[Starhawk]

The Reformation:

On Icara the Imperial Palace shined like a brilliant wall of pearl as the summer morning sun climbed high in the sky, outside of the palace nearly 15 million people crowded outside of the palace walls, all of them waiting for the Praetor to make an announcement that had been the focus of rumors and speculation for five months. Everyone in the Empire knew that things were changing; the government was in flux as the new Praetor began to reshape the very organization of the Imperial bureaucracy.
The hours passed and still the Praetor did not appear but more and more people on Icara began arriving outside of the palace, so many in fact that the Praetor’s Own Regiment had to call in three Imperial Marine detachments including an armored brigade to help them ensure the security of the Palace. Entire State Security brigades were also arriving to secure various perimeter positions and ensure that no riots or problems occurred.

At exactly 15:00 hours the massive palace doors opened and a tall figure wearing the dark gray tunic and space black trousers of an Imperial Official, his cap was plain and unadorned and he carried only a saber and a sidearm with no other adornments. The lone man walked up to a podium at the end of the pathway leading from the palace doors to the gates of the palace grounds. For a moment the crowd expected the man to announce the Praetor or for drums to begin playing, it was not until every news camera in the area focused in on the man that the crowd realized they were looking at Praetor Rodric himself; and for a long moment a stunned silence came over almost the entire crowd bringing an eerie silence to the Palace grounds, there was none of the pomp or circumstance people expected of the Praetor, no trumpets or guards lining the pathway it all seemed to quiet, and except for the humming of tank and APC engines the moment seemed frozen in time until the Praetor cleared his throat and the crowds began cheering.
After a moment Rodric lifted his hands to call for silence and the crowd slowly responded, Rodric smiled; an almost embarrassed expression on his young face.
“Ladies, Gentlemen and fellow citizens of the grand Empire of Icara, as you all know our people have been engulfed in an almost endless war for the past 30 years, in fact we’ve been at war since before I was born and entire generations have been swept up in battle and warfare and millions of our people have died. Yet it is with pride and honor I say that we have not wavered, that you my people have not wavered in our great cause even though we have all become tired of warfare and even though many of us have lost those we love to the Crusades.” Rodric paused and cleared his throat for a moment.
“My friends, my people it is with all my heart I swear to you that the wars will end within our generation if there is anything I can do about it, I have begun increasing military production, and have raised entire regiments of soldiers to go to the front lines and I have given our military commanders the control they need to take initiative and to crush our enemies!” the crowds began cheering again but Rodric quickly raised his hands for silence “However….” He paused as the crowds began settling down again “However, we have a long dark road ahead of us, and there will be much more blood shed in the cause of Humanity, and it is because of this long dark road that I have chosen to reform our security forces, as such I am hereby dissolving the State Security and changing responsibility for our citizens security to the newly formed military controlled Federal Security Division, it is my belief that placing this officer under the control of the military will help with some of the disciplinary problems that some of the SS brigades have suffered from in the past due to poor leadership choices made by civilian leaders including certain nobles who have raised SS brigades as a private security force.” The Praetor paused long enough to allow this momentous statement to sink in, the SS had been with Icara for over a thousand years but it was true that it had been becoming a more and more controversial and corrupted organization but to have it replaced in one fell swoop would still be shocking to most citizens who were used to the “Status Quo” of the Empire.
“I am also reforming the Army so that Regiments may be raised from any loyal world with enough populace and not simply those who are core worlds, the Navy and Marines have also promised that they will begin recruiting from all loyal worlds no matter their heritage, whether they are pure blood Icaran or are one of our conquests.” Rodric swallowed hard and waited as the crowds thought about what had just been said, some openly began shouting and screaming down the proposal others just stood in stunned silence, allowing non “pure” Icarans to raise entire regiments and to be recruited into the Fleet and marines seemed outlandish, it took generations for a world’s population to be considered “pure” Icaran but it had only been 20 years since many worlds had been brought into the Empire.
“This is necessary if we want to end the wars within our lifetimes, we can no longer afford to allow millions of people that could serve our Empire on the front lines go unused simply because they have not been part of this Empire for generations.” Rodric spoke calmly over the crowds shouting and gently nudged his mic volume up several levels to ensure he was heard.

After several hours the crowds calmed and the Praetor’s edicts went into effect, the office of State Security was dissolved as well as several of the “discipline challenged” brigades the rest were absorbed into the new Federal Security Division and the new officers and officials took over. The other reforms were quietly taking place as preparations for raising several regiments on worlds previously considered unacceptable was underway as well as the creation of armory worlds, who’s entire industrial base was switched over to the production of arms and munitions for the newly expanding military machine.

Throughout the Empire preparations for a war on a scale never before seen progressed slowly but ominously as hundreds of thousands of men and women were undergoing training to march against worlds many of them had never even heard of before and many had to come to terms with the fact that in all likelihood they would never see their homeworlds again.