The Third Galactic Empire

Type of Government: Constitutional monarchy
Head of State: Emperor Gaius Holt
Head of Government: Grand Vizier Landrak Jodo
Commander-in-Chief: Supreme Commander of the Imperial Fleet, Skyra Nova
Executive Branch:

• Emperor Gaius Holt
  
• Imperial Inner Circle
  
• Council of Moffs

Legislative Branch:

• Imperial Senate

Judicial Branch:

• Supreme Court
  
• Regional Courts
  
• Procurator of Justice

Capital: Coruscant
Official Language: Imperial Basic
Currency: Imperial Dataries

Date of Establishment: 508 ABY; claims descent from the First Galactic Empire established in 22 BBY.

The Third Galactic Empire traces its roots back to the fall of the Old Republic and the rise of Emperor Palpatine with the establishment of the First Galactic Empire. The First Empire fell in the Galactic Civil War, but after a chaotic interregnum was replaced with the Fel Empire. The Fel Empire lasted for centuries, but fell into decadence and corruption as had the Republic before it. For a period of nearly two hundred years, the Fel Empire shrank as system after system seceded with the corrupt military helpless to prevent their rebellion.

The Imperial Senator, Gaius Holt, became popular with the military as he served as an officer, rising to the rank of general. He barely escaped a military coup by the Echani usurper, Kinsaris Karu, that killed all surviving members of the Fel dynasty. Gaius Holt escaped to the Hapes Consortium, where he gathered a fleet of Imperial loyalists and re-took Coruscant. After his victory saw Kinsaris Karu exiled to the Hapes Consortium and his forces scattered, Gaius Holt was crowned Emperor of the Third Galactic Empire, first of his dynasty.

Gaius Holt began instituting sweeping reforms, the most active emperor in centuries. He recognized that his power base was the military more so than anything else, and thus expanded the military budget, pay, and benefits. With a newly-enlarged military and a resurgent Stormtrooper Corps second only to its height in the Palpatine era, he began a series of campaigns against the systems in revolt in order to bring them back under Imperial yoke. Gaius Holt came to rely more and more on Ector Vent, his trusted friend and the leader of the Imperial Knights, as the expansion of the Empire and the increasingly autocratic rule required that he delegate more tasks in order to better improve the efficiency of his rule. Rather than trust the Senate, which he believed irredeemably corrupt, Gaius Holt named Ector Vent as Prime Minister. For a time, Ector Vent served loyally, attending to the campaigns more and more while Gaius Holt focused on putting the Empire in order.

Unfortunately, this allowed Ector Vent to seize power by corrupting and swaying several generals over to his banner. In 511 ABY, he declared himself Galactic Emperor and openly revealed himself as the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Adas. Gaius Holt, stunned at the betrayal, mobilized his garrisons and called on the Galactic Alliance to join him in putting down the Sith uprising. The ensuing civil war was brutal, and the joint Empire-Alliance forces were only partially successful in defeating Adas's thralls. Nearly half of the Empire remained under the control of the Sith by the time the battle-lines stalemated, and after the disastrous Imperial defeat at Kuat Emperor Holt sued for peace. Darth Adas accepted the Emperor's surrender, but lacked the forces to drive the Imperial loyalists from Coruscant. The powers thus stabilized with the Galactic Empire in the galactic north, the Sith Empire in the galactic south with colonies on Korriban, Ziost, and other ancient Sith worlds in the galactic northeast, and the Galactic Alliance in the galactic east. Much of the Outer Rim, especially in the galactic south, remained independent of the Sith - but rejected Imperial rule or joining the Alliance.