That State of the Galaxy Report: Dark Councillors, Supreme Chancellors, and Hutts galore!

A couple of days ago, BioWare posted a 'State of the Galaxy' article setting the scene for Jedi Under Siege. Under the guise of a report by Lana Beniko (who else?) this article establishes where both of the main factions are at in terms of leadership in good detail, but also includes various tidbits that, while not crucial at this moment in time, are still good to know about at this stage.

So what is there that's of potential interest? Or, rather, what can I find to prattle on about this time around?

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Galactic Republic

Galactic Senate

First there's the official confirmation that Galena Rans, who was first announced as succeeding Jebevel Madon as Supreme Chancellor during Traitor Among the Chiss if you sided with the Empire, is related to the former Supreme Commander of the Republic military. Rather than related by birth as I for one was originally assuming, Galena is married to the former commander. It's nice to get some further exposition on the Rans we already knew even if it has taken almost seven years.

Now all we need is his first name. 

Second, the report highlights that Galena succeeds Jebevel Madon even in a Republic-loyalist's perspective with absolutely nothing setting this up as a possibility beforehand. There's no doubt about this - I first thought this was a mistake or an oversight - as it even highlights the advice given to Rans by Jace Malcom whose death is the catalyst which leads to Madon stepping down if you side with the Empire.

As such, without knowing a single thing about him besides his name and his being a puppet-chancellor to Saresh, Jebevel Madon has been shipped out the door without us even getting to see the guy once. 

Shame. He had so much to offer.

Okay, no, he didn't but I still enjoyed being able to find ways of mentioning his name whenever possible even when it didn't belong.

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Jedi Order

The section on the Jedi Order pretty much sets up the Jedi colony on Ossus without directly referring to it. Considering that the colony is intended to be secret, it makes sense that not even the Alliance will be able to uncover it by itself and can only theorise about what the Jedi are doing.

It's particularly interesting to see a reference to see Satele Shan here as this pretty much makes it plain that she won't be involved in the 5.10 storyline. The Alliance is at least aware of her approximate location, and it is established that she no longer has any connections to the remnants of the Order. That last bit in particular wouldn't have been included in this report if she was to have any sort of a role on Ossus.

Shame, as that means that all Satele can have done in 5.0 is lift some rubble, look sad, and send two e-mails. This has been our former Grand-master, folks. As mute as I am obnoxious. 

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Sith Empire

We finally have more information regarding the new Dark Council and its members. This report reveals that the Council has been shrunk from twelve spheres down to five, with each Council member overseeing at least two of the previous spheres in their new seat. 

The new spheres and their Councillors are:

• Sith Doctrine: Darth Anathel
• Ancient Knowledge
• Mysteries
• Sith Philosophy
• Military Command: Darth Krovos
• Defense of the Empire
• Military Offense
• Military Strategy
• Scientific Advancement: Darth Malora
• Biotic Science
• Technology
• Civil Administration: Darth Shaar / Darth Vowrawn
• Production and Logistics
• Laws and Justice
• Galactic Influence: Darth Xarion
• Expansion and Diplomacy
• Sith Intelligence

Interestingly, not a single one of these Councillors is new. We already know a great deal about Vowrawn, of course, and Malora's ascension was announced a while back, but where do Anathel, Krovos, Shaar, and Xarion fit in?

Krovos and Shaar have already had a physical presence in-game. Shaar is a quest-giver for Imperials on Belsavis who gives the quest "Old Enemies", also known as that Heroic Mission which requires you to take on Lord Raxxus and his acolytes. Krovos is somewhat less of a blink-and-you'll-miss-her character since she's the Sith Lord who stands alongside Admiral Zasha Ranken on the bridge prior to Kuat Drive Yards. Even though her lines can be spacebarred she does at least get seen, unlike Shaar who can be bypassed entirely as of 4.0.

Added to which, Krovos at least becomes a part of the Dark Council no-matter-what. Shaar only ascends if Vowrawn loses his seat in becoming Emperor. 

Anathel and Xarion are two very obscure characters, even by the above standards. They're featured solely in the description of the Grade 3 Diplomacy mission "Blind Hatred". Curiously, although the website I linked to describes them as Sith, the in-game text for the mission describes them simply as warlords. Maybe the text is different for Imperial Diplomats compared to Republic ones?

This is another part where the differing outcomes diverge in the report. If Vowrawn is Emperor it's mentioned that the Sith still watch their backs since Vowrawn practically encourages the old Sith tradition of betrayal. If Acina remains Empress, the report states that her low tolerance for this practice leads to individuals no longer fearing betrayal.

Somebody had better make a loyalist Inquisitor aware of this low-tolerance thing very quickly, as Darth Anathel's going to find themselves being directly in their firing-line for 'stealing' their seat!

I find it very interesting that they're using this opportunity to write back in very obscure characters. I'm pleased to see them reusing Krovos in particular, since I thought she complemented Ranken quite nicely in KDY. It's a shame we'll likely never see them alongside each other again, though.

Curse you, KotFE!

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Miscellaneous

The Hutt Cartel has a new leader! Brogol the Hutt has led the Cartel into breaking away from the treaty signed with the Republic during their Makeb storyline and as such the Hutts are now their own entities once more. Considering that they're now mainly focusing their resources on gambling and the like they are unlikely to be hankering for domination as they were under Toborro. 

However, the report does not shy away from pointing out that, with a resource crisis affecting both main factions, the Hutts will likely end up profiting immensely from being a neutral source of trade.

Zakuul is now suffering from the end of the war as, with the loss of the Eternal Fleet and the Alliance no longer governing it, the people now need to cope for themselves. Trouble is, very few people are willing to offer them financial support since - surprisingly - ordering tribute is going to anger a lot of people and make them hold a grudge. The report highlights that criminal organisations might be behind what little support there is for Zakuul, but nothing more definite is stated.

While not being crucial to the here-and-now, these particular tidbits are very useful for putting the rest of the galaxy into context. The Hutt Cartel vanished into nothingness during the Knights expansions, with only very brief mentions of them being made, so it's nice to finally get some detailed information about their progress. 

Outside of a communication from Zakuul's new leader following The Nathema Conspiracy there really hasn't been anything to cement just what state Zakuul is in. It is apparent here that it simply cannot drift by on what it had going for it, no matter how substantial the foundation, as without the Fleet and a steady source of income the planet is essentially being sucked dry.

Good thing they have a secret treasure ship on the planet Vandin... oh wait a minute. Thanks, Gault!

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While it is great to finally have some exposition about the Dark Council and the Hutt Cartel in particular, I can't help but feel that there's more that could have been included here.

For example, outside of the one mention of Sith Intelligence as being a part of the Sphere of Galactic Influence, there's nothing about the spy-networks of either faction. This does make some sense, considering how secretive these organisations are likely to be, but it would still be nice to know how either is functioning presently. Is Xarion now the director of Sith Intelligence in the stead of Lana or is he / she just an overseer akin to Darth Jadus? Has Jonas Balkar now become the Director of the SIS? Whatever happened to Watcher Three? 

Similarly, while they are touched upon, we learn nothing about any members of the Jedi Council, not even which of them joined before and died during the war. For the record, the only one who was definitely a member besides Satele prior to 4.0 was Bela Kiwiiks whose in-game future is up-in-the-air following 5.9. Everyone else is either determinant (the Consular), deceased, or otherwise unable to serve. 

Considering that we are meeting the most-prominent historian of the Order in 5.10, it would be great to know if he was made a Council member after 'our time' and if so how many survived alongside him. Maybe that's something 5.10 is waiting to discuss.

I am a huge fan of their bringing back some really obscure characters and it's nice to see that Malora isn't the only vanilla-character making a comeback in some form. I'm curious to learn how much impact Shaar will have on the game, however. Unless they make it so that a Republic loyalist on Iokath can defect later on, the only characters likely to interact with her as a Council member are Imperials who betray the Empire on Iokath. Hmm. 

Still, it bodes well for the future as I hope we'll get to see characters like Cedral Gend make a return. We got Gnost-Dural at last, anything can happen!