Social Manipulation in the Empire

[Mikael Hasselstein]

I should, perhaps mention one of the Separatist holdouts, who were not conquered by the Empire immediately after the Clone War.

The Bryx Freedom Fighters eventually joined the Rebel Alliance. This is ironic, because a former Separatist group joined the Alliance to Restore the Republic.

But anyway, these guys notwithstanding, it may be that during the Rebellion era the Empire used the Rebellion in order to justify tightening its grip, but that Rebellion was fairly late in coming.

It seems like in the interwar period there wasn't much of a bogeyman. Or was there?

[lurker]

[CRMcNeill]

[CRMcNeill]

[Mikael Hasselstein]

[lurker]

[CRMcNeill]

Another thought: COMPNOR has a lot of similarities to "the party" in that it can also shape government and society by promoting the careers of SAGroup members into the Imperial Bureaucracy, increasing its own power and influence through the careers of loyal members placed in key positions.

And yes, in the absence of a genuine threat, totalitarian governments will certainly make one of their own, whether real or imagined.
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[garhkal]

Very true. Nothing spurs on the march of the govt doing what it will than having a "threat" to go against, keeping the masses in check.
I could also see them using subliminal messaging in their adverts and news reports, similar to how the Corporate sector is.
Heck one of our sparks games even has rebels (in the guise of corp sector employees) doing just that, making up adverts to 'bolster trust and support for the imperials'.
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[lurker]

[garhkal]

One of our bigger authors in our group came up with that. Great reasn to hit players who don't bother upping their willpower skill.. Subliminal messaging in the news/tv adverts etc as they go through a space port.
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[CRMcNeill]

@Mikael - A chapter of the ImpSB that gets almost completely ignored is the Recruitment, Training & Indoctrination chapter, the very last in the book. On the other hand, it provides some interesting details on the sociology of the Imperial military.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[Mikael Hasselstein]

[Mikael Hasselstein]

Okay, so I've done more thinking.

Taking Crmcneill's lead, we've characterized the ideology of the Empire as totalitarian, fueled by paranoia for some enemy, both outer (alien) and domestic (traitor/rebel/terrorist). We should build it out a little historically, thinking about the nature of the pre-existing regime, and then fathom what types of social change made the galaxy fall into the Empire.

When I look at RW social dynamics, I use four different lenses, drawn from four social sciences: sociology, cultural anthropology, economics and political science. That paranoia of some enemy or traitor - that's pure sociology right there. The Imperial claim on the monopoly on the use of force within its claimed jurisdiction, that's political science. More on culture and economy in a bit.

First, the Old Republic. Some of you might fill me in, because I haven't played any of the old republic games, but the sense that I get from what I have read and (frankly) from the prequel trilogy, is that the Old Republic was like a neo-liberal paradise with the Republic itself being some sort of United Nations, complete with all its imperfections, bureaucracy and corruption, but also its high-mindedness in the form of egalitarianism, multi-culturalism, open and free economies (subject to the power of oligarchies), etc.

The fact that the separatists were economic conglomerates (the Trade Federation, the Banking Clan, the Techno Union, etc.) suggests that they had some grievance at Republic policy. Maybe they rebelled against regulation and taxation. Added to this is that the Separatist groups were mostly alien and their power bases were on the rim. Nevertheless, they wielded considerable power, suggesting a concentration of power resources - money, technology, lobbyists, and clearly also weapons and droids. It's possibly the case that the rim was more developed during pre-Clone Wars times, but that the destruction of these powerful institutions also created less stability, which allowed the rim to become a bit chaotic and lawless. Couple that with the addition of Hutt cartels, and rampant crime, after the Clone Wars.

In regards to economics, I'm not sure what needs to be said. It feels like the Core worlds are clearly more developed than the rim, and they're only more so post-Clone War. Before the Clone War, the rim certainly had very large economic conglomerates, but that also suggests tremendous inequality. Yet, they were where cheap labor was probably outsourced to.

Culture is a harder nut to crack. I certainly don't want to talk about all the belief systems and such-like, but instead about both social values and the galactic culture of strife. I'm gathering that while there were skirmishes here and there prior to the Clone War, the Clone War was a huge cataclysm, the likes of which the galaxy had not seen for several thousand years. As such, the central authority did not have to have the tremendous military power that it would build under Palpatine's leadership. This peaceful situation wasn't because of some balance of power, but a galactic understanding that violent means are not appropriate for solving political disputes. The Separatists - probably arguing that they were victims of central government overreach - decided to militarize and transgress the previous more peaceful culture. During the Clone War, beliefs were manipulated in order to paint the chaos of the rim as something to be feared; uniformity and order to be embraced.

It's kind of an odd contrast with RW political alignments, but there's some rhyming with it, just like we see with Firefly and 1984. However, I'm not trying to mold the SWU into some symbolic political lesson or message.

Anyway, let me know if the above is coherent or in need of amendment.

[DougRed4]

I think it's an excellent analysis, and was quite interesting and thought provoking, Mikael. I'm not that knowledgeable about the Old Republic era, though (only played the MMORPG for a little while).

One thing I'm curious about. You refer to it as the "Clone War" (singular). Isn't it (now in retrospect) known as the Clone Wars (plural)? I know Yoda said "Begun this Clone War has." But I always assumed that he called it that because at the time there was only the one. But that perhaps over time multiple skirmishes ended up causing them to be called the Clone Wars (sort of like in the RW we have had multiple Gulf Wars). I have never watched the Clone Wars cartoons, though, so I only have a bit of knowledge on the subject (and I know Obi-Wan refered to them as the Clone Wars in his talk with Luke).
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Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green

[Mikael Hasselstein]