How many ways could the Empire divide against itself?

[Battlehymn Republic]

Upon closer inspection, it would appear that the Inquisitorius is a branch within Imperial Intelligence, not exactly an independent Force-based organization. I was going to suggest that perhaps they could take over the I.I. and then vie for the throne much like Isard did, but that runs into the same problems you mentioned.

Hm, it really appears that a hypothetical Imperial Civil War would be much like the canonical post-Endor struggle; a lot of conflict over power, resources, and personalities, rather than any particular ideology or identity.

[Illuminatus Primus]

Upon closer inspection, it would appear that the Inquisitorius is a branch within Imperial Intelligence, not exactly an independent Force-based organization. I was going to suggest that perhaps they could take over the I.I. and then vie for the throne much like Isard did, but that runs into the same problems you mentioned.

Hm, it really appears that a hypothetical Imperial Civil War would be much like the canonical post-Endor struggle; a lot of conflict over power, resources, and personalities, rather than any particular ideology or identity.

Nitpick: The Inquisitorious is not a purely Force-using organization. Inquisitor Jerec was known to be an inquisitor but it was not commonly known he was a former Jedi Master. Likewise with Grand Inquisitor Torbin was not well-known as a Force sensitive, much less a trained adept in the dark side. The inquisition module on the TaggeCo Modular Taskforce Cruiser could deploy a very large number of inquisitors with their equipment and supplies (something like on the order of thousands). Unless an exclusive body of dark side adepts tasked with policing the dark side adepts formed the vast majority of the same and grossly outnumbered the Jedi Order prior to the Clone War, it is unlikely that all inquisitors are dark side adepts.

Like many of the institutions of the Empire, the official, de jure bodies were often just fronts for actually operative informal factions. Compare to the Imperial Ruling Council vs. the "Inner Circle"; the Privy Council to the "advisors" and "courtiers", etc. Likewise, the Inquisitorious was a specific ISBesque quasi-independent division of Imperial Intelligence. We know from the DESB and other sources they did exactly what they sounded like, and arranged show trials and inquisitions. And if they were all lightsaber armed and trained dark side adepts, why special issuing of disruptors? While the meaningful core of the Inquisitiorious were dark side adepts and primarily concerned with Jedi and Force adept hunting as well as policing Palpatine's dark side adepts in general, most inquisitors must not be dark side adepts and the dark side adepts must not be officially acknowledged.

[GrandAdmiralJello]

It's likely that men with whom Palpatine had a long partnership, like Pestage and Greejatus, were raised to aristocratic positions after the rise of the New Order by virtue of the creation of so many high positions around his Imperial Majesty and the Court.

It depends on what you mean by aristocrat. Do you refer to the titled nobility? If so, then it is certainly possible to create a homo novus as a peer--this is likely what you mean.

However, while a noble may ordinarily be socially superior to the hereditary rich, certain patricians will claim precedence based on the length of their lineage: one cannot, after all, create old money.

It doubtlessly rankled the Core élite to have such individuals elevated over their heads, but they could take solace in the fact that they were creatures of the Emperor. Without him they were nothing.

[TC Pilot]

Hm, it really appears that a hypothetical Imperial Civil War would be much like the canonical post-Endor struggle; a lot of conflict over power, resources, and personalities, rather than any particular ideology or identity.

Not exactly. The assumption with this scenario is essentially that Palpatine is not working behind the scenes like he did previously. Nor would the counterrevolutionaries have their "great triumph" to propell them toward conquest of the galaxy.

If you remove either of the above two influences out of the equation, you get a radically different post-Endor timeline. Pestage probably retains power longer, maybe indefinately, fewer warlords appear immediately after Endor, perhaps Admiral Oxtroe's negotiations succeed in generating a peace settlement early on, and the Empire still has a chance of acclaiming a new Emperor once enough of the most significant incompatible factions are destroyed.

Hell, now that I think about it, the Death Star I or II might come into play, depending on when this civil war starts.

It depends on what you mean by aristocrat. Do you refer to the titled nobility? If so, then it is certainly possible to create a homo novus as a peer--this is likely what you mean.

Yes, that's exactly the term I was looking for.

[GrandAdmiralJello]

Pestage and Dangor would probably still be at odds, which would still cause a bit of splintering.

After all, we know that the only thing stopping Dangor from striking out on his own was his deep personal loyalty to the person of HIM the Emperor. With that factor removed, there might have been just as overt a struggle between the ERC and Pestage.

You're right in saying that Pestage's position would have been much stronger, though. The Cabal wasn't willing to move against him until he showed his "incompetence"--the real Pestage would not have been as sloppy. Though he was still hated by all and sundry, so it's possible he would have come to some sort of arrangement with Dangor so he could get a much stronger base of support among the privy council.