Empire of the Hand

The Empire of the Hand, also referred to as the Hand or just the Empire, was a political power located in Wild Space of the galaxy and had its planetary capital on Nirauan. Secretly founded by Grand Admiral Thrawn, the Empire of the Hand was established in order to protect the Unknown Regions from the many threats residing there. The Empire of the Hand functioned more like a confederation than a true empire, forming alliances with native governments instead of conquering them.

Under Galactic Emperor Palpatine, the Galactic Empire began efforts to explore and pacify the Unknown Regions, with the Emperor providing ships and resources to the expeditionary forces. In these yet unexplored territories, Thrawn commandeered efforts to map great swathes of territory as well as overseeing colonization and developing connections with the various species. Thrawn, seeing the varied threats in the Unknown Regions, established a new hidden military and political force to provide order and security, laying the groundwork for the Empire of the Hand.

After the Galactic Empire spiralled into chaos after the Battle of Endor, the Empire of the Hand emerged powerful enough to open preventive strikes on the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium and was also able to finally defeat and kill the warlord Nuso Esva and his forces at the battle of Quethold. With the threats in the Unknown Region seemingly quiet, the Grand Admiral decided the time had come to return to the known galaxy.

Under the leadership of Admiral Voss Parck, a select group of top Imperial officers, including General Soontir Fel and Commander Stent, and a cadre of Thrawn-loyal Chiss upheld Thrawn's vision and believed he would return to them ten years after his announced death. The Empire of the Hand were informed by the New Jedi Order that Thrawn was indeed dead and allowed the clone of Thrawn to be destroyed, with the Jedi agreeing to keep its existence a secret. However with the clone gone, the Empire of the Hand lost its designated heir and consequently its legitimacy. However, it assisted the Chiss Ascendancy and the New Republic against a third Vagaari war.

During the Yuuzhan Vong War, General Soontir Fel appeared to be the leader of the Empire of the Hand and sent Force Spike, a division of Syndic Mitth'raw'nuruodo's Household Phalanx, to help the Imperial Remnant and New Republic. But the Empire of Hand vanished sometime during the late stages of the war, having completed its purpose as the Yuuzhan Vong began to lose to the Galactic Federation.

However, the Empire of the Hand had ultimately survived, far from the notice of the galaxy at large. Although rumours persisted that the Empire of the Hand had either collapsed or been absorbed by another power, Head of State Jagged Fel of the Imperial Remnant discovered that the Hand was still active but kept he the secret of its survival to himself for security purposes.

Text and facts from the “Empire of the Hand” article on Wookieepedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Modified for this site.