At the height of its rule, the Galactic Republic was governed by a body of Senators representing the many worlds of the galaxy. Within the cavernous Senate rotunda, hundreds of politicians would fill the viewing platforms that lined the curved walls. The Senate’s power gradually eroded after it voted emergency powers to Supreme Chancellor Palpatine during the Clone Wars, and the body was sharply divided between supporters of the war and those seeking peace. After Palpatine declared himself Emperor, power was increasingly wielded by regional governors. Shortly before the Battle of Yavin, Palpatine disbanded the Senate.

The son of Separatist Senator Mina Bonteri, Lux was young, idealistic, and skeptical of the aims of the Republic and the Jedi Knights. His father was a fervent supporter of the Separatists, and was killed by clone troopers on Aargonar. Lux did not know what to make of Ahsoka Tano and her visit to Separatist space. After a failed peace overture begun by Mina extended to the Republic, Lux’s mother died, assassinated on Count Dooku’s orders. After making an ill-fated effort to avenge her by killing Dooku, Lux joined the anti-Separatist resistance on his homeworld of Onderon. After the rebels defeated the Separatists, Lux became Onderon’s Republic Senator.

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.

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.

In its earliest ages of civilization, Onderon was a world marked with savage jungles that were filled with dangerous creatures. To survive, the primitive human inhabitants of the planet protected themselves behind the walls of fortified settlements. Over time, these grew to become enormous walled cities, like the planet's capital, Iziz. In the modern era, during the time of the Clone Wars, the planet's monarch King Sanjay Rash allied Onderon to the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Many Onderonians, however, refused to recognize the legitimacy of Sanjay's rule -- they preferred the neutral stance championed by former monarch Ramsis Dendup, whom Rash ousted.

For over a thousand years, the Galactic Republic stood firm as a democratic union that governed the galaxy. The Republic was governed by the Galactic Senate, consisting of elected officials from each system and world, and Jedi Knights served as peacekeepers. With the rise of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, however, the Galactic Republic -- and democracy -- would crumble.