A small, secretive private military force, the Resistance was founded by rebel hero Leia Organa to monitor the actions of the First Order. Most New Republic power brokers tolerate the Resistance while regarding Organa and her fighters as dead-enders with an unfortunate fixation on the past. Organa’s cash-strapped movement relies on credits, ships and equipment quietly funneled to it from the few senators who share her concerns. Resistance starfighters destroyed Starkiller Base, but the First Order’s retaliatory attack on D’Qar reduced its forces to a handful of brave freedom fighters.

Princess Leia Organa was one of the Rebel Alliance’s greatest leaders, fearless on the battlefield and dedicated to ending the tyranny of the Empire. Daughter of Padmé Amidala and Anakin Skywalker, sister of Luke Skywalker, and with a soft spot for scoundrels, Leia ranks among the galaxy’s great heroes. But life under the New Republic has not been easy for Leia. Sidelined by a new generation of political leaders, she struck out on her own to oppose the First Order as founder of the Resistance. These setbacks in her political career have been accompanied by more personal losses.

Now uninhabited, Crait is a mineral world dusted by a layer of white salt, reflecting the planet's sunlight. It was once the site of a Rebel Alliance outpost, and has become a haven for the fleeing Resistance forces.

The First Order’s infantry units wear stark white armor derived from that worn by the Republic’s clone troopers and the Empire’s stormtroopers. Members of this new generation of stormtroopers are trained from birth, growing up with unit designations instead of names and fed a steady diet of First Order propaganda to ensure absolute loyalty. Where the Empire opted for numbing routine, the First Order’s training simulations and live-fire drills encourage improvisation on the battlefield, making these stormtroopers more dangerous than their Imperial predecessors.

A lush green world in the galaxy’s Western Reaches, Takodana has long served as the base of operations for the diminutive pirate queen Maz Kanata, whose ancient castle is a haven for smugglers, brigands, scouts and spies from numerous worlds. Takodana has been largely spared war over the centuries, remaining neutral as galaxy-ruling regimes come and go around it.

Like many Resistance officers, Caluan Ematt is a veteran of the Rebel Alliance. During the Galactic Civil War, he was a member of the Shrikes recon unit – and the sole survivor after an ambush on Tanaab. Promoted from major to general after the Battle of Starkiller Base, Ematt fled D’Qar with Leia Organa ahead of the First Order’s hunters.