CHAPTER ONE
From the First Saga, Journal of the Whills
"The Old Republic was the Republic of legend, greater than distance or time. No need to note where it was or whence it came, only to know that...it was the Republic.
Once, under the wise rule of the Senate and the protection of the Jedi Knights, the Republic throve and grew. But, as often happens when wealth and power pass beyond the admirable and attain the awesome, then appear those evil ones who have greed to match.
So it was with the Republic at its height. Like the greatest of trees, able to withstand any external attack, the Republic rotted from within though the danger was not visible from the outside.
Aided and abetted by restless, power-hungry individuals within the government, and the massive organs of commerce..."
The Trade Federation
View of a Trade Federation battleship in orbit over Naboo from the cockpit of the Republic cruiser Radiant VII.
At the time of this writing, there is still relativley little known about the Trade Federation. What is known is that the Neimoidians are represented in the Republic Senate and are a commercially-obsessed people who have already "assimilated" several smaller cultures (such as the Xi Char) with the commerce they have helped foster in the Outer Rim, and that they are gradually beginning to seek greater power throughout the galaxy by building a mostly-secret droid army of massive proportions. The majority of the galaxy does not really believe that the cowardly Neimoidians are raising a truly massive force...although nearly every culture maintains at least a small military, no one is expecting the sheer size of the Neimoidian war machine. There is a secret hand behind this escalation, though...and some whisper that the hidden mastermind may be a mysterious Sith Lord, tempting the Neimoidians with vague promises of vast commercial opportunities if the Republic were to fall...
The Trade Federation has been vehemently opposing Rebublic taxation of some popular trade routes, causing great debate in the Senate and raising more than a few rumors alleging corruption and graft in high places. Is this all part of some greater gambit, or just the Trade Federation's way of trying to increase its own wealth? Only time can tell...though, if the young Queen of the Naboo, Amidala, is to be believed, the Federation has taken dangerous steps that may leave the entire galaxy short on time...