Major Faction
Throne World: Coruscant
The Galactic Empire is the ultimate power in the galaxy. It is the successor state which arose out of the political implosion of the Old Republic. The Empire has consolidated its power by limiting the influence of the Galactic Senate and increasing the size and strength of its military power.
Ostensibly owned and operated by the New Order Corporation, the imperial bureaucracy which has grown to support that economic behemoth has spread well beyond the realm of reasonable understanding. Hence, it is now difficult for any individual to understand exactly who controls what within the organisation.
As opposed to the corporation in whose name it was formed, the Galactic Empire represents the military interests of the vast array of officers and soldiers who serve the imperial hegemony via its unfathomably colossal war machine. It focuses on security, and obedience to the authority of planetary governors and sector Moffs. The bureaucracy merely acts to support the Imperial apparatus of state, which in turn maintains order and security in the galaxy.
A labyrinthine organisation built upon complex laws, customs and traditions from its predecessor—the Old Republic—it grew out of the Fourth Jedi Schism and the Clone Wars which accompanied it. The crisis was manipulated by the ambitious Senator Caius Palpatine, who installed himself as First Chair of the fledgeling corporation. But before long his position of strength was undermined by other factions within the burgeoning imperial government.
First and foremost, the Empire consolidates its rule by brute military force. Its citizens remain loyal not usually because of the ideals of the imperial propaganda machine, the HoloNet, but out of fear of reprisals. Various military and paramilitary organisations operate under the aegis of the ‘Empire’, but above all else the Imperial Navy is the greatest of these. The dreaded Imperial Starfleet maintains control through its capacity to blockade whole planets, strangling their economy and even starving out their citizens in many cases. Furthermore, the newer and larger capital-class starships, most iconically the Imperial-class Star Destroyers, are capable of laying waste to large swathes of a planet’s surface.
Beneath the iron exterior of the triangular capital ships and bristling weaponry of the imperial armada, the Imperial Army also maintains control in a more direct sense via its legions of Imperial Stormtroopers, who are perhaps the most visible sign of the Empire’s presence in most Core Worlds. Given the order and prosperity which the Empire has come to provide, very few Core Worlds truly fear retribution from the Imperial Navy, and so the garrison forces on each world are the means by which most Imperial citizens recognise the authority of their government.