The Confederacy of Independent Systems, abbreviated to CIS, and otherwise known as the Separatist Alliance, the Separatist State, the Separatist Confederacy, or simply referred to as the Separatists, was a confederate government formed from thousands of star systems of the Inner Rim, Mid Rim and Outer Rim Territories which had declared a state of independence from the Galactic Republic, whom the Confederacy had opposed from 24 BBY until 19 BBY following their uprising. Established by fallen Jedi Master Count Dooku of the planet Serenno, who served as the government's Head of State, the Confederacy was founded from a belief of excessive taxation and corruption within the Republic's Galactic Senate, as well as a general feeling of dissatisfaction towards and neglect by the Republic-centric Core Worlds region of the galaxy. Furthermore, the government was secretly supported by several major galactic corporations which formed the Confederacy's legislative council, including the Trade Federation, led by Viceroy Nute Gunray, the InterGalactic Banking Clan, headed by Chairman San Hill, the Techno Union, led by Foreman Wat Tambor, the Commerce Guild, led by Presidente Shu Mai, the Corporate Alliance, led by Magistrate Passel Argente, and the Retail Caucus. In 24 BBY, a political crisis had begun which led to escalating tensions between the reigning Republic and the rising Confederacy, established in a galaxy-wide secessionist movement orchestrated by Dooku. Many within the Confederacy, including its parliament of senators, had no desire in fighting their adversaries, as they sought to be free of what they saw as the corruption and tyranny of the Republic. However, in 22 BBY, both governments and their respective military forces became enmeshed in the pan-galactic Clone Wars that had erupted on the planet Geonosis, the first conflict in a millennium. In the following three years of the war, which had raged across the entire galaxy on several fronts, the Confederacy made rapid attempts to cease the Republic's influence. However, unknown to the galaxy or either governments, the war was a ploy designed by the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Sidious, who led both the Confederacy through Dooku as his Sith Master, and, secretly, the Republic as Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine. The Sith Lord had managed to deceive both parties. By the third year of the war, the Confederacy had suffered several major defeats in the Outer Rim Sieges as the conflict began to approach its end, while the government had lost a third of its navy in the decisive Battle of Coruscant, which had resulted in the death of Dooku, the Confederacy's leader, though they were unaware that Dooku's death was actually masterminded by Sidious. In the days following their defeat at Coruscant, Supreme Martial Commander of the Separatist Droid Armies, General Grievous, was killed on the planet Utapau, as well as the government's Executive Separatist Council, which was slaughtered on the planet Mustafar. Subsequently after, the Confederacy's droid army was deactivated following the council's deaths, which led to the rapid collapse of the confederate government as the war came to an end. With the war's end, the corporations that supported the Confederacy's cause became nationalized, and its remaining star systems were absorbed into the Republic's successor state, the Galactic Empire, ruled by Galactic Emperor Sheev Palpatine, while elements of the Confederacy military remained active and fragmented into several holdouts throughout the galaxy.