Letter to the People Dear Delegates, In the aftermath of a real-world global crisis, we are glad to be able to host this committee after all. Due to the postponing of VAMUN XL, we have had more time to plan and make sure a crisis committee based around Star Wars is the best possible committee that it can be. Sam Lisner, the Chair, is a fourth year studying Commerce, Economics, and Mathematics. A lifelong fan of Star Wars and the Expanded Universe, Sam is thrilled to play the role of Supreme Chancellor in his last VAMUN committee. Previously, Sam has crisis directed the Trojan War and US Open Government Working Group (Designated Survivor) Committees for VAMUN. Outside of VAMUN, Sam travels with the Model UN team, volunteers in Charlottesville, and enjoys science fiction and fantasy. Your Crisis Director, Alex Sarchet, is a second year double majoring in Foreign Affairs and Linguistics, with a minor in French. He has been a Star Wars fan for many years and is proud of his ever-growing collection of Star Wars books, comics, and LEGOs. When not doing research on Star Wars for uh, "school," he enjoys fencing, geocaching, and learning about language. No, he can't speak Shyriiwook, stop asking. We are excited to be hosting a crisis committee on a subject we are very passionate about, and we can't wait to see what galactic affairs you'll be nego- tiating! Let the Force be your guide, but if you need your questions answered elsewhere, don't hesitate to shoot us a holomail. Sam Lisner ([email protected]) Alex Sarchet ([email protected]) Letter to the People 1 The Separatist Threat: A Star Wars Story A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. Episode 1.5: THE SEPARATIST THREAT Division in the Galactic Senate! Former Jedi Master COUNT DOOKU has recently delivered the RAXUS ADDRESS, denouncing the REPUBLIC for its corruption and favoritism for Core Worlds. SUPREME CHANCELLOR SHEEV PALPATINE has called together an emergency committee to discuss the quickly evolving CRISIS with promises of SECESSION in the near future. Thirty individuals have been called together to attempt to negotiate peace between those who remain LOYAL to the Republic and those who are considering the newly presented SEPARATIST possibility. The Separatist Threat: A Star Wars Story 2 Background The Old Republic 25,000 years ago, the Old Republic was formed. This wasn't the first forma- tion of a galaxy-wide government, but it is the most significant one due to its great longevity. From the very start of its formation, the capital of the Republic was the Core World Coruscant.1 The Jedi Order was founded around this time, creating temples on worlds such as Ahch-To, Jedha, Ossus, and ultimately, a main temple on Coruscant, where they could remain closely affiliated with the Galactic Republic.2 The galaxy saw many instances of conflict during the time of the Old Repub- lic, many centering around the Jedi Order and a new breed of rogue, dark-side- practitioning Jedi known as the Sith. During the last 10,000 years of Galactic History, the Republic lived through times of extreme turmoil in the forms of: the Hundred-Year Darkness, the Old Sith Wars, the Vultar Cataclysm, the Mandalorian Wars, the Jedi Civil War, and the New Sith Wars.3 These con- flicts saw both the Jedi and the Sith grow and shrink in size, before the latter were seemingly wiped out for good at the conclusion of the New Sith Wars, about 1,000 years ago.4 During the last 600 years of that conflict, the Jedi had become the leaders of the Republic, but once the conflict ended, Jedi Lord Farfalla ceded control of the Republic and returned it to the civilians. Tarsus Valorum became the first 1"Galactic Republic," Wookieepedia, accessed August 6, 2020, https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Galactic Republic/Legends. 2"Jedi Order," Wookieepedia, accessed August 6, 2020, https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Jedi Order. 3"Galactic Republic," Wookieepedia, accessed August 6, 2020, https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Galactic Republic/Legends. 4"New Sith Wars," Wookieepedia, accessed August 6, 2020, https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/New Sith Wars. Background 3 new Chancellor of the Republic and enacted the Ruusan Reformation, stripping the Chancellorship of some of its powers, and returning those powers to the Senate. The Reformation also saw the Jedi Order demilitarize and become the peaceful quasi-religion we know them to be today. Lastly, the Ruusan Reformation marked the end of the Old Republic, the birth of the Golden Age of the Republic, and the beginning of a new era in the galaxy, known as the Great Peace. The Galactic Republic has not had a standing army since before the Ruusan Reformation, due to the new restrictions on military size and weapons allowed.5 The Great Peace Following the Battle of Ruusan, the Galaxy managed to avoid major conflicts for nearly 1,000 years. With the central army of the Republic having been disbanded, restrictions were also placed limiting the permissible armament of warships and the strength of Planetary Security Forces. Peace was maintained by the small sized force of the Judicial Department and the Jedi Order, who initially were more than capable of policing a largely de-armed galaxy. 5"Ruusan Reformation," Wookieepedia, accessed August 6, 2020, https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Ruusan Reformation. Background 4 However, as the centuries passed, the Judicial Department's enforcers re- ceived continually decreased funding and the Jedi Order erased the last known traces of the Sith, while groups motivated by greed built up their own forces. Several economic groups, such as the Banking Clan, Commerce Guild, Cor- porate Alliance, and Trade Federation legally consolidated their control over increasing shares of the profits enabled by the peace. Key resources, ship- ping routes, trading zones, and even entire planetary governments came under control of commercial empires, whose internal police forces frequently replaced Judicial Enforcers and the Jedi within their spheres of influence. Those who resisted their control were either crushed, or turned towards crime and piracy, steadily increasing the number of minor conflicts and stretching the ability of the Jedi, who increasingly became entangled with the affairs of the Galactic Republic.6 Towards the end of the Great Peace, minor conflicts began to escalate. Pi- rates began to increase attacks on shipping throughout the galaxy, leading many systems and trading groups to begin developing defense forces to the limit al- lowed by the Ruusan Reforms. Based out of the planet Eriadu in the Seswenna sector, Governor Ranulph Tarkin founded the Republic Outland Regions Se- curity Force with the approval of the Supreme Chancellor about 33 years ago. However, the increasing militancy of Tarkin's all-human faction in the Sen- ate caused concerns, which deepened as the ORSF expanded into neighboring sectors and referred to itself as the Republic Navy.7 6"Republic Era," Wookieepedia, accessed August 6, 2020, https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Republic Era. 7"Republic Outland Regions Security Force," Wookieepedia, accessed August 6, 2020, https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Republic Outland Regions Security Force. Background 5 These tensions peaked during the Stark crisis, dubbed the Stark Hyperspace War, which began only 22 years ago. The pirate Iaco Stark raided Trade Fed- eration convoys, leading to a shortage of critical bacta supplies. Senator Finis Valorum organized a peace conference, but Tarkin instead violated the mobility restrictions on defense fleets to travel across the galaxy and attack the pirates. However, only one third of the Fleet reached the system where the negotiations were taking place, and were crushed by the pirate fleet. Aided by Judicial special forces, the survivors rescued Valorum and the negotiating delegation, and held out against pirate assaults on the surface until the Trade Federation's own defense forces finally defeated Stark. However, Ranulph Tarkin was killed during the fighting, becoming a martyr for the militarists in the Senate.8 The Rise of Trading Blocs After the Stark Hyperspace War, the major trading blocs, such as the Trade Federation, desired permission to increase the size and armament of their private defense forces. Ever since the Ruusan Reformations, the Republic has severely restricted the number and destructive powers of military groups throughout its space. The trading blocs attributed their increasing losses to pirates, such as the Stark gang, to the inability to adequately arm their defense, and ultimately, to the Republic's overregulation. Chancellor Valorum saw this as an opportunity to gain concessions from the trading blocs in exchange for permission to increase their arms. The centuries of peace and prosperity in the galaxy was not cheap, and the Republic had an 8"Stark Hyperspace War," Wookieepedia, accessed August 6, 2020, https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Stark Hyperspace War. Background 6 ever-increasing debt crisis. Valorum hoped to increase taxation on the trading blocs to help balance the Republic's budget by eliminating the Free Trade Zones where many of the blocs operated.9 One of the strongest supporters of this proposal was Naboo Senator Sheev Palpatine. However, the trading blocs did not appreciate the loss of their very profitable Free Trade Zones, even in exchange for permission to build private armies and navies to defend their shipping. Senator Palpatine proposed a Trade Summit of all the parties affected by Valorum's proposal to be hosted on Eriadu, a key Outer Rim trade center and the homeworld of his friend and colleague Wilhuff Tarkin, the younger cousin of Ranulph Tarkin of ORSF fame. However, the Summit turned towards disaster when the majority of the Trade Federation Di- rectorate was assassinated.