Returning Star Wars: Legacy to Canon

So I'm on record as never having been a huge fan of the old Star Wars Expanded Universe. I also dearly love the new canon of films. That being said, there are a lot of things about the EU that are certainly worthwhile and worth bringing back.

Thrawn was not among them. But I digress.

I have always loved the Dark Horse Star Wars: Legacy comics, which are set 138 years after Return of the Jedi and deal with the descendents of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Han Solo, as well as the rise of a benevolent offshoot of Palpatine's empire under the Fel Dynasty, as well as the rise of the New Sith Order. It's a complex setting that just feels Star Wars to its core, and offers some great expansion to the mythos--in particular, the Imperial Knights; light side Force Users who take a more martial approach to the Force than do the Jedi.

If you aren't familiar with Legacy, I highly recommend checking it out. Marvel has, I believe, re-printed the enitre line. With the new canon, Legacy has been wiped out along with the rest of the EU, and since it relies upon things like the Yuuzhan Vong and the legacy of Jaina and Jacen Solo, it makes it difficult to bring back.

But I had an idea for exactly how to do it, which falls squarely in line with the new canon.

Source: Wookieepedia


Rebooting Legacy

This new version of Legacy takes place 135 years after The Rise of Skywalker. Its background begins approximately 30 years follwing Episode IX, when a group of young Jedi, led by one named Jagged Fel, leave for the Unkown Regions to explore the ancient worlds of the Sith Empire that are found there: Bastion, Exegol, Korriban, Ziost, and others. These are Jedi who have become somewhat disillusioned with the Republic and the Jedi Order, but who still believe strongly in the Light Side, and who understand the dangers of the Dark Side.

These Jedi include descendents of the Skywalker Legacy (specifically, the children of Rey Skywalker): Jacen and Jaina Skywalker. These Jedi, as they explored the lost worlds of the Sith, worked to purify and return balance to the Dark Side rituals, science, and artifacts they found there.

Birth of a Benevolent Empire

Along the way, they encountered refugees of the old First Order, those who always disagreed with the fascism and brutality of the Order. The two groups joined together, and eventually, over years of time, a new and benevolent Empire arose under the rule of Jagged Fel. The Jedi became his Imperial Knights, taking a new view towards the Force, a cold and emotionless view of it as a tool, without hate, without rage, without aggression. These Jedi found entire caches of Kyber crystals on the Sith Worlds, which had been made to bleed red over millennia of Dark Side exposure.

Using the teachings of an elderly former Jedi, Ahsoka Tano, they learned to purify these crystals, and these became the first white sabers of the Imperial Knights. In fact, a core part of the training of the Imperial Knights, to demonstrate their mastery of the Light Side, required an apprentice to purify bleeding Sith Crystals when they constructed their lightsabers.

Source: Wookieepedia


The Fall of Jacen Skywalker

Over time, however, Jacen became disenchanted with the Fel regime. He became jealous of his sister, Jaina, who married Jagged and became the Empress. In his jealousy, Jacen was tempted by the lure of power and promise that the secrets of the Sith held, and eventually, became the apprentice of the ancient Sith Lumiya, who was living as a hermit on Korriban. Eventually, Jacen became Darth Caedus, and arose as a real threat to the Empire. Jacen's fall became the first challenge the Fel Empire faced, and he was eventually defeated at the hands of his own sister, Jaina.

The Fel Empire

Over time, the Fel Empire's influence spread, particularly through its tenet of "Victory Without War." It added new planets to its regine through its promise of enlightenment, order, peace, and a rise in the quality of life for all. 

Eventually, the Empire made contact with the Republic, which was understandably suspicious of the rise of a new Empire, especially one growing out of the Sith worlds of the Unknown Regions. There were skirmishes, even a brief war, but over time, the Empire and the Republic made peace and co-existed. The Jedi viewed the Imperial Knights as Gray. They were suspicious of them, but understood intuitively that they were cousins in the Light Side, and while relations were cold, there was no enmity between the groups. 

Source: Wookieepedia


The Rise of the One Sith

So drunk it was with its own success, the Fel Empire never saw coming the greatest threat to its existence: the ancient Sith Worlds were still populated, and populated by Sith. This new Sith order was insidious, secretive, and infiltrated the Empire. It convinced the Moffs to turn against the Republic and the Jedi, seeking to fulfill its ancient destiny. By 135 years after the events of The Rise of Skywalker, war had broken out once more between the Empire and the Republic as the Moffs overruled the Emperor (by then, the great grandson of Jagged and Jaina, a man named Roan Fel). 

When war broke out, Fel, who was staunchly opposed and strongly suspected the return of the Sith, forbade his Imperial Knights from participating. 

Nevertheless, the Sith were resurgent and managed to wipe out the Republic and the majority of the Jedi Order, who were once more scattered. Fel, too, survived an assassination attempt, and with his Imperial Knights and about 1/3 of his forces, fled to Bastion, where they set up an Empire in Exile. 

The story then proceeds as per the Legacy comics. 

Basic Legacy Changes

In this new background, any Skywalkers become the descendents of Rey, who took the surname "Skywalker" at the end of Episode IX. Moving onto Legacy Vol. 2, Ania Solo becomes Ania Organa, a descendent of Bail Organa's family (though not necessarily Bail himself). Alternately, she could become Ania Calrissian or Ania Antilles. Her connection to the Solo legacy isn't necessarily essential to the story, and given that Han and Leia had no other children, and in the new canon, there is no "Solo" family line outside of them, her surname simply needs to be changed. Making her an Antilles and descended from Wedge, or even a Calrissian, is a great nod to other houses of the canon. 

The Yuzhaan Vong can be introduced as just another alien species allied with the Jedi; there's no reason for them to be Force resistant (which was always a stupid idea to begin with). In this way, very few changes need be made to the ongoing story in the Legacy comics. This, then, allows for play with the existing Star Wars Legacy Saga Edition sourcebook, or any rules system you might like (including my own OD&D Star Wars sourcebook).

A Final Note

Comments and thoughts are welcome, with one caveat: if you're just going to post about how much you hated the new trilogy of films, I'm just really not interested. Nor are most of my readers. So please just bypass. 

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