The Imperial Military Protectorate (IMP)

[DECEASED Erskine Barran]

FO Notes
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In endless appreciation of the lore, and all the achievements of the faction IC and OOC, we wish to do our predecessors some justice in consideration of the timeline they forged for us together.

If we are to comprise of remnants from (what can be argued as-) a golden age for non-Sith Imperials, we have to consider where our predecessors have been, what they've conquered and what was lost in the years of it's downfall. After all, with greater attention to detail in depiction at the Faction Staff/Moderator level, there's always more immersion to offer for writers within that framework - aided all the more by the fact it just so happens to faithfully adapt from the some of the best arcs of the last few years.
-Lee-

-THE NEW IMPERIAL ORDER-
(NIO)
858-867 ABY

RULER

IRVERIC TAVLAR
(IMPERATOR)

Homeworld: DANTOOINE

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[DECEASED Erskine Barran]

Where a realm's heroes grow weary of hierarchal malice
Where all joy perishes like ashes in the wind

It is on worlds such as these where the Will of Defiance was born.

ACT ONE
-THE AGE OF DEFIANCE-
858-862 ABY

Spoiler

IMPORTANT EVENTS
Price of Empire | Kyber Dark | Reclamation
Battle of Muunilinst | Battle of Dubrillion | Battle of Borosk | Battle of Bastion

PART ONE: THE BOARD IS SET
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All great separatist states are formed in the midst of internal political schism, and in the beating heart of Sith Imperium - such a thing was given life in the hearts of it's most-fervent warriors.

On one jaded hand stood the conventional Sith element, the Qotsisajakaar, an esoteric collective led by the great Darth @ Avernus and @ Darth Voyance; turning away from the predominant faith of the ruling Sith ideology, abandoning it's tenets to reject their religion completely, as such would serve as fuel for their resolve. However, on the other, equally-disillusioned hand stood the already-mighty Imperial legions, led by Lord-General @ Irveric Tavlar and @ Tyrell Paxxus at the time, and in mirroring fashion, harboured their own sentitments of disdain toward Sith-Imperial systems of power.

It was in these early days of outspoken insubordination when the seeds of the Third Imperial Civil War were sown, when the wheels were already in motion by the time @ Vaulkhar 'Zambrano spoke out for the first time, with increasing numbers already attending holographically (and even in-person) to the Ascendant Hall as living challenges to the status quo. Marking clear separation from the Sith yolk, years before the Imperial element made the great separatist's leap of faith, though the voices of dissent would need to meet and discuss their options first, but it wouldn't take long for the Imperials to forge their own faction after that.

Uniting all the legions, all the fleets and all the knight chapters under command of the defiant, and within Tavlar's sphere of influence, making a grand endeavour that was so quick that no Sith-Imperial overlord would see it coming. Making for Nirauan, choosing the Hand of Thrawn as the newly-anointed Imperator's seat of power - appearing as an island in a dangerous, shark infested sea of planets.

It was there, within the walls of the ancient Imperial fortress, that the very inspiration for the faction's name would be found, history founding the makings of another as all agreed to name the movement,"The NEW IMPERIAL ORDER", in the historic, aptly-titled,"Declaration of Defiance".

Though there would always be difficulties in abundance for those who ambitiously dub their faction in such a way, this reality had been an ever-present factor in the minds of the fledgling revolutionaries, even in the muttered, near-silent beginnings of their journey to prominence. Almost predicting the events that would lead to the eventual first battle on Velmor, as the pattern of escalations always seemed to follow the same rhythm and flow in the Galaxy, and in the wake of renewed conflict between the Sith Empire and Silver Jedi, the New-Imperial host knew they would be next to face their former overlords either way.

Granting the NIO time enough to prepare for this encounter, increasing readiness to turn the tide for those brave enough to rise up in conflict against the Sith Empire - time enough for friendly contingents to achieve their first sweeping victory against Tavlar's former masters.

Bloodying the nose of hubris itself in assistance of the Silver Jedi, casting the first stone against the very concept of infallibility, right there on Velmor. Yet unlike their oppressors, the New Imperials would never dare to grow complacent, and certainly not with the enormity of daunting milestones the new realm still needed to cross by then, further achievements that would assure survival in Tavlar's earlier territorial expansions.

Many would have slowed down or even stopped right there.
Inviting hubris of every complacent sort, taking years to catch their breaths.

But the Imperials were moving forward, persisting in expansion.

Treachery awaited at every corner,
Poised with baited breath,
Waiting to snuff out the flames of Defiance.

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PART 2: THE PIECES ARE MOVING​

On the hard-fought,"Imperial Outlands" frontier, a desperate war for survival would find it's commencement on the Braxant Run, and not long after the first shot was fired in anger - all would quickly come to understand the ferocity needed to prevail in the following years.

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The New-Imperial host had been a formidable threat on their own for a while, even in the Civil War's explosive beginnings,(even after starting out with little more than a few planets) the Imperial host were already sporting a slew of battle-hardened Warlords and Generals going into the war's next phase, unknowingly commencing a long run of advantages in matters of warfighting mobilisation. After all, only a scant, elite few ever have the pleasure of prophecy, the privilege to see the glories of the future.

Pushing on from their staging-points on freshly-acquired gains, Irveric Tavlar and Vaulkhar Zambrano ould take the fight from the Borosk frontier all the way through to the Braxant Bulge. The only real, immediate targets in this endeavour (though the Imperator and his Lord Executor were already looking to another planet beyond it by then) were Muunilinst, and Mygeeto; the coveted jewel of this little plan, devised exclusively between Tavlar himself, the renegade Zambrano and a Sith Lord by the name of Kor Vexen, as production would always equal in importance to foothold-positioning.

Though the fight was still a daunting, gargantuan undertaking to endeavour at the time, Tavlar's fortunes would smile on him once more, heralded in by the declaration of an alliance with the Galactic Alliance; making a statement of intent like no other, and just in time for the impending hostilities, the clashes that would mark the true beginnings of the Third Imperial Civil War. Yet with Coruscant joining the fray on behalf of Tavlar's uprising, Nirauan could finally stand - with sabres drawn with confidence against their oppressors.

Standing back to back against the entire Galaxy, if need be, and in time (though most in the Galaxy were still blissfully unaware of these political happenings) all would eventually learn that fate, or rather, the Sith Empire would plan for that outcome exactly.

Shortly after the two-faction alliance was declared, and with immediate effect, the two-planet offensive would commence in two layers of grand assault, choosing Mygeeto's crystalline surface as the first strike zone. Holding out with Imperial Knights and Sith allies on Mygeeto, all the while coordinating efforts to strike next at Muunilinst, Irveric Tavlar's contingent would be deployed next, providing the next offensive wave whilst attentions were still fixed on Mygeeto's Force-Wielding occupiers.

Hitting the Sith with the strategic equivalent to a cutting left jab from Fel, followed up with Tavlar's loaded overhand right, connecting with the orbital sphere in a strike that would cripple the Sith-Imperial response, and long before any help could deploy for Mygeeto's sake. This would mark the beginnings of a memorable, iconic moment in history, a joint-operations endeavour that was destined to succeed from the beginning, hard-fought though the impending hostilities were already expected to be for the famed 501st Legion amidst the skyrises of Harnaidan.

However, fate would smile once more on the fortune (and the life) of the Imperator, granting Irveric and Rurik their resounding victories, and though they would fight doggedly for every step forward, the Troopers' and Imperial Knights' comm-transcripts confirmed their lines had yielded no ground across both battlefronts. A resounding one-two combination victory, and for the consistently-beset Imperials, this was all the momentum they needed to proceed with the next step of the plan.

Though time and resources would be needed to rebuild and repair their newly-acquired gains, having survived in settings that were under fire from the Sith Emperor's saturation-bombardments before the end, it would take more than time and resources to return these frontier-planets to full-functionality. Not enough time to see safe, completed construction before departure, though enough was done before departure that all the right facilities were readied to aid Tavlar's mobilisation for Bastion.

Not that the New Imperial Order would be given any rest in prevailing glory, however, as the Zambrano dynasty would not let these defeats go unanswered, allocating sufficient forces to stage an assault on newly-gained Borosk, an assault the Imperials would lose in their close-fought struggle to hold off the Sith-Imperial advance. Marking a brief, stuttering turn of luck that would end in the fires of Tavlar's answering assault on Dubrillion, the true staging post for that one eagerly-awaited siege on the Sith-Imperial capital.

Regardless of strategic reshuffles and reroutings of manpower, regardless of the sudden switch in springboarding start-points - all around the Imperator had known the true goal was Ravelin.

Coveting what was once impossible to covet.
Seeking to bring light where the dark once thrived.

Strong like hurricanes, all across the frontlines.
Battle formations closely resembling the rolling thunder.
Moving in one giant wave of enmity - sweeping widlly over the skyrises.

PART 3: THE GREATEST OF GAMBLES
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With Ravelin's darkened backdrop in sight, along with the ambition to make it the capital of true Imperium in the wake of it's liberation, every Defiant soul was looking to the planet at the far-end of the Braxant Run.

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The ambition of the fledgling Imperials was always something of a collective wonder for outsiders to behold, but in that supposedly-unified goal to overthrow the Sith Empire, plans were hatched behind closed doors, away from prying eyes and ears alike. A harsh eventuality of which many had foreseen in silence among safer confidants, but the Imperials were well aware of the complications that could await with their renegade Sith lords considered.

As even then the Sith among them had always known and seen the increasing incompatibilities between them, with all renegade Sith adherents fully-comprehending the fact it would boil over onto the mean streets of Ravelin eventually, with more than enough among them knowingly responsible for stirring up anti-Imperial unrest behind closed doors of their own. A discovery of which could only imply the worst, and with the results of further investigations putting the safety of Tavlar's victory at risk - such a slight would not go unpunished.

All things would eventually land at the feet of the Sith eventually, but with ample in the way of historical precedence for historic retribution, it made little difference whether the Sith were aligned with Tavlar's realm or not, as in the end it was all just a power Imperium had suffered for too long already. Simply a case of,"Better safe than sorry.", there was no way the Will of Defiance would endure without the Imperial plan's implementation, a truth as inescapable as death itself.

Thus the aptly dubbed,"Operation: Kyber Dark", would commence when the time was ripe. But first, immediate threats would need to take precedence - Bastion would need to take precedence.

Like it was for the Imperial assaults on Muunilinst and Mygeeto, the attack on the Sith-Imperial capital would commence every part as swiftly, as there was no particular reason to doubt the strength of a unified attack of Jedi, Imperials and renegade-Zambrano foroces, not for all they were able to achieve together before. Time enough had been afforded in preparation for the greatest prize of all, the only thing left to endeavour by then was the endeavour itself, and so the little alliance deployed without complaint.

Advancing through madness from the moment the Imperial dropships opened their off-ramps to the world around them, the fiercest battle of the Civil War so far would be thrashed out to the finish that day. Yet for all the Sith Empire had arrayed in place before the New Imperial Order specifically, it wouldn't be enough to keep Irveric's finest from taking the city, already building that otherworldly cohesion of a conquering army by then, gaining experience for every fight they survived along the way.

IMPAF Special Forces storming Ravelin's Fortress Carnifex,
Bastion (862 ABY)​

Made painfully apparent to any and all sallying, counteroffensive contingents within the latter stages of the initial conquest, as there were no attackers on the ground who were willing to drop their guard, not even for a moment. Almost as if there were other reasons to remain vigilant besides those pertaining to Ravelin's Sith-Imperial defenders, not that such realisations would matter for their ilk in the end, for even those who survived would escape to dismiss it as examples of extreme dynastical prejudice.

An easier means of chasing such thoughts away, as assuming genocidal priorities in their enemies would have made for a much simpler explanation, or at least much simpler explanations than the conjectures of what one believed was transpiring within the ranks of the Imperial host. Fortunately for all the conspirators of the Imperial plans, however, time would snatch away the Sith-Imperials' last chances to delve deeper, blinding their opposition to the true mission before the true bloodshed could be given the green light.

The unwritten, unspoken statement of intent would seem louder than any ear-splitting scream, made for all the Sith-Imperials who were still spoiling to set out against Tavlar's forces:

"You know the loathing we feel toward you, but you should consider yourselves fortunate not to see what happens here next - what we do with traitors."​

Holding the realm's new headquarters as Ravelin awakened once more under a swarming crescendo of mass-violence, the Iron conqueror would rename the palace from Fortress Carnifex to Fortress Imperator overnight, overseeing immediate protocols from within the walls with Ravelin still burning under continued violence. As much as there was to be done during the security operation, Imperial high-command would have plenty other immediate matters that required their attention, though it was clear to all that a moment's relaxation would lead to errors the New Order could ill-afford.

Imperator Irveric had perfected his Magnum Opus, and despite knowing it would be years before the conclusion of the Third Imperial Civil War, there was still a certain comfort, a certain confidence with which Tavlar could solidify and cement the very foundations of the realm he was working to build. As even then, looking farther would mean seeing threats more-immediate on the way, comprehending what was foreseen in returning to normative focus, as even Tavlar's Force-Dead ilk could see that their newfound gains would be challenged.

And soon at that.

Given every reason to renovate and rebuild in anticipation, Imperator Irveric would strengthen the walls of his new palace whilst Ravelin was scoured for every idled terrorist cell, every resistance group and every last Dark Side cult who conspired against the planet's new rulers. Remembering well the bombardment preferences of the Sith-Empire's loyal generals, and with it, understanding their increasingly-frantic need to reconquer lost ground, celebration could only play second-fiddle to the importance of consolidating power and ground alike.

The Zambrano dynasty would return for the jewel of their realm.
But readiness was already becoming a second language to the Iron Conqueror.

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[DECEASED Erskine Barran]

[AGE OF RESILIENCE]
[CONSTRUCTION COMMENCES SOON...]​