limpet mines on a surface ship. They can also conduct clandestine surveillance by surveying a beach before a troop landing, or other forms of unauthorised underwater surveying in denied waters.

They can lay mines in waters controlled by enemy forces in order to attack sea lines of communications and trade and blow up enemy ships. They may be deployed to assault enemy underwater bases and recover underwater objects. Clandestine fitting of monitoring devices on submarine communication cables in enemy waters is also part of their mission profile. The same applies to anti-frogman techniques. Moreover, they can blow up dams, dykes, bridges and so on.

Liberation Corps: The most commonly deployed combat formation of the Republican Guard. It is a highly mobile light infantry force. The Liberation Corps is a force of partisans who fight for the Republican Guard. Their objective is to overthrow the Dominion and the Sith. The Liberation Corps is a mixture of conscripts, volunteers, defected Dominion clones or former Vaderite Stormtroopers. Individual units tend to be recruited locally. Despite attempts at streamlining, they retain their hodgepodge nature. Some soldiers wear proper sealed armour, others must satisfy themselves with a flak vest, a gas mask and a rebreather. Lacking a strong manufacturing basis or Force-Users, the rebels hit and run tactics, ambushing foes and catching them in crossfires between sharpshooters. All in all, they make heavy use of unconventional warfare tactics, utilising IEDs, snipers, mines and weakening their enemies by attrition. Their goal is to rouse the local population against their enemies. Accordingly, their strategy aims to magnify the impact of a small, mobile force of light infantry on a larger, more cumbersome one.

On a tactical level, they usually avoid direct confrontation with large units or heavy armour formations of enemy troops, but seek to attack and gradually deplete the opposing force while minimising their own losses. This can involve ambushes, raids, use of roadside bombs, but also propaganda among the population and enemy soldiers in order to convince them to defect or sabotage the efforts of the enemy. They also rely on destroying infrastructure, such as through use of explosives. When they enter combat, the Liberation Corps make heavy use of mobility, surprise and infiltration tactics. It is common for them to initiate combat at night time, when an enemy might have his guard down. There is a withdrawal scheme for all operations whether defensive or offensive. One of their preferred tactics is a short attack at night, in which combat squads try to get close to enemy lines under cover of darkness as possible, seeking to create a breach.

Where possible they will seek to take advantage of the terrain or if needed shape it to their advantage. Sapper assaults often herald their advance. They are armed with various types of bombs, grenades, explosive charges, and mines and serve as raiders against Dominion or Sith forces. The partisans are also fond of bypassing enemy defences or getting close to hostile forces by digging underground tunnels. If possible the rebels will target enemy lines of communication, supply lines and command centres. Defensive doctrine usually stresses avoidance of extended battles. Rebel forces are encouraged to lie low until ready to initiate their own actions. If an engagement ensues, the typical approach in terms of defence is to delay an opposing force and withdraw as soon as possible, while inflicting maximum casualties before withdrawal.

They make heavy use of booby traps and mines. These are a good way to protect their underground camps and hideouts. Moreover, mines act as a substitute for artillery. The partisans make heavy use of what one might call nuisance mining. Aside from their combat duties, the Liberators also protect villagers and townspeople, help peasants bring in the harvest etc. Now that the Republican Guard has secured Firemane support and seized Fortress Purity, a major Dominion citadel, the rebels have started to switch to a more aggressive strategy and are more willing to enter pitched battles. However, while Firemane has provided them with more modern weapons, these tend to be limited to select units. A Liberation Corps formation tends to have some Force Dead soldiers, but these are a minority.

Butchers of Serenity Reach: The Butchers of Serenity Reach are an infamous assault unit that serves the Republican Guard, a rebel insurgency that seeks to overthrow the Force theocracies and unite Tephrike under a government of Non-Force-Users by Non-Force-Users for Non-Force-Users. The foes of the Guard have unintentionally made the unit infamous by giving them this name after a particularly brutal strike. The Butchers have embraced it, and revel in their grim reputation, having recognised it as a tool they can use to their advantage. The Butchers are a unit of assault troopers, specialising in terrorism, rapid strikes, raids, and ambushes. They are dedicated to the cause of the Republican Guard.

The Butchers are composed of aliens who were forced by the Vaderites to live in the ironically Prosperity Quarter, a squalid ghetto. The inmates of the ghetto rebelled during the Netherworld Crisis, seeing it as a chance to break their chains. However, after bravely resisting the Vaderites and managing to seize the city that lay adjacent to the ghetto, the insurrection was crushed. The so-called Butchers were among the few survivors who managed to flee. At first they sided with the Dominion of Light, as it was the enemy of the Vaderites and firmly opposed human supremacism. However, after concluding that they had traded one form of oppression for another, they organised a defection to the Republican Guard.

The Butchers are a force of assault troopers, skirmishers and terrorists. They have a preference for hit and run tactics. The ambush opponents and seek to catch them in crossfires between sharpshooters. Where necessary they will make use of war beasts to disrupt enemies and throw them into disarray. They have a reputation for brutal competence and ruthlessness. A good number of the Butchers are Houk, who are particularly strong and ferocious fighters. Gungans, Duros and other aliens can also be found in their ranks. They are fond of using war beasts, such as Akk Dogs.

The Butchers are led by Captain Skarrok, a Houk. He is a radical revolutionary driven by a deep hatred of the Dominion and the Sith. He has a habit of branding captured Vaderites with an Aurebesh R. He considers this just retribution for the atrocities committed by the Sith. Skarrok is a survivor of the Prosperity Quarter Uprising, which sought to free the ghetto's population from their Sith oppressors. Unlike the Houk stereotype, Skarrok is intelligent, disciplined and cunning rather than being a mere brute. The Republican Guard high command ordered its cells not to participate in the uprising, though many did, because it correctly judged it to be hopeless. He bears a grudge against the generals who gave this order, but still believes that siding with them is the most practical way to accomplish his goals. Ironically, a few members of the Butchers are undocumented, low-level Force-Sensitives who managed to slip through the cracks.

Sappers: Republican Guard Sappers specialise in sabotage, clandestine military operations and spearheading attacks by the main force. Their tactics are a combination of those used by commandos and combat engineers. They are often assigned to larger units such as the Liberation Corps, but can also operate independently. They are very skilled at infiltrating and assaulting enemy bases, airfields, tanks and trenches.

They are trained in infiltration, demolitions and penetration techniques. Their methods revolve around slipping through enemy lines to launch attacks against crucial installations such as command bunkers, artillery, aircraft and other important targets. This is an economical approach that is supposed to deliver a serious blow to the enemy while requiring minimal allied resources. The role of a Sapper is a prestigious one, but also dangerous.

In order to maximise operational success, a sapper attack may be concealed by a simultaneous attack by allied forces in order to create a diversion. Their most important weapons, aside from patience and good planning, are satchel charges and other explosives. Their skill at infiltration can allow them to slip through an enemy's outer defences to launch an attack inside a fortified position. Moreover, they are very good at tunnelling, helping allied forces bypass enemy strong points in order to attack them from the rear. They can also use these skills to undermine entrenched enemy defences and collapse structures.

Before initiating an operation, the Sappers carry out reconnaissance and surveil enemy troops and positions. Their work is very dangerous, so they are characterised by ingenuity, bravery and a gift for improvisation, as they will have to operate in enemy territory with little support. By contrast, gloryhounds are not welcome.

Yun Harla's Own: A special operations modelled on the priests of the Deception Sect. Like them, it is devoted to Yun-Harla, the Yuuzhan Vong Trickster Goddess. Members of the group are trained in deception, espionage, assassination and sabotage. Indeed, they are trained to deceive the enemies of freedom and the True Way, the Jedi and Sith and their minions. To this end, they make use of Masquers and Cloaks of Nuun. The latter allow them to hide themselves from many forms of detection, whereas the former are like a second skin worn over the body, allowing the wearer to disguise themselves as a member of another species. This is particularly useful for Yuuzhan Vong and other aliens. Moreover, it can mask the fact that the wearer is Force-Dead.

Yun Harla's Own uses such techniques to get close to key Dominion or Sith officials in order to carry out assassination assignments. The operatives' missions are classified and they are extremely secretive even by the standards of the Republican Guard. A member of the group, a Yuuzhan Vong priestess called Elasa, achieved infamy when she allowed herself to be captured by the Vaderites, so that she could release a bo'tous bioweapon when the enemy commander came to gloat.

Guard Restoration Corps: The medical corps of the Republican Guard. It acts as their medical support unit. The Guard does not utilise Force Healers due to its anti-Force-User policies, so they rely on more conventional remedies for injuries and diseases. Of course, here and there a medic is unusually good at patching up the wounded, but is most definitely not Force-User. Force-Sensitives who do not display flashy powers and manage to avoid doing anything overt slip can slip through the cracks, especially if their potential is negligible. In liberated zones with little infrastructure, the Restoration Corps also provides medical care to civilians under the Guard's protection. The medics are part of the military, and trained as riflemen to protect their patients if need be. The Restoration Corps has acquired its share of martyrs.

Republican Guard Blue Waters Fleet: Tephrike has many seas, rivers and oceans. This makes control over the waterways crucial. Moreover, the Guard has the support of many members of the aquatic species that dwell on the planet, such as Mon Calamaris and Gungans. Several of their bases are underwater. Thus the rebel army has established a body that acts as a water fleet. Unsurprisingly, aquatic species are heavily represented, though the fleet does not limit recruitment to them.

Using aquatic craft including hovercraft, submersibles, freighters, patrol boats, frigates and even a small number of cruisers, this 'fleet' is a potent force in their arsenal. It also makes use of starfighters modified for underwater combat. The fleet smuggles personnel and equipment, but also carries out rapid strikes on Vaderite and Dominion supply lines, vessels and facilities and settlements located close the sea. Use of fireships is popular. Individual 'fleets' are named after different shades of blue, such as Azure Squadron, Sapphire Squadron etc. The Guard maintains a number of hidden yards, but also replenishes its arsenal through theft. The fleet has its own force of seatroopers to protect its installations, ships and carry out amphibian operations.

Iron Hammer Corps: 'Corps' is a bit of an exaggeration since they are only of brigade size at most compared to modern forces. Regardless, it controls most of the Republican Guard's heavy armour such as tanks. Treaded and wheeled vehicles are more common than those using repulsorlift propulsion. They have salvaged a few old walkers.

Antillian Lancers: Named after the great Rebel hero Wedge Antilles. Sadly, the Republican Guard does not have starfighters, but they make use of speeders, including various airspeeders. In short, basically low altitude aircraft.

Special Observation and Vigilance Unit: A special task force of the Extraordinary Commission for Preternatural Regulation and Control. Composed of soldiers recruited from various branches of the Republican Guard, it is charged with identifying, locating and incarcerating or eliminating dangerous Force-Users in rebel-controlled territory. It straddles the line between a special operations unit of the military and the police. Its members are trained in combat, but also investigations, detective work, surveillance and so on. Its members are a mixture of Force Dead and Non-Force-Users. The latter receive a thorough conditioning and Terä Käsi training to make them more resistant to mind tricks and other Force-based mental manipulation.

Cinder Guard: The sword in the darkness; the watch on the wall. The Cinder Guard mans Fort Vigilance, which keeps watch over Palmyra's Wail. Once Palmyra was Tephrike's capital. But a great battle between the Dominion and the Vaderites devastated the city and turned it into a contaminated, dark Force Nexus. Now it is a tainted, radioactively contaminated wasteland. The Cinder Guard holds vigil over the ruins. Their goal is not to harness the nexus' power, but quarantine it so that others cannot be corrupted. Their mission is vital, but the Guard is at war, so most of the manpower and material resources are allocated to combat formations on the frontline.

As a result, the Cinder Guard is underfunded and understaffed. Increasingly, many members of the unit are deserters, thieves and criminals who have been sentenced and given a second chance by protecting Tephrike from the horrors that lay within the nexus. Officers from other formations may be seconded to the Cinder Guard. What all members have in common is that they are Force Dead, as only those completely deaf to the Force cannot be tempted by the nexus. Kalak Kistono, often called the Old Squid by the soldiers under his command, is in charge of the group.

MEMBERS

Mezha Krazhmir: Mezha is a Yuuzhan Vong and the commander of Viper Company, an elite unit of commandos who are all dead Force Dead and specialise in taking down Force-Users. Mezha was born in partisan territory, but the war forced her family to become refugees. She was eventually captured by Dominion militia and subjected to experiments before she managed to escape and join the resistance. Rising through the ranks, she proved herself a capable, dedicated and - if need be - ruthless insurgent.

She is a skilled sharpshooter and has a lot of experience fighting Force-Users. She has a daughter at home called Nei. Mezha is from the same Domain as Vaekta Krazhmir, but wants to rise through the ranks on her own merits. Mezha maintains an unlikely friendship with Freya Solveig, one of Firemane's elite soldiers.

Her closest friend is Synthia Vao, a Twi'lek insurgent and a rebellious Dominion clone trooper. The callousness of her Jedi general, an arrogant Togruta Jedi Master called Akosa, drove Synthia to defect after a human wave attack ordered by the general got her squad killed. She fragged her commander and defected to the rebels. In order to make sure that the Jedi could not manipulate her, she underwent a risky medical procedure to be turned Force Dead.

Synthia is more of a political thinker than Mezha and sympathises with the Communards. They are strong advocates for democracy, but also believe all Force-Users should be turned Force-Dead to cure them of their disease.She is married and has tried to have children, but has been unable to conceive due to being a clone. This has pushed her to undergo dangerous medical procedures to try and regain her fertility. She has adopted a war orphan recently.

General Aruunzeb: A veteran Mon Calamari soldier and one of the main field commanders of the Guard. Moreover, he is the founder of the Fury from the Deep. Once he was mayor of New Ackbarea, a neutral Mon Calamari underwater settlement. In the early days Aruunzeb wanted to keep his people insulated from the wars engulfing Tephrike and live in peace. However, this changed when the Dominion bombed his town on the grounds of it being a 'terrorist camp'. This radicalised him and turned him into a determined fighter, who realised there could be no compromise.

Aruunzeb is a formidable soldier and has been vital in bringing the Mon Calamari on the side of the Republican Guard. Since he is an old man and a general officer now, he no longer leads the frogmen into battle. However, there is still a strong bond between him and the Furies and they are very loyal to him. He was one of the leading advocates of the Hundred Days' Offensive. During the Netherworld War, his troops penetrated far into Dominion territory. But they were defeated by General Kennobi, the Jedi General also responsible for the destruction of Aruunzeb's home.

When the Republican Guard was driven back by the Dominion's counterattack, he and his troops were besieged in Salona, a town the Guard had liberated. As food supplies dwindled, he stubbornly held on to the town to buy his allies time for a retreat. His troops were able to escape the cauldron, but at a cost. He lost a daughter in the fight. It was he who commanded the Republican Guard troops that ultimately took Purity and planted their banner upon its ruins. Ironically, a sceptical Republican Guard leadership had considered the command a poisoned chalice.Distrustful of Firemane, he was reluctant to commit forces to the battle at first. In the end he ordered a full-scale assault, avenging the defeat the Guard had suffered years ago.

Aruunzeb is a bit of a scrapper. His hard-driven personality and skill as a commander have at times been overshadowed by controversial public statements. As a leader, Aruunzeb is known to be critical, correcting subordinates mercilessly for minor infractions, but also quick to praise their accomplishments. Though a hard man, he is not without a more humane side. Many of his directives show special trouble to care for the enlisted soldiers under his command, and he is well known for arranging extra supplies for battlefield soldiers. His frequent visits to the front and tendency to have his command post as close as possible may not always improve operational efficiency, but are good for morale.

General Vaekta Krazhmir: A Yuuzhan Vong career officer and a member of the junta. Vaekta is descended from the Vong who were targeted by the Vaderites for extermination and thus feels strong hatred for the Sith. Hence she shows them no mercy. In her younger days she served in Viper Company. Vaekta favoured a gradualist strategy and was sceptical of the Hundred Days' Offensive. She disliked the plan, viewing it as reckless. Thus she was out of favour during the term of Chancellor Kiraxa Kitomo, but played a crucial role in removing her from office after the offensive failed. She has also made a name for herself by orchestrating several ruthless attacks into Dominion and Sith territory, conducting an efficient, no holds barred irregular campaign. This includes the use of terror attacks.

Vaekta is not a savant of warfare or a military genius, but a competent general. She is a very effective logistician and engineer, who laid the foundation for the Raddus Trail, a logistic system that provides support, in form of manpower and materiel, to partisan forces and Republican Guard regulars. Likewise, she has set up a system of clandestine supply depots. This has allowed the Guard to supply partisan forces inside enemy territory. Vaekta has long promoted fighting the Vaderites. For this reason, she has been at odds with General Aruunzeb, viewing him as fixated on the Dominion due to his personal grievances. This is not inaccurate, but a bit ironic.

Vaekta has lost her father, sister and husband to the war, but is not known for being sentimental. She sees the conflict through the prism of a protracted People's War. Revolutionary warfare will cost many lives, but as long the army survives to fight another day, the idea of a free Tephrike likes on in the hearts of the people who support it. Vaekta is adept at using terrain and highly mobile force to outmanoeuvre stronger and better-equipped foes.

Odoh Senks: Serves as the political and military leader of the Republican Guard. Determined and, if his press is to be believed, incorruptible, he is a charismatic revolutionary leader who rose to power after the failure of the Hundred Days' Offensive. Chancellor Senks is a Gungan and escaped a Sith death camp. What he endured there endowed him with a life-long hatred for the Vaderites. The Chancellor tries to be a just, inspirational leader. He acts with deliberation and pragmatism, but also guided by a burning hatred for the Sith and the Dominion.

He does his best to subvert the common Gungan stereotypes. Until recently he was considered too much of a radical maverick to be suitable for high office, until the failure of the grand offensive thrust him into the chancellorship. His traumatic experiences in the death camp have left him with some mental problems he has to deal with, but also hardened him. He made the controversial decision to reach out to Firemane and agree to a joint assault on the Dominion, knowing that it was a gamble that would end his chancellorship if it failed. The military junta was split over what to do, and so he made the call. Fortunately for him, Fortress Purity fell.

Kalak Kistono: The Nautolan commander of the Cinder Guard and Fort Vigilance, the all-Force Dead garrison that is responsible for keeping watch over Palmyra's Wail. Once Palmyra was Tephrike's capital. But a great battle between the Dominion and the Vaderites devastated the city and turned it into a contaminated, dark Force Nexus. Kistono and his men hold vigil over the ruins. Their goal is not to harness the nexus' power, but quarantine it so that others cannot be corrupted. Kistono is rather old, but still hale and capable of fighting alongside his soldiers.

His soldiers affectionately call him the Old Squid. He is a strong, resolute leader and a formidable commander. The old soldier is respected by those who serve under him. However, the horrible things he has witnessed at the nexus have left their mark on him and he is troubled by the precarious position of the garrison. Dutiful and stubborn to a fault, he has refused to abandon his post in the face of adversity, lest the horrors that lurk in Palmyra's Wail be unleashed once more. Like all his subordinates, he is Force Dead, having undergone a dangerous procedure to become absent in the Force and thus immune to the mental temptations of the nexus. Keeping the garrison afloat has forced him to make some shady deals he is not proud of, but considered necessary.

Jagat Gosir: A Quarren and the Director of the Extraordinary Commission for Preternatural Regulation and Control. This body is responsible for enforcing the Guard's Force-User policies, including running the asylum, incarcerating or eliminating Force-Users judged too unstable. Ironically, Gosir herself was once a Force-User. Unable to control her powers she was turned Force Dead. The medical procedure nearly killed her, but she was free of her 'curse'.

Her empathic powers had caused her to suffer greatly, so she came to see the Force's loss as a blessing. She is very organised, strict and can come across as rather cold. The loss of her empathic powers means she is no longer tormented by headaches from feeling the emotions of the people around her. It also stiffles her ability to express emotions properly. Thus while she does feel concern for the Force-Sensitives under her care, especially the very young ones, she has trouble expressing it. Her detachment and objectivity is also a bonus for her job though. She has no patience for the vainglorious who boast about their special powers.

HISTORICAL INFORMATION
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The outbreak of the Gulag Virus had a profound impact on almost every inhabited world in the Galaxy. Galactic commerce came to an end, billions died from the plague and many more due to internal strife. Galactic governments collapsed and many planets succumbed to anarchy. The repercussions for Tephrike were extreme. The planet's fragile democracy had already been under fire due to racial and social tensions. Moreover, the planet was highly dependent on galactic trade. Things turned from bad to worse as the survivors warred amonst themselves.

Tephrike's small Jedi enclave tried to impose order and fight the darkness, but ended up becoming the very evil they fought against, while insisting that they were righteous. Influenced by a debased, warped interpretation of the old Jedi code, they sought to bring the planet under the control of a radical Jedi theocracy, the Dominion of Light, which took totalitarian control to new heights. Inevitably, there was opposition. Heretical Jedi turned on their masters and declared a dark crusade, forming a Sith cult that worshipped Vader as a god and believed all Force blind should be enslaved and treated as chattle.

The common people of Tephrike were caught between a rock and a hard place, as both theocracies vied for control. Their religious war cost many lives and devastated the planet. It was only a matter of time before Force blind rebel groups united and formed their own faction, the Republican Guard. Like the Jedi and the Sith, this faction turned to an idealised past. The Dominion of Light saw itself as the successor of the Jedi Lords, Lord Hoth and Mace Windu, the Disciples of the Vader regarded themselves as the heirs of the 'Dark God' Vader and the Republican Guard believed it was restoring the Old Republic. Their capital became a humble settlement called Red Coral City.

Prior to these cataclysmic events, Red Coral City had been a rather minor settlement. Founded by Gungans and Nautolans, it had been one of many aquatic settlements created by aquatic aliens who'd settled on Tephrike. It only really made the headlines when the locals complained that the activities of a foreign corporation were causing serious damage to the sea and the wildlife in it, leading to protests, Its obscurity turned out to be a blessing because it was spared much of the initial destruction that took place during the Age of Strife.

However, social unrest, food shortages and the plague forced the local administration to implement harsh measures to keep order. The small town was soon faced with a refugee crisis. Desperate to escape the fighting, refugees bribed smugglers to help them get into the settlement. Strict border controls were imposed, not the least because the natives feared that they would be inundated. In one highly controversial action, a police submersible used torpedoes to turn refugee craft away.

Like many areas dominated by aquatic aliens, Red Coral City's inhabitants supported Tephrike's old, federal government, which was losing ground to the Force cultists and warlords. Indeed, there was soon little to separate the old regime from just another warlord group and its leaders demanded contributions from the locals. Furthermore, the Dominion of Light launched punitive expeditions to bring the underwater towns into the fold, after the Vaderites' Dark Crusade had been halted at Palmyra, the planet's old capital. Fear of fifth columnists was rampant and led to the lynching of suspected spies. Moreover, refugees told horrific stories about the deeds of the Windian Jedi's elite soldiers: Clone troopers.

Ironically, some of these clone troopers would turn out to be Red Coral City's best allies and help found the Republican Guard. Prior to the Collapse, Tephrike had been a location for several medical companies, which had been attracted by the planet's bountiful flora and fauna. Medical facilities had been set up to run tests and experiments, encouraged by rather lax laws. This included a medical cloning facility. The Windian Jedi later appropriated this facility and used it to breed soldiers.

Eventually, they would seek to do away with natural reproduction entirely, viewing pleasures of the flesh as the path to the Dark Side. However, since the tech had been created with animals in mind, their method of cloning was less than ideal and they ran into issues such as clone madness or rapid aging. A group of clone troopers who had managed to subvert their programming rebelled against their masters, turning on them mid-battle, which helped save the town when it was being assaulted by the zealots. It was these rebels Red Coral City's embattled government made an alliance with.

It was a canny Quarren leader called Zoho Koquon who took control. He would go down in history as the Founding Father of the Republican Guard. His family had been prominent nativist Quarren politicians prior to the Collapse. However, Koquon realised that the deep fault lines between the races had been one of the reasons that caused Tephrike to descend into chaos. He became a prominent militia leader, making himself a name in the defence of the city. It was he who took the initiative to accept the aid of the rebellious clone troopers. This was a controversial move, to say the least, but Koquon was a determined, charismatic leader. Using his political and military connections, he built up a following, the Sons of Freedom. They formed the nucleus of what would become the Republican Guard. The policy of total resistance to both Jedi and Sith was not uncontroversial.

Some believed the interests of the people would be best served by trying to appease one of the two theocratic Force cults, whose war was ravaging the planet. These views were squashed by a radical party of secularists, who proclaimed that the inhabitants of Red Coral City had to rally around the banner of freedom and liberty, for otherwise they would be nothing but slaves. This faction also gained support from many refugees, who in many cases had fled from Jedi or Sith territory with little more than the clothes on their backs and left loved ones behind. Having driven the appeasers out of power, Koquon took control. The remnants of Tephrike's old administration were also swept aside, for the Guard considered itself a revolutionary movement. Restoring the ancien régime would not suffice, for its failures had contributed to the current plight of the Tephriki. Only radical change could bring salvation to Tephrike.

The move was controversial among the settlement's more xenophobic and/or isolationist elements. Some believed the interests of the people would be best served by trying to appease one of the two theocratic Force cults, whose war was ravaging the planet. These views were squashed by a radical party of secularists, who proclaimed that the inhabitants of Red Coral City had to rally around the banner of freedom and liberty, for otherwise they would be nothing but slaves. This faction also gained support from many refugees, who in many cases had fled from Jedi or Sith territory with little more than the clothes on their backs and left loved ones behind. The Republican Guard declared itself the successor to Tephrike's old federal government and reached out to other rebel groups that shared its vision.

The battle for Red Coral City became the touchstone of the Republican Guard's foundational myth. Here, so the myth says, brave citizen-soldiers decided to put their foot down and stamp out the fires that threatened to consume all of Tephrike. Ordinary people decided to stand up for themselves, rather than become the playthings of mages. As so often, the truth is less rosy. In actual fact, the forces the Dominion of Light had dispatched to take the city had been ravaged by diseases such as dysentry and malaria. To a significant degree they were undone by logistics. Many of the soldiers lacked training in underwater combat. They also faced the emerging threat of the Vaderites, which led to the Battle of Palmyra.

Still, every nation, being an imagined community, needs a myth and the Republican Guard got theirs. The new state would be a secular one. Its credo would be: government of the Force blind, by the Force blind, for the Force blind. Never again would Force-users wield power. The few Force-users in the city were excluded from political power or positions of importance. Indeed, reports of cultist activities, nocturnal rituals and blood sacrifices caused a mass panic among the populace, Force use was prohibited entirely.

Too much time has passed for it to be possible to verify whether there really was a fifth column during the battle or a cult of Sith 'deep state agents' plotting to undermine the fabric of society. Both seemed real to most inhabitants of Red Coral city and so harsh laws were imposed to protect the populace from Force-users - and Force-users from themselves and the wroth of the public. At first they were simply disenfranchised and monitored, but soon the new régime adopted harsher policies.

However, Koquon was still hesitant to go as far as the radicals in his own party wanted. His belief that not all Force-users were diseased was not rewarded, for he was murdered by a 'sanctioned' Force-User, who was later accused of being a Sith agent. Sinya Kairn, one of the Clone Commanders who had defected to the Rebellion, became his successor. She had witnessed the actions of the Dominion first-hand and started her life as a slave-soldier, which made her a harsher leader than her predecessor. The The Amidala Asylum was founded to teach Force-users to suppress their powers. This institution operates to this day and is a cross between a high-security prison and mental health facility.

In the centuries that followed, Red Coral City remained the base of the rebels. It became a haven for the partisans. The demographics of the settlement became more diverse after the Republican Guard made an alliance with Yuuzhan Vong communities that were being targeted for extermination by the Sith, and Mon Calamari, who faced subjugation at the hands of the Dominion. The Guard waged a low-intensity struggle against both theocracies. Its methods included a heavy dose of terrorism.

However, it lacked the means to transition to conventional warfare. The Dominion remained the dominant power on the planet, even though the rebels were able to profit from the convulsions caused by the disastrous Cultural Revolution. Rogue cells were also an issue, as some rebel units split off from the centre and in some cases used far more extremist methods that put the Guard in disrepute. Daily life in the city was bearable, but had few luxuries. Moreover, the inhabitants of the town had to defend themselves against Dominion and Vaderite incursions. Common struggle helped foster a spirit of community, but also created a siege mentality.

The Republican Guard would continue its struggle against the Force theocracies under successive leaders. Periods of conventional warfare were accompanied by low-intensity conflicts. The Guard sought to establish revolutionary cells in enemy territory, using affiliated partisan groups to wage a guerilla war. Its partisans created an extensive underground system of tunnels, which were expanded over time. Eventually these tunnel complexes included field hospitals, training areas, storage facilities, headquarters and barracks. Aside from the partisans, the tunnels themselves presented potential dangers to intruders, for they were often booby-trapped. The partisans would even use venomous snakes (placed as living booby traps). The construction of the tunnels typically included features such as U-Bends that could be flooded quickly to trap the enemy. Sometimes gas was used. The Dominion and the Vaderites carried out harsh reprisals against villagers suspected of collaborating with the rebels. Caught between a rock and a hard place, it was as always the civilians who suffered the most.

While the Guard provided protection against raiders and humanitarian aid, it also taxed the inhabitants of the liberated zones, conscripted them for labour or military service and punished suspected enemy spies harshly. The Guard carried out operations to liberate prisoners from Sith slave labour camps. It also seeks to help Dominion clones reintegrate into society and find cures to their ailments and sterility. But it also maintained assassination squads that carried out terrorist attacks, many of which target civilians accused of 'collaboration'.

The struggle is a bloody one and what would be considered war crimes have been committed on every side. The Guard has certain standards it holds itself to and abhors slavery. But it also considers terror a valid means to achieve its goals. As far as the Tephriki know, the rest of the Galaxy has been consumed by the Gulag Virus. So the Guard considered itself to be the inheritor of the traditions of the Old Republic, though it also drew inspiration from the Imperial Remnant. In its bid to fashion the strongest possible revolutionary, secularist bloc, the Guard did not tolerate rivals. There was a certain logic to this. The free people of Tephrike could not sustain and support dozens of odd guerilla groups. Competition for financial, material and other resources that had to be extracted from the people was intense. Many partisans groups that mushroomed during the Darkness were assimilated or eliminated by the Guard, though it still had to deal with heresies and warlords. Unity came at a price, for while a certain degree of popular democracy remained in place, the movement grew rather authoritarian.

Like virtually every place in the Galaxy, the Republican Guards affected by the Netherworld event. Suffice to say it was a huge shock when hundreds of people suddenly vanished. Mass panic and hysteria ensued in Red Coral City and other liberated zones as those who had been left behind tried to find a culprit. Many blamed dark magicks. Little did they know that they were right, but no one knew of the mad goddess Akala and she was beyond their reach in any case. An enraged mob, whipped into a frenzy by demagogues, stormed Amidala Asylum, blaming its inmates for the calamity.

To their credit, many guards tried to protect the facility and their charges. Nonetheless, it was a bloodbath. Some of the inmates managed to escape during the chaos. Some sought to flee the settlement with varying success, but others stayed and went underground. Feeling vengeful, they formed a gang that became a menace to the inhabitants of Red Coral City, terrorising those who had scorned them. Eventually order was restored by the Guard. The asylum was rebuilt, but suspicion of uncontrolled Force-users only intensified.

The Guard recognised that its enemies had been weakened, for both Jedi and Sith depended on the Force. This culminated into what would be later known as the Hundred Days Offensive. The campaign brought Rebel soldiers into the heartland of the Dominion. She was part of a recon unit. The initial attacks stunned the Dominion armies, causing them to temporarily lose control over several cities. However, Jedi Battlemaster Mahtara rallied them. The armies of Light regrouped, beat back the attackers and inflicted heavy casualties on them. The popular uprisings Red Coral City had hoped for never materialised.

Moreover, they faced a canny opponent in the Battlemaster, who implemented a scorched earth policy to deny the Republican Guard supplies. Anything that might be useful to the enemy was destroyed. These measures targeted food sources, transportation, communications and industrial resources. Even civilians were rounded up and removed from areas bound to fall to the enemy. Disease also took its toll on the rebels. The fact that they were de facto co-belligerents of the Vaderites, now led by a faction of 'Light Sith', also caused tensions. Both groups soon clashed. A Republican Guard army was routed by General Kennobi at the First Battle of Fortress Purity. The battle was a debacle for the Guard and turned the tide of the Netherworld War.

The Nautolan leader of the Guard, General Kiraxa Kitomo, was removed from office when the senate expressed its lack of confidence in her. She was arrested by the military junta and executed. Her successor was a Gungan firebrand called Odoh Senks. A former slave, he had managed to escape a Sith concentration camp. In his younger days he was a daring partisan, rising through the ranks of the Republican Guard. Until recently, he had been considered too much of a maverick to be a suitable chancellor, but now he seemed like the leader who could unite the Guard.

In his inauguration speech, he promised blood, sweat, tears and victory. The Guard abandoned conventional warfare and returned to a guerrilla strategy. The rebels had managed to wrest control of Palmyra's Wail, a dark nexus located in the ruins of Tephrike's devastated, abandoned capital, from the Dominion. The Guard did not want to harness the nexus, but lacked the means to cleanse it. Fearing that Force-Users would be drawn to this cursed place and corrupted by its power, they took over the Dominion's containment base and placed the area under lockdown. A garrison of Force Dead warriors was established to quarantine the area. This was a symbolic victory, but the Dominion had proved more resilient than anticipated and the Vaderites were enemies once more after their brief flirtation with the Light had come to an end. The tripartite order showed no signs of unravelling. Shortages forced the Guard to introduce even more rigorous austerity policies.

However, things took an unexpected turn when the Outsiders appeared in Tephrike's orbit. In actual fact it was a Firemane expedition. At first Firemane entered into negotiations with the Dominion. But extremists in the Dominion's ranks attacked the Firemane delegation. A fierce fight ensued, and one of the Firemane operatives, Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori, was taken prisoner and brought to an Inquisition concentration camp. Moreover, Firemane-allied pilots, including the Alderaanian Ranger/Resistance member Laira Darkhold, were shot down and stranded in the wilderness. Republican Guard insurgents led by Mezha Krazhmir had watched these events. They shadowed the pilots and later came to their aid against Dominion forces. Darkhold and her surviving crew were brought to the rebels' underground tunnel, though she was required to wear a device that prevented her from using her Force powers.

Eventually they managed to get in contact with the leadership of the Firemane expedition. Applying the logic that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, the two groups made a tentative deal. The Republican Guard saw an opportunity to destroy or decisively weaken its hated enemy, though it remained very wary of the outsiders, as they had many Force-Users in their ranks. Pooling their resources, the Guard and Firemane initiated a joint assault on Fortress Purity, a key defensive installation on the way to Nexus City. However, coordination was hampered by mutual distrust. The Guard had attacked the Fortress during the Hundred Days' Offensive and been defeated. As a result, it was wary of committing large numbers of troops to an assault that could be very costly. Moreover, it distrusted its new allies, fearing that Firemane would abandon them to the Dominion or seek to enslave once the fight was over.

Viper Company, a crack unit partisans and anti-Force-User specialists led by Mezha, was dispatched to infiltrate the Dominion lines. Enemy resistance was fierce. Having witnessed the power of Firemane bombers and warships when Nexus City was bombed, the Dominion sought to nullify the outsiders' technological advantage by activating a weather control machine. Many Firemane transports and gunships were lost to the storm; others were attacked by kamikaze pilots. On the ground Firemane and Republican Guard troops faced fanatical resistance.

Many Dominion units fought to the death. They also deployed Jedi in significant numbers and made use of illusionists. Mezha and her soldiers linked up with Reaper Squad, a Firemane unit commanded by the tough Freya Solveig. Having been cut off from the rest of Firemane, the Reapers teamed up with them to take out a Dominion artillery battery and turn its guns on the enemy. However, an enemy counterattack forced them to retreat. Cornered, they held off a Dominion infantry and heavy armour assault before being swarmed. They were saved from being overrun by a squadron of Firemane's Qadiri pilots and Republican Guard reinforcements. This enabled them to stabilise the frontline.

After a tense meeting with the commander of Firemane's ground forces, Colonel Varkathras, General Aruunzeb had agreed to commit the Republican Guard to the battle. The Mon Cal was understandably wary about having to cooperate with a Force-User. Viper Company and the Reapers discovered that the Dominion's bunkers were part of an underground complex, after taking a bunker that been concealed by an illusion. Fierce fighting ensued in the tunnels and upon a hill held by Dominion troops. Eventually the unlikely allies were able to break through and storm the fortress. In the last phase of the battle, the Dominion command sought to cover its retreat by sending a brigade of Younglings on a futile death charge. The Republican Guard raised its banner upon Purity. This was a considerable boost to their morale.

However, the Dominion was not beaten. Indeed, the defeat might have turned it into a more dangerous opponent, as the Mad Grandmaster was toppled by Battlemaster Mahtara. Now the Republican Guard seeks to press its advantage and achieve final victory in the field. They remain wary of their allies though and do not want to become dependent on them. Now that they know that there is still life outside of Tephrike, they are determined to catch up and acquire foreign tech. They are wary of being dependent on Firemane, so they will also seek to acquire advanced technology from other parties.

Recently, the Republican Guard attempted to seize Vortanstad, an industrial centre on Tephrike controlled by the Dominion, whose followers call it the City of Harmonious Industry. Jarix, Jedi commander in control of Vortanstad was a follower of General Kennobi, who had led the defence of Purity and committed suicide when all was lost. He denounced the new government of the Dominion as illegitimate. Martial law was declared and the city was sealed off. Jarix also tried to reach out to other regional bosses to form a loyalist bloc. However, the Guard, emboldened by its victory, was advancing. The assault on Purity had cost them a lost and Firemane was pulling out.

So a number of Republican Guard commanders and politicians feared overstretch. But morale was high after storming one of the Dominion's most vital fortresses. The Guard was wary of getting bogged down in a siege, but General Aruunzeb and others did not want to let an opportunity to weaken the Dominion's industrial strength pass. The fog of war made it difficult to discern how long the the split in the Dominion would last.

Hence Republican Guard troops assaulted the city. Frogmen mined waterways and commandos of partisans infiltrated the Dominion lines, while agitators stirred up unrest. The assault had been preceded by a deception operation to fool the defenders about the thrust of the Guard's operation. Morale had suffered considerably, so some Dominion troops defected or deserted. But others resisted. Moreover, the Dominion's new government was quicker to respond than anticipated, mounting a tremendous effort to get loyalist troops to the city. Caught in a cauldron, Jarix faced mutiny.

Knowing what fate awaited him, he tried to defect to the Rebels. All of a sudden, he had been opposed to the Dominion all along. It did not go well for him. The Republican Guard took his staff into custody and paraded Jarix' story as a sign of corruption and infighting in the Dominion. Then they put him away under protection 'for his own safety' against retribution. He was later found dead, 'murdered by a Jedi assassin'. The Guard put the intelligence he had shared with them to good use, conducting surgical strikes with Yuuzhan Vong commandos and elite partisan units such as Viper Company.

But the fighting was fierce. The Dominion was throwing considerable military forces at the frontlines. Even criminals, deserters and political prisoners were released from concentration camps and put into penal battalions. If they served bravely, they would be freed. If not, they would die. Many died, but the Republican Guard assault faltered. Indeed, the Dominion managed to regain lost terrain. The elite Ever Loyal Vanguard, an elite force of Jedi warrior-monks, led the charge, acquitting itself well.

However, Dominion command also authorised the use of poison gas. For its part, the Guard was not shy about resorting to terrorist tactics such as bombings or having Vong priestesses of the Deception sect carry out surgical strikes with the bo'tous bioweapon against high-value targets. City blocks became war zone, leading to intense house-to-house fighting. Civilians were conscripted by either side to support the war effort. Summary justice became the order of the day. Both sides exchanged intense artillery duels. Dominion bombers, often piloted by Jedi aces, bombed Republican Guard positions.

The rebels lacked an air force strong enough to counter, but they could call upon Firemane assistance. Firemane air strikes were infrequent, but had a lot of punch since the corporation had far more advanced craft than the Dominion's Grand Army of Light. To try and pierce Dominion lines in order to capture strategic locations such as factories, the rebels made ample use of infiltration tactics. Many of their soldiers were irregulars and not shy about camouflaging themselves as civilians. This provoked Dominion reprisals. After centuries of bloodletting, neither side was inclined to offer quarter to the enemy.

Evacuation efforts soon faltered, and so many civilians were trapped inside the war zone while entire city blocks were reduced to rubble. Faced with the prospect of stiff Dominion resistance, the Republican Guard altered its strategy. Republican Guard saboteurs blew up the bridge to cut off Dominion troops still fighting in the eastern half of the city. They rebels lacked the manpower and resources for a prolonged siege, so instead they would aim to tie up a large force of Dominion troops. At the same time they would try to make their zone productice again so that it could fuel their war machine.

At the very least, they would be denying these resources to the Dominion. It went without saying that this calculus accepted that the civilian population would suffer considerable hardship. Meanwhile, the Dominion secured its zone. The last offensives ended with minimal changes in territory, so both sides settled in for the long haul. Each side imposed its own system upon its respective zone. For the Dominion zone this meant a more militarised, streamlined version of the old order. Meanwhile, the Republican Guard introduced a militaristic, populist revolutionary regime. This also meant trying to provide for the civilian population, but the city remained a war zone. Civilians on both sides had to find a way to come to terms with the new order and survive. While incursions into enemy territory continued, both factions fortified their position, waiting for right moment.
 
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