I pride myself upon one thing: these new acquisitions of the Centrality!
—Vilos Cohaagen
Vilos Cohaagen was a Human male and eventually a minister in the government of the Centrality. Cohaagen, born on the Core World of Anaxes in 34 BBY, was the son of an Anaxsi military man and aided the world's Imperial administration. He rose to prominence during the post-Endor chaos enveloping the Empire, when he assumed control of the Axum system and its neighbors before going into a voluntary exile to the Centrality in the Outer Rim Territories.
Within the Centrality, after years without action, he began to participate in local politics, eventually being elected the governor of the agricultural Dilonexa system. Through political intrigues and economic maneuvering, he eventually became the Minister of Economics in the Centran government and initiated a reform program to jump-start local commerce. The initiative succeeded, thus increasing Cohaagen's influence. This led to the Centrality's territorial growth, when it annexed multiple freestanding sectors trailing of Dac.
During his career in the Galactic Empire, Cohaagen adopted a direct approach to problems, not afraid of executing harsh moves to regulate renegade planets and systems. He retained this trait in the Centrality as well, sometimes making potentially offensive comments during public appearances. It was partly due to these characteristics that made him unpopular amongst the poorer and anti-Imperial populations in the new Centran holdings. In 25 ABY, Vilos Cohaagen was assassinated during a visit to the colonies.
Biography[]
Early life[]
The Human male Vilos Cohaagen was born on the Core World of Anaxes in the year 34 BBY. His father, Wox Cohaagen, was a communications officer in the Anaxes Citadel, while his mother, Asu Cohaagen, worked at the national Anaxsi holomedia channel as an overseer of the inclusion of news items. The young Cohaagen received militaristic education at the Anaxsi educational establishment he was enrolled at, but he aimed for a political career and entered the Anaxsi University of Politics, from where he graduated in 8 BBY magna cum laude.
Post-graduation[]
Cohaagen spent most of his early years on Anaxes
Following his graduation, Cohaagen participated in the councilor election held at his home town. He succeeded, becoming the councilor of economics, and one of his acts—the heavy taxation and permission of items that would otherwise have been illegal in the Galactic Empire—attracted the attention of the planet's governor. Although some of the Imperial officials condemned his actions, the governor was impressed and made Cohaagen his financial advisor. Cohaagen spent twelve years working alongside him and gained respect among the other privileged in the Axum system.
Rise to prominence[]
In 4 ABY, Galactic Emperor Palpatine was killed during the Battle of Endor. The governor of the Axum system was murdered in the ensuing power vacuum and chaos, and Vilos Cohaagen—being one of the deceased being's closest advisors—assumed control. Recruiting twelve members of the Anaxsi military to become his personal bodyguards, he slowly eroded his opposition by systematically delivering hate speeches against a selected person, who would thus eventually lynched by the public. Cohaagen survived an assassination attempt during this period: two men disguised as stormtroopers opened fire on his speeder while en route to the Anaxes Citadel. Although his security guards killed the gunmen, Cohaagen received a blaster shot to his forearm and one of the guards died.
Cohaagen solidified his rule by 5 ABY and began to suppress the renegade political groups that emerged following the New Republic's string of victories in the Mid Rim, Inner Rim, and Colonies. Rallying the Anaxsi army and navy, he forcefully cracked down a series of protests on Axum and destroyed a pirate space station in an uninhabited system close to Anaxes. This earned him respect among the leaders of the Imperial fortress worlds in the galactic core.
On the run[]
In 6 ABY, the New Republic seized the galactic capital planet Coruscant and purged the Empire from the Core. Seeing the danger, Cohaagen ceded his position to one of his friends—who then proceeded to surrender Anaxes to the Republic—and escaped to the Imperial splinter faction Greater Maldrood with his bodyguards and advisors via Carida. However, the leader of the faction, Grand Admiral Treuten Teradoc, attempted to arrest and extradite him to the Republic to ensure his power. Cohaagen narrowly avoided the trap set at Boonta by using the weapons of his Nebulon-B2 frigate, the Judgment, to destroy the gravity well generators of the Immobilizer 418 cruiser Black Asp that blocked his escape. He then fled to the Centrality, whose government was pro-Imperial enough to accept him.
Cohaagen purchased an estate on the Centrality's capital planet of Scillal and took up the alias Cao Ventro in an effort to prevent recognition. He began to produce various plants on his fields and distilled alcoholic drinks from them as a cover-up for his covert operations to prepare a coup of the New Republic, which had been looking for him in the territory of the fragmented empire of the warlord Zsinj. Cohaagen first contacted the Centrality government to gain support for his idea, offering to-be captured sectors south of Dac in return. The leaders of the Centrality approved the proposal and dispatched thirty operatives to aid him.
Exile[]
In 8 ABY, Grand Admiral Mitth'raw'nuruodo attacked the New Republic from his empire in the Unknown Regions. This drew the focus of the Republic westwards, allowing Cohaagen to set his plans into motion. He traveled along the Outer Rim Territories to the Corporate Sector under the pretext of purchasing machinery required for distilling, but the real cause was different: he prepared a meeting with the leaders of the Corporate Sector Authority to negotiate financial aid for his operations. However, the attempt was unsuccessful: the Authority's government did not want to be involved in a potential war against the New Republic due to their reliance on various technologies imported from there and refused any support.
Vilos Cohaagen aboard an asteroid casino in the Oseon system
Vilos Cohaagen considered this a failure and was deeply shaken by the event. He became a frequent sight in the asteroid casinos of the Oseon system, gambling and consuming alcohol, which often led to emotional outbursts. The natural phenomenon of the system, the "flamewind" caused by the star Oseon's solar wind, also impacted him negatively; on one occasion in 11 ABY, the red colors of the wind caused him to verbally insult and attack a group of individuals that were working for the Hutt Cartel. The encounter resulted in Cohaagen being hospitalized after the criminals physically assaulted him, and the time he spent there convinced him that he needed to get over his failure if he was to finish his plans. However, the negative experiences suffered in the casinos continued to haunt him and he became moderately addicted to alcohol, weakening his physique.
Eventually, his advisors persuaded him to make an effort to abandon alcohol consumption so that he could preserve the ideals of the New Order. Cohaagen gave up his idea of infiltrating the New Republic and instead chose to attempt to mold the Centrality into an Imperial model government. He began to participate in local politics, initially with little success, but after introducing a refined program in the 14 ABY elections for the governorship of the Dilonexa system, he gained the seat and thus won control over the largest Centran agricultural producers. As part of his program, Cohaagen ended the contracts with foreign corporations that owned the mills and processing plants in the system, confiscating their local holdings. This move, which he presented in a patriotic coating, increased his popularity in the Centrality and paved the way for his future actions.
Reforming the Centrality[]
Cohaagen participated in the Centran governmental elections of 16 ABY as a member of the Rim Front, a party which sought to end the Centrality's dependence on foreign suppliers. Due to the conservative nature of the population, the Front won and was granted the right to form the government, in which Vilos Cohaagen became the Minister of Economics. He used his newly-found powers to announce an embargo on all goods imported from a distance greater than 10,000 light-years and urged for the improvement of local industry. However, the more liberal members of the government opposed parts of his plan, and he was forced to increase the firewall to 20,000 light-years and leave most imports unaffected, save for luxurious products.
Cohaagen then used the moderate growth in income to repay the three billion credit-loan provided by the InterGalactic Banking Clan and partially fund two large-scale industrial projects: the establishment of tibanna gas mines on five gas giants of the Dilonexa system and the construction of a mineral processing facility in deep space near Scillal. The latter, after being completed in 18 ABY, attracted companies from various nearby worlds, such as Dagein Minor due to the low fee imposed upon those who wanted to refine their raw materials there. These steps contributed to the economic growth of the Centrality.
By 21 ABY, the Centran budget was large enough to afford the maintenance of the old armed forces—which, although considerable in size, had been placed onto hold after Imperial financial support ended in 5 ABY— and Cohaagen proposed a peaceful annexation of the two freestanding sectors spinward of the Centrality. The acting minister of warfare disagreed, stating that the newly resurrected units were still untrained, and Cohaagen's proposal was rejected. He, however, continued to tweak the Centran economy and eventually had the state purchase a large share of a regional mining company that was active in both the Centrality and its surrounding sectors. Cohaagen influenced the corporation to spread its operations with Centran funding, which resulted in an additional amount of income. The credits acquired via this method were fed into the military training system.
In 23 ABY, the Centrality's government unilaterally voted the annexation of the two spinward neighbors after a carefully delivered hate speech by one of Cohaagen's orators stirred up the Centran population. After the military seized control of the two sectors without larger engagements, Cohaagen had the state-owned companies move in to exhaust the resources and population of the worlds therein. About a billion non-Humans were transferred to the Centrality for slave labor, which reduced the need for hired workers from nearby regions. However, the New Republic began to finance a voluntary force to free the slaves and demanded that the Centrans stop violating the rights of sentient species, though the Senate rejected a bill calling for active intervention.
The death of Vilos Cohaagen.
Two years later, Cohaagen went on a tour of the newly occupied territories. During the visit to a planet turned into a durasteel mine, a group of armed individuals in a shuttle opened fire on him. Cohaagen received blaster shots to his chest and his head, and he died on the way to the nearest hospital. His death was confirmed by Centran authorities two days later.
Legacy[]
The Centrality invoked emergency security bills in the immediate aftermath of Cohaagen's death, with the police receiving additional powers and politicians given reinforced protection. The military also began repercussions against the local population in the form of massacres and shootouts, which, though successful in temporarily suppressing resistance, could not be sustained, and the Centrality abandoned the holdings acquired in 23 ABY in 30 ABY. However, several of Cohaagen's reforms lived on to power the Centran economy.
Personality and traits[]
This time I'm in something stupid.
—Vilos Cohaagen after negotiating with the Corporate Sector Authority
During his young years, Cohaagen's personality was shaped by the Anaxsi educational discipline, which favored militaristic and anti-reformist values, thus making the young Cohaagen a conservative. His service with the Galactic Empire strengthened his speciesism and made him a harsh advocate of Human High Culture. Cohaagen also adopted the direct command system utilized by Imperial officials and typically chose the quicker methods of solving problems, often disregarding ethical factors. Another result of this was Cohaagen's outspokenness; he was not afraid of making offensive comments against certain individuals or species during public appearances or interviews.
Cohaagen suffered from a number of health issues and psychological problems. His personal physician held the opinion that his work–life balance was broken in favor of working, which resulted in an extended amount of stress. Cohaagen also had a habit of drinking alcoholic products, and, during a brief period around 11 ABY, was addicted to it, though he limited his consumption in the later years. Yet, the effects the drinks had on him included personality problems, chronic gastritis, and sleep disorders.
Talents and abilities[]
The compulsory military officer training in the Anaxsi schools gave Cohaagen a basic understanding of warfare and strategy, though he chose to abandon further learning of such subjects in favor of a political career. The University of Politics on Anaxes supplied him with the knowledge necessary for a legislative or executive role, with the subjects being oration, galactic and local economics, governmental theories, and media familiarization. Out of these, Cohaagen mastered economics, with his refined model winding up the Axum system's stalling industry around 6 ABY and powering up the Centrality. However, his lack in inter-species relations worsened the connections between the Centrality and species that were not Human—a trait which eventually led to his assassination.
Behind the scenes[]
And Wylind: I pride myself in seconds. =P
—IRC bot <Jules_>
Vilos Cohaagen was created by TK-999, an author on the Star Wars Fanon wiki. The images and name of the character are derived from those of the main villain of the 1990 film Total Recall. He is portrayed by American actor, guitarist, and singer-songwriter Ronny Cox.
The article's lead quote was derived from a random response of Star Wars Fanon IRC bot "Jules" to a \markov command executed by TK-999.