Star Wars essay: How the First Order came to be

     I'm a huge fan of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, whether it is the classic Legends or the new canon version. I bought my first adult novel when I was twelve in Dark Force Rising by Timothy Zahn and eventually read literally hundreds of the books. I'm not against the reboot because I think they covered literally everything they possibly could with the classic trio up to Crucible by Troy Denning. 

    However, there are some issues with world-building as we don't know much about the new villains in The First Order or how they came to be. At least on screen. Thankfully, the Expanded Universe is always there to fill in the gaps as long as you're willing to shell out the money necessary to fill in the gaps.

    We're still learning a lot of things about the First Order, their methods, and their origins but I think we can build a rough timeline of events from the Battle of Endor to the destruction of Hosnian Prime that ticks off the Second Galactic Civil War. This is a very nerdy series of speculations but I am, in fact, a huge nerd. I hope you guys enjoy.

Sources for this:

* Shattered Empire
* Battlefront II
* Alphabet Squadron
* The Aftermath Trilogy
* Uprising
* The Mandalorian
* Bloodline

* Before the Awakening* Resistance (series)
* The Force Awakens
* The Last Jedi novelization

THE RISE OF THE FIRST ORDER (4 After the Battle of Yavin to 34 After the Battle of Yavin)

    The death of Emperor Sheev Palpatine was part of a one-two punch that caused the rapid disintegration of the Galactic Empire. The other part being the destruction of the Second Death Star and all of the resources that had been devoted to it. The Empire's aura of invincibility had been punctured by the events of the Battle of Yavin but it was utterly destroyed by the Battle of Endor. The Empire, much like in Legends, was not meant to survive Palpatine's death and the only person who could save it, Darth Vader, was redeemed by the love of his son.

Trust these guys when they say your world has to die.

    Emperor Palpatine had some sort of plan to follow-up his death. The details of which remain nebulous. This was called the Contingency and was implemented by a mixture of droids and hand-picked agents. Originally, I was of the view that it was just meant to be a "kark you" to the galaxy and presumably Darth Vader since I'm inclined to think that Palpatine assumed if he was ever killed then it would be at the hands of his apprentice. Since then, it has been shown to be a much-more complicated and intricate plan involving the creation of the First Order. It's possible, depending on the events of Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker that it may include Palpatine's resurrection but we'll have to see about that when it comes.

    Phase One of the Contingency was was Operation: Cinder with red robed Sentinel droids seeking out the most die-hard fanatics of the Empire to implement the Contingency. These include Admiral Versio, Moff Raythe, and so on. Fleet Admiral Gallius Rax, a defacto Emperor's Hand if there ever was one, had a different role in this. Operation: Cinder involved weather-altering satellites to be placed in the orbit of thousands of worlds that would eventually cook the population of the planets' alive. Planets targeted included Naboo, Vardos, Burnin Konn, Candovant, Abednedo, Commenor, Nacronis, and other worlds. No attempt was made to differentiate the loyal from the treasonous: both were equally guilty in the eyes of the Emperor.

Take that, Imperial loyalists! How dare you be loyal!

    The Contingency was carried out with the purpose of making sure the Empire is destroyed as punishment for its failure to protect Palpatine and to make sure no one else takes over the Empire after his death. The perpetrators of the attack don't believe they're destroying the galaxy for no reason but accept on blind faith that this is all part of a cunning master plan to restore the Empire. They're delusional fanatics but that's why they're chosen. The perpetrators, however, generally accepted that there was a greater plan at work and the atrocities were necessary to intimidate the public into submission. It was meant to be a show of strength that forced the galaxy to its knees but had the opposite effect of making it clear there was no redeeming the Empire. If loyalty and submission earned the same death as treason then treason was the only rational path.

The mother of the First Order.

    Operation: Cinder backfired tremendously to the delusional fanatics' goal. As we see with the events of Alphabet Squadron, the twin punches of Alderaan's destruction and the Battle of Endor heavily hurt the Empire but it wasn't until this that all but the most fanatical Imperials saw the true horrific face of the regime. The Rebellion also helped save many worlds, winning a lot of badly needed publicity. This is exactly as Palpatine planned. This also has the effect of rapidly increasing the size of the New Republic military as millions of defectors are put to work against their former comrades. The rapid re-stablishment of the Republic Senate on Chandrilla also lent the New Republic a legitimacy it did not possess in Legends until the fall of Coruscant.

    The Empire's regent during this time was Mas Amedda but he was swiftly put under house arrest by the Imperial Security Bureau (ISB). The ISB was secretly under the control of Gallius Rax who used his assassins, codes, connections, and more to eliminate potential successors to Palpatine. Rax also used Admiral Sloane as a figurehead Grand Admiral to rally the military's remnants around. Contrary to some people's statements, was hardly a puppet as she does a lot of diplomacy and gathering of Imperial forces as we see in Aftermath.

    Galliux Rax prevented the NR and Empire's remnant making peace with a terrorist bombing plan aimed at the New Republic Senate under a flag of truce.He also covertly seized control over the entire Empire under the title of Counselor. He gathered the bulk of the Imperial fleet at the backwater planet of Jakku, his home planet, while planning to destroy the world in a cataclysmic explosion that would eradicate both the Empire as well as New Republic. Instead, he was assassinated by Grand Admiral Sloane and the New Republic eradicated the Empire's forces in a lengthy battle. Grand Admiral Sloane escaped on the Emperor's yacht with Brendol Hux, a handful of child soldiers, and the coordinates for the Emperor's flagship the Eclipse. Palpatine had the plan to "purge" the Empire of all weakness and have only the most diehard fanatics gather at the Eclipse flagship in the Unknown Regions.

Shouldn't the Republic remove that?

    Sloane's intentions were to build a bigger, better, and stronger empire. While her Grand Admiral status is questionable, she certainly was a senior officer and in a good position to found the First Order. My inclination was that she did so and, being a fascist, immediately doubled down on all the Empire's worst qualities with child soldiers replacing clonetroopers as well as Stormtroopers. It may have been Palpatine's will to create the First Order but it was Sloane's insights as well as decisions that created the military junta that would become the basis for Star Wars' version of HYDRA. 

    How many Imperials joined Grand Admiral Sloane and Brendol Hux in the Unknown Regions at the Eclipse is unclear. However, in Legends, the Dark Empire was founded by Palpatine gathering massive numbers of ships in the Deep Core. Here, it seems to be an answer of, "enough to conquer and construct a new Empire capable of challenging the New Republic." Star Wars: Rebels stated that Grand Admiral Thrawn had helped the Emperor chart and conquer the Unknown Regions, so that means that he'd been building a military reserve here for some time.

    Mas Amedda was then used by the New Republic to formally surrender the Empire under the terms of the Galactic Concordact. With most of the Empire's soldiers having defectors, the surviving officers are declared war criminals, conditional pardons are made for non-combatants, and higher ranked members are put on trial. While Grand Moff Randd escapes Jakku with his fleet and there are insane events like a pirate fleet with a Super Star Destroyer, the Galactic Civil War is for all intents and purposes over.

    Mon Mothma promptly demobilized the New Republic military. Given the New Republic military was now mostly ex-Imperials, this made more sense than perhaps was initially apparent. The Military Disarmament Act was implemented a month after the final victory in Jakku, dramatically reducing the New Republic military's size. Princess Leia opposed this act but finds herself overruled. The New Republic then settled into a period of military stability but political instability as the conflict over whether a strong federal government (headed by the Centrist party) vs. a weak one (Populists) began.

A heroic effort to protect our children's future.

    Meanwhile, in the First Order, the organization began its rebuilding of the Empire's might under a new name. They made extensive contact with fringe slavers and begin purchasing massive numbers of human children for training as operatives. Protectorate Gleb oversees this as well as the mass looting of Unknown Region worlds of resources. This is referred to as Operation: Resurrection and goes largely unseen by the rest of the galaxy. Given that Protectorate Gleb was recruited by Inferno Squad during Operation: Cinder, that means the Contingency always included a plan to educate a new generation of fanatics. They also loot whole planets of resources. At some point Snoke, perhaps working for the real Palpatine, seized power in the First Order and became its Supreme Leader.

    The First Order trained its armies of children before turning them into Stormtroopers, Naval officers, and spies. They proceed to start sending out their agents into the galaxy as a whole. These people like Lady Carise start contacting Imperial Remnants and recruiting some while positioning others. They also begin infiltrating the Centrists and subverting them to their own purposes with moderates like Senator Casterfo eventually purged.

    The First Order conquered numerous planets in the Unknown Regions and hollows out planets as well as exterminates whole resources in preparation to create Starkiller Base. Most of what we've seen is less interested in holding planetary populations than gathering resources to build up their fleet to conquer the New Republic. We do see mining facilities and other signs there's a civilian population of the First Order. Not many signs of them but enough to know they exist.

But what about her e-mails?

     Rather than use the Eclipse, Snoke constructed the Supremacy to be the FO's mobile capital. They also use kyber crystals in their star destroyers, possibly from a hollowed-out Illum, that makes their weapons almost unstoppable. Kyber crystal-based weapons are put into many of their new and improved brands of Star Destroyers that would violate any treaties the Republic had with the former Empire, were they aware of the First Order's existence.

    The Centrists successfully seceded from the New Republic with their new laws. However, it's not actually a very large secession. Maybe about eight or nine Sectors worth, enough that it's a big deal but not the end of the New Republic or beginning of the end. Leia's actions may have prevented that from happening. The "public" First Order is presumably swiftly conquered by the actual First Order. Previously, the Republic was unaware of the First Order as it is a "secret" organization as of Bloodline. This is 28 ABY and fairly close to the timeline of The Force Awakens, meaning the public First Order is a fairly recent creation.

    Despite not being Imperials, the First Order is forced to sign the Galactic Concordact. We get some hints in the short stories the First Order has a lot of credits to spend and use them to buy new technology, buy Senators' allegiance, and keep up with the advance of galactic technology. Snoke made a move to recruit Ben Solo and successfully seduced him to the Dark Side with Luke debating killing him only for Ben to interpret it as an actual assassination attempt.

    Princess Leia, disgraced as a politician by the revelation of her parentage, formed the Resistance against the First Order. She has no idea how large or how dangerous the First Order is, only that it is extremely dangerous. The New Republic covertly supports it as both the opening crawl and General Hux both state it. Many NR forces are allowed to join up without losing their ranks. As a deniable asset, though, it fails because the First Order plans to conquer the galaxy. They even begin covert operations to take fueling depots like the Colossus and invade independent worlds. It is only the possible arrival of Luke Skywalker that triggers their final plan, though.

====

Whew! I hope you enjoyed this write-up guys and are as excited as me about Episode IX!