Secret Page: The Colonial Service

The Colonial Navy is a vagabond group of 13 fleets, each commanded by one of the Service's immensely powerful Battlestar-class Destroyers. Little is known about the group's origins, but they are human and speak an antiquated dialect of Basic. According to the legends of their society, the Colonials' home system, the seat of their thirteen original "Colonies," was invaded and destroyed by an inhuman race possessing unspeakable power and technology. The Colonial Service is composed of the survivors of this holocaust, who are searching the galaxy for a prophecied mother world, where they will be able to live in peace.

The Colonials have an ancient tradition ascribed to their military service. They have warriors, not "soldiers" or "pilots," and ritualize military protocols and ceremorny much more heavily than most standard, rim-ward cultures. Noble and proud, the members of the Colonial are honorable and courageous, but sometimes also distrusting of the races they encounter during their trek through the galaxy in search of their eden.

The Colonials are headed by a Council of the Twelve--a group of twelve leaders (or "Comps"), one for each colony, and the President, who represents the thirteenth. The Council also includes the three head officers of the Colonial navy--in war time, control of the Colonials is entrusted to the military.

A nomad society, the Colonials have no main base or home system, and have been moving about from galaxy to galaxy for as long as its citizens can remember. For the last two decades, however, they have been exploring the reaches of the galaxy's outer rim in their search for their promised land. This brought them to the attention of the Empire, and the Imperial Navy dispatched a fleet commanded by Grand Admiral Thrawn to the outer rim to investigate the reports on the mysterious new faction. The Colonials' guile was greater than Thrawn's cunning, however, as he never located and subdued his quarry before the Empire was toppled.

The Colonials prefer not to come into contact with other civilizations as a rule, more willing to continue their travels unhindered, almost as if somehow, they still feel the presence of the destroyers who forced them from their homes so many years ago. Not true xenophobes, however, the Colonials are also happy to take up arms on behalf of others wronged by a greater evil...