I get the feeling Imperials don’t really do (job) interviews. The expectation being if you apply or are recommended for a job, you’re capable of doing it otherwise you’d be wasting everyone’s time. And you don’t waste people’s time in the Empire.
This means that a) you definitely end up with people who are incapable or incompetent for their position (visible, iirc, in the text) and b) Imperial-defectors attempting to live ‘normal’ lives in the Republic have absolutely no idea how to get a job, so it’s very easy for the Pub authorities to push them back in military or intelligence positions that the ex-Imp likely doesn’t want
as I’ve said, holding hands = lewd, so you’ve got a base for it
but
there used to be a “recommendation” that you don’t pick up a crying baby because then they’ll cry more. (I can’t source it at the moment, my ability to google child care is stymied by the fact I don’t want to) While Imperials don’t necessarily ignore children during those early developmental stages (because it is literally damaging to the child), once the kid’s starting to talk and walk, hugs and comforting touches drop off dramatically.
This then puts physical interaction into two categories: violence and sex.
(Or dancing, acting etc. but those are seen as exceptions. Dancing in clubs is either dancing near a partner or group, or it is a transgressive act of closeness)
So yes this has a very negative effect on development (you need to be very strong of will to leave the Empire in the first place, but once you’re out the structure and culture you’ve been bred for is gone and you need to dramatically change your outlook on getting help (and have access to that help, like good lord, I swear Elara Dorne’s quests carry the implication that ex-Imps are pretty much under constant surveillance and don’t really have choices in the Republic but if you don’t go that way ??? what do you have ???), you’re going to fall apart) you’re getting adults who don’t really know how to interact with each other physically outside of the above two contexts.
And then add the Sith culture and interpretations thereof (particularly with showing weakness and need) on top.
Touch starved is... yeah.
The Imperial Coffee Shop romance novel has people brushing hands being pored over for chapters. High drama. Filth.
I touched very briefly on the need for a virtue system a while ago, a brief summary being 'societies exist as a natural part of the species, societies need a level of trust to function'. In that post I talked about ethics within a social contract, and I might well have actually been pointing myself toward contractarianism without knowing the word for it, however these are typically deontological systems and the Empire strikes me as more likely to really adhere to a rule consequentialist system (the consequence being what's best for the Empire, not really Bentham's utility). But, as we've seen with popular criticisms of (negative) utilitarianism it's better if there's something else to go along with it. Deontology, consequentialism, and virtue ethics should hang out more.
In part what I felt needed to be reconciled is the Sith ideology and the needs of a society to function. This is approached in the community-centric, self-centric post. One of the key interpretations of the Sith Code is 'might makes right' (and while one might take a more charitable interpretation, like those for the Will to Power, the Empire as a whole does not leave itself open to charitable interpretations) and this, as one can imagine, does not necessarily sit well with the necessity of Law and Order within any functioning society, much less one quite so hell bent on law and order as the Empire. Its law and its order true but law and order none-the-less.
And while it might be nice to have a unifying moral system for the Empire, I don't think it really needs one and, perhaps, having such a core aspect of a society and culture being fundamentally split better reflects the fractious nature of the Empire as a whole. (Funny aside I keep typing 'empure'.)
So, what are the virtues for and to whom do they apply? I did write out a class structure but this is not the division we'll be examining. This is a "one for mine, one for thine" system. That is, there is one moral system for the Sith, based around (an interpretation of) The Sith Code and another moral system for... everyone else. For brevity we'll call them Citizens.
Virtues of the Citizen:
Pride (in the empire and ones achievements)
Courage
Wisdom
Temperance of action and feeling (self discipline)
Orderliness *at once keeping stuff in order, but also understanding one's place in the Empire
Excellence *the best me and the best I can do makes the empire better as a whole or the best I can do for the empire is the best me
cleanliness *don't smell
Unity *not necessarily friendliness, but not rocking the boat as it were
"In all one's actions and duties to uphold the standards of the Empire”
Timely - to know when best to be serious and to be jovial. Also, be on fucking time
Respectfulness
Charity toward children
Pride is important because one cannot uphold the Empire without being proud of it. Pride in this case acts as a kind of patriotism. It is not just believing that the Empire can be good, but that the Empire is good. That its actions are just and reasonable, for the progress and existence of itself, and because it is good and just and reasonable, everyone should partake in it. That's the kind of pride that is the "ideal" within the Empire: a heart-warming, chest-swelling belief that This Is Correct. It goes into the everyday as well, to the idea that "In all one's actions and duties uphold the standards of the Empire". To have pride in one's work and place within the Empire is to do your job well and to do it the best of your ability and push it further. Pride feeds into the concept of excellence: the best "me" and the best I can do makes the Empire better as a whole, or the best I can do for the Empire is the best "me". Alternatively, if one is ashamed of the Empire, one is at odds with the Empire, because the Empire is the embodiment of itself - it is the best at being what it is and it continually gets better at being itself by perfecting the aspects of it and refining them: getting rid of the chaff and the fat, all the unnecessary things, like the detractors, those who might call for a reining in of military spending or border expansion. Because if the Empire is the best (and it is) it is just that everyone should be part of the Empire or removed.
Courage is needed within the Empire and its Citizens for a multitude of reasons, but primarily it's perceived to be necessary within the context of the military, both in offensive actions and in defence of the Empire and its territories. To add some context, if we consider Aristotle's approach to virtues, he holds (held?) that practising one in excess or being deficient in it results in "a sin". With regard to courage specifically (being a classical virtue he did actually talk about this one specifically), courage in excess becomes 'rashness' and in deficiency 'cowardice', courage itself is the mean. With this in mind, courage as encouraged by the Empire - not explicitly but more implicitly within the culture and what is celebrated in literature - is a lot closer to rashness than one might expect. Risk-reward calculation errs toward the greater reward (hinging on it the reward being useful or progressive for the Empire), often regardless of the risk. As a result promotion will favour those who achieve these rewards. Longevity always favours those who can reduce the risks.
Wisdom should be fairly straightforward: it covers both lived experience and knowledge from a robust and continuous education. It is needed to temper courage to not become abject recklessness.
Temperance in this case is not merely the control of physical appetites and impulses but more generally the control of one's emotions. This in a way is an inheritance from the Sith. A Citizen will not be led about by anger or jealousy, nor will they wallow in regret or sadness (terms and conditions may apply). Of course, as it does derive itself from the Sith, it might be more apt to say that one ought not show one's emotions in a way that might cast one in a negative light. Ideally you'd be a master of your emotions, in reality much like the Sith these are fuel. Anger or jealousy can be used to drive one to excel against a rival. In practice that might be too hard and instead you undermine them and have them stationed somewhere awful, like Balmorra. It shares a domain with Timeliness - when it is best to show emotion, or what emotion it is best to show.
Orderliness and unity share aspects. Unity is at once getting along with one's fellows as well as being mentally and spiritually in check with the Empire. In part this stems from the order of the Empire - yes "class movement" is possible* but one should excel in and understand one's place first. There is also the concept of not "rocking the boat" as it were. Back to the concept of the Empire as a meritocracy, if someone is above you in the hierarchy it is just (they are more "Imperial" than you) and to go against them is to go against the set order. As you can probably well imagine this does lend itself to horrible abuses of power. One of the other interpretations of order in a more general sense is the rigid class system and the duty to uphold it.
*actual results may vary
The ideal Citizen not only embodies each of these virtues, they excel in them and push themselves, and by extension the Empire, to greater heights. Fundamentally the perfect execution of all virtues of the Citizens is not possible as they are opposed to each with regard to how they are represented in Imperial culture.
Virtues of the Sith:
Cunning
Wisdom
Living authentically (the existential ideal), you will often see this as self-actualization. Being able to make decisions for oneself without necessarily being bound to the wills and needs of others.
Strength
Will to power
Justice (upholding Imperial laws and ideals)
Magnificence
Cunning is, naturally, the purview of the Sith. To live within such a cut-throat environment as the halls of Sith academia, politics, or even administration, is to deal with other Sith and their own ends. In conjunction with other aspects such as strength and the previously mentioned interpretations of the 'will to power', means are used to achieve those ends, and those means are likely to be other people who can be bent to a Sith's will, including other Sith. So cunning is not only the ability to twist and connive through the Sith interactions and through the necessity that is Imperial bureaucracy, but to see when others are doing the same; to predict their ends and what means they will use to achieve them. Cunning here is not merely the conventional definition but is also quick witted-ness and having a keen mind. Sometimes deceit is not conducive to progress so you can't always rely on it. Sometimes honesty is best. If you can tell the truth and get one over on someone who is lying better than if you yourself were lying, tell the truth. The Empire does have the idea that the truth will out, so if the truth is already out it shouldn't be used to harm you.
Wisdom, of course, is needed for cunning to be useful. It also lays out the boundaries of one's experiences and one's abilities. A wise and cunning Sith can best one who is merely strong in the Force. There are plays and operas about this very premise, as it becomes a greater strength. Sith are also learned in far more spheres than Imperial Civilians. They have a greater access to literature, including philosophy and politics. A high-born Sith will have - if they so choose - a full education in philosophy and politics. Certain Imperial Civilians may also be educated in such matters but this is generally more restricted, either in subject matter, breadth, and depth or simply who is permitted to learn such matters (hint: not the lower classes, they might learn something).
Living authentically isn't so much a virtue as it is its own philosophy. Put very simply, authenticity is making decisions - both moral and social - that reflect one's own true self rather than decisions based (solely) on external influences or structures. It does base itself on the principle of knowing oneself, though in order to discover it you kind of have to start living authentically. Like devoting entire evenings to writing out essays on hypothetical ethics structures for fictional societies that aren't even yours. In the case of the Sith, this is again an example of their freedom and their place within Imperial society. However, if we take the lists to be in descending order of importance, it again ranks above
Strength, in that if you can't make your own decisions, or be true to yourself, or truly know yourself or be aware of your own true self, you won't have true strength in the view of the Sith. Cunning and wisdom feed into living the authentic life for the Sith, as they are methods by which this authenticity can be achieved, for - make no mistake - if your authenticity expresses or comes across as weakness, then other Sith will take advantage of that. Social standing within Sith society is limited and is only doled out to a few. It is by necessity a measure of co-operation, the Empire and Sith religion wouldn't persevere otherwise, but that cooperation can be, and is, strained.
Which brings us to Strength. This is not simply physical power or the connection to the Force, though those are the most obvious and fastest routes to power and strength, but internal strength. Resilience of the mind and body to attacks both internal and external.
Justice is a lot of things to a lot of people. We talk of restorative or retributive justice in a legal or social sense but in a way all of our ideas of justice are inextricably linked to some sort of moral or ethical idea or ideal we have. Or maybe they aren't. Either way Sith are generally expected to deal in retributive justice when called upon to do so; both in determining the crime and enacting the sentence, they are beholden to the Imperial standard and Code of Conduct, and that does sometimes lead to lightsabers in chests. However part of the expectation is that they would defer to the Sphere of Law and Justice unless circumstances make swift action necessary. Of course this is the legal aspect of it, which is arguably separate from the ethical aspect of justice. If we take Plato's interpretation of what it is to be just, if a Sith acts in accordance with all their prescribed virtues (being that the virtues are inherently 'good' by Sith culture because they lead to the Best Sith and the Best Sith are Good Sith), then justice should arise naturally out of their actions, but the basis of that logic seemed kind of shaky to me, so this is where we will actually call in Contractarianism to an extent. Coupling the (presumed) Imperial codices of law - which is arguably a codified version of the Imperial Consequentialist ethical system, rule consequentialism - with Imperial Consequentialism and ideas such as disinterestedness and impartiality (similar but not quite the same) which we put together to come up with a rudimentary concept of fairness; if a Sith can act in such a way that is in harmony with those ideas, to the pursuit of the Good of the Empire (and the Sith, plural), then that is what we can call justice in the sense of a Sith virtue. We are not necessarily dealing with universal truths here but something more subjective for the purposes of this exercise.
Magnificence. Be bitchin' at all times.
The Sith might also be expected to perform the virtues of the citizens listed above, particularly those of being timely, orderly and clean. When in the presence of Sith of higher standing, or of Citizens of high standing particularly those of the military or intelligence, then such actions will also be expected.
Temperance (self discipline) - the Sith rule and control their emotions. Though one might become powerful through unbridled rage, one might lose oneself to it and lose one's mental faculties including (ironically) the will to power, making one un-Sith-like.
As the people and the Empire are seen as being one-in-the-same ('people' here referring to all who live under the Empire (slaves excluded unless they've up-moved) but generally Citizens see themselves as being more the Empire than the Sith, this expanded below), anything that is perceived as being good for the Empire is good for the people and vice versa.
And, above all of these is a single virtue of paramount import: Loyalty to the Empire.
As ever, these virtues are not to be practised in excess nor be shied from. Life in the Empire is a balancing act.
In addition to the aforementioned class structure, there are three Classes (four if we count slaves): The Sith, Citizens and de facto citizens.
Citizens, which one could class all as for they all live within the Empire, but Citizens are those who are born to Imperial families, typically within core Imperial worlds. They have the force of longevity behind them, their presence and purpose within the Empire is inherent. They have the tried and true Imperial education, in mathematics, warfare, literature, and the sciences. They all hold in some form a military position. A teacher can be called upon to fire a gun, as a baker can be expected to fix a tank. Full time military service is performed by all citizens for four years, and after that they either continue within the military system or return to perform other vital roles within the Empire.
De facto citizens are those living on planets the Empire has conquered, by war or through the Treaty of Coruscant. Formal expectations of them are the same, however Citizens oft treat them not necessarily with contempt but not with high expectations. Citizens see their lack of Imperial education (something being rectified but sorely lacking in the adult generations) as a fault that prevents them from performing the best they can for the Empire (see the virtues). This disregard for their own experiences, talents, and cultures does, to put it mildly, chafe the De Facto citizens.
The Sith, of course.
---
If we posit that each Citizen is a microcosm of the Empire, this being an extension of the idea "Where there is an Imperial, there is the Empire", any imbalance of the above can be perceived as a reflection to what imbalance in society would be. And a society which is fundamentally unbalanced is an "unhealthy" one, so an unhealthy society is an unbalanced one. By the logic of this metaphor, an unbalanced (in terms of virtues and vices) Imperial is an unhealthy one, and an unhealthy Imperial is an unbalanced one. Now, on a meta level this is awful logic. In world it's also awful logic, it barely tracks even without external factors, it falls into one of the early fallacies that if A predicates B, A must equal B and therefore B=A. It kind of feels true, so there's an inclination to accept it as true (I like to call this the aesthetic of reason) without thinking too hard about it. The nice thing about the fiction I'm building here is the feelings don't have to care about the facts, so the general society of the Empire can take this poor logical statement as written and as a result not have to think too hard about why someone might not fit in with the system, or be at odds with it, or even why their physical or mental health is not ideal. It's because they're "bad Imperials". The crisis of faith experienced by a soldier who's seen their friends and comrades killed in a meat grinder on some bass-ackwards planet for barely any reward because of some higher-up's bruised ego isn't because there's something inherently wrong with the Empire, there must be something inherently wrong with the soldier because they can't grasp why the bass-ackwards planet and the higher-up's ego are more important to the Empire than the lives of their friends and comrades, because it is the duty of the Citizen to be the Empire and to defend the Empire. If you can't defend the Empire you can't be the Empire. The sacrifices are great because the gains are great. And all sacrifices are for the gains of the Empire. So yes if we take the microcosm metaphor at the beginning of this passage and bring it here, to this conclusion, you have a constant sacrifice of the Empire for itself, or more realistically with the example given, the sacrifice of the Empire for some middle manager's power trip. From there I can segue sharply into how the Sith are at the forefront of the cultural schism because of their infighting and how their own virtue system and Code put them at odds with the Empire at large and the idea of Citizens specifically. We can look at Force Sensitivity as something like a divine right in politics. The Emperor is a Sith, the entire Dark Council are Sith. We have the elevation of power and ability via a meritocracy (power is merit) and, in a way, the connection of the Force, to the universe, to the individual, is as if to have a fundamental connection to the universe or to a higher plane of existence, however you want to look at it. Couple this right to rule with a driving need to not be seen as weak and a converse amount of freedom and the right within the culture to "live authentically" and you will have a conflict. The need not to be seen as weak is different from being perceived as strong, but not very different, and this is somewhat at odds with the idea of freedom as the Sith have it. They are free to do pretty much as they will but they're also constrained by the ruthless power structure of their society. (Sith society is of course intertwined but largely separate from the Citizen's.) There is the emphasis on emotion, but that does not give you the freedom to be sad, because what makes you sad can be a tool to use against you. The same with happiness. Any emotion, positive or negative, can be used as a tool of manipulation against the Sith, as equally as they can be used as fuel for their own power. It is simply that certain emotions, like anger specifically, are more easily turned to one's own use than others.
The very basis of having a connection to the Force gives a connection to the Universe at large. It is a fundamental oneness to life and existence that those who are Force Blind don't have and, arguably, gives insight that those without it will never be able to grasp. (Theoretically.) Of course, this insight does not necessarily make those who have it infallible, much as they may wish it would. This fallibility paired with a secretive knowledge that is inaccessible to many is the reason for a lot of questioning and strife between the Sith and Imperial Citizen. Under the order of the Empire it should not be - remember the virtues of upholding order and unity - but if one must have the means of acquiring knowledge to be able to understand the knowledge and that means of acquisition is an innate faculty, then the veracity and reality of said knowledge is not something easily verified. "Trust me" isn't good enough when you literally cannot tell if someone is lying.
Another cause of the schism within Imperial culture is the want of Sith to see the Empire and Its people as tools for their own ends. This can come as a result of seeing the good of the Empire as being the same as the good of the Sith, or sometimes even the good of the Self. That is not necessarily true in all cases, though, as while their is an expectation to act moderately selflessly with regard to the Empire, Sith are still afforded a great enough degree of freedom and power that one could argue it's more of a social nicety than a hard rule. See Lord Grathan's estate debacle for a possible interpretation: his walling off and going against the Dark Council was a political and social faux pas but it didn't seem to turn him into an ethical pariah (correct me if I'm wrong, I haven't played in yonks).
I feel I ought to end with the rather obvious note that none of this is really achievable in an idealised sense. Any contradictory nature in the virtues listed above is entirely intentional as sometimes it feel like the entirety of Imperial society is several angry rocks lashed together with bungee cord and, while it strains to be coherent and does function on macro scale, the actual day-to-day life of the individual is fraught either with the meaninglessness of their existence within a vast machine that wishes for a useful life and useful death of its cogs or loomed over with ever present dread that someone with more power or influence than you might be annoyed enough to make your life a literal living hell at any moment.
Further reading:
Crash Course's Philosophy: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8dPuuaLjXtNgK6MZucdYldNkMybYIHKR
James Tullos' The f@cism of military sci-fi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vph_cDjcgEE
Hello Future Me On Worldbuilding: How do Empires Work?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51MWp0Hgo90 (this is a three part series, followed by The Rise of an Empire? and How an Empire Falls?)
Stanford's Nietzsche article, specifically the Will To Power section: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/nietzsche/#SomeNietValu
Stanford, Authenticity: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/authenticity/
Plato, The Republic (can you tell?)
Contractarianism: https://www.philosophybasics.com/branch_contractarianism.html
Fallacy (logic and reasoning), examples: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallacy#Common_examples
The Golden Mean, which you might recognise as the Buddhist Middle Way: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_mean_(philosophy)
Class hierarchy: https://tatiletotesamaze.tumblr.com/post/171101223086/im-going-to-do-it-properly-now-how-i-approach
Community-centric, self-centric: https://tatiletotesamaze.tumblr.com/post/169745967921/imperial-life-things-two-archetypes-for
Imperial Social Contract: https://tatiletotesamaze.tumblr.com/post/171174833921/ok-so-the-premise-is-basically-a-social-contact
Health Care: https://tatiletotesamaze.tumblr.com/post/172526303826/i-wanna-talk-about-health-care-in-the-empire
Where there is an Imperial: https://tatiletotesamaze.tumblr.com/post/170236577656/tatiletotesamaze-as-the-sith-occupy-a-strange
I think it’s fair to say that the Sith Pureblood’s language, though obviously quite different before the colonisation of their homeworld and their culture by the exiled Jedi, is still around and still spoken.
I personally think that Pureblood families will speak it at home and have (Imperial) Basic as almost a second language.
For Sith practioners and those from long standing Sith families the language is spoken in a more formal or official capacity (the latter group are more likely to be fluent or more than passingly familiar with the language). Alien or non-Imperial Sith (ex-Jedi, older initiates coming from colonies, etc.) will be expected to learn the language but not necessarily assisted. The language and by extension the culture of the Sith - both in its religious-political sense and the pre-exiting Pureblood culture that draws from - are kept away from them as another way othering and separating the “lessers” from the “true” Sith.
Imperial Basic has a lot of loan words and concepts from the Sith language as a result but fluency outside of Pureblood or Sith lineage families is rare. It’s not entirely unusual for a Force-blind child in a Sith lineage household to not know the language.
Your side piece is actually the one you marry because of social/political obligations and your true relationship is established in a carefully worded pre-nup.
Illegally entering Republic space to live under false identities because the process of officially defecting is extemely long and favours higher ranking officers, scientists and people with strategic worth, and you’re a farmer.
Ok, so the premise is basically a social contact of some sort must exist for the Empire to function in its day to day. I mean, you wouldn’t go to work if your boss doesn’t gaurantee you a job and pay. A society where people can murder with impunity isn’t going to stay stable for very long if the people making it function (i.e. the workers not their bosses) can’t gaurantee they’re going to be alive by the end of the day.
But Sith murder all the time!
Yeah. Your ship with full compliment of crew isn’t going to go very far if you kill half of engineering. You will have no defenses if your bridge crew are dead. You won’t be able to dock in the Empire famously bureaucratic stations because you lightsaber’d the one person who knew the intricacies of their docking system.
Moiduh moiduh moiduh works for about five minutes.
I think this might make fallen Jedi a very dangerous element to both Sith and Imperials as they don’t have the cultural reference for appropriate interactions. I woudn’t be surprised if most - if not all - of the depections of Sith in Republic popular media is of the Edgelord McGee stereotype we all know and love. DS!Jaesa is an excellant example of Taking Things Too Far. As a result, I think it’s entirely probable that while Sith might delight in making Jedi fall to the Dark Side, once they’ve got one that ex-Jedi ends up confined with very little room to maneuver, until such time as they can be prooved to understand what their responsibilities within the Empire are. (For example, Broan/Lord Naught is so cloistered for a time because he is ex-Jedi, though Lord Vizloch does wonder how “ex” that really is.)
Humans form groups. Though this will be forever haunted by the spectre of Evolutionary Psychology, but we do better in groups. We can share the workload, people who are sick don’t need to starve, the pregnant get help with birth, kids can be raised, the species can continue. We need groups. Groups need agreements to function. One of the most basic of those is “please don’t stab me while I sleep”. The Golden Rule probably has a lot of caveats in the Empire, but I’ll be damned surprised if something of its kind doesn’t exist. Hell, a Kaas City quest in the game points out that random murder isn’t a good thing and has you deal with it. There’s going to be a certain level of hush-hush, plausible deniability and the like. The Empire isn’t free of corruption. Taking advantage of weakness is a key idea - this is probably why there’s so much bureaucracy, it would help to close loopholes and make exploitation more effort than it’s worth (unless you can outsource or hand wave it) - so that’s going to happen, but because something is happening doesn’t mean it ought to happen and because one or more people consider it just doesn’t mean the collective does. Is ought fallacy. Phallus-y.
Basically basic social contract bull. Social contracts don’t tend to get neatly written out. ‘cept consititutions of course. But those don’t cover minutiae, and minutiae is kinda what we you need that virtue system for - the everyday interactions that you can’t keep repeating the requirements of over and over. It just has to be taken for granted that you’ll have a job in the morning and a life by the time you get home. Moving against that is when you get a problem.
Dromund Kaas plays host to many species of plants (more than you can shake a stick at for sure) and one of the most famous is, in its natural habitat, a rather small and unassuming flowering vine.
It grows along trees and trails over rocks, its thin and delicate arms never reaching more than half a finger bone in width. Its startling red blossoms are what first attracted botanists and cultivators, but under a watchful eye and with a guiding hand, this beautiful plant soon showed its true nature. Far from the fierce competition of the Kaasian jungle, the fire lily proved itself a fast grower. Tough almost to a fault, its trailing arms could be woven together into thick trunks and then trailed over awnings to provide covered walkways.
In Gloriosa Park, named for the Darth who exemplified the plant’s culivation, there exists the most romantic scene on Dromund Kaas. A kilometer long walk, lined with centuries old fire lilies, which bloom at the height of summer, drenching the park with their light perfume. Reservations simply to walk in the park are taken sometimes years in advance, particularly for the coveted walk, which has played host to numerous high profile engagements over the years.
The park has remained in Darth Gloriosa’s family for centuries, so only they know the truth of the rumour: that her lilies grow so well because she wove her still living enemies within their embrace.
As the Sith occupy a strange, quasi-religious-political position within the Empire, I do wonder how often it is Imperials frame the Jedi in a similar position in the Republic.
Like, seeing a group that - in the Empire, has responsibilities to the order and continuation of the Empire, of its safety and its traditions - seeing their counterparts who must have the same responsibilties within their own “home” social system because they have the same “powers” (the Force), and knowing them for only not doing any of that? Wouldn’t that be deserving of contempt?
Elara Dorne mentions in the Trooper conversations the restrictions she has being an Imperial defector. Likewise Republic defectors would get the same and more: not talking much about Republic politics or Republic social structure. Could you imagine? Though, I think trying to explain (based on @inquisitorhotpants description for military service (like the TA) in the Empire) that Republic citizens aren’t all trained to fight or command would probably be seen as fantastical or another reason why the Republic is weak and an antithesis to the Empire.
I imagine the majority of Republic defectors* would be human supremacists, but would become quickly disenfranchised by the rigour and structure of Imperial life and the lack of what they would expect (rewards? idk, being able to slot into a position of power by simply existing? i imagine they’d be those entitled pricks no one likes anywhere, not like Imperial defectors tend to be those whose conscience cannot allow them to continue or those who do it to protect their family. oh god, that’s a thing.) and then finding it an awful lot harder to live the life they had, being regarded with outright suspicion most of the time and having to work their way up.
*although I wonder if ‘defector’ is really the right word here. it carries a lot of weight to me, i’d expect those who want to move to the Empire would have never have been in a battle or had much experience with the Empire at all. Internet tough guys, if you would
