Камрад
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По просьбе Master Xelamok'а кладу тут соотносящийся отрывочек из новой официальной хронологии
FAILING REPUBLIC, THRIVING SITH
52-46 B.B.Y.
The Republic had grown stagnant. As a sprawling representative government hobbled by numerous sets of checks and balances, even simple decision making had turned impossible. Many Senators and planetary governors began to take the view that the existing system of government would continue through sheer force of inertia. Laziness and complacency became the rule, and with this apathy came corruption.
The crafty Senator Palpatine studied the government's decay with a practiced eye and a knowing smile. Elected in 52 B.B.Y. to represent the citizens of Naboo, he knew the time was drawing near when the citizenry would cry out for strong leadership. Palpatine set wheels in motion behind the scenes.
It is unclear how Palpatine fell under the mentorship of the Sith Lord Darth Plagueis, and little is known of Plagueis's own career. A mystic obsessed with eternal life, Plagueis is believed to have possessed knowledge that could sustain those who were dying, and perhaps had even gained the ability to use midi-chlorians to draw new life directly from the wellspring of the Force. Palpatine—under the Sith name Darth Sidious-learned dark side traditions from Plagueis, but grew concerned over his Master's stated intentions to create life from nothing. The child that resulted from this Force miracle, Plagueis insisted, would be the living embodiment of the Force itself-and at that moment, Sidious knew that his Master was discussing Sidious's replacement. Soon after, Sidious killed Darth Plagueis in his sleep. The work necessary to create a Force-conceived child continued, however. It is unclear whether Plagueis had initiated the process before his death, or whether Sidious instead implemented his former Master's scheme for his own dark purposes.
In keeping with the Sith rule, Sidious accelerated the training of his own pet project, the Zabrak child called Maul. Unknown to Plagueis, Sidious had taken the Zabrak from his homeworld of Iridonia and, in a dark reflection of the Jedi Order's own training methods, began tutoring Maul in the art of cruelty and manipulation. Droids did most of the day-today work, for Sidious needed to maintain his role as Senator of Naboo. But whenever Sidious returned to his secret Coruscant lair, he gave Maul lessons in how to take a blow without flinching and how to kill lesser creatures without mercy.
On Tatooine, the slave Shmi Skywalker had given birth to a child more powerful in the Force than any other in history—the apparent product of forbidden research initiated by Darth Plagueis and taken up by Darth Sidious. This boy, Anakin Skywalker, had seemingly not been conceived by a human father, but by the midi-chlorians themselves. Palpatine kept a close watch on Anakin as the boy grew. If trained as a Sith apprentice, such a child could be vastly more powerful than Maul.
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