The Imperial Bastion

Formed primarily by Grand Admiral Yularen and the naval officers who worked with him, the Imperial Bastion functions effectively as a military junta, with Yularen as head of state and all his advisors, governors and other important functionaries all being part of the military apparatus at the same time. This means that the Bastion is in a constant state of military readiness and martial law, with stormtroopers acting as both soldiers and state police. Each planet, system or sector is governed by an officer of appropriate rank, and everything goes through the chain of command.

Operating such a large and powerful Navy, the Bastion requires a robust and generous amount of funding to keep everything going. One of the main ways this has been achieved is through the use of investment from power players both within Bastion and without. Thanks to very little change in lifestyle for most people in its territory (for some, it's even gotten marginally better), things are stable within the state. However, the involvement of concentrated power and  a cult of personality at the highest levels of state has created a ticking time bomb in which the fleet and all it needs can be maintained for now, but once a generation passes, the Bastion may collapse under its own weight.

The military of the Imperial Bastion serves more than just military function - due to its overriding role in the Bastion’s society, this means that all roles that would be left to civil or public servants are instead occupied and carried out by the military itself. This means that not only is the military attractive to those seeking a good career and potentially social mobility, but also to more entrenched powers and the wealthy wanting a stake in governance or simply prestigious positions for scions of their family.

Due to this, the military of the Bastion is rife with higher ranking officers from ‘good’ families as well as those from capable command; while the highest ranking command staff of the Bastion are currently competent and prepared for pressure, with experience and tactical acumen as their main advantage, the generation set to replace them is not.

Having the second largest force amongst the Imperial Remnant states, the Bastion has a large and powerful fleet, which most of their power is centred within. However, many of these ships are older models with struggles to maintain them, the sheer industrial power of the old Empire that once did keep them running no longer being available. However, a Star Destroyer, even if out of date and not running at full efficiency, is often more than dangerous enough.

Currently, the military accepts both voluntary recruits and also randomly drafts members of their citizenry every three years. Amongst the Command Staff, there is currently a debate as to whether they should move to full conscription, in response to the burgeoning power of other Remnant States and the New Republic.

What remains of the original leadership of the Imperial Navy are in an odd spot. Most of them do not have a high opinion of the Imperial Council, but are even more distrustful of the other factions vying for control. As such, while they do not care for the character of those who pretend to be in charge of the Empire in these trying days, the Junta is too invested in the continuation of the Empire to allow anything to undermine the Council. Of particular note, the Junta hates the Grand Moff. Every officer of the Imperial Navy tells themselves that they are a hero, protecting the loyal citizens of the Empire. So the former Admiral Ulgo being responsible for more deaths than the Rebel Alliance is a major source of conflict between the two subfactions.

Another complicated relationship is the New Republic. On the one hand, the New Republic is the enemy; an insurgency that has unlawfully seized control of territory of the Empire, the true successor of the Old Republic. On the other hand, more than a few of the New Republic’s military staff are former Old Republic and even former Imperial officers who were once colleagues. And even among the officers who never were part of the Old Republic or Empire,many members of the Junta have a genuine admiration for the talents and skills of the New Republic military leadership, if not their character. Combined with the fact that Yularen is technically a member of the Imperial Council, this has lead to the odd situation that the Junta is the New Republic’s main interaction with the greater Empire. Those meetings are always tense, but they are unusually productive.