Judicial Forces/Legends

The Judicial Forces, Judicial Fleet, or Judicial Starfleet was the military branch of the Judicial Department of the Old Republic. For a thousand years following the Ruusan Reformation and prior to the Clone Wars, it was the closest thing the Republic had to a centralized military.

The Ruusan Reformation
Following the Ruusan Reformation in 1000 BBY at the end of the New Sith Wars, the Republic Army, Republic Navy, and the Republic Starfighter Corps were almost entirely downsized. The remainder was placed under the jurisdiction of the new Judicial Department, along with the limited peacekeeping forces that used to be the Army of Light (although the Republic continued to have a minuscule and purely ceremonial army). These became the Judicial Forces.

The Reformation was an unprecedented, voluntary dismantling by the Republic government of centralized authority over economic, political and military power. The once-mighty Republic Navy became a comparatively small collection of task forces and rapid response fleets, intended to patrol the frontier and respond to crises. Local defense would be handled by the Planetary Security Forces, which for fourteen millennia had been little more than an auxiliary of the Navy. The Galactic Senate could authorize the Judicial Forces to requisition military units from systems and sectors, and in the event of a crisis, the Supreme Chancellor had the right to appoint a Governor-General to coordinate a military response with the Senator of that sector.

Members of the Judicial Forces wore close-fitting, dark-blue uniforms (whose design would later become the basis for the uniforms of the Imperial Navy), and consequently became known as "bluecoats". Despite its limitations, the Senate would regularly deploy the Judicial fleet against pirate bands and other threats to the Republic (such as during the Stark Hyperspace War); as such, along with its police and intelligence capacities, the Judicial Forces were the closest thing to a standing military the Republic had following the Ruusan Reformation.

Reunifying the galaxy
The Judicial Forces were, with the rest of the Department, based in the Judicial Arcology on Coruscant. It operated the Republic's former military academies (such as the Raithal Academy and the Academy of Carida), as well as its own, the Judicial Academy. It coordinated its various peacekeeping efforts with the Jedi Order and regional planetary or sector defense militias.

The Judicial Forces' first commander was Admiral Lune Banjeer, a distinguished veteran of the Ruusan campaign. The Judicials fought with distinction in the Unification Campaigns of the 900s BBY that brought the galaxy back under Republic control in the aftermath of the Sith Wars, achieving notably victories at Vondarc, D'rinba IV and the Klina Marches. They fought ably at the surface engagement on Korvaii that ended the Melusi Uprising, and brought the Belderone Contention to an end at the Battle of Dandrian's Ring.

The Judicial Fleet would later play key roles in the Mandalorian Excision of 738 BBY, the Battles of the Black Delve in the 690s BBY, and the Utor Shock of 602 BBY, with many officers serving with distinction as the galactic frontier pushed Rimward once again.

Decline and eclipse
As peace settled over the galaxy however, and the period that would be remembered as the Great Peace of the Republic began, the Judicial Forces slowly began to lose relevance. Periodic bribery scandals and a weakening of central power eroded the Judicials' funding and standing as many Senators focused more on their sectors' Planetary Security Forces. Furthermore, the PSFs developed traditions of their own, and took over much of the appeal and glamor of military service from the Judicials, especially after they cooperated to restore the Republic Navy War College on Anaxes as the College of the Planetary Security Forces.

As Anaxes once again became the center of naval tradition and pomp, the Judicial Academy on Coruscant was mocked as a factory for court officers who got to fly. The Katana fleet was an attempt to restore the Judicial Forces to some of its old glory, but turned into a fiasco when the force of 200 Dreadnaught-class heavy cruisers fell victim to a hive virus and disappeared without a trace into hyperspace.

Following the Trade Federation's failed invasion of the Naboo system, many of their security forces were transferred to the Republic's Judicial branch, but as the Republic entered its final decades and the Separatist Crisis slowly eroded its authority, Militarists, Reformists and Loyalists called for the restoration of the Republic Military, and looked to Anaxes for models, not Coruscant.

After the start of the Clone Wars, the Judicial Fleet once more became the Republic Navy, while its ground peacekeeping forces were absorbed into the Grand Army of the Republic. However, the new Navy's traditions, leaders and even favored shipyards were drawn from the Planetary Security Forces, not the Judicials.

Known units

 * Judicial
 * Sector Ranger
 * Republic Security Force
 * Katana fleet
 * Republic Outland Regions Security Force
 * Republic Special Task Force
 * Special Tactics troopers

Known Judicial Forces members

 * Algrann
 * b'Crevnis
 * Jace Dallin
 * Jan Dodonna
 * Laslo Dorits
 * Dyne
 * Grassling
 * Jobe Keely
 * Maoi Madakor
 * Mosh
 * Omano
 * Pakmillu
 * Gilad Pellaeon
 * Dillian Pressor
 * Carlist Rieekan
 * Terrinald Screed
 * Sivv
 * Zozridor Slayke
 * Ranulph Tarkin
 * Wilhuff Tarkin
 * Brace Tarkosa
 * Kendra Tissido
 * Laddinare Torbin
 * Cerisa Vosengoor
 * Chas Uliar
 * Antidar Williams

Capital ship classes

 * Carrack-class light cruiser
 * CEC light cruiser
 * Consular-class cruiser
 * Republic light assault cruiser
 * CR70 corvette
 * CR90 corvette
 * Dreadnaught-class heavy cruiser
 * Trade Federation cargo hauler
 * Trade Federation heavy munitions cruiser

Starfighters

 * A-6 Interceptor
 * CloakShape fighter
 * Delta-6 starfighter
 * Delta-7 Aethersprite-class light interceptor
 * Delta-12 Skysprite
 * Lancet
 * Tikiar starfighter
 * Vulture-class droid starfighter
 * Z-95 Headhunter

Support ships

 * Amphibious Interstellar Assault Transport/infantry
 * Consular-class cruiser
 * Corellian Star Shuttle
 * Fleet diplomatic boat
 * Kappa-class shuttle
 * Mobile astromech repair station
 * Rescue frigate
 * Senate-class transport
 * Sky-mine delivery ship
 * Taxon-class probe ship
 * Theta-class T-2c shuttle

Ground equipment

 * All Terrain Personal Transport
 * A4 Juggernaut
 * HAVw A5 Juggernaut

Known vessels

 * Braxant Brave
 * Ecliptic
 * Harrier
 * Iron Tether
 * Katana
 * New Hope
 * Peregrine
 * Plooriod Bodkin
 * Prominence
 * Quickwit
 * Radiant VII
 * Scarlet Thranta
 * Wennis

Appearances

 * Darth Plagueis
 * Jedi Council: Acts of War
 * Cloak of Deception
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace novel
 * Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace junior novel
 * Star Wars: Republic: The Stark Hyperspace War
 * Rogue Planet
 * Outbound Flight
 * Star Wars: Republic: Honor and Duty
 * Star Wars Missions 14: The Monsters of Dweem
 * The New Jedi Order: Force Heretic I: Remnant
 * Star Wars Missions 14: The Monsters of Dweem
 * The New Jedi Order: Force Heretic I: Remnant
 * Star Wars Missions 14: The Monsters of Dweem
 * The New Jedi Order: Force Heretic I: Remnant

Non-canonical appearances

 * LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga