I just noticed this in an article on the new Star Wars Battlefront video game coming out:

Here's the official blurb on the Battle of Jakku:

• The pivotal moment when the New Republic confronted key Imperial holdouts on a remote desert planet on the Outer Rim. Taking place in the aftermath of the Rebel victory in the Battle of Endor, players will experience the events that created the massive, battle-scarred landscape of Jakku shown in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

​Based on this, it appears the Rebellion does indeed form the New Republic and defeat the Empire. Presumably the First Order then shows up and ruins/conquers everything.

This leaves me wondering how strong the ties really are between the First Order and the Empire, and if Episode 7 ships will just be added in to the current factions or have their own.

The question comes into how the 'good guys' ultimately end up being known only as 'the resistance'.

Not even 'Rebellion', per se.

Maybe while the "heroes" were out fighting the remnants of the Empire, the New Republic itself became corrupted by Dark Side-aligned powers?

This First Order probably took over a large portion of the galaxy while the New Republic is scrambling to deal with it. The resistance is trapped in the areas occupied by the first order.

All I know is, I want my later generation TIE Fighters and X-Wings. But I also want that new star destroyer with front hangar bay.

I just noticed this in an article on the new Star Wars Battlefront video game coming out:

Here's the official blurb on the Battle of Jakku:

• The pivotal moment when the New Republic confronted key Imperial holdouts on a remote desert planet on the Outer Rim. Taking place in the aftermath of the Rebel victory in the Battle of Endor, players will experience the events that created the massive, battle-scarred landscape of Jakku shown in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

​Based on this, it appears the Rebellion does indeed form the New Republic and defeat the Empire. Presumably the First Order then shows up and ruins/conquers everything.

This leaves me wondering how strong the ties really are between the First Order and the Empire, and if Episode 7 ships will just be added in to the current factions or have their own.

I hope they don't just put the new ships into this EU (I think) game. NT ships should be added in some kind of expansions but not mixed with EU ships. This may be new tournament format. But if I have to choose I want more EU.

Well, the Empire was the Republic after radical political change. Who knows, maybe after the victory Mon Mothma, Ackbar and their Bothans had gone crazy and turned the New Republic into new Space Nazi regime...?

No I really don't think so... The first Order is probably the remains of the Empire. I'm sure through years of chaos after Endor they emerged as the single largest power in the galaxy. The rebellion morphed into the resistance which tells me even after Endor the rebellion could never fully stamp out the Empire. I bet when the force awakens starts the First Order has the upper hand, at least for now... guess we will know in 7 months.

I wanted to make sure I knew the difference between Resistance and Rebellion...

From Wikipedia...

A resistance movement is an organized effort by some portion of the civil population of a country to resist the legally established government or an occupying power and to disrupt civil order and stability. [...] The term resistance is generally used to designate a movement considered legitimate (from the speaker's point of view). Organisations and individuals critical of foreign intervention and supporting forms of organized movement (particularly where citizens are affected) tend to favor the term. When such a resistance movement uses violence, those favorably disposed to it may also speak of freedom fighters.

Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order.^[1] It may, therefore, be seen as encompassing a range of behaviors aimed at destroying or taking over the position of an established authority such as a government,governor, president, political leader, financial institution, or person in charge.

There are a number of terms that are associated with rebel and rebellion. They range from those with positive connotations to those with pejorative connotations. Examples include:

• Civil resistance, civil disobedience, and nonviolent resistance which do not include violence or paramilitary force
• Mutiny, which is carried out by military or security forces against their commanders
• Armed resistance movement, which is carried out by freedom fighters, often against an occupying foreign power
• Revolt, a term that is sometimes used for a more localized rebellions rather than a general uprising
• Revolution, which is carried out by radicals, usually meant to overthrow the current government
• Subversion, which are non-overt attempts at sabotaging a government, carried out by spies or other subversives
• Terrorism, which is carried out by different kinds of political, economic or religious militant individuals or groups

I'll be honest, it still seems like a fairly grey area.

Empire is overthrown by New Republic in Battle over Jakku.

After some years of peace resentful remnants of the Empire invade/conquer under the guise of the First Order.

This all puts me very much in mind of WWI Germany ultimately becoming WWII Germany and puts me very much in mind of the Third Reich.

Now the New Republic is ruled by the First Order but a Resistance is fighting the war.

Given that most sources I've seen refer to the Empire as a New Order that suggests the First Order is somehow linked to an older pre-Empire movement IMO.

More rampant speculation

The new leader of the First Order (presumably a Sith Lord) is calling it the First Order because he is saying the galaxy has never seen "real" order before, and he is going to impose it using a new Sith/Dark Force mind control technique.

Finn is a normal stormtrooper until he realizes that the mind control isn't working on him and he can think for himself (latent/untrained Force user), so he jumps ship when he gets a chance.

My bet would be that there is a cold war brewing between the Reestablished Galactic Republic and the First Order. While those two are refusing to engage in a Hot war, the resistance has sprung up in First Order territory to oppose their ambitions of creating a new Galactic Empire.

i dont know why it double posted

Heres my idea, which i got from somewhere else i cant remember.

So after the Jedi extermination the Emperor created the Inquisition to follow up on any jedi/force sensitive leads because Vader cant waste his time following up on every little rumor of a force sensitive on a back water moon.

The bad guy in rebels is even called the Inquisitor.

So, i think, that after the battle of endor the remaining inquisitors gather together at some point in time and form their own sith group and they eventually take over the remnant of the empire and call themselves the First Order. I think they are trying to bring back the old sith ways from Darth Revan's time. Just look at the sith guy's helmet in the trailer. It looks very similiar Revan's helmet. And the new tie fighters also have a similar slit viewport that makes them look more sith like, in my opinion.

Lets me honest, the rule of two was only good when the jedi didnt know they existed. Now that the entire galaxy knows there are sith once more the rule of two can be done away with and there can be entire armies of sith.

maybe the sith usurp the new republic, which leads to "the resistance."

I could see the New Republic consolidating territory while the First Order starts to unify Empire successor states.

My bet would be that there is a cold war brewing between the Reestablished Galactic Republic and the First Order. While those two are refusing to engage in a Hot war, the resistance has sprung up in First Order territory to oppose their ambitions of creating a new Galactic Empire.

Guessing this is closest to the mark.

Data points are sparse, but it connects a few "known" dots:

- The Empire is gone, finally defeated by the New Republic by the Battle of Jakku

- The 'good guy' forces in Episode VII (seems like decades after Jakku, and 30 years after Endor, anyway) are now only a 'resistance'

- The primary 'bad guy' forces in Episode VII are called the First Order, which seems like some kind of splinter group under the control of a Dark Side user (whether Sith or just general Dark Side User yet to be determined)

It just feels a touch weird that, based on the few details we have, it seems so much like the major forces in conflict in Episode VII are somehow not the major political players in this period. (I guess we saw that, before, in 'Phantom Menace' - the Trade Federation being merely a pawn in the initial moves of a much larger plan)

The First a Order is rallying systems to its cause and a resistance has sprung up to combat them without all out war being declared..,