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Rise of the Empire eraRebellion eraNew Republic era

Admiral Octavius Magdellan, Lord of House Barnaba, was a Tapani nobleman and senior Imperial Navy officer. He held a number of senior posts in the Imperial Starfleet, most notably serving as the Chief of the Naval Staff from 0 ABY to 6 ABY. Magdellan had a long naval career that went back to the Barnaba House Defense Forces, the Republic's Judicial Forces and later the Republic Navy during the Clone Wars, before joining the Imperial Navy at the start of the New Order. Remaining loyal to the Empire after the Battle of Endor, Magdellan would eventually join Pellaeon and take part in the establishment of the Imperial Remnant. He retired from the navy in 19 ABY. Even in his old age, Magdellan remained a military advisor to the Supreme Commander of the Imperial Fleet, Grand Admiral Gilad Pellaeon, as well as the Moff Council.

Biography[]

Early career[]

Born on Barnaba in 53 BBY, the capital of the Tapani sector's Barnaba Province, Octavius Magdellan was the heir to one of the high noble families of House Barnaba. He received a typical education for a nobleman, attending the sector's most prestigious schools, including Reena University. But unlike most of his aristocratic peers in the hedonistic and fashion-obsessed House Barnaba, Magdellan had grandiose ambitions and chose the military path. In 35 BBY he was commissioned in the House Defense Forces as an ensign, being posted as a gunnery officer aboard the Tapani-class assault frigate Iron Duke. After two years in that role, in 33 BBY Magdellan was promoted to lieutenant and made the commander of a system patrol craft. He was among the Tapani officers chosen to attend a training exchange program between the Galactic Republic's Judicial Forces and the Tapani Common Navy (the only one from House Barnaba). As part of this, the nobleman attended courses in naval strategy at the Anaxes War College. In 32 BBY the assignment included being part of the Republic military mission to the Trade Federation after the invasion of Naboo, overseeing the deactivation of the Federation's army and navy. Shortly after this, he returned to the Tapani sector in 31 BBY and was promoted to lieutenant commander.

Magdellan was impressed with what he saw while studying at Anaxes and believed that the Tapani Common Navy had a lot to learn from the Republic. He continued his career in his native sector, promoted to commander in 25 BBY and being posted at the Barnaba Embassy on Procopia to the various central government bodies of the Tapani Federation, as the head of the Barnaba House Defense Force Delegation. In this role as the chief military attaché at the Barnaba diplomatic mission, Magdellan came to be more involved in galactic politics, meeting with Republic and other foreign dignitaries. He became an advocate of greater cooperation between the Tapani sector and the Republic. This view differed from most of the other Tapani nobles, who looked down on the rest of galactic civilization. Due to this the Tapani Great Council selected him to serve at their representation on Coruscant in 23 BBY.

His presence on Coruscant during the Separatist Crisis led him to getting caught up in the deteriorating political situation. At first he mainly worked on forging more ties between the Republic's security forces and the Tapani fleets. But Magdellan came to be an acquaintance of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine when going to a diplomatic function organised by the Galactic Senate, and during their talks the two men found that they were in agreement about many political views. Palpatine, sensing an ally in the Tapani noble, would offer Magdellan an officer's commission in the Republic Navy at the outbreak of the Clone Wars in 22 BBY. This was also partially done as the new fleet had a shortage of personnel after being mobilised on such short notice. Magdellan accepted the offer, being a supporter of Palpatine's vision for a strong galactic government, and also seeing it as an opportunity to further Tapani influence with the Republic.

Clone Wars[]

At the start of the conflict, Captain Magdellan was posted to the Republic High Command on Coruscant as an operations staff officer. In that position he advocated a strategy of allowing the Separatist fleet to occupy large sectors of space and overextend itself, at which point the reforming Republic Navy could counterattack. But the Tapani noble's main role was organising a naval staff for the Republic fleet, which was initially disorganised and lacked a centralised leadership. Magdellan oversaw the creation of the Republic Admiralty Board to serve as a central leadership body for the Republic Navy and coordinate its activities as well as devise naval plans. The efforts of the nobleman and other staff officers working with them on Coruscant to create a working structure for the military organisation would prove to be crucial as the Clone Wars continued, allowing the Republic Navy to more effectively respond to Separatist attacks and launch offensives. Magdellan would be promoted to commodore and appointed as Director of Naval Planning at the High Command in 21 BBY by the Supreme Chancellor.

In that role, Magdellan oversaw the assignments of Republic Navy assets to different campaign theatres. In the first couple of years the main focus were on the Southern and Northern Campaigns.

Imperial Period[]

Galactic Civil War[]

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