The Darkon State, also called the Darkon Republic, was the government of the Mid Rim planet of Darkon III. A fascist republic, it was led by the Poglavnik, who was essentially a dictator. The head of government was the Prime Minister, though he answered to the Poglavnik. Nearly absolute power was vested in the Poglavnik, and the Darkon State Council, the legislature, also usually had to listen to him and rarely was able to override his decrees. However, due to massive propaganda campaigns, the majority of Darkons accepted the rule of the Poglavnik. Whoever held the post usually held it for life.
History[]
Founding[]
The planet of Darkon III had been inhabited by the Darkon peoples for an unknown period of time, though the earliest artifact found was dated by archeologists to date back to at least 32,000 BBY. The Darkons, as the natives were referred to as, lived in tribes up until 18,427 BBY, committing endless wars and resulting in millions of deaths. In that year, the tribes united after a convention, as a solution to the wars. The new government was called the Darkon State, and was headed by the first Poglavnik, Anté Popović. Initially, it was supposed to be a democratic republic, but he failed to quell local rebellions. In 18,416 BBY, Popović was voted out and replaced with Nikola Dragović, who put down the tribal rebellions. At the same time, though, he used a propaganda campaign to create Darkon nationalism, and turned the State into a fascist republic.
Early advancements[]
The government was stable, and Dragović ruled until his death in 18,376 BBY. He made vast reforms, most notably establishing the Prime Minister post and the Darkon Army and Darkon Air Force. He also improved the relatively poor economy. Dragović was replaced with Vladimir Marjanović two months after his death. The new Poglavnik was the former prime minister under Dragović, being appointed by him. Marjanović was in his third year in power when the first Republic scouts entered the system, and landed on the planet. Initially, their talks went well. However, the delegation of the Darkons to Coruscant had overheard high ranking senators and the Supreme Chancellor discussing a plot to exploit the planet for the Republic's needs.
After Marjanović heard of it, in 18,373 BBY, he had the Republic representatives on Darkon III imprisoned. The Republic Navy was deployed to rescue the diplomats, causing the First Darkon War. It was only two weeks long, ending after the Republic diplomats were publicly executed by orders of the Poglavnik. Seeing no reason to keep fighting, the Republic retreated and left the world alone. It began the anti-Republic sentiment that the entire population came to share later on. The Darkon military preformed adequately in terms of defense, though took heavy casualties. The Poglavnik reformed it, and using captured Republic equipment, had a new arsenal created for the fledging army and air force.
Over the next centuries, there were almost no conflicts. Occasionally resistances to the rule of the Poglavnik came up, but were quickly and quietly put down. This time period was known as the "early golden age", when the military, government, and economy greatly advanced both technologically and in terms of prosperity and performance. It was determined that the Poglavnik selected his successor, usually his prime minister. The Prime Minister was a State Council member who was voted to the position by the other Council members, along with a general public vote. However, the public vote had virtually no effect on the final outcome.
Tensions escalate[]
As of 14,000 BBY, the leader of the government, the Poglavnik, was Ivan Nerjanović. He implemented a new foreign policy, and made pacts with nearby planets. However, the Republic noticed the activity. They had not forgotten what happened during the First Darkon War. Republic Intelligence attempted to sabotage deals that the Darkon State was making with others. It worked, and a unified coalition from an anti-Darkon pact of planets tried to invade (all orchestrated by the Republic Intelligence). The Second Darkon War, as it became known, resulted in repulsion of the invading powers from the planet in two years. The war did not result in many Darkon casualties, and the military preformed well. The Republic felt defeated, but backed off for that point.
Later around 13,579 BBY, Poglavnik Petar Nedić founded the Darkon National Unity Party, which became the sole party of the planet. It had some 485,000 members as of 13,000 BBY. The paramilitary of the party, named the Dargović Guard after the second Poglavnik, became the de facto law enforcement agency of the Darkon State. Police work was carried out by police units raised by individual villages, along with specially trained Security Divisions of the army, which acted as a national guard.