Great Migration

One of the major consequences of the Galactic Civil War has been the affect on civilian populations. Collateral damage in warfare is an unfortunate but mostly unavoidable side effect, one which most armies try very hard to limit.

Galactic Overview

During the events of the so-called Plague Wars this caveat went out the window. Starting with the Isard initiated Krytos Virus attacks on Coruscant, the galaxy experienced a six year species-focused assault on civilian populations by both major combatants. The resultant chaos led to mass migrations of populations for a variety of reasons across the galaxy, the majority being:

Percentage (%)	Reason for Refugee Status
12	Deliberate migration ahead of an incident as citizens believed their planet to be next to experience an invasion, viral assault, refugee influx, economic collapse, or other form of disorder
47	Migration in the aftermath of an infection, attack, or other form of disorder. These events were sometimes planned by officials in the wake of an event, though organized fleet movements were more orderly on paper than in reality. Of this group, many millions were inadvertently traded into servitude/slavery on their target worlds by unscrupulous ship captains.
34	Forced emigration due to local governmental orders. This was primarily done to remove a species from a particular planet. In hindsight, given the many instances of planetary massacres of a minority species, this was the preferable alternative for many sentients.
7	No reason given or data not collected.

All told, anywhere from 1.5 to 2 trillion galactic citizens were displaced for at least a few weeks. Many were able to return to their home worlds, but the figures above prove that many were left to find a new path for themselves and their families.

Effects on the Vast Empire

At the height of the Plague Wars, the Vast Empire worked very hard to not become involved in the conflict. Supreme Moff Kadann deemed it morally essential to not resort to genocide as a means of attaining military gains. By no means was he alone but it was a stance taken up later by other independent Imperial factions due to his example.

As such, it was a position not without repercussions. As billions fled the Core, many refugee fleets entered Vast Empire space. Unprepared for the large influx of needy civilians, a large interdiction zone was created. In the beginning, the Vast Empire had nowhere to place so many refugees so they remained on overcrowded ships in what became known as the Barrier Zone. Often, ships would attempt to break through the Barrier and, when captured, would be returned and placed at the end of the triage line.

Any ship suspected of infection, be it even one person, had it’s engines disabled and tractored to a holding zone. Any escape pod was shot down. Food and water were delivered by droid cargo crafts. Of the ships in quarantine, only one in seven ever experienced an outbreak but those that did had a hard time of it. No one who survived the quarantine would speak of life aboard the over-crowded ships. It was a particular suffering shared in silence. Tens of thousands of psychiatrists and clinical investigators are working with the survivors to determine the events of those days.

In the end, it was determined that many worlds were either incapable or unwilling to let their citizens return home after an outbreak occurred. Some factions were quick to remove refugee populations from their midst, only adding to the numbers absorbed by others. Still some chose to make their refugees a cheap form of slave labor. This was an option chosen by more governments than most believe.

Preliminary Steps

Initially, many were set up in makeshift camps on Bestine IV. Negotiations began with other planets near Vast Empire space. The planets Lipsec, Ryoone, and Sump were designated as Initial Resettlement Worlds. Each world was chosen as they were sparsely settled, and while conducive to life, it was not under great environmental conditions. Lipsec has a thin atmosphere and almost no mineral potential, leaving it unsuited for mining, agriculture or most other endeavors. Ryoone is ringed with pockets of volcanoes, leaving the atmosphere heavy in metallic elements and ash. Sump is mostly a wasteland of mining disasters. Refugees there were expected to assist in planetary reclamation both as a job and as a means of survival.

With almost no infrastructure on these worlds, everything had to be laid down, quickly, without much strategic planning in place. This basically meant that Imperial engineering units went in, set up some quick infrastructure and then left, allowing for construction contractors to build large, multi-story residential housing structures on the sites. While the plumbing and sewage may have been to Imperial standards, the buildings themselves were often subpar, and occasionally dangerous. In Yelona 9 ABY, a massive failure of 200+ story housing buildings began when wiring in a building on Sump led to the burning and sudden collapse of one structure, which caused adjoining buildings to crumple. Poor ferrocrete construction was to blame for the crumpling of the buildings but all structures in the zone were condemned for the large amount of intentional flaws in the design. This led to the death of over 170,000 resident immigrants and the relocation of over 2 million others as their homes were deemed unsafe.

Long term construction

The need for a workforce to build the refugee communities, along with the desire for said population to do something let to projects like the Strong Arms Program, which allowed refugees to obtain work permits and a path to citizenship and improved living conditions for themselves and their families.

The Initial Resettlement Worlds are the first stage of a long term process. First, these worlds, underpopulated and in need of rehabilitation, are in need of infrastructure and settlement. It is expected that a significant portion of the refugee population will be tasked with remaking these planets to help expand the Vast Empire.

Additional worlds have been slated for further colonization and are in the preliminary stages of being prepped for new settlement. These worlds have natural resources available for farming, mining, and other industrial and commercial ventures are much care has been taken to plan for their use. Rampant exploitation has ruined many a planet in the Outer Rim and the future viability of these planets to the Vast Empire is part of the planning process.

New Citizen Program

The long term goal of absorbing nearly a billion new residents is to make them loyal, productive citizens of the Empire. Obviously, not all of them will be and those individuals are free to work on our worlds as long as they obey our laws. Malcontents have, thankfully, been few and easily deported or imprisoned.

For the rest, the Vast Empire has been forced to enact a strictly regimented and draconian system for allowing refugee populations to earn their citizenship. While nearly all did not volunteer to get dumped onto an Outer Rim refugee camp, those who paid to build said camps and protect those within have been adamant that anyone willing to join the Vast Empire earn the right through labor and shared effort.

Points System

The guiding design of the New Citizen Program (NCP) is the Points System. It is probably the most hated government program of all, even more than the Ration Board, the punitive Insurrection Police Patrols, or the controversial Labor Education Act which treats nearly all refugee students as future labor workers rather than potential higher education bound professionals.

All adults in a household are capable of earning - and losing - Status Points. Status Points can be turned for a variety of quality of life improvements or saved up for a position in the citizen testing queue.

Effects on the Vast Empire

While a combination of need and altruism allowed the Vast Empire to open it's doors to so many, the cost has been to some extent shared by all. Already involved in a multi-front war, our citizens were forced to see the effects of stretched resources by less commercial goods on the shelves, and the materials for new landspeeders and electronics being funneled towards military and refugee construction priorities.

As the labor tier system has expanded industrial mining and production, this has abated, though some ill will remains among some sections of the population.

Other issues in agricultural production have been more dire. The near absence of meat protein is a constant on the resettlement worlds. A combination of Nerf Autoimmune Disorder (NAD) and the needs of our expanded military left meat off the plates of most citizens as well in the year 11 ABY. Tallgrain loaf was a much produced and much hated food source for many. Expanded herd growth in 12 ABY as well as improved ranching in the Thilidian Sector worlds should ease this shortage as well.

One of the uglier aspects of the Great Migration in the Vast Empire has been the growth of anti-species activism, particularly by human agitators. A key hallmark of the Vast Empire has been it's work in dismissing the High Human Culture campaigns perpetuated by Emperor Palpatine and his government. As part of the Outer Rim, humans are thinner on the ground, and often not in charge of many worlds in this region of space. It is poor business, and worse foreign relations, to expect species discrimination to thrive in this region of space.

While numbers are not firm, many of the refugees taken in by the Vast Empire are of near and non-human populations. To date, they have shown great patience in dealing with their situation as well as great stamina and industry in improving it. Slackers are rare; saboteurs even more so. A contract in a mine is far preferable to a slave slot on some of the lesser-mined faction worlds and everyone knows it.

Still, some citizens have taken to disparaging refugees, especially those of another species.

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