Schism Imperial

The Schism Imperial,^[4] or simply the Schism, was a secretive breakaway faction that was opposed the reign of Emperor Sheev Palpatine while remaining loyal to the Galactic Empire.^[1] The Schism was apparently^[5] the greatest threat to Palpatine's rule after the scourge of the droids ended.^[6] Sly Moore was the leader of the Schism,^[2] while the Emperor's apprentice Darth Vader pondered if he should join the Schism instead of destroying it.^[1] Concurrently to Vader's discovery of the Schism Imperial's plan, Moore prepared her conspirators for action. The group was a union of traitors, and as such had the danger of turning on each other.^[2] Vader and the Schism Imperial's boldest challenge to Palpatine's reign came with the assault on Exegol.^[7]

Seemingly Moore only required Vader so as to steal kyber crystals from Exegol, after which she intended to betray and destroy him. At the same time, she planned to destroy Vader's son and the young Jedi Luke Skywalker, who stood as an alternative Sith apprentice for Palpatine. With Vader and Skywalker out of the way, Moore had a chance to become Palpatine's new disciple under the Rule of Two and, by ruling at his side, turn the Schism Imperial into the Empire itself.^[3] In total truth, however, Moore and Palpatine had created the Schism Imperial together as a trial for Vader, through which he would reassert his loyalty to Palpatine.^[5] After the Exegol raid, Moore had Schism member Tauntaza inject Vader's armor with a droid brain that froze up his systems for long enough that she and Tauntaza acquired the kyber crystals, with which Tauntaze blasted Vader.^[3] However, Vader survived her attack but, just as planned, eventually submitted to Palpatine once more.^[5]

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Behind the scenes

The Schism Imperial first appeared in the forty-first issue of the 2020 comic book series Star Wars: Darth Vader,^[8] which was written by Greg Pak, illustrated by Raffaele Ienco, and published by Marvel Comics on December 20, 2023.^[9] The capitalization for the name "Schism Imperial" was confirmed in the opening crawl of Darth Vader (2020) 44.^[4]

Appearances

• Darth Vader (2020) 41 (First appearance)
• Darth Vader (2020) 42 (First identified as Schism)
• Darth Vader (2020) 43
• Darth Vader (2020) 44
• Darth Vader (2020) 45
• Darth Vader (2020) 46
• Darth Vader (2020) 47
• Darth Vader (2020) 48
• Darth Vader (2020) 49
• Darth Vader (2020) 50

Sources

• "Launchpad" — Star Wars Insider 226
• "Launchpad" — Star Wars Insider 227
• Star Wars: Galactic Atlas: Updated Edition

Notes and references