Early Modern Galactic History
During this period, the Jedi Order maintained its principles and stayed out of the affairs of governance. Instead, its Jedi found themselves more and more frequently working with the major factions of the galaxy as advisors, researchers, military officers and intelligence service personnel. However, the Galactic Alliance were far more receptive to this aid than the other factions of the galaxy were – most likely due to the deep roots the Jedi have had with democratic governing forces, as opposed to the more despotic Fel Empire, strong-armed at this time by the growing Imperial Knights.However, disagreements were naturally bound to come about. As markets re-opened, trade, tax revenue and prosperity grew, the governments of the galaxy could not decide how best to move forward. The mostly informal Galactic Triumvirate eventually dissolved itself in 198 ABY, yet ostensibly caused an unprecedently small upheaval or animosity. At the time, some worried that the dissolving of shared governance relations between the major powers would cause a war. Nevertheless, thanks to the helpful intervention of the Jedi mediators, the relationship between the Fel Empire and Galactic Alliance remained amicable and all territorial disputes were, supposedly, dealt with. While the Fel Empire did consider joining the federal system of the Galactic Alliance, it was strong-armed away from this option by Emperor Roan Fel ‘the Great’ II to build prestige after a humiliating period of disunity and infighting during the earlier Moff Regency. The Galactic Alliance had become the shared government of most planets in the galaxy. This Galactic Alliance had on its shoulders thousands of years of democratic mandate, the desire of liberty inherent to a mostly literate people of the engaged Core World and the most economically productive territory in the known galaxy. It had the winds in its sails and nothing could stop it. Yet, however hopeful, it was set up to fail.The wars that necessitated its creation had bred an excessively militarised legacy that was bound to cause contention with the democratic elements in society. With a flawed electoral system that made gerrymandering and unethical politics a necessary inevitability and a drastically unequal distribution of wealth, riots and protests became more and more prominent. Furthermore, strong-arming the Jedi Order into little more than hired mercenaries inevitably created a loss of the moral compass that the galaxy had so strongly sought after the centuries of chaos preceding this period. The Jedi were no longer apolitical mediators and could fulfil only the function of warriors as they took up more and more roles in the Galactic Alliance’s military, bureaucracy and intelligence class.
First riot, then revolt, then revolution. The first fracture of the Galactic Alliance came in 247 ABY, when the People’s Commonwealth of Systems, or just Commowealth, declared independence from the Galactic Alliance and fought an elongated, protracted civil war against them. Though many in the Galactic Alliance were sympathetic to the Commonwealth’s cause, the conflict was likely forced to escalation by then-Chief of State, Feksk. The planets of Bespin, Bakura, Haruun Kal, Katan Ahk, and Naboo declared independence from the Alliance, immediately blockaded and then attacked by the forces of the Alliance. Feksk embodied the true power and corruption at the heart of the Galactic Alliance, using backdoor intelligence services to conduct terrorist attacks, assassinate political enemies and fuel propaganda. Feksk is considered to this day as a national hero on Trandosha to this day, being a native of the planet. At this time, the director of the Galactic Alliance Investigation Department (G.A.I.D) was Jedi Master Gabe Alkorda, who best surmised his thoughts in 249 ABY, writing:
“As a Jedi I serve the Force. The Force seeks life, but not only life, quality life. The Force is the greater good, and I must do all in my power to aide that greater good. Myself, my friends, my family, those are all lesser goods. Serving lesser goods is wrong. That’s exactly what the damn “Commonwealth” is doing. They’re looking out for their own hides, their own wealth, their own lives. They’re pursuing selfish impulses. I don’t mind. It doesn’t affect me or bother me. It affects the greater good. That’s all I seek, that’s all Feksk [the Chief of State] seeks, and that’s what the Galactic Alliance provides.”
However, later in 250 ABY, the same Jedi Master Gabe Alkorda assassinated the Chief of State, Feksk. Historians interpret this event differently. I am in two minds. It is clear that he considered his act a justice, for what he perceived to be a corruption of the morals and ethics that the Galactic Alliance stood for, “Like so long ago, the Force called, and I followed.” He saw it as a redemption of the self. However, it is hard to separate the emotional reaction that Master Alkorda was working under at the recent death of his friends and the chaos of the war. He considered Feksk a “glory-seeker” and was even tried leniently by the Galactic Alliance’s tribunal against him, though this lenient sentence by the Galactic Alliance against the Jedi would come to have severe repercussions.
At its core, the Commonwealth Wars were based at the unending conflict between the military arm of the Galactic Alliance and the democratic elements of the Senate and Jedi, the previously mentioned ‘unethical politics’ that were necessary for the functioning of such a state. This military faction’s influence culminated in the election of the strongman Trandoshan Chief of State known as Feksk, who treated seceding states like they were a rebellious incursion of otherwise imperial provinces. The Jedi Order, still heavily influenced in the military and political governorship of the Galactic Alliance at this time, were also split. This split between duty and justice, existential to the very nature of the Jedi, caused severe rifts within the Order. The brutality of the Commonwealth War was not only brought to bear across the frontier, but severe raiding by Mandalorian thugs and societal divisions caused strain across the galaxy and put an abrupt, violent end to the so-called ‘long peace’.
To the common of the galaxy, a mysterious sect of warrior monks had, in mere moments, killed their elected and likable leader Feksk. Then, after failing to capture the assassinator in exile, he and the Order at large were essentially let go with a slap on the wrist by the judicial system that claimed to represent the people and their interests. It is hard to state just how seismic the assassination of Chief of State Feksk was. In one stroke, the impenetrable image of the Jedi as pinnacles of honour and justice was shattered, and along with it, so too was the credibility of the Galactic Alliance. Due to the Jedi holding high positions in the Galactic Alliance, people had become overwhelmingly distrustful of their government in less than a decade