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Destiny Universe
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Sheev Palpatine was a Human male who ruled the galaxy as Galactic Emperor. Born on Naboo into a distinguished political family, Palpatine became apprenticed to the Sith Lord Darth Plagueis and took on the name Darth Sidious. Rising through the political ladder, Palpatine engineered his election as Supreme Chancellor and became Dark Lord of the Sith after killing his master.
After manipulating both sides of the Clone Wars, Palpatine declared himself Emperor and reorganized the Galactic Republic into the Galactic Empire.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Sheev Palpatine was born on Naboo to Cosinga Palpatine. The eldest son of five, Palpatine held great ambitions for his family to take a more active role in Naboo politics but was alone in this thinking. He resented his father for what he perceived to be weakness and incompetence, and Cosinga likewise despised his son for his rebellious nature.[1] From an early age, Palpatine took an interest in the Sith, learning about the ancient religion from texts he had acquired through the black market.[2] As a result of Palpatine's resentment of his father, he forwent the name his parents had given him, going solely by the name of Palpatine.[1]
As a young adult, Palpatine studied at the Theed University and was also a member of the Legislative Youth Program. During this time he was mentored by Vidar Kim, who shared political views with Palpatine's father while the younger Palpatine secretly harbored contradictory views. Both Cosinga and Kim supported candidates for the Naboo throne who would keep Naboo as an isolationist society, while their main challenger Bon Tapalo sought to open Naboo to outside influences. Wishing to undermine his father's political agenda as well as to see his desires for Naboo fulfilled, the seventeen-year-old Palpatine began leaking incriminating information on Tapalo's opponents, weakening their campaigns.[1]
Palpatine's activities eventually brought him to the attention of Magister Hego Damask, who was in fact the Sith Lord Darth Plagueis. Upon meeting Damask, Palpatine quickly gained the Muun's favor and confidence, which further widened the rift between him and his father. When Consinga began meddling in his son's affairs and tried to keep Damask away from him, an enraged Palpatine unleashed his fury on his entire family, killing them all aboard their family starship. He then found his way back to Damask, who revealed his nature as a Sith Lord and agreed to teach Palpatine the ways of the Sith, bestowing onto him the name Darth Sidious.[1]
Sith apprentice and political ascension[]
Darth Sidious in training
Together with his master, Darth Sidious operated in the shadows and manipulated the Galactic Republic from afar. Thanks to his own manipulations as well as those of Darth Plagueis, Bon Tapalo was elected King of Naboo and entered a deal with the Trade Federation to exchange the planet's plasma. It was around this time that Palpatine entered the political scene and came to serve as an ambassador under his former mentor Vidar Kim, who had since become Senator of Naboo.[1]
Around 54 BBY, Sidious visited Dathomir where he encountered the Nightsister Kycina, who handed him her infant son Maul. Sidious accepted her offering and took the boy into his care.[1]
Two years later, Sidious and Plagueis decided to take a more direct approach in their manipulation of the Republic, arranging for Senator Vidar Kim's assassination at the hands of Maladian assassins and paving the way for Palpatine's own election as Naboo's representative in the Galactic Senate. He also struck a friendship with Vidar's son, Jedi Knight Ronhar Kim, giving Sidious some insight into the Jedi Order and their operations.[1][3] Palpatine's ascension to the Senate and subsequent abstention in an important vote allowed the Trade Federation and their client worlds to gain representation in the Senate, which created a rival in Senator Pax Teem of the Gran Protectorate. Teem attempted to abduct and kill Senator Palpatine and Magister Damask—whom the Gran knew had close ties to Palpatine—but his attempt was ultimately thwarted and the Senator was subsequently killed by Darth Sidious. The attack forced Plagueis into seclusion, leaving Sidious as the main enactor of their plans.[1]
Over the course of the following decades, Palpatine slowly built up a cabinet of followers and allies that he hoped would prove beneficial to the Sith's Grand Plan. Among these allies were such figures as Sate Pestage, Kinman Doriana, and Wilhuff Tarkin. He also became a close confidant of Finis Valorum, who was elected Supreme Chancellor in 40 BBY. During this time, Darth Sidious began training Maul as a Sith assassin, with the idea of one day using him against Darth Plagueis to claim the mantle of Dark Lord of the Sith. By 37 BBY, Maul had passed his final test and was subsequently bestowed the moniker of Sith Lord as well as the title of Darth.[1][4]
Fall of the Republic[]
From 40 BBY onward, Sidious and his master began engineering events that were designed to whit away Valorum's power as Supreme Chancellor and the Senate's faith in him, with the endgame being to oust him from power and allow Palpatine himself to be elected into office. By 33 BBY, such disasters as the Yinchorri Uprising and the incident at the Eriadu Trade Summit had caused Valorum to lose favor with the Senate, who wanted him gone before his second term was even finished.[1]
In 32 BBY, Sidious orchestrated the Trade Federation's invasion of Naboo, which he used as leverage to remove Valorum from office with a vote of no confidence spurred by Queen Amidala of Naboo. Senator Palpatine was then nominated for the office of Supreme Chancellor by the Rim Faction and he handily beat his opponents in the polls. On the eve of his election, Sidious murdered Plagueis while Darth Maul seemingly met his fate as well. Shortly after being named Chancellor, Palpatine sought out the former Jedi Master Dooku and began shaping him to be his next apprentice.[1][5]
As both Chancellor Palpatine and Darth Sidious, the Dark Lord continued to manipulate the galaxy at large to fulfill his goals. Through Count Dooku, Sidious created the Confederacy of Independent Systems and maneuvered them into a war against the Republic, forcing the Jedi to serve as military leaders for the first time in nearly a millennium. When the time came, Palpatine issued an executive order to the Republic's clone soldiers which branded the Jedi as traitors to the Republic. After replacing Dooku with the Jedi hero Anakin Skywalker as his new apprentice, Palpatine successfully eliminated both the Separatists and the Jedi as he declared himself Emperor of the Galaxy.
Post-mortem[]
Following Palpatine's demise at Endor, Grand Vizier Sate Pestage assumed control of the Empire. However, some Imperials were not willing to either accept Pestage as their ruler or to accept that their Emperor was dead. As such, many declared themselves rulers of their own respective factions and started forming their own miniature Empires, dragging the Civil War for at least two more decades.
Shortly upon Palpatine's death, Imperials across the galaxy received orders from messenger droids to commence a contingency plan that the late Emperor had put in place. Classified as Operation: Cinder, the plan involved eradicating Imperial worlds to ensure that the Empire did not outlive Palpatine. The operation was spearheaded by Fleet Admiral Gallius Rax, who claimed that Palpatine had chosen him specifically to carry out this plan. After the New Republic brought an end to Operation: Cinder following the Battle of Jakku, doubt was cast on these claims and even some Imperials came to suspect that the entire operations had been fabricated by Rax for his own designs.
Around this time, the Sith Lord Darth Vorath emerged from hiding and began making plans to take over the shattered Empire for himself. Traveling to Palpatine's personal retreat on Byss, Vorath discovered a cache of clone bodies made from Palpatine's own DNA. Further investigation revealed that Palpatine had been planning to transfer his essence into these bodies and retake control of the Empire. Sensing that Palpatine had not been able to preserve his spirit as planned, Vorath decided to use the clones as a means to take over the Empire.
The clone Emperor[]
The clone Emperor
Awakening one of the clones, Vorath convinced them that they were in fact the real Palpatine and gave them fabricated memories to back up this falsehood. The Sith Lord then manipulated Grand Admiral Thrawn into bringing his forces to Byss, where they discovered the clone Emperor and pledged their loyalty to his new "Dark Empire." It was Vorath's plan to use this Dark Empire to separate those who were loyal to Palpatine and those who were not (thus not a potential threat to his rule); a reborn Palpatine also proved a useful distraction for both the New Republic and the New Jedi Order, allowing Vorath to continue building his order without their intervention.
In 10 ABY, the Dark Empire revealed itself to the galaxy by attacking the Deep Core worlds of Ralok and Had Abbadon. At Had Abbadon, Admiral Viic Argen faked a surrender and directed Luke Skywalker to Byss to eliminate Grand Admiral Thrawn. This turned out to be a trap and the clone Emperor revealed himself to Skywalker when the Jedi Master arrived at his citadel on Byss. Warping Skywalker's mind to serve his will, Sidious ordered his forces to commence an invasion on Coruscant and bring about the fall of the New Republic. When Skywalker's sister and brother-in-law, as well as his apprentice, were captured and brought to Byss, Sidious ordered Skywalker to kill them. However, the Force ghost of Anakin Skywalker intervened and whisked his son to parts unknown while Princess Leia and the others managed to escape. Meanwhile, the attack on Coruscant was brought to an abrupt halt when Grand Admiral Thrawn ordered a retreat and ended up breaking off from the Dark Empire along with like-minded commanders. Unbeknownst to Sidious, this was all part of Vorath's plan to build his own empire from the ashes of Palpatine's.
Undeterred by these setbacks, Sidious pressed on with his campaign against the New Republic. Unveiling the Galaxy Gun superweapon, the clone Emperor led an attack on the planet Empress Teta and used the Galaxy Gun to destroy the Deep Core world before using it to wipe out the ships of both sides in the battle, leaving his own flagship as the only surviving vessel. Returning to Byss, Sidious began making plans for his continued efforts against the Republic only to be confronted by Darth Vorath. No longer have any further use for the clone Emperor, Vorath had Atha Prime execute Sidious, thus ending the Dark Empire and the Order of Sith Lords as started by Darth Bane over a thousand years ago.
Appearances[]
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