By: Jason Dietzel
The Blazing Chain was founded prior to the Great Sith War, circa 3,996 BBY, as an organization centered around piracy. The group started accepting Force-sensitives into their fold during Exar Kun’s war when they came in contact with the Sith, and the weaker acolytes abandoned the order to join the Blazing Chain. Decades later, come the time of the Dark Wars and First Jedi Purge, Force-sensitive members made up the majority of the raider gang, transforming it into a Force group.
At the height of their membership, the Blazing Chain operated a dozen autonomous fleets, each commanded by its own leader known as an Adacap. In 33 BBY one of the fleets, known as the Blackshackles, started a civil war within the Blazing Chain, when its leader attacked their fellow Arcblade fleet. Adacap Zonsoe, seeking to increase power in the organization, defeated the Arcblades but started a five-year civil war. Zonsoe and the Blackshackles would be defeated, but the war left the organization, as a whole, severely weakened.
The Blazing Chain remained wounded throughout the waning days of the Galactic Rupublic, the Galactic Empire, and the New Republic, not seeing a resurgence to its former glory until the fall of the Galactic Alliance at the hands of the Fel Empire and One Sith Order almost two centuries later. With the chaos that ensued in the years following 130 ABY, the Blazing Chain was able to re-establish its dominance in the Outer Rim territories and Unknown Regions.
The Blazing Chain held very little philosophy regarding the Force. They did not hold the traditional light-dark dichotomy of the Force, merely that it was a tool to help them plunder more effectively. As a result, the only time the organization considered the use of the dark side to be of negative consequence was if it were used to undermine the group, as a whole, like in the case of Adacap Zonsoe thrusting the Blazing Chain into civil war over personal wealth and power.
The group got its namesake for painting a fiery chain onto the hulls of their ship as a symbol to strike fear into the hearts of their victims. Added to this mystique of fear was the fact that the Blazing Chain were nomadic, striking from the Unknown Regions. Living on planets at the edge of the Outer Rim territories meant being on constant lookout for the next assault by the Blazing Chain and any other pirate groups.
The only reference for the Blazing Chains comes from Wizard of the Coast’s “The Unknown Regions” supplement book for their Saga Edition roleplaying game’s rulebook.