OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: Expand on Tephrike by codifying one of the main groups on the planet.
Image Credit: Here.
Role: Rebel group.
Links: Tephrike, Into Darkness.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Group Name: Republican Guard.
Classification: Rebel group.
Headquarters: Red Coral City.
Loyalties: Free people of Tephrike.
Group Sigil: Rebel Alliance starbird.
Description: The Republican Guard is a secularist, revolutionary movement native to Tephrike. It is in a state of war with the Disciples of the Vader, a Sith cult that worships Darth Vader as a god, and the Dominion of Light, a fundamentalist Jedi theocracy that follows a warped interpretation of the old Jedi Code. Like its two competitors, the Republican Guard is a child of the apocalypse. The outbreak of the Gulag Virus sent Tephrike spiralling into chaos. Cut off from the rest of the Galaxy and ravaged by the plague, the planet experienced famine, isolation, technological regression and civil war. The federal government collapsed, giving way to warlords and gangs. The local Jedi enclave tried to restore peace, but their benign intentions turned evil over time and they created a totalitarian theocracy. Their dominance was soon contested by Sith cultists, who preached a mixture of Vader worship, human supremacism and Social Darwinism.
The Republican Guard rose to oppose both of these factions. In contrast to its enemies, 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. Most unusually, it has a strong Yuuzhan Vong element, for their Force Dead nature makes the Vong ideal shock troops. It helps that they face persecution in Jedi and Sith territory.
The Guard is staunchly secular, regarding Force religions as a means 'space wizards' employ to oppress the common people. As a result, all forms of Force worship have been prohibited. Force-users are regarded as afflicted by a malignant disease. Some of the members of the Republic adopt a maltheist viewpoint, seeing the Force as some sort of malevolent deity, but this is a minority position, as it clashes with the Republican Guard's overall securalism. Children who manifest Force powers in rebel territory are subjected to brainwashing and a good bit of mental trauma to associate the Force with bad things. Mental conditioning is used to suppress Force use, along with Vong technology. Those who are regarded as too dangerous to be released back into society are isolated. Being an insurgency movement that has managed to seize control over a few provinces, the resistance has imposed a war economy on those it seeks to liberate - whether they want to be liberated or not. As it was founded by rebellious clone troopers, joined by various alien races, this faction is highly militarised, with universal conscription. The Republican Guard's 'capital' is Red Coral City, an underwater settlement originally founded by Nautolan and Gungan colonists. It also maintains small rebel cells in Dominion and Sith territory.
In its culture and daily life, the rebels idealise the old Galactic Republic, seeing it as a bastion of democracy, sentient rights and good governance. Indeed, ballads and theatre plays glorifying the deeds of the Grand Army of the Republic are common - by contrast, the Dominion of Light does the same for the Jedi. Many of the inhabitants of its territory include citizens who fled the Jedi or Sith controlled areas - or were rescued during raids on labour camps. As supplies are scarce, they seize a lot of what they require via raids or by 'taxing' villages under their 'protection'. Resistance fighters also try to smuggle subversive literature and leaflets into the territory controlled by the Force cultists. This goes hand in hand with carrying out terrorist attacks against their enemies. Overall, the Republican Guard is a morally grey faction. It has principles many would consider noble, but is willing to use very ruthless means to achieve its goals. One of their credos is:
“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.” Another is
'Do-ro'ik Vong pratte!' which is a Vong phrase that means 'and woe to our enemies'.
Unsurprisingly, Vong Shapers are prominent members of the Guard's R&D division, although their ability to recreate their ancestors' war machines is limited. Most partisans are poorly equipped and forced to live off the land. The Guard makes extensive use of Tephrike's networks of waterways. A number of their bases are located underwater. This is no surprise since one of their sources of support are aquatic aliens. However, the waters of Tephrike are dangerous, for sea monsters abound.
The Republican Guard has made frequent use of terror tactics. Murder, kidnapping, torture and general intimidation are a routine part of Guuard operations and are calculated to cow the populace, liquidate opponents, erode the morale of Dominion and Sith government employees, and boost tax collection and propaganda efforts. It is meant to demonstrate that both the rural and urban dweller are powerless against the Guard. Terror extends beyond targeted murders and kidnappings, and includes the mortaring and shelling of population centres. Due to its conventional weakness, the Guard has been forced to pursue a strategy of asymmetrical warfare for most of its existence. To build up logistical support, it has created an integrated network of bases, sanctuaries and lines of communication.
Use of terror is considered integral to weaken and destroy local government, strengthen the revolutionary apparatus, proselyte among the populace, erode the control and influence of the enemy. Captured Jedi and Sith are often shot out of hand or experimented on to discern the nature of their powers and devise counters. It should be noted that such tactics are the norm on Tephrike. Both the Dominion and the Sith have set up what amounts to a slave state in their respective territories. The Guard seeks to gain support among the civilian population through a mixture of propaganda, intimidation and by winning hearts and minds.
Particularly in remote areas, the Guard is the sole source of humanitarian aid, governance and protection. Guard soldiers and workers distribute supplies, provide medical care, education. They also help peasants bring in the harvest and train self-defence militias. However, at the same time they tax the locals in the liberated areas, conscript civilians as soldiers or labourers and practically paint a target on their backs by setting up weapons caches, supply dumps, underground bunkers and tunnels. This exposes them to the Search and Destroy campaigns conducted by both the Dominion and the Sith. These often involve the wholesale destruction of villages suspected of aiding the rebels, deportations and massacres. Freedom is never free, and so the Guard sees the hardship the people must undergo as an unfortunate, but necessary sacrifice on the road to the liberation of Tephrike.
SOCIAL INFORMATION
Hierarchy: The Republican Guard is authoritarian, though not totalitarian like the Vaderites and the Dominion. The hierarchy is very top-down. While committed to a republican form of governance, to a large degree it is an officer led rebellion. This is similar to the Rebel Alliance of yore, though the Guard has no aristos or royals. The Guard maintains a senate in the liberated territories. The senators are directly elected and – theoretically – choose the chancellor. However, the legislature is more of a show of convenience comparable to an advisory council than a decision-making body. It elects the supreme commander, who is regarded as the chancellor of Free Tephrike. But due to the constant state of emergency the leader's term is always extended.
True power rests in the hands of the military junta they preside over, the Council of National Salvation. The junta is composed of the most senior military commanders. It is charged with leading the war effort against the Force cultists, until the day comes when victory has been achieved and the republic can be restored. However, rebel units operating far away from the centre in territory controlled by the enemy have considerable autonomy. Some of these units are very small and utilise a clandestine, cell-like structure. Others are large enough to be organised as partisan companies, battalions and brigades, though their numbers fluctuate. The Republican Guard maintains several regional commands, which are responsible for carrying out rebel activity, sabotaging the enemy, spreading propaganda, mobilising recruits, setting up camps and acquiring funds. However, some rebel units only pay lip service to the centre and pursue their own agendas or have split from it altogether.
The Guard maintains a degree of direct democracy on the level of villages and towns under its control. Village heads, councillors and mayors are elected by the eligible citizens. Force-users are disenfranchised. The same applies to Sith or Dominion collaborators. However, the military junta has the final word on all major decisions. For a while the Guard experimented with an elected officer corps, but this proved counter-productive and was soon abolished. Over the centuries, rebel formations have gone rogue or split off entirely to create their own factions, but most struggle for recognition.
Membership: The Guard is limited to Tephrike and thus only recruits natives of the planet. Potential members must be willing to fight or otherwise contribute to the struggle for liberty. They must be Non-Force-Users, Force Dead or 'cured' Force-Users, though the latter face many hurdles. Must espouse the principles of the Guard, show loyalty to it and oppose the machinations of the Force cults.
Dogma/Doctrines: From its point of view, the Republican Guard champions the common people. It is the advocate of the 99.9%. All those who have been born without the Force and suffer under the yoke of Force-wielders. It works tirelessly to restore peace and fight for the freedom of the oppressed. It makes the streets safe, distribute food to the hungry, provides emergency medical care, inspires hope in people who otherwise would have none and protects Force-Sensitives who have been born in its midst from themselves. The Guard sees itself as the last bastion of liberty, egalitarianism, justice, multiculturalism and tolerance.
It seeks to establish an egalitarian, multispecies, republican state where one's position is decided by merit and not an affinity for a mystical energy field. It is resolutely opposed to the genetic aristocracy represented by Jedi and Sith. Both cults are two sides of the same coin, using their powers to deceive the masses. The Guard affirms freedom of religion, but this does not extend to faiths that venerate the Force or those who have an affinity for it. By contrast, Yuuzhan Vong have been welcomed into the movement, though the caste system and technophobia have been largely done away with. The Vong religion is one of the permitted faiths, though the Tephriki variant has diverged a fair bit from orthodoxy. Interestingly, the Guard's anti-Force viewpoints has spawned some groups that idolise the Force Dead, regarding them as particularly pure. Some non-Vong have also converted to the True Way. However, the Vong's influence has also caused envy.
The Guard values resilience, discipline, thrift and preparedness. There's also a free press, which is allowed to criticise the régime. However, due to emergency wartime legislation, this criticism must operate within certain bounds. Essentially the press is allowed to criticise individual leaders or policies, but not the general line. Thus no journalist would suggest making peace with the theocratic factions or treating Force-users like normal people. The rebel faction also upholds clone rights. This is very pertinent since many of Tephrike's people are clones. The Dominion in particular makes extensive use of cloning. The rebels regard the Jedi's use of clones as just as heinous as the chattel slavery practised by the Sith. They have clinics that attempt to cure the clones' sterility.
The Guard attributes the downfall of the Old Republic to Jedi and Sith conspiracies. Tephrike's long isolation and inaccurate records have given them some rather unorthodox views. Thus they believe that Sidious and the Jedi conspired together to foment the Clone Wars so that the Force blind could be brought to heel. Their view of Luke and Leia is more charitable. Both are seen as well-intentioned people who were duped by their masters into continuing the cruel war.
According to this interpretation, Luke went into exile and renounced the Force because he realised the harm Force-users had caused. He hid the Jedi's sacred scriptures to keep future generations from repeating the same mistakes. Sadly, even burning the holy texts was not enough. Jedi Rey fought the Yuuzhan Vong and the First Order was led by Supreme Leader Thrawn. Snoke was a failed Sidious clone who believed he was the true emperor. Interestingly, the Vong are whitewashed, for they are regarded as righteous crusaders who saw the evil of Jedi and Sith and stood up for the common man. General Jar-Jar Binks was a brave warrior who fought in the Clone Wars and later led the Rebellion and the Resistance to many victories. The Guard also has a positive view of Gilad Pellaeon, seeing his Imperial Remnant as a secular state that was sadly corrupted by his successors.
As mentioned above, the Guard treats the Force as a curse. However, it rejects exterminating all Force-users. This would be impractical anyway. It is also seen as barbaric. Instead it tries to cure them. Young Force-Sensitives are indoctrinated to associate the Force with bad things. From the perspective of the Guard, a child who happens to be born sensitive to the Force is someone to be pitied. However, they require treatment, lest they become a danger to themselves or the community. The embrace of pain is often used on captive Jedi or Sith. Attempts have also been made to turn Force-Users Force Dead. The Guard believes that Force-Users who have been 'cured' and deemed sufficiently stable should be allowed to live their lives. Nonetheless, they are still monitored to ensure that they do not succumb to their curse. Some elect to undergo dangerous procedures to be turned Force Dead in order to attain full rights.
Curios: The Green Book. A training and induction manual issued by the Republican Guard to new recruits. 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 usually carry cyanide suicide pills. Many Rebel leaders use Ghostwave transmissions or various Villip biots, allowing for secure communication that cannot be interrupted.
Goals: To liberate Tephrike from the control of the Force cultists and warlords and unite it under the banner of a secular, unitary republic.
MEMBERS
Mezha Krazhmir
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
The outbreak of the Gulag Virus had a profound impact on almost every inhabited world in the Galaxy. Galactic commerce came to an end, billions died from the plague and many more due to internal strife. Galactic governments collapsed and many planets succumbed to anarchy. The repercussions for Tephrike were extreme. The planet's fragile democracy had already been under fire due to racial and social tensions. Moreover, the planet was highly dependent on galactic trade. Things turned from bad to worse as the survivors warred amonst themselves.
Tephrike's small Jedi enclave tried to impose order and fight the darkness, but ended up becoming the very evil they fought against, while insisting that they were righteous. Influenced by a debased, warped interpretation of the old Jedi code, they sought to bring the planet under the control of a radical Jedi theocracy, the Dominion of Light, which took totalitarian control to new heights. Inevitably, there was opposition. Heretical Jedi turned on their masters and declared a dark crusade, forming a Sith cult that worshipped Vader as a god and believed all Force blind should be enslaved and treated as chattel.
The common people of Tephrike were caught between a rock and a hard place, as both theocracies vied for control. Their religious war cost many lives and devastated the planet. It was only a matter of time before Force blind rebel groups united and formed their own faction, the Republican Guard. Like the Jedi and the Sith, this faction turned to an idealised past. The Dominion of Light saw itself as the successor of the Jedi Lords, Lord Hoth and Mace Windu, the Disciples of the Vader regarded themselves as the heirs of the 'Dark God' Vader and the Republican Guard believed it was restoring the Old Republic.
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, it had been one of many aquatic settlements created by aquatic aliens who'd settled on Tephrike. It only really made the headlines when the locals complained that the activities of a foreign corporation were causing serious damage to the sea and the wildlife in it, leading to protests, Its obscurity turned out to be a blessing because it was spared much of the initial destruction that took place during the Age of Strife. However, social unrest, food shortages and the plague forced the local administration to implement harsh measures to keep order. The small town was soon faced with a refugee crisis. Desperate to escape the fighting, refugees bribed smugglers to help them get into the settlement. Strict border controls were imposed, not the least because the natives feared that they would be inundated. In one highly controversial action, a police submersible used torpedoes to turn refugee craft away.
Like many areas dominated by aquatic aliens, 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, after the Vaderites' Dark Crusade had been halted at Palmyra, the planet's old capital. Fear of fifth columnists was rampant and led to the lynching of suspected spies. Moreover, refugees told horrific stories about the deeds of the Windian Jedi's elite soldiers: Clone troopers. Ironically, some of these clone troopers would turn out to be Red Coral City's best allies and help found the Republican Guard. Prior to the Collapse, Tephrike had been a location for several medical companies, which had been attracted by the planet's bountiful flora and fauna. Medical facilities had been set up to run tests and experiments, encouraged by rather lax laws. This included a medical cloning facility. The Windian Jedi later appropriated this facility and used it to breed soldiers. Eventually, they would seek to do away with natural reproduction entirely, viewing pleasures of the flesh as the path to the Dark Side. However, since the tech had been created with animals in mind, their method of cloning was less than ideal and they ran into issues such as clone madness or rapid ageing. A group of clone troopers who had managed to subvert their programming rebelled against their 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
It was a canny Quarren leader called Zoho Koquon who took control. He would go down in history as the Founding Father of the Republican Guard. His family had been prominent nativist Quarren politicians prior to the Collapse. However, Koquon realised that the deep fault lines between the races had been one of the reasons that caused Tephrike to descend into chaos. He became a prominent militia leader, making himself a name in the defence of the city. It was he who took the initative to accept the aid of the rebellious clone troopers. This was a controversial move, to say the least, but Koquon was a determined, charismatic leader. 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.
Some believed the interests of the people would be best served by trying to appease one of the two theocratic Force cults, whose war was ravaging the planet. These views were squashed by a radical party of secularists, who proclaimed that the inhabitants of Red Coral City had to rally around the banner of freedom and liberty, for otherwise they would be nothing but slaves. This faction also gained support from many refugees, who in many cases had fled from Jedi or Sith territory with little more than the clothes on their backs and left loved ones behind. Having driven the appeasers out of power, Koquon took control. The remnants of Tephrike's old administration were also swept aside, for the Guard considered itself a revolutionary movement. Restoring the ancien régime would not suffice, for its failures had contributed to the current plight of the Tephriki. Only radical change could bring salvation to Tephrike.
Reports of atrocities perpetrated by Force-Users hardened the policy towards those strong in the Force. At first they were simply disenfranchised and monitored, but soon the new régime adopted harsher policies. However, Koquon was still hesitant to go as far as the radicals in his own party wanted. His belief that not all Force-users were diseased was not rewarded, for he was murdered by a 'sanctioned' Force-User, who was later accused of being a Sith agent. His successor became Sinya Kairn, one of the Clone Commanders who had defected to the Rebellion. As someone who had witnessed the actions of the Dominion first-hand and started her life as a slave-soldier. As a result she was a lot harsher. Supported by the firebrands, she implemented the broad strokes of the anti-Force-User measures that characterise present day Republican Guard policy. Indeed, reports of cultist activities, nocturnal rituals and blood sacrifices caused a mass panic amongst the populace, Force use was prohibited entirely. Too much time has passed for it to be possible to verify whether there really was a fifth column during the battle or a cult of Sith 'deep state agents' plotting to undermine the fabric of society. Both seemed real to the Guard and so harsh laws were imposed to protect the populace from Force-users - and Force-users from themselves and the wroth of the public.
During her term as leader of the movement, the Republican Guard also made an alliance with Tephrike's surviving Yuuzhan Vong population. Both the Dominion and the Vaderites regarded the Vong as unnatural abominations. Having failed in their bid to topple the Dominion in a Dark Crusade, the Vaderites unleashed a genocidal campaign against the Vong, partly since their new Dark Lord needed to strengthen his position and direct the energies of his underlings somewhere far away from his throne. The Republican Guard had motivated fighters, but it lacked Force-Users of its own and its manufacturing basis was small. It needed to gain elite fighters to level the playing field. The Yuuzhan Vong fit the bill, for their Force Dead nature and fighting skills allowed them to fight Force-Users on equal terms. So the Guard accepted them into its ranks, though with some strings attached. 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 by the name of Meelan Shai would eventually become the leader of the rebels.
The Republican Guard would continue its struggle against the Force theocracies under successive leaders. Periods of conventional warfare were accompanied by low-intensity conflicts. The Guard sought to establish revolutionary cells in enemy territory, using affiliated partisan groups to wage a guerilla war. Its partisans created an extensive underground system of tunnels, which were expanded over time. Eventually these tunnel complexes included field hospitals, training areas, storage facilities, headquarters and barracks. Aside from the partisans, the tunnels themselves presented potential dangers to intruders, for they were often booby-trapped. The partisans would even use venomous snakes (placed as living booby traps). The construction of the tunnels typically included features such as U-Bends that could be flooded quickly to trap the enemy. Sometimes gas was used. The Dominion and the Vaderites carried out harsh reprisals against villagers suspected of collaborating with the rebels. Caught between a rock and a hard place, it was as always the civilians who suffered the most.
While the Guard provided protection against raiders and humanitarian aid, it also taxed the inhabitants of the liberated zones, conscripted them for labour or military service and punished suspected enemy spies harshly. The Guard carried 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 maintained assassination squads that carried out terrorist attacks, many of which target civilians accused of 'collaboration'.
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 abhors slavery. But it also considers terror a valid means to achieve its goals. As far as the Tephriki know, the rest of the Galaxy has been consumed by the Gulag Virus. So the Guard considered itself to be the inheritor of the traditions of the Old Republic, though it also drew inspiration from the Imperial Remnant. In its bid to fashion the strongest possible revolutionary, secularist bloc, the Guard did not tolerate rivals. There was a certain logic to this. The free people of Tephrike could not sustain and support dozens of odd guerilla groups. Competition for financial, material and other resources that had to be extracted from the people was intense. Many partisans groups that mushroomed during the Darkness were assimilated or eliminated by the Guard, though it still had to deal with heresies and warlords. Unity came at a price, for while a certain degree of popular democracy remained in place, the movement grew rather authoritarian.
Like every world, Tephrike was affected by the Netherworld Event. In the blink of an eye, countless people from across the planet were raptured. Moreover, Force-users found it difficult to call upon their powers without side-effects. For a short while, they could not draw upon their gifts at all. The disappearances caused a panic in Republican Guard-controlled settlements. There was even an attack on an asylum constructed to hold and reeducate Force-users, for radicals held them responsible for the calamity. To their credit, the guards tried to protect their charges. Some escaped and either fled into the wilderness or formed a violent cult. But order was restored and the Guard recognised that its enemies had been weakened, for both Jedi and Sith depended on the Force.
This culminated into what would be later known as the Hundred Days Offensive. The campaign brought Rebel soldiers into the heartland of the Dominion. She was part of a recon unit. The initial attacks stunned the Dominion armies, causing them to temporarily lose control over several cities. However, Jedi Battlemaster Mahtara rallied them. The armies of Light regrouped, beat back the attackers and inflicted heavy casualties on them. The popular uprisings Red Coral City had hoped for never materialised. Moreover, they faced a canny opponent in the Battlemaster, who implemented a scorched earth policy to deny the Republican Guard supplies. Anything that might be useful to the enemy was destroyed. 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. Disease also took its toll on the rebels.
At the same time, the Dominion's de facto military supremo exploited divisions in the ranks of her nation's enemies. Throughout most of their existence, the Republican Guard and the Vaderites had fought each other just as fiercely as the Dominion. The Vaderites were unapologetic racists who regarded non-humans as inferior and endorsed a might makes right philosophy based on the inherent supremacy of Force-Users. In short, they were the very antithesis of the principles the Guard espoused. However, they had recently undergone a change in leadership. Some of the Sith had come across the 'true' history of Vader's life. In reality, it was a 'The Galactic Civil War for Dummies' book. But it told the story of Vader's redemption. Thus these Sith concluded that since Vader had turned to the Light, they must do so as well. Others decided that since Vader was a false Sith, Sidious was the true Dark God. The result was a civil war. Darth Krieg, leader of the 'light' Vaderites emerged victor. It helped that he'd rallied rebellious slaves to his cause by promising them freedom. At first, he extended an olive branch to the Dominion, declaring that it was time for the Jedi to unite. Naturally he expected them to submit to him. Unsurprisingly they refused, so he declared that they had fallen to the dark side and made a secret pact with the leader of the Republican Guard. Thus the Vaderites entered the fray as well. They were just as weakened by the Force being wonky as the Jedi, but the Dominion was the one fighting a two-front war. At the time the Nautolan leader of the Guard, Kiraxa Kitomo, was a pragmatist who regarded the Dominion as the greater threat, reasoning that the Force being wonky had created an opportunity that might never come again. Hence she made a secret pact with Darth Krieg. As a result the Rebels and the Sith became de facto co-belligerents.
Using guile and deception, Battlemaster Mahtara cannily exploited divisons within the ranks of the Vaderites and the Republican Guard. False flag attacks encouraged forces from both sides to fight each other. The Republican Guard's leader was overthrown by a vote of no confidence in their parliament. This was one of the rare occasions when the senate removed a supreme commander. The junta affirmed its decision and arrested their former leader. Angered, Darth Krieg withdrew his forces. His marauding hordes burnt and looted anything in their path, for they did not seem to care much for their leader's official commitment to the way of the Light. His attempts to discipline them created resentment. Krieg himself ended up being betrayed and murdered by more orthodox Vaderites, who wanted to return to the true Sith ways. The new leader of the Republican Guard was a Gungan revolutionary called Odoh Senks. He had the support of Vaekta Khrazhmir, an important Vong commander. Senks vowed to continue the war until victory had been achieved.
However, things took an unexpected turn when the Outsiders appeared in Tephrike's orbit. In actual fact it was a Firemane expedition. At first Firemane entered into negotiations with the Dominion. But extremists in the Dominion's ranks attacked the Firemane delegation. A fierce fight ensued, and one of the Firemane operatives, Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori, was taken prisoner. Moreover, Firemane-allied pilots, including the Alderaanian Ranger/Resistance member [member="Laira Darkhold"], were shot down and stranded in the wilderness. Republican Guard insurgents led by Mezha Krazhmir had watched these events. They shadowed the pilots and later came to their aid against Dominion forces. Darkhold and her surviving crew were brought to the rebels' underground tunnel, though she was required to wear a device that prevented her from using her Force powers. Eventually they managed to get in contact with the leadership of the Firemane expedition. Applying the logic that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, the two groups made a tentative deal. The Republican Guard saw an opportunity to destroy or decisively weaken its hated enemy, though it remained very wary of the outsiders, as they had many Force-Users in their ranks.
