The Vast Empire

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Click this link to view the Vast Empire's "opening crawl." Image credit: Ansel Hsiao (Fractalsponge) and Will Trichon (Trykon).

Founded in 1998, The Vast Empire is an unofficial, fan-based online gaming organization focused on George Lucas's Star Wars® franchise. The club is composed of Star Wars fans with "a certain point of view:" namely, a shared appreciation of the oft-maligned, much-misunderstood Galactic Empire. In the VE, the rebels are the villains of the saga: they are criminals, traitors, terrorists, and masters of propaganda. In contrast, the noble Imperials are the true heroes, bravely fighting to preserve order, a catch-all term for a complex idea: a society in which stability, prosperity, and justice are shared by all sentient beings in the Galaxy.


Members of the VE explore this shared Imperial perspective in various ways:

  • By role-playing in an ongoing and persistent play-by-post story forum
  • By writing more traditional "fan fiction" stories
  • By playing a range of solo and multiplayer video games
  • By chatting with each other in ICQ/IRC.

This wiki is a supplementary resource, designed to support the above activities.


The Literary RPG[edit]

The Vast Empire's literary role-playing game - a play-by-post, forum-based, shared storytelling environment - is the heart of the club. Set in the year 12 ABY, the rpg allows players to explore the worlds of the post-Imperial Galaxy as stormtroopers, starfighter pilots, and officers in the Army and Navy of "The Vast Empire," an in-universe military/political entity based in a small corner of the the Star Wars Galaxy that straddles the ill-defined border between Unknown Regions and Wild Space. It has been six years since the rebels' conquest of Imperial Center (which they call Coruscant), and their arrogantly-named New Republic has only brought more strife to the Galaxy. Seemingly, the hypocritical usurpers can only keep their fractious new government together by employing the very same tactics their propaganda machine accuses the Palpatine regime of using: lying, scapegoating, and fear-mongering. In contrast, the citizens of the Vast Empire fight on, struggling to uphold the positive ideals of the New Order - security, justice, and equality of opportunity for all - while surrounded by competing factions.

  • Note - "The Vast Empire" is both the name of the club, and the name of the in-story faction to which all player-characters in the literary rpg belong.

The Vast Empire's Territories[edit]

The "Core Worlds" of Vast Imperial Space:[edit]

System Name Planet Name Description Image
Rheagent System Home system of the VE's ruling High Council, and most of the faction's leading businesses.
Lotaith The third planet from the Rheagent sun, Lotaith is the metropolitan capital of the Vast Empire, and the fortress-like meeting place of the High Council. VELotaith.jpg
Cepany The second planet from the System's star, Cepany is the VE's beautiful center of commerce and trade. VECepany.jpg
Sian System Home system of the VE's Army Division.
Tadath The second moon of the gas giant Nodriss, Tadath is a tourist destination and the site of Army HQ, with orbital facilities for special training. VETadath.jpg
Vectra System Home system of the VE's Navy Division.
Abrae The only moon of the gas giant Tague, Abrae is an icy, defensible outpost, the site of the Vast Empire's Naval Academy and Naval Intelligence HQ, and has orbital facilities housing Naval HQ. VEAbrae.jpg


Selected recent conquests:[edit]

System Name Planet Name Description Image
Bestine System Strategically important naval shipyards
and influential location.
Bestine IV The fourth planet from the System's star, Bestine has unique
oceanic shipyards, designed to produce frigate-sized vessels.
VEBestine.jpg
Belgaroth System Strategically important naval shipyards and influential location.
Belgaroth An unremarkable terrestrial planet with extensive orbital shipyards, Belgaroth occupies an important strategic location along the only viable expansion route from VE space in the Unknown Regions to the Galactic Core. VEBelgaroth.jpg


Other worlds of note in the VE:[edit]

System Name Planet Name Description Image
Shykar System Rumored home system of the Dark Jedi Order.
Lopen Lopen is a barren, desert-like rock, far from known space lanes. VELopen.jpg


Contested worlds:[edit]


Club Canon[edit]

This shared narrative (the VE literary rpg) has been going since 1998, and during that time, the VE's version of Star Wars history (a.k.a., "club canon") has diverged slightly from the "official" version of the history of the Star Wars Galaxy (a.k.a., the established canon of the Star Wars Expanded Universe), as maintained by Lucas Licensing. The most significant differences between VE canon and EU canon to date include:

Topic How VE canon differs from established EU canon
ThrawnandPellaeon.jpg Grand Admiral Thrawn • He survived the attempt on his life during the Battle of Bilbringi.
• He leads the largest "Imperial" faction, composed of the Empire of the Hand and most of the loyalist worlds that comprise the canon faction known as the Imperial Remnant.
• In the VE, Thrawn's faction is colloquially referred to as "The Imperial Remnant," "Thrawn's Confederation," or "the Thrawnists."
YsanneIsard.jpg Director of Imperial Intelligence Ysanne "Iceheart" Isard • She is also still alive, after surviving the so-called Bacta War.
• She has had a falling out with Thrawn, but still commands the loyalty of many Imperial Intelligence operatives.
• In the VE, Isard's faction is colloquially referred to as "The Shadow Empire," or "Iceheart's agents."
ZombieStormtroopers.jpg The Plague Wars • Shortly after the founding of the New Republic, both sides in the ongoing Galactic Civil War resorted to deploying biological weapons, in their increasingly desperate attempts to gain an advantage over each other. This grisly series of events is known as The Plague Wars.
• The Vast Empire was the only major faction to abstain from using bio-weapons during this period. The VE does not use indiscriminate weapons of mass destruction, and never purposefully targets civilians.
Compnorrally.jpg Speciesism and Xenophobia • After the xenocidal Plague Wars, the Galaxy is much more divided than in the standard EU; speciesism is prevalent.
• The VE is the exception to the rule: a refuge of acceptance, cooperation, and equality. VE leaders pushed for autonomous self-government even before Palpatine's death, largely because of their opposition to the bigotry and humanocentrism of his regime.
Emperorreborn.jpg No "Emperor Reborn" • Palpatine was not "reborn," nor will he ever return.

A condensed timeline of major Vast Empire events.

A list of "Imperial" factions can be found here.

A list of New Republic-allied factions can be found here.

Maps[edit]

Since club canon is a little different than EU canon, it should be no surprise that the Galaxy of the Vast Empire looks a little different than the Galaxy of the official Expanded Universe. A complete map of the VE-canon Galaxy can be found here: VE Galaxy Map.

NOTE: The maps included below are out-of-date, and fairly limited in detail. Consult the link above for a more complete map of the VE-canon Galaxy.

Vast Empire Local.png Essential-atlas-star-wars-galaxy-map.jpg
A view of local Vast Imperial Space. Large map of the Galaxy.

For New Members[edit]

If this overview has captured your imagination, and you're ready to join the Vast Empire, you should proceed to this page: Character Creation Guidelines. Follow the directions on that page, and after a short training period in your chosen Division (Army or Navy), you'll enjoy all the benefits of membership in the Vast Empire: a vibrant fan club, an active play-by-post role-playing game, a ready-made gaming clan, and an inspiring community of writers and artists.