Eternal Empire

"I forged the Empire of Zakuul to surmount all of my previous works; to span eternity."

- Valkorion The Eternal Empire, also known colloquially as the Empire of Zakuul, was a government based on Zakuul by Emperor Valkorion sometime before the Galactic War that Valkorion sought to use to reshape the entire galaxy. Valkorion used the Empire's Eternal Fleet to battle both the Galactic Republic and Sith Empire on multiple worlds.

Origins
Some time between the Ritual of Nathema and the Great Galactic War, Vitiate, the Sith Emperor, traveled into Wild Space in search of the Eternal Fleet, a supposedly unstoppable fleet of warships commanded by sentient droids. His journey brought him to Zakuul, where he discovered a culture of superstitious Humans who worshiped the ruthless Old gods. Taking on the identity of "Valkorion", he unified the nomadic tribes of Zakuul into a civilization utterly devoted to him, creating the Eternal Empire, installing himself as their Immortal Emperor. He formed a new Force-user order called the Knights of Zakuul to serve as his special forces. A subgroup of the Knights, called Scions, used their visions to locate the Eternal Fleet and slaved control of its sentient GEMINI droids to his Eternal Throne.

Galactic War
The Eternal Empire remained hidden until the Galactic War, when Valkorion's twin sons, Arcann and Thexan, proposed a pre-emptive strike against the greater galaxy to test the strength of both the Galactic Republic and Sith Empire. Valkorion sanctioned their proposal but commanded that only Thexan would lead their forces. Arcann disobeyed his father and joined his brother, resulting in him being wounded in action on Korriban. When the twin princes returned to Zakuul to present their trophies, Valkorion merely turned his back to them. Embracing the Dark Side, Arcann lunged to attack his father, only to be restrained by Thexan, resulting in Arcann accidentally killing his twin. Thexan's death was then covered up, publicly blamed as a casualty in the Core Worlds campaign.

When the Outlander and Darth Marr were captured by Arcann after a major battle in which Marr's ship was destroyed, the Emperor had a talk with them. Both the Outlander and Marr knew that Valkorion's true identity was nothing less than that of the Sith Emperor, whom they had been searching for. Valkorion stated that he would share his Eternal Empire with them if they would kneel. Marr replied that he would never again kneel to Valkorion. Marr was then executed by Valkorion after he stole a saberstaff from one of the Knights of Zakuul. The Outlander was given the same choice to kneel before Valkorion, an opportunity that almost no one else received. After a string of events that seemingly led to Valkorion's demise, Arcann claimed himself to be Emperor of the Eternal Empire and froze the Outlander in carbonite.

Arcann used his father's death to wage a conquest of the Core Worlds that would see the Republic and Sith Empire on the losing end, with the Eternal Fleet favoring ambush tactics and the massive technological superiority to destroy the bulk of both sides' fleets, within a matter of months. At the end of the first year, the capitals of both Coruscant and Dromund Kaas were blockaded; only ships outfitted with the element Isotope-5 were capable of outrunning them, but could never truly compete. After a year of conflict, the governments of the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire had formed treaties agreeing to limitations and to pay tributes to the Eternal Empire, making it the sole superpower within the galaxy. Afterwards, massive battle stations known as Star Fortresses were placed in orbit of certain planets in the galaxy, to keep rebellions from forming and to ensure that the tributes from both governments were paid. The fortresses were under the command of Exarchs, biologically and cybernetically enhanced Knights of Zakuul.

But as the galaxy suffered, the Eternal Empire itself did also in ways that many did not or wished not to see. Arcann's rule had become oppressive and cruel with his sister Vaylin, no longer restrained by her father, causing death and destruction in her wake as her powers in the Dark Side continued to grow.

The Outlander escapes
In 3632 BBY, Lana Beniko and Koth Vortena freed the Outlander from carbonite imprisonment, acquired an ancient ship that once took on the Eternal Fleet called the Gravestone, and created an Alliance determined to destroy the Eternal Throne. Arcann, in turn, resorted to using all the resources of the Eternal Empire to hunt down and destroy this threat to his power. In the wake of the Alliance's formation, many operational objectives were carried out foremost being the destruction of Star Fortresses around potential ally worlds such as Alderaan, Voss and Bothawui that had kept them from even getting in contact as a result of them being in orbit. These operations would see that several major worlds make contact with the Alliance against the Eternal Throne and join in to restore the Republic and Sith Empire back to galactic power.

Sometime later, a contact and potential ally would present itself in the form of an anarchist known as Firebrand who had been bombing minor targets on Zakuul for the past two years without being caught by the Knights of Zakuul and Skytroopers in all that time. To make contact with this anarchist, the Lady of Sorrows offered high yield explosives which would see the Outlander making contact with the being in question; revealed to be Kaliyo Djannis and due to the Outlander "stealing" her thunder, a plan was devised to take down all the droids in the Spire. This attack was to make the Zakuulan populace, who had become reliant on droid labor for menial yet important tasks, to take stock of their situation and wake them up from their peaceful lives. As a result, the Overwatch facility where all the commands for the droids and even Skytroopers came from was destroyed with the systems down the droids stopped working at least for a time. But an added bonus was the gaining of the Spire schematics that detailed the infrastructure which would be usable for an eventual attack on the Spire in order to remove Arcann from power. The new emperor would use this event as an excuse for the destruction of five worlds that happened earlier in his search for the Alliance and the Outlander.

After the journey with Firebrand, Theron Shan used his resources to contact the Republic, finding out that the elite Havoc Squad would be conducting unathorized raids on Zakuul beneath the notice of the Senate and other higher ups within the military. A meeting was set between them, himself and the Outlander to recruit the squad in joining the Alliance; they met deep within the Endless Swamp where they discovered that Aric Jorgan was now in command of the squad. Unfortunately, their landing did not go unnoticed and a probe tracked their location until Jorgan shot it down forcing the squad to split up in different directions in order to return to camp without the unit becoming compromised should they be captured. The Outlander and Jorgan would find a vantage point in order to cover the retreat as they spoke about the events of the last five years, the situation on Zakuul and even about Arcann. This continued until Jorgan discovered Zakuulan Exiles, people who doubted against Arcann's policies and actions who were subsequently left within the Swamp to die, being chased by Skytroopers as their homes were being burned down to 'crack down' on negative actions against the Eternal Empire. This would later be a folly for during an attack on a Knight of Zakuul outpost that contained a planetary wide comm relay; the Outlander, Theron and Havoc Squad was pinned down by Skytrooper reinforcements once their objective was achieved. The situation looked grim until the Zakuulan Exiles destroyed a transport shuttle that was ferrying additional skytroopers and blew up the squad that had pinned them down using thermal detonators. Depending on the Outlander's choice, the Zakuulan Exiles would either begin training with Havoc squad to become gurellia fighters or would fight on their own to no longer be dependent on the Skytroopers or anything else to defend themselves.

Collapse
By the end of the war with The Alliance, Emperor Arcann had been dethroned, Empress Vaylin was killed, and Valkorion was destroyed through the use of a powerful holocron, all by the Outlander.

When Vaylin was killed, no successor to the throne was present, allowing the Outlander to take control. The Eternal Empire was then dissolved, its holdings acquired by the Alliance, which would reform into a full fledged government known as the Eternal Alliance.

Politics
The ruler of the Eternal Empire held the title of Emperor (or, if the ruler was female, Empress), and the overall government system is an absolute monarchy. The head of government and military was the High Justice. The High Justice also apparently was the second in command of the Empire, and had unlimited power when Vaylin held the rank under Arcann's leadership.

Military
The Eternal Empire's military seemed to be composed primarily of Skytroopers and Knights of Zakuul. It did possess biologists found mainly on the Star Fortresses and other humans as officers, such as the rogue Koth Vortena. Other personnel in the Eternal Empire's military included Paladins, Exarchs, and Overwatch Intelligence agents. During Empress Vaylin's reign the Horizon Guard was formed to serve her directly and to surpass the Knights of Zakuul who failed to defend her brother during the Battle of Odessen. The head of the Eternal Empire's military was the High Justice.

Wealth
To bring a society from oppressive tribalism into a glorious golden era required significant funding. When Emperor Valkorion began his project, he funneled wealth from the Sith Empire into Zakuul, effectively robbing one empire to fund another. As Valkorion's grand society blossomed, the Eternal Empire turned its view outward, conquering planets and claiming their resources. By the time the Republic and Sith Empire fell, Zakuul had amassed the greatest fortune in the galaxy. Much of it is channeled directly into Zakuul--expansion of the Eternal Fleet, lavish updates to the Spire, generous gifts to the citizens--but the Empire's treasure was so great, it couldn't possibly be spent entirely. The bulk sat idle aboard the massive treasury called the Gilded Star, serving as a symbol of Zakuul's status--and a reminder of the Eternal Empire's power.

Society
Raised in comfort and safety, Zakuulans wanted for nothing. But despite leading easy lives of intellectual and creative pursuits, they occasionally felt compelled to seek out less high-minded excitement. Oldtown offered an opportunity for Spire citizens to enter another world and indulge their need for exhilaration. Many Zakuulans had paid at least one visit to cheer at the gladiator pits or sample the red light district. Countless more simply ventured down to tour the seedy streets and thrill to the distasteful and the taboo. The key to Zakuulan thrill-seeking was to never face any real danger. Though Spire residents flocked to the delightfully seedy Oldtown, they avoided the truly treacherous Breaktown below it.