The Schism Imperial, or simply the Schism, was a secretive breakaway faction that was opposed the reign of Emperor Sheev Palpatine while remaining loyal to the Galactic Empire. The Schism was the greatest threat to Palpatine's rule after the scourge of the droids ended. Sly Moore was the leader of the Schism, while the Emperor's apprentice Darth Vader pondered if he should join the Schism instead of destroying it. Concurrently to Vader's discovery of the Schism Imperial's plan, Moore prepared her conspirators for action. The group was a union of traitors, and as such had the danger of turning on each other. Vader and the Schism Imperial's boldest challenge to Palpatine's reign came with the assault on Exegol.
The Schism Imperial first appeared in the forty-first issue of the 2020 comic book series Star Wars: Darth Vader, which was written by Greg Pak, illustrated by Raffaele Ienco, and published by Marvel Comics on December 20, 2023. The capitalization for the name "Schism Imperial" was confirmed in the opening crawl of Darth Vader (2020) 44.