Supreme Leader Xaanan
Dec 28th, 2015, 04:46:17 PM
I've been having all sorts of chats with people about First Order stuff... figured it would be useful to infodump stuff in a thread to make sure we're all roughly on the same page. I'll try and keep this first post updated as things change.
* * *
Origin / Background
TheHolo.net canon is a little different from the movies, so there are some little tweaks.
Some years after the formation of the New Republic, Salem Ave and Delgado Xaanan made secret plans to break away from the Republic and the Senate. They felt that the New Republic was making too many of the same mistakes as the Old Republic - and the Empire - and wanted to see the galaxy brought under the sway of a more focused and orderly vision.
Salem Ave (Darth Callidus) had spent years establishing himself as a secret puppetmaster, manipulating the governments of Onderon, Hapes, and other worlds to suit his needs. Using his allies on Dathomir, Callidus launched an attack against the Jedi, destroying their Sanctuary on Ossus and wiping out most of the rebuilt Order in one decisive move. Xaanan exploited the destruction of the Jedi as a "sign of weakness", using it to leverage several worlds and systems into declaring independence from the Republic in much the same way that Count Dooku had done decades before.
Promising the kind of protection that the Republic clearly could not provide, Xaanan united the Separatists as the First Order, installing himself as Supreme Leader. As well as the loyalty of key worlds like Onderon, Hapes, and Kuat, the Supreme Leader was also able to broker an allegiance with the Pentastar Alignment, an Imperial Remnant located in the northwestern quadrant of the Outer Rim. Using the Alignment as a staging ground, the First Order began to arm themselves in secret, out of sight and mind of the New Republic.
* * *
Leadership
The Supreme Leader serves as the figurehead of the First Order. Having served as a Moff within the Galactic Empire, Xaanan understands the folly of trying to exercise too much direct control on individual worlds and governments. As a result, Xaanan is content to allow Hapes, Kuat, the Alignment, and the rest of the First Order's allies to govern themselves for the most part - though those governments know better than to do anything that would go against the Supreme Leader's wishes.
The leadership of the First Order is structured to be as streamlined and efficient as possible, eliminating many of what Xaanan feels to be the failings of the Imperial bureaucracy. The Order's forces are divided into as few branches as possible, with clear definitions of where the responsibilities and jurisdiction of each ends, to avoid undue overlap and friction.
Beneath the Supreme Leader, authority is spread between three key individuals:
Star Marshal Cortus Veers: Selected from within the ranks of the Pentastar Alignment, Veers is loyal to the idea that an Empire should rule the galaxy. He comes from a prestigious Imperial pedigree, but is pragmatic enough to accept and understand that the New Order was a flawed approach to government. He is the overall commander of the First Order military, and is the Supreme Leader's chief military advisor.
Commandant Vessa Ixxent: The former adjutant, attaché, and bodyguard to Moff Xaanan during his time on Corellia, Ixxent is loyal to the Supreme Leader personally. She has proven time and again that she is a trustworthy ally, and has a natural flair for exploiting people's preconceptions of her as a woman to considerable advantage in her duties. She is responsible for all of the First Order's clandestine operations, including intelligence, counter-intelligence, the secret police; and is also responsible for ensuring the Supreme Leader's personal safety.
Tarek Avesca: The son of Salem Ave and the heir to his authority over Dathomir, Avesca is loyal to Ave and Xaanan's shared vision of how the galaxy should be ordered. His association with the Supreme Leader and the First Order is more a matter of common cause than of loyalty, but Xaanan trusts him to a certain extent for as long as their goals are aligned. He acts as an agent of the Supreme Leader, and while he does not have any specific quantifiable authority, no one is foolish enough to defy his orders.
The military infrastructure of the First Order is divided between five main branches:
Fleet Corps, which consists of starship crews. Fleet Corps officers wear grey uniforms, except the enlisted ranks (who wear black). Rather than the unnecessary structure of fleets and similar, Fleet resources are deployed and distributed on an as-needed case by case basis.
Army Corps, which consists of soldiers who have joined the First Order, rather than going through the from-childhood training of the Stormtroopers. Army officers wear teal uniforms, except the enlisted ranks (who wear black). Army personnel tend operate and maintain any ground-based facilities, leaving the front line combat to the Stormtroopers.
Intelligence Corps, which acts as an intelligence-gathering, counter-intelligence, secret police, and internal affairs all rolled into one. They conduct reconnaissance and espionage, screen new candidates, investigate threats to security, and all that good stuff. The leader of the Intelligence Corps is the Commandant (Vessa Ixxent).
Stormtrooper Corps, which consists of soldiers who have been trained (and brainwashed) since childhood to be fiercely loyal to the First Order. They have the best training, and the best equipment. All of them are identified with a number rather than a name - those two do have a name are rare exceptions, and usually earned it through their service.
Pilot Corps, which consists of anyone who flies anything: fighters, shuttles, troop transports, etc. Elite veterans of the Pilot Corps are referred to as "Special Forces", and gain access to more advanced ships and equipment, as well as permission to add red markings to their uniforms and ships.
* * *
Ranks
The ranks for the First Order (in the movie) are a little wonky. The titles are fairly straight forward, but the insignia are... weird. A General gets two stripes around his wrists, and an Admiral gets the same but with extra red bits. Everyone else has just a single stripe... with a name written on it. Not their name, though: it's the name of an Imperial war hero or a famous unit. (I have no idea why, they just are). The rank progression is -
Admiral
General
Colonel ("KAPLAN")
Major ("TARKIN")
Captain ("DILLON")
Lieutenant ("POWER")
Sergeant ("RO 8")
Squad Leader or Chief Petty Officer or Petty Officer ("HAL 4")
Below that are the troopers / technicians / etc who have no rank at all. There doesn't seem to be anything (uniform-wise) to distinguish between a Chief Petty Officer and a Petty Officer - I guess you just "know".
In terms of uniform colours, these have been tweaked a little.
Black - Enlisted personel, technicians, bridge crew, fleet engineers, etc
Grey - Navy Officers
Teal* - Army Officers (* this colour (http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/u58AAOSw1S9WfOIX/s-l1600.jpg))
Charcoal - Generals & Admirals
* * *
Stormtrooper Corps
Quoting the Visual Dictionary directly: Standard ten-soldier stormtrooper squads contain a slot for a single weapons specialist. Depending on mission profiles, that specialist may be a megablaster heavy assault trooper (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Megablaster_heavy_assault_trooper), a riot control trooper or a flametrooper.
Hot Toys (who have a pretty good reputation for getting their facts right) make a "Squad Leader" statue, wearing a white pauldron. I have not managed to spot it on a vanilla Stormtrooper, but there are one or two Snowtroopers wearing them in the movie. The red pauldron is much more visible: Hot Toys describes that statue as a "Stormtrooper Officer", but looking at the ranks and considering what pauldron colours meant in the Empire, it probably corresponds with Sergeant.
Each of those troop transports (an Atmospheric Assault Lander or "AAL") carries up to twenty Stormtroopers / two squads. Judging from the percentage of red pauldrons in the group shots on Starkiller Base and at Jakku, one Sergeant/officer per transport seems like a safe guess.
The white material used in Stormtrooper armour, riot clubs, shields, etc is called "betaplast". The material is tough enough that flametroopers won't accidentally set you on fire. Everything - weapons, armour, binoculars, etc - is manufactured by the Sonn-Blas Corporation (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sonn-Blas_Corporation): a subsidiary of Merr-Sonn and BlasTech set up to skirt around New Republic sanctions against the First Order.
Fun fact: Snowtrooper armour has a "unit logo" on the chest in a weird blocky alien language. It's actually just the word "cold" written upside-down in a slightly odd font.
* * *
Pilot Corps
The Visual Dictionary describes the First Order pilots collectively as the Pilot Corps. All pilots and flight officers (including shuttles and troop transports) wear the TIE pilot outfits. Anyone with bits of red on their flight gear is considered "Special Forces", and are part of the piloting elite.
There are actually two versions of the new TIE Fighter in the movie, made by Sienar-Jaemus Fleet Systems (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sienar-Jaemus_Fleet_Systems):
TIE/fo ("First Order"): The basic TIE Fighter, featuring a single pilot and a fairly standard configuration. However, unlike the TIE Fighters of the Empire, the TIE/fo is fitted with shields.
TIE/sf ("Special Forces"): An advanced TIE Fighter for elite Special Forces pilots. It features an additional gunner, with turreted weapons systems that can fire behind as well as forwards; a broader selection of weapons systems; and a hyperdrive.
The same company also makes the AAL troop transports, and the Upsilon-class Command Shuttle that Kylo Ren uses to get around. In the AAL, the pilot is sitting in that sticky-up tower thing, and there is a hatch beside it where a Stormtrooper with a machine gun can pop out.
* * *
Fleet Corps
The Resurgent-class Star Destroyer (as seen in the movie) is a new breed of Star Destroyer designed by Kuat-Entralla Engineering. It is nearly two miles long, with three thousand turbolasers and assorted other guns; two full wings of TIE Fighters (144 in total); and 100 AAL transports, enough to deploy 2,000 of the ship's 8,000 Stormtroopers each wave. The Fleet Corps currently controls 26 of these Star Destroyers, and they are exclusively under the control of the First Order itself.
Additionally, the First Order has starships of other classes, contributed by it's ally worlds and governments. The Pentastar Alignment boasts a respectable fleet of older generation Imperial starships, as does Kuat. The Royal Hapan Navy also represents a significant military force, though the Hapans are generally reluctant to commit their forces to anything but the direct protection of the Cluster.
* * *
Manufacturers
Aratech-Loratus Corporation - Sanction-dodging spinoff of Aratech and Loratus Manufacturing. Produces the LIUV.
Kuat-Entralla Engineering - Sanction-dodging spinoff of Kuat Drive Yards, based on Entralla. Produces the Resurgent Star Destroyer.
Sienar-Jaemus Fleet Systems - Sanction-dodging spinoff of Santhe/Sienar, based on Jaemus. Produces all TIE Fighters, Upsilon Shuttles, and AAL Troop Transports.
Sonn-Blas Corporation - Sanction-dodging spinoff of Merr-Sonn and BlasTech. Produces all Stormtrooper armour, weapons, and gear.
* * *
Planets
The Core & Colonies:
Kuat - A human supremacist monarchy. Though it is a significant military holding due to the presence of the Kuat Drive Yards, it's proximity to the Core Worlds makes the New Republic somewhat nervous. The abundance of Republic forces in the area is why the
The Inner & Mid Rim:
Hapes Cluster - Probably our biggest ally/supporter. Tarek Avesca's sister is the Queen there, so there's a very strong connection between the First Order and the Consortium. While the First Order's military is formidable enough on it's own, the prospect of Hapan reinforcements is probably a big part of why the New Republic is so reluctant to pick a fight.
Onderon - Another planet that's definitely allied with the First Order, because of Salem's history there. Another monarchy.
Dathomir - Sort of? Tarek Avesca has strong connections with the Darksiders here.
The Pentastar Alignment (NW Outer Rim):
Entralla - The Alignment's capital. Location of the shipyards where Kuat Drive Yards (as Kuat-Entralla Engineering) builds our Star Destroyers.
Dantooine - Too remote for an effective demonstration.
Dubrillion & Destrillion - Historically ruled by an infamous monarchy. Extensive mining, industry, and Imperial R&D.
Endex - A subjugated/enslaved non-human world. Because of the Entymal reputation as pilots, the Pilot Corps has one of it's training bases here.
Gravlex Med - The subjugated/enslaved homeworld of the Anx. It is a high-gravity industrial world; the Anx make good labor slaves.
Ilum - Slightly over the border into the Unknown Regions, Ilum is a crystal-rich former Jedi world used as a Stormtrooper base by the First Order. (Based on Visual Dictionary clues, Starkiller Base is likely to have been built inside Ilum)
Jaemus - Location of Sienar's TIE Fighter factories. The Enforcer-class / Interdictor Cruiser was developed here decades ago.
Mygeeto & Muunilinst - The homeworlds of the Muun and the Intergalactic Banking Clan.
* * *
Origin / Background
TheHolo.net canon is a little different from the movies, so there are some little tweaks.
Some years after the formation of the New Republic, Salem Ave and Delgado Xaanan made secret plans to break away from the Republic and the Senate. They felt that the New Republic was making too many of the same mistakes as the Old Republic - and the Empire - and wanted to see the galaxy brought under the sway of a more focused and orderly vision.
Salem Ave (Darth Callidus) had spent years establishing himself as a secret puppetmaster, manipulating the governments of Onderon, Hapes, and other worlds to suit his needs. Using his allies on Dathomir, Callidus launched an attack against the Jedi, destroying their Sanctuary on Ossus and wiping out most of the rebuilt Order in one decisive move. Xaanan exploited the destruction of the Jedi as a "sign of weakness", using it to leverage several worlds and systems into declaring independence from the Republic in much the same way that Count Dooku had done decades before.
Promising the kind of protection that the Republic clearly could not provide, Xaanan united the Separatists as the First Order, installing himself as Supreme Leader. As well as the loyalty of key worlds like Onderon, Hapes, and Kuat, the Supreme Leader was also able to broker an allegiance with the Pentastar Alignment, an Imperial Remnant located in the northwestern quadrant of the Outer Rim. Using the Alignment as a staging ground, the First Order began to arm themselves in secret, out of sight and mind of the New Republic.
* * *
Leadership
The Supreme Leader serves as the figurehead of the First Order. Having served as a Moff within the Galactic Empire, Xaanan understands the folly of trying to exercise too much direct control on individual worlds and governments. As a result, Xaanan is content to allow Hapes, Kuat, the Alignment, and the rest of the First Order's allies to govern themselves for the most part - though those governments know better than to do anything that would go against the Supreme Leader's wishes.
The leadership of the First Order is structured to be as streamlined and efficient as possible, eliminating many of what Xaanan feels to be the failings of the Imperial bureaucracy. The Order's forces are divided into as few branches as possible, with clear definitions of where the responsibilities and jurisdiction of each ends, to avoid undue overlap and friction.
Beneath the Supreme Leader, authority is spread between three key individuals:
Star Marshal Cortus Veers: Selected from within the ranks of the Pentastar Alignment, Veers is loyal to the idea that an Empire should rule the galaxy. He comes from a prestigious Imperial pedigree, but is pragmatic enough to accept and understand that the New Order was a flawed approach to government. He is the overall commander of the First Order military, and is the Supreme Leader's chief military advisor.
Commandant Vessa Ixxent: The former adjutant, attaché, and bodyguard to Moff Xaanan during his time on Corellia, Ixxent is loyal to the Supreme Leader personally. She has proven time and again that she is a trustworthy ally, and has a natural flair for exploiting people's preconceptions of her as a woman to considerable advantage in her duties. She is responsible for all of the First Order's clandestine operations, including intelligence, counter-intelligence, the secret police; and is also responsible for ensuring the Supreme Leader's personal safety.
Tarek Avesca: The son of Salem Ave and the heir to his authority over Dathomir, Avesca is loyal to Ave and Xaanan's shared vision of how the galaxy should be ordered. His association with the Supreme Leader and the First Order is more a matter of common cause than of loyalty, but Xaanan trusts him to a certain extent for as long as their goals are aligned. He acts as an agent of the Supreme Leader, and while he does not have any specific quantifiable authority, no one is foolish enough to defy his orders.
The military infrastructure of the First Order is divided between five main branches:
Fleet Corps, which consists of starship crews. Fleet Corps officers wear grey uniforms, except the enlisted ranks (who wear black). Rather than the unnecessary structure of fleets and similar, Fleet resources are deployed and distributed on an as-needed case by case basis.
Army Corps, which consists of soldiers who have joined the First Order, rather than going through the from-childhood training of the Stormtroopers. Army officers wear teal uniforms, except the enlisted ranks (who wear black). Army personnel tend operate and maintain any ground-based facilities, leaving the front line combat to the Stormtroopers.
Intelligence Corps, which acts as an intelligence-gathering, counter-intelligence, secret police, and internal affairs all rolled into one. They conduct reconnaissance and espionage, screen new candidates, investigate threats to security, and all that good stuff. The leader of the Intelligence Corps is the Commandant (Vessa Ixxent).
Stormtrooper Corps, which consists of soldiers who have been trained (and brainwashed) since childhood to be fiercely loyal to the First Order. They have the best training, and the best equipment. All of them are identified with a number rather than a name - those two do have a name are rare exceptions, and usually earned it through their service.
Pilot Corps, which consists of anyone who flies anything: fighters, shuttles, troop transports, etc. Elite veterans of the Pilot Corps are referred to as "Special Forces", and gain access to more advanced ships and equipment, as well as permission to add red markings to their uniforms and ships.
* * *
Ranks
The ranks for the First Order (in the movie) are a little wonky. The titles are fairly straight forward, but the insignia are... weird. A General gets two stripes around his wrists, and an Admiral gets the same but with extra red bits. Everyone else has just a single stripe... with a name written on it. Not their name, though: it's the name of an Imperial war hero or a famous unit. (I have no idea why, they just are). The rank progression is -
Admiral
General
Colonel ("KAPLAN")
Major ("TARKIN")
Captain ("DILLON")
Lieutenant ("POWER")
Sergeant ("RO 8")
Squad Leader or Chief Petty Officer or Petty Officer ("HAL 4")
Below that are the troopers / technicians / etc who have no rank at all. There doesn't seem to be anything (uniform-wise) to distinguish between a Chief Petty Officer and a Petty Officer - I guess you just "know".
In terms of uniform colours, these have been tweaked a little.
Black - Enlisted personel, technicians, bridge crew, fleet engineers, etc
Grey - Navy Officers
Teal* - Army Officers (* this colour (http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/u58AAOSw1S9WfOIX/s-l1600.jpg))
Charcoal - Generals & Admirals
* * *
Stormtrooper Corps
Quoting the Visual Dictionary directly: Standard ten-soldier stormtrooper squads contain a slot for a single weapons specialist. Depending on mission profiles, that specialist may be a megablaster heavy assault trooper (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Megablaster_heavy_assault_trooper), a riot control trooper or a flametrooper.
Hot Toys (who have a pretty good reputation for getting their facts right) make a "Squad Leader" statue, wearing a white pauldron. I have not managed to spot it on a vanilla Stormtrooper, but there are one or two Snowtroopers wearing them in the movie. The red pauldron is much more visible: Hot Toys describes that statue as a "Stormtrooper Officer", but looking at the ranks and considering what pauldron colours meant in the Empire, it probably corresponds with Sergeant.
Each of those troop transports (an Atmospheric Assault Lander or "AAL") carries up to twenty Stormtroopers / two squads. Judging from the percentage of red pauldrons in the group shots on Starkiller Base and at Jakku, one Sergeant/officer per transport seems like a safe guess.
The white material used in Stormtrooper armour, riot clubs, shields, etc is called "betaplast". The material is tough enough that flametroopers won't accidentally set you on fire. Everything - weapons, armour, binoculars, etc - is manufactured by the Sonn-Blas Corporation (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sonn-Blas_Corporation): a subsidiary of Merr-Sonn and BlasTech set up to skirt around New Republic sanctions against the First Order.
Fun fact: Snowtrooper armour has a "unit logo" on the chest in a weird blocky alien language. It's actually just the word "cold" written upside-down in a slightly odd font.
* * *
Pilot Corps
The Visual Dictionary describes the First Order pilots collectively as the Pilot Corps. All pilots and flight officers (including shuttles and troop transports) wear the TIE pilot outfits. Anyone with bits of red on their flight gear is considered "Special Forces", and are part of the piloting elite.
There are actually two versions of the new TIE Fighter in the movie, made by Sienar-Jaemus Fleet Systems (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sienar-Jaemus_Fleet_Systems):
TIE/fo ("First Order"): The basic TIE Fighter, featuring a single pilot and a fairly standard configuration. However, unlike the TIE Fighters of the Empire, the TIE/fo is fitted with shields.
TIE/sf ("Special Forces"): An advanced TIE Fighter for elite Special Forces pilots. It features an additional gunner, with turreted weapons systems that can fire behind as well as forwards; a broader selection of weapons systems; and a hyperdrive.
The same company also makes the AAL troop transports, and the Upsilon-class Command Shuttle that Kylo Ren uses to get around. In the AAL, the pilot is sitting in that sticky-up tower thing, and there is a hatch beside it where a Stormtrooper with a machine gun can pop out.
* * *
Fleet Corps
The Resurgent-class Star Destroyer (as seen in the movie) is a new breed of Star Destroyer designed by Kuat-Entralla Engineering. It is nearly two miles long, with three thousand turbolasers and assorted other guns; two full wings of TIE Fighters (144 in total); and 100 AAL transports, enough to deploy 2,000 of the ship's 8,000 Stormtroopers each wave. The Fleet Corps currently controls 26 of these Star Destroyers, and they are exclusively under the control of the First Order itself.
Additionally, the First Order has starships of other classes, contributed by it's ally worlds and governments. The Pentastar Alignment boasts a respectable fleet of older generation Imperial starships, as does Kuat. The Royal Hapan Navy also represents a significant military force, though the Hapans are generally reluctant to commit their forces to anything but the direct protection of the Cluster.
* * *
Manufacturers
Aratech-Loratus Corporation - Sanction-dodging spinoff of Aratech and Loratus Manufacturing. Produces the LIUV.
Kuat-Entralla Engineering - Sanction-dodging spinoff of Kuat Drive Yards, based on Entralla. Produces the Resurgent Star Destroyer.
Sienar-Jaemus Fleet Systems - Sanction-dodging spinoff of Santhe/Sienar, based on Jaemus. Produces all TIE Fighters, Upsilon Shuttles, and AAL Troop Transports.
Sonn-Blas Corporation - Sanction-dodging spinoff of Merr-Sonn and BlasTech. Produces all Stormtrooper armour, weapons, and gear.
* * *
Planets
The Core & Colonies:
Kuat - A human supremacist monarchy. Though it is a significant military holding due to the presence of the Kuat Drive Yards, it's proximity to the Core Worlds makes the New Republic somewhat nervous. The abundance of Republic forces in the area is why the
The Inner & Mid Rim:
Hapes Cluster - Probably our biggest ally/supporter. Tarek Avesca's sister is the Queen there, so there's a very strong connection between the First Order and the Consortium. While the First Order's military is formidable enough on it's own, the prospect of Hapan reinforcements is probably a big part of why the New Republic is so reluctant to pick a fight.
Onderon - Another planet that's definitely allied with the First Order, because of Salem's history there. Another monarchy.
Dathomir - Sort of? Tarek Avesca has strong connections with the Darksiders here.
The Pentastar Alignment (NW Outer Rim):
Entralla - The Alignment's capital. Location of the shipyards where Kuat Drive Yards (as Kuat-Entralla Engineering) builds our Star Destroyers.
Dantooine - Too remote for an effective demonstration.
Dubrillion & Destrillion - Historically ruled by an infamous monarchy. Extensive mining, industry, and Imperial R&D.
Endex - A subjugated/enslaved non-human world. Because of the Entymal reputation as pilots, the Pilot Corps has one of it's training bases here.
Gravlex Med - The subjugated/enslaved homeworld of the Anx. It is a high-gravity industrial world; the Anx make good labor slaves.
Ilum - Slightly over the border into the Unknown Regions, Ilum is a crystal-rich former Jedi world used as a Stormtrooper base by the First Order. (Based on Visual Dictionary clues, Starkiller Base is likely to have been built inside Ilum)
Jaemus - Location of Sienar's TIE Fighter factories. The Enforcer-class / Interdictor Cruiser was developed here decades ago.
Mygeeto & Muunilinst - The homeworlds of the Muun and the Intergalactic Banking Clan.