Project Heresy

The sacred Jedi texts recovered from the Lothal enclave contained knowledge vital to the development of one of the Tarkin Initiative’s earliest research projects. Shortly after the formation of the Galactic Empire, the secret imperial think tank began an investigation into the training methods used by the Jedi. The ability that the Jedi Order had to raise an army of battle ready warriors was seen as impressive and of great interest to the Empire. The researchers working on this project kept a close eye on the developments of the Inquisitorious Program and from observing their training, they concluded that the training methods employed by the Jedi were simply incompatible with the dark side attuned inquisitors. The final report on this topic surmised that if some force sensitives were excluded from the “slave conditioning process headed up by Lord Vader on Mustafar” and were instead subjected to a compassionate but heavily propagandised upbringing, the potential to train them using Jedi training methods would be much more successful. The researchers’ desired outcome was to create an army of force sensitives loyal to the Empire but cut off from the dark side. This report was deemed too sympathetic to the order that betrayed the Republic and was promptly buried by higher ups. 

Now, their research was more relevant than ever. The texts discovered on Lothal were analysed and yielded a passage detailing something called “The Gathering Ritual”; a process a Jedi youngling must undergo to seek out their Kyber crystal. Kyber crystal harvesting was not something a dark sider could spiritually take part in. The force simply didn’t guide them to their crystal like it would to a light side force user. 

This was an exciting discovery for the researchers and scientists that had kept the secret Tarkin Initiative projects alive for many years. Overnight, one project deemed “interesting but void of a functional purpose” was the subject of excited discussions over on the Maw Installation:“Project Heresy: Through either early indoctrination or persuasive recruitment methods, natural force users uncorrupted by dark side ideology should be educated and trained as Imperial military assets.”

As more and more funding was redirected to Project Heresy, two long dormant divisions of the Tarkin Initiative were revived post haste: The Kyber Crystal Research Team and the Kyber Crystal Recovery Team. The first mission assigned to the squad of force sensitive recruits was to travel to Ilum, a planet once sacred to the Jedi Order. Upon arrival, they were directed to use their knowledge of The Gathering Ritual and seek out the coveted Kyber crystals…

Kyber Troopers of the Kyber Crystal Recovery Team

The TX-42 ARC (Armoured Ramp Carrier) was a tread tank used by the Empire during the Galactic Civil War. It was primarily deployed to assist with Imperial operations on planets with rugged terrain, allowing troops and equipment to cross ditches and shallow rivers with relative ease. The ARC was expected to be expendable, at least in the short term. Once it had been driven into place it would be left in place until either no longer needed or a more permanent bridge or ramp could be built. The vehicle had no armaments and was driven via directives issued to the control panel on the vehicle’s right mudguard. The ramp had the ability to unfold and lock into the landscape via two vibro-spikes located on the end of the ramp.