Domain of Anaxes

“Officially”, the Azure Emergency Administrative Zone is a temporary martial law that exists to stabilize the Azure sector (and now surrounding systems). This is mostly a fiction maintained by the other Imperial factions. The Domain of Anaxes is in fact an absolute dictatorship built around what is effectively a cult of personality around Grand Moff Stavar Ulgo, Hero of Coruscant. Basically everyone who matters answers to Ulgo, and everyone else answers to them, which means everyone who matters in the Domain is basically a mini-dictator whose power is absolute (as long as they remain in Ulgo’s favor).

To maintain their power, the Domain relies on an extreme intrusive surveillance state maintained by a branch of the Imperial Security Bureau under Ulgo’s direct control. They also consistently flood their citizens and occupied territories with a massive, unrelenting propaganda campaign; endlessly arguing for superiority of the Empire, Humanity, and the Grand Moff; curated by Ulgo’s Veracity Bureau.

A major side effect of this social engineering by the Domain is that while many in the New Republic (and more then a few in the Empire) would very much back any assassination against the Grand Moff, it is unclear that the Domain would end with Ulgo’s death. This has greatly complicated any long term planning surrounding the Domain of Anaxes.

The Domain of Anaxes is the most powerful military in the Empire, and second only to the New Republic in the galaxy. Of note, the Domain of Anaxes possesses the last (and heavily damaged) Super Star Destroyer in the galaxy. In addition, thanks to the Sacking and destruction of all major shipyards within the Core, the Domain of Anaxes has the most advanced military in the galaxy; with the New Republic being the only real rival to this thanks to the Mon Calamari Shipyards avoiding the sacking, though even they have fallen behind thanks to the need to focus their economy on recovery. Lastly, the Domain still has a large treasury from the Sacking, so they can afford to waste a lot of money. Which they do a lot.

There is a catch: the Domain of Anaxes is somewhat infamous for over relying on special forces and super weapons. While there is an Imperial grand army under him, it is clear where Ulgo’s love (and funding) is; experimental elite trained stormtrooper squads. And while the Domain does have a fleet of ships, they are mostly used to carry comically overpowered weapons systems. This has led to the general conclusion by most war planners that while the Domain would be a devastating force at the start of a conflict, their ability to maintain a warfront is questionable. Furthermore, despite being based on Anaxes, home of the famous Anaxes War College, the Domains officers corp is generally seen as suboptimal as extreme embracement of the traditional Imperial training method of making sure there is a low survivorship rate among students (Ulgo has personally mandated that any graduating class with a survivorship rate above 50% is to be revoked and forced to retake the program) has not historically produced the most strategic and tactical of officers.

The relationship between the New Republic and Grand Moff Stavar Ulgo is simple; there isn’t one. Out of principle, the New Republic only engages with other remnant factions, and the exceptionally few times Anaxes has reached out to the New Republic (non-militarily) went nowhere, less because whatever Anaxes wanted was unreasonable but more because the official’s xenophobia derailed the talks before demands could even be made.

The Domain's relationship with the rest of the Remnant is far more complicated. Being the Empire’s strongest navy and ground force (conditionally so; see Military above), the Domain is key to the Empire’s current defense and will be vital to any future conflict with the still young New Republic. The problem is it is no mystery what the Grand Moff’s ultimate ambition is; the Imperial Throne. This means any power he accumulates brings him closer to that goal, and thus closer to exterminating everything around him that restricts him from being the Emperor. Which is an issue for the other Remnant factions, which all restrict him from being the Emperor.

In addition, regardless of his moral character, Grand Moff Stavar Ulgo is simply an unpleasant man that is easily to grow to hate by simply interacting with him. Of particular note, Grand Admiral Yularen’s legendary hatred of the Grand Moff (born from Stavar Ulgo ignoring multiple direct orders to cease the Sack of Coruscant) is such an open secret, that it is common in the rest of the Imperial Navy to refer to Ulgo and the Domain as simply the “Azure Administration Zone” or AAZ to avoid Yularen over hearing and starting a new rant about the proper character of an Imperial officer.

After years of accumulating power, there are no real internal factions in the Domain of Anaxes. Anyone and everyone willing to break with the Grand Moff has either transferred, joined a local resistance cell, or is dead. Ulgo’s authority within the Domain is absolute.