Star Wars Fanon
Star Wars Fanon
Advertisement
Before the Republic eraOld Republic eraRise of the Empire eraRebellion eraNew Republic eraNew Jedi Order eraLegacy eraPost-Legacy era


Zokan'skar Dringkte, Zokan'skar Troenhkte!
—The official motto of the Empire of Zokan'sk, translated to Basic as "Zokans Strong Together, Zokans Forward Together!"

The Empire of Zokan'sk, officially referred to by its Zokan'skar name as the Zokan'skar Raekh, was the long-lived government of the Zokan race and their associated subjects and other citizens, established prior to the disappearance of the Ethereal Empire and in fact prior to Zokan discovery of faster-than-light space travel. The Empire of Zokan'sk was one of the earliest non-Ethereal Human members of the regional legislature, the Diet of the Ethereal Demesnes, and was the most astrographically-distant core Demesne from any of the other nineteen.

As the fifth of the five core Oligarchic Demesnes, the Empire of Zokan'sk had certain attributes which made it different from a typical Imperial government. Among the most prominent of these were the limited power of the Emperor, known locally as the Zokan'skar Kaeser, and the for-profit colonial model the Empire employed. As an Oligarchic Demesne, an uninformed being of the galaxy might naturally assume Zokan'sk was more interest in making money than winning glory on the field of battle, and in general, this would be an accurate assumption to make. However, among the Oligarchic Demesnes, there was perhaps none that aimed for armed conquest and use of force than Zokan'sk.

Nevertheless, economics was the Empire's driving force; outside their core few territories, those systems under Zokan rule were part of the colonial administration, which long maintained a separate military, a separate currency, and at times even separate legislative bodies and laws. But, as part of the Empire, they were all considered legally under its jurisdiction, with or without separate governance within the state, and so were all represented at the Diet by the same delegation.

As the most physically distant of the twenty core Demesnes, relative to the other nineteen, Zokan'sk often found itself on the frontiers of the Demesnes' colonized space more often than the others did. As a result, Zokan'sk offered significant "bonuses" or "special packages" to prospective settlers of the frontiers, even when they were to settle star systems which would never actually be under Zokan control. This became so common of a practice that Zokan'sk was one of the few core Demesnes with any significant reputation among typical beings of the outside galaxy, as they advertized to any and all potential sources of new colonists for the Demesnes' colonial frontiers.

Aside for financial incentives, Zokan'sk's government, military, and private sector would also offer potential settlers particular "packages" in an effort to make the prospect of colonizing new, fairly remote territories sound more appealing. Among the vast array of offerings put out were, for example, significant land and title offered by the state with promises of temporarily-reduced taxes and import/export duties, or exemptions from military service and offerings of a selection of speeders and blasters by the military, or deeds, contracts and funds from the private sector to develop and/or explore particular areas.

However, one other side effect of being so far removed from any significant military or economic competition was that Zokan'sk became highly independent and long opposed deeper integration by the Diet, not only for the Demesnes alone but for further integration into the Galactic Republic as well. This finally came to a head violently during the reign of the Galactic Empire, when Zokan'sk outright refused to recognize the new Imperial client state government, having already been unhappy enough with the Allied Region government under the Republic.

As a result, Arius Valdayn, prince of the Kingdom of Luctanem and admiral of the Imperial Navy, launched a months-long campaign to force Zokan submission which was, in the end, successful. Ironically, when Valdayn later turned against the Empire partway through the Galactic Civil War, Zokan'sk then became a prominent ally of him and his sister, the new Ethereal Empress Atheria Valdayn, even when the latter worked to modernize and federalize the Ethereal Demesnes.

Advertisement