[quote=@Arawak]
They exploded mars.

Lemme process that in my head for a bit.

They exploded an entire planet.

Eh, there's been more over the top things in sci-fi I suppose.
[/quote]

The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force.

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The Arcturan Empire can be as large or small as we want it to be. As to age, we do have the Flagg established current date, which presumably counts zero as the founding of the Imperium