History of an Empire
An Ever Expanding History
From undeniably heroic efforts on the battlefield to the accomplishments and achievements of our civilians in crafting and entertainment, the Black Sword Fleet has a rich and continually expanding history. Since its creation in September 2001, the Fleet has been involved with dozens of restructuring efforts, major changes good and bad, and powerful displays of gaming power both in Star Wars Galaxies and beyond. See how Imperial pilots, citizens and crime lords have shown their strength in the last decade.
Records: 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011
Historical Timeline & Milestones
2001
September 3rd
Commander Varisk Jarrn and three of his close friends create the Imperial Navy of the Force Elite Soldiers.
October 9th
Commander Jarrn begins recruiting efforts with the X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter space combat simulator game choosen.
October 23rd
Imperial Navy falls into disarray due to poor leadership and collaspes, Commander Jarrn quits the Force Elite Soldiers. The Navy is abolished.
December 12th
Topheth leaves the Dark Jedi Order launches the Black Sword Navy, a remake of the Imperial Navy. Approval is given by Shadow Lord Kaardoon and Topheth gains the rank of Admiral.
December 20th
Admiral Topheth launches a recruiting effort internally in the Force Elite Soldiers. A few members from the Dark Jedi Order and Shadow Army divisions join the cause.
2002
January 2nd
The Black Sword Navy begins competitive gaming and training using the Star Wars games X-Wing Alliance and X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter.
January 12th
Admiral Topheth announces the first officer rank promotions. They include Kosigan to Executive Officer and ReJind to Operations Officer. Two squadrons are formed to hold the pilots, simply named Alpha and Beta squadrons.
January 16th
In a four on four challenge, the Black Sword Navy beats the Emperor's Hammer in the Fleet's first competitive round of Battlestats.
January 20th
Admiral Topheth makes Star Wars Galaxies the official game the Navy will be focused on upon its release. Initial planning for the game begins, and Commodore ReJind is given the task to head up the planning development.
February 1st
Shadow Lord Kaardoon of the Force Elite Soldiers launches sweeping changes of the entire organization along with what is to be known as the "Great Purge", wiping out over 90% of the organizations members to only a select few. The Black Sword Navy suffers only minor losses.
February 4th
Admiral Topheth retires as Fleet Commander, angered by the effects of the 'Great Purge' and lack of division leader involvement. Kosigan takes command of the Navy while Topheth agrees to become Executive Officer. Kosigan adjusts the Navy's name to become Black Sword Fleet, however 'Navy' is still used as a short form to this day.
March 16th
Flight member Banshee is killed in a terrible car accident, unknown to the Fleet until the next day. Black Sword Fleet wins the Royal Crown, a thirty club British-hosted event for X-Wing Alliance. A celebration is planned for the next few days by Kosigan.
March 17th
The Fleet hears about the death of their beloved member, online memorial plans are in place, with DarkSaber from the High Council leading the ceremony.
April 17th
Admiral Kosigan leaves the Black Sword Fleet to become Master of the Dark Jedi Order division shortly before the release of the game Jedi Outcast. The Dark Jedi thrive under his leadership. Admiral Topheth returns to command the Fleet as Fleet Commander.
April 21st
Kaardoon announces major changes, including his title change to Emperor and disolves the High Council. By April 23rd he launches a second member purge, this time devastating the Black Sword Fleet for several days until members can be readded.
July 22nd
The Black Sword Fleet launches a new round of changes getting ready for Star Wars Galaxies. Members are beginning to get invites to a closed beta for Star Wars Galaxies and initial planning hits stage 2 where data on the game is collected and analyzed.
August 12th
Admiral Topheth abruptly resigns due to personal reasons. Vice Admiral Warmaster is made Fleet Commander in the short term while the High Council decides a replacement. Admiral Kosigan returns to the Fleet.
December 20th
The Black Sword Fleet gets their first major website focused on Star Wars Galaxies. It becomes a spotlighted site on the inital Star Wars Galaxies forums by Developer Q3P0 saying it was the perfect guild website for a Star Wars game. The attention gained us many new recruits during the beta phases.
2003
March 23rd
The Black Sword Fleet boasts an active membership count of 150 members, mostly players within the Star Wars Galaxies beta. Many of them participate in X-Wing Alliance competitions during their off time. This officially makes the Black Sword Fleet the largest division in the Force Elite Soldiers, topping Dark Jedi Order's year long reign with 142 members.
April 19th
Major division occurs in the Emperor's Hammer organization resulting in an exodus of members looking for homes. The Fleet takes a neutral view on the matter and gains dozens of new members, many of which are officers in the Fleet to this day.
April 26th
Microsoft announces that MSN Gaming Zone will no longer support X-Wing Alliance and X-Wing vs TIE Fighter, effectively threatening the majority of multiplayer matches. Microsoft changes its mind during protests and a burst of activity it brought, moving the channels instead of a direct play mode in May.
May 18th
The popular Dark Jedi Order Operations Officer and heavy supporter of Fleet and DJO interaction passed away do to cancer. During the wide outpour of support from multiple clubs and members, the Dark Jedi Order Master Jynx uses the opportunity to split the Dark Jedi Order into a seperate club. This started an imfamous revolution known as the 'dragon event'.
June 26st
Star Wars Galaxies launches to the masses. The Navy enters the game on two servers, Bria and Lowca with over 80 unique members in each server with Admiral ReJind commanding Bria and Vice-Admiral Clarion taking Lowca. Recruitment explodes and the join system eventually crashes within the first week. In two days the Black Sword Fleet has 300 total members.
June 28th
The Black Sword Fleet works on a secondary project called 'Corporate Universal' which is a joint effort that was dreamed up by former Dark Jedi Order Operations Officer Daemon. Resources, funding and some equipment are set aside on the Eclipse server for a decission by High Council. Eventually Jynx would return to the Force Elite Soldiers as 'Affinity' and head Corporate Universal until 2008.
August 20th
Black Sword Fleet holds the first Imperial Summit, a massive gathering of Imperials from multiple servers. The event encouraged smaller guilds to join larger ones and strengthen the Imperial hand in combat. Many guilds join the Black Sword Fleet during the next month, boosting membership to over 600. Sub-guilds begin efforts to colonize on Shadowfire and Chilastra.
October 4th
The Fleet's first attempt to have a Rebel-based secondary guild errupts in failure when the Stormtrooper Corps slaughters the rebel players during an event. The guild was soon closed due to outrage.
October 12th
The outrage sparked a united Rebel war against Imperial members on Lowca, resulting in the destruction of bases setup at Corbin City. Overwhelmed and outnumbered, Imperial soldiers eventually gained backup and the following week saw the destruction of every Rebel base on the server as retaliation. Membership grows to over 1000 members.
October 20th
X-Wing Alliance and X-Wing vs TIE Fighter are no longer supported by the Fleet as active competitive games. The last big event draws dozens of members to participate, and the game is shelved soon after.
November 3rd
Intense fighting broke out over the Fleet's bases on Shadowfire result in 72 hours of straight combat. Exhausted soldiers took turns for real life responsibilities, with over 400 total Imperials taking part during the three day war.
November 12th
Several communities join with the Black Sword Fleet, starting the formation of the Merchant Consortium, the Entertainers Union and the Syndicate, as independent, non-Imperial combat personnel. The alliance and eventual absorption of the communities doubles the Fleet almost over night.
December 3rd
Admiral Topheth returns to lead the Black Sword Fleet's operations. Kosigan launchs the Praetorian Guard, however he resigns due to real life responsibilities a few months later. Topheth does his first inspection of Imperial Fleet zones in Star Wars Galaxies, meets with several officers but later ambushed by a rebel group on his way to Bestine, Tatooine. The Admiral is quickly saved by Stormtrooper Corps personnel who retake Bestine.
December 29th
The Black Sword Fleet provides the first public report of operations, listing off all 52 Guilds, 121 companies, 11 cities and installations and 1911 official members. Star Wars Galaxies Developers declare the community as the largest in Star Wars Galaxies and provide the Fleet's capital city on Shadowfire with a special TIE Fighter to display, unique to any guild for years.
2004
January 11th
A brutual Galactic Civil War began with the major defeat of Stormtrooper Corps headquarters and the destruction of all its bases around 2 am PST before the European division was fully aware of the situation. Checkpoint guards were overrun and over ninety Rebels crushed the headquarters on Bria in one of the server's largest battles to date. The event would spark counter-attacks, new attacks and 24/7 guild wars. This would launch the the war to a vicious new level with nearly endless fighting. The interest boosted Imperial ranks and dozens of civilian members of the Fleet joined the Corps' guilds for the war effort.
January 13th
The Fleet Command Staff authorize stronger security branches and intelligence units to increase Fleet success rates. Admiral Topheth personally visits the Stormtrooper Corps site and in a short ceremony places the Fleet's first base to mark the rebirth of the site.
January 16th
The war effort becomes costly as Rebels attack the capital city of the Fleet on Bria, blockading merchants in their homes and slaughtering stragglers. The Stormtrooper Corps and security officals defeat the rebels at the city. The event starts frequent patrols throughout each of the 14 cities the Fleet held, to make sure they are always secure at all times.
January 18th
The Force Elite Soldiers decides to ally with the Dark Jedi Brotherhood, the split off organization from the Emperor's Hammer. This action infuriates not only the Emperor's Hammer, but dozens of Imperial citizens within the Black Sword Fleet who hold the Emperor's Hammer close to their heart. The effects are wide spread, resulting in sit-ins, furious forum posts and anger exploding on IRC chat channels. Admiral Motti tried to stem the anger after the Emperor's Hammer decided to pack up its alliance with the Force Elite Soldiers in retaliation. The result would calm the Fleet but continue to anger its former ally for years.
January 30th
The largest of the Black Sword Fleet guilds split into smaller guilds to maintain tighter control and friendships. The result, the Stormtrooper Corps becomes three different guilds, each with different specializations from tactical, to non-roleplaying elite commandos, to full role-playing Stormtrooper units. New security processes are put in place to identify fake alts who pretend to be Fleet officers trying to gain restricted access.
February 3rd
The first of many investigations into the Stormtrooper Corps disaster on January 11th concludes with the role-playing execution of Commodore Alor Rijkan who decided security wasn't needed at the night of the attack. It is later found out that Rijkan leaked sensitive information to the alliance for millions of credits and pulled the stunt as his part of the bargin. A new intelligence unit is created to investigate internal communications of officers, much to the outrage of some privacy advocates in the Fleet.
March 8th
The Fleet launches the Imperial Reign story arch events, requiring fan fiction submissions, art work, and custom costumes and roles to play out the story. Star Wars Galaxies developers help in the event with SWG Events Manager Pex helping coordinate the story arch. It is so widely successful that twelve more major story archs are done over the course of the next two years.
March 19th
The Merchant Consortium is angered by the attention spent on the Stormtrooper Corps and uses the Commerce Guild to freeze pay to the soldiers. Outraged, Colonel Stryker launches a contreversal move by sending over 70 Stormtrooper Corps members into their headquarter city, blockading the entertances to malls with exploded vehicles and flagging and killing any rebel merchants and non-combatants attempting to shop. The merchant guilds and the Stormtrooper Corps agree to a peace deal that sees benefits restored to the Corps while new events will be planned for non-GCW combatants.
March 21st
Fleet Coordinated Security Detachment, the security intelligence unit of the Black Sword Fleet, publically announces members who have been confirmed as spies, including their guild affiliations and guild names. Guilds include Galactic Order, Central Imperial Order, Crimson Order, Emperor's Hammer and Prime Imperius. Emperor's Hammer issued a rare appology for the actions, calling the members rogue and not authorized by their Fleet Commander. Admiral Cedrick is appointed head of the FCSD.
April 7th
Nih-Gol joins the Fleet to head two new guilds of Dark Jedi, giving our force sensitive members a united place gain skills, be social, and practice their force arts. The addition gives the Fleet 30 new jedi from Shadowfire and another 52 on Bria, bringing the Jedi count of the Navy to 231. Soon after, the Bounty Hunter Guild is formed by Stormtrooper Corps Colonel Elisha. This resulted in a few squabbles but ended up working in the benefit of Fleet interests.
April 14th
Imperial Academy program launches into a full fledged training grounds in a role playing environment. The academy became required for almost every guild officer position.
April 19th
After spending millions of credits, hundreds of hours and gaining even crafters to help in the process, Star Wars Galaxies developers handed Act 3 to the Rebellion. Obviously a rigged event, Imperials across Star Wars Galaxies stormed in protest on the forums, showing stats that proved the Developers wrong. The developers caved to a compromise, and while the Rebels officially won the event, no reward was given to either side.
April 20th
Closed beta invites begin for Jump to Lightspeed, the Star Wars Galaxies space addition. Over two hundred members are offered invites and the Fleet actively masters the space changes to teach members after the expansion is released.
June 9th
Star Wars Galaxies announces that Jedi will no longer lose experience points on death. The change angers the Bounty Hunter Guilds whose plan was to destroy Jedi on all servers, no matter the faction.
July 7th
Closed beta invites begin for Jump to Lightspeed, the Star Wars Galaxies space addition. Over 120 members are offered invites and the Fleet actively masters the space changes to teach members after the expansion is released.
July 26th
An Imperial task force designed to dismantle farming bases within the faction, has had its command structure reshuffled after it was proven that wide-spread corruption and bribery from base owners held the effort at bay. Regular inspections of the task force teams resulted in less corruption.
August 4th
Admiral Mishia becomes mayor of a brand new Fleet Central Headquarters on Lowca. The city is the largest and most organized of any of the Fleet's cities, if not the game itself. Regular patrols will keep watch that it and its bases remain in solid Imperial hands for a long time to come. Admiral Topheth takes a tour of the city on break from his work with Corporate Universal on the Eclipse server.
October 7th
Emperor Kaardoon reliquishes power to the Moff Council. This gives the Fleet more control in Force Elite Soldier's affairs with Grand Admiral Topheth heading the Council as the leader of the largest division. Black Sword makes changes to its roster lineup for Jump to Lightspeed, adding positions for space and squadrons. The Fighter Corps is reborn.
October 26th
Jump to Lightspeed launches with a bang for the Fleet. PvP space zones are dominated by Fleet ships on all Fleet servers for months. Membership swells to almost 3000 active members in 41 different guilds in the community.
November 22nd
A 'Geneva' pact was proposed to the Fleet by dozens of Rebel and Imperial guilds on multiple servers to keep actions mature, civil and fair. Grand Admiral Topheth denied the request after it was discovered the document would limit the amount of troops that could be used in ground engagemets as well as space patrols to allow rebel pilots easier access to Kessel PvP zone for grinding. Later, Star Wars Galaxies developers changed Kessel to no longer be a PvP zone, much of the blame going to Corporate Universal for their vicious control of Kessel space on Eclipse.
November 22nd
A 'Geneva' pact was proposed to the Fleet by dozens of Rebel and Imperial guilds on multiple servers to keep actions mature, civil and fair. Grand Admiral Topheth denied the request after it was discovered the document would limit the amount of troops that could be used in ground engagemets as well as space patrols to allow rebel pilots easier access to Kessel PvP zone for grinding.
December 7th
In a tragic event, Emperor Kaardoon was reported killed in a car accident on his way to work. This was a devastating blow to the Force Elite Soldiers. In a show of sympathy, the Moff Council allowed his position to remain vacant for years until eventually Affinity was promoted Viceroy and head of the Moff Council, leaving the Emperor position as a monument to our dear leader.
2005
January 16th
Bria Entertainers release a Cantina Crawl video series starring dozens and dozens of entertainers, many from the Fleet. The Black Sword Fleet provided cantinas, security, funding and equipment to the cause.
March 13th
Members of the Stormtrooper Corps are publically accused of exploiting after it was discovered some members had found out how to gain NPC weapons from the Corellian Corvette adventure. The issue became so heated that developers replied to the 210 page topic, and acknowleged the issue. Dozens of Stormtrooper Corps members lost gear and equipment that was considered 'bugged' or 'exploited', though the Corps denies it was their fault, stating that it was 'working as intended'. The phrase coined by a CSR during the public outcry became a hit with people who were accused of exploiting.
April 15th
Battle of Astral Cove was launched as the Fleet's first attempt at a major event in space. It had wide support among Rebel forces and Imperials alike and the battles continue every week to this day under various names.
May 21st
The Politik Korps is announced and contains the Fleet's mayors and diplomatic corps. Admiral Mishia, the lead politican and mayor of the Fleet's headquarters, was appointed director of the subgroup. New planetary governors were setup, each managing resources for Fleet efforts on that planet and reporting directly to the Politik Korps.
June 1st
The Commerce Guild announces that it holds over 100 billion credits of Fleet money collected from taxes and an internal Stock Market. Fleet members getting paid back dividents gained millions of credits on their investments. The tax money is used to fund events, coordination efforts and wages.
June 21st
A dance-a-thon Star Wars Galaxies video was setup by Fleet members. This real life event challenged members to dance like their Star Wars characters, resulting in some hilarious situations trying to copy the poses.
July 5th
Fleet training exercises in space continue by showing members how to properly gun a Decimator multi-passenger ship. While not combat effective at the time, multi-passenger ships were used in training exercises to promote teamplay and coordination.
August 2nd
Three members are charged with aiding the enemy in what was considered the largest breach of the time. It left security in shambles and the need for a unified security and intelligence system was urgent. Cedrick was tasked with creating DKii which was announced August 11th. All smaller security units were disbanded and merged into the single subgroup.
November 4th
Sony Online Entertainment announces sweeping changes to Star Wars Galaxies. The result would cripple the Star Wars Galaxies community. Hundreds if not thousands of players left the game, and over 30% of the Fleet's membership dropped in a single day as people left for other games.
November 5th
Black Sword Fleet announces its support for Sony Online Entertainment and begins removing members who are protesting on test center. The efforts of the Fleet to control the disturbances of its members was rewarded with another special event including Pex who gave his thanks as he wore an Emperor Palpatine costume.
December 2nd
The Imperial Academy relaunches with new courses, new tools and information concerning the New Game Enhancements. The remaining members of the Fleet quickly mastered most of the changes that had come to the game and stuck with the efforts to continue with the game.
December 21nd
The Bounty Hunters Guild disolves due to the game removing bounty hunting. Many of the members join the Stormtrooper or Fighter Corps, but a few leave the game for good.
2006
January 3rd
The Navy launches a restructuring effort that shrinks the amount of guilds and unites various units. This helps increase the local populations and encourage people to continue playing in an active environment. Membership loss from the NGE patches begins to slow.
January 13th
The Bounty Hunters Guild is reformed under Colonel Elisha after news comes of player bounty hunting being reinstated. The Bounty Hunter Guild doubles its original membership with several major merges.
February 2nd
Fleet Operations announce Mr and Mrs Imperial competition. The event brings in over 900 submissions Fleet wide, with Lt. Scalitar and Lt. Kaeydral winning for the year. The event became popular enough for it to be instigated FES-wide with a Mr and Mrs FES competition.
April 1st
To fit the day, the Imperial Senate of the Force Elite Soldiers makes Forgotten of the Remnant Corps a Viceroy for the day. The action led to some humorous moments including an outcry from some Navy members who didn't think the process was fair or open only to discover it was April Fools.
April 18th
The Black Sword Fleet began the painful process of documenting and encouraging members to sign up to the Force Elite Soldiers database. The effort was met with some resistance but over the next year 70% of the memberbase would sign up and be accounted with the non-SWG members of the Fleet.
May 2nd
The Fleet records the highest amount of events ever planned for a single month, with 78 unique events on-going. The extraordinary effort was made possible by Fleet Operations and the brilliant work of the Entertainers Union who put in long hours to make sure every class and play-style had an event.
May 2nd
The TIEathon Challenge was announced as the largest space event the Fleet had planned. The event began May 8th with 300 pilots from various guilds and Fleet units, attracting some of the highest numbers for a space event.
May 21st
Affinity of Corporate Universal officially becomes Viceroy of the Force Elite Soldiers, filling the highest leadership position that had been vacant since 2004 due to the death of Emperor Kaardoon.
May 22nd
In memory of fallen members, Black Sword fleet moved its two top level elite squadrons into a new fighter wing. The new squadron were dedicated to Kaardoon to be in memory for his service with the FES and his accomplishments. The second was named for Crewman Banshee who died in a terrible accident in 2002.
May 22nd
The Fleet sets up the Fleet Reserve Corps. This sub-division holds members who become inactive or take long periods of leave at a time. This aids in keeping track of inactive members and lets the Fleet know if they will be returning to active duty. Fleet Reserve Corps members are not counted with active membership and don't effect the Navy's running membership totals.
May 23rd
Fleet High Command announces a new Ambassador program. These ambassadors represent Fleet interests with other guilds and are solely members of the Politik Corps. All negotiations for trade deals and defense contracts go through the Politik Korps from this period on.
June 6st
The Black Sword Fleet announces a new awards program to give credit to those who go beyond their duties. The bonuses include additional in-game credits, in-game items and a ribbon marked on their website profile. They also get a symbolic necklace in-game to use as decoration in their house or to wear.
June 19th
Training Office announces a new recruitment website that will handle simple questions, how to find a recruiter and tips to gain membership in the Fleet. The site helps stem the amount of questions that would overwhelm the recruitment staff.
August 23rd
The Black Sword Fleet gets a new website and the domain blackswordfleet.com. The website is entirely flash driven and gives the user an Imperial experience with music and sound effects as well as animated in-game models. The site would be replaced in 2010 with this web site.
August 26th
Operations staff launch a new event that requires secure access and their pin number from the website. This ensures that the event is solely Navy only and forces users to sign up on the website.
September 5th
The Admiralty Guard and the Operations Office announce a new mod project for the Fleet. The Star Wars Galaxies client-side mod replaces various items with enhanced graphics, and allows users to dress up as Royal Imperial Guards and Naval Troopers, two items that are users can't normally access. While those without the mod would only see members running around in a silly rarely used robe or Stormtrooper armor and a t-shirt, users of the mod would be able to see unique items. This vastly increases the role play potential of Star Wars Galaxies.
October 16th
Fleet members participate in the first multi-passenger ship war with only Decimators and Nova Cruisers. The event tested the training of gunners from the Imperial Academy, allowing them to win victory after victory. The winning Decimator became the 'Capital Ship' of the Fleet until the next big war challenge.
November 10th
The Dark Jedi Dominion announces twelve new events that members from all over the Fleet can participate in. The Stormtrooper Corps vs Dark Jedi Dominion event became the most popular, with Jedi vs Stormtroopers becoming an epic moment in Fleet history with blaster bolts flying and sabers slashing away.
December 2nd
The Imperial Academy announces major expansions including more profession-based training programs. The professors of these programs, some of the most skilled in their class, got an increase in pay for every four hours they spend on training new members as well as other awards and bonuses. The Academy grows in membership and use by nearly two thirds.
December 23rd
The Winter Celebration ends in disaster as Stormtrooper Corps members slaughtered a large number of Rebels planning to participate in a special event. The outcry from the killings results in an increase of anti-Fleet sentiment among the Rebellion but also some Imperial guilds who institute a blockade of further cooperation. It takes many months to solve the diplomatic issues, causing a rift between the Politik Korps and the Stormtrooper Corps.
2007
January 25th
Sony Online Entertainment announces they will replace the Star Wars Galaxies forums with a new forum system on February 8th. All server forum posts from 2003 until the launch of the new forums are wiped out.
February 2nd
The Politik Korps reaches a decision with the Stormtrooper Corps and various Imperial guilds to halt aggression during some role-playing events. The Stormtrooper Corps' black hand unit however is allowed to perform 'Commando Raids' if it sees fit. The compromise halts the growing diplomatic hatred against the Fleet at the time.
March 9th
The Imperial Naval Forces is setup to handle growth in gunship roles. The structure is split into Task Groups and Fleets, with the Starfighter Corps providing fighter escort.
March 17th
The Navy's Syndicate division performs a Swoop Race with 52 players participating. Each player had to join a 'Bikers Guild' that was linked into a guild war with an ambushing guild along the track dressed in Tusken uniforms. The 'Tusken Guild' would take pot-shots, destroy bikes, and sometimes kill bikers along the route. The event became extremely popular and continues to occur once a month as a signature Syndicate event.
April 5th
The Entertainer's Union puts on a Meet and Greet event for Black Sword cities in a joint effort with the Politik Korps. The event allows players to tour the cities and see them at full activity, with entertainers occupying cantinas and Politik Korps mayors in attendence. The Merchant Consortium provided several prize packs including two suits of Mandalorian Armor in a raffle.
May 23rd
Developers launch the Storyteller system in Star Wars Galaxies. This allows the players to setup a few NPC structures and combat npcs for various events. The feature is incredible popular with the events team who continue to create unique locations and sets for each event they perform.
May 24rd
The Dark Jedi Dominion announces a 'Nightsister' subgroup for its female members as well as those with female characters that will utilize the beast master system and their individual force powers. Mods allow these members to dress as Nightsisters.
May 28rd
The Stormtrooper Corps on Chimaera breaks up a major base bust with 40 soldiers participating in the raids. The Corps takes control of a vast area of detachment and tactical bases the Rebellion had planned to use for easy GCW points. Colonel Rommel announces base busting will be his top target in a joint effort with the Bounty Hunter Guilds to track down and destroy busts as they happen.
June 11th
The Dark Jedi Order of the Force Elite Soldiers is replaced by the Remmant Expeditionary Corps. Some former members of the Dark Jedi Order now within the Fleet place a special monument at the Fleet's capital city remembering the DJO for their years of gaming under the FES banner.
June 11th
The Commerce Guild, the banking clan of the Black Sword, announces double and tripple increases in pay for nearly all positions after it is revealed the guild holds over 300 billion unspent credits. Taxes are lowered to an all time low of 25000 crd a month. Donations by the richest members increases by 50% leaving the Commerce Guild with consistantly large amounts of cash for Fleet activities.
July 9th
Protests flare as the Politik Korps announces sweeping changes in city planning and asks members to move houses from the core to the far outreaches of several cities. Eventually a compremise is setup that allows for smaller houses to remain close to the center of the cities to make room for new gardens and PA halls that will be used as shopping malls.
July 20th
Entertainers Union announces several concerts. The events are done through on-line streaming radio and involve real singing and music from a variety of Star Wars Galaxies players while in-game entertainers dance to the music. The event saw dozens of participants and showed off some great real life talent. The Fleet learned that Cerchia can really sing!
August 5th
The Fleet High Command officers holds a second Imperial Summit meeting announcing pressing issues of the Empire. Several Imperial guilds attend the conference however it is later distrupted by covert Rebel forces who spam the chat ways seeking attention.
September 18th
Major wars are launched on Chilastra, Bria and Chimaera involving the Dark Jedi Dominion, Stormtrooper Corps, and Bounty Hunters Guild against eachother. While the event was considered extremely fun, some members became bitter about the level of competition put forth, wounds that would take months to heal to bring the subgroups back to unification.
September 30th
It is discovered that several Navy officers setup a Rebel-based guild in hopes of competition, however Command Staff disagreed with the assestment and removed the members from the Fleet. The Stormtrooper Corps later destroyed their base and held their city for a four day period.
October 2nd
Elite Squaron competition begins with dozens of participants seeking to place their 12 person fighter teams at the top. Six Fleet squadrons participate and Kaardoon Squadron makes the top for the second year in a row.
October 1th
The Fleet launches a number of new weekly training exercises seeking to master multi-passenger ship to ship combat. Test Center sessions are common to master the gunboats before they hit live servers.
October 19th
Two major Test Center events are started by the Fleet for space combat with the new changes. The event draws almost 150 participants and includes two developers who wanted to get into the action.
November 17th
Gunboats are introduced to Star Wars Galaxies. The Imperial Navy subgroup is launched to split it from the Fighter Corps who act as the 'Air Force' for the military. The Navy subgroup is under the command of Fleet Admiral Motti.
December 1st
Two Stormtrooper Corps units infiltrate and destroy a large Rebel grinding session on Chilastra consisting of almost fifth rebel players grinding GCW points. The Imperial teams used turrets on these bases and several Black Hand commando teams laying mines. The rebels were destroyed in a matter of minutes before they could defend themselves.
December 19th
Tactical Training Teams for the Stormtrooper Corps announce new training programs. Members can learn advanced PvP tactics from the elite Black Hand unit through the Imperial Academy at charge.
2008
January 5th
A bitter fight between the Civilian Authority and Military Establishment begins as the military forcefully takes over the Fleet's capital city from the Politik Korps. The military announced that such a strategic asset should be in Imperial military hands. The hostile takeover was condemned by every subguild outside of the military, resulting in a long, bitter feud that would take two years before progress would be made to resolve it.
February 8th
The Politik Korps announces a variety of competitions that include video and poster creation. The winner of the event recieved a mandalorian armor suit and jetpack, while second place recieved a barc speeder and third place gained a combat-stated RIS armor suit.
March 19th
Fighter Corps announces a massive growth in membership, while Syndicate announces it will allow some Rebel faction players to participate in its ranks for smuggling purposes. The Syndicate change irritates many members of the Syndicate who enjoy playing an independent and neutral play style. The Syndicate eventually bows to pressure and removes Rebel faction players unless they go neutral.
April 9th
The worst real-life tragedy hits the Force Elite Soldiers and especially the Black Sword Fleet hard. Three of Fleet's members are killed in a car accident in Spain when they collided with a speeding locomotive. It was a terrible end to a week long 'FES Road Trip' where dozens of FES members attended meet and greets all through the United States, Canada and various European countries. The members killed are Vlieghe, Barron and Meridius.
April 23rd
Contest winners are announced for the video competition, and the first Black Sword Trailer is released on youtube with an HD version remote hosted off the Fleet's website. The HD version recieves 120000 downloads in the first month after it was posted on the Star Wars Galaxies forums.
May 12th
The TIE Wars challenge is launched between Fighter Corps squadrons. All squadrons participate resulting in a complex network of races, fighter battles and fighters vs gunships. The last two squadrons faced 8 gunships manned by the Imperial Navy Forces. Red Devils became the squadron with the most kills, five gunboats before they were all shot down.
June 3rd
Stormtrooper Corps gets backlash for its seizing of three major rebel cities on Bria and holding them hostage until a payout could be reached. Two of the cities decided to pay 10 million credits for the return of the cities, only for Stormtrooper Corps to destroy them after the payments were complete. High Command publicly appologized for the actions, but gave no compensation to the victims.
July 19th
The Swoop Races event becomes a pod-racing event after modding made it possible to change swoops to pod-racers from the game's files. Eventually Sony would release the pod racers as actual objects in the game.
August 12th
Star Wars Galaxies developers announce a new trading card game. A special branch of the Fleet is launched for those wishing to participate. Boasting 40 active members, the unit is still in service to this day.
August 16th
The Fleet releases the "TIE Wars Challenge" results video with a somber message in mind. It is dedicated to those killed in the April 9th car accident and features footage of some of these members participating in the event.
August 26th
DKii Security Detachment launches a public relations blitz to shed its reputation as a brutal underworld subgroup. Posts are made on the Force Elite Soldiers forums and through in-game mailing to alleviate member fears of a 'KGB watching everything they do'. Despite the blitz, DKii is still regarded as such by the Civilian Authority.
September 2nd
Admiral ReJind announces new leadership positions and openings as attaches to the senior staff. This is in hope to lessen the burden of workload officers face each day and lower the burn out rate.
September 13th
The Fleet presents its official statistics and plans for the future to the Imperial Triumph summit where all subgroups meet as a single unit each year. The massive meeting had just under 400 people in attendance on Chimaera, 392 on Chilastra, 323 on Bria and 128 on Lowca and Shadowfire.
October 21st
Star Wars: The Old Republic is announced by Bioware and Lucasarts. The astounding event shocks Star Wars gamers and puts the Fleet's future in Star Wars Galaxies at risk. However, senior staff quickly comment that the Fleet will remain in Star Wars Galaxies for 'a long long time', paving the way for Corporate Universal to be the sole Star Wars Old Republic division. Those wishing to play the Old Republic are asked to become Corporate Universal members.
November 23rd
The Imperial Navy launches several new events promoting pilot training as the number one issue for gunboat failure. Pilots must undergo a month long training course before they can be official pilots of the Imperial Navy gunboats in competitons and PvP warfare.
December 9th
The Fleet Command Staff give over 100 billion credits worth of prizes to members after they recieved awards, changing the practice of simply marking awards on the web site. This makes getting an award much more valuable and prestigious.
2009
January 10th
The Bounty Hunters Guild announced that its members had totalled 500,000 mark kills since its rebirth after the NGE. The Guild also lessened its recruiting restriction that allowed for only those with Mandalorian armor to enter. Instead all bounty hunters may join as a novice, and must gain their armor to get promoted past the starting rank.
February 25th
Politik Korps announces a campaign of city beautification. Each city is enhanced by new Storyteller elements, and military cities will be decorated by props such as AT-ATs and static AT-STs along with Imperial walls during events.
March 3rd
Entertainers Union launches a 'Dance Off' competition for combatants. Members of the Stormtrooper Corps participate, dancing in Stormtrooper armor all in unison. Ironically, the Black Hand, the no-nonsense elite section of the Stormtrooper Corps with an extreme hatred of role playing, won the event for their dancing and unique song.
April 19th
The Merchant Consortium announces new changes to pricing and resource collection. All Fleet members will have no cost access for goods and services required on a custom level. However, pay will be increased and some shops may be subsidized in the effort to keep smaller new merchants competitive.
May 13th
The Fleet presents its official statistics and plans for the future to a committee of Politik Korps senators. For the first time, members were allowed to vote on critical Fleet decisions. This effectively made the Politik Korps a civilian governmental body.
June 1st
Stormtrooper Corps announces war-games with itself. Its multiple guilds declared war and fought viciously against itself for several weeks. While in the short term it offered a great competitive gaming experience, PvP suffered in other areas.
June 5th
Viceroy Affinity of the Force Elite Soldiers announces her retirement after being disgruntled over various decission making efforts in the Moff Council. The position is left vacant for the next few months with joint voting by the Council filling the void until a replacement could be found.
June 25th
Just under 30 members of the Fleet attended the 2009 Fan Fest for Star Wars Galaxies. While they were broken into different tables by their individual guilds, members joined after at a restaurant and held a Fleet-FES party with a few local members. Those who attended posted pictures, videos, screencaps and logs of the event on the forums for the rest of the members to view and read.
July 20th
Several members of the Stormtrooper Corps quit after being hunted and 'griefed' by the Bounty Hunters Guild. Officially Fleet Command would not comment on the situation and the Bounty Hunters Guild said only that the hunters were doing their job. Colonel Rommel called the incident regrettable for both sides.
July 24th
The Remnant Corps' Ho0ber is sworn in as the Force Elite Soldier's new viceroy following the departure of Viceroy Affinity. Ho0ber advanced Fleet interests in the Moff Council and helped spur the Force Elite Soldiers to greater accountability and activity levels that had dropped significantly during Affinity's reign.
July 31st
Star Wars Galaxies developers announce Death Troopers, a significant content addition to the game that differs slightly from the 'Heroic' PvE content. The Bounty Hunters Guild takes the lead in setting up PvE runs through all the heroics every day, multiple times a day on various servers the Fleet is active on. This allows members to gain jewelery that inproves their PvP and PvE combat abilities as well as entertainers' and traders' statistics.
August 10th
Ex-members of Fleet Security sympathetic to former Viceroy Affinity crash the Force Elite Soldiers and Black Sword Fleet website for 12 hours. Security is able to pin point the problem, and authorities outside of the gaming sphere look into the situation. One of the ex-members is criminally charged in the United States.
September 16th
12 Star Wars Galaxies servers are listed to close by Sony developers, with Lowca and Corbantis being listed. A large scale effort is made by Fleet Command to accommodate members from Navy guilds on those servers. While a few members quit the game after the server closing announcement, the majority joined other servers with the Fleet and restarted their various branches. However coordinators for those servers were given other jobs within the Command Staff's operations office.
October 9th
A new gunboat challenge is announced to earn the title of Capital Ship of the Fleet. The winning ship would become the lead ship of the Fleet in events and PvP activities, and have the Admiral of the Navy onboard to coordinate the war effort. The 'Challenger' under the command of Captain Kurin Vonn and his eight passenger crew won the difficult event with just minutes to spare on the timer. The Challenger was renamed Dastinne and now holds Admiral Motti during engagements with Captain Kurin onboard to direct the individual ship.
November 23rd
Black Sword Fleet launches a second Imperial Triumpth unification meeting to present new changes and policy to the Fleet. Admiral ReJind announces Fleet Admiral Arias' promotion to Tactical Officer and Colonel Rommel becomes a General. Screenshots are provided on the web site.
December 12th
Special events are setup for the holiday season and consist of various PvE and PvP events. A mod is created that converts the entire game into a snowy atmpshere to enhance the effects that Sony placed for the season.
2010
January 3rd
The Fleet launches a new parade event for the Joint Military Establishment. Over two hundred participants were involved in classic Stormtrooper armor and Imperial uniforms.
January 12th
Several Rebel-based and Imperial guilds participated in TIE Wars X, our biggest space battle ever with dozens of guilds and hundreds of pilots involved in the action. The winner of the event was sadly a rebel guild, forcing the Starfighter Corps to review their training practices.
January 18th
The Underground's Privatus Syndicate caused a stir by supplying, arming and providing personnel to Rebel forces against the Stormtrooper Corps. Stormtrooper Corps defeats Rebel forces and saves one of their volunerable outpost bases on Lok. Stormtrooper Corps declares war on Privatus Syndicate.
January 20th
Privatus Syndicate accepts the war challenge and recruits an army from various guilds and internal subgroups for aide. Stormtrooper Corps retaliates hard against the Underground, swapping some forces Rebel to destroy their multi-faction bases and camping their headquarters.
January 22nd
Xucphra Corporation sells a extermely rare complete set of Nightsister clothing, one of only three in the game. The set was caused by a bug from the old Japanese version of the game that allowed nightsister spawns to drop clothing as loot.
January 25th
Privatus Syndicate requests a cease fire with the Stormtrooper Corps after five heavy days of fighting asking for a days break from war to participate in Fleet events. Stormtrooper Corps refuses, declaring any disruption would be considered a surrender. Privatus continues the battle. Stormtrooper Corps patrols Fleet PvE events, killing any Privatus Syndicate member who dares participate.
January 30th
The Underground's leadership directly contacts the Joint Military Establishment for aide in the diplomatic standoff between their subgroups. Fleet Admiral Arias backs the Stormtrooper Corps and the diplomatic stalemate continues.
February 2nd
The Dark Jedi Domination is recruited by the Syndicate in their war efforts against the Stormtrooper Corps. After camping and controlling all Syndicate outposts for 13 days, the combined DJD and Syn forces vanquish Warhog & Devils Eye platoons holding the Syndicate HQ. SC abandons plans to attack the DJD headquarters to reinforce a retaliatory attack on Syn's HQ. After eight hours of fighting, SC regains control of the HQ and DJD forces disperse leaving Syn to continue their gorilla campaign against SC forces.
February 16th
Rebel Forces on two servers begin joining the Syndicate's war efforts against the Corps, attacking and destroying two bases defended by scattered forces from Blackcomb Company on Rori, Bria Chimaera. Remaining forces from Blackcomb retreated from Syndicate's HQ to reinforce the position too late. SC pledges destruction of Syndicate by the end of the year.
March 4th
Stormtrooper Corps infiltrator's gain access to several structures belonging to the Syndicate and Rebel guilds supporting the Syndicate with personnel and resources, effectively banning each guild from the buildings to prevent them from being used as shelter. Syndicate hires the Bounty Hunter Guild to hunt SC personnel in retaliation.
March 8th
Syndicate attempts a raid on Stormtrooper Corps' headquarters and bases but collapses against the Corp's permanent military force stationed there. The battle is the last open front by the Syn, focusing on a campaign of Gorilla warfare and hired mercenaries.
March 11th
Merchant Conglomerate celebrates "Kosigan Day" with up to 50% off merchandise. The Conglomerate declared as a dedicated day once a year to celebrate the former commander of the Fleet.
March 22nd
Stormtrooper Corps General Rommel declares victory over the Syndicate who break off their non-pvp members into a secondary guild. While Syn denies they surrender, the majority of the Fleet sees the move as a sign the war is taking a toll on their morale.
April 2nd
Syndicate surrenders to the Stormtrooper Corps officially. Syndicate's director resigns and switches to the Rebel faction along with his top two lieutenants, but a few months later quits the game.
May 3rd
The Fleet Standing Committee announces the Politik Korps managed Galactic Senate will run basic government and affairs as the main advisory board under the Central Committee. The Senate begins official voting proceedures.
June 12th
The Entertainer Union begins a new recruitment drive and advertising campaign to begin its previous tradition of movies and music spectacles. Early signs show it to be successful.
June 18th
Dark Jedi Domination holds a Reign of Power event, hundreds of light and dark jedi participate in the massive show of lightsaber combat.
June 20th
Imperal Fleet Services launches a campaign for new armor for new recruits using left over funding. New recruits that meet certain requirements are each given a set of armor for the assigned task. The initiative spurs recruitment in the entry level units.
July 7th
The Commerce Office reports highest gross income in stocks ever. Over eleven people become billionaires over night.
July 12th
The Secretary of the Joint Military Establishment, Fleet Admiral Arias, is awarded the Fleet's highest honor, assigned the pin "Topheths Finest".
July 19th
The Fleet presents another Space-TerraNova racing challenge. Thirty six top pilots make the cut for the race. After two hours of runs are completed, Crewman Spirav of the ISF wins by six nano seconds over his closest competitor, Master Sargeant Kailu of Stormtrooper Corps.
August 8th
Security concerns cancel the fourtheen meeting of the assembly of the Galactic Senate after it is revealed the wife of one of the honor guards is a Rebel. The meeting is moved under Admiralty Guard care and control at Central Committee's headquarters.
August 13th
Commander Jeirron of Stormtrooper Corps declares his platoon as the highest skilled in the subgroup. General Rommel holds the Platoon wars week long challenge to determine the top soldiers in the Corps. Unfortunately, the Black Hand won by a large margin who Jierron says 'used underhanded tactics'.
August 21st
Politik Korps announces new election times for next session. The elections will take place at the end of January 2011. The elections last round resulted in a 70% voting margin among active members.
September 12th
The Merchant Conglomerate announces a new website and tool interface that allows its members to hear the latest reports on resource finds and scans. "Scan Scouts", the job of scanning everything for the conglomerate every two days, gain a five times pay increase to bolster recruitment numbers.
September 27th
Donovan Balic takes the reigns as head of the Privatus Syndicate through a brutal reign as the Syndicate's top arms dealer and smuggler. Balic immediately expels the remaining officers of the previous administration and promotes his own top officers to each post. Balic gains praise from members as a top notch commander and leader.
November 3rd
Logistics Ministry reports new milestones in event participation and activity. On average over three dozen events occur every week.
November 17th
During a member popularity poll conducted by HNN news, Director Cerchia was voted as most loved, Admiral Arias as most strict, and Warlord Elisha was voted as most ruthless. Ironically, all women were selected.
November 25th
Admiral Clerra leads a rebellion inside the Imperial Fleet against Fleet Admiral Donathy for control of Avenger Task Force. The rebellion is crushed a few days later, and Clerra and her top officers resign and switch subgroups to the Syndicate.
December 2nd
The Admiral Guard is allowed additional funding, benefits and membership increases. The numbers however remain secret to members outside the Central Committee and Galactic Senate financial committee.
December 8th
The Bounty Hunter Guild launches another Great Hunt challenge. Bounty Hunters from all over come to participate in the ruthless exercises. The winner, TokeDowwn, gained a prize of nine hundred million credits.
December 11th
Chairwomen Mishia wins a third straight election as top of the Galactic Senate. Donovan Balic of the Syndicate wins a Senate seat but refuses to join the Politik Korps or a political party.
December 15th
Stormtrooper Corps members attack Rebel bases across several servers dressed only in Santa suits and Stormtrooper helmets. At one point over a hundred santas could be seen fighting Rebel forces on Rori.
December 19th
A facebook group dedicated to HNN news is in disarray after a producer quits the game and dismantles the group. HNN decides to cancel its facebook promotion and remain in-game only.
December 25th
The Entertainer Union puts on a holiday bash on several servers. The event is a massive hit with hundreds of guilds and people attending. The Union promises to do one next year as well.
December 29th
Rebels claim the Black Hand is reponsible for a series of attacks on organized PvP events, claiming their tactics were breaking game rules. Black Hand and Stormtrooper Corps made no comment.
December 30th
Several Fleet members hold a get-to-gether in San Diego, California. Twenty seven attend. Crewman Drak also played a few songs that ended up being in several fan-made PvP videos.