[@Bishop] I completely agree with you.  I came into Star Wars blind to the timeline, and when I watched the prequels, I was more than a little confused.  I think that's the only redeeming quality of the Last Jedi, is that there is not AS MUCH bias.  It's even more brutal, as far as the "bad guys" laying waste than Empire Strikes Back, in my opinion.  I won't spoil much, but there is still the same old biased writing, but I think admitting that Jedi are basically religious extremists and Rogue One managing to make the Rebel Alliance look like a terrorist organization, is a really good way to try to redeem some of the new canon.

As far as the open RP, there is nothing that says that the characters can't interact or meet.  In fact, there's a good chance that since everyone knows of the Empire and what they are doing, as well as the rebels, at some point, characters are going to meet.  What I'm attempting to do, is give people as much room to stay away from the parts of the canon they hate, as they can, but I'm pretty firm about my timeline.  The main timeline will be set 4ish years before the battle of Yavin...and will lead up to the height of the Empire's hold, around that time.  

I would like to get a compiled list together of where everyones characters are, and what party they are in agreement with (Empire or Rebels), so that I can try to see what characters WOULD interact, and how they would interact would be up to the players.