Imperial Senator Au - Tumblr Posts

ɪᴍᴘᴇʀɪᴀʟ sᴇɴᴀᴛᴏʀ ᴀᴜ - ᴘᴀʀᴛ ɪ

The Empire begins 10-12 years earlier. The siege of Naboo escalates rapidly, provoking the onset of the Clone Wars instead. Order 66 comes 7 years early, the Jedi better prepared for the deceit. Mace Windu survives the battle with Palpatine to warn the rest, leading to greater survival for the whole. And in the underlevels of Coruscant, the Council-in-exile seek liasons with what will become the Rebel Alliance.

A less naive Padme Amidala finds she can no longer hide from the atrocities committed in the name of retaliation for her people, and takes her place in the Imperial court.

And in the turmoil of all the war, the clones, and the billions of deaths that ensued, a former padawan had no room for a learner of his own - and a former slave no place within the Jedi Order.

I can't get this idea out of my head, so there are definitely going to be more of these. (It's a combination of the trio with something more Dark Times and an excuse to draw a lot of costume porn, how can I resist myself)

ɪᴍᴘᴇʀɪᴀʟ sᴇɴᴀᴛᴏʀ ᴀᴜ - ᴘᴀʀᴛ ɪɪ

A ward of the state, lost among the war-orphans, the then-Chancellor was the only fixture in Anakin's life after he won his freedom. Caught in the undertow of death and destruction, by the time the young Queen attempted to look into the whereabouts of the peculiar little boy he was already gone - a file lost in an overwhelmed system. Once the Jedi were hunted like animals across the stars, the path for Obi-wan to follow his master's dying directive became closed to him. 

Anakin's usefulness ended along with his destruction of the droid control ship. No credits, no home, and no friends  on Coruscant - who could refuse Palpatine's generosity where it came? And it came - first in gifts of education: manuals and texts, time spent paying attention to a child no one else seemed interested in. Later, with holocrons, to be their little secret.

The Jedi, who had abandoned him, were scattered across the galaxy - dead, dying. The only place he'd ever called home was  a thousand star systems away. If he had any reservations at all when Palpatine invited him to live in the Palace and took over his education personally - when his only friend revealed himself as the Dark Lord of the Sith and his intentions for the young disciple - what other options had there ever been?

I didn't really expect the response the first part of this got - oh my god thank you everyone. (I'm so bad at expressing this sort of thing but inside I was just rolling around happily). Getting to my favorite pouty Dark Lord.  (⊙‿⊙✿) Padme's really the hero here, but he isn't any good at staying out of her life.

ɪᴍᴘᴇʀɪᴀʟ sᴇɴᴀᴛᴏʀ ᴀᴜ - ᴘᴀʀᴛ ɪɪɪ

When Obi-wan Kenobi decided to remain on Coruscant, to protect and support the transfer of the most vulnerable out of the Empire's grasp, he never thought it would be permanent. He expected to be dead within the year. He's still not sure whether or not his luck has been a gift, or a sign that somehow the Force has something worse planned for him.

A quiet child and diligent padawan, Obi-wan suspects the remnants of the Council appointed him to be an experienced nodding head for younger survivors to follow. What they didn't know was of all of his regrets, none run deeper than the orders he followed in the war. When Yoda tried to close the curtain around the vestiges of the Order and draw them deeper into insularity, it was Obi-wan who suggested Bail Organa and later Padme Amidala. It was Obi-wan who created the system to find gifted children - of any age - before they could be taken into the Inquisitorius or the Hands.

He tries to keep mindful of the present, of padawans without masters, younglings who have known only threat of extermination their whole lives. The children who need instruction in how to trick a Stormtrooper more than they need to know the proper forms. But in the under-levels of the glittering, decaying megalopolis, sometimes it is his ghosts that feel like his only company.

I tried to make this happier but then the trio were involved and that was the end of that. (I keep trying not to make the text so long ah whoops).I think what I like so much about AUs is that somewhere in the twisted reflection of what might have happened you get to hint at the parts you liked best in the first place, in a context that strips away what that grew dull with familiarity.

Might take a break from this after the next one to do the color palette suggestions I've got in my inbox that I promise I didn't forget about. It's still open if anyone wants to put more in there, too.

ɪᴍᴘᴇʀɪᴀʟ sᴇɴᴀᴛᴏʀ ᴀᴜ - ᴘᴀʀᴛ ɪv (ɪ. ɪɪ. ɪɪɪ)

Scattered across temporary safehouses, the master-padawan structure fell away. Small and street-smart, those old enough to have been padawans (in another life) became essential. A teenage courier could infiltrate the highest and lowest levels of Coruscant without suspicion.

Apprenticeships were replaced by cells, with one master or knight looking out for a handful. Hiding in abandoned warehouses, pipes, and junkyards, they became something closer to a family than the Order at it's height would have ever allowed.

After her master was slain, Talzin sent Ventress to Sidious. Half witch and half Jedi, entirely anger, she was an attractive enough gift to hide that she was revenge on the reneging snake. But the master of deception wasn't fooled long and at the first whiff of her real purpose, Palpatine threw Ventress in with his cache of captive Jedi. Kept below the palace to sharpen the teeth of his Inquisitors and occasionally released to give a young Vader an easy hunt and a very real test. When Obi-wan found what remained of the caged knights, Ventress was the only one to survive the rescue. She tells herself, most days, that soon she'll leave; as soon as there is a good enough opportunity to strike at the Empire, she'll be gone. She isn't sure whats keeping her.

Obi-wan leaves for like five minutes and suddenly everything is on fire. Five minutes, you guys. (Which is also an alternate title for episode 3.) After the last picture on part 3 I gave up on drawing Coruscant for the time being.

ɪᴍᴘᴇʀɪᴀʟ sᴇɴᴀᴛᴏʀ ᴀᴜ - ᴘᴀʀᴛ v (ɪ. ɪɪ. ɪɪɪ. ɪv)

The Emperor's heir and Supreme Commander of the Imperial Fleet, the young Darth Vader seemingly emerged from nowhere as Palpatine's personal pet Krayt dragon. A power divorced entirely from the squabbling politics of the Senate and the Moffs, his ill-understood abilities stood as a sharp departure from the cloistered Jedi the galaxy had been accustomed to.

Along with the Inquisitors and the Imperial Security Bureau, he appeared as a weapon of further annihilation against the fugitive Order - whatever secret malice he bore them apparent in his zeal to destroy their remnants.

More of this series! Writing a prequel-era AU is freeing because as bad as I am at dialogue I can always feel confident because it could be so much worse. I just got back from a road trip to the beach wherein every couple hours someone quoted the line about sand at me and I almost left them on all stranded on I-37 as a result. It can be worse.

I'm glad that there is some appreciation for this idea because lbr I would have just continued posting them even if there wasn't because as a character, Padme is just so important. Canonically speaking, she's both the naive child coerced into becoming Emperor's kingmaker and an essential progenitor of what becomes the Alliance. There aren't excuses to do stuff centered around her.

Imperial Senator AU designs. The flowing pink dress one was on loose paper and apparently lost, which is a shame because it's one of the few that I've done where the detail actually showed better on the original design than it did in the art itself. 

Masterpost of all posts in correct order:

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