A/N: This poem is based off of Godfrey Reggio's movie, NAQOYQATSI. That non-narrative movie showed in a fusion of image and sound, how the takeover of nature by technology makes life like perpetual war. It was a rather dark movie, seeing the present as bad and the future as even worse. This fanfic displays the growth of the Star Wars arms race and how war and its technology made the galaxy more subordinate to war and war tech as a way of life. Unlike Reggio's movie, however, this story is a little more positive. For readers who are familiar with Star Wars (and its EU), it shows that some war technology was more humane and more fitting for truly brave soldiers than others, and that the same was true for some war heroes more than others. For instance, the Venator Star Destroyers were designed for courageous crews and ship-to-ship combat and carried a large compliment of equally brave fighter pilots and starfighters, while the capital ships of the CIS were often, but not always, controlled by droid brains and wielded over-sized cannons, and the Imperial Star Destroyers were built to protect their cowardly crews from battle and bombard populated cities and planets from space. And while Separatist heroes like Grievous and Trench were either motivated by blood-thirst or saw war as a game, others, like Merai and Tofen Vane, fought for what they believed was right (though I actually do take a liking to Trench). This poem also says near the end that there is always hope that one day, the endless war may end, and a lasting peace will be fulfilled. I hope that I've achieved something with this story. For more information about the things in this poem, try reading Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Warfare. I got much of my information from that book.
Life as War in a Galaxy Far, Far Away
War will always be with us, because every little war is part of an endless and incalculably larger war. So said Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik at his execution.
Duchess Satine Kryze called war ruin, predicted and then remembered as glory.
Two conflicting viewpoints.
Which one is right?
The Old Republic. A democracy of thousands of star systems.
War existed. But as an event that happened sometimes. Not a fact of life.
The Hutts at war. The Conquests of Xim the Despot. The war robots of Xim. Tionese and shield technology. Warlord Boonta the Hutt.
All these preceded the Republic.
Hyperspace warfare. War with the Tion. The war of the Jedi and the legions of Lettow.
Force-imbued swords. Old and modern lightsabers. Blasters. Bacta.
The Alsakan conflicts.
Planetary defenses. Tractor beams. Capital ships. Ion weapons.
The Great Hyperspace War. The Mandalorians. The Army of Light.
The mighty Lord Hoth.
These were the things of old. When war was merely an event, not life itself.
When war technology was only as strong and destructive as necessary. No excess.
When nature still ruled the galaxy.
Then come the Militarists. Tarkin, Motti, and Tagge families design weapons never before seen from their palaces on Eriadu. Rendili and Kuat and Rothana build these powerful new weapons of destruction.
A Separatist Crisis looms. Count Dooku offers an alternative to the dying Republic. The Confederacy of Independent Systems. A gathering of sovereign systems with liberty from corruption.
The Separatists mobilize for war.
B1 battle droids. OOM battle droids. Droidekas. AAT's. STAP's. Droid control ships.
The Republic also mobilizes for war.
The Grand Army of the Republic. The clone troopers. The Jedi Generals. Republic assault ships carrying troops to war-torn worlds. AT-TE walkers. Republic LAAT gunships.
Later on, Venator-class Star Destroyers that can fight ship-to-ship. Jedi starfighters and interceptors. ARC-170 fighters.
In turn, the Separatists improve their machines of war.
Legions of super battle droids. Corporate flotillas. Commerce Guild Light Destroyers. Banking Clan Frigates. Trade Federation Dreadnoughts. Droid tri-fighters. Vulture droids.
War heroes. General Grievous. Admiral Trench. Commander Merai. Raider Tofen Vane.
Arrogant, mathematical tactical droids. Bioweapons. The Malevolence battleship. Battle droids are hilariously chatty.
The war carries on. Clone troopers parade. Battle droids clank. The Grand Army is divided into "reserve" sectors.
Bold Anakin Skywalker. Humble Obi-Wan Kenobi. Spunky Ahsoka Tano. Valiant Aayla Secura. Poster heroes of the Clone Wars.
Commander Cody. Commander Gree. Captain Rex. Elite heroes of the clone army.
The Outer Rim Sieges. Order 66. A scheme to destroy the Separatists and the Jedi by the Sith Emperor.
A complete success, it was. The foundation of the Galactic Empire.
The re-conquest of the Rim. Separatist holdouts defeated.
Sector groups and the Imperial Navy. Imperial academies.
The technology of war grew even more abundantly under the Empire.
Imperial Star Destroyers that can bombard planets. TIE fighters like killer bees. AT-AT behemoths. AT-ST "chicken walkers."
Mindless stormtroopers marching into battles. No conscience and no soul in them. The 501st Legion and Darth Vader. The failed droid dark troopers.
Imperial war heroes. Admiral Terrinald Screed. Colonel Wullf Yularen. Baron Soontir Fel. General Hurst Romodi. Pilot Shea Hublin.
The times were dark. Imperial justice was arbitrary. Countless people disappeared. Slavery was nationalized. The Emperor's war machine grew endlessly, despite the lack of organized opposition. Worlds are dominated by ruthless Moffs and governors. Cities and the countryside on planets are destroyed. Whole planets are destroyed by the Death Star.
There is no more nature. There is only technology. War technology.
Everyday life is war.
A fledgling Rebel Alliance forms to destroy the Empire. Mon Mothma, Bail Organa, and Garm Bel Iblis are the leadership. Alliance Command is created under an organized fleet.
People found absolution under its banner. Starkiller. Juno Eclipse. Seggor Tels. Separatist holdouts. Imperial deserters.
Rebel troopers from all walks of life flock under the banner.
The age of superweapons. Superlasers. The Death Star. The World Devastators. The Orbital Nightcloak. The Sun Crusher. The Galaxy Gun.
Incom makes new weapons for the Rebellion. X-wing fighters. Corellian corvettes. Y-wing fighters. A-wing fighters. B-wing fighters.
General Jan Dodonna. Pilot Garven Dreis. Pilot Wedge Antilles. Red Squadron. Yavin 4. Luke Skywalker, hero. The Death Star is destroyed.
The Rebel Military versus the Imperial Death Squadron. The Navy resurgent. Even larger Executor-class Star Destroyers. Rogue Squadron. The Millennium Falcon.
Admiral Firmus Piett. Admiral Kendal Ozzel. The former replaces the latter. General Carlist Rieekan. Grim and stern.
The showdown in the Outer Rim. The forest moon of Endor. Mon Calamari Star Cruisers. Admiral Ackbar. Ewok savagery. Lando Calrissian. Anakin and Luke Skywalker. All these won the day for the Alliance.
An Imperial armada defeated. A stormtrooper legion beaten in more ways than one. Another Death Star destroyed. The Sith, Vader and the Emperor, being destroyed. For now.
But is it the end of the war?
No. As was said, there is no more nature. There is only technology. Everyday life is war.
Sith Lady Lumiya emerges. The Empire fragments into districts for warlords to compete for the rule of. The New Republic fights the warlords.
Ysanne Isard. The Pentastar Alignment. Zsinj. Felinx-and-Rodus at Brentaal. The taking of Kuat.
Grand Admiral Thrawn's strategy to destroy the New Republic. A man named Lenang O'Pali claims that he and the Emperor were preparing the galaxy for an invasion by barbarian Far Outsiders.
Palpatine returns. Cloaking devices. Even more Star Destroyers. World Devastators, the Galaxy Gun and the Sun Crusher are put to work. Palpatine is vanquished. The Imperial Remnant.
No one creates or sustains life anymore. Everyone kills each other with violent technology.
Everyday life is war.
The Shadow Academy darkens the Jedi Academy. The Diversity Alliance tries to use bioweapons to eradicate humanity.
The fanatical Yuuzhan Vong invade. Organic weapons. Biotechnology. Torture and pain before death.
After the Vong, yet another civil war. The Galactic Alliance rules. Imperial Admiral Natasi Daala runs it. She attempts to bring peace. Grand Admiral Gilad Pellaeon is celebrated as the greatest war hero of the Empire posthumously. Luke Skywalker insists that some wars are only for the Jedi.
The burning of Kashyyyk. The pollution and evacuation of Dac. The One Sith emerges. The seeds of the Vong.
Predator fighters. Crossfire fighters. Scythe battle cruisers.
Admiral Gar Stazi calls war eternal, but that all people involved must master it, not to become its servants.
There is no more nature. There is only technology. War technology.
Everyday life is war.
But should we all lose all our hope for peace?
Not at all.
Teshik told the truth about an ongoing war from the beginning of time to its end.
But Satine knew about the stupidity of perpetual war. She and her allies did not fight in the game of war, but peacefully spoke out for understanding and the end of the galactic arms race.
Obi-Wan Kenobi loved her and supported her.
Lagos, Amis, Soniee, and Korkie Kryze also helped.
Not all people are polluted by the darkness of war.
And with people like them, there is still hope for the everlasting war to end before its time.
Teshik will be proven wrong in the end.
Eternal war or a lasting peace?
You decide. May we ultimately make the right choice!
Naqoyqatsi
(War as a way of life)