Boys and girls, gather round the fire and let an old man tell you a story.
There was a time when the Republic weren't the whipping boys of the collective board. In fact, there was a time when everyone was super butthurt because they won everything. At least, they did until one fateful battle in the Unknown Regions changed their fortunes forever.
When I first joined the board, the Republic was the undeniable Great Power of the galaxy. They had beaucoups powerful allies in the Omega Protectorate, Mandalorians and Fel Empire, and were kicking the Sith Empire from pillar to post with a bit of help from their buddies. The Jedi Order hadn't splintered yet and was still extremely strong, with three powerful Jedi Masters essentially running the show. They were Selena Halcyon, Daella Apparine and Diana Moridina. Now these three were essentially light side fanatics who waged constant war with the dark and made an effort to purge darksiders wherever they found them. They were successful at this, but there were a few questionable incidents and some of those watching on from the sidelines started shouting 'war crimes!'. So popular opinion was turning against the all-powerful, meddling Republic, which essentially became Chaos' John Cena.
Meanwhile, to their west a faction called the Atrisian Empire rose to power. They changed their name to the Galactic Empire and died shortly afterwards. That faction never really amounted to anything spectacular, but what they were while they existed was a buffer state between the Republic and the Fringe Confederation.
The Fringe Confederation had slowly been building their power base in the Unknown Regions and had only recently become a major player in galactic affairs. They were in a proxy-war with the Republic's allies, the Omega Protectorate, and had been kicking around local lesser powers like the Atrisians for a little while. More importantly, they were co-founded by the former Sith Empress, [member="Ashin Varanin"], and due to the nature of their laissez-faire legal system, were a safe haven for many powerful Sith and war criminals. A Sith Lord named Alen Na'Varro fell into that particular group. So with the Galactic Empire gone, it was only a matter of time before the Republican zealots waged war against the Fringe.
In the first real BIG invasion in the board's history, the Republic invaded the Fringe at O'reen and were soundly defeated. They were never the same again. Shortly after, the Jedi Order fractured, Daella Apparine betrayed the Republic and the One Sith were born. They've been kicking the crap out of the Republic ever since.
The Fringe enjoyed Great Power status for a little while before their defeat at Eriadu at the hands of the Omega Protectorate (thanks Na'Varro and [member="Jared Ovmar"]) broke their momentum. They hung around for a year after that but eventually faded into obscurity.
And now here we are.