Venedar Rebellion

"Three years after its founding, the Imperial Federation would be divided by its first civil war."

- New Republic historian

The Venedar Rebellion was the first internal crisis faced by the Imperial Federation since it was established at the end of the.

Background
The death of Emperor Palpatine and the fragmentation of the Galactic Empire led to the signing of the in 5 ABY. The following year, a new Imperial state was organised in the former Imperial territories of the Core and Inner Rim that were given to it by the Concordance treaty. The new government was led by Prince-Regent Hortensio D'Arcus, an admiral chosen essentially as a neutral figure who could be accepted by the different political heavyweights in the Moff Council (not being a threat to them) and the more progressive reformers that would create the reconstituted Imperial Senate after the 8 ABY election.

A constitutional monarchy with separation of powers existed on paper, but in reality the system remained in a delicate balance between the permanent regency, the Moff Council, and the elected by ultimately toothless Imperial Senate. By 9 ABY Prince-Regent shared power with Louis Aloysius Venedar, the most powerful of the Moffs, and Senator Atticus Roatta, the President of the Senate. D'Arcus's death from old age that year began a political crisis as to who would succeed him. Grand Admiral, recently promoted to Imperial Marshal, Lucius Zantaraia was appointed by the Senate due to his popularity in the Imperial Space Fleet as its Vice Supreme Commander.

The Moffs were not willing to abide by this, both because Venedar had been aiming to take the regency for himself and the fact that Zantaraia was known for believing that the Moffs would need to be cleared away in order for reforms to continue. There was also the fact that Venedar and most of his Moff allies viewed the young admiral, who was only 30 years old, with contempt as they believed he received his position illegitimately. But the Senate supported Zantaraia's candidacy, and with public support as a successful military commander, it became clear that an attempt by the Moffs to put anyone else as Imperial Regent would lead to an uprising.

Zantaraia was sworn in as Prince-Regent, but Grand Moff Venedar could not accept this nonetheless.