Stormtrooper/Legends



"The Empire can always use more mindless automatons."

- Darth Vader

Stormtroopers were the elite shock troops of the Galactic Empire, fanatically loyal and answerable directly to Emperor Palpatine.

Formed into the Stormtrooper Corps, stormtroopers operated alongside Army and Navy units, as well as alone.

History
The stormtroopers were direct descendants of the clone troopers created from a template of Jango Fett in 32 BBY to serve the Galactic Republic's Clone Army during the Clone Wars. In fact, the clone troopers that lived after the end of the Clone Wars were renamed Imperial stormtroopers by Palpatine during the Declaration of a New Order; immediately afterwords, Palpatine ordered three new stormtrooper clone batches to be grown in the Outer Rim Territories.

During the time of the Galactic Civil War and the Battle of Yavin, Fett's clones were still used by the Empire, although Fett's progeny were heavily supplemented with clones from new DNA sources and troopers recruited in the traditional manner. If a man between the ages of 18 and 30 scored in the top fifth percentile, an Imperial recruiting agent would contact these people and presumably arrange DNA sampling for cloning. Men who didn't score that high were still wanted as regular soldiers. When the Rebel Alliance defeated the Empire in the Galactic Civil War and took over the machinery of galactic government, they terminated the stormtrooper program, including the cloning process on Kamino.

The Imperial Remnant continued to use stormtroopers in battle until a peace treaty was signed some years after. Following the treaty, stormtroopers became little more than guards and police officers on Remnant worlds, though they fought along with their New Republic and Galactic Alliance contemporaries against the Yuuzhan Vong. Stormtroopers would also be used by other Imperial groups including the Second Imperium and the Empire of the Hand.

Organization
Stormtroopers had their own command structure, ranking system, and support facilities. A company commander could give command to any regular officer over any given squad or platoon. Their organizational manners were similar to those of the Imperial Army. They were, however, loyal only to the Emperor, and only followed orders from Imperial Army and Navy personnel at their discretion.

The basic unit of organization was the individual trooper. Each stormtrooper is assigned a number for tactical purposes and to reinforce the Imperial ethic of uniformity. Troopers were organized into squads, platoons, companies, battalions, regiments and legions.

It is known that a battalion consisted of 820 soldiers. From that, the relative size of other organizational units may be extrapolated.

Officers


Stormtrooper officers were traditionally non-clone graduates from the Imperial Academy. In battle, commissioned stormtrooper officers wore standard stormtrooper armor with rank insignia to indicate status. Non-commissioned officers were identified in the field with shoulder pauldrons instead of the standard rank squares worn over the armor. For non-combat situations, officers wore a black tunic and pants dress uniform including a cap, boots, gloves, and standard rank squares.

Ideology
"Now, that's a picture, isn't it? The Emperor's stormtroopers setting the example for good manners. Like arming protocol droids with blasters."

- Han Solo

In addition to their military role as elite troops, stormtroopers constituted an important part of Palpatine's New Order. Stormtrooper training was accompanied by thorough indoctrination to Imperial ideology, above and beyond what the normal military was exposed to, and stormtroopers were closely associated with the Emperor himself. This was particularly significant in light of the tensions between the Emperor and the Navy. For instance, the stormtroopers deployed to the Death Star were, arguably, largely there to ensure the immensely powerful battle station remained in the Emperor's control. Darth Vader was sent for a similiar purpose.

Equipment

 * See also: Stormtrooper armor.

Weaponry
The BlasTech E-11 blaster rifle was the standard issue weapon of the Corps and one of the most common issued rifles in the Empire. All Stormtroopers, excluding those assigned to heavy or special weapons, carried an E-11 along with a SE-14R sidearm.

Armor
Before stormtrooper armor was developed, the first stormtroopers used Phase II clone trooper armor after the transition from the Republic to the Empire. For how long, this is unknown. Later, a distinct stormtrooper armor was developed.

This armor was a white body armor over a sealed black body glove, and in this respect appeared similar to their Clone Wars predecessors. The complete set completely encases the body and typically has no individually distinguishing marking outside of rank. In fact, the casual first-time observer sometimes mistakes the stormtroopers as a form of battle droid.

It also protects the troopers from very harsh environments as well as projectiles and impact weapons. The armor might be penetrated by a direct blaster bolt, but it will reduce damage from the bolts absorbed significantly. The body glove allows for operation in warm or cold climates, however it can protect the trooper from almost any environment&mdash;from total vacuum conditions to the very extremes in cold and heat for a very limited period of time.

In certain situations, however, stormtroopers would sometimes wear camouflage armor to help them blend in with different environments. The Stormtrooper Corps instituted this reform after the embarrassing defeat at the Battle of Endor.

Extra
Some special features include a wrist comlink, a tiny battle holocam built into the helmet, a proper resonator (to open secure doors) built into their armour, or an external helmet light. For extended operations, stormtroopers carried field backpacks that included a personal tent, five concentrated rations, fifteen water packs, eight blaster power packs, and a glowrod.

Specialized stormtroopers
There were several subgroups in the stormtrooper Corps with training and equipment for particular mission profiles, generally sorted by the type of environment the trooper will encounter.


 * Sandtroopers: Desert stormtroopers.
 * Snowtroopers: Blizzard Force/Cold Assault stormtroopers.
 * Scout troopers: Biker/Scout stormtroopers.
 * Spacetroopers: Zero-G/Vacuum stormtroopers.
 * Seatroopers: Aquatic Assault stormtroopers.
 * Blackhole Stormtroopers: Agent Blackhole's stormtroopers.
 * Storm Commandos: Special-Mission/Stealth stormtroopers.
 * Hazard Troopers: Corrosion-/Temperature-Armored stormtroopers.
 * Dark Troopers: Special Droid stormtroopers
 * Radtroopers: Radioactive Zone Assault stormtroopers.
 * Magmatroopers: Volcano-environment stormtroopers.
 * Airtroopers: Aerial Assault stormtroopers.
 * Swamptroopers: Swamp Assault stormtroopers.
 * Minetroopers/Tunneling Underminers: Mine Assault stormtroopers.
 * Coruscant Guards: Coruscant Police stormtroopers.
 * Shadowtroopers: (Empire Reborn) Dark Jedi-stormtrooper hybrid.
 * Bombtroopers: Explosive expert stormtroopers.
 * Novatroopers: Elite stormtroopers
 * Stormtrooper Knights: Force-sensitive, [light saber]] wielding Stormtroopers.

Notable stormtroopers

 * Avarik
 * Barse
 * Bursk
 * Dendu
 * Dobbs
 * Nathan Donar III
 * Zeth Durron
 * Davin Felth
 * Flint
 * Givens
 * Grotto
 * Haku
 * Kile Hannad
 * Hong
 * Daine Jir
 * Jonsey
 * Kir Kanos
 * Kyle Katarn
 * Kine
 * Rom Mohc
 * Morley
 * Meck Odom
 * Praji
 * Stor
 * Sutu
 * TK-421
 * TK-422
 * TK-5282
 * TK-622
 * TK-664
 * Brenn Tantor
 * Grodin Tierce
 * Trang
 * Turk
 * Beilert Valance
 * Vollot

Behind the scenes
Stormtroopers were conceived initially to weild lightsabers and shields.

According to several Expanded Universe sources, it would appear that by the time of the Galactic Civil War that Stormtroopers were no longer exclusively clones. In Star Wars Empire 36: The Wrong Side of the War, Part 1, following the Imperial assault on Jabiim, Janek Sunber checks his surviving troops. At this point he comments that none of the regular Human troops under his command survived the battle and we are given a look at a group of blue-eyed and blonde clones, obviously a newer template. Sunber also says that the clones in the army are tough and he heard that during the Clone Wars they were even tougher.

So it would seem that with the expansion of the military following the rise of the Galactic Empire, new clone templates were created and regular humans recruited partly because that the lifespan of a clone roughly double the rate of an ordinary human. Thus, a steady stream of clone and non-clone replacements would be required to fill the ranks of the Stormtroopers.

Appearances

 * Republic HoloNet News Special Inaugural Edition 16:5:241 (Star Wars Insider 84)
 * Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
 * The Last of the Jedi: Underworld
 * Star Wars: Droids
 * Empire at War
 * Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
 * Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader
 * Star Wars: Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike
 * Empire: Betrayal
 * Star Wars: Battlefront
 * Star Wars Battlefront II
 * Star Wars: Dark Forces
 * Star Wars: Masters of Teräs Käsi
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
 * Star Wars Infinities: A New Hope
 * Star Wars: Force Commander
 * Star Wars 3-D
 * Splinter of the Mind's Eye
 * Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided
 * Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
 * Star Wars: TIE Fighter
 * Shadows of the Empire
 * Star Wars: Ewoks
 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
 * Jedi Prince
 * Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II
 * Thrawn Trilogy
 * Dark Empire
 * Jedi Academy Trilogy
 * Star Wars: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
 * Darksaber
 * Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
 * The Hand of Thrawn Duology
 * Fool's Bargain
 * Survivor's Quest
 * Young Jedi Knights
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game

Audio clips
[[Media:Stormtrooper ANH.ogg|Hear a stormtrooper aboard the Tantive IV]] (A New Hope)