Stormtrooper Corps

The Stormtrooper Corps was an independent military branch that operated alongside the Imperial Army of the Galactic Empire. It was the smallest of the primary three branches of the military. Though they functioned under their own command structure, Imperial stormtroopers ultimately answered directly to Emperor Palpatine and Supreme Commander Darth Vader, the architects and sovereigns of the New Order that incorporated most of the known galaxy under Imperial rule. Regarded as elite shock troopers and the special forces of the Empire, the Corps also functioned as the Emperor's primary enforcers—both within the military ranks and the galactic populace alike—due to their uncompromising allegiance to Palpatine.

The first stormtroopers were the Galactic Republic's clone troopers that the following regime inherited after the Clone Wars. However, the Stormtrooper Corps gradually expanded its ranks to include cloned soldiers from different genetic sources. Further changes in policy led to the recruitment of birth-born Humans as enlisted troopers. Before long, the original clones of the Jango Fett line were reduced to the status of a minority within the army that they once held as their exclusive province. Although its direct predecessor was the Grand Army of the Republic during the Clone Wars, the Stormtrooper TX-5532 implied that they may have been comparable to the Rocket-Jumper Elite Advance Unit in terms of an elite, first-attack unit of soldiers in galactic history.

Although their ranks were numerous and well-armed with advanced weaponry and armor, stormtroopers were generally less respected as soldiers by the clone troopers who preceded them. Commander Cody, one of the last clones who remained in service years after the formation of the Empire, believed that the operational effectiveness of the Stormtrooper Corps had been severely diminished over time, a setback that he blamed on the infusion of Human recruits into the stormtrooper ranks.

At some point by the Fel Empire, the Stormtrooper Corps was disbanded and the stormtroopers were redistributed into the Imperial Army. Individual stormtrooper units still continued to operate separately as elite shock forces, with non-Humans being allowed to serve in their ranks.

Text and facts from the “Stormtrooper Corps/Legends” article on Wookieepedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Modified for this site.