First Order

The First Order was a fascist, neo-Imperialist military junta that rose from the remnants of the Galactic Empire within the Unknown Regions during the era of the New Republic. Ruled by a Supreme Leader from a mobile headquarters rather than a planetary capital, it was devoted to totalitarian order and contemptuous of democracy. Secretly a puppet of the resurrected Darth Sidious and the Sith Eternal cult, it grew in hidden space, locked itself in a Cold War with the New Republic, and finally invaded the galaxy before being broken by the Resistance and the Jedi.

Rise from the Empire#

After the death of the Emperor at the Battle of Endor, the Galactic Empire fell apart into Imperial Remnants. Spearheaded by Counselor to the Empire Gallius Rax, a portion of the Imperial Military retreated into the Unknown Regions, which the Empire had secretly charted, and met reinforcements assembled there. Grand Admiral Rae Sloane intended to build a stronger and purer Empire from these survivors. In the years that followed, the remnant forces became the First Order, plotting a return to power and seeking to reclaim the lost Imperial legacy. Its origins lay not only in the Empire's military but also in resources and personnel the Emperor had quietly funneled into deep space before his death.

Building a hidden military#

Sloane and Commandant Brendol Hux were among the First Order's first leaders, secretly building a vast and technologically superior military. Through Project Resurrection, the Order conscripted children, thousands of them abducted from outlying systems, and trained them as a new generation of stormtroopers. It also launched offensives to seize the resources of the hermetic kingdoms it encountered in the Unknown Regions. The elite of the First Order included members of wealthy dynasties that had once belonged to the Imperial aristocracy, families who had kept their devotion to the Imperial vision and now commanded respect within the new state.

The Sith Eternal and Snoke#

In time the mysterious Snoke rose to power as Supreme Leader. Snoke was in fact an artificial Strand-Cast that served as the proxy of the revived Darth Sidious from the hidden world of Exegol. With its original leaders mostly sidelined, the First Order became subservient to the Sith Eternal cult, the secretive spiritual branch through which Sidious intended to turn the Order into the template for a resurgent Sith Empire. Most of the First Order, including its officers and troops, remained unaware of the Sith's influence over their organization.

The Cold War with the New Republic#

The First Order was publicly formed when Centrist-aligned star systems seceded from the New Republic amid instability in the Galactic Senate. Throughout the ensuing Cold War, the Order and the Republic existed in a state of tension marked by occasional skirmishes but no direct fighting. As the First Order grew more hostile, former Senator Leia Organa founded the Resistance to monitor its activities, but the Senate refused to take forceful action, believing the Order posed no credible threat. In defiance of the Galactic Concordance, the First Order built hidden shipyards, weapons labs, and academies, and mobilized its stormtrooper forces while searching for the last Jedi, Luke Skywalker, to prevent the rise of a new generation of Jedi.

War and the rise of Kylo Ren#

In 34 ABY the galaxy fell into crisis when the First Order fired its superweapon, Starkiller Base, at the Hosnian system, destroying the New Republic capital of Hosnian Prime. Although the Resistance destroyed the weapon at the Battle of Starkiller Base, it could not stop the Order's invasion of the galaxy. During the subsequent fighting, Snoke was assassinated by his apprentice, the warlord Kylo Ren, who usurped the title of Supreme Leader. Under Ren's leadership the First Order conquered much of the known galaxy, meeting defiance and rebellion with brutal suppression.

Final Order and collapse#

In 35 ABY, Ren formed an alliance with Sidious after discovering the Final Order, a massive fleet of Xyston-class Star Destroyers built by the Sith Eternal, on Exegol. Ren's ambition to rule a true Empire ended when he renounced the dark side and returned to the light as Ben Solo. Allegiant General Enric Pryde swore allegiance to Sidious, who declared himself Emperor once more, but his plans for Sith resurrection were thwarted by Rey and Ben Solo at the Battle of Exegol, where the Emperor was destroyed along with his followers. Without Sith reinforcements, the First Order could not quell the uprising against its rule, and it collapsed in the wake of the Resistance's victory, even though a generation of its officers, troops, and manufacturing remained scattered and unaccounted for.