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Palpatine

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Palpatine served his homeworld of Naboo, as well as thirty-six other inhabited planets, as a Senator in the Old Republic. He was born on Naboo about sixty years before the onset of the Clone Wars, and was first elected to represent the human population of Naboo at the age of thirty, some fifty-two years before the Battle of Yavin. His election to Senator followed several defeats in local-office elections. Unknown to virtually every being in the galaxy, Palpatine was also a student of the Dark Side of the Force who trained on Korriban. Palpatine used his political savvy to develop alliances with other power-hungry individuals to begin his own bid for power, and was instrumental in the rise to power of the Trade Federation. He used the Trade Federation - with its cowardly Neimoidian leaders - to force the Old Republic to see its stagnant ways. After manipulating his Queen, Amidala, to call for a vote of no-confidence in Supreme Chanceller Valorum, Palpatine put himself at the forefront of the coming elections. In a vote which was based on sympathy for Naboo and the many alliances Palpatine had forged, he was voted to replace Valorum at the age of fifty. While remaining unobtrusive and often helpful, Palpatine manipulated the Old Republic until it began to crumble from within, remaining in his position as Chancellor well beyond the normal term length. He worked behind the scenes - using his alter ego of Darth Sidious - to push the Republic to the brink of destruction. As crises arose, Palpatine the compassionate leader would rue the need for accepting an extension to his term as Chancellor, vowing to lay down his powers soon afterward. However, Palpatine the schemer made sure that things continued to decay, in order to further solidify his position of power. The most crucial situation he faced was the threat of the Separatists, led by Count Dooku. After learning of the capture of Obi-Wan Kenobi on Geonosis, and upon discovering the clone army that had originally been ordered by Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas, Palpatine called for the creation of an Army of the Republic to combat the Separatists. He accepted another term of office - essentially, an indefinite extension of his current term - when Jar-Jar Binks recommended that the Chancellor be given emergency powers to combat Dooku's Separatists. He then forced the Military Creation Act into law and assumed control of the war. He later assumed complete control of the galaxy and himself Emperor. A student in the ways of the Dark Side of The Force, Palpatine was also a xenophobe, though he used aliens when it suited him. Through his use of the Dark Side, he gained a large body of knowledge on the use of clones to become virtually immortal. The fresh supply of new bodies ensured that the destructive power of the Dark Side never killed him. Near the end of the Clone Wars, Palpatine recognized the strength of Anakin Skywalker, and insinuated himself into Anakin's life as a confidente and advisor. He used Anakin's anger and aggression as a fulcrum, and twisted the young Jedi to the Dark Side of the Force. It was also during this time that the Jedi Order began to investigate the existence of Darth Sidious, the Sith Lord who was Palpatine's alter ego. Palpatine supported the efforts of the Jedi to locate Sidious, since he could track them and eliminate them during the search. Following the First Battle of Coruscant, Palpatine revealed to Anakin Skywalker that he was none other than Darth Sidious. After Anakin brought this news to the Jedi Council, Mace Windu and several other Jedi Masters confronted Palpatine to arrest him. Palpatine proved to be more than a match for the Jedi, killing the other Masters and battling Mace Windu to a draw. Only the timely intervention of Anakin, who had been ordered by Mace Windu to remain at the Jedi Temple, changed things. Just as Windu was about to execute Palpatine, Anakin pleaded with him to stop, since killing a defenseless man was not the Jedi Way. When Windu hesitated, Sidious rose to the moment and blasted the Jedi Master with Force Lightning. Windu blocked the attack, deflecting the power of the lightning back at Sidious' face. All of the Sith Lord's evil and rage was allowed to boil to the surface, and he dropped his decades-old fa�ade as Palpatine. Sidious' face became twisted with the effort, until Anakin stepped in to prevent his death. When Anakin cut of Master Windu's hand, Sidious used the Force to shove Windu out of a window, and the Jedi Master fell to his death. Palpatine used this event, which he called the Jedi Rebellion, to assume complete control of the Senate and outlaw the Jedi Order. In the Senate Rotunda, he appeared as a now-disfigured Palpatine, claiming that the Jedi had destroyed his appearance but not his resolve. To thunderous applause, Palpatine established the first Galactic Empire and instituted the era of the New Order. Palpatine then accepted Anakin as his apprentice, naming him Darth Vader. Although he was forced to recover Anakin's body from Mustafar and rebuild it, Palpatine continued to teach Vader in the ways of the Dark Side. However, Palpatine also knew that Anakin had been married to Padme' Amidala, and that there was the possibility that Vader might have had children. Palpatine ruled the galaxy as Emperor for nearly 25 years, until he was killed by Darth Vader aboard the second Death Star, over the Forest Moon of Endor. It was believed that Palpatine had been using his connection to the Force to control the minds and will of the Imperial Fleet at Endor, and that his death caused the surviving Imperial ships to lose their coordination, allowing the Alliance forces to win the Battle of Endor. Although Palpatine's body was consumed by the fierce power generators in the battle station, his spirit survived, albeit injured and without a strong connection to the Dark Side of the Force. It took the disembodied Palpatine so long to reach the planet Byss that he was nearly drained of any power in the Dark Side. Once on Byss, though, he was able to contact Sate Pestage, who readied a new cloned body for the Emperor. Palpatine spent years recovering his powers in the Dark Side, all the while watching the Empire crumble under the sheer luck of the New Republic. He had hopes for Grand Admiral Thrawn, but the alien's death only helped Palpatine gain more power. When he emerged from hiding on Byss, he sought to retake the galaxy using World Devastators. He was also trying to turn Luke Skywalker to the Dark Side, which he nearly succeeded in doing. However, the presence of Luke's sister, Leia Organa, and her unborn child pulled Luke back to the Light Side. Together, they turned the Emperor's rage back on himself, and destroyed yet another incarnation on the evil Emperor. Since this last body was killed on Byss, Palpatine had an easier time placing his spirit into a new clone. However, Luke managed to destroy all of the remaining clones Palpatine had ready for use, and so when his body began to deteriorate, he started searching for Anakin Solo again. He quickly began launching new attacks against the New Republic, this time with a weapon known as the Galaxy Gun. Skywalker enlisted the aid of the Ysanna - a race of Force-sensitives descended from ancient Jedi stock - as well as the assistance of Empatajayos Brand, to confront the Emperor on Onderon. There, Palpatine's dying body tried desperately to reach Anakin Solo. Brand intervened, though, and consumed the Emperor's spirit within his own. Both Brand and Palaptine died on Onderon. Later, during the rise of Second Imperium, a group of former Imperial Royal Guards began using their experience with Palpatine to actually pretend to be the Emperor reborn. Using carefully spliced holovid segments, they were able to project a perfect image of the Emperor, and were also able to synthesize speech from recordings. Whenever they traveled, they used droids to carry a large isolation chamber which ostensibly housed the reborn Palpatine. Their ruse fooled Brakiss and the leaders of the Shadow Academy, until they were discovered in the aftermath of the battle over Yavin 4.