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[inquisitorhotpants]

Overview The Imperial Guard is the elite of the already-formidable Imperial military, a highly trained legion of non-Force sensitives, capable of subduing or destroying all manner of enemies, including Jedi and Sith.  Entrance into this venerated order requires personal selection by your commander and a lengthy, grueling training and trial period (most details of which are kept shrouded in mystery).

Personnel selected for training must already be at the top of their rank, the top of their MOS, an example for others to follow.  Their military personnel record (MPR) must be without blemish, and they must have already proved themselves in battle, preferably against Force users.

It is imperative you understand that only the best of the best, the Empire’s finest, will become Imperial Guards.  The current attrition rate as of 1342 Imperial is 70%, and has reached as high as 85%.

Qualification Personnel submitted for consideration must pass the following:

Initial questionnaire detailing your loyalties and your accomplishments 

Commanders who put up plainly unqualified candidates open themselves up to disciplinary action.  While a selected Imperial Guard can raise a unit’s estimation, attempting to game this system has the opposite effect.

If you are weak but not outright disqualified in this portion, only an exceptional MPR (military personnel record) in a field of already exceptional MPRs can overcome your score.  “Weak but still qualified” is an extremely rare category, one only arrived at if someone’s score is too close to call, and only after debate by the leadership of the Guard.

30% of washouts will occur here, not passing initial scrutiny

Initial Guard physical fitness test, which is much more rigorous than the usual Imperial PFT and includes a duel with an instructor at the end.

Contrary to the fanciful rumors that are ever-present among the uninformed, you will not duel to the death, though if you fail you will go home beaten and bloody.  

5% of washouts will occur during the IGPFT.

If you pass both the initial examination and the initial physical qualification, you are a Guard Candidate.  You will leave your family and your unit, and proceed to the intake facility on Dromund Kaas for your initial issue and to await your assignment to a training class.  While there, you will conduct general training days, consisting of a mix of both physical and intellectual improvement.

Upon your assignment to a training class, you will move into the phases of training.

Phase I (7 weeks): Physical Prowess

This phase will push you to your physical limits.  You will learn to use all manner of arms, both ranged and melee.  You will be given instruction in martial arts combat styles.  You will put yourself through more grueling physical training than you ever have in your career.  When you are finished, you will be a weapon of the Empire.

50% of washouts will occur during this phase.

Phase II (7 weeks): Strategy and Tactical Acumen

This phase will expand the way you view and assess battlefields, from classic strategy passed down through the centuries to new tactics being developed today.  You will learn the intricacies of mission planning, how to adapt when the plan must inevitably change, and more, augmenting your physical skill with equally important mental skill.  All periods of instruction are taught by Advanced War College instructors, all of whom are experts in their field.

2% of washouts will occur during this phase.

Phase III (7 weeks): All-Weather Conditioning

The Empire is home to no small number of worlds with brutal climates, and the Imperial Guard must function at peak performance on all of them.  You will travel to a number of these worlds and learn to survive in the extremes the galaxy has to offer.

8% of washouts will occur during this phase.

Phase IV (3 weeks): Operational Trials

You and your fire team will be given a number of trials which will require you to work as a flawless unit, putting into practice all the skills you have learned over the past three months.  If you cannot pass as a team, you will be cycled back into the upcoming class.  If you cannot pass that second time, you are expelled.

4% of washouts will occur during this phase.

Phase V (1 week): Personal Trials

This is your final test.  You will face current Guards, Force users, single combatants, multiple enemies.  You will prove that you deserve to wear the scarlet robes of the Guard.

1% of washouts will wash out here, defeated in what should have been their finest moment.

If you graduate, you will become a full member of the Guard.  You will be assigned the secondary MOS of the Guard, and receive a duty station somewhere within the Empire.  Unlike the rest of the military, the Guard falls strictly under the purview of the Sphere of Defense of the Empire; our duty is to protect our home, to stand as a bulwark against traitors from within and murderers from without.

Occasionally, the Guard will be called to defend active military installations, often when the majority of personnel are required for frontline missions.  A recent example of this was our presence on Ilum, while base personnel conducted raids first against the Republic, and then against Malgus the Betrayer.

Know that if you prove you are worthy of ascending to our ranks, you are joining a band of Imperials whose talent, bravery, and devotion are unsurpassed.

General A. H. Hesker Commander, Imperial Guard

An update to the Guard manual, made by Darth Marr, Councilor of the Sphere of the Defense of the Empire, 9 Sadow, 1334: The Imperial Guard are loyal to the Empire, because our duty is to the Empire.  This must not be forgotten.

(Internal memos between Darth Marr and Lord Lana Beniko, dated both during and after the final confrontation with Revan on Yavin 4, detail the thorough and deliberate culling of Imperial Guards who were more loyal to Vitiate than they were to the Empire as a whole.  The remaining, and the ones who carried out said culling, hew closely to Darth Marr’s vision of loyalty to the state, not to one person.

More recent memos between Darth Marr and the former Lord Beniko, now Darth Tenere, discuss the need to reconstitute the ranks of the Guard, given the Empire’s expansion.  Darth Atroxa is added on later memos, and a plan is approved to begin a widespread but rigorous selection process, though standards will not be relaxed.)

Author’s notes: Let’s see.  I don’t think I have many?

1.  Yes, I did away with that stupid 80% fatality rate mentioned in SoR because that’s stupid as hell.  Killing off your best people is fucking dumb.  Send them home with broken bones or on a stretcher, but stop hobbling your own damn fighting force.  So yeah, that’s gone.

2. Yes, the attrition rate for the Guard is actually better than the SEAL attrition rate, because the Imperial Guard already draws from a smaller selection pool, allowing for more qualified people from the jump while still having a high attrition rate because this shit is hard.

3. Of course they were going to have zealots.  And in the Krynverse, they got culled.  No sitting around hoping they change their minds.  The loyal ones prove their loyalty by culling the ones who forgot where their loyalties should be.  It is still the Empire.

4.  As always, this is just my worldbuilding take on it after being kind of unimpressed with what was there.  If you like it, awesome.  If you don’t, that’s fine, too.  The fun of worldbuilding your own details is accepting what you like and ignoring what you don’t.

#fun with worldbuilding #okay now that this is done #i can get back to the character sheet i'm working on #that's great #i love that i had to do all this for one NPC #bioware you're off my life day card list