Chapter 8: The Survival of Palpatine
The galaxy celebrated the death of Emperor Palpatine. Holographic recordings of his throne room, recovered from the wreckage of the second Death Star, seemed to confirm what everyone wanted to believe: that the most evil being in galactic history had been destroyed, cast into the reactor core by his own apprentice in a final act of redemption. Vader was dead. Palpatine was dead. The nightmare was over.
They were wrong.
Palpatine had spent decades preparing for the possibility of his physical death. The Sith had always sought to transcend mortality—it was the fundamental obsession that drove their philosophy. His master, Darth Plagueis, had claimed to have discovered the secret of manipulating midi-chlorians to create life and prevent death. Palpatine had murdered Plagueis before learning all of his secrets, but he had continued the research, pushing into realms of dark side knowledge that even the ancient Sith had feared to explore.
On the hidden world of Exegol, deep in the Unknown Regions, Palpatine had established a facility dedicated to his immortality. Here, the Sith Eternal—a cult of dark side worshippers who had preserved Sith knowledge through the millennia—labored to perfect the techniques that would allow their master to cheat death. Cloning technology, essence transfer, the manipulation of the Force itself—all were combined into a process that could preserve Palpatine’s consciousness even if his body was destroyed.
When Vader hurled Palpatine into the Death Star’s reactor, the Emperor’s physical body was indeed destroyed. But his spirit, his consciousness, his malevolent will—these survived, cast across the galaxy through the dark side to find refuge in a clone body waiting on Exegol. The transfer was imperfect. The clone body was unstable, unable to contain the full power of Palpatine’s dark side presence. But he lived. And from the shadows of Exegol, he began to rebuild his power.
The Palpatine who exists in this era is a creature of shadows and secrets. His damaged clone body requires constant treatment to maintain functionality. He cannot project his power openly, cannot take direct control of the First Order, cannot reveal himself to a galaxy that would unite against him if it knew he survived. Instead, he works through intermediaries, through careful manipulation, through the patient execution of plans that span decades. He is the spider at the center of a web that stretches across the galaxy, and no one knows he is there.
Chapter 9: Exegol and the Sith Eternal
Exegol is a world that should not exist. Hidden within a nebula that blocks all sensors and navigational aids, reachable only by following ancient Sith wayfinders, it is a place where the dark side of the Force concentrates with terrible intensity. The planet itself is barren, its surface a wasteland of jagged rock and toxic atmosphere, but beneath that surface lies a vast network of chambers and laboratories that have existed since the ancient Sith Empire.
The Sith Eternal who inhabit Exegol are not Sith themselves—the Rule of Two forbade more than a master and apprentice to exist at any time. They are cultists, worshippers who preserved Sith knowledge and served the dark lords who knew of their existence. Their numbers include scientists, alchemists, engineers, and dark side adepts who have dedicated their lives to the eventual triumph of the Sith over the Jedi and all who oppose them. Generation after generation, they have worked in secret, waiting for the time when their masters would call upon them.
Under Palpatine’s direction, the Sith Eternal have undertaken projects of staggering ambition. The cloning facilities that preserved his consciousness are only the beginning. Fleets of Star Destroyers are being constructed in vast shipyards beneath Exegol’s surface, each vessel equipped with planet-killing weapons derived from Death Star technology. Armies of soldiers are being bred and conditioned, ready to serve when the time comes. All of this proceeds in absolute secrecy, unknown even to the First Order that Palpatine nominally controls.
The relationship between Palpatine and the First Order is complex. The First Order’s leadership believes they are building their own power base, pursuing their own vision of a restored Empire. They do not know that every significant decision they make is influenced by Palpatine’s manipulations, that their Supreme Leader answers to a master they have never seen, that they are pawns in a game whose true stakes they cannot imagine. Palpatine prefers it this way. The First Order serves his purposes admirably, but they are expendable—tools to be used and discarded when the time is right.
Chapter 10: Supreme Leader Snoke
The being known as Snoke is one of the galaxy’s great mysteries. He appeared seemingly from nowhere to assume leadership of the First Order, a towering figure of terrible presence whose mastery of the dark side rivals that of the Sith Lords of old. His origins are unknown to all but a handful of beings in the galaxy, and those who know the truth would never reveal it.
Snoke is not a natural being. He is a creation of the Sith Eternal, one of many attempts to create a vessel that could contain the power of Palpatine’s consciousness. Unlike the others, Snoke proved stable enough to survive, but he was not suitable for essence transfer—his mind was too strong, too independent. Rather than destroy him, Palpatine found another use for his creation. Snoke would serve as the visible leader of the First Order, the face of the new Empire, while Palpatine himself remained hidden.
The extent of Snoke’s knowledge regarding his own nature is deliberately ambiguous. He knows that he serves a greater power, that there is something—or someone—behind the shadows who guides his actions. Whether he knows the full truth of his origins, whether he understands that he is merely a puppet, is unclear even to those who created him. What is certain is that he is genuinely powerful in the dark side, capable of feats that would humble most Force users, and that he pursues the First Order’s goals with a dedication that borders on fanaticism.
In this era, Snoke commands the First Order from his massive flagship, the Supremacy, a vessel larger than any Star Destroyer ever built. From this mobile throne, he oversees the expansion of First Order power, the construction of Starkiller Base, and the cultivation of agents within the New Republic. He is particularly interested in Force-sensitive individuals, always seeking new tools that might serve his—and his master’s—purposes. Reports of a new Jedi academy run by the legendary Luke Skywalker have attracted his special attention.
Snoke’s appearance is deliberately unsettling. His twisted features, the scars that mar his face and head, the darkness that seems to cling to him like a shroud—all are designed to inspire fear and awe in those who serve him. He speaks rarely, and when he does, his words carry the weight of absolute authority. None in the First Order dare question him. None suspect that even he is merely a servant of a greater darkness.