Igni Irae
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: Expand on the Republican Guard and Tephrike.
Image Credit: Here: Google image leads me to that forum and Tineye search gives me no results. The image appears to be a screenshot from Battlefront 2. Here. Here.
Role: Rebel partisans.
Permission: N/A.
Links: Into Darkness, After Darkness, Tephrike, Dominion of Light, Disciples of the Vader, The Republican Guard is the Strongest, Into Darkness, After Darkness, Red Coral City, General Aruunzeb, Mezha Krazhmir, Synthia Vao, Force-Dead, Firemane Industries, Viper Company, Vortanstad.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Unit Name: Liberation Corps. The name is a bit bombastic, but Tephriki are fond of flowery names and like many rebel groups the Republican Guard likes to inflate its numbers a bit.
Affiliation: General Aruunzeb, Mezha Krazhmir, Republican Guard, Tephrike, Popular Front.
Classification: Infantry.
Description: The Republican Guard is a rebel organisation on Tephrike that stands in opposition to the Jedi-led Dominion of Light and the Disciples of the Vader. The members of the Guard see themselves as the vanguard of the common people, fighting against the oppressive rule of the Force theocracies. The Guard idolises the Old Republic and the Rebel Alliance, though it is also influenced by the Imperial Remnant. It is also staunchly opposed to Force-users, viewing the Force as a disease and blaming it for the calamities of the past few centuries. Originally it was started by remnants of Tephrike's pre-collapse government, nativist parties of aquatic aliens and deserted Dominion clone troopers. Though officially committed to democracy, in practical terms wartime exigencies have turned the rebels into a military junta.
Unlike its main rivals, the Republican Guard is not controlled by Force-Users. Indeed, it sees Force-Users as cursed, believing that their power turns them to evil and has prohibited Force use as well as Force religions. It receives a lot of support from Yuuzhan Vong, Mon Calamari, Gungans, Nautolans as well as dissidents and refugees from Dominion or Sith territory. From the perspective of the Guard, it is the vanguard of the common people. The only force that stand up to the oppressors and restore liberty to Tephrike. Of course, there is a darker side to the rebel movement, such as extrajudicial killings, forced requisitions and the fact that Force-Users are incarcerated and subjected to intense brainwashing to cure them. Terrorism is an important component of its military strategy. The Guard sees these aspects as necessary evils in its struggle, as it is fighting the forces of oppression and cannot be picky about the methods it utilises to achieve victory.
The Republican Guard has a limited population, lacks a strong manufacturing basis or conventional warfare capabilities.Thus its military is built upon the concepts of stealth and speed, preferring to outmanoeuvre its enemies, use hit-and-run attacks, guerrilla and subterfuge to direct confrontation. Within this context, the Liberation Corps represent the mainstay of the rebels' regular forces. They are a trained, experienced force of partisans who fight to wrest control from the Dominion and Sith and unite Tephrike under the banner of a secular republic. To this end, they have set up an extensive tunnel network and established revolutionary cells in Jedi and Sith territory. The partisans have created an extensive underground system of tunnels. The Raddus Trail is an important source of support for the partisans. The Liberation Corps receives better equipment and more provisions than the common militia. Nonetheless, many partisans must still feed, clothe and arm themselves by capturing booty from the enemy or, failing that, at the expense of the local population.
It is pertinent to note that their revolutionary activities also put civilians at risk, as they hide among them. The Dominion and the Vaderites carry out harsh reprisals against villagers suspected of collaborating with the rebels. Neither is above wiping out a village accused of being a 'terrorist nest'. Caught between a rock and a hard place, it is as always the civilians who suffer the most. While the Guard provides protection against raiders and humanitarian aid, it also taxes the inhabitants of the liberated zones, conscripts them for labour or military service and punishes suspected enemy spies harshly. The Guard carries out operations to liberate prisoners from Sith slave labour camps. It also seeks to help Dominion clones reintegrate into society and find cures to their ailments and sterility. But it also maintains assassination squads that carry out terrorist attacks, many of which target civilians accused of 'collaboration'.
The Liberation Corps seek to gain the support of the local population. It is the credo of the rebels that the guerrilla must move among the people as a fish swims in the sea. Where this is successful, the rebels provide protection against reprisals, bandits and wild beasts, help peasants with the harvest, build homes and share their supplies with them. The local people hide them, provide recruits and provide them with resources. However, this is difficult in areas that have long been under the control of the Dominion or the Sith. Here the rebels are seen as foreign invaders or as troublemakers whose actions will only make things worse. Centuries of indoctrination has left is mark and so significant portions of the population are genuinely loyal to their Force-using overlords, or see them as preferrable to chaos.
When operating in Vaderite territory, the partisans can obviously exploit the fact that the Sith treat non-humans as slaves, but racial tensions also exist between alien groups. When partisans prevent rural folk from giving food to he Dominion or the Sith, they all but guarantee that these powers will retaliate against the civilians. When they lay mines, they know that some will detonate under the bodies of Tephriki civilians. The Sith are especially fond of sweeping mines by forcing locals, especially aliens, to walk hand in hand over mine fields. They also follow a policy of massacring scores of civilian for every Sith who is killed in a partisan attack.
Political commissars are assigned to the Liberation Corps to ensure that it acts in accordance with the directives of the centre. On the frontlines a commissar is supposed to inspire the soldiers under them and steel their resolve. However, they are also supposed to prevent abuse of the civilian population. They insist that partisan fighters enhance their ideological and political awareness and maintain close ties with the local population they are meant to protect. In territories freed by the rebels, they accumulate and train reserves, provide care to the sick and wounded, and build bases. However, one of their missions is also assassinating supposed collaborators and traitors. Membership in the Popular Front, the political front organisation of the Republican Guard, is not required for membership in the partisans. Several officers are members, but the Front is a big coalition of various anarchist, socialist, left-wing nationalist and even social democratic movements that operate within the Equalist paradigm. So it is not the same as being the member of a totalitarian state party.
The struggle is a bloody one and what would be considered war crimes have been committed on every side. The Guard has certain standards it holds itself to and despises slavery. But it also considers terror a valid means to achieve its goals. The rebels make heavy use of improvised explosive devices and land mines against their enemies. This obviously also leads to collateral damage. The Liberation Corps make heavy use of ambush tactics, snipers and explosives. They prize mobility, secrecy, and surprise, organising in small units and taking advantage of the terrain that is difficult for larger units to use. The partisans are fond of sharpshooters and sappers. They tend to avoid direct confrontations with heavy armour wherever possible. Manpower and experienced soldiers are precious, and so the rebels frown on wasteful human wave assaults. A commander who sends his soldiers on a pointless death charge can expect a court-martial - or simply a slug round to the head.
The Liberation Corps favours an arsenal consisting of high powered slugthrowers, harsh melee weapons, and light armor, usually worn with camouflage paint or colouration. The Republican Guard has a limited manufacturing basis and blasters are more difficult to maintain in the jungle. Thus projectile weapons are more common. Flechette launchers and pulse wave weapons also see use. Many weapons are salvaged, stolen or built by the rebels. As a result, their weapons and ammunition lack standardisation, which can cause logistical issues. Typically, a partisan wears a blast vest, flak armour, a helmet with a gas mask and rebreather and stuff like that rather than a full suit of sealed armour. Some have been able to equip themselves with often mismatched stormtrooper gear. Lately, Firemane has started to provide the rebels with equipment in return for raw materiels. However, Firemane is wary of helping the partisans too much.
Liberation Corps units are often embedded within the local population, which means they also use it as a shield. Many of the rebels are very young. Indeed, one can find child soldiers in their ranks. The multi-faceted, bloody conflict that has engulfed Tephrike produces a stream of war orphans that are taken in by the factions, no matter whether they are the Dominion, Vaderites or the Guard. The Liberation Corps claim that they are fighting a greater evil, as both the Dominion and the Vaderites are repressive, totalitarian dictatorships. If the enemy wins, the vision of the future will be a boot stomping on the face of the common man. The Republican Guard pursues an egalitarian ideology and so the Liberation Corps have a multispecies composition. Racial tensions were the bane of Tephrike even before the Collapse, and the Guard seeks to overcome this. It helps that one of their primary foes, the Disciples of the Vader, are human supremacists who regard non-humans as lesser beings that deserve to be enslaved by the 'master race'.
However, Mon Calamari, Nautolans, Gungans, Zabrak, Quarrens and Twi'leks can be said to be over-represented among the partisans. But also finds many Duros, Weequay, Trandoshans, humans, and so on in their ranks. Many of the recruits are refugees and escaped prisoners fleeing the tyrannical Force cults or people who lived on the frontier, particularly in rural or aquatic areas. Moreover, there is a notable Yuuzhan Vong contingent, as these aliens are persecuted by both the Dominion and the Sith. Many partisans are defectors from Dominion or Sith rule. This includes deserters from the Dominion's Grand Army and the Sith legions as well as civilians or dissidents who fled to the underground. The Liberation Corps let them join, but they have to pass trials to prove their loyalty and usefulness first, as the rebels are rightly concerned about infiltration. Treason, cowardice and desertion are punished harshly. Nonetheless, deserters, splinter groups and rogue cells remain an issue. Still, there is a strong esprit de corps. The revolutionary song 'The Republican Guard is the Strongest' is very popular and often sung at camp fire, ceremonies or on marches.
New recruits are awarded the Green Book, a training and induction manual. In addition to outlining the group's ideology, it includes a statement of military objectives, tactics and conditions for victory over the movement's enemies. It acts as a manual of conduct, political manifesto and introduction to the organisation. Republican Guard partisans and commandos usually carry cyanide suicide pills. Similar to Haruun Kal, the jungles of Tephrike are home to some nasty fungi with an appetite for metal. Thus weapons and electronics are often rubbed down with portaak amber to prevent the fungi from degrading them.
Drakka Orada, a female Zabrak, is one of the generals of the partisans. One of her early memories consists of Vaderite troops being abusive to her family and confiscating their cattle. This fostered a strong hatred for the oppressors. Against her mother's wishes, she was conscripted by Republican Guard partisans as a child soldier. Drakka experienced manifold Dominion and Vaderite atrocities and the suffering they inflicted on the common folk. Against all odds, she survived the killing fields. What she went through and did left her scarred. The Zabrak is a grim, dour soldier. Drakka has no illusions about the subjects of the Dominion and the Vaderites suddenly rising up in revolt. In her view, the Guard must shed these illusions and definitely crush their enemies' mental and military capacity to wage war.
She gained notoriety for her scorched earth campaigns. Her focus lies in destroying the enemy's industrial resources, transport network, communications sites, as well as agricultural areas and food supplies - any asset that can be useful to the enemy and that her trops cannot take with them. Drakka hates war, which is why she believes it must be as total as possible to destroy the enemy's will to fight. She is in command of partisan troops in the Republican Guard-held part of Vortanstad, but if she had her way, the rebels would not be holed up in the city. She wanted to cause some serious destruction in the half they now control, then withdraw and leave the Dominion to clean up the mess, but was told no. She has no truck for idealism and squabbling, but a clear view of what needs to be done and damn anyone who gets in her way. For this reason, she strongly resents meddling from above trying to push unrealistic goals. She is very sceptical of Firemane's commitment to helping the Guard win the war.
Giza'Omoa, a Twi'lek partisan, started her career as a liaison and courier, delivering messages and munitions. As a teenage courier she was stopped by Dominion soldiers when she was riding a bicycle. She had a basket off eggs and was secretly delivering grenades under the eggs. When the soldiers asked her what she was doing, she had the composure to say she was delivering eggs and offer one to the soldier. Eggs were a rare commodity, so he let her go. She and other Young Guards operated clandestinely in a disputed Dominion province. Lacking a high-tech communications infrastructure, the rebels got news around by messenger, so she carried secret messages between partisan cells and did propaganda work. This was incredibly risky. Though young, she took down the secret testimony of the former inmate of a Dominion gulag. She was caught shortly afterwards with some messages that were supposed to be taken by courier to rebel headquarters.
Interrogated by the Jedi Inquisition, she was brutally tortured. She could not stand up when she was supposed to be led to the execution site. She sung 'Ode to the Starbird Flag' and shouted anti-Jedi slogans in defiance of her executioners. However, the Netherworld Event saved her life, for the prison was suddenly denuded of people. She was able to reunite with the rebels with the help of fellow prisoners. While recovering she interrogated captured Dominion soldiers and former prisoners before being given a frontline role at her request. She led a partisan unit during fierce house-to-house fighting and later organising a retreat of the rebels and their sympathisers when the battle turned ill. Omoa bears the mental and physical of her torture, but has gone from being a courier to an officer.
Thag Kharrus, a Gran, serves as her political commissar. He is the child of a peasant from a collective farm in Dominion lands, who fled to escape famine and settled in Republican Guard territory, finding a spouse there. He was raised on stories of the horrors perpetrated by tyrannical mages. In contrast to the stereotypical image of the commissar, he serves on the frontlines. Unlike many of his comrades, Kharrus has a somewhat paternalistic view of Force users. They need to be corrected and disciplined to control their 'urges' and resist the dark spirits. When that is done they are capable of living normal lives. However, this generosity must be matched with strict punishment for those who do not obey and endanger the commonwealth.
Kharrus is authorised to maintain morale and discipline by any means necessary. He does not use this power wantonly to execute soldiers on a whim, but he will use it without hesitation if he views someone as traitorous or wilfully inept. Kharrus also helps the men and women under his care in small ways. Contact with family is important for the emotional well-being of a soldier, but the electronic communication network is underdeveloped and commlinks are reserved for duty. Many of his soldiers are low class and illiterate, so he has taken the time to help them write letters to their families and teach them how to read.
Drean Natan is a Nautolan refugee who escaped his home being depth charged by the Vaderites and performed an epic swim through dangerous seas to reach land whereupon he joined up with the partisans to get revenge for his family. He commands a unit of snipers and has wracked up an impressive body count of Vaderite officers and alien collaborators. He is a quiet, withdrawn man.
The Liberation Corps is organised along military lines and answer to a General Staff in Red Coral City, the de facto capital of the Republican Guard, though it is more like an armed settlement. However, more distant groups are organised in a looser, more irregular fashion and operate autonomously. Command is quite decentralised, applying mission-based tactics. The commander orders a mission, organises the forces and sets the aim. But junior officers and NCOs are ordered to complete the mission as they see fit. This doctrine is meant to encourage soldiers to interpret local conditions and implement a suitable tactical response to anany given situation. The partisans treat the Force as a curse and only allow Force-Users who have been nullified or cured to join. It is not uncommon for Jedi and Sith to be shot out of hand or abused, though the leadership has rejected the idea of exterminating all Force-Users.
COMBAT INFORMATION:
Unit Size: Medium
Unit Availability: Uncommon
Unit Experience: Veteran
Equipment:
Armor:
- Blast Vest, Kinetic Armor, Combat Helmet. Gas mask/rebreather for protection against regular gases and toxins and provision of limited air supply. Basic helmet may be replaced by stolen stormtrooper or clone trooper helmet.
- Or Camouflaged Stormtrooper Armour. Usually ragged and patched together from various sources, and thus may be mismatched.
- Outland Rifle (with optional scope)
- M-60 Sonic Enforcer
- Chitin Carbine
- BR-4 "Baleful Bantha" Blaster Rifle
- StarSlasher Blaster Carbine
- FWG-7 Flechette Smart Carbine
- Slugthrower Rifle
- Imperial Heavy Repeater
- 8-Gauge Shotgun
- Verpine Shatter Rifle
- Scatter Gun
- J-301 Pulse-Wave Saboteur
- Bolt-Thrower
- Model 134a Buzzsaw Rotary Cannon
- PLX-1 Portable Missile Launcher
- FC-1 Flechette Launcher
- Model 201 Mortar System
- CSPL-12
- C-22 Flame Carbine
- Machine Gun
- Model MGL-1
- Enforcer Pistol
- Hard-Sound Gun
- Adjudicator
- FWG-5 Flechette Smart Pistol
- ATA Pulse Wave Blaster
- SH-9 Slugthrower Pistol
- Submachine Gun
- Verpine Shatter Gun
- Grenades, Land Mines, IEDs. Ribbon Charge. Detpack. Thermal Imploder, Sonic Imploder. Razor Bug, Thud Bug.
- Monofilament wire, net and cable.
- Camouflage Netting.
- Slugthrower Silencers.
- Suicide Pills.
- Vac Attack Mk-127
- Villip with Oggzill attachment.
Transports:
- 125-Z Treadspeeder Bike, bicyles.
- M2P80 Hoverpod. Originally used by big game hunters on Tephrike. Repurposed by the Liberation Corps and various militias.
- Orbak may be used for scouting, and transporting cargo and equipment. May utilise carts driven by Orbaks for cargo transport.
On a tactical level, they usually avoid direct confrontation with large units or heavy armour formations of enemy troops, but seek to attack and gradually deplete the opposing force while minimising their own losses. This can involve ambushes, raids, use of roadside bombs, but also propaganda among the population and enemy soldiers in order to convince them to defect or sabotage the efforts of the enemy. They also rely on destroying infrastructure, such as through use of explosives. When they enter combat, the Liberation Corps make heavy use of mobility, surprise and infiltration tactics. It is common for them to initiate combat at night time, when an enemy might have his guard down. There is a withdrawal scheme for all operations whether defensive or offensive.
Where possible they will seek to take advantage of the terrain or if needed shape it to their advantage. Sapper assaults often herald their advance. They are armed with various types of bombs, grenades, explosive charges, and mines and serve as raiders against Dominion or Sith forces. The partisans are also fond of bypassing enemy defences or getting close to hostile forces by digging underground tunnels. If possible the rebels will target enemy lines of communication, supply lines and command centres. Defensive doctrine usually stresses avoidance of extended battles. Rebel forces are encouraged to lie low until ready to initiate their own actions. If an engagement ensues, the typical approach in terms of defence is to delay an opposing force and withdraw as soon as possible, while inflicting maximum casualties before withdrawal. The Liberation Corps is fully prepared to trade space for time, withdrawing so that the partisans can wait for an enemy assault to lose steam. Then they will strike at the enemy's flanks, and supply lines while remaining mobile and only standing their ground to defend crucial bases. This is supported by the use of stay-behind cells, as partisans are seeded among the inhabitants of the occupied territories to set up guerrilla forces that can harass the enemy.
The partisans make heavy use of booby traps and mines. These are a good way to protect their underground camps and hideouts. Moreover, mines act as a substitute for artillery. The partisans make heavy use of what one might call nuisance mining, that is, scattering mines throughout an area rather than well-defined minefields. Mines and booby traps are usually installed at night by trained personnel who have detailed knowledge of the terrain. Instead of conventional mine fields covered by fire, the rebels hinder or prevent the use of supply lines by planting explosive devices in indiscriminate patterns. Aside from the benefit gained from inflicting combat casualties, vehicle losses and delays in tactical operations, the rebels also achieve a psychological effect.
Shoulder-mounted missile launchers are employed to counter Dominion and Sith gunships, dropships and so on, though bombers remain a threat. Their enemy is not shy about dropping nerve gas or napalm. The Liberation Corps is a light infantry force and thus lacks the means to counter enemy air power with aircraft of its own. The rebels are vulnerable to long range bombardment and aerial strikes if they are caught in an open field. When faced with armoured fighting vehicles such as tanks or walkers, the partisans will avoid direct engagement and seek to ambush them with land mines, petrol bombs or missile launchers in favourable terrain, such as a forest or a narrow street in an urban environment. The partisans do have access to vehicles, but are essentially limited to speeders and fuel is often not easy to acquire. As a result, they also use more primitive means to transport cargo and equipment and carry out reconnaissance. Equines such as orbaks have the advantage that they can live off the land and go places that are difficult for vehicles. Speeders are available, but used sparingly because the rebels must carefully ration their fuel supplies. Instead bicycles see greater use because they don't consume fuel and allow for quiet, and flexible transport of soldiers. In addition to transporting soldiers, primitive cycles are also used to ferry supplies. The partisans utilise Orbaks for the same reason.
Lightsabres are extremely rare on Tephrike. Thus only a few partisans are familiar with them, as the Jedi and Sith of this planet tend to use Force imbued or alchemised weapons. Ironically, the fact that many of the rebels use slugthrowers, flechette weapons and so on could give them an advantage against lightsabre-wielders, as slugs are more a lot more difficult to reliably deflect than blaster bolts. This applies to rapid-fire slugthrowers such as machine guns in particular. However, heavily armoured foes are an issue for them.
Now that the Republican Guard has secured Firemane support and seized Fortress Purity, a major Dominion citadel, the rebels have started to switch to a more aggressive strategy and are more willing to enter pitched battles. However, while Firemane has provided them with more modern weapons, these tend to be limited to select units. Moreover, the rebels only have a limited ability to maintain, copy or replace them. They are also dependent on their foreign backer when it comes to ammunition. The rebels are uncertain of their foreign allies, especially since they have Force-Users in leading positions, and sceptical of their commitment. Thus the Liberation Corps still focus on mobility, surprise and agility rather than firepower.
Strengths:
- Skilled force of partisans. Excel at surprise attacks and irregular warfare such as ambushes, jungle warfare, hit-and-fade attacks, infiltration and bombings. They have highly skilled snipers and sappers.
- Very mobile and skilled at fading into their surroundings to evade detection, escape threats and strike unexpectedly.
- Some members of the Corps are Yuuzhan Vong and thus Force Dead, meaning they cannot be sensed in the Force and are immune to most direct Force powers.
- Primitive. Many of their weapons are old and dated. Tephrike has been isolated for several centuries, and so tech has regressed. Many of the natives have little knowledge of space travel or sophisticated galactic tech. The partisans are lightly armoured. This gives them mobility, but leaves them more vulnerable to blasters, strong explosions, heavy weapons, lightsabres and so on.
- While they excel at irregular warfare, the Liberation Corps are weaker in conventional settings. They lack support forces such as heavy artillery, armoured fighting vehicles and air power. They suffer in direct confrontations with heavily armoured enemies, tanks and so on.
- Force Dead soldiers are a minority in the unit. Moreover, being Force Dead does not translate to Force immunity. Force Lightning, Force Net and obviously indirect attacks, such as chucking a boulder still work on Vong soldiers. Moreover, they cannot be aided by Force techniques such as Battle Meditation, Force healing and so on.
On Tephrike, the Four Hundred Year Darkness never ended. It is a broken planet, characterised by impoverishment, superstition and strife. Three large factions vie for dominance, the Jedi-led Dominion of Light, the slavocratic, human supremacist Disciples of the Vader and the anti-Force-User Republican Guard. The Dominion of Light is a radical, totalitarian Jedi theocracy that believes only total control and the guidance of those who can divine the will of the Force can save Tephrike. They are the dominant faction on the planet and view their struggle as a conflict between Light and Dark, a war of total annihilation which there can be no compromise. The Vaderites are an extremist Sith cult that espouse an extreme form of Social Darwinism, worship Darth Vader as a Dark God and endorse human supremacism. Non-humans are enslaved or exterminated in their territory.
The Republican Guard rose in opposition to both these groups. It regards itself as a progressive, egalitarian force that fights to rid Tephrike of the tyranny of Force-Users and restore power to the people. Ironically, it is ruled by a de facto military junta. It is radically opposed to Force-Users, regarding their powers as a curse. The revolutionary movement that would be known as the Republican Guard came into being in a humble underwater settlement called Red Coral City. Prior to these cataclysmic events, Red Coral City had been a rather minor settlement founded by Gungans and Nautolans.
Red Coral City's inhabitants supported Tephrike's old, federal government, which was losing ground to the Force cultists and warlords. Indeed, there was soon little to separate the old regime from just another warlord group and its leaders demanded contributions from the locals. Furthermore, the Dominion of Light launched punitive expeditions to bring the underwater towns into the fold. Refugees told stories of atrocities committed by Jedi and Sith. Fear of fifth columnists was rampant and led to the lynching of suspected spies.
A group of clone troopers who had managed to subvert their conditioning rebelled against their Jedi masters, turning on them mid-battle, which helped save the town when it was being assaulted by the zealots. It was these rebels Red Coral City's embattled government made an alliance with. A canny Quarren leader called Zoho Koquon took control. He would go down in history as the Founding Father of the Republican Guard. He became a prominent militia leader, making himself a name in the defence of the city. It was he who took the initiative to accept the aid of the rebellious clone troopers. Using his political and military connections, he built up a following, the Sons of Freedom. They formed the nucleus of what would become the Republican Guard. The policy of total resistance to both Jedi and Sith was not uncontroversial, but it gained the support of refugees fleeing from their territories. The Guard took control and a revolutionary movement was born.
The Liberation Corps regard Koquon and his successor Sinya Kairn, one of the Clone Commanders who had defected to the Rebellion, as their founders. It was during Kairn's term of office that the Guard initiated an all-out asymmetrical warfare campaign against the Force theocracies. They made an alliance with the Yuuzhan Vong, who faced genocide at the hands of the Sith and had organised a partisan resistance group of their own. It helped that centuries had passed since the Yuuzhan Vong War and many of the aliens had given up on the technophobia of their people. A Yuuzhan Vong warrior by the name of Meelan Shai would eventually become the leader of the rebels.
The Liberation Corps were born out of an amalgamation of defected clone trooper formations, militias, partisans and forces loyal to Tephrike's old government. Their mission was clear: bring about a national revolution to overthrow the Force theocracies and warlords. The rebellion would be the spark that would light the fire that would burn the Dominion and the Vaderites down. Periods of conventional warfare were accompanied by low-intensity conflicts. The rebels sought to establish revolutionary cells in enemy territory, using affiliated partisan groups to wage a guerrilla war. Its partisans created an extensive underground system of tunnels, which were expanded over time.
They laid mines and destroyed supply convoys. They were supposed to keep food from the towns controlled by the Dominion or Vaderites and to destroy their administration. In practice the safest way to attack the Force theocrats' occupation structure was to murder militiamen and unarmed participants in the civil administration. The Liberation Corps sought to gain full control of territories, which they called "partisan republics" or "liberated zones". They also carried out raids to liberate prisoners from Dominion labour camps or aliens from the ghettos the Sith had forced them into.
Their operations inevitably exacerbated the misery of civilians. When the Dominion or Sith forces came under attack from partisans but could not find them, they would accuse the civilian population of hiding them and punish them. And at least some of the mines laid by the partisans would blow up beneath the bodies of civilians. Driven by a human supremacist ideology, the Vaderites carried out pogroms against aliens, branding them all as partisans. Sith or Dominion reprisals could also lead to the ranks of the rebels swelling, as survivors often had no home, no livelihood, and no family to which to return.
The partisans had certain standards it held itself to and abhorred slavery. But it also considered terror a valid means to achieve its goals. As far as the Tephriki knew, the rest of the Galaxy had been consumed by the Gulag Virus. So anything was justified to prevent the Darkness from swallowing them. The rebels saw themselves as the ideological successors of the Rebel Alliance. Partisan units were accordingly named after Rebel heroes such as Raddus, Ackbar, Jyn Erso, Cassian Andor, Hera Syndula and Wedge Antilles. However, the rebels also honoured some Imperial commanders like Gentis and Pellaeon and Yuuzhan Vong warriors like Zho Krazhmir and Czulkang Lah. Centuries of isolation, increasingly inaccurate records and camaraderie with Yuuzhan Vong fighters who had moved on from the genocidal ways of their ancestors would lead to the deeds of the extragalactic invaders being whitewashed.
At first the operations of the Liberation Corps were limited in scale and ambition. The partisans staged terrorist attacks and hit and fade operations. The Dominion stood tall and its power far exceeded that of the rebels. Dominion bombing raids were a constant threat. However, the partisans grew in strength when the Blue Guards plunged the Dominion into the madness that was the Cultural Revolution. While the Dominion recovered after the insane Grandmaster was removed from power, the period of mayhem allowed the Guard to grow in strength and seed many of its provinces with revolutionary cells. The Liberation Corps staged their first serious attacks around this time, taking small towns and villages. They also stepped up their bombing campaigns and raids.
Dominion retaliation and the collateral damage caused by its search and destroy operations drove the Mon Calamari into the arms of the resistance. However, the rebels still could not match the Jedi theocracy's armies in open combat. Moreover, they also had to fight the Vaderites, who kept launching incursions to obtain slaves and living space. The rebels were able to score several tactical victories, but often lacked the means to exploit them. Within the rebel movement, there was a struggle between those who wanted to transition to conventional warfare and those who believed that they had to continue fighting an irregular campaign until the heartland was ready at some point in the future.
Then came the Netherworld Event. Netherworld Event. Akala's mad rampage affected worlds across the Galaxy. In the blink of an eye, countless sentient beings were raptured and woke up in the Netherworld. Moreover, the Force was thrown out of balance. Force-Users could put themselves at risk by calling upon the Force. For a while they were unable to use it entirely. This obviously put factions that relied on Force-Users at a disadvantage. The disappearances affected the Guard as much as any faction. Panic broke out. However, radical officers argued that this was an opportunity, reasoning that it had hurt their enemies far more. One of them was General Aruunzeb, a prominent Liberation Corps general.It was a gift from whichever power had seen fit to weaken their foes. Now was the hour to strike.
The radicals got their way and the rebels prepared for a savage blow, the General Uprising. It was intended to consist of a series of border assaults and battles to draw Dominion forces out of the margins of Tephrike, followed by attacks within Dominion cities by partisan forces These infiltrating attacks would bring about a rallying of the masses to the revolutionary cause, and wholesale crumbling and defection of the Grand Army and the Dominion government under the combined pressure of military defeat and propaganda, and finally large scale set-piece battles.
The offensive was a definite change in strategy for the Liberation Corps which largely had fought smaller-scale mobile and guerrilla warfare. During the uprising they would stand and slug it out against the Dominion's Grand Army and the Jedi while enjoying the assistance of the aroused masses. At first all went well. The partisans were able to capture several towns and villages. Dominion troops, thrown into disarray by the rapture and the dimininution of their Jedi leaders' ability to call upon the Force, were encircled and beaten. Some defected to the Guard or deserted. The rebels were able to able to stock up their arsenal by looting. The Liberation Corps and other Republican Guard forces scored a significant victory over Dominion troops at the Battle of Laszika Swamp. The Dominion sent a 'flying column from their territory to raid and conduct 'clearing operations' that were supposed to drive back partisan forces. This was before Fortress Purity so the frontline was both further south and less formalised so they could pass through into Republican Guard lands.
Thus the Dominion deployed an elite force of some 12,000 soldiers and support personnel with vehicles and air support. After burning some villages and sending some people back for 're-education' they push on and take control of a settlement which they fortify as a base of operations. Their overconfidence though at this point made them greedy. Leaving a garrison behind at their main base, Jedi Kasrates led 8,000 troops on a further raid. The Republican Guard had not been idle though. They knew of an incursion coming but not enough to oppose it immediately. So their forces moved in to surround the Dominion base and subject it to heavy artillery and even some direct assaults. Moreover, the partisans used primitive bicycles to give themselves a mobility advantage over the Dominion troops, which were reliant on the main roads and river crossings.
The Dominion had not expected the rebels to be able to move artillery due to the unfavourable terrain. The base held these off easily because it is well defended, but they send for help to the main column. Kasrates hears the request and turns to assist, marching swiftly in two columns to the relief of the camp.
However, it's here that two fatal mistakes were made. The first was assuming that the Republucan Guard attempt on the camp was the main and only force in the area. The second was forgetting that many Republican Guard soldiers were amphibious. So as the smaller column passed by the Laszika Swamp they were hindered by fallen trees. It's getting towards dusk so the soldiers were milling around whilst hearing Republican Guard snipers firing on the main column. And then suddenly the swamp and lake beyond erupted with aquatic rebel soldiers, among them feared frogmen. The Dominion troops were caught completely by surprise and a hail of RPGs, mortars and grenades take out many of their vehicles. And then the Mon Cal, Quarren, Nautolan and Gungans were on them with rifles, knives and shotguns. The Dominion forces of the second column tried to reform away from the swamp, and the rear managed to disengage. However, critically the two columns had now got the swamp and the rebels between them, and as more and more land Republican Guard forces from the Liberation Corps swarmed over them. The Dominion tried to use artillery and air power, but the jungle, swamp and the confused fighting made targeting hard.
As night fell column B had been wiped out. Their commander, Jedi Varalus was brought down and beheaded by a Vong assassin. Column A was harassed through the night but managed to push on and reach the base camp. However, they soon found themselves surrounded on all sides by the Republican Guard. Attacks and constant bombardments made the defences untenable in the long run. In the end Jedi Kasrates sought to break out and make it home to link up with a hastily assembled relief army.
The whole way back they were mercilessly sniped, had trees and mines laid in their path, and every night their camp would be bombed. Exhausted, many of the Dominion troops surrendered, but a core of about 900 managed to escape back to Dominion territory. One of the last to fall was Jedi Kasrates, though the method of his death is debated. Some say he was leading the rearguard and was attacked and slain by a Guard attack group. Others that he fell on his own enchanted blade in shame. Although the Republican Guard had suffered heavy casualties, possibly nearly as many as their enemy, they had inflicted a crushing and surprising defeat on their enemy.
However, the hoped for mass uprising did not materialise. Most of the population did not embrace the cause, and many Grand Army units stood firm and fought back. Moreover, as the Guard tried to push deep into Dominion territory, their casualties grew severe. Now that they were launching an all-out offensive, they suffered from an overly long supply train. Undaunted, Aruunzeb, one of the senior commanders of the invasion force, pressed for continued attack, reasoning that a reprieve would only allow the Dominion to recover its strength. Under the leadership of Battlemaster Mahtara, the Dominion carried out a scorched earth campaign. This created supply issues for the Guard. Logistics became their enemy and their supply train provided a good target for the Dominion. The rebels were forced to live off the land by taking what they needed from the civilian population, which further undermined support.
Moreover, their unofficial co-belligerency with the Vaderites also caused tension. The Vaderites had been taken over by a faction of Light Sith and entered the war as de facto co-belligerents of the Republican Guard. But the partisans soon clashed with their 'allies'. This was encouraged by Dominion intrigue. The Sith committed atrocities, while the Guard rounded up the Force-using population in the areas it liberated. Soon their troops were clashing and Aruunzeb had his soldiers shoot on Sith. The Republican Guard managed to advance upon Fortress Purity, a key Dominion citadel that stood as a bulwark to defend their capital Nexus City. However, the battle was a grievous defeat for the Liberation Corps and other Guard units.
For several days the Guard tried to storm the fortress. They sought to get close by digging tunnels and infiltrating it with their troops, but the defences held. Both sides fought each other for several days. Casualties were heavy, but the rebels were driven back. Supplies of ammunition, food, fuel and medical equipment were running low. At one point during the fighting, Aruunzeb rallied fleeing Republican Guard soldiers and led a counterattack, pistol in hand. His example inspired them, but it could not turn the tide. With Dominion reserves arriving, the Guard risked being enveloped.
The rebels retreated from the devastated, blood-soaked battlefield and were forced to leave many of their seriously wounded behind. Led by Battlemaster Mahtara, the Dominion wasted no time going on a counterattack. Aruunzeb's troops retreated to Salona. There they managed to regroup. Liberation Corps soldiers stubbornly held on on to the town to buy allied forces time to withdraw into Republican Guard territory or vanish into the wilderness to continue the struggle as partisans. They used deception to fool the enemy into thinking that his forces were a lot larger than they actually were and to mislead them about where he had positioned them. Among other things, they utilised dummies and camouflage. This was accompanied by the use of false communications. Dummy tanks and guns were made from local materiels, while real ones were disguised. For a while the enemy was fooled. It also distracted the Dominion from retreating Republican Guard forces and fleeing civilians who sympathised with the rebellion.
Of course, this also meant that the rebels came under heavy assault. Fierce fighting ensued in the besieged town. Many of the Dominion's initial artilley strikes targeted the dummies, but they clashed with Aruunzeb's real forces. The Guard made ample use of snipers and land mines. Viper Company, a crack unit of Force Dead who specialised in hunting Force-Users, distinguished itself at the battle. Intense house-to-house fighting ensued. When food supplies dwindled, Aruunzeb had Dominion prisoners killed because guarding them cost manpower and he could not feed them and his soldiers. But the battle could only be a delaying action. The Republican Guard risked being encircled. With the situation becoming untenable, the rebels executed a breakthrough to escape the cauldron, but casualties had been high. Moreover, they had been forced to leave most of their heavy equipment behind. The uprising had ended in defeat and was a serious blow to the rebels.
The rebels reverted to irregular warfare for the time after. But then things took a turn nobody could have expected. After centuries of isolation, outsiders arrived on Tephrike. They called themselves Firemane. When starships appeared in orbit, the Guard took notice. At first it seemed the outsiders would attempt diplomacy with the Dominion. But then extremists in the Dominion's leadership attacked the Firemane delegation without provocation. In doing so they precipitated war. After members of Viper Company saved Firemane-allied pilots from being overrun by Dominion forces, both sides entered an alliance.
Firemane had the firepower, but only a limited number of troops and knew little about Tephrike or the Dominion. The Guard had a lot of bodies and knew the area well, but lacked firepower. Both sides distrusted one another. Firemane had Force-Users in its ranks, so the Guard was wary. A large force of Liberation Corps soldiers, militia and elite Force hunters such as Viper Company was assembled to aid Firemane in the assault on Fortress Purity. However, the rebels were hesitant to commit their full strength to the battle. Firemane bombarded Purity with aerial and artillery strikes, raining destruction upon the fortress. Their firepower surpassed that of the Dominion by far.
Enemy resistance was fierce. Having witnessed the power of Firemane bombers and warships when Nexus City was bombed, the Dominion sought to nullify the outsiders' technological advantage by activating a weather control machine. Many Firemane transports and gunships were lost to the storm; others were attacked by kamikaze pilots. On the ground Firemane and Republican Guard troops faced fanatical resistance. Many Dominion units fought to the death. They also deployed Jedi in significant numbers and made use of illusionists. Viper Company infiltrated Dominion lines and linked up with Firemane's Reaper Squad to wreak havoc, but soon risked being overrun. Elsewhere, Firemane troops were locked in intense combat with Dominion elite troops, militia and Jedi.
Until now the rebels had refused to deploy their full force. After a tense meeting between Aruunzeb and Colonel Varkathras, they attacked in full force. Liberation Corps infantry, supported by primitive tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, were deployed. The deployment of Republican Guard regulars stabilised the front line, but fighting remained intense. The Vipers and the Reapers discovered the entrance to a Dominion underground complex. Augmented by substantial Liberation Corps reinforcements, they battled Dominion soldiers and Jedi in the tunnels. Savage fighting ensued in the tunnels and upon a hill held by Dominion troops.
Eventually the unlikely allies were able to break through and storm the fortress. In the last phase of the battle, the Dominion command sought to cover its retreat by sending a brigade of Younglings on a futile death charge. The partisans raised their banner upon Purity. Any remaining Dominion functionaries or troopers were killed. The battle was a great victory for the Guard. However, the Dominion was not finished. Indeed, the defeat might have turned it into a more dangerous opponent, as the Mad Grandmaster was toppled by Battlemaster Mahtara. The Liberation Corps and other partisan forces managed to wrest control over half of Vortanstad, an industrial centre, from the Dominion, but the struggle the offensive to conquer the city stalled, turning into a brutal war of attrition.
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