Octavus Paralles

Select passages from the Seventy-Ninth Edition (1,204 ABY), compiled by First Royal Scribe Urzo Annas under charter from the Court and Council of New Alderaan.


Octavus Paralles is the scion of a great and wealthy family, which can trace its lineage unbroken to the earliest days following the Atrocity. Whilst his name is not one of the Homeworld's historical greats, it comes to prominence in the first two centuries of the new galactic calendar and following the founding of New Alderaan. Since those earliest days of strife against the backdrop of empires and galactic dynasties, the family name of Paralles appears frequently and widely, discovered as the name of numerous wealthy merchant princes, upstanding admirals, scholars and courtly advisers. Since the advent of our people's resurrection, House Paralles has been synonymous with Alderaanian versatility, achievement and prestige. Octavus and his son, Octavus II, are fine heirs to that most illustrious legacy.

Born in 1,156 ABY, Octavus's father had already led a short yet distinguished career within the renowned Judicial Forces of the Third Galactic Republic, sporting a naval captain's rank and vessels at his command. A gentleman and an officer, Monte sired only the one son with his wife Senesha, who sadly died young in Octavus' childhood years, and his important work kept him far from his academically-bright child. However, Octavus was never short of company; he spent many years as a ward of the noble, oft-royal, House of Antilles-Ulgo. It was in the presence of these fine folk that Octavus met his future wife, the fair and respectable Yuliana...

...Octavus was one of the youngest senators within the Third Republic Senate, and served the Royal Family of New Alderaan excellently as both an adviser and representative within the galactic government. Firm supporters of the Third Republic when the treacherous Outer Rim Alliance seceded once more, Octavus nevertheless argued for peaceful resolutions, working hard and tirelessly in the face of uncertain odds to prevent the militarisation of the Republic, ever-fearful of a slow slip into the moral decay and genocidal ways of the Old Empire. No Alderaanian need be schooled on those perils.

His mantras and civic-minded manner won him the affections of not only his own people once more, but also those of the wider galaxy - including the venerable and wise Master of the Jedi Order, Jundal Quellus, who is known to have formed a close relationship with Senator Paralles.

Talk is such now that when the incumbent's term is due, New Alderaan's favourite son will seek nomination for Office of Supreme Chancellor, as Octavus' own son sets his sights upon the noble cause of politics. If such honour were to be bestowed upon him, Octavus Paralles I would be the only the fourth Alderaanian chancellor since the Grand Proclamation. The previous Alderaanian Supreme Chancellor...-

HoloNet extract from Supreme Chancellor Paralles' Inaugural Speech, 1,212 ABY

Excerpt from the article "Paralles: Traitor or Appeaser?", accessed from the public historical database managed by the Imperial Ministry of Knowledge. The author is undisclosed, but it is dated in the early months of 1,222 ABY.


In some circles, it is said that Octavus Paralles of New Alderaan did more to bring about the age of the Galactic Imperium than other figure in the long-dying Third Republic. An avid idealist and lover of liberties both personal and financial, the Last Supreme Chancellor was the ideal posterchild for all of the vain and nepotistic decay within the galaxy. Even for those of us who found such beliefs distasteful, Paralles seemed a good and kind man.

Good and kind men, however, do not win wars. Good and kind men, it seems, are all too willing to allow war to consume both them and their charge within the fires of their own idealism.

For generations, the Republic had been without a true standing army, leaving the nation open to the abuses of tyrannical colonials and self-serving separatists. The answer of the naysayers and those wedded to their innate fear of true power, such as Paralles, was never to arm in an effort to protect their people, but rather to turn to those they deemed better qualified, wiser even, to take to take up arms in the name of the Republic.

Octavus Paralles' naive faith in the likes of megacorporations such as GalactaWerks and the haughty self-serving monastic order of the Reborn Jedi over the citizens of the Galactic Republic to protect themselves and fight what they believe in are indicative of his premiership. Rather than trust that the individuals who had voted for him understood their own principles and reasons for fighting, Paralles placed stock in the apparent goodwill of GalactaWerks, an organisation supposedly in-tune with the desires of its consumers, and the enlightened worldview of Jedi Knights.

(See right: an election campaign poster for Paralles' Coalition. Typical of his era, it features Grand Master Jundal Quellus and a GalactaWerks figure standing shoulder-to-shoulder with him - the true (unelected) operators of his Senate.)

Ultimately, this contempt for its people and the excesses of that morally bankrupt but feeble Republic thrust groups such as the Outer Rim Alliances and its supporters further and further away from the Core, who inevitably challenged the eroding authority of that state - for the second time in almost as many decades.

This author cannot believe that this schism was unexpected. The foundation of the conflict shared its origins with the very reason Paralles ascended to the Chancery. Yet, rather than prepare for the inevitable civil war that threatened the safety and way of life of so many, the chancellor instead devoted his efforts to conciliation, and placed his trust with those with personal stakes outsizing his own.

All the while the Alliance built up its own forces, as had GalactaWerks, whose standing forces exceeded those ever employed during the previous Outer Rim Conflicts. One has to wonder, was Paralles aware of this monumental construction of warships, this blatant disregard for the legitimacy of government, or was he truly that blind, enamoured with the ideals of liberalism and capitalism that he would rather countless sentients die than he be wrong?

Had His Imperial Majesty not brought to bear the might of the now-Imperial Starfleet against these terrorists and corporate revolutionaries, would the Core still stand? Would a Jedi be dictating our way of life? Would a company director be setting a price for the very air you breathe?

Regardless of this posturing, Supreme Chancellor Octavus Paralles was either a foolish man with a good heart, or in the extreme, a cunning operator with absolute contempt for the individuals of this nation reborn.