Originally posted by Vixas
Naturally, the character is all but non-existent as far as information before the ritual, besides bare-bones facts leading up to it. Though to be frank, I find it highly unlikely that the time-period leading up to it can be hand-waved away as pathetic due to the very fact the Nathema ritual happened and, more importantly, worked.Keeping in mind the point of my "defense" focuses on the mindset change of someone going from lengthy-but-limited lifespan to what seems to be effective immortality, considering the... priority changes involved, no it's not really pathetic how far he go/has gotten. Especially considering Palpatine has also had a lot of build-up to him with the Banite line all preserving knowledge for him on and on, as well as making sure they all succeeded one-another in power and steeped the Force in so much Dark Side energy Plagueis and Palpatine were able to shift it as they did. Whereas Vitiate/Valkorion is more an example of a "hostile takeover" of say, a corporation, at a decent level then building it up slowly over time. Palpatine inherited the top spot through the preparation of those before him, then built titanically on top of it using what those before him prepared.
in direct response to your last question: yes and no. Given he was working on both the Sith Empire and Zakuul supposedly at once, yes. But if you're looking for a word-for-word, big flashing neon sign version of a quote stating such, then no.
You're definitely misrepresenting the support Palpatine got from his predecessors. One of the recent fact files flat out states they were all - even Plagueis - far less concerned with the grand plan than they were their own pursuits. Palpatine more or less did it himself.
Palpatine's accomplishments are extraordinary, all things considered. Valkoriate is much less impressive.