Stormtrooper

Stormtrooper
Homeworld	Varies
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Height	1.83 meters
Hair Color	Brown
Eye Color	Brown
Affiliation	Galactic Empire

Stormtroopers were the elite shock troops of the Galactic Empire, fanatically loyal to Emperor Palpatine and his New Order. The Imperial Stormtrooper Corps operated independently from the Army and Starfleet, although both organizations employed stormtrooper units in supporting roles, and answered directly to the Emperor. As with much of the Imperial military, stormtroopers were predominantly male. Members of the Imperial Royal Guard not on active guard duty for the Emperor were circulated through stormtrooper units.

History

The stormtroopers were direct descendants of the clone troopers created from a template of Jango Fett in 32 BBY to serve the Galactic Republic's Clone Army during the Clone Wars. During the time of the Galactic Civil War and the Battle of Yavin, Fett's clones were still used by the Empire, although Fett's progeny were heavily supplemented with clones from new DNA sources and troopers recruited in the traditional way.

If a man between the ages of 18 and 30 scored in the top fifteen percentile, an Imperial recruiting agent would contact these people and presumably arrange DNA sampling for cloning. Men who didn't score that high were still wanted as regular soldiers.

When the Rebel Alliance defeated the Empire in the Galactic Civil War and took over the machinery of galactic government, they terminated the stormtrooper program, including the cloning process on Kamino.

The Imperial Remnant continued to use stormtroopers in battle until a peace treaty was signed some years after. Following the treaty, stormtroopers became little more than guards and police officers on Remnant worlds, though they fought along with their New Republic and Galactic Alliance contemporaries against the Yuuzhan Vong. Stormtroopers would also be used by other Imperial groups including the Second Imperium and the Empire of the Hand.

Organization

Stormtroopers had their own command structure, ranking system, and support facilities. A company commander could give command to any regular officer over any given squad or platoon. Their organizational manners were similar to those of the Imperial Army.

The basic unit of organization was the individual trooper. Each stormtrooper is assigned a number for tactical purposes and to reinforce the Imperial ethic of uniformity. Troopers were organized into squads, platoons, companies, battalions, regiments and legions.

It is known that a battalion consisted of 820 soldiers. From that, the relative size of other organizational units may be extrapolated.

Officers

Stormtrooper officers were traditionally non-clone graduates from the Imperial Academy. In battle, commissioned stormtrooper officers wore standard stormtrooper armor with rank insignia to indicate status. Non-commissioned officers were identified in the field with shoulder pauldrons instead of the standard rank squares worn over the armor. For non-combat situations, officers wore a black tunic and pants dress uniform including a cap, boots, gloves, and standard rank squares.

Ideology

In addition to their military role as elite troops, stormtroopers constituted an important part of the Emperor's New Order. Stormtrooper training was accompanied by thorough indoctrination to Imperial ideology, above and beyond what the normal military was exposed to, and stormtroopers were closely associated with the Emperor himself. This was particularly significant in light of the tensions between the Emperor and the Navy. For instance, the stormtroopers deployed to the Death Star were, arguably, largely there to ensure the immensely powerful battle station remained in the Emperor's control. Darth Vader was sent for a similar purpose.

Equipment

Weaponry

The BlasTech E-11 blaster rifle was the standard issue weapon of the Corps and one of the most common issued rifles in the Empire. All Stormtroopers, excluding those assigned to heavy or special weapons, carried an E-11 along with a DH-17 sidearm.

Armor

Before stormtrooper armor was developed, the first stormtroopers used Phase II clone trooper armor after the transition from the Republic to the Empire. For how long, this is unknown. Later, a distinct stormtrooper armor was developed.

This armor was a white body armor over a sealed black body glove, and in this respect appeared similar to their Clone Wars predecessors. The complete set completely encases the body and typically has no individually distinguishing marking outside of rank. In fact, the casual first-time observer sometimes mistakes the stormtroopers as a form of battle droid.

It also protects the troopers from very harsh environments as well as projectiles and impact weapons. The armor might be penetrated by a direct blaster bolt, but it will reduce damage from the bolts absorbed significantly. The body glove allows for operation in warm or cold climates, however it can protect the trooper from almost any environment—from total vacuum conditions to the very extremes in cold and heat for a very limited period of time.

In certain situations, however, stormtroopers would sometimes wear camouflage armor to help them blend in with different environments. The Stormtrooper Corps instituted this reform after the embarrassing defeat at the Battle of Endor.

Extra

Some special features include a wrist comlink, a tiny battle holocam built into the helmet, a proper resonator (to open secure doors) built into their armour, or an external helmet light. For extended operations, stormtroopers carried field backpacks that included a personal tent, five concentrated rations, fifteen water packs, eight blaster power packs and a glowrod.

Specialized stormtroopers

There were several subgroups in the stormtrooper Corps with training and equipment for particular mission profiles, generally sorted by the type of environment the trooper will encounter.

• Sandtroopers: Desert stormtroopers
  
• Snowtroopers: Blizzard Force/Cold Assault stormtroopers
  
• Scout troopers: Biker/Scout stormtroopers
  
• Spacetroopers: Zero-G/Vacuum stormtroopers
  
• Seatroopers: Aquatic Assault stormtroopers
  
• Blackhole Stormtroopers: Agent Blackhole's Personal stormtroopers
  
• Storm Commandos: Special-Mission/Stealth stormtroopers
  
• Hazard Troopers: Corrosion-/Temperature-Armored stormtroopers
  
• Dark Troopers: Special Droid stormtroopers
  
• Radtroopers: Radioactive Zone Assault stormtroopers
  
• Magmatroopers: Volcano-environment stormtroopers
  
• Airtroopers: Aerial Assault stormtroopers
  
• Swamptroopers: Swamp Assault stormtroopers
  
• Minetroopers/Tunneling Underminers: Mine Assault stormtroopers
  
• Coruscant Guards: Coruscant Police stormtroopers
  
• Shadowtroopers: (Empire Reborn) Jedi-stormtrooper hybrid
  
• Bombtroopers: Explosive expert stormtroopers