Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Why is this blog called "Imperial Remnant"?

This blog was formed to discuss a specific question I had about Star Wars. I don't necessarily like Star Wars, but there was an interesting philosophical question that I wanted to answer, and I planned for this blog to be me answering that question, by reviewing the Star Wars Expanded Universe and making my own interpretations based on that.
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When Palpatine overthrew the Old Republic and created the Galactic Empire, he did so with one purpose: to take over the galaxy and rule it perpetually using the Dark Side of the Force. But Palpatine needed allies, lackeys, and followers, if he was to truly rule the galaxy. He created a new ideology, the New Order, which attracted supporters across the entire galaxy. The New Order championed jingoism, authoritarianism, and human supremacy...all not very nice things to champion. But the New Order also opposed the rampant corruption that plagued the Old Republic, and finally unified the Galaxy by centralizing its administration and co-opting planetary elites.

Palpatine thought that his reign would last 10,000 years. It didn't even last 40. Yet when he died, the Galactic Empire, and New Order ideology that underpinned it, continued to persist in a zombie-like state. There were those that were still dedicated to the cause, but as the Galactic Empire continued losing territory to the so-called "rebel scum", even its most dedicated zealots realized that the golden age has long since passed them by. Eventually, the Galactic Empire (now limited only to a few planets in the Outer Rim) had to sue for peace with the New Republic (the now-victorious "rebel scum"), giving them some time to breathe and consider their dire straits.

The question I had was: how did this Imperial Remnant dealt with their obvious decline?

After doing research, the answer was: They...didn't. The leadership essentially held onto the New Order more strongly than ever, and instead blamed their failures on bad PR. What they wanted was "the New Order with a Personal Face", a big PR campaign that basically showed the Galactic Empire as a force for good, not evil. Human supremacy would be downplayed, but most of the key elements of the New Order (jingoism and authoritarianism) was kept intact.

And it worked. The Imperial Remnant eventually bounced their way from obscurity into being a major player in the galactic scene, to finally taking over the galaxy (with popular support!) for a brief period of time, before imploding in an Imperial civil war. Still, at least the Imperial Remnant isn't dead. The New Order gets to live another day, even if Palpatine has to roll in his grave.
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Trying to stretch that conclusion into hundreds of blog posts is ridiculous. But by the time I already found the answer to my question...I already registered this blog domain and I found that I can't unregister it and make it available for someone else. I decided that since I already own this blog, I might as well use it, even if I won't use it for its original stated purpose (because its original stated purpose is slightly unnecessary).

So there's my story of why this blog is named "Imperial Remnant". Do you like it?