What did the public know about the Death Star?

[Yora]

On one very chaotic day, the Emperor dissolved the Senate, Alderaan was blown up with possibly no witnesses, and the not yet publicly announced Death Star was destroyed.

The dissolution of the senate would have been the big news of the day, certainly. And I assume the plan was that a few days after the destruction of Aderaan was noticed, the Empire would announce that they did it with the Death Star and can do it again.

But the Death Star being destroyed before it's unveiling is a huge PR disaster for the Empire. That won't make people fear them more. It only makes the Rebels look much stronger and like a real threat.
Yet at the same time, Alderaan is gone, and might possibly have been one of the top 10 core worlds. The Emperor can't take that back. People will ask what happened. What would they be told?
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"Adventure? Eh... Excitement? Eh... A Jedi does not crave these things."

Iridium Moons Retro-futuristic Space Opera

[Grimace]

The Alderaanians were stock-piling massive weapons in rebellion against the benevolent Galactic Empire. In a terrible accident, an explosion caused a chain reaction that obviously cracked the mantel of the of the planet, causing a catastrophic eruption that literally torn the planet apart.

The Empire is saddened by the tremendous loss of life, and it certain all of this could have been avoided if the people of Alderaan had risen up against the rebellious faction that saw fit to stockpile dangerous and deadly weapons to be be used against the lawful government.

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There would likely be ZERO mention of the Death Star at all. Jedha was a mining accident. Scarif probably didn't matter at all because it was deep in Imperial territory and likely entirely Imperial. Alderaan could be shunted to being a tragedy perpetrated by the Rebels in a callous act of aggression. The only notable thing that would gain media attention is the dissolving of the Senate.

This lends a lot more credence to the "ads" in the core books when they show a picture of Alderaan with "Never Forget". For the Rebels, it would be a rally. For the Empire, it would be a propaganda ploy.

[garhkal]

The wicked rebellion, attacked a mobile mining space station, that was designed to gather ore for all the galaxy's fusion reactors, preventing us giving clean energy to all..
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[garhkal]

IIRC the 2nd book in the Xwing series, showed just how the empire, pushed politics of the death star..
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[CRMcNeill]

Excerpted from the Rebel Alliance Sourcebook, pages 18-19:

"The Propaganda Bureau is charged with presenting the galaxy with a true picture of the Alliance. For the most part, they seek to counter Imperial propaganda, which portrays the Alliance as an organization of lunatics, brigands and anarchists. The Alliance's Declaration of Rebellion was remarkably effective at countering this line. Since then, Imperial propagandists have concentrated their efforts upon showing the limitless might of the Empire and the weakness of the Rebellion in order to convince the galaxy that the Rebellion is doomed to failure. This was working quite well, until shortly after the Battle of Yavin, when the Ministry of Education distributed over 20,000 holo-tapes showing the destruction of the Death Star."

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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Yora]

[Whill]

[Ray]

Rebel Terrorists Destroy Peacekeeping Space Station Killing Millions Of Navy Personnel. These are your families that they murdered! Join the Imperial Navy to avenge their deaths!!!