The Galactic Empire

[Dark Forces]

With religion and media fleshed out, and some other writers working on economics, I'd like to take some time to make a more comprehensive sub about civilian life in the Empire. I hope that this will be something writers can reference in threads set on Imperial-controlled worlds, and also something that will inspire threads set within our territory. Conquest is fun, but it's also great to develop the planets that the Empire already controls! Open to feedback and suggestions, as always.

"Look past the cold steel of bureaucracy. It is but a vessel...
a tool, needed to touch a thousand planets,
to contain a billion people and billions more after...
Within it, each of us has a place, a calling."
- Da'Razel , Imperial Saint​

OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION

• Intent: To flesh out daily life in the Galactic Empire.
• Image Credit:
  • Top Image: Star Wars: Outlaws concept art by Tony Tran
  • Small Icons: Stellaris Wiki (Ethics) (Civics) (Traits)
• Canon: New Order (Spiritual Successor)
• Permissions: N/A
• Links:
  • High Human Culture
  • Imperial State Programming Network (ISPN)
  • Church of the Dark Side
  • Imperial Economic Trusts
  • COMLIT
  • COMFEAR

GENERAL INFORMATION

Watching its brutally efficient minutiae, she began to understand
the Empire's real power. Not just the power of the Dark side...
but the power of a mass of loyal personnel.
- Casi Braste , Dark Side Elite
​

• Name: Galactic Imperial Society
• Classification: Cultural Group
• Origins: The Galactic Empire
• Affiliation: The Galactic Empire
• Symbol: The six-spoked Imperial Crest

Domain: Galactic Imperial Society represents the civilian population of Darth Solipsis 's Galactic Empire, which controls the Core Worlds and spreads ever outward. Registration as a citizen of the Empire is mandatory in order to avoid accusations of being a subversive or outside infiltrator, both of which carry stiff penalties under Imperial law. The goal of the Empire is to subsume all local cultures, erasing their unique features and creating a monoculture devoted to Imperial ideals and civic loyalty. Those who refuse to fully assimilate, even in small ways, are viewed negatively for their lack of patriotism.

Estimated Population:

• Common (in Galactic Empire space)
• Scattered (beyond the Empire's borders)

Demographics: Galactic Imperial society is majority-human, and set up primarily for humans. Infrastructure like the Citizen Registration Interface works well for humans and near-humans, but species with thick fur or very different arrangements of limbs struggle to use them properly. Imperial propaganda draws careful lines between "good aliens" - species that are relatively humanlike, that are known for being orderly and respecting authority, that come from the Core Worlds, or some combination - and "bad aliens" - species that are visually very different or have a reputation, deserved or otherwise, for chaos and criminality.

"Good aliens" find it relatively easy to integrate into Galactic Imperial society. Accommodations are made for them to wear a CRI differently, if required. Imperial propaganda holds them up as examples of smooth assimilation, pointing out the similarities between their cultures and the ideals of the Empire. The Imperial machine still seeks to erase and homogenize their cultures, but it moves more slowly and insidiously. "Bad aliens" are painted in the media as dangerous disruptors of orderly Imperial society, and are generally viewed with suspicion. Individuals who prove useful to the Empire are held up as exceptions to the rule.


Description: Unlike Darth Solipsis 's prior tool, the chaotic and destructive Brotherhood of the Maw, the Galactic Empire is not a blunt instrument meant solely to shatter the galaxy's established order. Instead, it is a tool of domination as much as it is of conquest. It seeks not merely to consume, but to hold, to occupy and rule. In order to both provide stable logistics for the ongoing invasion of the wider galaxy and to protect against challenges to the Emperor's authority on the home front, society and culture behind the frontline must be considered. To facilitate this, the Office of Imperial Truth shaped Galactic Imperial culture.

Galactic Imperial society is built around reverence of the figure of the Emperor in both a spiritual and political sense. Politically, the Emperor is seen as the linchpin and anchor of a stable and orderly society. The entire system of the Empire, the system that ensures security, prosperity, and opportunity, is His design. Spiritually, the Emperor is the culmination of ancient prophecy, a divine figure with the power to defy fate and create a new destiny for the galaxy. Power radiates out from him like the rays of the sun, and on each world it touches, corruption and stagnation are burned away, replaced with order and renewal.

Reverence for the Emperor personally and respect for the authority of His representatives are thus two of the pillars that hold up Imperial society. The third is disdain for and distrust of any alternative system. The Office of Imperial Truth works overtime to rewrite history, seizing on the worst excesses and failings of the Galactic Alliance - and inventing more than a few false ones - to justify its overthrow. They also doctor the news, ensuring that all state media reports that the galaxy beyond the Empire's borders is backward, lawless, and corrupt. Solipsis protects His people from savage criminals, aloof Jedi, and pretender Sith.

Though not as single-mindedly focused on war as the Brotherhood of the Maw was, the Galactic Empire still seeks to conquer, and Galactic Imperial society is set up to glorify the military. Soldiers are hailed as heroes of the Empire, risking their lives to defeat the corruption and stagnation holding the galaxy back, bringing worthy worlds into the prosperous Imperial fold. Holo-programs and the arts celebrate militant imagery, and young people are raised to be eager to serve - either directly on the front lines or in one of the countless support capacities necessary for an effective war machine.

The Galactic Empire is a deeply elitist society. Scions of noble houses and important families, wealthy businessbeings and oligarchs, and the Emperor's dark adepts enjoy a status far beyond what any ordinary citizen could ever hope to achieve. The Office of Imperial Truth works hard to disguise this fact, portraying the Empire as a meritocracy in which skill, hard work, and devotion to the Emperor can allow the worthy to rise to the highest levels. In truth, civilian society is kept divided, competing against one another for scraps while the real wealth and power remain firmly in the hands of the Emperor and His chosen few.

Fanatic Authoritarian
Spiritualist
Militarist
Xenophobe​

PHYSICAL INFORMATION

The minds of people are easy to sway
when they want to be a part of something better.
- Talon Draven , Dark Side Elite​

Distinctions: Imperial citizens come in all shapes, sizes, genders, and species. The ties that bind them are political and cultural, not physical, with one exception: all citizens must bear a Citizen Registration Interface, or CRI. Citizens use their CRI dozens of times per day - to board a speeder bus, to order a caf, to pass through a checkpoint, to sign in at work. Navigating the Empire's civilian infrastructure is effectively impossible without one, which is deliberate on the part of the regime. The Imperial Security Bureau uses each citizen's CRI to track their movements and actions, and anyone without a CRI can be identified as a non-citizen.

Force Sensitivity: Standard


SOCIAL INFORMATION

They were engrossed, cogs in an evil machine,
unable to think of anything but the further turnings of the gears.
- Casi Braste , Dark Side Elite​

Membership: Anyone who lives within the bounds of the Galactic Empire is a member of Galactic Imperial society in some capacity. To be a full citizen of the Empire, a being must comply with its laws - and that means accepting a Citizen Registration Interface. Anyone without one can be assumed to be a criminal, a rebel, or an outside infiltrator. Getting a CRI is a relatively simple, if highly bureaucratic, process. One must report to the local COMLIT office - or, on newly-conquered worlds, a popup registration checkpoint - to record all of the information the ISB requires, which goes both in the ISB database and in the CRI itself.

The Empire is a highly stratified society, and not all citizens are equal. There are three tiers of citizenship, which citizens can move between depending on their Citizenship Score, a measure of their merit and patriotism calculated by COMLIT and the ISB. Subcitizens have low Citizenship Scores, Citizens have moderate scores, and Prime Citizens have high scores. In theory, this system inspires the populace to work hard and show loyalty to the state, creating a more cohesive, orderly, and productive society. In practice, it pits the common people against each other in an endless and desperate competition.

No one wants to be a Subcitizen. Falling to this status means severely curtailed freedoms; Subcitizens lose the right to marry or have children, to choose where they live or work, and to travel anywhere except their home, local store, and place of employment. COMLIT assigns them housing and employment, and it is typically the worst jobs and accommodations available - factory work, street cleaning, and a variety of other menial, low-paid, health-destroying work. There are virtually no homeless people in the Empire because they are designated Subcitizens and placed into labor battalions, a grim fate that few escape.

Technically, there is no slavery in the Empire. In practice, Subcitizens are slaves in all but name.

"Incarceration is not the objective...
The objective is throughput."
- Vireth of Kuat, Imperial Architect​

Citizens have an ordinary level of freedom - at least, in an Imperial context. They can get married, have children, apply for new jobs, change residences, and travel between cities or even planets... once the proper paperwork is filled out and approved. All major life decisions, and many minor ones, come with a list of forms to be filled out. Completing the mountain of bureaucratic filings doesn't necessarily guarantee approval, either. If a Citizen wants to move, marry, or change employment at a time or in a way that the local governor or industrial leaders find remotely inconvenient, permission will be denied.

Prime Citizen is the status that all citizens strive for, doing everything they can think of to demonstrate their worth and loyalty to the Empire and raise their Citizenship Score. It is the highest designation that ordinary people can reach, and it does come with some perks. Prime Citizens experience smoother travel with fewer security checks, expedited processing of forms, and access to higher-wage, higher-status jobs like middle management. Of course, there is still an inaccessible tier above them - the Empire's elite, the wealthy leadership class, which proves all the Imperial talking points about meritocracy a lie.

Byzantine Bureaucracy - This society is largely governed by a complex and,
to the outsider, almost labyrinthine system of bureaucracy. An army of
officials and functionaries work tirelessly to keep the government
running smoothly and ensure no citizens are allocated resources they
cannot demonstrate a properly filed and triple-stamped need for.​

Climate: The Galactic Empire is a surveillance state. Everyone is constantly being watched - their communications monitored, their purchases recorded, their travel logged. Imperial state media presents this as being a positive for society; it prevents criminals and outside infiltrators from disrupting the Emperor's orderly society. In addition, all citizens are assigned a Citizenship Score which is affected by their actions. Displays of competence, patriotism, and faith in the Emperor increase this score; incompetence, laziness, and doubt decrease it. The score determines each citizen's level of citizenship.

Military enlistment, of course, provides a significant bump in Citizenship Score.

Citizen Service - Are you doing your part? Full citizenship and the
political responsibility that comes with it is limited to those who have
served a tour of duty in the military. Service guarantees citizenship.​

Since being late to work one too many times can not only result in being fired, but in losing the right to get married or own a home, the climate of Galactic Imperial society is one of deep anxiety. Even a moment's failure to act as a model citizen can have immediate and devastating consequences. There is also a climate of paranoia. One of the quickest ways to increase one's Citizenship Score is to report on one's neighbors - to rat them out for being wasteful, or saying something impious, or gathering after curfew. People watch each other closely, eager to scrape out a few Citizenship Points at someone else's expense.

Imperial civilians are extremely wary of strangers, as they are almost always dangerous to interact with. They might be ISB agents in disguise, testing for loyalty to the Empire, or they might be outside infiltrators looking to worm their way into Imperial space. Either way, there is far more to lose by helping them than there is to gain. People keep to themselves, keeping their heads down, interacting with others only in narrow social circles - residents of the same apartment block, coworkers, attendees of the same Church of the Dark Side shrine. Even then, most constantly watch each other for any slip-up they can report.

Police State - To quash any traces of dissent, the population
in this repressive society is carefully monitored and controlled
by a large internal police force.​

Reputation: Fear, disgust, pity - these are the emotions most outsiders experience when considering Galactic Imperial society. More egalitarian and democratic societies look upon the Empire as a dystopian nightmare, its people trapped in a brutal, repressive system, their lives shackled to the will of Emperor Solipsis. Rival Imperial powers look at the Empire as a pretender to the title of Galactic Hegemon, and consider their own systems of security and control to be superior. Regardless of the reason, Galactic Imperial society is not viewed positively by virtually any outsider, and many wish to see it torn down.

The Galactic Empire. They were a sickness festering at the heart of the galaxy,
a plague whose contamination rate only increased as every day passed.
- Marlon Sularen , TIC Supreme Commander​

Curios: The prime example of a Galactic Imperial curio is the Citizen Registration Interface, which every citizen must have in order to be able to interact with society - and to avoid immediate arrest as a subversive. Though not mandatory, many civilians also carry - and virtually all households own - books of Church of the Dark Side scripture. These holobooks, filled with hymns and prayers to the Emperor, are a straightforward way for citizens to demonstrate their piety and patriotism, thereby earning Citizenship Points and avoiding the accusations of their neighbors. It is not uncommon to carry a prayerbook on one's belt.

Crusader Spirit - The lack of guidance creates weak minds,
which easily succumb to corruption and plunge into decadence.
This society has assumed the self-imposed mantle of
bringing "enlightenment" to the masses through
aggressive proselytizing.​

Philosophy: Galactic Imperial society is built around reverence for the Emperor, who is seen as a divine figure - the culmination of ancient Sith prophecy, returned in glory to scour away the age of stagnation and bring order to a lawless galaxy. Secular values such as patriotism, efficiency, meritocracy, stability, and tradition are wrapped up in this religious devotion; they are all seen as aspects of the Emperor's divine plan, the new structure that orbits him like planets around a star. Loyalty and gratitude to the Emperor, along with strict adherence to the principles he decrees, are the guiding philosophy on which Galactic Imperial culture is based.

Imperial Cult - This society has a dominant state religion
where the ruler is worshiped as a living deity.​

Outward Views: The Church of the Dark Side, the Office of Imperial Truth, and state media work overtime to paint the galaxy beyond the Empire's borders as corrupt, stagnant, and unstable. Imperial rivals such as the Sith Order and the Imperial Confederation are portrayed as warped reflections of the Emperor's perfect society; like children trying and failing to imitate the actions of mature adults, they are made spiteful by their failure. Democratic rivals such as the Galactic Alliance and High Republic are portrayed as corrupt and inept, restrained by false compassion that prevents them from making the hard choices that actually improve the galaxy.

Nationalistic Zeal - A strong sense of nationalistic pride
permeates all layers of this society.​

The Arts: In Galactic Imperial culture, the arts exist to glorify the Emperor and His perfect system. Music, visual art, theater, and media are cultivated to draw parallels between today's Empire and the Empires of the past - the ancient Sith and Palpatine's Empire alike. Great emphasis is placed on tradition, though this is a fabrication; the modern Empire is too young to have any traditions of its own. Instead it adopts the traditions of these fallen Empires, copying their aesthetic. At the same time, the individual traditions of conquered worlds are gradually erased, replaced with the arts of a unified monoculture instead of the unique heritage of individual planets and peoples.

Traditional - This society is predisposed to especially value
historical precedence and group unity.​

Architecture: For everyday construction, Galactic Imperial architecture favors function over form. Apartment complexes, factories, barracks, and the like are drab and utilitarian, with not one more cubic meter of duracrete used than is absolutely necessary to achieve their purpose. The exceptions are government buildings and the shrines of the Church of the Dark Side. These are meant to inspire awe, reverence, and loyalty in the populace. They tower over their squat, drab surroundings, spires of dark majesty, richly adorned with the spoils of conquered worlds - and with murals and screens honoring the Emperor.

Functional Architecture - This society is renowned for its simple yet
functional architecture. There are those who would refer to this building
style as boring or even depressing, but in most cases, neo-concrete
does the job just as well as any other building material.​

Habits: Galactic Imperial citizens are encouraged to honor the past - not their own past, or the galaxy's immediate past, but the invented historical patchwork that the Office of Imperial Truth claims is the Empire's heritage. Programs on state media glorify the visionaries of Palpatine's Empire, while the Church of the Dark Side emphasizes the prophecies of the ancient Sith Lords and how they foretell the rise of the Emperor. As a result, many citizens frequently quote Dark Side scripture or famous sayings of major Imperial figures. They also carefully bow to any image of the Emperor or His saints that they pass. Both actions earn them Citizenship Points, after all.

Memorialists - This empire pays tribute to memories and sapients of the past,
deriving greater stability and insight from the continuous cycles
of death, rebirth and legacy.​

Lifestyle: The gulf between the Empire's upper classes and the rest of the population is a vast, yawning chasm. High military officials, wealthy industrialists, and politically important families enjoy the fruits of everyone else's labor, living in luxury and enjoying lives of ease. For ordinary citizens, on the other hand, it is a struggle just to get by. Stable jobs in middle management are only open to Prime Citizens, leaving everyone scrambling for enough Citizenship Points to achieve that coveted status. Falling to Subcitizen status, on the other hand, means living in virtual slavery, with little chance to ever recover. Competition to remain in good citizenship standing is fierce.

Prime Citizens, with a little frugality, can afford to buy private homes. Everyone else lives in apartments or worker dormitories, which are often poorly-maintained due to a lack of safety regulations for landlords; the Imperial administration only steps in to improve conditions if they begin to affect production efficiency. Private ownership of starships, or even mere landspeeders, is also a privilege almost always restricted to Prime Citizens and the aristocracy above them. Vacation travel, wedding ceremonies, and other unnecessary expenses are beyond the reach of most people. Ordinary folks make do, dreaming of Prime Citizen status while making a life out of scraps.

Oppressive Autocracy - Only the elite of the elite deserve the best of the best.
Everyone else is expected to provide for the ruling class and their lackeys.​

Laws: Galactic Imperial laws exist to constrain the civilian population, not to protect them. The legal code is a byzantine labyrinth of highly-specific statutes, most of which are on some level open to a law officer's interpretation - and thus ripe for abuse. Getting on the wrong side of Imperial law enforcement, even over something incredibly minor, is a likely ticket to a Subcitizen labor battalion... or to the reeducation facilities. The punishment of execution is saved only for times when the administration feels an example is warranted, and thus usually reserved for people accused - correctly or not - of being outside infiltrators. Civilians are a resource not idly wasted.

There is no Imperial Bill of Rights; citizens of the Galactic Empire are not considered to have inalienable rights. Instead, they are viewed as signatories of a social contract. So long as they are orderly and law-abiding, they have the privilege of living in a stable society that provides them with safety and opportunity. They receive additional opportunities commensurate with their level of gratitude, loyalty, and dedication to that society, as represented by their Citizenship Score and the three tiers of citizenship they can move between. In Imperial philosophy, sentient beings do not have any inherent worth, only demonstrated worth - and only that can earn them social privileges.

"You are useless to us when you are weak."
- Vireth of Kuat, Imperial Architect​

Beyond the standard, core regulations of the legal system, many systems, planets, cities, and territories have individual laws specific to their occupation status, historical context, and local industry. These local legal codes typically include provisions that local government officials and military officers can, in times of necessity, adjust residency and employment status as needed to meet specific production goals or achieve social stability and progress. In layman's terms, this means that no one is ever entirely safe from being uprooted from their home or forced to labor for the state if someone in power deems it necessary - though Prime Citizens are rarely subjected to this.

Corvée System - This society considers it the absolute right
of the state to decide where its citizens live and work.​

Customs & Traditions: Galactic Imperial customs revolve around reverence for the Emperor and respect for His representatives. This means bowing to images of the Emperor and His saints, regularly attending services of the Church of the Dark Side, and respecting state holidays such as Empire Day - the date that the Emperor made his proclamation reestablishing Coruscant as Imperial Center. It also means respect for the military. Citizens are trained to give a proper salute, and are expected to salute passing patrols; low-level army officers on power trips are infamous for accusing civilians they want to bully of failure to properly salute them as they walk by.

"What is pride without purpose?
What is resilience without a faith to direct it? Empty."
- Janus Vipsanius , Chief Minister​

Education & Training: Three groups in the Empire undergo formal, state-sponsored education. The first is the Sub-Adult Group, which means children under the age of eighteen - a standard that is applied across the board, which can be awkward for species that mature at different rates than humans. Education of the SAGroup in state public schools has two aspects - indoctrination of young people into fervent faith and patriotism, and teaching young people the kind of skills that are necessary to keep the Empire running. Exams establish educational tracks, sending some students to career and technical education, others to military academies, and others to the priesthood.

Orphans and wards of the state are typically housed in Imperial Kinder-Blocks.

"We must harvest more of the galaxy's young,
and the Core affords us an endless supply of recruits."
- Domaric Mordane , Allegiant General
​

It is possible to rise from a public school and attend an officer-level school, such as the Raithal Military Academy; students who test exceptionally well on both patriotism and academics may be tracked in this direction. The bulk of Imperial officers, however, come from the aristocratic class, who typically attend expensive private schools for primary school. Regardless of how they arrive, students at specialized officer-level schools form the second educational group. These schools train specialists - commanders, pilots, marksmen, logistics experts, and clergy of the Church of the Dark Side. One can only rise so far without training at an academy of this level.

The final educational group comes from all ages, species, and backgrounds. They are those sentenced to reeducation. The Galactic Empire is not wasteful with its civilian population; executions of Imperial citizens are rare, and reserved for either times that require a public example or beings that cannot be "rehabilitated". Most serious crimes instead see their perpetrators (or supposed perpetrators) sentenced to a term at a state reeducation facility. These facilities employ morale officers of the Imperial Morale Corps, along with sinister technology like the Vox Aeternum, to break the wills and personalities of the convicted. Loyal Imperial citizens emerge.

"They'll be processed and reformed."
- Domaric Mordane , Allegiant General​

Diet: The aristocratic elite of the Empire dine on the finest spoils of conquered worlds, with executive chefs and artisanal ingredients to satisfy their palettes. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Subcitizens typically eat prefab slop in the mess hall of whatever workstation they're currently assigned to. Citizens and Prime Citizens fall somewhere in the middle. Prime Citizens can afford to eat out occasionally, and some of them are themselves restaurant owners, representatives of "middle class" business - though the supposed economic middle of the Empire is far closer to utter destitution than it is to the rarified lifestyle of the wealthy elite.

The diet of ordinary citizens varies. Some sign up for meal plans provided by their employers, though most prefer to avoid this if possible; although it is convenient, deregulation means that corporations are not held to any real standard regarding what they serve, and the food is often of the lowest possible quality that won't impact work efficiency. Most people shop at local markets and prepare their food at home to save money, occasionally splurging on a restaurant meal. Some citizens operate their own food businesses - generally street food hovercarts, as owning property large enough for a restaurant is usually both financially and politically out of their reach.

Thrifty - Members of this society are instinctively economical
and are always looking to make a good profit, whatever corners need cutting.​

Communication: The official language of the Empire is Galactic Basic Standard. Writing for everyday purposes is done in Aurebresh, but religious texts and government documents are often rendered in High Galactic script. Other languages are typically looked down on and viewed with suspicion; why would anyone speak a language the majority cannot understand, if not to conceal what they're speaking about? Huttese, in particular, is viewed as a dirty, criminal language... though a basic proficiency with Huttese is actually not uncommon in the Empire, thanks in part to unofficial but very real government dealings with the Black Sun Syndicate.

In addition to working to absorb and erase other languages within the Empire's borders, Galactic Imperial culture seeks to unify naming conventions. Members of "integrated" populations whose cultures don't use the standard Imperial practice of first name, last name are required to change their names in order to comply with the Imperial system of registration. Some citizens choose to entirely give up their old names, rooted in conquered cultures, and choose new, properly-Imperial names from an approved standard list. They even receive Citizenship Points for doing so. All babies born in Imperial space must have names from the same approved list.

Thus the slow churn of cultural genocide advances, melding all into a monoculture.

"These are your new identities. Your old names are archived, sealed.
You will learn to respond to designation, rank, and role."
- Domaric Mordane , Allegiant General​

Strengths:

• The more you tighten your grip... Galactic Imperial society is set up for maximum control of the populace, and it does this well. Every aspect of every citizen's daily life is monitored and controlled. There is virtually no escape from constant surveillance, and the civilian population are acutely aware that their every action is watched and judged. Citizenship Points provide a powerful incentive to work hard, express patriotism loudly, and report on any neighbors who may be engaging in subversive activity.

• Free Market Efficiency: The Imperial-Trade Cooperative Act rolled back virtually all of the worker protections, environmental regulations, and antitrust laws established during the reign of the Galactic Alliance. Powerful corporations are free to ruthlessly exploit the working class to maximize their own profits... so long as they deal with the Empire on highly favorable terms. This greatly empowers the military-industrial complex, allowing the Empire to swiftly churn out vast amounts of war materiel.

• Relentless Patriotism: Though the Empire is a young society, it is one that has already incentivized nationalism extremely effectively. False parallels to the supposed glory days of ancient regimes serve as a national founding myth for people to take pride in, and the divine Emperor is the perfect figure to rally around. Displays of patriotism are rewarded, while a lack of pride and piety means demotion to Subcitizen. As a result, society is poisoned against outsiders, and the enlistment office is always full.

Weaknesses:

• ... the more will slip through your fingers. Galactic Imperial society is so repressive and controlling that it can stifle efficiency and actually encourage, or even necessitate, criminality. Deals with megacorporations rolled back Alliance-era worker protections, and Imperial bureaucracy gives citizens just enough rope to choke themselves with - enough resources to barely scrape by, and for Subcitizens, hardly even that. People steal food, barter unofficially for goods, get married in secret. It's the only way to live.

• Ravenous Despoliation: With virtually all protections for workers and the environment abolished, the Galactic Empire has allowed industry to churn through its planets and people at unprecedented speed. Pollution, workplace injuries, and the lack of a social safety net ensure that the lives of countless people across Imperial space are worsened or destroyed in the search for ever greater profits. The Empire is only sustainable in this form so long as it continues to conquer new worlds to relentlessly exploit.

• Bureaucratic Nightmare: The sheer scale of Imperial surveillance and control is staggering, almost incomprehensible, to behold. There are rimward planets whose entire populations are less than the number of functionaries needed to staff a Coruscant district COMLIT or ISB office. A vast legion of droids and organic employees must work together to process the untold billions of forms that pass through these offices. Errors occur, usually at the expense of ordinary civilians. Weak links exist in each office.

HISTORICAL INFORMATION

"We gather here not as idle bureaucrats,
but as stewards of a manifest destiny."
- Alars Keto , Imperial Governor​

Galactic Imperial society is quite young - it was effectively invented out of whole cloth by the Office of Imperial Truth in the wake of Darth Solipsis 's conquest of Coruscant, a way to solidify the Emperor's control over the newly-conquered Core Worlds. However, its principles and supposed heritage harken back to much earlier societies, whose prophecies and principles the OIT cannibalized for their own use. In the official version of events, the roots of Galactic Imperial culture lie in the original Sith Empire, where the Dark Lords of old developed the prophecy of the Sith'ari - the one who would destroy the Sith, then rebuild them greater than before.

Though this belief serves as the foundation of the Church of the Dark Side, a deeply important element of Galactic Imperial society, the basis of society itself comes from conscious imitation of Sheev Palpatine's Galactic Empire. Darth Solipsis's new incarnation of the Galactic Empire deliberately adopted the aesthetic of this centuries-old imperium, from stormtroopers to star destroyers and beyond, and the Office of Imperial Truth went into overtime to portray the period of its rule as a lost golden age of security and stability that now returns to the galaxy. Of course, the only real link between the two is broad Sith and Imperial ideology.

The true, direct seeds of Galactic Imperial society lie in the Final Dawn, a secret cabal of Neo-Imperials hidden within the savage tribes of the Brotherhood of the Maw. While the Brotherhood crashed against the gates of civilization, conquering and laying waste to countless worlds along the galaxy's northern frontier and beyond, the Final Dawn secretly funneled resources from captures systems into its own separate war machine. Darth Solipsis secretly planned to let the tribes exhaust themselves fighting the entire galaxy and collapse, leaving behind shattered nations that the Final Dawn would easily be able to establish dominion over.

Solipsis's plans were disrupted when he was struck down at Tython, mere moments away from completing a ritual that would have granted him incomprehensible power over reality itself. The assets of the Final Dawn scattered, some going into hiding, others acting as successor warlords; many were destroyed at Exegol, where the Brotherhood of the Maw was finally and conclusively defeated. But in time, Solipsis returned, resurrected by Ashin Cardé Varanin through strange and evil sorcery. The risen dark lord assumed control over the remnants of the Final Dawn, reorganizing them into the Dark Empire.

The Dark Empire swiftly launched the vicious Core Wars, struggling against the Galactic Alliance for dominance of the heart of the galaxy. But in the midst of these conflicts, Darth Solipsis suddenly disappeared, sowing confusion through the Imperial forces. The Dark Empire collapsed, divided between those who remained loyal to the vanished Emperor and those who once again sought to become successor warlords. This was exactly what Solipsis had intended. After the fragmentation, he suddenly reappeared from the shadows, reassuming command of the loyalists and purging all who had abandoned his cause. The purification had begun.

With this core of true believers at his side, Solipsis launched his conquest of Coruscant... and succeeded. The entire Core Worlds region fell to the Emperor's onslaught, carving out the heart of the Galactic Alliance and leaving it reeling. It was at this point that the Office of Imperial Truth sprang into action. In order to create unity and stability across the newly-conquered worlds, the OIT invented Galactic Imperial culture. Drawing on the faith of the Church of the Dark Side and the aesthetic and principles of the older Galactic Empire, they forged a new identity for society - one supposedly based in meritocracy, but dedicated solely to the Emperor's goals.

"Remember, there's no room for hesitation in the Empire.
The weak fall, and the strong survive."
- Domaric Mordane , Allegiant General​