Heroes on Both Sides (gameplay)

[Carolyn]

Snapping Bonds

The Rim had always been the abused child of the Galactic Republic, a polity that from creation was tied nolens volens to the Core. Such was the relationship between an industrial region and its colonized space: the latter was to trade their resources to feed the factories of the former and become a new home for their excess population. Naturally, the unequal distribution of power caused friction. History was bestrewn with examples where Rim-dominated rebellions were put away by the coercive forces of the Republic and their Jedi Knights.

Beneath the surface of a thousand years of peace, the Galactic Senate ate a seismic wave of fresh-eyed reformists and spat out corruption that was comical. Neglected sectors were privy to a stream of scandals that came from Coruscant. Canny HoloNet journalists poked and prodded at mysterious accounts that siphoned public credits to the void. Credits that could have helped faraway world expand services and build up a self-reliant economy. Everyone knew that for one senator caught taking a bribe, there would be many more in the shadows who escaped the weak hand of republican justice.

The elite in the Rim debated the merit of independence behind smoky rooms. Of that group, the members most in favor of a divorce–amicable or not–were the young and ambitious. They were beings that made their reputation in Naboo’s traumatic cauldron, where the questions of sovereignty, federal responsibilities, and corporate power intermingled after the Trade Federation’s “blockade” of the titular planet. Their conservative counterparts were the not-so-fresh reformists. To the charge of inefficiency, they begged time to develop the Rim’s lobby inside the Senate. Haste was the enemy more so than the Republic’s institutional faults, which they admitted freely were many but salvageable inside rather than out.

Since Coruscant claimed to be a democracy, the cry of the proto-confederates became: “Why are we not heard?” As reform was increasingly unpopular, the esteem of those in favor of insurrection rose. They were fire-eaters with an itchy trigger finger: in the time leading to Dooku’s speech on Raxus, political violence had reached an all-time high. Loyalist and Separatist bands engaged in an uncoordinated mixture of protests and assassinations. It was a brutal exchange from a savage era.

The majority inside the nascent Confederacy of Independent Systems lacked a rigid ideology. They were, of course, radical to suggest an open breach. Their conception of a state outside the Republic, who had earned their mutual contempt, lacked a consensus. The three protagonists that wrestled for intellectual supremacy underneath Count Dooku’s unifying presence were Mina Bonteri, Voe Atell, and Bec Lawise. Each was governed by a separate fear.

Mina’s principal worry was the cost of rebellion. Her mentors were the old reformers, and even when she had broken with them, their fingerprints were all over her mind. The aversion to corporate governance was a consequence of their teachings, too. A war would demand the CIS align with and excuse the excesses of men like Viceroy Gunray. The Confederacy, to her, was a break with the past and not its continuation.

Voe dreaded the wrath emanating in the Core. It was absurd to think the CIS could live in peace with a Republic that had militarists like the Tarkins in command. They would push the envelope on conflict regardless of what the Confederacy wanted. Safety required an army capable of crushing enemies domestic and foreign. If that required concessions to those capable of arming the Separatists, she would bite the bullet gladly.

The factionalism between Peace and War spooked local leaders. They were not about to sacrifice their dreams on the altar of Mina and Voe’s abstract principles. A committee in favor of a third candidate, Bec Lawise, tried to knit together a workable compromise. His platform was to mirror the Republic’s behavior toward independence: they would develop a military should the Republic do so; they would fight should the Republic dare to arrest their movement.

Delegates from the three fanned out to secure vital support from neutral worlds. Surprisingly, the candidacy of Voe was the one to falter first in the campaign for Speaker. Despite mean-spirited rumors from the Mina camp that she was buying support, the specter of civil war was an unappealing prospect. Supreme Chancellor Palpatine did not sound like a warmonger. Unless a drastic incident were to occur, the Congress was content to mitigate any violent outburst to win public support.   

Mina Bonteri was hale when the first round ended. She had effectively muzzled the War Faction for the time being. They could yelp at the sidelines as she directed the concert. Her numbers were far above what was expected in the campaign: Bec Lawise failed to lock an undeniable majority. There was serious talk about her seizing the mantle of congressional leadership from him.

The decisive moment was the second round. An orator of the first class, Mina delivered a resounding cry for a “free and honorable Confederacy.” Bec’s wheeling and dealing behind the scenes, however, was reaching a critical stage. He agreed to Voe Atell’s demand to strengthen the executive’s hold over defense matters, especially making the Head of State the preeminent stakeholder over it rather than the Congress. With the War Faction’s backing, Bec was able to widen the gap on his opponent.

In the end, after the fourth round, Mina was informed that her chances at Speaker were statistically impossible. She decided to surrender the seat with grace rather than make the contest ugly. After a thirty-minute meeting, in which Mina extracted a promise from the soon-to-be Speaker to not support cutthroat rebels, she was seen with Voe Atell to announce their joint endorsement of Bec Lawise. As the congressional leaders traded smiles and preached unity, they waited to see how the Republic would respond.

According to an excerpt from the Shadowfeed: “Our leaders in Congress have proven themselves to be immune to the temptations of partisan warfare that is so rife in Coruscant. Unable to converse and compromise, inert in lawmaking and incompetent at change, we see little reason why more systems won’t join our glorious nation if left to decide by themselves.”

[Carolyn]

The Inaugural Address of Speaker Bec Lawise

My friends, the power you have entrusted in me as Separatist Congress Leader is great, and I am humbled beyond words to express, let alone act, on your unprecedented trust. What few words I can muster to match the eloquence of Senator Bonteri and the fortitude of Senator Atell are this: every part of my body, every thought that may come from my mind, every beat that may drum in my chest, belongs totally to the preservation of the Confederacy and the principle of regional rights!

I am a child of the Republic like all of you, a product of its institutions and the beneficiary of its best traditions. But the faults that beset it are too many, too entrenched, too hurtful for our nations to bear. We have the found union that our ancestors prescribed with Coruscant exploitative. As we review the hurtful articles, the episodes of neglect, and a reign of unyielding cronyism, the sad and solemn medicine to what ails us is secession.

In a statutory expression of our sovereignty, each system, each planet, that is here has knowingly severed the bonds of protection, advantage, and benefit that comes with being a part of the Galactic Republic. We traded those hefty goods so we could earn the better prize of liberty—that the Coruscant would be unable to enforce its rules and extract its taxes from us. We have in effect reverted to a status before our induction as a lesser member to that union. Now we are free states and have entered a new constellation.
 
To the peers that we have left behind, we salute our past association and say the doctrine of divorce need not be the doctrine of acrimony, the doctrine of hate, or the doctrine of war. The Galactic Republic has and can live in content peace with an independent state. We have much to gain as equal partners in education, commerce, defense, and a myriad of other subjects. Likewise, the opposite is true. Should our counterparts in the Senate heed reckless and prejudiced advice to break our earnest vows of separation with despotism, they will quickly find that such a policy will cost them unneeded grief. The preachers of terror will notice the wings of autonomy accompany the talons of security. We will defend ourselves if required, but it will be the last line in our bountiful arsenal of actions.

Finally, as we slip on the cloth of independence, let us strip ourselves of the vestments of bitterness. The errors of the past belong to it alone. In commencing the future of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, I take this occasion to appeal to the better nature of our galactic existence. May the Great Peace continue ever onwards and may the Force be with us.

[Carolyn]

Helmsman

Bec Lawise moves to introduce the Bylaws of Independent Systems, firmly girding the Confederacy under the rule of law. He has announced the move to make the nascent nation of equal sovereignty to the Galactic Republic and its Constitution. Surely, it is one of the brightest moments in the galaxy’s history. Here was the Rim taking its rightful mantle.

“Hail the bells of liberty!” sang the choir. “Freedom now and forever!”

To appease the Peace Faction, he tabled a motion to launch an independent investigation of the Corellian Star Shuttle in conjunction with Mandalorian law enforcement. He invited the Head of State to send a representative, perhaps one of his ex-Jedi followers, to speak on behalf of the Executive as the evidence was looked over. He would refuse to play the blame game before the results came out.

On the other hand, he carefully amended Count Dooku’s bill to make it more tolerable. The Republic-era prohibition would be rolled over as requested, but there would be an oversight committee under the Head of State to ensure compliance with the Bylaws of Independent Systems. The Senate would have a liaison team–split equally between the Peace and War faction– to receive information and, if able to muster a 2/3rd majority inside the team, force the oversight committee to tackle a possible violation.

As for the rebel worlds, a compromise is made. They can enter the Confederacy as a member state after a free and fair election to their respective assemblies that can claim the legitimacy necessary to represent the planet or system. Lawise carefully endorses the process as a proper measure in contested areas. The people must have a say in independence.