With the attempt on his life a failure, Sidious pronounced Order 66, triggering the inhibitor
chips in all clone soldiers, to have them turn against their Jedi generals.
Sidious then ordered Darth Vader to lead the assault against the Jedi Temple on Coruscant
killing the Younglings as his initiation into the darkside.
Although the great Jedi Purge finally granted the Sith vengeance against their ancient enemy,
some few escaped the massacre, and went into hiding.
In order to hunt down these last remaining Jedi, Sidious created the Inquisitorius, a
group of force-sensitive darkside acolytes of limited power who would report to Darth
Vader.
Leading this group was a former Jedi Temple guard, who grew disillusioned with the order
towards the end of the war and then fell to the Darkside.
Having survived the initial purge, Obi Wan Kenobi tracked down his fallen apprentice
Anakin Skywalker engaging in duel that ended with obi Wan as the victor, cutting off Anakin’s
legs and an arm, while leaving him to burn in the fires of Mustafar.
Obi Wan the departed, as his former apprentice screamed in pain, unwilling to finish him
off, and instead chose to leave his fate to the Force.
As a result Sidious rescued his apprentice and built him a cybernetic suit, teaching
him to use pain anger and hatred as fuel to reach new heights of power in the darkside.
Padme Amadala died soon after learning of Anakin’s betrayal of the Jedi, but was able
to successfully give birth to twins, naming them Luke and Leia before her passing.
The children of Anakin skywalker were split up, with Obi Wan taking the boy to Tatooine
to live with relatives of Anakin’s mother, while the girl was given to Bael Organa who
would raise her as a princess of Aldaran.
Though the Purge and subsequent hunt for the Jedi nearly wiped them out, some few did survive,
such as Obi Wan, and Grand Master Yoda, who went into exile on Dagobah, having learned
from the Force that it was his destiny to wait for one who would restore the Jedi Order.
Meanwhile, with the Separatists and Jedi both defeated, Chancellor Palpatine dissolved the
Republic and declared himself Emperor of the First Galactic Empire.
Having kept track of all though who opposed Chancellor Palpatine during the years of the
Clone Wars, he began to arrest and kill any who posed a threat to his power.
Yet some of these people went into hiding, while others feigned loyalty to the Emperor,
while in secret they organized a rebellion, working form the shadows to restore the Republic.
With his enemies largely vanquished, Emperor Palpatine ruled for two decades, during which
time he consolidated his power, reorganizing the government and military, and diminished
the power of the Senate to become a symbolic organization with no real authority.
Sidious also spent his time training Vader in the ways of the Sith, with one of his first
lessons teaching the truth about Kyber crystals, and how they were living being that could
feel pain and be made to bleed.
Vader was therefore sent off to track down a Jedi and take his lightsaber, so he might
remove the kyber crystal within and corrupt it with his anger and hatred.
Finding Kirak Infil'a living in self imposed exile on the river moon of Al'doleem, the
battle nearly ended with the death of Vader.
However, by exploiting the Jedi’s compassion, Infil’a was forced to use his powers to
save the people of local city, and this distraction, allowing Vader to steal his green lightsaber
and snap his neck with the force.
Afterwards Vader went to Mustafar and attempted to corrupt the crystal with the help of sith
shrine.
Yet it proved a difficult process, as the crystal channelled the lightside and resisted
him, even granting him a vision that tested his dedication to the darkside.
But ultimately he passed the test, and bled the crystal, creating his own red lightsaber.
For years Vader acted as the secret enforcer for Emperor Palpatine, often dealing with
an ever increasing number of rebel attacks across the galaxy.
On one occasion, the Emperor joined Vader on a trip to Ryloth, which was having trouble
with the Free Ryloth Movement, which fought to free the planet from imperial control.
During this journey, their ship was shot down and the rebel group attempted to kill the
Emperor and Vader, only to fail and be forced to flee their homeworld.
One of these Twilek rebels was the famous hero cham Syndulla, who along with his daughter
Hera would come to play an important role in the development of a larger rebel alliance.
Though few were even aware of Darth Vader existence, some high level imperials worked
with him on a number of projects, such as Wilhuff Tarkin and Thrawn.
Both of which were exceptional officers that gained Vader’s respect, with Tarkin even
becoming somewhat of a friend to the Dark Lord.
Vader was also one of the few privy to the larger plans of the Emperor, learning about
his secret efforts to build a superweapon called the Death Star.
While investigating rebel activity on Lothal, Vader interacted and fought with Jedi Kanan
Jarrus and his apprentice Ezra Bridger, and could have easily defeated them but chose
to let them live so he might follow their ship.
Later while once again facing these rebel Jedi on the planet of Malachor, his former
apprentice Ashoka Tano interfered, distracting the Dark Lord so the others might escape.