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The First Order, also known as the Order, was a repressive autocratic military dictatorship in the Unknown Regions during the New Republic Era. Ruling by terror, its military acting as its iron fist, the regime was fascistic, and described as oppressive, racist and xenophobic.

History[]

After the Battle of Jakku which ended the Galactic Civil War, Grand Vizier Mas Amedda signed the Galactic Concordance with the New Republic on behalf of the Galactic Empire, the treaty ordered the Empire to dissolved as the Republic became the primary power in the galaxy.

Rae Sloane and Brendol Hux evacuated after Jakku to the Eclipse in the Unknown Regions where Sloane saw the chance to rebuild the Empire as part of the late Emperor plan. They used information derived from Grand Admiral Thrawn, who hailed from the Chiss Ascendancy, and the survey teams and droids that Emperor Sheev Palpatine had sent to explore the Unknown Regions previously.

At the request of the dying Counselor to the Empire Gallius Rax, who had been in charge of executing the Contingency, Grand Admiral Rae Sloane and Commandant Brendol Hux rendezvoused with the Super Star Destroyer Eclipse in the Unknown Regions. Upon discovering the Eclipse, Sloane ordered the Sentinel piloting the Imperialis to bring the ship in and rejoin with the others. There, she intended to board and saw an opportunity to rebuild a stronger and purer Empire.

Eventually, the First Order would come under the command of Supreme Leader Snoke who was a powerful user of the dark side of the Force. Snoke manipulated Ben Solo into turning to the dark side and attacking Luke Skywalker's new generation of the Jedi. Changing his name to Kylo Ren, Ben joined the First Order as Snoke's apprentice and became a warlord of the First Order. Armitage Hux, the son of Brendol Hux found favour with Snoke and became a General in the military. Kylo and Hux had a rivalry for the desire of Snoke's approval and disagreed on many aspects. The First Order corrupted much of the Centrist side of the Galactic Senate with Senators on the inside such as Lady Carise Sindian. Leia Organa and other Populist senators investigated Rinnrivin Di's cartel and the Amaxine warriors and eventually discovered that they had ties to the mysterious First Order. In response, she created the Resistance with the few people she could trust.

First Order - TFA

The First Order during a rally while preparing to fire their superweapon, Starkiller Base.

The First Order didn't raise much attention in the galaxy and Chancellor Lanever Villecham didn't see them as a threat due to the fact that as far as he was aware, they adhered to the Republic-First Order treaty. However, Villecham wasn't aware that they were breaking many of the laws by mass training Stormtroopers and buying illegal weapons. The First Order started converting a planet into a superweapon Starkiller Base in the Unknown Regions and Snoke led the operation from his Mega-class Star Dreadnought in his throne room protected by the elite Praetorian Guards. Captain Phasma and Agent Terex started a search for Lor San Tekka in order to find the map to the missing Luke Skywalker and crossed paths with Poe Dameron who Leia had tasked with the same mission for the Resistance.

Hosian

The First Order destroyed the New Republic with a single shot fired from Starkiller Base.

Snoke ordered Hux to use the Starkiller Base superweapon to attack the New Republic. Legions of Stormtroopers lined up as Hux gave a speech and then the weapon was fired. On Takodana the blast could be seen traveling through space towards Hosnian Prime where it destroyed the entire system and the Galactic Senate.

First-order-takodana-x-wings-approaching

First Order forces on Takodana.

The First Order forces arrived on Takodana immediately afterwards and attacked and destroyed the castle. The Resistance eventually turned up to aid Han Solo and his crew but Kylo found and captured Rey, realizing that he didn't need BB-8 since she had seen the map and he could look into her mind.

The Resistance launched an attack on Starkiller Base and successfully rescued Rey and destroyed the base. Kylo killed his father Han Solo and was injured by Chewbacca's bowcaster blasts that follwed and then heavily injured by Rey in a lightsaber duel outside. Hux was ordered by Snoke to abandon the base when it started to break up and rescue Kylo.

The First Order quickly immobilized after Starkiller Base's destruction and began pursuing the Resistance. The First Order had a desire for retaliation after losing their superweapon and wanting to prove themselves after such a disastrous setback. Having removed the New Republic as an obstacle, they had a strong chain of command and vastly outnumbered the Resistance in soldiers and fleets. Supreme Leader Snoke sent his legions of stormtroopers to seize control of the leaderless galaxy.

Government[]

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Supreme Leader Snoke

The First Order was a military junta inspired by the former Galactic Empire.[1][42] It was led by Supreme Leader Snoke until he was killed by his right-hand man Kylo Ren who assumed the title of Supreme Leader of the First Order. The office of Supreme Leader is one that wields ultimate authority over the entire First Order. Snoke delegated power to a number of high-ranking officers and advisers, effectively removing any distinction between military and state.

They oversaw the colonization of the Unknown Regions and destruction of the last Jedi. Much like Darth Vader in the former Empire, Kylo Ren existed outside the formal command structure of the First Order, and frequently came into conflict with military officials owing to his agenda consistently trumping military objectives.

Kylo's placement in the hierarchy not only maintained fear within the Order's upper ranks, but also intentionally resembled that of Darth Vader's during the reign of the Old Empire.[2]Despite having Force-sensitives within its ranks, the First Order did not employ Sith or Inquisitors like its predecessor.[42][2][5]

The First Order lacked an official capital, as its Supreme Leader constantly moved his base of operations; thus administration of the government existed on an amalgam of planets within First Order territory. With the construction of Starkiller Base, the Order possessed an unofficial headquarters for its expanding power.[5]

The First Order Security Bureau acted as an intelligence service within the administration of the Order.[22] One notable agent was the former Imperial stormtrooper and Ranc gang crime lord Terex.[23]

Foreign Affairs[]

The First Order was one of the remnants of the Old Empire that had emerged in the wake of the Galactic Concordance. Since the Concordance limited the Empire's ability to wage war by imposing strict disarmament treaties and punishing reparations,[5] the First Order despised the New Republic as an illegitimate regime that tolerated disorder in the galaxy.[2]Despite the First Order's frequent violations of the Galactic Concordance by intruding into Republic space and building illegal weapons, the New Republic did not believe that the Order posed a threat.[3]

Despite intelligence reports to the contrary, several Republic politicians in the Senate Intelligence Committee and senior military leaders such as Major Lonno Deso dismissed the First Order as an ill-organized, poorly equipped, and badly funded group of Imperial loyalists who used propaganda and fear to exaggerate their strength and power.[3]

In an effort to subvert the New Republic, the First Order also channeled funds through shell and third-party corporations in the Corporate Sector to corrupt Republic senators like Erudo Ro-Kiintor, who blocked motions advocating sanctions against the First Order and increasing support for the New Republic Starfleet.[3]

Consequently, the First Order's main military adversary was the Resistance, a private military organization founded by General Leia Organa in response to the Republic's unwillingness to take action against the Order.[5]

The First Order saw its primary mission as restoring order to a lawless galaxy and viewed the Republic and Resistance as obstacles to achieving these goals.[3] About thirty years after the Battle of Endor, the First Order launched a preemptive attack on the Hosnian system in order to destroy the Republic and force the wider galaxy into submission. Later, the First Order successfully destroyed the Resistance's base on D'Qar. However, the remaining Resistance forces were able to evacuate.[2]

The First Order was also known to have dealings with other entities like the Corporate Sector Authority[3] and the Guavian Death Gang.[2]

Judiciary[]

The First Order had a merciless attitude towards treason, where it dispensed final justice on anyone with even slight loyalty issues per day, this was done as several public executions with the executioners coming from the ranks of the Stormtrooper Corps anonymously in rotations, with it being considered an effective method of stormtrooper training. Unlike most stormtrooper variants, they were not from a specialist unit, but were instead randomly picked among regular stormtroopers for that day depending on various assignments and their identity was left anonymous.[45]

Assigned to keep order on worlds within First Order territory, a specialized variant of the standard stormtrooper were trained in riot-control tactics and given non-lethal equipment to suppress any disorder,[46] as well as some lethal weapons, such as the Sonn-Blas F-11D blaster rifle, in case situations spiraled out of control.[46][47]

Society[]

Growing up in isolation on the far side of the Unknown Regions gave the officers and citizens of the First Order an Imperially-skewed version of galactic history. Under the guidance of Imperial veterans, along with approved literature, vids, and mandatory viewings of morale sessions twice a day for stormtrooper cadets, officers learned of their glorious past and how they had been robbed of it by terrorists and rebels, who later called themselves the New Republic. Many believed only they could have the power necessary to wrest the galaxy from a path of chaos and corruption.[5]

This claim was not without some basis. The New Republic's corruption and ineffectiveness was plain to see across the galaxy, from its citizens to the Resistance and the First Order. In fact, this corruption was one of the First Order's most potent weapons, as they ensured their agenda met with no interference from the Senate. The First Order's citizens saw this as proof the Rebellion was built on false promises, and that rebels can only tear down a government, not build one.[21]

Dominated by humans, the First Order continued the ethnocentric xenophobia that had existed in the Empire, which had viewed aliens as slave labor. Within many of the labor camps and mining operations in First Order space, a large number of individuals were non-human.[3]

Prerecorded speeches often filled the airwaves, in which General Armitage Hux commented on instances of the Republic's depravity, including famines on Ibaar and Adarlon, the brutal suppression of the people of Balamak, and unchecked alien advances throughout the Outer Rim. Following these reports were stories of First Order victories such as liberating labor camps on Iktotch or winning a fleet battle in the Bormea sector. Despite these patriotic functions and rallies, the First Order heavily relied on the brutal suppression of dissent and unpatriotic activities. Riot control stormtroopers were specially trained to quash insurrection, with live-fire dispersal of protesters permitted.

Industrial unrest such as the Strike at Pressy's Tumble were blamed on New Republic agents. According to the First Order, the Jedi were officially extinct, and it was forbidden to pronounce Kylo Ren's birth name by order of Supreme Leader Snoke.[3][5] To boost morale, the First Order utilized a commemorative rank insignia system, issuing armbands bearing the names of famous units and heroes of the Galactic Civil War. Many in the military believed that despite being outnumbered by the New Republic Starfleet, their technological superiority was so complete that even their smaller navy stood virtually unchallenged.[5]

In addition, the First Order looted various currencies across the galaxy, including peggats, aureis, and zemids, and melted them down as "blood money" due to their universal value, and had no qualms with inducting children into direct combat.[41] The most infamous example of the latter was the stormtroopers of the First Order, which forcibly subjected any children of worlds conquered by the First Order to military training.[41][5] Because the First Order trained its soldiers from birth, several members had very high ranks despite their youth technically making them closer to junior officers, in contrast to the Empire's Sub-Adult Group, which promoted patriotism without subjecting its members to direct combat.[41]

However brutal, the First Order's recruitment methods were lauded by their personnel and even by some of their conscripts. Many of the children the First Order recruited came from poor, impoverished Outer Rim worlds, where lawlessness was rampant and the residents had few to no prospects in life. Due of these horrific conditions, many of the people happily surrendered their children to the First Order willingly, either hoping they would have a better life or simply desiring payment and one fewer mouth to feed.

Some freelance recruiters for the First Order agreed these children were better off under the First Order than on their homeworlds; one bragged that Athulla was such a "nightmare" the First Order was doing its children a favor.[50] One of these impoverished children inducted into the First Order's ranks, from the desert world of Jakku, would rise to become a respected officer in the First Order: Captain Cardinal.[21]

Once recruited, citizens and soldiers of the First Order were indoctrinated to have a strong sense of duty, loyalty, and obedience to the state, and taught to forgo their personal desires for the greater good of the First Order. To this end, recruits abandon their previous lives and identities upon their induction into the First Order, and submit to being identified by a numerical code. (senior officers and distinguished members of the Stormtrooper Corps, such as Phasma and Cardinal, were not expected to do so).

First Order citizens were educated to believe it had been the pursuit of individual selfishness and desires that led the Rebel Alliance to topple the galaxy-uniting Empire. They were also taught that the Rebels were short-sighted terrorists who could not see the benefit of the Empire, and instead started a war that forced the Empire to crack down on personal liberties in response.[21]

Despite this doctrine, First Order military training heavily emphasized individual strength and improvisation, both physically and mentally. Training programs that were mandatory for all recruits beginning at a young age became progressively more severe as they grew to adulthood. The First Order, like the Empire before it, believed the strong naturally rose to power, while the weaker were left to serve their natural leaders.[21]

Leaders[]

Military groups[]

Appearances[]

Note: List incomplete

  • Star Wars Battlefront II
  • Star Wars: Force Arena
  • Moving Target: A Princess Leia Adventure (First mentioned)
  • Aftermath: Empire's End (Indirect mention only)
  • The Legends of Luke Skywalker (Mentioned only)
  • "Tales from Wild Space: Mattis Makes a Stand"—Star Wars Adventures 4 (Mentioned only)
  • Bloodline
  • Phasma
  • "Rules of the Game"—Canto Bight (Mentioned only)
  • Before the Awakening
  • Poe and the Missing Ship
  • Star Wars Special: C-3PO 1: The Phantom Limb
  • Poe Dameron 1: Black Squadron, Part I
  • Poe Dameron 2: Black Squadron, Part II
  • Poe Dameron 3: Black Squadron, Part III
  • Poe Dameron 4: Lockdown, Part I
  • Poe Dameron 5: Lockdown, Part II
  • Poe Dameron 6: Lockdown, Part III
  • Join the Resistance
  • Join the Resistance: Escape from Vodran
  • Poe Dameron 7: The Gathering Storm
  • Poe Dameron 8: The Gathering Storm, Part I
  • Poe Dameron 9: The Gathering Storm, Part II
  • Poe Dameron 10: The Gathering Storm, Part III
  • Poe Dameron 11: The Gathering Storm, Part IV
  • Poe Dameron 12: The Gathering Storm, Part V
  • Poe Dameron 13: The Gathering Storm, Part VI
  • Poe Dameron 14: Legend Lost, Part I
  • Poe Dameron 15: Legend Lost, Part II
  • Poe Dameron 16: Legend Lost, Part III
  • Poe Dameron 17: War Stories, Part I
  • Poe Dameron 18: War Stories, Part II
  • Poe Dameron 19: War Stories, Part III
  • Poe Dameron Annual 1
  • Poe Dameron 20: Legend Found, Part I (Mentioned only)
  • Poe Dameron 21: Legend Found, Part II (Mentioned only, in the opening crawl)
  • Poe Dameron 22
  • Poe Dameron 24
  • "Pest Control"—Star Wars Adventures 3
  • "Lead story"—Star Wars Adventures 6
  • Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens (First appearance)
  • Finn & the First Order
  • Finn and Poe Team Up!
  • Finn & Rey Escape!
  • Han & Chewie Return! (Mentioned only)
  • Chaos at the Castle
  • Star Wars: The Force Awakens novelization
  • Star Wars: The Force Awakens: A Junior Novel
  • The Force Awakens: Rey's Story
  • The Force Awakens: Finn's Story
  • The Force Awakens Golden Book
  • The Force Awakens Read-Along Storybook and CD
  • Star Wars: The Force Awakens Graphic Novel Adaptation
  • The Force Awakens, Part I
  • The Force Awakens, Part II
  • The Force Awakens, Part III
  • The Force Awakens, Part IV
  • The Force Awakens, Part V
  • The Force Awakens, Part VI
  • Rolling with BB-8!
  • BB-8 on the Run
  • Star Wars: The Force Awakens Beginner Game
  • Captain Phasma, Part I
  • Captain Phasma, Part II
  • Captain Phasma, Part III
  • Captain Phasma, Part IV
  • Star Wars Adventures Ashcan (Appears in flashback(s))
  • Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi