The New Order in Power

[Vehrec]

You sir, have just given me more RPG bunnies to play with in my continu8ing efforts to create a sector of the galaxy. I had already intended COPNOR to be one of the major enemies of rebel players durring the Rebellion era, so this is just more fuel for the fire. Imagine it. Rebel bases being overrun by the local boyscout troop. It will be most assuredly glorious.

[Ender]

Solid as always, however I think you missed a very salient bit of information - in Allegiance the stormtroopers are investigating a COMPForce shuttle and find a compartment full of stormtrooper gear. COMPForce, in addition to its own atrocities, would dress up as regular AFI members for various unspecified missions.

[Publius]

Solid as always, however I think you missed a very salient bit of information - in Allegiance the stormtroopers are investigating a COMPForce shuttle and find a compartment full of stormtrooper gear. COMPForce, in addition to its own atrocities, would dress up as regular AFI members for various unspecified missions.

A fascinating bit of information, especially in light of the desire posited herein for CompForce to replace the stormtroopers. At first glance, that could either be evidence of a certain wish-fulfillment play-acting, or else a deliberate effort to shift responsibility for illegal activities onto one of the saber-wearing branches. (Cracken's Threat Dossier notes that it became common to dress soldiers in stormtrooper armor after Endor to exploit the marines' reputation.)

[Darth Fanboy]

Wait, I thought that shuttle was ISB?

ISB's portrayal in Allegiance really makes them seem like they are an agency of their own as part of the heirarchy, especially after the actions undertaken by the Empire on Teardrop are referred to as an ISB Operation, and the agents of ISB have military-style ranks.

[The Original Nex]

Wait, I thought that shuttle was ISB?

ISB's portrayal in Allegiance really makes them seem like they are an agency of their own as part of the heirarchy, especially after the actions undertaken by the Empire on Teardrop are referred to as an ISB Operation, and the agents of ISB have military-style ranks.

The ISB does use military style ranks (see Col. Yularen), but they are not part of the Imperial Armed Forces, nor part of the government structure itself.

[Publius]

THE NEW ORDER IN POWER

Appendix A: The Court of Courts

[Editor's Note: This appendix is excerpted from Professor Lamont's article "The Interplay of Subcultures and Competing Power Structures within the Court of Courts," first published in the Galactic Historical Society Journal Vol. 42, No. 616. The whole article was published as an appendix to the third edition of The New Order in Power.]

The majority of the power structure of the Galactic Empire was essentially the Galactic Republic renovated as part of the New Order — the Republic Authority became the Imperial State, the Republican Defense became the Armed Forces of the Imperium, and so forth — but the Emperor's court was essentially an innovation unprecedented in galactic constitutional history. Some of his more authoritarian predecessors as Supreme Chancellor had been surrounded by retinues described as "courts" by polemicists of the day, but the truth is that these informal bodies bore little resemblance to the royal and aristocratical courts found among such states as the Senex Lords, the Esselian Empire, the Dawla of the Seven Ports, and the Lords of the Expanse. Palpatine's court was the first time that the galaxy's most powerful figures — particularly among the so-called "Names and Numbers" — were gathered into a single place and given some kind of formal recognition.There is near universal agreement among scholars that the greatest advantage of this measure was that, as the Princess Leia of Alderaan noted wryly, "putting all the vipers in one basket makes it easy to keep an eye on them." Even Palpatine's most virulent critics found it difficult to avoid entanglement in the goings-on of court life, and it provided the forum in which the Empire's rival power structures interacted and vied for supremacy. It was in essence the culmination of the patronage system; Palpatine was the central supermassive black hole about which orbited the constellations of influence owned by political grandees, Great Powers, the great Houses, multistellar corporations, and crime families. [1]

The court was never formally incorporated, and thus it is difficult to assign to it a proper name. The most commonly used terms — "The Emperor's Court" and "The Imperial Court" — were popularized by the holomedia, but cannot be considered to be official in any sense (the holomedia were also in the habit of referring to the Supreme Commander as the Empire's "military dictator" or "shōgun" and invariably mistranslated "Privy Counselor" into Basic as "Imperial Advisor"). Official documents used the terms "Court of the Imperial Palace," "Court of His Imperial Majesty," and "Confraternity of the Chambers" interchangeably, often in the same scandoc. Members of court referred to it as the "Court of Courts," and some of Palpatine's own writings use this term, giving it perhaps the best claim to being the 'proper name.' The majority of court functions took place in the Hall of Illumination, a sort of exclusive twin to the Imperial Palace's Grand Corridor, or else in the various arterial chambers attached to it; entry into this part of the palace was strictly regulated, and several hundred unauthorized holojournalists unfortunate enough to be discovered there were convicted of felonious trespass and sentenced to hard labor on Akrit'tar. Permission to enter the Hall of Illumination was granted in letters patent issued by the Imperial Chancellery (dubbed an "entrée" in court lingo). Entrées could be written so that the bearer was permitted entry on only one occasion, on specified occasions, only between specified hours, or at any time the bearer pleased — hence the distinction between an entrenotre (literally "among us"), who merely had permission to be present in chambers, and an undenotre ("one of us"), who regularly attended at court. Any dominion chief of state or head of government automatically received one (unless blackballed on account of political disgrace); they were often granted as rewards to prominent scholars, artists, public servants, and members of the service. The most frequent reason for an entrée's issuance was that the bearer was sponsored for presentation by a courtier, which automatically enrolled the débutant in the sponsor's clientele. It was therefore more prestigious and more politically valuable to receive an entrée on one's own merit (in suo manu) than under the patronage of a sponsor (in manu alterius). [2]

Certain officers received an entrée ex officio. All Ruling Councilmen, the Great Officers of State, Peers of the Empire, Privy Counselors and Candidate Members of the Council, and Executives of the Imperium automatically received unlimited letters patent, as did the Chancellor of the Senate, the chairmen and ranking members of Senate committees, the Lord Justice President and the Lords Justices of the Supreme Court, Lords Chief Justices and Lords Justices of Appeal, HIM Plenipotentiaries, HIM Attorneys General and HIM Procurators General, members of the Coordinating Committee and the Supreme Commander's Committee, senior officers of HIM Household, and recipients of the Emperor's Will (the highest award granted by the Empire). Other de rigueur bearers included HIM Solicitors General, non-gubernatorial members of the College of Moffs, Regents of the Galactic Museum, Visitors of The University, Directors of the Galaxies Opera House and of the Coruscant Opera, the High- and Tranquil-Master of the Most Noble Order of the Firepath, and members of the "Ancient and Privileged Confraternities" (e.g., the Order of the Canted Circle, the Giam Club, the Worshipful Company of the Gilded Eye, and the Ternazi); Senators and ambassadors were admitted automatically when acting in an official capacity as representatives of a dominion or an external power (but did not have the right to enter socially without an entrée). Technically speaking, the nine Great Officers of State — officially the Emperor's permanent plenipotentiaries for overseeing the functions of the Imperial State — acted as sponsors for entrée in suo manu; GECOs and HIMEMs were presented by the Grand Duke, Grand Domestic, or Grand Logothete, and public servants usually by the Grand Chancellor or Grand Steward. Civilians were generally presented by the Grand Treasurer, Grand Chamberlain, Grand Counselor (the name by which the Lord President of the Council was known in his capacity as a Great Officer of State), or Grand Vizier, although there was no rule preventing any Great Officer from presenting anyone not within his usual bailiwick. Needless to say, the notoriously snobbish court came to assign varying levels of prestige even to which Great Officer had presented a courtier (most famously, the duel that claimed the life of the Seventieth Osdrenald Caliph came about when Drost, Baron Elegin publicly belittled the Padcliffe Mór's nephew for having been presented by the Grand Treasurer instead of the Grand Chamberlain). [3]

The Peerage of the Empire was a key part of the Imperial honors system. A sort of 'lifetime achievement' counterpart to the 'particular achievement' system of medals and other awards, the Peerage was a means of acknowledging the longstanding service of particularly eminent individuals. Awarded in degrees of prince, duke, marquess, count, viscount, baron, and castellan, with a separate degree of warlord granted for exceptional military merit, the Peerage was the highest form of recognition granted by the Imperial State — and was not awarded lightly. The Minister President's Office drafted a semiannual Honors List submitted to the Privy Council's Advisory Committee on Honors and Benefices for review, which was then forwarded to the Private Secretariat of the Imperial Chancellery for further scrutiny, and then presented to the Emperor for his consideration. The nominations for the Peerage were by far the most heavily scrutinized part of the Honors List; in total, only 23 percent of nominees were ever created peers of any degree, with drastically lower percentages reported for the higher degrees (it should be remembered that dukedoms and counties were considered appropriate for retiring members of the Supreme Court, requiring decades of distinguished legal service). The privileges associated with the Peerage were considerable; they ranked immediately after the Imperial Family, the Ruling Council, and the Great Officers of State, and took precedence before even the Privy Counselors and officers of the Household (indeed, the Imperial Decree governing precedence for the Empire pointedly states that Lords Justices of the Supreme Court and Grand Moffs of the Empire ranked with the Peers of the Empire, defining the former's rank in terms of the latter's). They were immune from civil arrest, and defamation of a Peer — "great scandal" — was defined as both a tort and a felony under the Imperial Penal References, with punishments comparable to those awarded for the tort/felony of lèse majesté. Peers were granted generous pensions on the Civil List, received apanages and permission to use some of the exclusive properties of the Throne Estate, and were entitled to wear distinctive vestments that set them clearly apart at formal ceremonials. Furthermore, Peers could only be tried by a jury of their peers — i.e., other Peers — in a special court separate from the normal courts system, operated by the College of Arms (in cases involving a prince or duke of the Empire, the Artax Principal King of Arms presided personally). [4]

It is commonplace knowledge that despite the splendor of the Imperial Palace and other official residences, Palpatine himself lived in relative simplicity. Most of the formalities pertaining to his person were entirely pro formo: The First and Principal Naval Aide de Camp, Flag Aides de Camp, Aides de Camp General, and Space Aides de Camp did not actually act his military aides, and the liveried footmen and equerries of His Imperial Majesty's Household performed only front-of-stairs ceremonial functions. He dressed himself prior to levers and undressed himself after couchers, and nearly all of the domestic duties in the Imperial Palace and other residences were performed by an enormous stable of unobtrusive droids. Still, like the Great Officers of State, many of the Household's senior officers had official duties which they were expected to perform. The Lord Chamberlain of the Household acted as The Throne's official spokesman to the Imperial Senate, and frequently also represented The Throne to the College of Moffs. The Master of the Household was responsible for managing the Emperor's domestic arrangements, and the Throne Equerry — for some inexplicable reason universally called the "Crown Equerry," to the extent that the official title was nearly totally unknown — oversaw his travel arrangements, including control over his large stable of transportation craft. The Lord Keeper of the Privy Purse managed finances for the Household, and the Private Secretary maintained the Emperor's official correspondence and schedule. Other officers with official duties included the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal, the Director of the Imperial Collection, the Poet Laureate, the Astronomer Imperial, and the Physician to the Galactic Emperor; each official residence duplicated these functions at a lower level, so that the residence was prepared for the Emperor's arrival at any given time. Beneath these operational offices of the Household were a number of sinecure offices, whose incumbents were appointed as a mark of Imperial favor — when Rufaan Tigellinus was appointed Treasurer to the Emperor, there was no expectation that he would be assigned any actual duties by the Lord Privy Purse. Needless to say, possession of one of these nominal offices was a tremendous mark of distinction at court, and there were few things more disgraceful than to be dismissed from the Household. (Palpatine occasionally dismissed Household officers at random or on the least pretext, largely for the sake of keeping them suitably aware of their dependence on his favor.) [5]

Curiously, Palpatine's well-known reclusiveness came increasingly to mean that his court more or less operated without him. Levers and couchers were held every day, but over the years his actual attendance of them became irregular and infrequent — which essentially turned them into formal occasions with no actual point. Pleading poor health, he rarely attended diplomatic receptions, and presentations at court were conducted only once a month (and he usually stayed in the Hall of Illumination only long enough to hear all the presentations, leaving soon after). Still, attendance at these events was de rigueur, as he was not in the habit of announcing when he would be present: Nobody who was anybody was willing to risk having been absent when the Emperor did bother to show up — although he rarely spoke with more than a dozen or so people at any one occasion, it could be nothing short of disastrous if a rival courtier had the Emperor's ear for even half an hour in one's absence (for the same reason these mandarins would eagerly wait hours on bended knee at a holoreceiver at the mere suggestion that Palpatine might deign to call them, or waited in line for hours in the Supplicants Waiting Hall outside one of the Emperor's private throne rooms on the off-chance he might decide to see one or two of them). In his Reminiscences, Luke Skywalker records his belief that Palpatine enjoyed forcing these powerful men and women to tailor their lives and their schedules to what he might do, implicitly acknowledging him as the center of their universe. [6]

[Editor's Note: Refer to chapter 3, "The Privy Council and the Council of Ministers," for a discussion of court parties and the clientele system.]

The galactic upper class had developed a distinct subculture over the course of twenty-five millennia, to the point that it was almost totally unrelated from popular culture. The rarefied upper ranks were composed near-exclusively of established noble and patrician families drawn from the Great Houses (most especially the Old Families and the Ancient Houses), the Houses Major, and the bluest of the Houses Minor ("Names") or from the closed network of business families that made up the corporate nobility of the galaxy's Namelike large and powerful multistellar corporations ("Numbers"). These magnates had radically different tastes in art, music, cuisine, entertainment, fashion, and manners, and even literally spoke a different language: the 'quality' spoke dialects of High Galactic and Galactic Standard rather than the vulgar Basic. Despite their colossal wealth — most Names controlled enormous networks of holding companies, interlocking directorships, trust funds, foundations, and silent partnerships, creating an unequal distribution of wealth marked by a difference of several orders of magnitude between the galactic well-to-do upper middle class and the galactic upper class, to the point that a "corporate princess" of one of the Numbers could reasonably expect to receive a spending allowance of millions of credits per year — this clannish subculture prized elegance and refinement above mere wealth; an impoverished nobleman or patrician who was a master calligrapher or third-degree grandmaster of Firepath had considerably greater social standing than a plebeian billionaire. Palpatine, himself a belletrist and patron of the arts, actively (if not overtly) encouraged the transplanting of this highly-exclusive subculture directly into the court. Knowledge of the fine arts and favored pursuits of the quality — collectively referred to as belles objets — was an invaluable asset to any would-be courtier, and could make the difference between an entrenotre and an undenotre; more importantly, knowledge of the strict esoteric rules of etiquette and custom — the ryô ryorum — was absolutely vital, and could literally make the difference between a courtier and a corpse: an unwary outsider all too easily ran afoul of some obscure taboo or subtle faux pas and became embroiled in duels and blood feuds. [7]

It is a matter of some surprise to most observers to discover how weak the Ersatzstaat's position truly was at court. Composed chiefly of ideological zealots and extremist populist reformers, the leadership of COMPNOR and the New Order Party found themselves badly out of step with the couture and polish of the galaxy's bluebloods; powermongers of the first rank, they were rank amateurs when it came to mastering the finer points of belles objets or navigating the shibboleths and taboos of the ryô ryorum — precious few of the leading Ordinals had any upper class background at all, and those who did like Wilhuff Tarkin and the Marquess Vandron of the Blood Royal were more interested in exploiting their pedigrees for their own benefit than in acting as life-preservers for their more uncouth party comrades. At the same time, Monarchist bluebloods found to their dismay that the New Order Party's "Iron Thirty" in the Senate was decidedly hostile to the entrenched privileges of the aristocracy, and in no mood to cooperate with their efforts to legislate ever greater power to themselves. The result was a startling balance of power between the Monarchists' two constituencies: the aristocrats controlled the patronage and key appointments, but the ideologues controlled the Senate votes, the purse strings, and the bureaucracy. Each group believed Palpatine was one of them and tolerated the other only out of expediency, but at the same time found their efforts to implement their agendas stymied by the other. The result was a quid pro quo of "cash for honors," a bitter, hate-filled alliance characterized by near-constant renegotiations and private understandings as each side regarded the other with suspicion and thinly-concealed contempt. "Palpatine deliberately arranged things so that the bluebloods had to deal with the rabble," Doman Beruss recalls, "and the True Believers had to deal with the social-parasites." Declassified records from the Throne Personal Archives have revealed that the situation was carefully stage-managed by Palpatine and his Inner Circle mandarins to prevent either wing of the Monarchist coalition from securing hegemony over the Empire — and also revealed that foremost among these puppeteers was the Clean Handed "Little Palpatine" of COMNOR, the Marquess Vandron of the Blood Royal. [8]

Not everyone who attended court was an intrigant. Many were merely socialites or society notables who were present more or less to see and be seen. No one could mistake the elderly epigrammist Neeja vel Paladras for a court player, even if her status as one of Palpatine's favorites gave her especial cachet. This was not necessarily an innoculation against court intrigues; in an environment where everything from one's social calendar to the color of one's jabot could be seen as significant, intrigue was pandemic, convoluted, and quite often vicious. Like its close cousin the Council of Ministers, court intrigues were a virtual minefield of shifting alliances, secret understandings, and unspoken gentleman's agreements. Court intrigues were as petty as they were grandiose; who one chose to spend one's days — and one's nights — with was as important as one's political sentiments, one's tastes in the arts, the quality of one's penmanship, and the sharpness of one's tongue. A turn of phrase just a bit too cutting or an invitation that arrived just a bit too late in the day could provoke a duel — and not necessarily with the aggrieved party (as befell the Osdrenald Caliph). A textbook illustration: What began in 32 rS as mere rakery between the Duke of Burr Nolyds's daughter Lady Galrandine and Tan Davin Bel Sambliss rapidly spiraled out of control until it ended in the orbital bombardment of Califex Prime by Grand Moff Kreuser (who had lost an eye in a duel with Burr Nolyds after dancing with his daughter Lady Katarina at a masquerade ball). Nor were duels the only violent byproducts of vendettas and intrigues; druggings, kidnappings, and assassinations were commonplace (and more or less socially acceptable when conducted in accordance with the ryô ryorum), to the extent that nearly all members of the Great Houses were specifically prepared since childhood to resist "conventional questioning" (i.e., torture), and nearly everyone wore jewelry that surreptitiously scanned for chaumurky and chaumas (Palpatine himself set the standard: the Hall of Illumination and its arterial chambers were all flooded with hurlothrumbic gas as well as incense and perfumes). In more extreme cases, an outright War of Assassins might be declared, in which the Houses would deploy their housecarls and stables of assassins against one another. Because of the scale at which Hands operated, a War of Assassins — in theory a low-intensity conflict within a exquisitely polite cold war — could easily be far more destructive than an actual hot war between sovereign states. [9]

If intrigue and scandal were common amidst the fragrances and shimmersilk rustling of the court, it is needless to say that crime was never far from the glamorous surface (even aside from the practices of drugging, torturing, and assassinating one's enemies). Many courtiers were involved in illegal business practices (anti-monopoly suits were filed against the Baron Tagge in more than 40,000 legal jurisdictions within the Empire), and frequently used their privileged positions to enhance their own private fortunes. Despite the fast pace of court liaisons, prostitution remained a fixture in the background, often under the legitimate veneer of the Exotic Entertainers' Union, whose representative Mayli Weng was a well-regarded figure at court. Recreational drug use was common, and it was not unusual for 'experimentation' to spiral into outright addiction; the spice addictions of such court luminaries as Lady Comark and Grand Admiral Miltin Takel were an open secret, and fodder to such consummate blackmail artists as the "Isard of High Society," Coh Veshiv. Indeed, rumors circulate that the extensive operations of Wendell Wright-Sims, the exceedingly fashionable spice kingpin, were conducted with the express permission of Palpatine himself, apparently with the intention that his court should have only the highest quality of controlled substances (Wright-Sims speculated later in his life that Palpatine also liked to keep his courtiers docile and addicted). As in all else at court, the key was refinement; an elegant drug-dealer like Wright-Sims was readily accepted so long as the forms were obeyed. In this same manner a number of crime bosses rose to prominence at court, with the ultimate example of "legitimate businessman" the Prince Xizor of Falleen, who was for many years the Underlord of Black Sun, one of the galaxy's most highly-placed and notoriously vicious crime syndicates. The Prince Xizor, of course, maintained his high social standing by demonstrations of good manners and discriminating tastes; as the Princess Leia commented later in life, "It didn't matter that Xizor was a vile gangster, a brutal killer, a sexual predator, a corporate raider, and a peddler of vice and corruption; it only mattered that he always used a four-pronged fork when eating bruallki and never ate plicto steak with a chilled Algarian." [10]

Endnotes

[1] The Senex Lords first appeared in Children of the Jedi. Esseles is specifically identified as the homeworld of the Esselian Empire in Coruscant and the Core Worlds. The Lords of the Expanse are identified as the hegemonic nobility of the Tapani Sector in the Colonies in the Lords of the Expanse campaign and associated materials.

[2] The title "Imperial Advisor" is explicitly used in a number of sources, e.g. the Imperial Sourcebook. The Grand Corridor is mentioned in The Illustrated Star Wars Universe. The practice of granting an audience with the Galactic Emperor as a reward is mentioned in passing in the Death Star II Expansion Set. The planet of Akrit'tar was first mentioned as a penal colony in Han Solo's Revenge.

[3] The classification "Executive of the Imperium" is mentioned in "Soldiers of the Empire!" (Star Wars Official Poster Monthly No. 4). The Emperor's Will is awarded to Captain Maarek Stele in TIE Fighter (Stele is the only canonically known recipient). The Galactic Museum, Galaxies Opera House and Coruscant Opera are mentioned in Wedge's Gamble, Revenge of the Sith, and Cloak of Deception, respectively. Firepath is a game of strategy seen in "Dark Lord's Conscience" (Devilworlds No. 1); Darth Vader is known to be an avid and skillful player. The Order of the Canted Circle is first identified as a highly-exclusive social club in "Tigellinus Inducted into Elite Order" (The Official Star Wars Adventure Journal No. 9).

The office of Grand Vizier of the Galactic Empire is first documented in the Dark Empire Sourcebook; the other Great Officers of State, their role in presenting débutant courtiers, and the term "Great Officer of State" itself are unattested. The practice of presentation at court is put on par with presentation of diplomatic credentials and social début in Children of the Jedi, which notes that Lord Vensell Picutorion was "one of those presented at the same time as Leia's Senatorial debut." Drost, Lord Elegin is an aristocrat playboy and rake with close ties to the Emperor's court first seen in Children of the Jedi (his specific title of baron is unattested).

[4] The peerage system is implicit in the creation of Captain Soontir Fel as a baron after the Battle of Derra IV in "The Making of Baron Fel" (X-Wing Rogue Squadron No. 25). The Lord Fel explicitly mentions the granting of an apanage, stating that "I also became a baron and was given a holding on Corellia." The Imperial Family is mentioned in "Red Queen Rising!" (Star Wars Vol. 1, No. 36), in which one of the Tagge brothers had suggested that their sister "marry into the Imperial Family when she's old enough" (his only relatives known by name are his son Triclops from Mission from Mount Yoda, his grandson The Lost City of the Jedi, his grandniece Ederlathh Pallopides from the Dark Empire Sourcebook, and his third cousin Volpau from Boba Fett: Salvage). The Imperial Penal References (ImPeRe) are mentioned in Platt's Smugglers Guide.

[5] The relative simplicity of the Emperor's personal life compared to the magnificence of his palace is derived from the unexpectedly Spartan décor of his rooms seen in Inside the Worlds of Star Wars: Trilogy and Dark Empire and from his plain wardrobe — Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary refers to his habit of dress as "the simple clothing of a simple man" (although "Skin Deep: The Fat Dancer's Tale" in Tales from Jabba's Palace mentions rumors that Palpatine's "ceremonial robes are made of Tomuon cloth," a highly-prized semi-glistening material that "rarely wrinkles or stains," his robe is said to be made of rough "zeyd-cloth" in Shadows of the Empire). The practice of holding levers and couchers is derived from the Princess Leia's recollection of having attended "the Emperor's levee" in Children of the Jedi.

The dual role of the lord chamberlain of the household as messenger to the Moffs is derived from Ars Dangor's holomessages explaining the dissolution of the Senate quoted in the Imperial Sourcebook. The roles of the master of the household, lord privy seal, and private secretary are derived from Sate Pestage's responsibilities described in the Dark Empire Sourcebook, in which he is said to have been "the personal assistant to the Emperor in all things" and was "personally responsible for the preparation and tasting of the Emperor's meals, manager of his household, holder of the Imperial Seal, and chief scheduler of all functions." The office of poet laureate is derived from Ebenn Q3 Baobab's status as a two-time Laureate of the Empire in the Galactic Phrase Book & Travel Guide. The office of physician to the Emperor is seen in Empire's End and Crimson Empire. Grand Admiral Rufaan Tigellinus was a noted player of court intrigue first mentioned in "Tigellinus' [sic] Star Rising in Imperial Court" (The Official Star Wars Adventure Journal No. 8).

Palpatine's caprice in dealing with his courtiers and use of manipulative tactics to keep them dependent on his favor is derived from the Imperial Sourcebook (which notes that he deliberately kept them "isolated from each other, a condition which assures their continued dependence") and The Ultimate Visual Guide (which adds that he even went so far that "when the Emperor desires new advisors for his circle, he kills the old ones at whim").

[6] Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker quotes a line from the Journal of the Whills that "many used the imperial [sic] forces and the name of the increasingly isolated Emperor to further their own personal ambitions." The fiction of his poor health is attested as early as 13 rS in “Palpatine Health Rumors Denied” (HoloNet News Vol. 531, No. 52), and Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary states "Emperor uses cane because he pretends to be weak, not because he needs it." The court's involvement in diplomatic receptions is mentioned in Children of the Jedi, and Palpatine's increasing absence from public life and official ceremonies is seen for example in "New Year Fete Week Launched in Imperial City" (The Official Star Wars Adventure Journal No. 8), in which "Grand Admiral Tigellinus, Grand Moff Traeda, Moff Jaan, and a number of Imperial officers were on hand to officiate in the Emperor's absence." The Essential Guide to Characters explains that this was by design; Palpatine “set up a system whereby the Empire couldn’t function without him,” and “once that system was in place, he became more distant and reclusive, seen only by those who needed to see him.”

The Dark Empire Sourcebook notes that "when Imperial officers receive the command to make contact with the Emperor, as Darth Vader did during the Hoth campaign, one does not find him waiting at the other end," but rather "even the highest ranking official may spend hours waiting on bended knee for their master's pleasure" and that "often, he never responds at all" (the sourcebook is quick to add that "this never prevents any of his servants from making all haste to call anyway"). The Shadows of the Empire Sourcebook mentions even high-ranking advisors waiting in line in the Supplicants Waiting Hall outside one of the Emperor's throne rooms in the Imperial Palace (Return of the Jedi likewise describes courtiers waiting outside the turbolift to the Emperor's throne room on the Death Star even when the Emperor was not seeing visitors)

[7] The Ancient Houses and Great Houses are mentioned in Children of the Jedi (explicitly named are House Vandron, House Garonnin, and House Organa). High Galactic is first mentioned in "New Planets, New Perils" (Star Wars Vol. 1, No. 7), and Galactic Standard in "The Crimson Forever!" (Star Wars Vol. 1, No. 50); Basic is first mentioned as the galactic lingua franca in Han Solo's Revenge. The power of certain multistellar corporations is revealed by Galaxy Guide 9: Fragments from the Rim, which notes that "thousands of [corporations] are big enough to count as megacorporations, some of which own systems or entire sectors of space." The vast wealth available to the upper class is derived from the same source, which notes that "these people are all excessively rich, and often extremely bored," with the complaint "'If Daddy runs the company, and gives his daughter a mere million-a-week allowance, how is a girl supposed to spend it?'" The notion of Ebenbürtigkeit egalitarianism within the Ancient Houses despite individual circumstances is seen in Children of the Jedi, in which the Lord Garonnin, a crypto-Imperial conspirator, remarks that "whatever her position in the Republic" the Princess Leia "deserves the consideration due to the daughter of one of the Great Houses."

The use of discriminating tastes and personal manners as a shibboleth of the upper class is seen in Children of the Jedi, in which Roganda Ismaren, despite her background as a high-class socialite, inadvertently reveals herself as an arriviste when she recommends an "exquisite vintage" of evidently expensive Celanon Semi-Dry instead of an Algarine to Theala, Lady Vandron (the Princess Leia was once chided by an aunt that "only spaceport types go in for the Semi-Dries," and the Princess is immediately able to read the Lady Vandron's displeasure in "the slight lowering of the painted eyelids and the fractional deepening of the lines around Lady Vandron's mouth"). The court's general milieu is indicated by Return of the Jedi, which refers to courtiers as "pompous toadys in their velvet robes and painted faces; perfumed bishops passing notes and passing judgments among themselves."

Palpatine's status as a patron of the arts is attested in a number of sources. "Romeo Treblanc" (Official Site Databank) calls him "a patron of the arts" and both Cloak of Deception and Revenge of the Sith depict him attending high-class opera establishments, the Coruscant Opera and the Galaxies Opera House (the latter of which "Romeo Treblanc" reveals he underwrote as a silent partner). Inside the Worlds of Star Wars: Trilogy mentions his "personal art collection" (examples of which are seen in Cloak of Deception, Attack of the Clones, Labyrinth of Evil, Revenge of the Sith, the Complete Locations, Episode I: The Visual Dictionary, Attack of the Clones: The Visual Dictionary, Revenge of the Sith: The Visual Dictionary, and the Core Rulebook); "From the Files of Corellia Antilles" (The Official Star Wars Adventure Journal No. 14) reveals that Palpatine eventually came to be the galaxy's most acquisitive art plunderer.

The Hero's Guide mentions that if one "should ever fail to live up to noble standards, the consequences could be unpleasant," and notes that "most noble houses still practice some form of dueling as a means of contesting honor gained or lost." Children of the Jedi notes that "formal dueling was one of the accomplishments valued by the Lords among their own class."

[8] Senator Doman Beruss (Illodia) is seen as the head of Clan Beruss, an ancient ally of the House of Organa, in Tyrant's Test. The Throne Personal Archives is a slightly-adjusted form of the Imperial Personal Archives mentioned in the Dark Empire Sourcebook (Sate Pestage, the Grand Vizier, served also as "Steward of the Imperial Personal Archives," in which capacity he was "privy to Palpatine's most secret holo-communications and recordings"). The Emperor's Inner Circle is described in the Star Wars Encyclopedia as "a group of ministers and governors closest to the Emperor at the time of the Battle of Endor," and "Who are the gentlemen with the Emperor?" (Ask the Lucasfilm Jedi Council) refers to them as "Imperial dignitaries, or more sinisterly, the Emperor's Inner Circle [...] many of whom are key officials in the managing of the Imperial bureaucracy." The high protocolary rank of Crueya, Lord Vandron (seen only as "Crueya Vandron" in his first appearance in the Imperial Sourcebook) is suggested by his successor Theala, Lady Vandron being addressed by Roganda as "Your Highness" in Children of the Jedi (the Princess Leia is also styled "Her Highness" in the same source).

[9] In Children of the Jedi, it is observed that rebel partisans lynched "whichever members of the Court they could catch" on the day the Imperial Palace was captured, and that the victims included "not only the President of the Bureau of Punishments and the head of the Emperor's School of Torturers, but the court clothing designer and any number of minor and completely innocent servants of all ages, species, and sexes whose names had never been reported." Burr Nolyds appears as a wealthy aristocrat on the Interim Ruling Council in Crimson Empire II: Council of Blood; his title "Duke of Burr Nolyds" is unattested. The title "Tan" first appeared in TIE Fighter: The Official Strategy Guide and was revealed to be a "title-rank" in "The Emperor's Pawns" (Star Wars Gamer No. 5), previously attributed to Anakin Skywalker in "The Constancia Affair" (Star Wars) and referred to as "the starfighter ace title of Tan" in "Vader Tech" (Vader: The Ultimate Guide).

As previously noted, the Hero's Guide mentions the commonplace nature of dueling among the upper class; Planet of Twilight mentions that "there had been a time when consumption of pryodase had been de rigueur before dinner parties among the nobility of Coruscant, as a counter to the fad for dueling" (pryodase is described as "a synthetic mood-enhancer" of the type "that made one accepting and friendly"). The practice of tactical drugging and poisoning is well-attested: Planet of Twilight notes that "there were always accusations in labor disputes and divorce proceedings that one side or the other had slipped [pryodase] into the opposite number's caffeine just before negotiations," while Specter of the Past mentions that a Kuati nobleman can be expected to wear a "poison injector ring," ("poisoning one's enemies is a centuries-old tradition" on Kuat). The overall culture of violence of the court and the upper class is strongly suggested by Return of the Jedi, which describes courtiers as "oily favor-merchants, bent low from the weight of jewelry still warm from a previous owner's dying flesh; easy, violent men and women, lusting to be tampered with."

Planet of Twilight makes note of "the perfumes and incense and subtle hurlothrumbic gas with which the Emperor had flooded his court hall," which triggered an involuntary reaction of fear and anxiety (the adjective 'hurlothrumbic' obviously refers to Dr. Lorenz Hurlothrumb, late of the Encephalo-Research Division of the Imperial Medi-Center, who in The Game Chambers of Questal created the eponymous Hurlothrumbic Generator, a device which "produces waves stimulating the base of the brain, causing unexplainable, but perceptible, fear in the victim," and can induce reactions ranging from "mild anxiety and sweating" to sending "any creature screaming for cover").

The continual intrigue of the Imperial court is more or less endemic among the galaxy's upper class (the Hero's Guide observes, "You come from the aristocracy, where honor is a vital part of every day life — despite the fact that so many nobles constantly plot against one another"). The practice of giving aristocrats torture-resistance training is explicitly mentioned in Star Wars: The Original Radio Drama, in which Darth Vader rejects the idea of using torture on the Princess Leia by saying "she is a member of the Royal House of Alderaan and of the Imperial Senate" and "has had access to many family and government secrets," and that consequently "she has been specifically trained and prepared to withstand conventional questioning," and that "I would have to apply levels of pain so high as to risk killing her." In "The Weapons Master!" (Star Wars Weekly No. 104), weapons master Giles Durane is hired by the Prince Bail Prestor of Organa to provide combat training to his adopted daughter the Princess Leia in anticipation of political violence and intrigue. The use of poison detecting jewelry appears in Rogue Planet, in which Raith Sienar wears a ring of such a design that when he holds a glass of chimbak wine "the merest comforting twinkle in his ring's bright green stone told him the thick red fluid was neither drugged nor poisoned."

Children of the Jedi implies the existence of house stables of assassins by noting that the Imperial Palace included "grace-and-favor residences for concubines, ministers, and trained assassins."

[10] The use of scent at court is attested in a general sense in Planet of Twilight, which notes that Palpatine flooded the court hall with "perfumes and incense," and more personally in the Shadows of the Empire Sourcebook, which notes that a fashionable dandy "is careful to always dress in the latest fashions" and "his hair is always pomaded with fine fragrances." The Baron Tagge, chairman of the hegemonic Tagge Company, is a major figure at court life who first appeared in "Siege at Yavin!" (Star Wars Vol. 1, No. 25). The unethical use of court influence to further one's business ends is hinted at in Children of the Jedi, in which the Princess Leia speculates that the planet Belsavis was handed over to an Ithorian corporation to prevent it from "being exploited by some relative of the Emperor's." Prostitution operations out of the Exotic Entertainers' Union (and fashionable socialite Mayli Weng's profession as an exotic entertainer prior to taking office as a leading figure in the union) is mentioned in the Shadows of the Empire Sourcebook, which refers to the employment of union employees in "pleasure halls" throughout the galaxy.

Wendell Wright-Sims is identified as "Coruscant's most prominent spice dealer" and a "well-to-do socialite" in the Shadows of the Empire Sourcebook, which states that he operates "with the express permission of the Emperor himself," who "wants only the choicest spice delivered to the august citizens of his capital" (Wright-Sims's philosophical approach to this de facto Imperial charter was that "the Emperor's subjects have a right to enjoy themselves — if it also serves Palpatine's need to keep those same subjects addicted and docile, then so be it"); Lady Comark and Grand Admiral Takel are identified as customers of his in the same source. Coh Veshiv is an Imperial advisor said by The Far Orbit Project to be one of the court's most notorious blackmailers. The Prince Xizor of Falleen is the Underlord of the Black Sun crime syndicate first seen in Shadows of the Empire, which shows him to be an intimate of the Emperor around the time of the Battle of Hoth. The Essential Guide to Droids mentions in its article ont he SE4 servant droid that it is a faux pas to use a three-pronged fork "when dining on bruallki" or to "serve plicto steak with chilled Algarian wine."

[Publius]

There is an error of omission in footnote 4 of Appendix A. It should include the following annotation:

The title "Warlord of the Empire" first appears in Heir to the Empire, in which it is said that Grand Admiral Thrawn's "brilliant successes had won him the title of Warlord and the right to wear the white uniform of Grand Admiral" (he subsequently introduces himself as "Grand Admiral Thrawn, Warlord of the Empire, servant of the Emperor"). It is mentioned again in the Dark Empire Sourcebook, which calls Thrawn "the warlord" and "the last of the Emperor's Warlords," establishing that the title was not unique to him (its status as a peerage is conjectural).

[Publius]

THE NEW ORDER AT WAR

Chapter 1: The Doctrine of Rationalization

On flimsi, the Galactic Empire as established by the fundamental laws was not terribly different from the Galactic Republic that had preceded it. Aside from the establishment of The Throne, the most significant change between the two was the tightening of Imperial federalism in place of Republican confederalism, which was widely regarded as a good thing in light of the chaos and devastation of the Clone Wars. Indeed, in many respects the new Empire was far better organized than the old Republic; the Imperial Charter has been widely regarded as a better and more humanitarian basis for colonial administration than the hodgepodge of treaties and antiquated statutes that preceded it (with the caveat that the Imperial State routinely ignored the terms of the Imperial Charter). Nevertheless, the Empire inherited a legacy of mountains of statutes, common law precedents, and exceptions to policy, an administrative nightmare that had been the subject of over a decade of major policy initiatives by the Palpatine Chancellery. Indeed, prior to his election to the podium, Palpatine had published the last of his widely-disseminated and widely-admired political-science texts, The Doctrine of Rationalization, which formed the basis for much of the legislative program in the Second New Order policy package, addressing the need for streamlining the ponderous bulk of galactic administration (Palpatine wrote further treatises on political science, such as The Weakness of Inferiors, but these also contained Sithian dogma and were never published). The Imperial State adopted rationalization as one of its official doctrines, and steadily implemented it in the course of such massive undertakings as the codification of a single codex juris (a joint project with COMPNOR's Office of Progressive Justice), a unified health code, and a consolidated code of bankruptcy law. As the Revisionist school has long maintained, however, the flipside to rationalization is the steady intrusion of the Imperial State into previously unregulated or else locally-administered fields. Rationalization came to be synonymous in many quarters with centralization, symptomatic of a steady trend toward consolidating power and authority in the hands of the Imperial State. According to this view, the Tarkin Doctrine was in reality merely a logical progression of existing doctrine rather than a novelty in and of itself. [1]

At the New Year Fête opening 33 rS, the Galactic Emperor announced the creation of a new grade on the Table of Ranks, to be occupied by his hand-selected grand admirals and grand generals, who would automatically rank as naval aides de camp and aides de camp general, taking precedence before all serving Galactic Emperor's Commissioned Officers (the precise question of whether or not this included the Supreme Commander Armed Forces of the Imperium and the heads of service, with their unique ranks, was never resolved). Whereas other GECOs — including high admirals and surface marshals — wore silver epaulettes with their dress white uniforms, the new grand admirals and grand generals wore gold epaulettes like the Moffs and Grand Moffs of the Empire, and carried their own unique batons especially crafted for each tenant of the new rank; it was readily observed that these and other distinctions made them more like rectors than fleet commanders and field commanders (indeed, their rank insignia umambiguously identified them as being one grade above Grand Moffs, placing them in the rarefied territory of heads of state, Lords Justices of the Supreme Court, and Peers of the Empire). Palpatine never bothered to explain why he created the new ranks, and certainly nobody ever pressed the question to him; nevertheless the consensus then and now is that the grand officers were to serve as his personal deputies, tightening his personal control of military and naval forces and enhancing the cult of personality that surrounded him: the grand officers derived their great authority from their association with Palpatine personally rather than from the traditional chain of command. [2]

The Death Star Project, brainchild of Palpatine's favorite technocrat Wilhuff Tarkin, who ruled most of the Outer Rim as a de facto satrapy, was one of the most significant developments in the constitutional history of the Empire. Until that point, the Imperial State had long justified its military and naval build-up by appeals to a defensive role against Separatist holdouts, pirates, insurrectionists, and occasionally a vague intimation of extragalactic invasion. The Death Star was unambiguously a platform for war against a well-equipped and well-funded planetary stronghold, but a cursory examination of the interstellar community revealed that the vast majority of such targets belonged not to Separatists, pirates, or rebels, but to the Great Powers and their colonial empires; the Death Star could not be anything but a frontal assault on the Great Powers system of astropolitics (and with it, the federal structure of the Galactic Union). It is no coincidence that the completion of the first Death Star coincided with the promulgation of the Imperial Decree for Remedying the Distress of the Peoples and of the Empire in early 35 rS (counter-signed by Ars Dangor and Arkady Krylenko, President of the Serenissimus and His Imperial Majesty's Attorney General for the Imperial State, respectively) dissolving the Imperial Senate "for the duration of the emergency" and drastically increasing Tarkin's authority as His Imperial Majesty's Plenipotentiary for the Suppression of Rebellion. Although the Senate was not abolished — the Decree made a point of saying that Senators would continue to be designated in the usual manner and would retain all their customary rights, privileges, and immunities — it went without saying that the Senate would not be reconvened; the Decree authorized a number of constitutional novelties which were strictly "provisional" in nature, until the "distress of the Peoples and of the Empire" were resolved. At least one commentator noted that Dangor seemed hard pressed to keep a straight face when he announced the Decree to the Senate in his capacity as Lord Chamberlain of the Household, the official spokesman of The Throne in the Senate. [3]

The first and most obvious result of the Senate's dissolution was the constitutional vacuum it created in terms of legislating for the Dominions (the Constitution and Imperial Charter were both explicit in reserving this function to the Senate and denying it to the Imperial State). Dangor's Decree — it rapidly became known invariably as the Enabling Decree, or in insurrectionist circles as the Intolerable Decree or the Decree of the Abominations — resolved this by announcing the suspension of the Constitution and assigning the legislative power to His Imperial Majesty's Government, to be exercised collectively through orders-in-council, although in actual practice this essentially converted the various ministries to largely autonomous fiefdoms of their silent fractions. The oversight functions of the Senate were suspended altogether, leaving the Regional Governors and Rectors with a free hand within their several areas of responsibility. As noted by Erzébet Powellyne-Tarkin è Three Retskcries in The Theory and Practice of Imperial Occupation of the Outer Rim, the Enabling Decree had surprisingly little impact in the outlands, where the implementation of the Tarkin Doctrine had already converted the Governors General of the Oversectors into emperors en petit. The Senate's power of the purse was "provisionally" exercised by an independent Imperial Commission of the Exchequer, which was set up to monitor the Consolidated Fund in a largely perfunctory fashion; because the Enabling Decree authorized the Cabinet to legislate (including appropriation of supply), in actual practice the Minister of Finance and the bureaucrats at His Imperial Majesty's Treasury controlled the Consolidated Fund. Technically any further appointments to offices or positions requiring Senate confirmation were also "provisional" until the Senate reconvened, but this formality was largely ignored. Perhaps the most significant change to result from the Enabling Decree was that the grayshirts of the State Services of the Imperium discovered that they could in fact function without Senate oversight, giving rise to a startling new sentiment that perhaps the Senate was superfluous after all, more of an expensive sop to the vanity of the dominions than a vital part of the Galactic Union. Once a bulwark of Republican sentiment and pro-dominion sympathies, the SSI saw a rapid conversion to the dogma of enlightened technocratic despotism, rule by competent professional experts — namely, themselves. [4]

The grayshirts' newfound independence and self-worship was based on an illusion of self-mastery, however. With the disappearance of the Senate's watchdogs, there was nothing to prevent the Ersatzstaat from flexing its muscles and tightening its invidious grip on the SSI. The decades-old policy of infiltrating Party members into the State Services meant that the majority of key posts were now held by the Party faithful, and the State Services could therefore be brought into line with the doctrines of the New Order without any overt moves on the part of the Ersatzstaat itself; all of the changes would instead originate from the SSI themselves. With uncharacteristic subtlety and patience, government practices were modified and policy changes were announced that steadily undermined individual liberties and converted the once-proud bastion of Republicanism into an ironclad fortress of Monarchism. This process of "Palpatinification" of the civil services was in accordance with the Ersatzstaat's doctrine of CoOrdination, the process by which all organized bodies, collectives, and communities were to be subverted and restructured to conform to the dictates of Palpatinism-Tarkinism and Correct Thought; the CoOrdination of the grayshirts was tremendously facilitated by the increasing popularity of the concept of enlightened technocratic despotism (a concept fully compatible with Palpatinist-Tarkinist ideology, it may be added). By 39 rS, the process was complete, and the State Services of the Imperium had become a virtual extension of the Ersatzstaat under the direction of the Select Committee of the Commission for the Preservation of the New Order. [5]

Some older politicians naïvely believed that the destruction of the Death Star and the death of Tarkin at the Battle of Yavin in 35 rS would result in the reconvening of the Senate and the abrogation of the Enabling Decree and its novelties. Arkady Krylenko soon put a stop to that school of thought by circulating a directive to his fellow Attorneys General calling for a more aggressive application of the Capital Powers Act and the Spince Amendments (by which the Imperial State was justified in virtually all military and naval offensives by appeals to galactic security and by which all military and naval operations were automatically declarations of martial law). Days later he issued a second directive instructing all His Imperial Majesty's Attorneys to adopt the contentious doctrine of "Imperial infallibility" (by which the Imperial State could not commit a legal wrong and was therefore immune to civil action as well as criminal prosecution), and quashed all suits questioning the legality of the Enabling Decree (which was shaky, at best). The Cabinet was not far behind, passing in rapid succession the Safety of Persons Act, the Astrogation Acts, and the Deterrence Act, suspending the writ of habeas corpus, imposing strict new state controls on interstellar commerce, nationalizing various corporations suspected of disloyalty, and authorizing a massive increase in defense spending unrivalled in galactic history (indeed, the Deterrence Act is noted for having doubled the size of the Armed Forces of the Imperium practically overnight). With the pace of "Imperialization" of commerce accelerated and the Empire being converted to a command economy, the various ministries felt free to implement further rationalization policies, making ever greater inroads into the traditional authorities of the dominions. With many of the Great Powers having already been CoOrdinated and others intimidated into silence by the examples of Alderaan and the Secession Worlds, the Empire was well on its way toward a transmogrification that scarcely resembled the flimsi model envisioned by the flimsy Constitution of the Galactic Empire, Imperial Charter, and Constitutions of New Order. [6]

Still further gestures of rationalization were to come. Agents of the Inquisitorius with their letters of catchet became increasingly aggressive, and members of the Hierarchy rose to greater prominence than ever before. Sarcev Quest became the first Hierarch to join the Most Serene Ruling Council, the Procurator of Justice was given still further plenipotentiary powers, and perhaps the most notorious Hierarch of all was at long last recalled from his seeming exile into political limbo. Dangor's Decree for the Acceleration of the Suppression of Rebellion abolished the office of HIM Plenipotentiary for the Suppression of Rebellion (left vacant by Tarkin's death) and instead vested its powers in the Supreme Commander Armed Forces of the Imperium. Lord High Admiral Terrinald Screed scarcely finished reading the Decree outlining his new powers when he received his invitation to resign — Supreme Commanders were never dismissed, simply notified that it would please the Galactic Emperor to accept their resignations — on the grounds that Palpatine himself had selected his replacement. Darth Vader received the traditional invitation to kiss the Galactic Emperor's hands and assume duties as Supreme Commander while Screed before Screed had even had a chance to clean out his desk. The Galactic Empire was mobilized for war. [7]

Endnotes

[1] "Flimsiplast," often shortened colloquially to "flimsi" or "flimsy," is mentioned as a paper analogue in Children of the Jedi.

The Imperial Charter is mentioned in Splinter of the Mind's Eye, in which the Princess Leia of Alderaan claims "using energy weapons on primitive sentients" is "another gross violation of the original Imperial charter (sic)," implying that the letter of the law is quite benign (and also implying that the Empire's adherence to the letter of the law is less than scrupulous). The New Order as a program or package of policy initiatives is inferred from A Guide to the Star Wars Universe, Third Edition, which defines it as "the phrase that Emperor Palpatine used to describe his new regime." Its existence prior to the creation of the Empire is indicated by the same source, which says that he "slowly introduced the New Order," and also indicated by the Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook, which refers to "Palpatine and his New Order" before he was even elected Supreme Chancellor.

Palpatine's career as a writer is mentioned in the Core Rulebook, which notes that his "early notes on the nature of power" became "popular political texts" and were "taught at universities throughout the galaxy"; "Palpatine's Triumphs: A Celebration" (Republic HoloNet News Special Inaugural Edition 16:5:241, Star Wars Insider No. 84) cites The Paths to Power as one of his books which had topped "the best-seller lists." The New Essential Guide to Characters claims that Palpatine "merged political theory with Sith doctrine" in The Book of Anger, but this is an obvious error, as the Dark Empire Sourcebook indicates that The Weakness of Inferiors is doctrinal while The Book of Anger is phenomenological.

The codification of a single codex juris is mentioned in the Imperial Sourcebook as a project undertaken by COMPNOR's Justice agency. The creation of a unified health code is unattested, but conjectured from the evidence of the Imperial Biological Welfare Department in Galaxy of Fear: Planet Plague (in accordance with the implicit role of rationalization as a smokescreen for more nefarious Imperial projects, the IBWD is in fact a front for the Imperial Biological Weapons Division).

The Tarkin Doctrine was proposed by Wilhuff Tarkin in Imperial Communiqué #001044.92v (quoted in its entirety in the Death Star Technical Companion and the Imperial Sourcebook ) and adopted as official Imperial state doctrine by order of Ars Dangor in the Death Star Technical Companion . It implemented the creation of immediate jurisdictions dubbed Oversectors as a means of sidestepping traditional limitations on jurisdiction as represented by the Sectorial model of colonial government. It is cited as an example of rationalization on the basis that it is a major gubernatorial reform justified on the grounds of efficiency or efficacy rather than in terms of policy in and of itself.

[2] "Who's Who: Imperial Grand Admirals" (Star Wars Insider No. 66) establishes that Palpatine created the rank of grand admiral at a ceremony held two years prior to the Battle of Yavin (35 rS); the rank of grand general seen in Force Commander is equated with it herein. Commissioned officers' wear of silver epaulettes with dress white uniforms is seen in "What Sin Loyalty?" (Empire No. 13), while the grand admirals' wear of gold epaulettes with their white uniforms is described in Heir to the Empire . The placement of grand admirals as outranking Grand Moffs is inferred from Dark Force Rising , in which the Princess Leia of Alderaan reflects on Grand Admiral Thrawn's manner as being even more authoritative than Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin's had been. In Dark Force Rising , the Princess Leia remarks that the grand admirals "weren't just the best and brightest military leaders the Emperor could find," but were also "part of his plan to bring the Imperial military more personally under his control"; in the same source, Admiral Ackbar comments that by the time of the Battle of Endor (39 rS) the grand admirals had not yet been "fully integrated both militarily and politically."

[3] The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, Second Edition states that Palpatine used "political threats and vague promises of foreign invasions to spearhead the most massive military build-up the Known Galaxy had ever seen," while Revenge of the Sith: Incredible Cross-Sections states that "the Imperial Starfleet will justify its existence in unending war against Separatist holdouts, dissident rebels, and even, it is rumored, deterring barbarian invaders from outside the galaxy," while Star Wars: The Visual Guide adds that "the Imperial Navy's key directive is to combat space piracy and transport military personnel" (Pirates & Privateers notes that "piracy provided an excuse for many of the Empire's excesses: increased shipbuilding (ostensibly to suppress pirates), restriction and increased registration of civilian ship's weapons (to cut the flow of arms to pirates), garrisoning of worlds (to provide security against pirate raids), and even increased voluntary enlistment (hundreds of thousands of young people signed up to "Joint he Crusade against Piracy and Restore Order to the Galaxy," to quote an early recruitment poster." Tarkin proposes the Death Star Project in Imperial Communiqué #001044.92v (quoted in the Death Star Technical Companion and the Imperial Sourcebook ), and expressly describes the Death Star's role as a tool intended to "keep the local systems in line" in A New Hope , making clear its function as a weapon of domestic-oriented state terrorism rather than part of a program of collective defense and security. Like the Fifth New Republic Fleet in Before the Storm , the Death Star's capability to assualt a fully-shielded planet implies a role in assaulting recalcitrant "rogue states" rather than pirate strongholds.

The dissolution of the Senate is first discussed in A New Hope ; the Imperial Sourcebook shows that Ars Dangor announced the dissolution and circulated a supplementary holomessage to the Regional Governors reading between the lines of his official statement (Tarkin's explanatory remarks in Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker about the dissolution being "for the duration of the emergency" and Senatorial representation itself being unaffected are revealed to be quoted verbatim from Dangor's holomessage). In Star Wars: The Original Radio Drama , Darth Vader objects that the Emperor should be consulted before proceeding with Tarkin's plan to threaten Alderaan with the Death Star, but Tarkin angrily dismisses this objection by saying that "the Emperor has placed me in charge of this affair with a free hand"; considering that Alderaan is well outside Tarkin's jurisdiction in Oversector Outer, this evidence is used as the basis for Tarkin's otherwise unattested appointment as Plenipotentiary for the Suppression of Rebellion with jurisdiction throughout the Empire.

[4] The Star Wars Encyclopedia describes the Imperial Senate's power to "create laws, pacts, and treaties to govern the galactic union" and to "steer the course of government and administer to the many member systems." This authority is conjectured to be granted by the "new Constitution" mentioned by Palpatine of Naboo in Revenge of the Sith . Tarkin remarks explicitly in A New Hope that "the Regional Governors now have direct control," while the establishment of Oversectors as described in the Death Star Technical Companion and the Imperial Sourcebook had already created a system of government outside the traditional structure with Senatorial oversight.

[5] The Imperial Sourcebook notes that "during that era, the bureaucracy answered to the Imperial Senate (in theory)," but that COMPNOR "made great pains to recruit from or insert members into the massive Imperial bureaucracy," so that "in time, COMPNOR's influence became so pervasive that the Imperial bureaucracy was under its complete control, and thus absolutely dedicated to the whims of the Emperor." It goes on to say explicitly that "after Palpatine dissolved the Senate ("for the duration of the emergency"), COMPNOR's Select Committee was more than adequately prepared to fill the void, directing virtually every policy decision made by the bureaucracy."

The ideology of Correct Thought is conjectured from The Imperial Military Guide to Correct Thought , mentioned in Force Commander .

[6] The Battle of Yavin and Wilhuff Tarkin's death are seen in A New Hope . The Capital Powers Act and the Senatorial Amendments to Constitutions of New Order (Decree 77-92465-001), the latter here referred to as the Spince Amendments (see note 11, Ch. 4, "The Courts and the Justice System," The New Order in Power ) are cited in Children of the Jedi, which notes that "without necessary capital powers it is considered impossible to maintain the stability of the New Order and the security of the greatest number of civilizations in the galaxy" (Capital Powers Act, Preface, Section II) and "all military offensives shall be considered under law as states of emergency, and subject to the emergency military powers act of the Senate" (Senatorial Amendments to Constitutions of New Order, Decree 77-92465-001). The doctrine of Imperial infallibility is mentioned without definition in the Imperial Sourcebook, which notes only that COMPNOR court patron Crueya Vandron was "trying to work the idea" into the Imperial code of law (it is identified herein as a rather straightforward interpretation of the common law doctrine of sovereign immunity).

Imperial state collectivism is not a new development. Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker includes a comment from Biggs Darklighter that "I've heard they're starting to imerialize commerce in all the outlying systems." Pirates & Privateers notes that the Empire nationalized the assets of various corporations and reorganized them into the state-owned Imperial Droid Corporation and Imperial Meats and Produce, and Arms & Equipment Guide Extras! observes that Imperial Munitions was similarly created from assets of nationalized corporations. "Trade Federation Signs Treaty: Nationalization Underway" (Republic HoloNet News Special Inaugural Edition 16:5:241, Star Wars Insider No. 84) states that the Trade Federation's assets were seized at the end of the Clone War, and The New Essential Chronology says the same of the Commerce Guild. The Star Wars Sourcebook, Second Edition mentions the nationalization of Incom Corporation, although Coruscant and the Core Worlds shows that the corporation continued to operate, albeit with an Imperially-appointed board of directors and with Imperial oversight. The Star Wars Encyclopedia defines "Imperialization" as "the process of galactic conquest as put forth by Emperor Palpatine," consisting of "the conquest of star systems, the regulation of commerce, and the taxation and appropriation of goods and services for the benefit of the Empire."

The massive increase in defense spending (here implemented as part of the unattested Deterrence Act) is mentioned in the Rebel Alliance Sourcebook , which notes that "since the destruction of the Death Star, the Emperor has shifted the focus of his limitless military and industrial power almost exclusively toward crushing this upstart Rebellion; as a result, the Imperial Armed Forces have nearly doubled in strength."

The successful "CoOrdination" (term unattested) of member worlds is described in the Imperial Sourcebook , which states that "the Empire also encourages the constituent planets to reform their own governments to conform to the Imperial method," and that "in this way, individual worlds eliminate laws and freedoms, replacing them with doctrines and statutes more in line with Imperial edicts." A specific example of this behavior is cited by Coruscant and the Core Worlds , which notes that "most Esselians considered themselves loyal to Esseles first, the Empire second," but that "this situation began to change slowly with the rise of a local New Order party, which developed years to the task of transforming culture and taking over Esseles's parliament." "Rawmat Recession Threatens Ralle's Coalition" (Galaxywide NewsNets, The Official Star Wars Adventure Journal Vol. 1, No. 8) and "New Order Captures Parliamentary Majority" (Galaxywide NewsNets, The Official Star Wars Adventure Journal Vol. 1, No. 9) show that the Esselian New Order Party captured the majority in the Hall (the parliament of the Esselian Empire) in 37 rS; this is particularly noteworthy in that it shows the New Order participating in representative democracy, but with an eye toward creating cooperative Quisling puppet states. The Imperial Sourcebook adds that COMPNOR's tactic of infiltrating the Imperial bureaucracy was repeated at lower levels, and that it "also took great pains to insert its members into local bureaucracies, on the sector, system, planetary, and even city level."

Alderaan was annihilated by the Death Star at Tarkin's orders in A New Hope to demonstrate the firepower of the Death Star and the futility of continued opposition to Imperial policy. The Secession Worlds were described by the Rebel Alliance Sourcebook various member states that openly affiliated themselves with the rebel Alliance to Restore the Republic, only to be brutally suppressed by the Empire pour encourager les autres .

[7] Sarcev Quest is said in "The Emperor's Pawns" (Star Wars Gamer No. 5) to have been the first dark side magus to have become a member of the Ruling Council. The Procurator of Justice is introduced as the Empire's chief executioner in The Crystal Star , in which the last occupant is identified as the Lord Hethrir, a protégé of Darth Vader (the Procurator's identity was a state secret during the Imperial era). High Admiral Terrinald Screed first appeared in "Tail of the Roon Comets" (Droids ); his service as Supreme Commander is conjectured from Rebellion , which describes him as "formerly the Emperor's right-hand man and a distinguished military commander" (the Star Wars Encyclopedia adds that he was "one of the Emperor's top aides during the early days of the Empire." Darth Vader’s own appointment as Supreme Commander is described in Dark Empire , which notes that Luke Skywalker had "taken his father's place as the Emperor's protégé and Supreme Commander of the Imperial forces."

The British prime minister is said to have "kissed hands" when invited by The Crown to form a government (in practice one no longer actually kisses the sovereign's hands, although this was formerly the custom). Its association with the appointment as Supreme Commander reflects that office's role as something rather more than merely a generalissimo, but more comparable to a shōgun or a kind of military prime minister parallel to the Minister-President. In Dark Empire II , Military Executor Sedriss is called "military dictator of all Imperial forces."

[Force Lord]

Our favorite Star Wars analyst is back in business.

Seriously Publius, good work.

[Patroklos]

Excellent, my favorite thread is active once again!

More great work