Imperial and Planetary Security Forces

[Yora]

We just had a threat about stormtroopers and one about star destroyers, both of which in regard to how much presence they actually have and how they are being used. Which I think is part of an even bigger topic that is of particular interest when dealing with the running of campaigns.

That topic being how the Emperor's rule and the enforcement of Imperial law actually reach down to ordinary people, common scoundrels, and rebels hiding among the regular population.

I always try to to use as much from the first three movies and stay both within the spirit and the letter of their worldbuilding as possible. It just seems the easiest way for me to recapture the essence and style of the movies. For me that's a higher priority than trying to make every single work from four decades fit together into a seamless whole in which statements from the movies are only "true from a certain point of view" anymore. Though that's my personal reference.

Their on screen performance in the movies aside, Obi-Wan's description of the stormtroopers presents them as being the most hardcore elite soldiers in the entire galaxy. Can't blame them for failing when they are only shown fighting with the children of Anakin Skywalker who are the heroes in a pulp adventure movie. Unfortunately, since the movies show the Empire from Vader's perspective, stormtroopers are the only Imperial soldiers we ever see. And the Expanded Universe (particularly comics and videogames) ran with that used the stormtroopers with their super-iconic uniforms at every possible opportunity, leading to them often being shown as the generic Imperial thugs. Which I think actually decreases the feeling that they are are terrifying threat to heroes.
And pretty much exactly the same things apply in just the same way to Imperial Star Destroyers. I vividly remember them often being described as being able to pacify an entire system all by themselves.

I think it's great when there are several tiers of threats so you can have an actual escalation and create an appearance that things are going from bad to worse.
It makes sense to sense the best of the best to recover the Death Star plans, to make a surprise attack against the Rebel headquarters, to capture Luke Skywalker, and to guard the shield generator on Endor. Those are all priority 1 mission for the Empire. (Sending four Star Destroyers to chase the Millennium Falcon into an asteroid field was a bit overkill, though.)

Some of the New Republic books mention and include CorSec, the semi-autonomous law enforcement agency of the Corellian Sector. Which I think is a great model to approach local security forces in general.
The Old Republic in the movies appears to be (ironically) a kind of confederation with systems that enjoy a great degree of autonomy, even beyond what we see today with most federal republics. And the Galactic Empire comes across as much more Roman Empire than British Empire. When the Empire still had the senate, systems seem to have been mostly self-governing.

So the image that I have of how security works in the Empire is that the Imperial Navy and Imperial Army are directly serving under the Emperor (like federal troops), but that all systems have their own local security forces that primarily work as police forces, dealing with crimes and security for the local population and government. Things get a bit more blurry because the Empire does not really have any external threats coming from the armed forces of hostile powers. The Imperial Navy and Army seem to be the only proper military in the whole galaxy. The Empire doesn't really need a military and only has use for law enforcement.
But of course, as an evil autocratic ruler, you can always make war on your own people.

I think a solid sounding model for the military and para-military forces of the Empire would be to have countless of small local security forces that deal with everyday crime and common piracy within their systems, consisting only of local residents of the system. They could have their own uniforms and patrol their space with the same ships that are being told to mercenaries and private security companies, like Corellian Corvettes, Strike cruisers, Headhunters, and Preybirds.
In turn, the Imperial Navy and Army would be completely separate and be the only ones who use Star Destroyers, TIE Fighters, and AT-ATs. Imperial troops would be used to crush revolts and destroy pirates that are too big for the local security forces to handle, and to "declare martial law" when the loyalty of the planetary government is in question. (Though I assume all of the Empire is under permanent martial law, and Imperial officers being able to throw local officials out of their offices whenever they want.)

Scoundrel and undercover Rebel agents would mostly be interacting with the para-military planetary security forces that are responding to fighting in the streets or are doing routine inspections of ships. And when (or even if) they later run into stormtroopers and TIE fighters, they know for certain that they have drawn the attention of people very high up and have been pulled into something much bigger than before.

What are your thoughts and approaches to this?
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"Adventure? Eh... Excitement? Eh... A Jedi does not crave these things."

Iridium Moons Retro-futuristic Space Opera

[RyanDarkstar]

Being bored at work, I've been re-reading RPG books at work. Currently I've been mowing through WEG adventure books, and I've noticed there are quite a number of local law enforcement/security/planetary militias available.

Mission to Lianna - Santhe Security & Liann Military Guards
Crisis on Cloud City - Bespin Wing Guard
Death in the Undercity - Quarren security
Supernova - The Demophon Protectorate, Tyed Kant corporate security, D'Larah City Patrol
The Game Chambers of Questal - local police force
Operation: Elrood - Radell Security & Elrooden Police
The Politics of Contraband - Glova Planetary Militia, Karren Police, Celanon Organized Protectorate Troops
Han Solo & The Corporate Sector - Espos

Aside from Bespin and Mon Calamari, neither of which has an Imperial presence, all of the worlds had their own security, police and/or militia which would defer to Imperial agents or troops should the Empire demand it. So, yeah, once the Stormtroopers arrived, you know you've crossed into serious trouble, unless you're a Rebel, in which case, you knew what you were getting into.
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Currently playing D&D 5E and painting an unholy amount of miniatures.