Imperial Stormtrooper Corps

"We never really got used to the new guys..."

- Anonymous 501st Legion trooper

The Imperial Stormtrooper Corps was a branch of the Imperial Military operating alongside the Imperial Army, Imperial Navy, and Imperial Intelligence, though it operated independently of all of those other branches. Like the Emperor's Royal Guard, it was under the direct control of the Emperor, and was commanded by Stormtrooper Command.

History


The Stormtrooper Corps was the successor of the Grand Army of the Republic of the Galactic Republic. During the time of the Republic, clone shock troopers were already being referred to as "stormtroopers," and the usage was passed on to several other high-ranking clone units, notably the 501st Legion, immediately after the Declaration of a New Order. Another notable unit of the Corps was the 105th Stormtrooper Platoon.

For approximately ten years after the birth of the New Order, the Empire's elite Stormtrooper Corps remained as the exclusive province of Jango Fett's clone progeny. But after the "unofficial" events of the Battle of Kamino, in which a special detachment of the Imperial 501st was required to annihilate an army of rogue clones (referred to as Anti-troopers), the ranks of the stormtroopers would start including new clones from different genetic templates and even non-clone recruits/conscripts. By the time the first Death Star was complete, the Fett clones had become a minority in the very army they once filled as a whole.

Members of the Corps were chosen for their dedication, bravery, and intelligence, becoming indoctrinated in the tenets of the New Order and becoming graduates of difficult and prestigious military academies such as the Academy of Carida. Others were specially-trained clones. The Corps suffered heavy losses during the Galactic Civil War, to the point of them being incredibly rare by 22 ABY.

By 130 ABY, the Corps had apparently been disbanded, with the stormtroopers becoming part of the Imperial Army. However, the individual stormtrooper units (such as the 501st and the 407th Stormtrooper Division) remained in existence and were still considered elite shock units by the Fel and Sith Empires.

Divisions

 * Stormtrooper Command
 * Strategic Insertion battalion

Behind the scenes
The Stormtrooper Corps is roughly analogous to the following real-world organizations:


 * The Waffen-SS was a praetorian guard created by Nazi Germany's leader Adolf Hitler, which was separate from the Wehrmacht.


 * The U.S. Marine Corps is an elite, semi-autonomous force that fights alongside the other branches of the armed forces, responsible for strategic amphibious assaults and boarding actions.


 * The later Legacy-era stormtrooper forces are more comparable to the real-world U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Division in that they have become an elite form of infantry as an integral and subordinate part of the Imperial Army command structure. The 501st, on the other hand, was more semi-autonomous, similar to the U.S. Marine Corps  functioning as the Emperor's praetorian guard alongside the Imperial Knights.

Appearances
All sources, in which Stormtroopers appear.