Clu Lesser

The InterGalactic Banking Clan was one of the galaxy’s most important commerce guilds. The Banking Clan secretly allied itself with Count Dooku’s Separatist movement, which it bankrolled during the Clone Wars while continuing to do business with the Republic. Revelations of corruption led to the arrest of the Banking Clan’s ruling Core Five and the appointment of Rush Clovis as the Banking Clan’s new leader. But Clovis was ensnared by a Sith plot, which led to the group’s takeover by Supreme Chancellor Palpatine.

A Senator from Scipio and an influential representative of the InterGalactic Banking Clan, Clovis was romantically linked with his fellow Senator Padmé Amidala early in their careers. During the Clone Wars, Clovis dealt secretly with Separatist interests on behalf of the Banking Clan while posing as a Republic loyalist. Later in the war, Clovis became the organization’s leader and tried to restore its independence.

Padmé Amidala was a courageous, hopeful leader, serving as Queen and then Senator of Naboo -- and was also handy with a blaster. Despite her ideals and all she did for the cause of peace, her secret, forbidden marriage to Jedi Anakin Skywalker would prove to have dire consequences for the galaxy.

A frigid mountainous world, Scipio houses one of the primary vaults of the powerful InterGalactic Banking Clan, an institution critical to the economic health of the galaxy. During the Clone Wars, former Scipio Senator Rush Clovis discovered that the Banking Clan’s leaders had been funneling money to secret accounts, and the organization was in dire financial straits. Clovis exposed the corruption and became the Banking Clan’s leader, but he had been ensnared in a Sith plot. The Separatists invaded Scipio, leading to a swift Republic counterattack and a Separatist withdrawal. Clovis died in the fighting and Supreme Chancellor Palpatine took over the Banking Clan.

The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural, and Sheev Palpatine is the most infamous follower of its doctrines. Scheming, powerful, and evil to the core, Darth Sidious restored the Sith and destroyed the Jedi Order. Living a double life, he was also Palpatine, a Naboo Senator and phantom menace. He manipulated the political system of the Galactic Republic until he was named Supreme Chancellor -- and eventually Emperor – and ruled the galaxy through fear and tyranny. The galaxy rejoiced when he died at the Battle of Endor, but Sidious had cheated death and patiently plotted a return to power.

The Confederacy of Independent Systems, also known as the Separatist Alliance, was a collection of star systems and corporate titans that left the Republic and fought for independence against the Republic’s clone armies and Jedi Knights. The charismatic former Jedi Count Dooku was the Alliance’s political leader, while its military power came from credits and assets donated by powerful galactic trade groups. No one suspected that the Alliance was actually a tool of Darth Sidious, who had engineered the Clone Wars as part of a Sith plot to rule the galaxy.