LogFAQs > #904572308

Ok. Spoilers for the Aftermath book series and the Bloodlines novel. In the trilogy that takes place immediately after episode 6 the imperial bureaucracy has fallen apart and the Moffs, Generals, and Admirals are all doing their own thing and only cooperating when they have to. One guy, Gallius Rax, a very powerful but mysterious, imperial grand admiral is working behind the scenes to unite the remnants.

Little does anyone know that Rax is operating under what is called "the contingency". A plan that was set up by Palpatine and known only to Rax. The goal of the contingency was as follows: If Palpatine were ever to die, he didn't want the empire to remain. Rax's job was to destroy it, and in it's destruction find the best that the empire had to offer and recruit them into the thing that was eventually supposed to replace it. Rax gathers the remnants of the empire to Jakku, at the same time he lures the New Republic fleet there as well for the purpose of having the two fleets fight it out and hopefully destroying each other in the process. Rax has already diverted a bunch of troops, ships, and resources (the best of what was left) to a hidden place in wild space that Palpatine had scouted out years prior and plans to go out and join them, to become the leader.

The fleets fight, the republic wins barely. Rax is caught by some heroes, along with an Imperial admiral who wasn't down with Rax's plan. Rax get's killed but the Admiral takes the transport that Rax was going to use and joins the hidden imperial remnant in wild space. This remnant is what eventually grows into The First Order. General Hux's father was the architect behind the new imperial stormtrooper program.

Skip ahead a bunch of years to the bloodlines book. The Republic senate has basically split into two factions. Populists (who favor a weak central government) and Centrists (who favor a more powerful chancellor with more authority). To discredit Leia (a prominent populist) the truth about Vader being her father is leaked and she is basically politically blacklisted. This is because Leia has basically stumbled across a plot involving the First Order (even though she doesn't really know what it is yet). The first order has been hiding and silently recruiting all these years, helping keep the senate fighting amongst itself and keeping the Republic weak and ineffective. Their plan is to foment local rebellions using militia groups that it's funding that the weak republic government will be unable to deal with. Then the First Order will come in and save the day and restore order to the government.

Leia knows something bad is coming, but isn't sure what, but knows that the Republic will be ill-equipped to deal with it, so she gathers up people that are loyal to her, and they start putting together resources for their own paramilitary group which will eventually become the resistance.

The origins of Snoke or how the First Order's return to the Galaxy comes about haven't been addressed in any of the books or comics that I've read.
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