Galactic Timeline is a fairly new weekly series that will explore the early Star Wars timeline preceding the Sacking of Coruscant: from the Rakatan Empire to the Great Galactic War and the return of the Sith. The timeline will be presented, to the best of my ability, in Before the Treaty of Coruscant format.

Part II: Formation of the Republic (approximately 21500-20350 BTC)

The Rakatan Empire, which had enslaved many of the prominent galactic civilizations, has swiftly collapsed. What was left was an overpopulated Coruscant without the technology to spread throughout the galaxy. The planet became heavily industrialized and overcrowded, leading to the use of sleeper-ships that drifted for centuries towards other habitable planets. Hooray? Not really. As you could guess, a more reliable and faster method for traveling the galaxy was needed in order for the civilization to successfully spread. Well, better technology came about with the introduction of the hyperspace cannon, which was a network of lightspeed ship launchers centered on the Core Worlds. This still required that a cannon be present for a ship to travel to distant worlds, but at least it allowed for better travel. Yet, that still did not allow for the fool proof and on the spot planet traveling that we were introduced to in 1977. I mean, how awesome would it have been to see Han Solo having to dock on to a cannon and launch his ship to Alderaan? I say: not very awesome (OK, maybe a little bit).

The Jedi would come in soon after. Not much is known about their origins, though the Jedi Order is said to have originated on Tython, a world created and populated from a galactic cataclysmic collision between Bioware and Lucasarts. On this planet, the early Jedi formed and laid down the guidelines for a monastic group of warriors who strive for peace and harmony. Over the next 25,000 years of safe-guarding the Republic, a pretty long time for bodyguard work, they would find that peace and harmony are hard to come by. For this purpose, the lightsaber was created (by Hasbro) by freezing a laser beam and harnessing its power as a sword. The Jedi Knights then took it upon themselves to spread out in the Galactic Republic in order to defend their ideals. Yet, it wasn’t long until the dark side of the Force presented itself in the First Great Schism. You can never keep the Dark Jedi away for long, can you? The Dark Side followers formed the Legions of Lettow and engaged the Jedi Order in battle. The Jedi won the day, but it would not be the last brush with the corrupt and powerful side of the Force. Like I said before, good times ensued.

The Republic continued to explore and colonize on a rapid scale due to the new hyperspace technology. Humans never seem to stay in one place, do we? It was the same thing with all the alien species of the Republic too. Many states already in existence joined the Republic in an attempt to protect themselves from the already defined Hutt Empire (for big globs of fat, they are pretty capable, huh?). The outpost on Ossus, part of the Wild Space regions, became a barrier between the Hutt and the Tion Empires, two potential treats. With the rate of expansion and the presence of formidable enemies, it was only a matter of time until the Republic would find itself in trouble….

That is the conclusion of my second issue of Galactic Timeline. I would appreciate it if you could drop by any comments that you guys have so I can improve on my work. You are the ones reading it after all; I'm just a guy wasting his free time!

Written by :

pattonrommel