Military

Military forces are in high demand under the Sith Lords, who need them to keep populations subjugated when they aren’t struggling against each other. The Sith generally distinguish between Army forces, which are used in taking and holding territory, and Fleet forces, which deal with orbital and planetary defenses. The Fleet is responsible for transporting Army units between worlds and providing space and air support. Army forces are expected to handle personal combat during any boarding action.

Army and Fleet each have their own rank structure, which are translated here from Basic into English using Western army and naval ranks as a starting point. The translation has been performed with more of an eye toward memorability of names (and drastic oversimplification for the convenience of civilian gamemasters like myself) than accuracy to any particular Earth tradition, while attempting to minimize cognitive dissonance for players who actually know these real-world details.

The historical need that created warrant officers in Earth history never existed in Sith-commanded military. Sith Lords never insert themselves into the command hierarchy: either they take tactical command or leave it to their highest ranking officer. (It is common to have the Lord on the flag bridge of their command vessel standing next to the holotank, providing tactical insights based in their use of the Power, which their officers then translate into action. Any vessel expecting to host a Sith Lord has a private chamber for them next to the bridge, usually with a private lift leading to the hangar deck.) Warrior-caste Sith are almost always commissioned officers; if a Sith is in the enlisted ranks, it is either barely competent or extremely dangerous. Sith tend to chafe under the command of non-Sith and will usually be very aggressive in attempting to fight their way up the chain of command; non-Sith officers with a record of surviving Sith underlings are well-respected.

Technically, each Sith Lord is free to maintain their own style of command hierarchy in their forces; however, since they can be ordered by their overlord to integrate their own forces into a larger one at any time, rank structure is fairly common across the galaxy.

Mercenaries are available in quantities ranging from skilled individuals to well-diversified platoons to entire armies and capital fleets. They often gravitate to brewing conflicts, set up outside of combat range, and open the bidding for their services.

(Sources: List of Galactic Empire ranks, US Military Ranks, British and US military ranks compared, Formation (military), List of US Army MOS.)

In peacetime, ascension in rank usually takes place through promotion, though there’s always a background amount of intrigue going on in any outfit. Killing subordinates and superiors is much more common when there are critical missions taking place. Anyone achieving rank through assassination needs to be ready to perform exemplary duties associated with their new rank, or they can expect to be made into a public example by a superior officer.

Non-Sith have been known to retire and promote someone into their place; Sith only do this if they have managed to earn noble rank in service to their overlord.

The military forces seen in the movies are the result of sudden change, and are relatively immature. The forces of the Sith Empire have thousands of years of tradition behind them; the hardware is slightly advanced from the days of conquest, but the personnel are not as experienced or focused. A strong-willed officer can run a very corrupt operation (involving smuggling, extortion, slave raids, etc.) and as long as they keep their lord happy (usually by presenting a share of the profits with some plausible excuse), it can go on for quite some time.

When Sith battle amongst themselves, they usually seek to take possession of intact territory, infrastructure, and people, but they can easily escalate to planet-devastating tactics if a war drags on for a while. Orbital bombardment can easily lay waste to a civilization.

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