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Thom Tenery Concept Art for Rogue One
Rimward Trade League
Rimward Joint Strategic Command
Suarbi System Republic Mobile Infantry Corps

So, it's no surprise to anyone that Chaos is a big fan of Star Space Wars, and that seems to be the biggest driver of the board's major storylines. The One Sith War, Endgame Event, and Second Great Hyperspace War are all particularly notable examples that come to mind. For me, the League was never meant to be a military superpower. Many thematic and historical influences are from the American colonial period and the medieval Hanseatic League, where the militaries are more ad hoc, localized, and generally a small professional core of soldiers supported by a wide array of irregulars, militia, and specialists. We reflected that by having the system defense forces as the permanent, standing armies but augmenting them with volunteers, guerillas, contractors, and privateers in times of need. But, as many people pointed out, that was chaotic and confusing. It made perfect sense to me, but I could never communicate that effectively in a way that made enough compelling sense for people to be involved. And, the League probably suffered because of it, but that's on me.

As a result, we're working on streamlining OOC groups while maintaining the decentralized, cooperative emphasis. The goal here is to create a better way for writers to feel connected to each other and like they're working on a cohesive metanarrative across storylines and threads. The first step is to work on consolidating the armed groups of the League, starting with the military side of things. We are mostly space-focused, but I'm aiming for ways to tie space and planetary narratives together.

Right now, we're bouncing between labels until one sticks- but Rimward Civil Defense Command, Joint Strategic Command, etc. Essentially, they are individual formations from the various local defense forces assigned to a League-based command, sort of how the EU and NATO will pull troops from the various members. The difference is that the League's forces are seconded from their home systems for a specific period. This means that groups from all systems can work together and be stationed in a single location, essentially an intergovernmental rapid reaction force. For example, I think the Mobile Infantry Corps from Suarbi will have two divisions assigned to the Civil Defense/Joint Strategic Command at any time. The other three remain under the direct command of the Suarbi Republic but can act as reserves if necessary. As people expand the lore, we can include them in the CDC/JSC umbrella and pull in volunteers and militia, especially groups from Legends like the Freedom Warriors, Spice Blades, Dorvalla Space Corps, and Sons and Daughters of Freedom. These can be augmented by the privateers and contractors, who are already directly under the (at least nominal) command of the League.

Anyway, long story short- we're working on putting something together to try and combine the best parts of both a more standardized, central military with the cooperative, diverse, and unique flavor of having many smaller defense forces so that people can write whatever most interests them without worrying about getting stuck in a silo. At least, in theory. We'll see how it works out.