Of course, everyone knows different stuff, throu his knowledge skills. But what i mean is: is it known that Palpatine is a Sith? Do people even know what a Sith is? Do we know that the Empire has Forcesensitives as agents?

Vader is choking people all over the Galaxy, so maybe he is known. Oh, and do we know that he was that annoying kid from Episode I-III or did he change his identity complete?

A normal trader/mercenary/mechanic wouldn't porbably know anything about that, why would he even be intrested in that. But a courius playercharakter?

Most probably wouldn't be familiar with the fact that Palpatine is a Sith, but they probably do know what a Sith is

Also, while they would know that Darth Vader exists, they almost certainly wouldn't know the intricate details of his full Backstory (Eps I-III)

I am pretty sure that most people have no idea at all that Anakin is Darth Vader, most likely only Palpatine and Obi-Wan knows that.

I`m not even sure that uncle Owen and aunt Beru even know, if they did, why would aunt Beru Smile and say "he has too much of his father in him".

They know his father was Anakin, but they probably think that Anakin is dead, killed in the clone war, order 66 (maybe even by Vader?).

The Empire says that the force is superstition and a silly, old religion and that the jedi were just some power hungry jerks in the past. Wheter the people believe it or not may vary a lot from world to world and indidual to individual.

A lot of cultures believe in magic(the Force), but have no concept of jedi. Ewoks might have shamans and witch doctors or even wizards, but have no idea what a jedi is.

My point of view is based on the cinematic world (although the differences are more logistics of that cinematic era), the original trilogy compared to the prequel trilogy, looks like an apocalyptic world. Meaning that a lot of things were lost due to the New Order, among them knowledge and technology of the previous age.

Han Solo refers to the Jedi as an ancient religion lost its weight, he probably didn't care enough to know about something happened 100 years ago or more, like the sith conflicts. It is safe to assume character will know whet interests them, and most of them will be concentrated around surviving, and knowing things other then related to their survival or interests, is highly unlikely.

My point of view is based on the cinematic world (although the differences are more logistics of that cinematic era), the original trilogy compared to the prequel trilogy, looks like an apocalyptic world. Meaning that a lot of things were lost due to the New Order, among them knowledge and technology of the previous age.

Han Solo refers to the Jedi as an ancient religion lost its weight, he probably didn't care enough to know about something happened 100 years ago or more, like the sith conflicts. It is safe to assume character will know whet interests them, and most of them will be concentrated around surviving, and knowing things other then related to their survival or interests, is highly unlikely.

The OT is focused more on the Outer Rim, the struggling Rebel Alliance and backwater hideout worlds, but the PT has more to do with thriving centers of culture and power in the Galaxy.

This second point is fair.

To present a similie: The government of Soviet Russia officially only believed in science and denounced religion and spirituality, there were still a lot of religious and superstitious people in the Soviet Union.

Just like that most people of the Galaxy believes in the Empires propaganda, at least they are smart enough to act like it, some people will still believe in the Force and remember the Jedi for what they were.

The Galaxy is enormous and it is even likely that a lot of people have never even heard of the force or the jedi, let alone had in influence their lives. Even the people who have heard of jedi, might believe they were

just power hungry maniacs, like the Empire tells them, these maniacs claimed to have great magical powers, Huh, what superstition!

Some species and cultures might be superstitious and believe in som form of magic, be it real(the force) or just actual superstition or some other alien power.

In the Lords of The Sith book, which is now Cannon I guess, the Emperor goes out of his way to hide his abilities and only use them when there will be no survivors/witnesses to tell the tale. So I would say it is not common knowledge that the Emperor is a Sith.

Actually, Han refers to the Force as a hokey religion. He refers to the lightsaber as an ancient weapon. Which is true. From a certain point of view.

Arrivan beat me to it about palps.

It seems like those that resist the empire knows there's a bad ass mutha-(shut yo mouth) named Darth Vader. But I imagine only a select few know the man behind the mask. We'll find out in Rebels Season 2 just how common knowledge that would be.

Does the PC want to know more? It's pretty simple to craft a background with a PC that might've been in a position to know more.

In the book named for him, Tarkin definitely makes a connection between Vader and Anakin but it was more of him seeing something in Vader that reminded him of the Jedi. He thought better of pursuing it.

If Grand Moff Tarkin, as close as he was to both the Emperor and to Vader, couldn't be certain, then I'm pretty sure that's a well-kept secret.

I concur with most of the conclusions presented:

Most people with an education know that Darth Vader is a Sith. Darth is a Sith title, it doesn't take much of a history degree to make that connection. The Empire has probably gone to great pains to make the Jedi appear to be charlatans and the Sith to be good guys, simply misunderstood by history (history written by the Jedi and under their influence - odds are that the Empire is constantly "discovering" fantastic things about how great the Sith were).

Anakin Skywalker is dead to the galaxy. Perhaps killed in action during the Clone Wars, killed by Darth Vader, or betrayed and murdered by the treasonous Obi-Wan Kenobi on Mustafar. Only Obi-Wan, Yoda, Palpatine, and possibly certain high-ranking members of the rebellion and Imperial Senate (such as those in contact with Obi-Wan and Yoda, like Bail Organa) have any inkling that Vader is Anakin.

Emperor Palpatine is a wise, old statesman from Naboo, somebody as trustworthy as dad or grandpa. He is not a Sith, but during the Clone Wars he was able to secretly work alongside Darth Vader, the last of that venerable order, who saved Palpatine from the treachery of the Jedi Council and single-handedly struck down the four Jedi Masters sent to kill the Chancellor.

Perhaps Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker assisted Lord Vader in defeating the Jedi Masters. Darth Vader later defended Palpatine against a second attempt by Jedi Master Yoda, slew the Master, but was grievously wounded and rushed to the medical center on Coruscant. At the same time, Anakin Skywalker was sent to Mustafar to negotiate an end to the war, but was ambushed by Obi-Wan Kenobi who had already slain the leadership of the CIS to disguise the Jedi's role in perpetrating the war from both sides - and Anakin was mortally wounded, though he managed to kill Obi-Wan. Anakin was rushed to the medical center of Coruscant and succumbed to his wounds weeks later (sometime after a walking, talking Darth Vader had been revealed to the Empire as their hidden savior).

This has actually come up in our games and for our own amusement (and since nothing in canon directly says otherwise) the galaxy at large not only assumes that Vader is a Jedi (the last and possibly only loyal, at the end... if they even take the concept of the Force seriously and not just consider Vader a great warrior with an fancy weapon) but that "Darth" is his first name*, not a title. His title is Lord as far as the public knows.

Much was covered up/forgotten about the Jedi in two decades and the Sith have been covering their own track better and longer.

High marks in Education or Lore might allow for better information, but if the Jedi council was so heavily blindsided by the reemergence, few mundane historians would have a chance of gleaning even a fraction of the true picture.

* "That's Jeff Vader, that is."
Be warned, some NSFW language https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv5iEK-IEzw

Short version..

But what i mean is: is it known that Palpatine is a Sith?

No, as above.

Do people even know what a Sith is?

Not really. They'd prolly know of the Sith in the same way most people know of the Hittites, but your average moisture farmer or spice freighter navigator won't know offhand anything of much use.

Do we know that the Empire has Forcesensitives as agents?

Yes. The inquisition is hush hush, but not a secret. Now how much the general public knows is probably pretty small. Think cyberwar. Everyone knows what it involves in the most general sense, but not many people outside of it can really tell you much.

Vader is choking people all over the Galaxy, so maybe he is known. Oh, and do we know that he was that annoying kid from Episode I-III or did he change his identity complete?

Total identity change. To th public at large He's a special advisor/civilian advisor/emissary of the emperor type that showed up around the same time as the foundation of the empire. Probably assumed to be a replacement for a sacked advisor or cabinet member of some kind.

It goes even farther than that. To many beings (especially humans in the Core Worlds) Emperor Palpatine is a hero. An obscure senator whose homeworld suffered at the hands of the megacorporations, who upon his election to chancellor began to cut away the excesses of the bureaucracy, who as commander-and-chief won the most terrible war in living memory, who was crippled in a coup attempt by the theocrats who betrayed the Republic, and who (with popular support) established the new empire that would ensure peace and order.

Darth Sidious's control over both sides of the Clone Wars allowed him to orchestrate events to create so much devastation so that many people would prefer security to freedom, given the choice. Once entrenched, his control over propaganda and the mechanisms of civil discourse allowed him to continue to shape the narrative. And many of the places which were most important were the ones favored by the Empire, at least initially. The major shipyard systems were rolling in government contracts to build fleets, while military academies and universities swelled with new cadets and students to crew and design them. Many of the old Separatist megacorporations were nationalised or subsumed by those that had been Loyalist, and the most influential regional political leaders were given seats as sector Moffs.

As for the Force, even during the height of the Republic the Jedi were a rare sight. While Coruscanti might pass the Temple on occasion, and planetary leaders could meet one amongst a diplomatic delegation, there weren't that many of them compared to the size of the Republic, much less the galaxy. Think about what Anakin says to Qui-Gon when he sees his lightsaber.

Well the major Human shipyards were rolling in money at least. Dac was loyal to both the Republic and early Empire but got massively screwed over by the Empire and if memory serves Duros, which was literally one of the oldest shipbuilding centers in Imperial space, was loyal to the Republic and early Empire but got reduced from being capital of its own sector to being part of its rival Corellia's sector.

Edit: In one of the EU novels Han and Leia encounter Anakin's childhood best friend who believes that Anakin was the last Jedi killed during the assault on the Jedi Temple.

that "Darth" is his first name*, not a title. His title is Lord as far as the public knows.

* "That's Jeff Vader, that is."

i see you are referencing an iconic star wars duel:

"i've been waiting for you, obi-wan. we meet again, at last. the circle is now complete. when i left you, i was but the learner; now *i* am the master."

Well the major Human shipyards were rolling in money at least. Dac was loyal to both the Republic and early Empire but got massively screwed over by the Empire and if memory serves Duros, which was literally one of the oldest shipbuilding centers in Imperial space, was loyal to the Republic and early Empire but got reduced from being capital of its own sector to being part of its rival Corellia's sector.

Edit: In one of the EU novels Han and Leia encounter Anakin's childhood best friend who believes that Anakin was the last Jedi killed during the assault on the Jedi Temple.

Any idea which novel that was in?

"Darth" is his first name*, not a title. His title is Lord as far as the public knows.

This is how we play it too. The vast majority of the galaxy doesn't know much of anything about the Sith--including that Darth is a Sith title--and they just assume that Darth is Vader's first name. Since nobody but Sheev is on a first name basis with Lord Vader, it rarely comes up.

Well the major Human shipyards were rolling in money at least. Dac was loyal to both the Republic and early Empire but got massively screwed over by the Empire and if memory serves Duros, which was literally one of the oldest shipbuilding centers in Imperial space, was loyal to the Republic and early Empire but got reduced from being capital of its own sector to being part of its rival Corellia's sector.

Edit: In one of the EU novels Han and Leia encounter Anakin's childhood best friend who believes that Anakin was the last Jedi killed during the assault on the Jedi Temple.

Any idea which novel that was in?

Tatooine Ghost

I would say that most people know of the Sith the same way most people in the Western world know of the Jacobites or the Templars. A piece of dark history that ties into the Jedi but long enough ago that it's just a name to most.

I would say mystical abilities are not normally encountered but have been around enough that people take them as a fact of existence to some degree. No-one fell about laughing on the Death star when a commander referred to Vader's "sorcerous ways" or his powers of clairvoyance. Or freaked out when Vader force-choked someone in front of them. People know about black magic and all that stuff, they just don't see it as normal day to day. It's a little like when you see a famous actor in a restaurant or a shop. It's not something you expect, per se, but it's not quite as alien to you as it would be to us in the real world. As Han remarks, he's been from one end of the galaxy to the other and he's seen a lot of strange stuff. He may not believe the religious aspect of an all-powerful Force controlling everyone's destiny (and that IS a religious aspect that the Jedi claim rather than observable fact they can prove, to be clear), but he likewise doesn't freak that his world-view is shattered by Luke being able to do some weird things or Leia knowing where to find Luke underneath Cloud City.

It is almost certainly not widely known that Lord Vader is a sorcerer or practitioner of some ancient religion, but it's also probably known and rumoured that he is by those closer to him. Someone mentioned the book Lords of the Sith and that Palpatine hides his abilities in it. He does. But Vader does not. He's not obvious, but he also doesn't act like it's some state secret. And that probably works well. Rumours that Palpatine were some dark mystic would undermine him perhaps, alienating people. Rumours that he has a right-hand enforcer with dark gifts just makes for a scary reason not to cross him.

As to who knows Vader was Anakin? I think that would be a very short list. The emperor, Obi-Wan, possibly Ahsoka (though I hope not - we'll find out). Yoda, of course but that's about it. As PrettyHaley said, if even Tarkin is unsure, it cannot be open knowledge.

Anyway, that's my take on it.

Personally:

The Sith is long forgottern history. They had been defeated 1000 years ago in the prequil trilogy and Paplatine nor Vader announced themselves to be sith to the best of my knowledge. Only the educated historians or other scholary persons would really have any knowledge on the Sith and likely only the allience and the Jedi themselves would know of the Emperor being a Sith. In the early years the emperor would appear as a kindly man who was slighted by the Jedi and later still he would appear to retreat from poltics to leave the active running of the empire to moffs. After the horrors of the clone wars the entire Galaxy just wanted peace under any cercumstances. A couple of dark rumours might circulate about things being particlary unusual about him but I imagine most people who knew were either part of his elite inner circle, or about to die as one of his little play things thus even going up to the Return of the Jedi I imagine no one actually knew anything of value about the emperor.

Vader meanwhile is one of those persons that I imagine wouldn't be publically advertised to the people, but would inevitability filter down through the ranks of millitry personal who witnessed his leadership first hand. Rumours would spread of him being able to choke people across entire star systems and other strange magics, though likely this would be shrouded in disjointed rumours; the soldiers don't know enough and the officers mostly know better then to talk about their supereme overlord.

The Jedi meanwhile a radicalised sect that tried to overthrow the Emperior and attempted to seize aggressive control of the senite. Yet there would be a fair few hushed voices about their super natural abilities and their position as distant, noble warriors. As their history is far more recent then that of the Sith I imagine information on the Jedi would be sangicantly easier to find, even though the empire is actively restricting and destorying that information to leave the galaxy in the dark forever.

All this would be fairly distant knowledge to most people. All they tend to focus on is their immediate life, the Empire and anything else. In heavy pro-empire areas the vast majority of people would only know that if you see a lightsaber or suspect anyone of being crazy and into mysticalism, they should contact security immediately.

As to who knows Vader was Anakin? I think that would be a very short list. The emperor, Obi-Wan, possibly Ahsoka (though I hope not - we'll find out). Yoda, of course but that's about it. As PrettyHaley said, if even Tarkin is unsure, it cannot be open knowledge.

Supposedly, from reviews I've seen, Ahsoka discovers who Vader really is in the first episode of Star Wars Rebels Season 2.

As to who knows Vader was Anakin? I think that would be a very short list. The emperor, Obi-Wan, possibly Ahsoka (though I hope not - we'll find out). Yoda, of course but that's about it. As PrettyHaley said, if even Tarkin is unsure, it cannot be open knowledge.

Supposedly, from reviews I've seen, Ahsoka discovers who Vader really is in the first episode of Star Wars Rebels Season 2.

That's great. That's really absolutely fantastic. Thank you VERY MUCH for the spoiler. It's not like I was looking forward to that cartoon or seeing whether or not she knows, etc.

Thank you very much indeed. That's EXTREMELY helpful.

EDIT: Seriously - do you normally just throw spoilers into random threads just to mess things up for people? You might not care but others REALLY enjoy watching things without knowing what's coming.

EDIT EDIT: I know you probably didn't mean to spoil anything for anyone and I'm sure there's no ill-intent. It's just that's one of the main cliff-hangers for me. It's just spoilt things a bit now as instead of enjoying wondering what is going to happen, I know. Anyway, like I say, I'm sure it's just different things being important to different people. Each enjoys something in their own way. But unfortunately this has spoilt some of mine.

If Bail Organa was the adoptive father of Leia and was there when the twins were born doesn't it stand to reason that he would know who Vader is? And if he is a key player in the rebellion like he is made to appear one would assume that he shared the information with anyone who cared to know. Honestly though, who in the universe would've cared who he was before Vader? The name is worthless to anyone else when you really think about it. What are they going to do, kill his family? Done. Turn him into the government that his best buddy runs? At the end of the day it wouldn't matter if they did know who he was.

If Bail Organa was the adoptive father of Leia and was there when the twins were born doesn't it stand to reason that he would know who Vader is? And if he is a key player in the rebellion like he is made to appear one would assume that he shared the information with anyone who cared to know. Honestly though, who in the universe would've cared who he was before Vader? The name is worthless to anyone else when you really think about it. What are they going to do, kill his family? Done. Turn him into the government that his best buddy runs? At the end of the day it wouldn't matter if they did know who he was.

I don't think he would. He would have kept that secret to protect Leia.