Post by Darth Kairos on Oct 26, 2016 0:22:41 GMT
The Federal Military, as its name would suggest, consists of the combined military forces of the Obsidian Union’s government. Originally established as the Union Defence Force, the organization adopted its current name and structure after the majority of the UDF sided with the traitorous Darth Unrivaled during the First Union Civil War. Once a monolithic conglomeration of all Union forces, it is now distinct from the planetary militias that handle local planetary defences – a countermeasure against internal rebellion.
While the Union Defence Force adopted a fairly traditional approach to its operations, emphasizing defence of the Union’s core territories while still serving as an effective offensive force, the differentiation of the planetary militias from the mainline military has allowed the Federal Military to develop an aggressive, highly flexible strategic doctrine emphasizing hard-hitting offensive actions.
Doctrine
The delegation of planetary defensive duties to local militias and forces frees the majority of the Federal Military to focus its attention on action against the Galactic Alliance and its allies, carrying the spirit of liberation from the Union heartworlds into the Core. Of the minority of forces assigned to the protection of Union territory, a number are assigned as garrisons for federally-controlled planets and installations – such as the Federal Military headquarters of Yaxon VI, the fortress-armoury of Dol Gorath, and the capital-station of New Bethrezen – or high-value Union member worlds and infrastructure targets, including the shipyards of Dac and Lianna. The remainder are separated into rapid-response task forces and strike-groups, both the first line of real defence against enemy invasion and reinforcements for Union worlds faced with foes too strong for their planetary militias to handle.
Lacking the galaxy-spanning wealth or military logistics of the larger Galactic Alliance, or the aggressively militaristic history of the Imperial Remnant, the mainstays of the Federal Military tend to be hard-hitting but small and maneuverable war machines – cruisers over the mammoth Star Destroyers of the Alliance and Empire, or repulsortanks rather than lumbering AT-AT walkers. This ties heavily into the military’s overall strategic doctrine: it has perfected the art of lightning-strikes, attacking relentlessly to decimate enemy targets and planets then falling back to safety before its enemies can bring their greater numbers to bear.
Command
The highest military authority in the Union, and indeed the highest authority period, is that of the First Consul. However, his myriad duties make full oversight of the Federal Military impractical – for this reason, authority is delegated to two individuals: the Military Executor and the High Marshal. Officially, the Executor has complete command over not only the Federal Military, but the planetary militias as well, and is charged with coordinating their activities and efforts.
Realistically, however, the required split in focus takes away from the attention that the Executor can put upon the Federal Military; further, as Executor is a role that has frequently gone hand-in-hand with the position of Chair of the Galactic Liberation Party, it is the High Marshal that wields the most direct influence over the Federal Military.
The High Marshal, with the aid of a dedicated command staff, coordinates most actions between the various divisions of the Federal Military and brings about changes and improvements to shape the military into an even more lethal fighting force. Whenever the need arises, members of the command staff – and indeed the High Marshal himself – can take direct command of Union forces of any size and composition, as the High Marshal’s authority is above any individual division and is second only to the Executor himself – and, of course, the First Consul.
Many Sith hold positions within the Federal Military, ranging from Commanders and Captains to Generals and Admirals, and historically administrate entire branches. Even Sith who don’t hold official authority are granted it regardless – the immense respect of the Federal Military for the Sith, combined with Union propaganda and a healthy dose of fear, ensure that Sith commands are almost always followed regardless of the Sith’s status (and, unfortunately often, their actual tactical capability).
Since the Federal Military’s inception as the Union Defence Force, there have been four Executors: Darth Unrivaled, who turned traitor and was slain during the First Union Civil War; Darth Venom, his immediate replacement who abandoned the position and Union itself for parts unknown; Lady Vidia, who followed in Unrivaled’s footsteps and met a similar end at the conclusion of the Second Union Civil War; and Darth Reaver, who has served faithfully and admirably since then.
Likewise, there have been four High Marshals: Darth Vicious, who initially held the position; Darth Marda, who held the position from the Battle of Teth in the Snowfall Campaign until his disappearance shortly before the Second Union Civil War; Darth Exolus, who briefly held the position afterwards; and Darth Ares, who took over from Darth Exolus when the latter retired to focus on his personal goals and priorities.
While Yaxon VI is the home and headquarters of the Federal Military, Federal Tower on New Bethrezen acts as the second home of the many Sith who dominate the upper echelons of the Federal Military.
A Brief History
The roots of the Federal Military stretch back well before the Obsidian Union, past even the Bastion Accords that signaled the end of the Galactic Civil War between the New Republic and Galactic Empire, to the armed forces of the New Sith Order. Established by a surviving member of Emperor Palpatine’s dark acolytes, the New Sith Order built up an armada of warships using recovered Imperial caches and hidden shipyards in the Deep Core, simultaneously establishing great armies using cloning arrays supplemented by a mix of forced conscription and fanatical devotion.
Though originally planning to crush the New Republic when the moment was right, the New Sith Order collapsed into infighting before this moment came about; the brutal civil war that ensued saw its once grand fleets and armies reduced to dust and echoes, with barely a fraction of both the military and Sith order itself surviving. These remaining forces were ravaged further when a second conflict occurred not long after, and soon what little remained fell under the vassalage of the Ni’Novian Ascendancy, lead by an independent Sith who took advantage of the chaos befalling the New Sith Order.
Having assumed the position of Dark Lord of the Sith by this time, Darth Xaos set about rebuilding the New Sith Order and its military to break free of the Ni’Novians’ control. When finally he made his move, the military had regrown to match the Ni’Novians that had once dwarfed them – the ensuing war of independence may well have seen the New Sith Order’s destruction if not for the arrival of Darth Unrivaled, who appeared out of the Unknown Regions at the eleventh hour with a vast fleet of highly advanced warships. The Ni’Novians were crushed, and not long after the Obsidian Union declared its existence – and, to protect it, the Union Defence Force was established under Darth Unrivaled.
The early UDF was comprised of both the forces Darth Unrivaled had brought from the Unknown Regions, the forces of the New Sith Order, and the eager militias of the worlds flocking to the Union. It is quite possible that the early forces of the UDF equaled or even eclipsed those of the Galactic Alliance, which had retired most of its fleet and armies after the Yuuzhan Vong War to focus on rebuilding a shattered galaxy. The reasons the Union stayed its full military onslaught in those early days are unclear: while the proximity of the still well-armed Imperial Remnant may have been a factor, another still is the infighting and political maneuvering that dominated the New Sith Order.
This maneuvering directly lead to the Union’s First Civil War, when a faction of heretical Sith – among them, Darth Unrivaled – warred against the mainline New Sith Order. As Unrivaled commanded the UDF to his side, the bulk of the loyalist forces consisted of planetary militias, pirate groups, and independent militaries. The loyalist Sith won this conflict in great part due to the actions of the greater number of Sith on their side, but at the cost of many of the advanced vessels provided by Unrivaled – some lost in battle, but most destroyed in suicidal detonations after the death of their Executor.
The loyalist victory ultimately saw the transformation of the New Sith Order into the New Sith Brotherhood, and the Union Defence Force into its modern form: the Federal Military. Though weakened by the First Union Civil War, the Federal Military bolstered its ranks with independent vessels and fighters, pirate groups, the regional militaries of new planets and forces brought into the fold by the influence of the Union’s Sith masters. Meanwhile, Lady Vidia – a key figure in crushing the absurdly short-lived Byssian Heresy, and a proven commander in the First Union Civil War – became the Federal Military’s Executor. It would not be long before the Federal Military began proper war against its primary foe: the Galactic Alliance Defence Force.
Fighting off an attack on the headquarters world of Yaxon VI, the Federal Military commenced the Snowfall campaign: over half a year of brutal fighting, the Federal Military clashed again and again with the GADF, outmatched technologically but making up the difference with the tenacity of its fighters and the cunning of its Sith commanders. It liberated countless worlds from the still-exhausted GADF, killed the GADF’s Supreme Commander at the Battle of Teth, and carried out a devastating lightning-raid on Coruscant itself. Further, during this conflict an entire GADF Battlefleet, under the command of GA wunderkind Kana Kuran and the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer New Dawn, defected to the Union, significantly bolstering the Federal Military’s ranks and bringing in a number of both experienced commanders and fresh fighters. By the time the Snowfall Campaign was over, the Federal Military had firmly established itself as a highly-effective and highly-lethal fighting force.
Structure
The Federal Military is organized into five distinct branches to service each of the Union’s military needs. Though there is often overlap between the duties of each branch and all are expected to work closely together, every member of the military enlists (as conscription is no longer in practice) as one of the following:
Terrestrial Forces: The ground-based armies of the Federal Military, capturing and holding planets and planetary targets. This is by far the most diverse branch of the military, with roles ranging from scouting enemy forces to protecting the Dark Council itself.
Stellar Navy: The Union’s fleet of warships, and by far the largest branch. The Stellar Navy operates the entire Union starfleet, and is the backbone of the Federal Military.
Starfighter Corps: Though nominally distinct from the Stellar Navy, the lack of hyperdrives aboard most Union starfighters means that the majority operate from navy warships. Still, a significant number of special squadrons and strike forces & equipped with a wide array of starfighters operate independently, fielding everything from lethal TIE Defenders and B-Wings to ancient Z-95s and TIE Fighters.
Stellar Marines: Closely related to both the Stellar Navy and the Terrestrial Forces, the Stellar Marines specialize in boarding action and are present on most navy vessels. Elite units are trained as shock-troopers, deploying to planetary & surfaces to establish footholds for the Terrestrial Forces.
Military Police: Handling both internal policing and internal security, the Military Police are present on most Federal Military bases and installations – and throughout the wider Union as a state-wide police force.
Separate from and above each division is the Office of the High Marshal, in overall command of the Federal Military – and above that, the Office of the Military Executor.
While the Union Defence Force adopted a fairly traditional approach to its operations, emphasizing defence of the Union’s core territories while still serving as an effective offensive force, the differentiation of the planetary militias from the mainline military has allowed the Federal Military to develop an aggressive, highly flexible strategic doctrine emphasizing hard-hitting offensive actions.
Doctrine
The delegation of planetary defensive duties to local militias and forces frees the majority of the Federal Military to focus its attention on action against the Galactic Alliance and its allies, carrying the spirit of liberation from the Union heartworlds into the Core. Of the minority of forces assigned to the protection of Union territory, a number are assigned as garrisons for federally-controlled planets and installations – such as the Federal Military headquarters of Yaxon VI, the fortress-armoury of Dol Gorath, and the capital-station of New Bethrezen – or high-value Union member worlds and infrastructure targets, including the shipyards of Dac and Lianna. The remainder are separated into rapid-response task forces and strike-groups, both the first line of real defence against enemy invasion and reinforcements for Union worlds faced with foes too strong for their planetary militias to handle.
Lacking the galaxy-spanning wealth or military logistics of the larger Galactic Alliance, or the aggressively militaristic history of the Imperial Remnant, the mainstays of the Federal Military tend to be hard-hitting but small and maneuverable war machines – cruisers over the mammoth Star Destroyers of the Alliance and Empire, or repulsortanks rather than lumbering AT-AT walkers. This ties heavily into the military’s overall strategic doctrine: it has perfected the art of lightning-strikes, attacking relentlessly to decimate enemy targets and planets then falling back to safety before its enemies can bring their greater numbers to bear.
Command
The highest military authority in the Union, and indeed the highest authority period, is that of the First Consul. However, his myriad duties make full oversight of the Federal Military impractical – for this reason, authority is delegated to two individuals: the Military Executor and the High Marshal. Officially, the Executor has complete command over not only the Federal Military, but the planetary militias as well, and is charged with coordinating their activities and efforts.
Realistically, however, the required split in focus takes away from the attention that the Executor can put upon the Federal Military; further, as Executor is a role that has frequently gone hand-in-hand with the position of Chair of the Galactic Liberation Party, it is the High Marshal that wields the most direct influence over the Federal Military.
The High Marshal, with the aid of a dedicated command staff, coordinates most actions between the various divisions of the Federal Military and brings about changes and improvements to shape the military into an even more lethal fighting force. Whenever the need arises, members of the command staff – and indeed the High Marshal himself – can take direct command of Union forces of any size and composition, as the High Marshal’s authority is above any individual division and is second only to the Executor himself – and, of course, the First Consul.
Many Sith hold positions within the Federal Military, ranging from Commanders and Captains to Generals and Admirals, and historically administrate entire branches. Even Sith who don’t hold official authority are granted it regardless – the immense respect of the Federal Military for the Sith, combined with Union propaganda and a healthy dose of fear, ensure that Sith commands are almost always followed regardless of the Sith’s status (and, unfortunately often, their actual tactical capability).
Since the Federal Military’s inception as the Union Defence Force, there have been four Executors: Darth Unrivaled, who turned traitor and was slain during the First Union Civil War; Darth Venom, his immediate replacement who abandoned the position and Union itself for parts unknown; Lady Vidia, who followed in Unrivaled’s footsteps and met a similar end at the conclusion of the Second Union Civil War; and Darth Reaver, who has served faithfully and admirably since then.
Likewise, there have been four High Marshals: Darth Vicious, who initially held the position; Darth Marda, who held the position from the Battle of Teth in the Snowfall Campaign until his disappearance shortly before the Second Union Civil War; Darth Exolus, who briefly held the position afterwards; and Darth Ares, who took over from Darth Exolus when the latter retired to focus on his personal goals and priorities.
While Yaxon VI is the home and headquarters of the Federal Military, Federal Tower on New Bethrezen acts as the second home of the many Sith who dominate the upper echelons of the Federal Military.
A Brief History
The roots of the Federal Military stretch back well before the Obsidian Union, past even the Bastion Accords that signaled the end of the Galactic Civil War between the New Republic and Galactic Empire, to the armed forces of the New Sith Order. Established by a surviving member of Emperor Palpatine’s dark acolytes, the New Sith Order built up an armada of warships using recovered Imperial caches and hidden shipyards in the Deep Core, simultaneously establishing great armies using cloning arrays supplemented by a mix of forced conscription and fanatical devotion.
Though originally planning to crush the New Republic when the moment was right, the New Sith Order collapsed into infighting before this moment came about; the brutal civil war that ensued saw its once grand fleets and armies reduced to dust and echoes, with barely a fraction of both the military and Sith order itself surviving. These remaining forces were ravaged further when a second conflict occurred not long after, and soon what little remained fell under the vassalage of the Ni’Novian Ascendancy, lead by an independent Sith who took advantage of the chaos befalling the New Sith Order.
Having assumed the position of Dark Lord of the Sith by this time, Darth Xaos set about rebuilding the New Sith Order and its military to break free of the Ni’Novians’ control. When finally he made his move, the military had regrown to match the Ni’Novians that had once dwarfed them – the ensuing war of independence may well have seen the New Sith Order’s destruction if not for the arrival of Darth Unrivaled, who appeared out of the Unknown Regions at the eleventh hour with a vast fleet of highly advanced warships. The Ni’Novians were crushed, and not long after the Obsidian Union declared its existence – and, to protect it, the Union Defence Force was established under Darth Unrivaled.
The early UDF was comprised of both the forces Darth Unrivaled had brought from the Unknown Regions, the forces of the New Sith Order, and the eager militias of the worlds flocking to the Union. It is quite possible that the early forces of the UDF equaled or even eclipsed those of the Galactic Alliance, which had retired most of its fleet and armies after the Yuuzhan Vong War to focus on rebuilding a shattered galaxy. The reasons the Union stayed its full military onslaught in those early days are unclear: while the proximity of the still well-armed Imperial Remnant may have been a factor, another still is the infighting and political maneuvering that dominated the New Sith Order.
This maneuvering directly lead to the Union’s First Civil War, when a faction of heretical Sith – among them, Darth Unrivaled – warred against the mainline New Sith Order. As Unrivaled commanded the UDF to his side, the bulk of the loyalist forces consisted of planetary militias, pirate groups, and independent militaries. The loyalist Sith won this conflict in great part due to the actions of the greater number of Sith on their side, but at the cost of many of the advanced vessels provided by Unrivaled – some lost in battle, but most destroyed in suicidal detonations after the death of their Executor.
The loyalist victory ultimately saw the transformation of the New Sith Order into the New Sith Brotherhood, and the Union Defence Force into its modern form: the Federal Military. Though weakened by the First Union Civil War, the Federal Military bolstered its ranks with independent vessels and fighters, pirate groups, the regional militaries of new planets and forces brought into the fold by the influence of the Union’s Sith masters. Meanwhile, Lady Vidia – a key figure in crushing the absurdly short-lived Byssian Heresy, and a proven commander in the First Union Civil War – became the Federal Military’s Executor. It would not be long before the Federal Military began proper war against its primary foe: the Galactic Alliance Defence Force.
Fighting off an attack on the headquarters world of Yaxon VI, the Federal Military commenced the Snowfall campaign: over half a year of brutal fighting, the Federal Military clashed again and again with the GADF, outmatched technologically but making up the difference with the tenacity of its fighters and the cunning of its Sith commanders. It liberated countless worlds from the still-exhausted GADF, killed the GADF’s Supreme Commander at the Battle of Teth, and carried out a devastating lightning-raid on Coruscant itself. Further, during this conflict an entire GADF Battlefleet, under the command of GA wunderkind Kana Kuran and the Executor-class Super Star Destroyer New Dawn, defected to the Union, significantly bolstering the Federal Military’s ranks and bringing in a number of both experienced commanders and fresh fighters. By the time the Snowfall Campaign was over, the Federal Military had firmly established itself as a highly-effective and highly-lethal fighting force.
Structure
The Federal Military is organized into five distinct branches to service each of the Union’s military needs. Though there is often overlap between the duties of each branch and all are expected to work closely together, every member of the military enlists (as conscription is no longer in practice) as one of the following:
Terrestrial Forces: The ground-based armies of the Federal Military, capturing and holding planets and planetary targets. This is by far the most diverse branch of the military, with roles ranging from scouting enemy forces to protecting the Dark Council itself.
Stellar Navy: The Union’s fleet of warships, and by far the largest branch. The Stellar Navy operates the entire Union starfleet, and is the backbone of the Federal Military.
Starfighter Corps: Though nominally distinct from the Stellar Navy, the lack of hyperdrives aboard most Union starfighters means that the majority operate from navy warships. Still, a significant number of special squadrons and strike forces & equipped with a wide array of starfighters operate independently, fielding everything from lethal TIE Defenders and B-Wings to ancient Z-95s and TIE Fighters.
Stellar Marines: Closely related to both the Stellar Navy and the Terrestrial Forces, the Stellar Marines specialize in boarding action and are present on most navy vessels. Elite units are trained as shock-troopers, deploying to planetary & surfaces to establish footholds for the Terrestrial Forces.
Military Police: Handling both internal policing and internal security, the Military Police are present on most Federal Military bases and installations – and throughout the wider Union as a state-wide police force.
Separate from and above each division is the Office of the High Marshal, in overall command of the Federal Military – and above that, the Office of the Military Executor.