Lucius Zantaraia

Lucius Zantaraia was an Marshal and the Prince-Regent, or de facto dictator, of the Imperial Federation.

He joined the at a young age and rose rapidly through the ranks, becoming recognised as a brilliant strategist. Following the Zantaraia was able to become the Empire's youngest admiral at the age of 22. In that position, he became one of the principal architects of the successful of 2 ABY. By the time of the, he held the rank of and commanded the Imperial Combined Fleet.

Early life
Born in 21 BBY on, Zantaraia hailed from a family of lesser nobility belonging to the. His mother was killed in an accident during his childhood, and his father, who was broke after several failed business ventures, sent the boy to the Arkanis Sector Military Prep School in the hope that he could get a better life.

Zantaraia proved himself to be highly intelligent during his prep school days, being regarded by his instructors as a model cadet. Secretly, however, the young man came to despise many aspects of the. He believed that Emperor Palpatine was squandering his immense power rather than using it for the benefit of humanity. Ideas like and the massive corruption that could be observed in the Imperial Government led him to this belief. Thus he came to the conclusion that the Emperor and his inner circle were incompetent, and decided that he could do a better job. Naturally, Zantaraia kept his ambitious to himself while in military school.

He graduated from prep school and was accepted to the on  in 4 BBY. Although he was at the top of his class, Zantaraia was not accepted into the, on , the premier officer commissioning school of the. This was because he was the son of minor nobility from the Outer Rim and not from the prestigious Core Worlds or Colonies. During his time on the Imperial capital he met several other like-minded cadets who became close friends and with whom he would be able to express his private thoughts. The first was Abel Sebastev, who was in the same class and the second ranked student after Zantaraia. The two of them had a rivalry at first, but after getting in a fight together with some older cadets would start to form a friendship.

The others were Viktor Makarius and Jacquais Attali, two slightly older cadets. Makarius had known Sebastev and asked for his help after Attali had been detained unjustly by the after reporting the son of a prestigious Coruscanti noble family for cheating. The noble used his connections to have Attali jailed by some corrupt officers. Zantaraia arrived at the jail with Sebastev and Makarius, freeing Attali after a confrontation with the noble and his allies. He threatened to take the matter to the Imperial Security Bureau and the Academy administration, as his reputation as the top student would prevent him from being jailed. The noble eventually backed down, knowing that his family's influence would not be enough if the case became a major scandal.

From then on, both Makarius and Attali pledged personal loyalty to Zantaraia. All four of them agreed that the New Order as it existed could not continue and that the Empire needed to be reformed.

Galactic Civil War
After graduating from the Coruscant Naval Academy at the top of his class in 1 BBY, Zantaraia was first assigned to an patrol vessel in orbit of.