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Confederacy of Independent Systems

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this was the political bloc formed by those Old Republic worlds which seceded from the Republic, some ten years after the Battle of Naboo. Familiarly known as the Separatists, the CIS was founded by the former Jedi Master Count Dooku, who wanted to initiate radical changes in the Old Republic in order to re-establish equality and eliminate corruption. The name "Confederacy of Independent Systems" wasn't formally used until Dooku arranged alliances with the Corporate Alliance, the Techno Union, the InterGalactic Banking Clan, and the Commerce Guild, bringing a level of military and financial respectability to the Separatists' actions. Working in secret to avoid the eyes of the Republic, the Confederacy began planning for war long before the Battle of Geonosis. This gave them a large advantage when the Clone Wars broke out, because they had ships, droids, and weapons ready to deflect any Republic attack on core Separatists planets. Several thousand star systems had joined the CIS by seceding from the Old Republic by the time of the Battle of Geonosis, urged on by the charismatic speeches of Count Dooku, which brought the political clout needed to make the Separatists a legitimate threat to the status quo of the Old Republic. In order to avoid any conflicts, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine offered to negotiate a settlement with Dooku, but Dooku refused. In the end, the Separatists amassed a huge droid army on the planet Geonosis, and planned to launch a full-scale war against the Republic. Only the timely intervention of the Jedi Knights and the discovery of an army of clone troopers being created on Kamino was able to prevent the CIS from launching its war before the Republic could react. However, the Battle of Geonosis only served as the opening act in the Clone Wars, which were ultimately part of the larger game being played by Darth Sidious. The Confederacy's forces won many early battles, but the tide began to slowly change in favor of the Old Republic. By the time of the First Battle of Coruscant, the Council of Separatists had been forced to hide out on the remote world of Mustafar, after the deaths of both Count Dooku and General Grievous. When Palpatine revealed himself to be Darth Sidious and assumed control of the galaxy, he ordered Anakin Skywalker to destroy the Council of Separatists and put an end to the Confederacy of Independent Systems. It was then that many beings realized that the CIS was nothing more than another pawn in Darth Sidious' plans to take control of the galaxy.