Garm Bel Iblis
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Garm Bel Iblis was a Galactic Republic Senator of Corellian Sector, a skilled military leader, and one of the co-founders of the Alliance to Restore the Republic.
Biography
Senate service
In the Galactic Senate, Bel Iblis was a respected and charismatic political leader known for his balanced position on maintaining the rights of member worlds while installing a central government powerful enough to be useful. For this reason, Bel Iblis was one of the earliest opponents of Palpatine's ever-expanding powers following his election to the seat of Supreme Chancellor. In an effort to diffuse the growing Separatist political crisis, Bel Iblis often spoke firmly on the Senate floor against the legality of member worlds. He was close friends with Senator Fang Zar, and the two shared similar views. His chief aide as a senator was Sena Leikvold Midanyl.
As it became clear that the political crisis would soon spill over into a military conflict, Bel Iblis and Diktat Shyla Merricope removed Corellia from the Military Creation Act vote to keep their hands clean of the clone army in 22 BBY. To protect Corellia, Bel Iblis used an obscure clause in the Galactic Constitution known as Contemplanys Hermi, an olys Corellisi phrase meaning "meditative solitude". Corellia sealed its borders politically, commercially and militarily. Despite his best efforts, his beloved home world was dragged into the Clone Wars after the fall of Duro.
Founding of the Alliance
In 19 BBY, Palpatine announced an Extraordinary Session, forcing Senator Bel Iblis to reopen the Corellian system and return to Coruscant. In it, the Chancellor declared himself Emperor and the Republic was replaced by the Galactic Empire. Fearful of the dark influence that Palpatine and his Imperial supporters would exert upon Corellia, the Corellian Sector and the Galaxy at large, Bel Iblis began secretly building a political resistance group and met with other senators who shared his concerns. Bel Iblis found an unlikely ally in Bail Organa, who chose to stay close to Palpatine in an attempt to balance his power rather than oppose him. Organa had gathered a clandestine hub of politicians, military officers and intelligence operatives secretly opposed to Palpatine, including Bel Iblis' close friend Senator Fang Zar, who was ultimately murdered by Darth Vader. His efforts took a toll on his family life as well, as his wife Arrianya took up support of the Emperor and his policies. It was during this time that he used his position as an Imperial Senator to finance the passage of Irenez through the Imperial Academy.
As Palpatine consolidated his New Order, Bel Iblis became one of his earliest targets. The charismatic Corellian had worked to undermine Palpatine's influence in the past, and had made an enemy of the new Emperor. While Bel Iblis was on Anchoron to deliver a speech at the Treitamma Political Center, the Emperor dispatched Imperial assassins to kill the Senator and his family. The timely arrival of the Alderaanian agent Aach, who had arrived to inform him of the discovery of the Death Star plans, stalled Bel Iblis long enough that he missed the detonation of the bomb meant to kill him. His family and the Assistant Director of the center died in the blast. Many Corellians believed Bel Iblis died on Anchoron, and mourned his loss. Suddenly Bel Iblis' grudge against Palpatine was no longer a purely political or social one, but a personal one as well.
Bel Iblis went into hiding and began shaping a military resistance force of volunteers from the Corellian Sector. Under the alias "The Commander", Bel Iblis led a small fleet of starships and an assortment of sabotage and guerilla ground forces in a series of strikes against key Imperial outposts in the Corellian Sector. Despite his early successes, Bel Iblis knew that his organization could not defeat the Empire alone. He called Organa and Chandrilan Senator Mon Mothma to a meeting on Corellia to discuss the future of their resistance forces. There, at the Corellian System Meetings, Bel Iblis argued for a consolidation of the Alderaanian, Chandrilan and Corellian resistance forces into a single organization capable of striking at the Empire around the Galaxy. Together, they drafted the Corellian Treaty that formed the Alliance to Restore the Republic.
