The Imperial Knights

An order of Force-wielding warriors devoted to the Emperor and the Galactic Empire, the Imperial Knights have a long, proud tradition of defending their charges against not only physical threats but also of protecting the Empire against the Dark Side of the Force - including, even, when the Emperors turn. They are devotedly Light-siders, resolutely rejecting the Dark Side and punishing those among their number who fall and refuse to turn back with death.

The Knights swear loyalty to their Emperor, and serve him as the embodiment of the Empire and by extension the Force. It is their duty to protect the Emperor even from himself; should the Emperor fall to the Dark Side, it is the duty of the Imperial Knights to relieve him from power or bring him back to the Light by whatever means necessary.



The Imperial Knights enter into service as pages in childhood, no earlier than eight years of age for a species that ages at a rate comparable to Humans. They are squired to a senior knight, typically in their mid- to late teens for a Human, and knighted when they pass their Trials. The Trials are secret, spoken of only to other Knights and never to outsiders, but they include a twenty-four hour vigil and proving their competence in feats of strength, endurance, skill, and knowledge of the Force.

There are two major branches of the Imperial Knights. The first, and more prestigious, are those Knights who are in direct service to the Emperor and are stationed at his palace as his bodyguards. The second and much larger branch is the knights-errant, who travel the Empire and beyond doing the Emperor's will.



The Imperial Knights were founded shortly after 40 ABY, established under Emperor Jagged Fel and his wife, the Jedi Master Jaina Solo-Fel as an organization of Imperial Jedi.

In the history of the Knights, only a handful have fallen to the dark side - most notably, Darth Adas was formerly Master Ector Vent. Many Imperial Knights take it quite personally that Adas deceived and betrayed them.



Each Imperial Knight bears two pieces of equipment standardized throughout the Knighthood - a silver-handled lightsaber that produces a silver blade, and a suit of crimson and black armor with a black hood and cape. They most commonly fly TIE Marauders when operating individually or in pairs, but groups generally travel in shuttles.

Imperial Knight lightsabers differ from those of the Sith or the Jedi in that they are not personalized, or at least not overtly so, symbolizing that the Knight is less than the organization they serve. The lightsabers are crafted using synthetic pontite crystals with knowledge from Palpatine's Book of Anger, albeit cleansed of the dark side's influence. Making the lightsabers is a process bereft of ceremony or significance; to an Imperial Knight, a lightsaber is simply a tool and a weapon, no more significant than a blaster pistol.

Imperial Knight Armor is likewise standardized. The crimson plates are laminated phrik alloy, while the gauntlets are composed of pure cortosis. The Imperial insignia is imprinted on the left shoulder pad and the right gauntlet. The body gloves are sealed, providing protection against heat, cold, radiation, and vacuum when the Knights don their helmets. The body gloves and capes are both made of armorweave, though the body gloves also have zersium-impregnated ballistic gel panels covering very nearly the entirety of them. The armor is of the highest quality, lightweight and extraordinarily durable. The armor plating is resistant to lightsabers, able to take several shots from a blaster or slugthrower, and even the body glove can absorb a surprising amount of punishment. The gauntlets are particularly dangerous to lightsaber-wielding opponents, as they can cause lightsaber blades to short out briefly on contact.



Imperial Knights are trained in the Force and reject the Dark Side, but unlike the Jedi they do not rely solely on the supernatural. They are trained by Imperial special forces commandos in the use of a wide variety of weapons, as well as by elite TIE pilots to learn how to operate the Empire's signature starfighters. All Imperial Knights are commissioned officers, though they rarely hold direct commands.

That's not to say Imperial Knights are not fully trained in the ways of the Force, or that their training with the lightsaber is inadequate. Imperial Knights learn many of the same powers as Jedi, and while they also learn of the Jedi Order's canonical lightsaber forms they also learn their own distinct forms. The aggressive, hard-hitting and fast-paced Praetoria Vonil and the defensive Praetoria Ishu forms are both unique to the Imperial Knights, and both place a greater emphasis on teamwork than on individual prowess.