Igni Irae
"The armed forces have acted today solely from the patriotic inspiration of saving the country from the tremendous chaos into which Tephrike has been plunged into by its corrupt government. Civilisation is at stake; disease, famine and war are killing our people by the thousands. We stand alone in the galaxy. Where Tephrike needed resolution, you have shown cowardice. Where Tephrike needed honesty, you have been venal. No more. For the duration of the emergency, this assembly is suspended. The Jedi Order will guide Tephrike until the crisis has passed and elections can be held to elect a body of honest men and women. And as my first act with this new authority, I will create a Grand Army of Light to counter the forces of darkness."
- Jedi Lord Zaras Dant.
"The martyrs are more honourable than all of us. They have achieved oneness with the Force."
- From a Dominion propaganda brochure.
"Slaves. That's we 'crude matter' are to them."
- Synthia Vao, deserted clone trooper.
"There is no emotion, there is calm.
There is no ignorance, there is obedience.
There is no passion, there is serenity.
There is no chaos, there is order.
There is no death, there is the Light."
- The Code of the Windian Jedi Order. It is also taught to all Dominion civilians and soldiers.
"I. The Grandmaster is dead!
He was cruelly murdered by the Sithspawn's bombs while rescuing civilians trapped in the ruins. An unscrupulous clique of Inquisitors alien to the front has attempted, under the exploitation of this situation, to betray the hard-struggling front and to seize power for their own selfish purposes.
II. In this hour of greatest danger, the High Council of the Dominion of Light has declared a state of military emergency for the maintenance of law and order and at the same time has transferred the executive power, with the supreme command of the Grand Army of Light, to me.
...Any opposition to the military power of enforcement is to becrushed. In this hour of highest danger for nation and the Light, unity of the Grand Army and the maintenance of full discipline are the uppermost requirements.
That is why I make it the duty of all commanders of all land, space, air and sea forces to support the holders of executive power in carrying out their difficult task with all means at their disposal and to guarantee the compliance of their directives by the subordinate sections. The Dominion soldier stands before a historical task. It will depend on their energy and attitude whether the Dominion will be saved."
- Excerpts from Battlemaster Mahtara's initial order to the military district commands, initiating Operation Apotheosis.
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: Expand on Tephrike. Provide a possible antagonist for rp.
Image Credit: Here. Here.
Permissions: Can use Archangel gear because I own the company.
Links: Into Darkness, After Darkness, Tephrike, Grand Army of the Republic, Army of Light, Diona, Cassius.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Army Name: Grand Army of Light.
Classification: National Military.
Affiliation: Dominion of Light, Battlemaster Mahtara, Tephrike.
Army Symbol: Here.
Description: Officially, the Dominion aspires to create a classless, harmonious society in which the people will live free from want, poverty, strife or oppression. The darkness will be banished and the Light will reign supreme. Luminous beings will triumph over crude matter. However, the road to this earthly paradise is an arduous one. The Gulag Virus was a dark side machination to plunge the galaxy ino darkness. The Dominion is the last bastion of the Light, and the Light needs warriors who are willing to take the fight to the enemy, not endless, fruitless debates and conclaves.
Who will not rest until the Darkness has been extinquished and those who prostrate themselves before it have been redeemed or eradicated. For there is only the brightest light and the darkest abyss. Those who claim there is a middle ground and that one can control both sides have succumbed to hubris and already taken the first step into Darkness. There is no grey side of the Force. The Dominion will build the New Ashlanite Person, free from the mundane concerns of scarcity, selfless and thus unable to be tempted by the siren call of the dark side.
The Grand Army of Light is the Sword and Shield of the Dominion of Light, the totalitarian, Jedi-led theocracy that controls most of Tephrike. It sees itself as following the tradition of the First Army of Light and the Grand Army of the Republic. Like in the case of the latter, many of its soldiers are clone trooper who have been bred and indoctrinated to serve their leaders without question. In other words, they are Jedi-led slave soldiers. However, while the Dominion considers clone troopers to be the most reliable, it also includes conscripts who have been grown through natural means or who were created in laboratories after harvesting the sperm and egg of fertile citizens. Natural procreation predominates in rural areas far from the capital. Many Jedi are clones, too.
The treatment of the clone troopers varies. Those who belong to elite units are often the clones of famous war heroes, as the Dominion believes that their skills must not be lost and can be passed on with their genes. They receive better living conditions, equipment and so on. By contrast, generic, mass produced grunts must make do with less. In contrast to the Old Republic's clone army, the Dominion does not use a single genetic donor, but a variety of them. This is supposed to reduce the risk of genetic degradation. For elite units, Dominion scientists use the top one percent of the existing clone army for the genetic code. Flash memories may be crafted from numerous soldiers who have distinguished themselves, meaning that these clones are not straight copies. This is only the case for elite troops like the Righteous Fists or the Temple Guard though.
On average clone troopers still have shorter life spans than is typical for members of their species. Family units have been abolished in the Dominion, so instead of family names citizens have occupational surnames, such as Carth Pilot or Cody Soldier. Members of the Windian Jedi Order forego surnames. Their given name is simply preceded by 'Jedi'. So a Jedi Knight called Kyrric would have the name Jedi Kyrric. Many frontline units of the Grand Army wear armour that resembles the suits worn by the Old Republic's clone troopers, with the difference that it is camo painted to fit whichever environment they operate in. Tephrike has many jungles, so wearing white armour would be a very bad idea. However, less favoured units such as militia or conscripts may be stuck with a helmet, gas mask with rebreather and a blast vest.
Like its two role models, the Grand Army is led by Jedi Generals. Indeed, the Windian Jedi Order is strongly connected to the Grand Army of Light. The Windian Jedi would regard the statement that the Force should be used for defence, never for attack, as absurd. Individual Jedi or special units composed of them are assigned to many of its combat and support formations. However, overall the Jedi constitute a minority. The Windian Jedi Order is a heavily militarised institution. Its members are taught to regard themselves as holy crusaders and the last bastion that shields civilisation from chaos and darkness. This has often been a license for internal repression, such as when the Grand Army massacred anti-government protestors in the Square of Heavenly Peace. Likewise, 'reprisals' against civilians accused of aiding and abetting terrorists, partisans etc. is common. The same applies to torture of prisoners of war or their use as forced labourers.
Both the Grand Army and the Windian Jedi are multispecies. While the Windians are responsible for many unpleasant or frankly insane policies, they are not speciesist. After all, Tephrike's first Jedi Lord, Zaras Dant, was a Duros, and her successor Tiyan Kree was a Devaronian. Twi'leks, Mirialans and Zabrak have also been part of the upper echelons of Dominion society. Today, Jedi Master Mahtara is the de facto leader of the Dominion. She is a Yodaling and her apprentice Kyrric a Kel'Dor. Humanocentric speciesism is looked upon very poorly. It helps that the Vaderites, one of the foes of the Dominion, are human supremacists who treat non-humans as lesser beings that should be exterminated or enslaved. It is one of the reasons why the Dominion is still the strongest faction on the planet. However, Quarren, Gungans, Mon Calamari and Nautolans suffer from discrimination because many of their people support the Republican Guard. This does not prevent individuals from joining the Grand Army and reaching officer positions, but it is a lot harder for them. This can make those members of these species who manage to attain a position of significance particularly zealous in fighting the Dominion's enemies. The Grand Army does not discriminate on the basis of gender, and has both men and women in senior command positions.
The soldiers of the Grand Army are taught to revere the Light and regard the Dominion as a beacon of righteousness in a Galaxy that has been consumed by Darkness. All those who defy the Dominion have been corrupted by the Dark Side and must be smote. This is an act of compassion because it prevents them from further tainting their twisted souls. They are closely monitored for signs of ideological deviation and heresy. In order to assure political loyalty, the Grand Army has introduced a system of Confesssors, who act as Political Commissars. They are supposed to instill ideological conviction, be on guard against thoughtcrime and reinforce combat morale through training lessons and teaching. The Confessor has an influential role since he is supposed to ensure that the unit commander does not deviate from ideological orthodoxy.
Soldiers whose ideological purity is considered insufficient are sometimes forced to undergo self-criticism sessions, where they confess their errors and affirm their renewed belief in the party line. This is also employed to reinforce group cohesion. The Grand Army has very strict views on discipline. Deserters and those expressing defeatist sentiments are considered serious criminals. They are liable to be shot or assigned to a penal legion. Here it is pertinent to note that the vast majority of the Grand Army's soldiers have grown up in the Dominion. Not all of them are religious zealots. It would be erroneous to stereotype Dominion soldiers as unthinking drones. If that were the case, there would be no desertions, defections or mutinies. Moreover, they would be quite useless in battle because, contrary to popular assumptions, mindless automatons make poor soldiers and even worse officers. Like sentient beings everywhere in the galaxy, they have hopes, aspirations and ideas of their own.
Indeed, there is quite a bit of cynicism regarding the regime and its leaders. This especially applies to conscripts who grew up in rural areas or more remote towns outside of the Dominion's heartland and were thus less indoctrinated. However, like it or not, it is still their country and the only government they have known, and they will defend it. Indeed, the Dominion has been quite successful at portraying itself as the innocent party in its brief, but intense conflict with Firemane, although its Grandmaster was the one who has instigated it.
Moreover, the Dominion has a command economy, which means that while there is a flourishing black market, most of what these soldiers own has been provided for by the state. Those who serve and do it well get benefits. A soldier may purchase goods on the black market, which strictly speaking constitutes an economic crime, and grumble about high and mighty Jedi, but still be a patriot ready to defend his country and his comrades. Knowledge of the outside Galaxy is extremely limited and it is widely regarded as a dark, hostile place the nation must be protected from. Would-be 'breakers of chains' and saviours from the stars who come to the Dominion under the naive belief that they will be greeted as liberators will receive a rude awakening.
By the standards of Tephrike, the Grand Army is the most well-equipped fighting force on the planet. The Dominion has the biggest population and manufacturing basis, enabling it to mobilise large numbers of soldiers. Aside from infantry, they have heavy armour, artillery, aircraft and limited aerospace forces. However, a lot of their technology is behind galactic standard, as Tephrike has been isolated for several centuries. Thus a lot of their equipment dates back to the Galactic Civil War or the Clone Wars. Slugthrowers are more common than blasters because the latter are less practical in Tephrike's jungles, where conditions similar to those on Haruun Kaal prevail.
The Dominion has few starships that can operate outside of the atmosphere, though it has access to Jedi ace pilots. The Grand Army has access to a number of atomic bombs that use nuclear fission. The Dominion does not have a no-first strike policy and has used these weapons in the past. However, now it is a lot more wary of doing so. Not only is there is always the risk of escalation, Tephrike's environment has already been badly damaged. The Grand Army is less reticient about employing chemical warfare through use of poison gas, herbicides and defoliant chemicals.
Many soldiers have experience in fighting Force-Users, Force Dead or Sithspawn. The Grand Army is capable of employing combined arms tactics, exploiting the fact that it controls most of Tephrike's industrialised areas. Its command economy also allows it to shift quickly from civilian to military production in factories. Domestic affairs are guided by the 'Military First' policy. This gives the armed forces priority in the allocation of resource. In short, it prioritises guns over butter. Corruption remains an issue.
The Grand Army does employ child soldiers, which is sadly a common thing on Tephrike. Officially children below the age of eighteen or the equivalent thereof are not supposed to be used in combat role anymore, though this rule has often been broken. Technically the Grand Army actually uses less minors than its foes, as can use cloning to grow its servitors to maturity. However, one could also make the case that newly grown clone troopers are also closer to child soldiers than adults. This is particularly pertinent since flash training is used to brainwash them, which means their choice is taken away.
Time and again, the Dominion has been able to exploit its sheer size during conflict with its primary enemies, the Republican Guard and the Disciples of the Vader. It can afford to trade space for time, force its enemies to overextend their vulnerable supply lines, then strike. However, the Guard's partisan tactics have forced the Dominion to adjust to counterinsurgency tactics, and its brutal methods have driven many into the arms of the rebels. The Dominion regards its foes as enemies of the Light, and the Grand Army is guilty of many atrocities. The Grand Army features heavily in Dominion propaganda, which depicts it as a force of noble defenders of order, peace and justice. Being a nation at war, the Dominion practices conscription. Aside from allowing it to mobilise its population, it is also a way to exert social control and discipline society.
Authoritarian and totalitarian régimes have a tendency to treat martyrdom for the leadership and its wars as sacred and use to encourage greater sacrifices on the part of those they rule over. This is also the case with the Dominion. "The martyrs are more honourable than all of us," is a common slogan. Clones of martyred heroes may be especially favoured, as if a penchant for heroism is passed on through one's genes. They are raised to admire their templates. Grand Army soldiers who perish in combat are celebrated as martyrs, whose noble sacrifice has made them achieve oneness with the Force. Recently, the new leadership has deempathised this martyrdom culture. Promising heavenly reward is a useful way to inspire soldiers to fight against daunting odds, but it has also led to wastefulness, which is something the government is eager to avoid. Commanders have been admonished to take better care of their soldiers and deploy them intelligently rather than waste assets that take time and effort to train.
The relationship between the Grand Army of Light and the Windian Jedi Order is a symbitioc one. The Grand Army is unable to challenge the hegemony of the Windian Jedi Order, as this would mean questioning the legitimacy of the Dominion. The Dominion's leadership has made a great effort to coup-proof their regime, including the creation of a comprehensive surveillance network, secret police and parallel armies. The Dominion exerts total control over the media and bombards its population with propaganda. It also controls the economy, having implemented a socialist command economy. Coup-proofing is interwoven with the infiltration of the army by ideologues. The Order controls the military by infiltrating it with its commissars and ensuring that only loyalists reach command positions. The system operates by utilising a complex system of rewards and punishments, monitoring soldiers and officers on a regular basis and creating parallel security forces. These practical hazards aside, the Grand Army would undermine its own legitimacy by rebelling against the group that sustains it and gives it purpose.
However, senior Grand Army officers are important stakeholders and can influence the regime. The Dominion is fighting a war to the knife and needs the armed forces to protect it against internal and external enemies. Indeed, power struggles in the Dominion's leadership have caused the armed forces to intervene in politics. The Temple Guard has been notorious for toppling and enthroning Grandmasters. Moreover, the clones of heroes of the Dominion can form influential networks that prop up and protect their members. These can be compared to old boys' networks, family circles and the like. The relationship between the central leadership and these networks is a double-edged sword. The leadership is worried that these 'family groups' could threaten its absolute power and pose an obstacle to the implementation of its goals. Moreover, their nepotistic nature can come at the expense of operational efficiency. At the same time, these networks are important to keep the state afloat and a means of dispensing patronage. The Dominion of Light Army Day is a national holiday in Dominion territory. The Dominion commemorates it with military parades, often displaying new technology. It is always a grand spectacle in Nexus City.
Ever since Firemane's brief campaign against the Dominion, the influence of the armed forces has increased. Battlemaster Mahtara, supreme commander of the Grand Army of Light, is the de facto dictator of the Dominion, though she has deliberately left the office of Grandmaster vacant. Mahtara has abolished the Jedi High Council, regarding it as unfit to lead the Dominion through a time of war. In its place, she has created a smaller, more compact war council that consists of trusted clone commanders and Jedi Masters.
This has given the Grand Army's professional military leadership a degree of autonomy and flexibility it previously did not possess. An increasing number of Non-Force-Users has been promoted to key positions and a number of Jedi unsuited for military command have been removed or assigned to posts where they can do little harm. The Dominion's moral purity laws, such as the prohibition against sexual intercourse, have been put in abeyance because the nation is fighting a war, though they still remain on the books. None of this has changed the nature of the Dominion. All it has done is streamline it and make it more functional.
The Dominion has been able to modernise its armed forces to a degree by making deals with Archangel Research and Design. The power of the Confessors has also been reduced to streamline military command and keep them from meddling unduly. Kamikaze units have been abolished due to their inefficacy and because they represent a waste of manpower. Recently, the Dominion has started introducing battle droids provided by Archangel. However, it rightly does not trust the shadowy machine cult that much, so it prefers to mix battle droids and HRDs with organic soldiers instead of creating all-droid units. Droids are also often used for more mundane tasks, such as garrisoning, escorting convoys and guarding supply depots, which frees up organic soldiers for frontline combat.
SOCIAL INFORMATION
Headquarters: The Ministry of Peace and the Grand Army of Light Headquarters are located in Nexus City. However, since the city was badly damaged by Firemane's bombardment, the Grand Army has begun to disperse its assets a bit.
Goals: To destroy the invaders, infidels and Sith. To unite Tephrike under the banner of the Dominion of Light. To protect the faithful from the Darkness and be the guardians of peace and justice on Tephrike.
Chain of Command: Like any military, the Grand Army of Light is a hierarchial, top-down organisation. In theory, the Grandmaster is the commander-in-chief. Indeed, the first Grandmasters of the Dominion tended to be militaristic Jedi Lords who led their troops in the field or directed their operations. However, ever since Mahtara and a cabal of Jedi Masters and Generals stepped in to put an end to the disastrous Cultural Revolution, many Grandmasters have actually been puppets who only occasionally left the Temple. Firemane's campaign ended with the Grandmaster dead and the Council dissolved. Mahtara and her allies have chosen to leave the office vacant until the war is won. The Grand Army is administrated by the ironically named Ministry of Peace, which is charged with supervising and directing the armed forces of the Dominion.
The minister has usually been a Jedi Master who holds the title of Battlemaster. On the rare occasions when the minister was a Non-Force-User, he was subordinate to the Battlemaster. This is in keeping with the Dominion's belief that only those who can feel the Force and interpret the will of the Light are fit to hold power. Presently, Mahtara is Battlemaster and the head of the Ministry, though she has delegated a lot of the minutiae to trusted underlings. She is assisted by a joint staff, which coordinates the operations of the Grand Army's ground, sea, air and space forces. A senior general officer acts as Chief of Staff.
The Ministry of Peace assigns political officers to the staff of every military unit at the battalion level and above to verify the commander’s and unit’s loyalty to the Dominion. The Ministry of Enlightenment oversees all propaganda lectures and materials designed to indoctrinate every soldier, regardless of rank. The ground forces are organised into armies, corps, divisions, brigades, regiments, battalions, companies, platoons and squads. Here it is pertinen to note that the Grand Army, like many armed forces, has a tendency to inflate its numbers a bit. Moreover, the Grand Army only operates on Tephrike and the system the planet lies in. On paper, a Grand Army of Light field army is about the size of a sector army in the Grand Army of the Republic, but it could also be a good deal smaller in practice.
Officer position given to Non-Force-Users are often held by clones, especially those of past heroes. Indeed, some clones have been able to form the equivalent of old boys' networks and even clone 'dynasties'. Ultimately, command is vested in the hands of Jedi Generals. Windian Jedi who serve in the Grand Army receive a corresponding military rank. The whole military has been exhorted to resolutely uphold the authority of the Windian Jedi Order and its unified leadership and resolutely obey the command of the Order.
However, depending on the personality and experience of the Jedi commander in question, a clone commander or even a natural-born one might end up being the one actually running the show behind the scenes. In that regard, it is easier for a 'squib' officer to exert influence in the Dominion than among the Vaderites, who are even more Forcer supremacist and whose vulgar Social Darwinist culture encourages naked power grabs. Some Jedi Generals are competent, accept advice and understand military tactics.
Others are fools who believe all they need is the Force and that Battle of Geonosis style death charges are actually a winning strategy. An example for the latter would be Jedi General Akosa, who was fragged by a subordinate after getting most of her unit killed. In that regard, the defeat Firemane recently inflicted on the Dominion has had a positive effect since it got rid of many of the madmen and incompetents. Leadership by the Windian Jedi Order remains a principle of the Grand Army. In short, the Grand Army has been set up as being the exact opposite of an apolitical force. This is a feature, not a bug. The army plays a crucial role not only in the defence of the Dominion, but in the control and regimentation of its people.
Until recently, the Jedi Inquisition, the ideological thought police of the Dominion, maintained its own combat troops. Officially they were supposed to be limited to quelling internal disturbances, providing rear echelon security in combat zones, combating insurgents and safeguarding critical installations such as government buildings, industrial centres and transport lines. But the ambitious Grand Inquisitor Antonius expanded them until they constituted an alternate army that outside of the military chain of command. The relationship between the two forces was one of rivalry.
The friction was not only centred on fundamental aspects, such as the function of the militarized units and the status of Inquisitorial academies but also on other levels, such as spying by the Inquisition on army units and the recruitment by the Inquisitorial combat troops on army units. Moreover, both groups squabbled over resources. The Inquisition suffered heavy losses during the war with Firemane and was purged when Mahtara initiated Operation Apotheois. Most of the remaining Inquisition's combat troops have been integrated into the army itself. The reformed Inquisition is supposed to focus on its role as a state security agency. It retains security forces to guard strategic facilities, prison camps, and penal colonies, deal with large-scale riots and internal revolts. The Grand Army also exercises control over the Ashlanite Righteous Resistance Force, a paramilitary volunteer militia.
Reputation: The Grand Army is met with fear in any civilian centres they pass through - even in the Dominion! However there is also a lot of respect and even awe among the Dominion of Light citizens. Whatever their feelings on Jedi leaders past and present, the Dominion is the only government the majority of them have known. The Vaderites fear and despise them, seeing them as an army of 'racial mongrels'. Soldiers of the Grand Army are likely to be tortured or murdered, though the Vaderites will try to encourage human soldiers and Jedi to 'enkindle their racial consciousness' and defect.
The Republican Guard hate and fear them for their ruthlessness and seemingly endless numbers. They regard the clone troopers as slaves of their Jedi Masters. Quite a few Republican Guard partisans are either defected Dominion troopers or people who fled from them, which makes combat between them especially bitter. Firemane sees it as a crackpot experiment, just like the Dominion of Light itself, to be dealt with.
COMPOSITION INFORMATION
Army Size: Large.
Composition: The Grand Army of Light is a mixture of clone troopers, regular soldiers, paramilitary forces and Jedi. Many formations have some Jedi assigned to them, though overall Non-Force-Users are in the majority. It has ground, sea, and aerospace forces. In addition, it has access to DOKAWS. These weapons are crude, as they cannot be used against space-faring forces or ground-based turbolasers. It also has poor accuracy and is of no use against a mobile enemy. These are minor concerns because it is inexpensive, easy to produce and because this one hundred kilo durasteel spear is essentially a guided meterorite weapon. In a nutshell, wham. The Grand Army's ability to project power beyond its home system is practically nonexistent. Formations of note included but are not limited to the following:
Temple Guard: The formal name is 'The Guardians of the Sacred Temple and the Holy Person of the Wise Council". Coup-proofing is the first order of business of any authoritarian or totalitarian régime, especially if it came to power through use of force. It is a common phenomena of totalitarian systems that they set up parallel military structures to reduce the influence of the regular army - and have an instrument to thwart potential military coups. Régimes create parallel militaries to counterweight the regular armed forces, as these could be used against the régime in a putsch. Because the purpose of a parallel military is to protect the régime, it must be bound to it through special loyalties and social relationships.
The Temple Guard performs this function for the Dominion. Its primary task is to protect the leadership of the Windian Jedi Order, Jedi temples, strategic buildings in Nexus City and all access roads. The Dominion of Light is a garrison state that - correctly - regards itself as under siege by forces that seek to destroy it. Thus the Temple Guard is expected to always be vigilant against threats both within and without. While its primary role is to quell domestic unrest, crush rebellions and suppress coups, it can also be deployed against external enemies on the frontlines. The Temple Guard is officially recognized as a component of the Dominion armed forces. It is separate from, and parallel to, the Grand Army of Light, the conventional military of the Dominion. The Temple Guard maintains its own aerospace units. However, these are small and their designs are extremely old. Certain members of the regular army's officer corps consider the existence of an independent Temple Guard aerospace arm to be an extravagant luxury and a resource drain.
Temple Guards are better trained, equipped and disciplined than the regular soldiers of the Dominion. They receive bonuses, new vehicles and better housing. Every single soldier of the corps has been bred for service, for the Temple Guard is composed solely of clones. Like the Old Republic's clone army, the Temple Guards have been conditioned for unconditional loyalty and obedience, though they have a broader pool of donors. Outside of direct combat, the Temple Guards wear blue robes over their heavy armour. The robes resemble the ceremonial attire of the Senate Guard of the Old Republic. Their faces are masked, strengthening their image as anonymous sentinels.
While they cannot claim the highest office in the state for themselves, they have a lot of influence regardless. There have been instances where the Temple Guards toppled Grandmasters. Though they are dwarfed in size by the regular army, they have a strong presence in the capital city and guard the most crucial installations that would have to be secured in order to successfully stage a coup. For this reason, the Guard is closely monitored. Most recently, was purged by Mahtara after it sided with the Grand Inquisitor.
The Guards receive extensive training in melee and ranged combat. They are characterised by incredible bravery under fire, but also fanaticism and a somewhat unimaginative mind set. To be captured by the enemy is treated as shameful. Indeed, Temple Guards are brought up in the belief that it is preferrable to launch a suicidal attack instead of surrender. For the same reason any member of the Guard who was captured by the enemy and later managed to escape or was liberated by allied forces would be treated as a potential traitor. There is also a practical side to their zealotry: their economic and social privileges are tied to them being unwavering sentinels of the Light.
Antarian Rangers: One wonders what an Antarian Ranger from the Golden Age of the Old Republic, or even its twilight, would think if he or she was able to look into a crystal ball and see what their future counterparts on Tephrike would become. Presumably, they would be shocked. The Grand Army's Antarian Rangers follow the traditions of their spiritual ancestors, but like almost everything else on Tephrike, they have been twisted. Like the Rangers of yore, the corps is composed of Non-Force-Users who serve the Jedi. For those without Force talent, it is a way of connecting to Ashla by serving the Jedi cause. Some Rangers are semi-permanently assigned to a Jedi to aid them in their quest.
The Rangers are trained in force reconnaissance and direct action operations. They are equipped as light infantry. The Rangers lack the surgical enhancements and more specialised training of the Righteous Fists, but are more numerous. A notable proportion of Rangers are Jedi clones who, for whatever reason, are not Force-Sensitive or whose Force connection is too weak to merit training. Many of these 'failed' clones are sent to the Agricultural Corps or given administrative tasks. But those who display combat aptitude are picked up by the Rangers.
This means that a number of Rangers are Force-Sensitive to some degree, but their Force affinity is too minor to merit proper training. It tends to manifest in the form of enhanced reflexes, improved senses and occasional flashes of precognition. In contrast to the Antarian Rangers of yore, their Dominion counterpart is not only officially acknowledged by the Windian Jedi Order, but integrated into its command structure. The Rangers have adopted a system of ranks that resembles that of their historical incarnation, though it has been expanded upon because they are a large unit.
Righteous Fists: The Righteous Fists of the Valiant Legions of Light. Or simply the Righteous Fists for short, since the Dominion has a tendency to use overly long names. Regardless, they are the Dominion's equivalent to the Old Republic's Clone Commandos. Like them, they are a corps of elite soldiers who specialise in sabotage, missions behind enemy lines, surprise attacks, counterinsurgency and irregular warfare. Their training and conditioning is supposed to give them peak physicality. They are crack soldiers noted for their skill, zeal and bravery in combat. However, due to their special status, they are given more individuality and greater critical thinking skills than the average clone soldier. They also receive better equipment and resources. They support the Dominion's war effort as an elite group within the Grand Army. They are heavily involved in insurgency and counter-insurgency operations.
Like their more common brethren, they are grown in cloning facilities. A moderate mixture of growth acceleration techniques is used in order to rapidly grow the clones to when they are fit to serve. They are provided with language, skills, and basic training elements through flash memory training. The growth process is slower than with mass produced clone troopers to reduce the risk of instability. They are slightly modified to reduce empathy and exposed during flash training to psychotherapy to reduce the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder after deployment, though this also makes them colder. They are put through an intense training programme to turn them into capable soldiers.
The Righteous Fists do not utilise a single genetic template. Many of them are clones of Kozon Bok, a grizzled Zabrak veteran who mentored a young Jedi Knight Mahtara. He is used as a genetic donor as a way to honour him...and to preserve his skills. However, the Dominion has a habit of using the top one percent of their existing clone army for the genetic code. This is supposed to reduce the risk of genetic degradation. Flash memories may be crafted from numerous soldiers who have distinguished themselves in the military, meaning that clones are not straight copies of the original templates. This is only the case for elite troops like the Righteous Fists though. The Dominion calls this the Blessed Lineage Project and considers it a great honour to be cloned.
Surgical enhancements performed upon the commandos leave them with strength, stamina, and reflexes superior to non-augmented, baseline members of their species. They also gain some increased resilience and resistance to disease and infections. Moreover, their augmentations grant them greater than average sight and hearing. This does not make them invincible supersoldiers, but it gives them an edge in combat. The enhancement process is painful and not without risks.
Valiant Crusaders of the Light: Or just Crusaders for short. The melodramatic, needlessly long name aside, these troops comparable to the Jedi-led clone trooper units deployed during the Clone Wars. Like the clone troopers of yore, the Crusaders are indoctrinated janissaries who have been bred to fight and not been a choice in the matter. Fittingly, they wear armour that resembles the suits used by their predecessors, though it is camo painted to enable them to blend.
They can operate in a variety of environments, and are deployed as mechanised infantry. They are better suited to frontline assault and defence than to dealing with insurgents who use asymmetrical warfare and avoid pitched engagements. The Crusaders use a variety of genetic donors instead of relying on a single template. The top one percent of the Crusaders are used as donors for more exclusive units. By the standards of Tephrike, the Crusaders have a lot of firepower and can call upon heavy fire support such as air strike artillery. They also have their own force of combat engineers. However, the clones that constitute their rank and file are practically produced on the assembly line and often do not have a long life span. Their education promotes religious zealotry and obedience to the Dominion.
They are led by Jedi Commanders. Fortunately, the Grand Army has by now abandoned the absurd practice of giving command positions to Padawans, as this policy led to idiotic decisions and disproportionately high casualties. Instead a more experienced, Non-Force-Using NCO is supposed to show them the ropes and prepare them for eventual command. This decision has proved unpopular with Jedi who insist that 'luminous beings' need not heed advice from 'crude matter'. Jedi are a minority among the Crusaders. Their level of skill and their abilities vary, though they focus on the Core Powers.
Defenders of the Sacred Trust: The Defenders are broadly comparable to the Crusaders, but differ in a crucial respect: they are not clones. The Dominion dislikes natural reproduction, as it believes that lust leads to the dark side. It applies this principle not just to Jedi, but also ordinary people. But it has not been able to create a clone-only population. The purity laws are more lax in the rural areas, where they are difficult to enforce.
Clones call 'normal' born people 'Randoms', as one never knows what 'aberrant' traits or features one might get. The Defenders tend to be less well-equipped and less motorised. They do see a lot of combat action, although propaganda broadcasts tend to focus more on clone troopers. This is not necessarily indicative of actual appreciation, as Jedi Generals like Kennobi can be very unfazed about heavy casualties among clone troopers.
Defenders tend to be locally recruited in their province or municipality of origin. Ironically, in some instances the Defenders have been more loyal than their clone counterparts. The Dominion is an extremely controlling government either way, but clones are repressed and indoctrinated even before they are born, which can produce obedient servants...but also produce a backlash.
Ashlanite Righteous Resistance Force: A paramilitary volunteer militia that acts as an auxiliary to the Grand Army. It consists of civilian volunteers, reservists and retired military personnel. The members of the ARRF are issued light arms and training periods are rather short. They are particularly prominent in Vortanstad or, as the Dominion calls it, the City of Harmonious Industry.
Presently the city is a war zone that divided between the Republican Guard and the Dominion. Both groups have established their own occupation zones, which are separated by a river. While all-out fighting has died down, incursions are common on both sides. The ARRF is supposed to support the regular forces. However, there are issues with corruption and lack of discipline. Moreover, criminal elements have tried to take advantage of the vacuum by infiltrating the ARRF and taking over checkpoints in order to extort civilians. The ARRF's Republican Guard counterpart, the Territorials, have the same problem.
For this reason the Dominion has assigned commissars to oversee political education and weed out corrupt elements. Retired military personnel are responsible for training recruits, which allows them to earn a little bit extra for their pensions. The ARRF has been involved in small military operations and the extermination of 'defeatists', 'saboteurs', 'profiteers' and 'enemies of the Light'.
Ever Loyal Vanguard: The sword and shield of the guardians of the Light. The Vanguard is one of the premier martial bodies of the Windian Jedi Order. Its members are warrior-priests, who have dedicated their lives to defending the bastion of the Light against its manifold enemies. To the loyal citizens of the Dominion, they are implacable paladins who inspire the soldiers of the Light any time they appear on the battlefield. When the Vanguard is deployed, there is no room for compromise or debate. Only for the burning sword of purity and righteousness.
The Vanguard is an exclusive unit that only accepts veteran Jedi who have proved themselves in the Great War. To join this sacred covenant, a Windian Jedi must have fought in several campaigns, displayed valour, obedience, discipline and faith in the Light. The Vanguard is reserved for the most critical engagements. When deployed into battle, they conduct themselves as a military unit, combining Jedi powers with military tactics.
Their bond is a fierce and all-encompassing one. The Force binds them together. The same applies to the suffering that has been inflicted upon them by the Dark Side and the revulsion they feel for it. The many battles they have fought has moulded them into experienced soldiers. The Dominion is a nation at war, after all. The members of the Vanguard are very experienced in combating Dark Side Force-Users, Sithspawn and Yuuzhan Vong.
Lightsabres are extremely rare on Tephrike because the planet has been isolated for centuries. However, although the planet regressed during the Four Hundred Year Darkness, the knowledge of how to imbue items with the Force was not lost. Thus the Vanguard utilises Force imbued weapons that are comparable in capabilty and function to those utilised by the ancient Je'daii millennia ago. Their battle armour and shields are also imbued. In addition, they are taught how to use guns, explosives and so on, having dispensed with the idea that these weapons are 'crude and uncivilised'.
The Vanguard engaged Firemane and the Republican Guard during the Second Battle of Fortress Purity. When the enemy broke through the Dominion's lines, the Vanguard confronted them and almost turned the tide, but was ultimately forced to yield. Their commander, Jedi Dione, suspects that the story of the Grandmaster being killed by a 'Firemane Sithspawn' air strike is a lie, but has pledged allegiance to the new government. She is motivated by patriotism, as her country is fighting a war to the knife. However, she also held a grudge against the Grand Inquisitor for framing one of her sisters.
The Legion of the Penitent Who Aspire to Redemption in Ashla: Redemption is possible for sinners, but the road to return to Ashla's embrace is a long, arduous one. The Dominion's army has created penal battalions, consisting of convicts mobilised for military service. Of course, the Dominion is a totalitarian dictatorship, which affects its definition of which crimes require 'atonement'. Service is considered a form of punishment. 'Defeatists', deserters, 'hoarders' and camp inmates are conscripted into the Penitent Warriors in exchange for a lighter sentence or a stay of execution.
A Penitent who dies fulfilling his duty is pardoned posthumously, for he has wiped himself clean of sin. They can also theoretically receive military decorations for outstanding service and if released are considered fully rehabilitated. Moreover, their sentence can be commuted, leading to a transfer to a regular unit, if they have sustained a combat injury or performed an act of great heroism. However, this also depends on the attitude of the commander.
Their equipment and living conditions are poor. They are treated with little regard by the regular army and often given dangerous assignments, such as forlorn hope assaults, clearing mine fields, scouting ahead of the main force to check for ambushes and drawing enemy fire. The Penitents are deployed to the most dangerous combat zones and then always operate with blocking detachments to steel their resolve, prevent desertions and unauthorised retreats. But these proximate threats are not always needed. Although the chance of being killed is high, it is nonetheless a preferrable fate to many who otherwise would have faced certain execution. A soldier who survives can be restored to good standing, and dying on the front clears a soldier's record.
Recently the Penitent Warriors have received a new influx of recruits as a result of the purge of the Inquisition. This is more than a little ironic. In order to keep them from being able to organise, the high command has dispersed them over several penal units. A number of the Penitents, though only a minority, have been brainwashed by Jedi minders.
Grand Division of Most Learned Medicos for the Restoration of the Righteous: The melodramatically named medical corps of the Grand Army. As might have become clear, the Dominion likes making everything so damn long. Needlessly cumbersome titles aside, it acts as a medical support unit for the Grand Army. It provides medical care to military and civilian personnel, conducts rescue and evacuation operations, evacuates civilians from war and disaster zones and provides aid to refugees.
Moreover, it also has responsibility for cataloguing valuable individuals for possible inclusion in the Blessed Lineage Project. As members of the military, the medics are trained in combat so that they can defend themselves and their patients, especially if they have to reach and stabilise a wounded comrade under fire. The composition of the 'Grand Division' is a mixture of standard medics and Jedi healers. Needless to say there is neither bacta nor kolto to harvest on the Tephrike, so the medicos must rely on more conventional medicine as well as Force healing. Indeed, they are quite good at creating healing crystals. Archangel has been selling them medical supplies and provided them with medical droids, but obviously expects payment.
The medical corps has many honest healers and medical practitioners. Indeed, the majority of its members belong to this category. However, some are involved in less benign activities. An example would be exorcism asylums to 'force the darkness' from people. The path of the Light is hard and painful, but for those who follow it they will be welcomed back into the Dominion. Some are involved in medical experiments the Dominion conducts on Yuuzhan Vong and other Force Dead beings in order to find out what makes them tick, how their condition can be countered and possibly reversed.
The Iron Guardians of Harmonious Peace: Or the Iron Guard for short. The Iron Guard is composed of battle droids and HRDs acquired from Archangel Research and Design. The Dominion does not like soulless machines, but has realised they are useful. However, they mainly use them for rear line and garrison duties, as they do not trust them much.
This is an area droids excel in, as they do not get tired or grow bored. Machines can work day and night and cannot be bribed. The droid troops have organic commanders. When deployed, the Iron Guardians guard convoys and supply lines, provide a garrison force, and are given occupational duties.
This involves mundane duties such as traffic control, manning checkpoints outposts, guarding convoys, and such. Beyond that, it includes combating and executing partisans and apprehending enemy stragglers. They also arrest and execute soldiers for desertion, defeatism and similar violations. To this end, they screen refugees and hospital transports for potential deserters. To this end, rear-echelon personnel are also checked for papers that allow them be given assignments away from the front lines.
Harbingers of Ashla's Justice: The Harbingers are a specialised formation that is mostly composed of Force-Users with some select Non-Force-Users. These silent, camouflaged hunters specialise in long range combat and have been trained as sharpshooters. These Jedi use the Force in a manner similar to the Grey Paladins. This allows them to accomplish impressive feats of marksmanship, making them capable snipers. Quiet, stealthy and precise, they deliver relentless judgement upon the enemies of the Dominion by stalking them and eliminating them from afar.
They provide long range suppressive fire and eliminate high-value targets such as officers. In that regard, they are the Dominion's answer to the Republican Guard's snipers. They are under standing orders to eliminate the latter wherever they show. The Harbingers are not a large force, and tend to be dispersed among regular formations.
Retributive Strike Legion: Called the Strike Legion or just Legion. These are the tank forces of the Grand Army. The Dominion controls the majority of Tephrike's industrial centres, so they are able to assure a constant output of armoured fighting vehicles. They are the Grand Army's sledgehammer. Treaded or wheeled vehicles are more common than repulsorcraft. This is partly because they are easier to manufacture, but also because the terrain is more suited to them. They are deployed in a combined arms role in concert with the infantry and aerial craft.
Like with most branches of the Dominion's armed forces, the Strike Legion underwent a process of reform after the Second Battle of Fortress Purity. For one, a number of designs were scrapped and a bunch of vanity projects were cancelled. This included a super heavy tank that was so ridiculously heavily armoured that it was called a landdreadnought. The Dominion still makes use of some old and rugged, but reliable designs such as the HAVw A6 Juggernaut, which doubles as an armoured transport, and the Occupier. Walkers are a lot rarer, since they are vulnerable to the low-cost, high-reward tactics employed by partisans.
Seraphim Purifier Squadrons: The aerospace forces of the Grand Army. It comprises the starfighters, bombers, gunships etc. available to the Dominion. The Dominion did set up bases on Tephrike's moons and had starfighter patrols. However, as Tephrike regressed, many of their capital ships rusted and ended up being just for show. This means that they have little ability to move beyond their star system. Many of their vessels lack a hyperdrive or have a very primitive one.
As a result of Tephrike's long isolation, the Dominion became convinced that everyone beyond their planet had been killed by the Gulag Virus, which was seen as a dark side machination. Space travel was shunned, as it was believed it would only lead to an empty void. The Dominion now knows life exists outside of Tephrike, but mostly regards it as hostile. As a result, the Seraphim's primary role, aside from patrolling the system, is providing support for ground forces and protecting the Dominion's cities.
The squadrons include Jedi ace pilots who can use precognitive abilities and instinctive astrogation to augment their piloting, though overall Non-Force-Users are the majority. Use of the Force as well as force of numbers allows the pilots to somewhat compensate for the fact that many of their craft are based on rather old designs. Archangel has sold them droid starfighters. The Dominion does not like using soulless machines, but recognises that they are cheap and help keep organic casualties down. The new government has prohibited the practice of using kamikaze pilots.
MEMBERS
Battlemaster Mahtara: Master Mahtara is the Dominion's de facto leader following the assassination of Grandmaster Aegus. As Battlemaster, she is the supreme commander of the Grand Army of Light. The Jedi Master is a Yodaling. Her long life span means that she was alive when the Gulag Virus was unleashed and remembers the old days. Deep down she knows that the Dominion has strayed from the Jedi Code, but believes the old ways failed, making her complicit in many of the Dominion's totalitarian measures. Freedom produced chaos and so she chose order.
The madness and zealotry of her peers forced her to take control after trying to mitigate the damage their actions caused. It was she who destroyed Palmyra, an act that causes her a great deal of guilt. However, she prioritises ends over means, has a great capactity for ruthlessness. Mahtara is a formidable duellist, focusing on Ataru. She is a powerful practitioner of Battlemind, Protection Bubble, Dampen Force and Severe Force. She specialises in buffing herself and her allies and negating or severing the Force powers of her enemies. She is an experienced battlefield commander and strategist. Time will tell whether her skills will be sufficient to ensure the survival of the Dominion and perhaps its transformation into something better.
Eeth Soldier: Eeth Soldier is one of Mahtara's closest allies. He is, in fact, a clone of the long-dead Kozon Bok, a grizzled Zabrak soldier who was Mahtara's mentor and taught her how to think tactically and strategically. Eeth rose through the ranks of the First Legion, a unit exclusively composed of Kozon clones, to become Mahtara's right hand. He has history with the Righteous Fists, a unit of elite clone commandos. A natural and practical leader in the clone army, he is a good fit for Mahtara, to whom he is particularly loyal. His keen ability to strategise, combined with his steady nerves and fierce combat style in the heat of battle, have earned him the respect of his fellow clones. Eeth is conscious of his role as a tool of the Dominion, but is also aware that the Jedi need him and those like him.
His knowledge and skill on the battlefield have earned him the prestigious rank of Clone Marshal Commander, the highest rank a clone trooper can achieve in the Grand Army of Light. Eeth served as a field commander during the Netherworld Event, rallying fragmented clone units and helping repulse the Republican Guard's offensive. When the Grandmaster ordered the First Legion to march to Fortress Purity to defeat the combined forces of Firemane and the Guard, he chose loyalty to Mahtara over his oath to the Grandmaster. Later he helped his mentor take control and participated in the purge of enemies of the state, namely loyalists of the late Grandmaster and Grand Inquisitor. He led the assault on the Ministry of Harmony, where the Inquisition had barricaded itself.
Jedi General Karros: A human Jedi Master and General. A hard-bitten, uncouth military man, he is missing an eye. He is nicknamed Sith Slayer due to his accomplishments, but this is a nickname he does not encourage. He prefers a steady, attrition approach. Karros sees himself as prudent, just and devout. His detractors consider him severe, arrogant, bigoted, uncultured and cruel. He is a coarse man who cares little for philosophy, learning or the finer things in life. No one disputes that he is very effective at doing his job. Physically extremely strong and imposing, the Jedi Guardian is a formidable duellist and tank with a focus on physical augmentation.
Master Karros gained his monicker by routing a Sith army at the Battle of Kleidion, taking many Sith prisoner. At his command, captives who refused to repent were blinded - all of them. Then sent back home. He told them: "If the Dark Side is your strength see your way home." He then had those who collapsed or strayed from the path shot. For a while he served as the Jedi Lord of a troublesome border area.
Pelagia Soldier: A Twi'lek clone and ace Dominion tank commander. Pelagia is a competent tank commander who serves in the Retributive Strike Legion. Her template is a Dominion tank commander who was killed by the Vaderites. Her template's tank had been immobilised after several hours of intense combat. After she had run out of ammunition and refused to surrender, the Vaderites set fire to her tank. She was posthumously named a Hero of the Dominion. Thus Pelagia had a lot to live up to.
She is credited with establishing a corridor to trapped Dominion soldiers, after fighting unit after unit of Republican Guard troops. When a Vaderite force attacked a Dominion settlement, Timothea and her tank troopers set up ambush position. The geography favoured the outnumbered defenders, as there was only one road in the region, which passed swamp. The tank troopers controlled this choke point from their hideout.
As the enemy approached, she and her comrades held fire. To avoid revealing the true size of her force, only one tank at a time engaged the enemy. The enemy forces walked into her ambush. When the first tank was knocked out, the enemy assumed it had stepped on a mine. When they realised they were under fire, they could not locate the origin of the shot. While they fired blindly, Pelagia's tank knocked out a trailing Republican Guard tank, boxing in the column. Amidst the fighting, the enemy tanks bot gogged when they tried to move off the road. Several tanks and two artillery pieces were knocked out by Pleagia's tank before she had depleted her ammunition. Her tank unit fought during the Second Battle of Fortress Purity. However, she ordered a fighting retreat when it became apparent that the battle was lost. For this she was arrested, but then released when the new government took power.
Zacharias Soldier: Nicknamed the Eye of Ashla. Zacharias is a Rodian, a Dominion sniper and one of the Non-Force-Using members of the Harbingers of Ashla's Justice. He is not a clone, but likely to be cloned. Zacharias was born into a peasant family. Growing up in a mountain range called the Iron Tips, he learned marksmanship by hunting animals. He brought home his first trophy when he was still a young boy and barely able to carry his large hunting rifle on his back. Zacharias attended courses at a Dominion school.
Owing to his education, he originally served in the military as a clerk. But when the Netherworld Crisis threw the Dominion into disarray, he volunteered for a transfer to the front lines. The rapture had destabilised the nation and many experienced people had been vanished. He was one of the survivors of the brutal Battle of Grimwater Swamp and was given a medal.
Zacharias served in a standard Defender division, but displayed impressive accuracy with rifle. This led to him becoming a sniper. To stalk his prey, he used various means of concealment, hiding himself on high ground, under rubble, or in water pipes. Once he had eliminated a few enemies, he changed his position. These hide and sting tactics proved very effective. To cover a large area, he used a tactic called the 'sixes'.
He is said to have foguht a three-day sniper duel with a rival Republican Guard sniper at the First Battle of Fortress Purity. It ended with his enemy's death. Zacharias also fought in the second battle, but was taken out of the fight when a Firemane artillery strike wounded his eyes. Zacharias survived and a Jedi healer has restored his eyesight. The Dominion has somewhat embellished his record. They claim he killed many times his actual number of kills, but his skills are still impressive.
Diana: Diana is a devoted Jedi in the Grand Army of Light who is loyal to the government. She is a clone and has the same template as Diona. The latter was a Jedi Inquisitor who served as Elpsis' jailer, but then helped her escape. Diana is a bit younger than Diona. She was injured by Elpsis during the initial fighting, suffering nasty burns. The clone used to look up to her sibling, who was once a model Guardian. Now she is dedicated to removing this stain from her line.
In contrast to the more conventional Diona, Diana has spent a long time studying the mysteries of the Force. She has a similar skill set to Diona, but takes a more aggressive stance with a focus on all-out offence. Ever since recovering from her injuries, she has received training as a pilot and gotten a position in the Dominion's fighter squadrons. She has vowed to be ready when the space people return to rain down hellfire upon her country.
Jedi Kyrric: Kyrric is a Kel'Dor and Mahtara's apprentice. His species is already pretty obscure in the greater Galaxy and pretty damn rare on Tephrike. As a result, Kyrric found it hard to fit into the conformist Dominion. He was trained in the Windian Jedi Order, but found it difficult to find a Master. Mahtara found him in a meaningless job, for he had been relegated to being a pen-pusher who was responsible for registering new Jedi initiates. She took a chance with the lad and put him under her wing. He has not disappointed her. Kyrric tracked down the traitorous Jedi Tyrus, who had absurdly decided that from his point of view the Jedi were evil, and fought in the Netherworld War.
When a young clone technician realised that the intel the Dominion had received on Republican Guard's troop movements were faulty and that the rebels were marching on Fortress Purity, it was he who brought this to his Master's attention. This allowed the Dominion to rout the rebels. However, when the Grandmaster schemed to instigate war with Firemane, Mahtara turned on the Dominion's leadership and ordered her apprentice to do the unthinkable: to fight his own comrades to save the nation.
He obeyed, but was conflicted, as he had to violate his vows. Kyrric is someone who takes oaths very seriously and is loath to break his word. But at the same time the Grandmaster was leading his country to ruin. The mere thought that the Grandmaster could be anything other than the embodiment of the Light was heresy, yet his policies were disastrous. Deceiving and fighting his comrades has left Kyrric with feelings of guilt. Nonetheless, he followed Mahtara's orders because he had confidence in his mentor.
Like many Jedi Guardians, Kyrric was given a command position early on. Mahtara taught him to value the input of the clone troopers under his command instead of just treating them as disposable fodder that is not good for more than marching at the enemy in a straight line, shooting and getting shot at. Kyrric still has a bit of a superiority complex. But he has developed something like an affinity for the soldiers under his command and is not careless with their lives. This also played a role in his decision to have them surrender to Firemane's superior forces rather than fight a battle he knew they would be slaughtered in. His telekinetic powers are subpar, but he is a formidable duellist, a tank and can utilise the technique called Electric Judgement or Emerald Lightning. Naturally, it has nothing in common with Sith Lightning.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
Jedi traditionally regard themselves as peacekeepers, not soldiers. Nonetheless, throughout their long history, various Jedi Orders have been pulled into armed conflict and been compelled on the fight on the frontlines. This is an understandable necessity. After all, Imperials, Sith, Vuuzhan Yong, Mandalorians or whatever threat arises will not backdown and stop trying to subjugate others if asked nicely. During the twilight of the Old Republic, the Jedi became generals. The army they commanded happened to be a slave army. In all fairness, the Jedi found themselves in a damned if you do, damned if you do not situation,
The Clones were not largely given a choice pre-republic involvement, but the army was dropped into the Order's lap right at the start of the conflict and it was going to be used anyway. Of course, the fact that many Jedi lacked the proper training to command in warfare and gave fourteen-year old Padawans command roles did not help.
In one way or another, virtually every world in the Galaxy was affected when the terrorist Zero released the Gulag Virus on Csilla. The plague spread like wild fire, bringing galactic civilisation to its knees. The so called Golden Age came to an end. Governments crumbled, galactic trade collapsed and trillions of beings perished. Historians would call it the Four Hundred Year Darkness. Tephrike suffered greatly during this period. However, the light never returned to this benighted planet.
Isolated from the rest of the Galaxy, the planet regressed. Though rich in raw materiels such as precious ores and alloys, the planet had been dependent on trade to sustain itself. Now there was no one who could buy their ores and sell them food. Countless died due to starvation, ecological disasters, riots and civil war. Tephrike's fragile democracy collapsed as the federal government proved unable to resolve the crisis. Its party system was fractured along lines of class and species.
The Jedi of Tephrike were forced into a protective role. Believing themselves to be the last Jedi in the Galaxy, they held their Order responsible for the Long Night, as they had been unable to prevent the release of the Gulag Virus. It was a crisis no amount of Jedi training could have prepared them for. Even the most compassionate spirit had to make sacrifices that under normal circumstances would have been considered reprehensible.
After government soldiers shot protesters who had come to parliament to deliver a petition, a radical cabal of Jedi decided that it was their duty to intervene and take control. The radical Duros Jedi Master Zaras Dant was the ringleader of the coup. With the support of renegade elements in the army, they took control of the capital Palmyra, arrested Tephrike's prime minister and disbanded parliament. However, they soon faced opposition from rebel forces, such as the Alliance of Democratic Forces. What was supposed to be a provisional emergency junta turned into a dictatorship without end. Racial tensions between Tephrike's people triggered pogroms and the Jedi came under fire when they tried to put an end to the violence.
Faced with enemies on all sides, the Jedi had to militarise. But relying on Jedi shock troops was not enough, even after imposing conscription on all Force-Sensitives. Like in the days of yore, the Jedi became Lords and Generals. What became the Grand Army of Light emerged as the result of the unification of Jedi warriors, pro-putsch elements of the army and various paramilitary groups. At first the army was a purely secular organisation along the lines of the Antarian Rangers.
Zaras was an authoritarian ruler, but troubled by her own actions and did not see herself as a religious leader. However, in the hour of victory she was assassinated by ADF agents, who had been supported by a rebellious Jedi who believed the Order had lost its way.
Tyian Kree, a Devaronian Jedi Master, emerged as the new Jedi Lord. A charismatic, fierce woman, she shared Zaras' belief that it was the Jedi's duty to take control. However, she took things a step further. Zaras had been a reluctant ruler and ruled as a largely secular military dictator. By contrast, Tyian was a theocrat. With large swathes of the populace at the risk of starvation, the Jedi Lord implemented a policy of requisitions. All spheres of economic life would be nationalised, those who did not work would be conscripted into labour battalions and hoarding would be punished severely.
Tyian was very ambitious - and had unknowingly fallen to the Dark Side. Obsessed with the idea that the Plague had been a Sith conspiracy and that agents of darkness lurked everywhere, she saw the uprisings sparking across the planet as confirmation. The infrastructure for a dictatorship had already been put into place by Zaras, but Tyian finished what her predecessor had started by implementing a totalitarian theocracy. For it was the only way to ensure that the Light would not be eclipsed by the forces of Darkness. In order to save the last vestiges of civilisation, the Jedi would have to harden their hearts. Furthermore, they would have to spread their beliefs to the common people, lest they become pawns of the Darkness. The Dominion of Light was born.
Tyian's rule was opposed by remnants of the ADF, secessionists, rogue Jedi who believed the order has gone too far and a myriad dark cults. Ultimately many of these opposition forces would be united under the banner of the Republican Guard and the Disciples of the Vader. One of the young commanders of the new army was a Yodaling called Mahtara. Ironically, she was the former Padawan of the Jedi Master who had helped facilitate the assassination of Zaras. She was committed to defending the new nation and its people by any means necessary. But she also showed empathy for her troops.
The Dominion strengthened its hold on Tephrike, launching campaigns to bring the rebellious provinces under control and deliver aid to those in need. But it also grew more ruthless. Sometimes the populace and enemy soldiers had to be compelled through terror to submit. Those infected by the plague had to be isolated. They could not waste time with imprisoning hostile Force-users and redeeming them through gentle persuasion. Civilians had to be conscripted to serve as soldiers or labourers - at gunpoint if need be. In time the Dominion initiated a cloning programme to preserve its best servants. It also began to regulate the reproductive rights of the people under its control.
The Dominion started using cloning as an emergency measure, repurposing laboratories left behind by now defunct genetics companies. It could provide the army with soldiers and the factories and farms with labourers. Moreover, it was a form of population control. Often given only basic flash training and fed a heavy dose of propaganda, the new clone troopers proved to be fanatical soldiers, though also prone to acts of suicidal bravery. Confessors were introduced to maintain discipline, acting as a check on the authority of officers. Twin threats emerged in form of the secular Republican Guard and the human supremacist Disciples of the Vader. Both would become the perennial enemies of the Dominion.
Mahtara participated in the failed siege of Red Coral City, an underwater settlement that became the capital of the Republican Guard. Clone troopers disgruntled by their poor treatment had defected to the rebellion. The failure of the attack emboldened the rebels, who declared war on both Jedi and Sith. Tyian died of a heart attack while laying siege to the Gungan city. Her successor Norn Astur did not have her authority due to his lack of military credentials and tried to bolster his legitimacy through excessive piety. A young Jedi commander called Cade seward, suffering from disease and madness, became convinced that the spirit of Darth Vader had chosen him to lead the legions of darkness. Gathering followers, he mustered a Sith army and marched against the Dominion.
At first dismissed as a mere bandit, the Windian Jedi Order eventually realised that this rogue, who had begun to call himself Darth Menace, was an actual threat. This changed after he had won several victories over them. Aliens and supporters of the Dominion were massacred en masse or turned into Sithspawn abominations. He also did not shy away from using nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. The Dominion was driven to radicalise even further. All aspects of life were subordinated to a total war policy. Eventually the two armies met at Palmyra, still damaged from the earlier civil war. The city was devastated by the brutality of the fighting. Tactical ballistic missiles, chemical weapons, artillery and Force magicks caused large-scale devastation.
Jedi General Mahtara was one of the Jedi commanders who faced Menace in the field at the ruins of Palmyra. She received her promotion to Master in the field after holding off a Sith attack. However, the battle was going ill. Both the Dominion and the Sith troops fought fiercely. Humanitarian conventions had been abandoned in the favour of what was considered efficient. Kozon Bok, a grizzled Zabrak veteran who had been a mentor to Mahtara and taught her about proper tactics, was killed in action. He became the template for a whole new line of clone troopers.
The Sith gained ground by conducting a ritual to summon a huge Deadly Field and raising the dead as zombies. Rumours claimed that Darth Menace intended to use blood sacrifices to open a gateway to Chaos. In this hour, Mahtara was authorised to unleash a terrible nuclear weapon. Troubled by the use of it, yet desperate, Mahtara insisted on accompanying the bomber crew that would drop the weapon upon Palmyra. It was not possible to evacuate all Dominion troops and Jedi in time, as they were still locked in combat with the Sith legions. Lacking conventional stealth systems, the bomber was concealed by illusions. However, a Sith mentalist managed to see past the concealment and the bomber came under fire.
Insisting on completing the mission, Mahtara gave the order to drop the bomb. Palmyra ceased to exist. But the Sith crusade came to an end. Menace's forces retreated, going on the so called Arduous March. He was eventually slain by one of his lieutenants. The Vaderites regrouped at Castle Maysaf, but their bid to conquer Tephrike had failed. On paper, it was a victory for the Dominion. In the years to come the Dominion launched several counterattacks to retake terirtory lost to rebel forces. It established itself as the dominant faction on the planet. But victory had come at a staggering cost. Palmyra had not just been destroyed, it had been irrevocably tainted. Attempts to cleanse the dark taint failed. The contaminated ruins were placed under lockdown. Feeling immense guilt about her actions, Mahtara put down her lightsabre and resigned from active service. However, Tephrike remained divided.
New leaders came to power. Men and women who knew nothing except the Dominion. Looking back at the older generations of Jedi, they saw failures. The wars had hardened them and inured them to to their horrors. And they believed that to prevent another Collapse, the entire society of the Dominion would have to be indoctrinated in accordance with their warped understanding of Jedi principles. Cloning became a fixture rather than a provisional measure to solve the manpower crisis and replenish the decimated population. The Grand Army launched many campaigns to bring the Republican Guard and the Vaderites to heel. It was able to score many victories, but unable to defeat them for good.
The Guard was the weakest of the three factions in terms of population and industrial basis. Thus it was not able to match its enemy in pitched engagements. So instead it avoided set-piece battles, realising on asymmetrical warfare. The often heavy-handed tactics used by the Grand Army alienated many local communities it should have won over as it scoured the countryside for partisans. Of course, the Guard had no qualms about using terrorist tactics, regarding them as the only recourse the common man had against a tyrannical government. The result was a brutal cycle of violence and terror. With the Vaderites meanwhile, the war became a religious crusade. Periodically, both powers would launch religiously inspired incursions.
When the Cultural Revolution of the Blue Guards and the Mad Grandmaster Tsal Te Mong sent the Dominion spiralling into chaos, Mahtara and a cabal of generals mobilised their allies in the military to launch a coup. Officially acting in the name of the Grandmaster, the First Legion and the Righteous Fists occupied the control, took control over government buildings and communications centres. The Blue Guards were disarmed and the so-called Gang of Three arrested for treason. The Grandmaster was placed under house arrest. Until a Council could elect a new Grandmaster, the plotters used an illusionist.
The Righteous Fists participated in special operations against Mon Calamari settlements that had refused to submit to the Dominion and were believed to be terrorist nests. Their operations were successful, but helped drive the aquatic aliens into the arms of the rebels. General Kennobi, a rising star in the army, destroyed a neutral Mon Calamari town that had been labelled a terrorist camp. One of the survivors, a man called Aruunzeb, became one of the Republican Guard's generals and an implacable enemy of the Dominion.
The Grand Army clashed with the Vaderites. Brutal fighting in the trenches was accompanied by artillery and missile duels, as both sides fired rockets at towns and military fortifications. A massive Vaderite aerial attack on Fortress Purity was repulsed when the Dominion activated a weather control machine and unleashed elite Jedi fighter squadrons. The Dominion carried out punitive expeditions. This period of the conflict was known as the war of the cities. It was characterised by an intensive use of short-range ballistic missiles and air power. The Dominion air force dropped bombs on Adlerberg, one of the industrial centres of the Vaderites, and Sith installations.
Then came the Netherworld Event. Like virtually every world in the Galaxy, Tephrike was affected by Akala's insanity. Given the natives predisposition towards apocalyptic beliefs and zealotry, it obviously led to bloodshed. The Dominion believed the disappearances were a Dark Side conspiracy. Both the Jedi and the Sith were gravely weakened by the Force being thrown out of balance, as it became risky to draw upon its power. The Republican Guard used its chance to mount a grand offensive against the Dominion. The Vaderites joined the attack after going through a civil war that saw the 'Light Sith' ascend to power. This threw the Dominion into a state of crisis. It had to mobilise for total war, while still dealing with internal unrest. Protests broke out on the Square of Heavenly Peace. These were violently suppressed when Dominion soldiers opened fire on the protesters.
Some of the most brutal fighting took place at the Battle of Grimwater Swamp, one of the bloodiest fights of the conflict. To illustrate the nature of the engagement, at some point Dominion generals seriously considered dropping a tactical nuke on the enemy. Synthia Vao, a Dominion clone trooper who also participated in the battle, simply called it hell. Here the Dominion faced the Vaderites. The Sith had recently undergone a regime change, which had brought the Light Sith to power. However, the Vaderite commander in this zone followed the old days, including disdain for non-humans.
Amidst the massive downpour, the ground turned to mud and swamps so the wounded drowned and the dead were buried and uncovered by bombardments. Both sides shelled each other relentlessly. The vermin gnawed on the flesh of the dead and dying alike. The Vaderites tied captured Dominion soldiers and alien civilians to post in the path of the attackers, so that when Dominion soldiers got close the bombs strapped to them went off. This was against the teachings of the Vaderites' new leader, but the Sith commander was a traditionalist and they were far from reach of Lord Salus.
Again and again, the Dominion troops were thrown against the Vaderites. Periods of intense, bloody combat were followed by weeks in the trenches and the mud. Both sides made ample use of chemical weapons. Jedi General Akosa, convinced of her own infallibility, was very cavalier with the lives of her soldiers and regarded 'mundanes' who thought for themselves instead of heeding her 'Force visions' with contempt.
The Vaderite counterattack eventually tired itself out after making limited gains. General Akosa now ordered a full-scale assault on the enemy. Some officers protested against the order. Even a few Jedi voiced misgivings about it, seeing it as folly. However, they were shut down. Later Synthia would describe the strategy as 'a gargantuan effort to march forward very slowly and get mowed down so that Akosa can get a Council seat'. In her words, the clone troopers were nexu led by donkeys. The charge was a bloodbath. Neither the Vaderites nor the Dominion were concerned about casualties. Instead they threw unit after unit into the meat grinder. Entire units were, in her words, swallowed, chewed and spat out. The muddy, blood-soaked and swampy battlefield became a charnel house. Sithspawn war beasts clashed with primitive war engines.
However, the Dominion's strategy had changed. Under the leadership of Battlemaster Mahtara, the Army of Light had implemented a scorched earth strategy. Now the Dominion was taking advantage of its larger territory and greater reserves of manpower and materiel. Everything that could be of use to the enemy was to be destroyed if territory could not be held. Being more rational than many of her peers, Mahtara sacked several of the political hacks and introduced a more flexible strategy rather than 'fight to the last man and do not move a step back'.
But the fighting was still brutal and the Dominion was in retreat. Faced with a war on two fronts, the Grand Army traded space for time. It also initiated a sorched earth campaign. Bridges and dams were blown up to hinder the enemy. These measures targeted food sources, transportation, communications and industrial resources. Even civilians were rounded up and removed from areas bound to fall to the enemy. Grain was confiscated from peasants to feed the army and the cities. The troops used chemicals to poison any food and water supplies their foes might get their hands on. Mahtara also used deception, guile and false flag operations to exploit divisions between divisions between the Guard and the 'Light Sith', who were de facto co-belligerents but also enemies and fought each other.
The Righteous Fists scored a victory over the Sith forces in a battle fought at the Skyspine of Harmonious Confluence. There they positioned themselves to ambush the forces of Darth Malice, an infamous Sith Lord who had cut a bloody swathe through Dominion territory. The Jedi Master Batele, the scion of a major 'bloodline' of clones, insisted on engaging the Sith head-on in pitched combat. The commandos expected this...and even factored it in to lure the enemy into a bad position. Somehow the order that they should charge as well got lost.
When Darth Malice led columns of Sithspawn, soldiers and Sith warriors in a march through the mountains, the Jedi and her soldiers ambushed them. Then they proceeded to jump from the ridge down into the fray of battle, where they engaged an onslaught from the Sith and their troops. Batele insisted on a death charge to engage Malice in one-on-one combat. Fortunately for her, the Sith Lord obliged. While the Sith and Jedi warriors battled each other and many grunts perished, the clone commandos hung back. They picked off targets of opportunity with precision rifles. Batele and a clone commander were able to best Malice, but the battle had turned in favour of the Sith. However, their advance lured them into the commandos' trap. The Righteous Fists used explosives to bring down a rock slide on them. Then they unloaded with weapons fire, eliminating the surviving Sith troops.
The Guard dealt the Dominion's elite troops a bloody blow at the Battle of Sunrider Pass, which overshadowed the commandos' victory. The Temple Guard faced a superior Republican Guard force commanded by General Aruunzeb at the Sunrider Pass, a narrow coastal passage. The spot was named after the ancient Jedi Master Nomi Sunrider. The engagement was trumpeted by Dominion propaganda. According to the Ministry of Enlightenment, 300 Temple Guards selflessly held back savage hordes of Yuuzhan Vong barbarians. The performance of the defenders at the battle of Sunrider Pass was often used as an example of the advantages of training, equipment, and good use of terrain to maximise an army's potential and was became a symbol of courage. There is some truth to this. The Dominion soldiers did indeed fight bravely, holding off a superior Republican Guard force for three days. If the position had been held for a bit longer, the Republican Guard might have had to retreat for lack of food and water, though the Dominion troops could have faced the same issue.
The Temple Guard did fight to the last man. However, they were not the only ones holding the line. A couple thousand Dominion militia and regulars fought on their side. One of the bravest formations was a penal company. Their contributions have largely been glossed over by Dominion propaganda. In the end the Dominion troops were outflanked and surrounded due to treason. The last stand was a valiant one, but they were overwhelmed and their sacrifice had little overall effect on the further conduct of the campaign.
Meanwhile, the Republican Guard was on the move. The rebels had used elaborate means to conceal their deployments, as surprise and secrecy were their best weapons. Fake defectors, prisoners, staged communications messages, partisan activity and troop movements all served to convince the high command that the Guard intended to make a push for Aeolia, a comparatively rich province. The province was vulnerable and its loss would be a terrible blow to the Dominion. Many of the armoured vehicles seemingly being assembled for the push were in fact dummies.
What seemed to be Republican Guard operational plans fell into the hands of the Dominion's Bureau of Farsight. They seemed to confirm what many analysts and staff officers suspected. However, a young comms operator called Mara Technician found that all the signals and notes were just too perfect. There was just enough evidence to support something, and not enough other materiel if it was a real dispatch case. She suspected it was a deception.
The division she was assigned to had intercepted code words for targets, but she was unsure what they were. So she sent out a poorly coded message that Purity was running low on nerf meat. The Guard passed on that Section Z was low on nerf meat. Mara became convinced that the Guard's true target was Fortress Purity. Her superiors dismissed her claims, for it was regarded as sheer madness for the Guard to attack the citadel, which was a major fortification on the way to Nexus City. The Guard, they argued, would never be bold or insane enough to go for it. A general boasted that the Dominion air force would smash them if they tried to make the perilous trek.
However, Mara was undeterred and approached a Jedi Knight called Kyrric, who had saved her life at the start of the crisis.. The Guard, she argued, was gambling because they wanted to go for the jugular. He was able to pass on her information to the Battlemaster. Mahtara followed Mara's instincts. When large Republican Guard forces marched on Fortress Purity, they were confronted by General Kennobi and his army. Again and again, the Guard tried to take the Fortress, but the battle ended in defeat for the rebels. It was a bloody rout that turned the tide of the Netherworld War. The Dominion celebrated a great victory.
Under the leadership of General Aruunzeb, the Guard carried out a fighting retreat. They fought zealously to buy their partisans time to withdraw to friendly lines or vanish into the underground so that they could continue the struggle. Many months of fighting followed. Antarian Rangers and commandos carried out operations to root out stay-behind cells. However, even in the hour of triumph, the Dominion was its own worst enemy.
The Council had chosen Jedi Master Aegus to be the next Grandmaster. He was a popular, mild-mannered man. The honorary title of Barsen'thor had been bestowed upon him for his good deeds. He had become popular with the small folk by fearlessly walking into homes whose inhabitants had been infected with a deadly disease and using his powers to heal them or alleviate their pain. He had also exposed corruption in the Order and punished Jedi who had been abusing their students. However, the Netherworld Event had a negative effect on his psyche. He was wounded in a poison gas attack, which left him temporarily blinded. During his recuperation he was tormented by apocalytic visions. These did not cease after his election. They took a toll on his sanity.
Realising that he was unsuitable yet unable to replace him so soon, Mahtara and her allies sought to isolate Aegus from the machinery of government. The Grandmaster was kept in his palace and fed fake reports about the state of the country. This only increased his resentment. Grand Inquisitor Antonius, a conniving political operator, played on his growing paranoia. It can only be speculated what would have happened if things had taken their normal course. Secretly the chief witch hunter was indifferent to Dominion ideology, seeing it as a path to power and nothing more.
However, he was capable of exploiting the internal rivalries in the Council and befriending those who felt that the Battlemaster had been in her position for too long and amassed too much power. The Grand Inquisitor used embezzlement and blackmail as leverages to gain support. The Battlemaster was unable to prevent Antonius from being permitted to expand the combat troops of the Inquisition. He depicted them as an army of the faithful that would quell any internal disturbances and fight for the Light.
But in truth they were an alternate army. This led to a turf war between the Grand Army and the Inquisition, as both squabbled over resources. Mahtara had some success at keeping Antonius from giving his troops a strong tank arm by limiting his access to clone tank troopers, modern engines, fuel and spare parts, citing shortages. In response, her rival accused her of monopolising power and depriving the faithful of the means to fight the enemies of the Light. The Grand Inquisitor was able to bring the Temple Guard under his influence, which strengthened his position in the capital. Things came to head when a Firemane expeditionary force arrived in the system. It was the first time in centuries that off-worlders had visited Tephrike.
Initial contact was hostile. Dominion starfighters attacked a Firemane patrol. In retaliation Firemane landed soldiers on one of Tephrike's moons and overran the local garrison. One of the Battlemaster's associates, Jedi Master Airla, communicated with Tegaea Alcori, head of the expedition. Uncertain about how to respond to the foreigners, the Jedi Council bickered, but Mahtara took control of the situation. She was unnerved by the revelation that the Tephriki were not alone.
She also recognised that the offworlders possessed technology that was far in advance of of anything the Tephriki possessed. However, she believed that their arrival could be used to the advantage of the Dominion, for it seemed that they opposed Sith. So she announced that the Dominion would enter negotiations with them. The Grandmaster, isolated in his palace, was not informed. He had been distracted with news of a 'great victory' over the Sith - one Mahtara had made up.
Antonius sided with those who viewed the outsiders as Sith abominations and proclaimed that the Dominion needed to wage a holy war. Antonius himself did not believe this, but it was convenient for him. He managed to gain the support of the paranoid Grandmaster, who was obsessed with apocalyptic visions and resented Mahtara for isolating him from the machinery of government. To this end, he bought the loyalty of the Temple Guard and elements of the militia.
So when Master Airla met with a Firemane delegation in Nexus City, the Inquisition activated its assets. The Firemane representatives were ambushed. Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori, daughter of Tegaea, was taken prisoner. Mahtara was outraged and protested during an audience with the Grandmaster, but was forced to grit her teeth and realise that the balance of power had shifted. The Dominion refused to submit to a Firemane ultimatum, so the megacorporation declared war. The Grandmaster welcomed it, believing that this would be the final struggle between good and evil.
The first sign that things were going wrong came when Firemane managed to destroy the capital's shield generator. Mahtara had wisely chosen to leave the Jedi Temple right after the start of the bombardment. Shortly after her depature, the shield broke and the temple was levelled by Firemane bombardment, forcing the Grandmaster and Antonius to flee to an underground bunker that had been built to withstand nuclear strikes. Firemane proceeded to bomb military installations, communication facilities and Jedi academies.
Antonius' agents attempted to assassinate Mahtara with a speeder bomb and a sniper, but the Battlemaster was able to defeat her would-be killers. Going underground, she began to rally her allies. When the Grandmaster ordered nuclear strikes against the Firemane ships, Mahtara was able to thwart two of the launches and take possession of the nukes. She was partly driven to this course of action by her traumatic memories of Palmyra, but also for pragmatic reasons because she understood that Firemane would send more ships and nuke the Dominion from orbit. The special weapons were supposed to be a deterrent and only used as a last resort. A Firemane corvette was destroyed, while a fourth missile was tractor beamed into the sun by the elite pilots of Firemane's Mirage Squadron.
Mahtara went underground, rallying her allies. Eeth Soldier and his clone troopers sided with her. Kyrric was able to make contact with Battlemaster Mahtara, who had hidden in an armoured train beneath the earth. Mahtara was content with letting the battle between the Grandmaster's loyalists and Firemane play out, but used her agents to deny reinforcements to the loyalists. A defeat would discredit the Grandmaster and get rid of many of her foes. Her passivity puzzled Kyrric. But she had an important task for her apprentice. Elpsis was being held by the Inquisition, but her location was unknown. If she were recovered, the Battlemaster could use her as a bargaining chip to negotiate with Firemane. So Kyrric was charged with finding and bringing her to Mahtara.
She learned that Firemane had made an alliance with the Republican Guard, but also realised that the corporation seemed unwilling or unable to deploy enough troops for a protracted campaign. This was something the Dominion could use to wear its enemies down and drive a wedge between them, if it did not waste all its assets in senseless death charges like the Grandmaster had ordered. When she learned that Firemane and its allies were preparing an assault on Fortress Purity, an important citadel on the way to Nexus City, Mahtara decided to hold back her troops. The militia and Jedi would give Firemane a hard fight, but if the corporation took the fortress due to Grandmaster's incompetence, it would undermine his power.
The fanatical General Kennobi was in command of Fortress Purity. He had defeated the Guard on this very spot during the Netherworld War and was the personal nemesis of General Aruunzeb, the commanding general of the Republican Guard troops. Once again Fortress Purity became a battleground. Having formed an uneasy coalition, Firemane and Republican Guard troops marched on the fortress.
The Dominion used a weather control machine to negate Firemane's aerial superiority. They made use of hordes of militia, suicide bombers and large numbers of Force-Users. The battle was a bloodbath, as many Dominion units fought fanatically. Intense fighting took place in the trenches, the forest and finally a hill. Initially the Republican Guard was reluctant to commit its full force. They had been defeated here once and distrusted their allies. So at first they limited their commitment to special forces units such as Viper Company. They finally deployed their full force when Firemane threatened to walk out and the line was close to being overrun.
The Grand Army made ample use of Jedi warriors, illusionists and death charging militia. Mentalists were deployed to confuse enemies or hide bunkers and defensive emplacements. Pilots, flying outdated craft, also staged kamikaze attacks. Nonetheless, the allied troops managed to gain ground. The Ever Loyal Vanguard was thrown into the battle when the allied forces began to break through the Dominion lines. Jedi Commander Diane led them into battle, defending the ground the Vanguard had fought on only a few years ago. Dominion soldiers and militia took heart when the Vanguard appeared on the battlefield, assaulting the invaders with renewed vigour. Once more, the Vanguard charged into the breach. They put the enemy soldiers under fire with volleys of arrows from their Lightbows and other projectiles, while using Force-based barriers and shields to protect themselves.
Up on a hill, they clashed with the Cataphracts of the Ascending Phoenix, a Qadiri unit of power-armoured soldier-fanatics. Zealot fought against zealot. The Qadiri had power armour and were trained to fight Force-Users, but the Vanguards were able to use the Force to significantly boost their strength and resilience. The Jed also faced the Silencers, Firemane operatives who skilled in stealth and Force suppression, and a Resistance squad. The fighting was vicious. The Vanguard received support from Jedi sharpshooters, who used the Force to guide their heavy slug rounds and hit the enemy with unerring accuracy.
Firemane troops and the Republican Guard suffered high casualties and were forced to yield ground. Both the Jedi and the Cataphracts fought fanatically. Fierce fighting also ensued in a tunnel that had been discovered by Republican Guard partisans and Firemane operatives. No quarter was given and no prisoners were taken. However, utimately the Vanguard met its match. Jedi Commander Diane, who had been boosting her comrades and directing them through telepathy, was slain in combat.
When the Republican Guard finally managed to push through the tunnel that led to his underground base, General Kennobi deployed a brigade of Younglings to cover the retreat of his officers, sending them on a suicidal death charge. Then he committed suicide. Meanwhile, the Grand Inquisitor was slain by Elpsis. The young Firemane officer had been held in an Inquisition concentration camp, where she was tortured and brainwashed. However, she eventually managed to overcome her conditioning. Her actions, and the prisoners' own fear of being 'evacuated', sparked a prison revolt. By then Firemane troops had arrived, as had Kyrric and his soldiers.
When the Kel'Dor contacted his teacher, he was ordered to deploy a diversionary force and punch through to the camp. He and his men would pretend to be reinforcements, then strike, decapacitate the Inquisitors and camp guards and retrieve Elpsis. In short, they would commit treason. Kyrric had a choice to make. He could stand with his teacher or the Grandmaster. It was a hard choosing.
Kyrric and his men fought fellow Dominion minions. However, Firemane had pushed into the camp. Kyrric confronted their commander, Major Tempest. Rather than fight, he stood aside and relayed a message from his teacher. Battlemaster Mahtara, he said, wanted peace and was not allied with the Grandmaster anymore. However, Firemane was not in the mood for negotiations, especially with people who had already betrayed. Tempest presented him with an ultimatum. Instead of fighting a futile battle, Kyrric ordered his surviving soldiers to surrender after being told they would be treated well. The Kel Dor left the camp with a dozen escorts.
After learning of Purity's fall, Aegus was apoplectic. The Grandmaster was incandescent with rage, declaring that he would lead the army himself and crush the Sithspawn. He ordered Jedi Masters Cassius, Karana and Varus to return his legions to him and prepare for the final battle. Cassius, the Grandmaster's own clone, decided that his template had to die for the good of the Dominion. He and his confederates ambushed the Grandmaster when he was walking through the Corridor of Heroes. The rest of the Council and the public was told that Aegus had been slain by the Sithspawn while he heroically toured the ruins.
That done, Cassius sent a heavily encrypted message to Mahtara, inviting her to a Council session. Mahtara's troops moved into the city. Mahtara's allies initiated Operation Apotheosis. This was originally an emergency continuity of government plan issued to the Reserve Army to execute and implement in case of a general breakdown of civil order in the nation. However, now a modified version of the plan was used to take control of Dominion cities, disarm the Inquisition, and arrest the leadership after the Grandmaster's demise. Executive power was transferred to military district commanders.
A stormy Council session followed. After several Councillors refused to accept the new regime, Mahtara denounced them. The Council was disbanded. In its place, Mahtara created a smaller war council. For the time being, the post of Grandmaster remained vacant. Cassius, Varus and Karana all got Council seats. Cassius was not surprised by this development, having discussed matters with Mahtara. He was made Master of the Order, while his two allies received posts in the government and the army.
When Karana urged their new leader to launch an offensive while the enemy was 'complacent', Mahtara and Cassius disagreed with her, declaring that an attack at this stage would be folly, as their troops needed time to recover and if they attacked now it would only give their enemies a reason to unite again. Mahtara concurred with this assessment. The Dominion's armies needed time to regroup and reform. When the time came, they would attack with greater strength and reckon with the rebels.
In the months that followed, the mobile loyalist units such as the Righteous Fists and the Rangers acted as a 'fireman' of sort. The Dominion was in disarray after the debacle at Fortress Purity. While most Jedi Lords and governors remained true to the flag, some did not. One of them was Jedi Jarix, the Jedi Lord in command at the City of Harmonious Industry, a major industrial centre on Tephrike. He had been a friend of General Kennobi, who had led the defence of Purity and committed suicide when was all was lost.
Jarix correctly suspected that Mahtara had withheld reinforcements for Purity. He also did not believe the official story that the Grandmaster had been killed in a Firemane air strike. So he denounced the new government as illegitimate. Martial law was declared and the city was sealed off. Jarix also tried to reach out to other regional bosses to form a loyalist bloc. However, the Guard, emboldened by its victory, was advancing. Purity had cost them a lot and Firemane was pulling out, but the rebels wanted to press their advantage.
Republican Guard troops assaulted the city. Frogmen mined waterways and commandos of partisans infiltrated the Dominion lines, while agitators stirred up unrest. The assault had been preceded by a deception operation to fool the defenders about the thrust of the Guard's operation. Morale had suffered considerably, so some Dominion troops defected or deserted. But others resisted. Moreover, the Dominion's new government was quicker to respond than anticipated, mounting a tremendous effort to get loyalist troops to the city. Caught in a cauldron, Jarix faced mutiny.
Knowing what fate awaited him, he tried to defect to the Rebels. All of a sudden, he had been opposed to the Dominion all along. It did not go well for him. The Republican Guard took his staff into custody and paraded Jarix' story as a sign of corruption and infighting in the Dominion. Then they put him away under protection 'for his own safety' against retribution. He was later found dead, 'murdered by a Jedi assassin'. The Guard put the intelligence he had shared with them to good use, conducting surgical strikes with Yuuzhan Vong commandos and elite partisan units such as Viper Company.
The fighting was brutal. The Dominion threw all the troops it could spare into battle. Even criminals, deserters and political prisoners were released from concentration camps and put into penal battalions. If they served bravely, they would be freed. If not, they would die. The Righteous Fists were among the first troops to be dispatched to the frontlines. With a speed that surprised the Rebels, the Clone Commandos were dropped into Harmonious. They could not drive the Guard out of the city, but they could delay it and buy time for reinforcements. Moreover, their arrival steeled the morale of the defenders. They also had the task of eliminating Dominion officials and officers whose loyalty was in question. commandos conducted surgical strikes, sabotaging critical factories and manufacturing plants to make sure the Republican Guard could not use them.
This included leaving behind gifts in form of booby traps. They also made use of poison gas. City blocks became war zone, leading to intense house-to-house fighting. Civilians were conscripted by either side to support the war effort. Summary justice became the order of the day. Finally, all-out fighting died down as the battle became a stalemate. The two zones were separated by a river that flowed through the city when the Republican Guard blew up the bridge. Some clone commandos and militia remained on the other side, utilising asymmetrical warfare tactics that mirrored those of the Guard in order to make its rule as difficult as possible.
Thus the city was effectively divided between the two factions. The Republican Guard receives armaments and medical supplies from Firemane. However, the Grand Army is not without foreign sponsors of its own, for the Dominion has made contact with a shadowy machine cult called Archangel. The Dominion's ruling cabal does not trust the HRDs, but finds their droids useful.
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