Era Overview

The galaxy of Star Wars: The Old Republic has changed dramatically within the lifetimes of its people.

Wars have ended and begun again. Governments have lost territory, recovered, and been forced into new alliances. The Jedi and Sith have suffered upheaval. Entire worlds have changed hands. The Eternal Empire briefly displaced both the Galactic Republic and Sith Empire as the dominant galactic power, while later conflicts returned the two ancient rivals to open war.

The Era Overview divides that history into broader periods so that players can understand what the galaxy was like at different points in a character's life.

Use the Galactic Timeline when you need to know when a particular event happened. Use the Era Overview when you need to understand what living during that period may have meant.

An era is a useful historical division rather than a claim that every part of the galaxy changed at exactly the same moment.

A treaty signed by governments may take months to affect a distant frontier settlement. A war may devastate one planet while remaining little more than military news to another. Political boundaries, local loyalties, trade conditions, criminal activity, military recruitment, refugee movements, and public attitudes can all develop differently from world to world.

For roleplay, the important question is therefore not only which era was this? but also where was the character, and how closely were they connected to the events defining it?

StarForgeRP primarily uses BBY for archival dates, while SWTOR's official Galactic History also uses BTC — Before the Treaty of Coruscant — and ATC — After the Treaty of Coruscant. The Treaty itself is designated ATC 0.

The Republic–Imperial conflict did not begin with the events of SWTOR.

Thousands of years of earlier history shaped the institutions, rivalries, traditions, ruins, and inherited memories of the era. The Great Hyperspace War drove surviving Sith into exile, where their civilization eventually rebuilt beyond Republic knowledge. Later conflicts involving Exar Kun, the Mandalorian Wars, Revan, Malak, and the Jedi Civil War left their own marks on the Jedi Order, Mandalorian society, ancient worlds, and the wider galaxy.

SWTOR's official Galactic History deliberately connects these older conflicts to the eventual return of the Sith Empire.

For most characters living in StarForgeRP's present, these events are history rather than personal memory. Their importance comes through surviving traditions, family histories, archaeological sites, political narratives, Force teachings, old grievances, and discoveries that continue to influence the present.

Characters do not need detailed knowledge of this older history unless it is relevant to their background or story.

The Great Galactic War began when the Sith Empire, believed lost for centuries, returned from deep space and launched a coordinated invasion of the Galactic Republic.

The opening offensive struck the Republic with little warning. Imperial forces seized Korriban and attacked across multiple fronts, while years of warfare devastated star systems throughout the galaxy. The Republic eventually slowed the Imperial advance, but the conflict continued for decades. Major developments such as the fighting at Bothawui and the Mandalorian blockade of Republic trade routes placed enormous military and economic pressure on the Republic. SWTOR's official Galactic History dates the initial Imperial onslaught to BTC 28.

The war ended only after the Empire attacked Coruscant while Republic and Imperial representatives were negotiating on Alderaan. Imperial forces devastated the Jedi Temple, occupied key areas of the capital, and used Coruscant as leverage to force the Republic to accept the Treaty of Coruscant. The treaty required the Republic to surrender territory and recognize expanded Imperial control.

For roleplay, the Great Galactic War is especially important for older characters and family histories. Characters connected to the period may have experienced military service, occupation, displacement, disrupted trade, bereavement, reconstruction, changing borders, or the sudden realization that the Sith Empire was not an ancient historical enemy but a living galactic power.

A character born afterward may still have been raised by people whose lives were defined by the war.

The Treaty of Coruscant ended open galactic warfare, but it did not resolve the struggle between the Republic and Empire.

The Republic emerged damaged, politically divided, and forced to surrender systems it had previously defended. Coruscant itself remained scarred by the Imperial attack. The Jedi, blamed by some within the Republic for the disastrous conclusion of the war, withdrew from their ruined Coruscant Temple and reestablished themselves on Tython. The Sith Empire consolidated its gains while the Emperor increasingly left political authority in the hands of the Dark Council.

Peace remained unstable. Both major powers continued competing through annexation, military positioning, espionage, covert operations, proxy conflicts, and struggles over strategically important worlds. Official SWTOR material describes this period as twelve years of tenuous peace in which tensions steadily escalated toward renewed war.

This is the political environment in which the original SWTOR class stories begin.

For roleplay, the Cold War offers more than quiet diplomacy. Soldiers can serve in undeclared conflicts. Intelligence organizations have reason to operate across borders. Criminals, mercenaries, smugglers, and corporations can profit from divided jurisdictions and unstable worlds. Civilians may technically live during peacetime while still experiencing occupation, militarization, shortages, insurgency, or constant fear that the larger war will return.

Characters raised during this period may also regard Republic–Imperial hostility as simply the normal state of galactic affairs.

The Cold War eventually gave way to open warfare once again.

Republic and Imperial forces fought across multiple fronts while crises inside the Sith Empire further destabilized the conflict. The Sith Emperor was seemingly defeated, Darth Malgus launched an unsuccessful revolt against the existing Imperial order, and the balance between the two major powers continued to shift. Official SWTOR material describes this renewed warfare as beginning after twelve years of uneasy peace.

The struggle soon became more complicated than a straightforward Republic–Imperial war.

On Makeb, Toborro attempted to transform the Hutt Cartel into a major galactic power using the rare resource isotope-5. Not long afterward, the Order of Revan infiltrated both Republic and Imperial institutions and attempted to provoke catastrophic conflict as part of a plan involving the returning Emperor. Republic and Imperial personnel were temporarily forced into cooperation against the Revanites.

The crisis culminated in the Emperor's return and the devastation of Ziost, where virtually all life on the world was consumed.

For roleplay, this period is one of rapid instability. A character may begin with a simple Republic-versus-Empire understanding of the war only to encounter splinter factions, shifting alliances, political upheaval, resource crises, covert conspiracies, and threats that do not fit neatly into either side.

It is a useful era for veterans, refugees, intelligence operatives, political survivors, mercenaries, displaced civilians, and characters whose loyalty becomes more complicated as the conflict changes around them.

The discovery of the Eternal Empire fundamentally disrupted the existing galactic order.

After the destruction of Ziost, Republic and Imperial forces searching Wild Space encountered a powerful civilization ruled from Zakuul. Under Arcann, the Eternal Empire invaded the known galaxy and overwhelmed both the Galactic Republic and Sith Empire. Neither power could successfully resist the Eternal Fleet, and both were ultimately forced into submission.

For five years, the Eternal Empire dominated much of the galaxy.

Resistance eventually consolidated around the Alliance on Odessen, an organization drawing personnel and resources from former Republic, Imperial, Jedi, Sith, Mandalorian, criminal, and independent backgrounds. The rebellion survived Arcann's reign, fought his successor Vaylin, and ultimately seized the Eternal Throne.

The consequences reached far beyond the individuals at the center of the SWTOR storyline.

For roleplay, this era provides a major dividing point in character history. Careers may have been interrupted by conquest. Military units could have been destroyed or reorganized. Governments and organizations may have lost funding, territory, personnel, or independence. Refugees and veterans may have moved across the galaxy. Former enemies may have cooperated against Zakuul, while others resisted such alliances.

A character did not need to belong to the Alliance—or personally interact with SWTOR's central protagonists—to have been profoundly affected by the galactic upheaval surrounding them.

Defeating the Eternal Empire did not create lasting galactic unity.

With Zakuul no longer forcing the Republic and Sith Empire into the same struggle, their old rivalry began reasserting itself. The Alliance initially possessed enormous military influence through the Eternal Fleet, but that dominance proved temporary. The Order of Zildrog eventually destroyed much of the Alliance fleet, weakening the organization at the same time that Republic–Imperial tensions were escalating again.

The result was another period of political uncertainty.

Governments and organizations had survived years of warfare, conquest, occupation, and shifting alliances. Former collaborators once again found themselves divided by older loyalties. Worlds that had adapted to Zakuulan domination now faced another change in galactic power. Military and civilian institutions had to rebuild while preparing for the possibility of another major war.

For roleplay, this period is particularly useful for stories about reconstruction, changing loyalties, veterans returning to altered societies, disputed authority, damaged institutions, opportunism, political realignment, and relationships formed across factional lines during the Zakuulan crisis.

Not every wartime alliance survived the return of old divisions.

Open conflict between the Galactic Republic and Sith Empire eventually returned.

The renewed confrontation became unmistakable on Ossus, where Imperial forces launched a strike against the hidden Jedi colony established there. SWTOR described the operation as a first strike renewing the war between the two governments.

By the events of Onslaught, warfare was again spreading across the galaxy. Strategic resources were becoming scarce, piracy and crime were increasing, and conflicts on worlds such as Onderon, Mek-Sha, and Corellia became part of the wider struggle. Official material describes the period as a reignited war between the Republic and Sith Empire.

The conflict continued into Legacy of the Sith. Imperial forces invaded Manaan in pursuit of its strategically vital kolto supplies, while Darth Malgus pursued his own agenda beyond ordinary Imperial objectives. At the same time, Heta Kol and the Hidden Chain created a separate Mandalorian conflict capable of drawing clans, governments, and individuals into another struggle overlapping with the galactic war.

Game Update 7.9: Legacy Reborn brought the Legacy of the Sith storyline to its conclusion at Khar Shian, involving Darth Jadus, Heta Kol and the Hidden Chain, Darth Malgus, Shae Vizla, and Darth Nul's legacy.

For roleplay, the modern galaxy should therefore not be reduced to a single front line.

Republic and Imperial warfare remains a major pressure, but Mandalorian politics, criminal activity, trade disruption, local governments, independent organizations, reconstruction efforts, mercenary work, intelligence operations, Force-related conflicts, and personal ambitions continue alongside it.

A character can be shaped by the galactic war without serving in either military.

StarForgeRP currently places the present day of its shared continuity in 3621 BBY and incorporates established SWTOR story material through Game Update 7.9: Legacy Reborn.

This date functions as StarForgeRP's current archive anchor. It provides a shared point from which character ages, biographies, campaigns, relationships, organization histories, and community-created events can be compared.

The Republic and Sith Empire remain major powers whose renewed conflict affects military priorities, politics, trade, security, and life across contested regions. They are not, however, the only forces capable of shaping a character's life.

Mandalorians, independent governments, corporations, criminal networks, mercenaries, local authorities, Force traditions, frontier communities, refugees, explorers, professionals, and ordinary civilians all continue to pursue their own interests.

StarForgeRP stories take place within this wider setting rather than requiring every character to participate directly in the galaxy's largest conflicts.

A character's age alone does not determine how much galactic history they personally experienced.

Consider where they were living, who governed that world, what their family or organization was involved in, and whether major events reached them directly.

• When were they born? Which wars, occupations, treaties, or political changes occurred during their childhood?

• What do they personally remember? An older character may remember the Great Galactic War or Treaty of Coruscant, while younger characters may know those events only through family stories and education.

• Where were they living? The same galactic conflict can mean invasion on one world, shortages on another, and little immediate disruption somewhere else.

• Who raised them? Parents, mentors, communities, military institutions, religious traditions, and governments may pass their own interpretation of historical events to the next generation.

• Did war change their circumstances? Consider displacement, military service, lost relatives, destroyed property, interrupted education, economic opportunity, criminal activity, occupation, or reconstruction.

• How did changing alliances affect them? Someone who cooperated with a former enemy during the Zakuulan crisis may view factional loyalty differently afterward.

• What remains unresolved? Old debts, missing people, ruined settlements, political grudges, damaged organizations, wartime relationships, abandoned facilities, and forgotten discoveries can all become present-day roleplay hooks.

Historical events should provide circumstances rather than predetermined personalities.

Two characters who survived the same invasion might become a loyal soldier and a committed pacifist. One refugee may resent the faction that displaced them while another may blame their own government for failing to protect them. A veteran might remain proud of their service, regret it, miss it, or simply regard it as a job they once had.

The Era Overview establishes what was happening around the character.

The character decides what that history meant.

Use the Era Overview for broad historical context, then follow the parts of the archive most relevant to the question you are trying to answer.