Where do I get qualified?

Approach your local Imperial Recruitment Officer for in depth details on enlisting in the Imperial Navy. You will be guided to your Sector Naval Academy, at which you will be trained as a Crewman-Cadet for the Imperial Navy. You will undergo extensive training for the total of one year; at the end of which officers shall fully enter the fleet with a Lieutenant's commission. The highest-scoring top five percent of the initial entrance exams will be qualified to train as standard TIE pilots. However, the top two percent in the entrance exams will be able to transfer to the central Imperial Naval Academy. Rather than the course running for the duration of a year, the Crewman-Cadets will undergo a training programme for the total of thirty months. The top third of the graduating Crewman-Cadets from the Naval Academy will be offered the opportunity to train as a TIE pilot- an opportunity only rarely turned down. The exact location of the Imperial Naval Academy is classified to only those who are anonymously accepted into its elite training regiment, and will remain that way until the fall of the Republic.

"...So don't just dream about applying for the Academy, make it come true! You can find a career in space: Exploration, Starfleet, or Merchant Service. If you have the right stuff to take on the universe, dispatch your application and join the ranks of the proud!"
-Advertisement from an Imperial Space Academy Recruitment tape.

An Imperial Ensign

Where will I be stationed?

Your LoD (Location of Deployment) within the Imperial Navy will vary with the time of your enlisting, the demand of crewmembers across the galaxy on a number of starships and the urgency and placement of different Naval Campaigns. Depending on your final NEG (Naval Evaluation Grade), you may be placed upon a frigate for reconnaissance operations, a Star Destroyer as a lowly crewman, an astrogation specialist on a varying number of individual vessels, a technician on a remote, tropical world repairing and modifying rare prototypes and ships of immense dimensions, an Imperial gunner stationed on a broadside cruiser surfing the outer-rim, or even a Commanding Officer stationed aboard the bridge of your very own cruiser! Shore-leave, while it is not mandatory in most cases, will be a common occurrence in your career as an officer in the Imperial Navy. While space is a wonderful place to be in the service of your illustrious Empire, you will need to make trips to Imperial academies and designated vendors as to stock up on armaments, fuel, drivers and essential system components - not to mention necessary repairs on a regular basis. During your employment in the Imperial Navy, it is quite likely that you will be stationed planet-side or in orbital command facilities across the galaxy for periods ranging from as little as a week to several months - whether this will be the result of lack of deployment availability or an unannounced demotion or observation course, you will be informed in due time.

"We are an Empire ruled by the majority! An Empire ruled by a new Constitution! An Empire of laws, not of politicians! An Empire devoted to the preservation of a just society. Of a safe and secure society! We are an Empire that will stand for ten thousand years!"
-Palpatine.

An Imperial Fleet Admiral

I want to enlist as a TIE Pilot!

The renowned pilots of the Twin Ion Engine Space-fighter craft have been forced through the most grueling and physiologically demanding conditioning for their roles. They are mentally strong and loyally sound, and must have a passion for flying for the Empire. As mentioned earlier, only the achieving top five percent of your Sector Naval Academy graduates will be elegible for transfer to Flight School - where the bulk of the TIE/In starfighter or TIE/sa (surface assault) bomber pilots are trained, however, notable, experienced flyers outside of the Navy and serving officers with proven potential are also often given admittance to the Flight School under special circumstances. The Flight School has a 90% rate of failure; only the best of the best are justly named the most talented flyers in the Imperial Navy and are thus granted the title of 'TIE/In/sa Starfighter/bomber pilot' or simply: 'TIE pilot'. At Flight School a 'hands-on' approach is emphasized, and at only the half-way mark through the course of your training you are sat behind the controls of a genuine TIE fighter and are able to fly in a training squadron.

How often do promotions take place?

Promotions are a thing to strive for. They are not given out often, and never without exceptional reason. Studies have shown that to be in command of your own Imperial starship is a key milestone in 95% of our officers here in the Imperial Navy's lives, and whilst this is a remarkable achievement, it does not come without great responsibility. The higher the rank you attain the more lives you are responsible for, the harsher the punishments for failure will be, and the more physically and mentally demanding your schedules and duties are.

An Imperial Recruitment Poster

How does the Navy enforce discipline?

The Navy, dependant on your rank, duty and severity of offense, holds bear to an extensive punishment protocol, from civil detention to capital prosecution - the most severe being the latter. You are expected not only to uphold a sanctioned routine of justice, but to obey any order dictated over yourself and maintain a level of initiative equal to that of your superiors'. Failure to meet these standards /will/ result in strict discipline -- multiple offenses will see your way out of the Navy and perhaps the Empire itself.

Sign me up!

Approach an Imperial Recruitment Officer at either an outgoing space port or docking bay, or a planetary Imperial Embassy. Look for the Imperial emblem backed to a large, blue banner -- and welcome to the start of your career as an Imperial Cadet, Initiate.

The ISS Radiant