I've been fine tuning some of my thoughts on a setting I've used for my last two games of Edge. The setting begins in 6 ABY, or two years after Endor.

In my version, the following happen at Endor:

• The Rebel leadership is decimated in the fleet battle, as the DS II used it's superlaser to "headhunt" for command ships .
• The DS II is destroyed. The Emperor, Vader, and Luke are aboard it as it explodes and all are presumed dead.
• The remnants of the Rebel fleet scatter in the chaos following the destruction of the DS II.
• The Rebel raiding party on the Forest Moon is captured and all members are executed.
• The Imperial fleet is also in disarray and is unable to immediately pursue the fleeing Rebels.

OK, next we have an "off-screen" continuation of two more years of war. The details I have not really covered before, but the outcomes are:

• The Empire endures, but is significantly reduced in scope. It still has a central seat of power, but it is generally run on a regional (clusters of multiple sectors) level under Moffs and Grand Moffs.
• Worlds openly supporting the Rebellion are few, and while they share defense pacts, they can only be weakly called an Alliance.
• A treaty exists between the Empire and the so-called Alliance worlds. Most conflict is reduced to "cold war" exchanges with some proxy fights occurring between neutral worlds.
• Many worlds sick of the constant warring have declared neutrality. These tend to be worlds with enough strength to go it alone or else they are so insignificant that nobody truly cares what they do.
• The Hutts have expanded Hutt Space considerably in size and influence and have taken the opportunity to revive and reveal their military might. They helped to broker the treaty between the Empire and the Alliance as they see a cold war as being highly profitable.
• Bothan Space maintains neutrality despite being highly favorable towards the Alliance. The Spynet continues to be put to great use by the Alliance and neutral worlds.
• The Corporate Space Authority (the greatly expanded successor to the Corporate Sector Authority) is ostensibly neutral but maintains close relations with the Empire. The CSA Espos are becoming a frequently encountered private military contractor employed as proxies by the Empire to circumvent treaty restrictions.

So what I'm looking for help on is how to explain the above conditions. I want there to be a fairly static cold war with a wounded Empire, a battered Rebel Alliance, and large swaths of neutral territory with some significant secondary power bases. I also want to be able to explain how this comes about without one side or the other handily dominating the conflict. I know that Star Wars tends to gloss over such details, but many here on these forums do not. It's these individuals that I'd like to solicit ideas from.

The easiest way would IMO be to have a short but bloody Imperial civil war follow Endor with the regional leaders being the heads of surviving factions from that conflict. This leaves the regional leaders unwilling to focus enough power on rebel worlds to conquer them for fear of being stabbed in the back by other Imperials. And worlds and forces loyal to factions defeated in the civil war flock to the Hutts or the CSA

I like either of two extremes, that you have corporate sector authority become a fascist corporate state in the vacuum or else the moffs raid there emperor's stash of crazy Jedi **** and you have sith alchemy under an imperial technocracy, basicly fools who unleash nasty things even the emperor was keeping bottled up.

21 hours ago, RogueCorona said:

The easiest way would IMO be to have a short but bloody Imperial civil war follow Endor with the regional leaders being the heads of surviving factions from that conflict. This leaves the regional leaders unwilling to focus enough power on rebel worlds to conquer them for fear of being stabbed in the back by other Imperials. And worlds and forces loyal to factions defeated in the civil war flock to the Hutts or the CSA

I'd like to confine any Imperial-on-Imperial violence to assassinations, blackmail, and other forms of power plays among the leadership (which all try to keep out of the eyes of the ISB). I don't really want to have stormtroopers firing on other stormtroopers or the like. I was thinking that the wounds inflicted on the Empire might be more from strategic hits performed by the Alliance prior to their partial fragmentation and the blocking factor of the emergent Hutt military that's enforcing the peace (for their own profits). While the Empire could certainly destroy the Hutts, they could not do so without weakening themselves enough that they would be vulnerable to the Alliance (which would certainly draw together again in the face of overtly aggressive Imperial action).

Go Hutt, I can see this, but I think corsec is really a better villain... However it would be interesting to have a corporate merger between the two. If it goes well they could also buy out sections of the failing empire, so eventually you have "The Kajidic-Corporate Imperium"

I was thinking of eventually playing up the connections between the CSA and the corporate entities that formed the Separatist leadership.

Also, CorSec is Corellia while CSA is different.

You are right, but wasn't Corellia a major component to CSA?

Not that I'm aware of. Some Corellian corps (like CEC) might be listed among the CSA members, but I don't recall any of them being the big players there.

I guess they are not related so I stand revised... But CSA would be the natural evolution of the empire anyways.

There are a lot of natural explanations to justify your setup.

But I think the most important question is, what does the right of ascension look like for the Alliance and the Empire after a battle of Endor destroys most of the Alliance leadership and the Empires leader and first in the line of succession?

The Rebel Alliance is already a loose affiliation of disparate groups, and while they may have "won" the victory was Pyrrhic enough with heavy losses that the Rebels can't "afford" to win anymore. Members of the alliance may simply pull out their support because they can't afford to go on.

The Empire should have a line of succession fairly well established, so there may not be need for a bloody coup. Or the three dozen Palpatine clones may decide to lock themselves inside for a last man standing cage match . . . You'd definitely end up with the most power force user in the group.

Any rate once you figure out the right of ascension for the Empire, their inability to project power may be as simple as the member worlds balk at the control and the remaining fleet is needed to just maintain control.

So at the most you could have 2 or 3 capital ships available on each side to engage in combat operations. Not enough to do anything decisive.

Another very good possibility for the Empire would be an economic crash making it near impossible for the Empire to continue it's extensive military production programs. Also, a decline in recruitment of new sailors and soldiers as citizens are shaken by the losses of the battle, may force the Empire to rely more on conscription, making combat operations less viable.

IMHO making the Rebellion Leaderless assumes they all went to the battle of Endor, seems kind of stupid.

But i agree, having the Galaxy balkanize under Moffs, Grand Moffs, and Admirals makes sense. It is the Rebellion/ New Republic's work to reform and unify the Galaxy. The Empire is based on an Ideology that the Emporer is the supreme leader and loyalty is demanded. Take away the Emporer and everyone who thinks they are a step down from the Emporer will try to fill in the vacuum. The Rebellion/New Republic is the opposite, allowing free will, dissent, and collaboration.

Most of the new Empire will work to consolidate their power, and won't have much aspiration to go beyond their borders. Non-aggression treaties would be the first thing, and the best way to combat that is to create friction between nearby powers and make them expend their energies against each other. which would allow a third party to come in and take over.

for the average Citizen, it is still bad.

I Understand the creation of the sandbox, but what do you players want to do in this game and what is the scope you are going to create? I would make sense to figure out if your goal is a New Republic, or just a Dark age and work towards that with the help of the players and the time frame for that to happen

personally, I never liked the idea of the Rebellion only lasting for about 4 years from ANH and RotJ. Always seemed too short for me

I'm going for moderation in my approach. The Rebellion will be less perfect and the Empire will be less imperfect.

The loss of major leaders on both sides at Endor assumes they were both desperate or overconfident (take your pick). Akbar and Mothma were both needed to pull enough Alliance members into what was largely considered a hail Mary attack. Both died along with many upper and mid level leaders. The Rebellion was just as vulnerable to fracturing as the Empire.

As for my end goal, the dark ages line probably fits best for the sandbox I want to present.

First Idea:
The old Noble Houses experience a resurgence and claim the Empire as their own, claiming the Deep Core, Core, and Colonies regions as their own. There is a titular Emperor with powers (governmental, not Force) but the Empire is administratively run by a council made of the heads of those Noble Houses. Character and fatal assassinations are commonplace as each House jockeys for position and power. Political marriages are made to cement alliances between Houses.

Second Idea:
The rest of the Empire, namely the Moffs, Admirals, and Generals either join the new Empire or splinter off as an independent power.

Third Idea:
Corellia becomes its own independent power but still relies on the Empire for trade. The closest historical reference I can think of is England (Empire) and Scotland (Corellia) but that's probably the wrong one.

The main thing is to weaken the Empire enough that it cannot directly crush Rebellion worlds. You stated that you wanted some important systems to withdraw and be neutral. If those systems include Corellia and Kuat, the Empire loses major shipyards. Their might would be cut back dramatically, especially in the face of increased Hutt and CSA threats. Combine that with Kuat and Corellia selling ships to the Empire's enemies, and the balkanization of the Empire, there would be plenty of reason why it would be down to a cold war style standoff.

Now your players could freak out if it was learned that Leia and Luke did not die as previously thought, but are now dark side and consolidating power among the Imperial Remnants. Leia could act as Empress, with Luke as her enforcer.

I'm pretty strongly set on all of the Skywalkers being dead. Their story is done.

On 2/18/2017 at 10:49 AM, HappyDaze said:

I'd like to confine any Imperial-on-Imperial violence to assassinations, blackmail, and other forms of power plays among the leadership (which all try to keep out of the eyes of the ISB). I don't really want to have stormtroopers firing on other stormtroopers or the like. I was thinking that the wounds inflicted on the Empire might be more from strategic hits performed by the Alliance prior to their partial fragmentation and the blocking factor of the emergent Hutt military that's enforcing the peace (for their own profits). While the Empire could certainly destroy the Hutts, they could not do so without weakening themselves enough that they would be vulnerable to the Alliance (which would certainly draw together again in the face of overtly aggressive Imperial action).

Then the Imperial-on-Imperial violence happened between Endor and "now." A brief, sharp conflict over who would succeed Palpatine ripped through the Empire as any Moff or Admiral with enough support and ambition made a play for the throne. Happened in Imperial Rome more than once. If you want Moffs and Grand Moffs to be semi-independent then that those were the ones who still have large forces directly loyal to them but decided to capitulate to whoever came out as top dog. Whoever is in charge of the Empire has enough power to ruin one or two independent Moffs, but not all of them, and needs them all on his side. The threat of the Alliance kept the power struggle short and sweet. Basically, the Empire has quickly shattered into a Feudal kingdom, more or less.

As for the Rebellion, I think that Mon Mothma wouldn't have been at Endor. She's a politician, not a military leader. But if many of their military commanders bought it, then the Rebel Alliance would need a political leader to hold things together until they could regroup militarily. It shouldn't be too difficult to make some headway while the Empire is busy with it's internal power struggle. Maybe eventually the Rebellion had some particularly big success(es) that galvanized everyone squabbling over Palpatine's empty throne to stand together before the whole thing was lost.

If it's only been a couple of years after Endor, then I would think that things have only JUST NOW settled down. I'd actually let at least 5 years go by before making a cold war be the status quo.

Just now settling down is the setting backdrop I'm looking for. I like your input on the Imperials. I still want Mothma dead, and I'm leaning toward an assassination by a rival within the Alliance. When this came out it seriously hurt the Alliance's cohesiveness. This pushes both aides towards fracturing into a number of smaller powers with unreliable ties to larger allegiances.

On 2/26/2017 at 6:11 PM, HappyDaze said:

Just now settling down is the setting backdrop I'm looking for. I like your input on the Imperials. I still want Mothma dead, and I'm leaning toward an assassination by a rival within the Alliance. When this came out it seriously hurt the Alliance's cohesiveness. This pushes both aides towards fracturing into a number of smaller powers with unreliable ties to larger allegiances.

Ooooh! Mon Mothma's assassination is the opening of the campaign. The first adventure is finding out who was behind it. The Imperials? The Hutts? Someone making a power grab within the Alliance? Or was it really a lone gunman, a war vet who feels that the decision to make peace with the Empire betrayed the Rebellion.

Destroy the holonet.

Through terrorism, targeted destruction, or the decay of time as the galaxy enters a dark age.

The isolation allowed by this loss lets lesser powers grow throughout the galaxy.

Travel is more difficult but still possible. The big surprises lie in how worlds and sectors have apparently changed after months of no reports or immediate contact.

5 hours ago, blittlepage said:

Destroy the holonet.

Through terrorism, targeted destruction, or the decay of time as the galaxy enters a dark age.

The isolation allowed by this loss lets lesser powers grow throughout the galaxy.

Travel is more difficult but still possible. The big surprises lie in how worlds and sectors have apparently changed after months of no reports or immediate contact.

Excellent suggestion. It does remind me of BattleTech's succession wars, and that's not a bad thing. I'll be doing this. It also makes courier ships much more valuable.

I've also considered the idea of a centralized Imperial 'religion' being the unifying thread that holds the various Imperial remnant states together. This 'religion' would be based on Palpatine's apotheosis at Endor, and he now speaks through the Prophets of the Dark Side. I like the Prophets from Legends, and while I don't want a resurrected Emperor, I don't mind Palpatine continuing on as a disembodied spirit. The Prophets would also inherit and start to revitalize the Inquisitorius as their enforcement arm. This gives me the option of having lots of low-level Dark Side opponents and politics among them.

One of my players has looked at this and suggested that I go with the Old Republic setting during the Cold War following the Treaty of Coruscant (3,653-3,642 BBY). It would give the feeling that I'm looking for with rival powers and lots of room to wiggle between them (primarily as a setting for an Edge game) along with plenty of opportunities for AoR-style militants and/or FaD-style Force-users that have decided to abandon their original allegiances. I picked up my Old Republic Encyclopedia and thumbed through it for an hour, and I think he might be right. It'll be far easier to reskin gear and vehicles than it is to rework the setting itself. Plus it allows me to avoid the entire canon/non-canon issues that I find really tiresome. I do feel a bit like it's not really Star Wars, but then that's already where I was trying to go, so...

I think what might be a little easier is to say that the Battle of Endor unfolds as we saw on-screen. What changes is everything that happens next:

• There is still a massive Imperial fleet nearby. They pretend to retreat. The Rebels gather on Endor to celebrate their victory. Shortly after the closing credits, the fleet jumps back into the system. The moon is surrounded. Since the Imperial ground forces are now all dead or captured, the commander orders an orbital bombardment, razing the surface of the moon.
• The rebel fleet utilizes its scatter protocol in response to this attack, which makes it impractical for the fleet to track them all down. Shortly after, ships return to their normal sectors and await further orders from their chain of command.
• The Empire has still suffered a serious blow with the loss of the Emperor. Just as happened in canon and the EU, you can expect warring moffs and officers to all be vying for power, greatly weakening the Empire from within.
• The Rebellion is unable to quickly organize into a New Republic due to the loss of so many ships and key leaders at Endor. Thus a few worlds are willing to band together with mutual defence pacts, but we don't see a galaxy-wide government stand up.
• The Hutts are more than happy to take advantage of this chaos to expand their own influence.
• The Bothans find it in their best interest to remain neutral. They know that the shaky alliance of a few worlds is not strong enough should the Empire reorganize itself for a strong offensive. Thus they work with the Alliance, the Hutts, and even the Imperial Remnant to some degree to make themselves valuable to all sides.
• The CSA is utilized by the Empire as a proxy but many worlds also find it the most acceptable alternative. Most worlds have little in the way of military capabilities as a result of the Empire and now find themselves potentially lone. Those that felt oppressed by the Empire may not want to remain under that government but they want more than an Alliance backed by a small surviving fleet. The CSA may be a happy middle ground for them, either by hiring the CSA for protection or outright joining it.
• Many core worlds still remain loyal to the Empire as they were treated well under its rule and have little desire to be open targets for poorer worlds looking for targets to plunder. However, this still reduces the Empire to a shadow of its former self.
• No single faction has enough power and resources to effectively go to war without making itself too vulnerable to other factions.
• Since the Rebels have the plans to the original Death Star, it would be interesting to see both the Alliance and the Empire building a superweapon not to rule by fear but as a measure of deterrence. It could also spark some interesting morality decisions on the part of the Alliance. Ok you built it but are you really willing to use it? Or how can you justify the expense of this superweapon when you are still struggling to form a cohesive functioning government and there are still people starving from the economic collapse that followed the fall of the Empire?
• I like the idea of one of the Imperial warlords consolidating power by promoting a religion based around Palpatine. It brings to mind some of the communist personality cults in real world history.

I could see a non-force sensitive corporate ceo reorganizing the empire, totally fetishizing the force, and the emperor...