JEDI HoloNet

In the beginning, the universe was born. This has made a lot of us very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move. Nevertheless, our aged and long-living galaxy lives within this ever-expanding universe – with numerous galaxies outside of our own with their own tales, trials and tribulations to tell of. Our own galaxy, however, is unique. It is the birthplace of Ashla and Bogan, the Jedi, and the centre of life itself. While this may only begin our existential quest, many scientists and Force philosophers alike believe our galaxy to be where life first sprang from the cold of space. From what would become our screaming lips, fire burnt across the endless black horizons of space and came forth the greatest source of beauty – and the only beauty comprehendible, for otherwise such a concept would not exist – life.

The galaxy before the dates set in the title is too incomprehensible, confusing, long-winded and pointlessly long to dissect in any meaningful summary. Not only has most of the information been lost of such periods, but the legacies of that past are only important to us as they can be understood in the deep-rooted traditions and ideologies that have been passed to our more modern history. Notions such as the ancient principle of Republicanism, wariness of the recurrent Bogan despots, eternal cultures such as the Mandalorians or the endless lawlessness of the Outer Rims (no matter how much the conception of ‘outer’ changes from century to century). The past is much the same as our present, for the wheels of the galaxy spin eternal.

These new centuries have been forged in steel, blood and sacrifice. The eternal dichotomy of the Force has gripped the galaxy world-to-world. War and peace, pestilence and health, security and insecurity, change and stagnation. We begin at the fall of the Sith Empire, a short-living endeavour which usurped the final stretch of the Old Republic on a wave of popular support and demagoguery. One of the most important legacies of this period is that dictatorship was not unjustly tortured upon the people, but rather willingly integrated to a belaboured and apathetic population steered by events out of their control. In this way, we must never forget the fact that dictatorship is often not only tacitly popular, but it is a slow process that happens right before our eyes. Furthermore, from this death of the Sith Empire, we also get the name of our timekeeping. ABY and BBY – After the Battle of Yavin and Before the Battle of Yavin, the infamous Destruction of the Death Star.

There are far more rigorous histories of this period (0 ABY – 153 ABY) than I can provide. However, one event that takes place during this time is of tremendous consequence to the times we live in, and thus deserve a rightful mention. Luke Skywalker founded the New Jedi Order after the defeat of the Galactic Empire on Yavin IV, this model of the Order we follow to this day from the foundation of his principles. Despite the destruction of the Galactic Empire with the death of the Emperor, an elongated and prolonged series of conflicts between warlords and the fledgling forces of liberty gripped the galaxy for over a century. However, it is unhelpful to think of this period as the dominant struggle between the ‘light’ and ‘dark’, for there were many interwoven conflicts that were fought for a tremendous host of reasons. The events and conflicts that a student should be aware of, are: the Thrawn Campaign (9 ABY), the Yuuzhan Vong War (25-29 ABY), The Second Galactic Civil War (40-41 ABY), the founding of the Fel Empire (45 ABY), the Sith-Imperial War (127-130 ABY), The Second Imperial Civil War (130-138 ABY) and Reformation of the Galactic Triumvirate (140 ABY).