Not all of the military forces in the Empire are well legislated, as they are controlled by specific organizations within the Empire, which have some degree of freedom beyond what is typically acceptable.
Inquisition
Several times throughout history, people have tried to answer the question of “who watches the watchmen” and for the Empire the decision was to create an institution outside of the normal hierarchies and with access to all kinds of information on the people they are supposed to watch over. This institution is the Inquisition and their job is to ensure that the Empire endures, by removing heretics, aliens, traitors and the corrupt. Nothing can be hidden from the Inquisitors, no secret is safe, regardless of how small or big it is. The concept of privacy is something the Empire cares little about, respecting individual freedoms has often led to rebellions and the uprising of dangerous cults, so no one is above the law and all should be ready to reveal their darkest or most heavily guarded secrets, for the benefit of the Empire as a whole.
The Inquisition is a highly political institution, with Inquisitors using all sorts of tricks to increase their power, trying to rise within the ranks of the Inquisition. To avoid giving too much power to individual Inquisitors, the institution was separated into several orders, each focusing on a specific type of enemy or task. The Order of the Faith focuses on eliminating heretics within the ranks of the Empire or beyond its borders, being composed by many imperial priests, zealots and preachers. The Order of the Alien is responsible for watching over the alien species living within the Empire and assailing its planets, trying to eliminate or reach agreements with the species that threaten the safety of the imperial citizens. The Order of the Exorcists focuses on hunting daemons and rogue psychers, trying to limit the strength of the entities of the interdimensional space within the Empire.
All these orders work together, trying to watch over the Empire and all kinds of threats that might cause its collapse, if left unchecked for too long. Their work is often hated by many imperials, especially due to the fact some Inquisitors abuse their power, but despite those issues, without the Inquisition the Empire would have fallen millennia ago. The Inquisition is thus a needed evil.
The Inquisition deploys all sort of armies, often gathered through all sorts of shady deals with local forces and factions with mutual interests. Many Inquisitors recruit mercenaries of dubious loyalty, some recruit candidates with potential from the planets they visit, others rely on the best recruits of the Imperial Academies spread through the Empire. It all depends heavily on the politics they are involved and types of factions they interact with. For example, a member of the Order of the Alien will often recruit aliens that have proven of particular usefulness for its mission, while a member of the Order of the Faith will recruit priests and preachers of all kinds to assist in dealing with heretics.
Order of the Tech Adepts
The Order of the Tech Adepts was first established on Mintor V, when the Emperor ordered the construction of mighty forges on the massive wastelands of the planet. Technology played a key role in the early years of the Empire and some engineers and scientists became fanatics and zealots, with many dogmatically trying to preserve technology in its state, seeing anything new as heresy, while others experimented with dangerous devices, trying to advance the technology of the Empire.
In the midst of this strange mix of dogma and extreme experimentation, the Tech Adepts appeared, a group of humans seeing technology as the greatest achievement of humanity and striving to preserve knowledge of it in all possible ways. Many saw themselves as unworthy to match the standards of the devices they built, deciding to replace some of their body parts with cybernetic versions, capable of all sorts of advanced tasks. In a few generations, Mintor V was inhabited by all sorts of cyborgs and cybernetically enhanced humans, all of them working to produce the needed goods, weapons, vehicles and much more in the forges.
As the Tech Adepts colonized new systems, it became apparent that the fragile cybernetic humans needed a highly advanced group of protectors, to garrison their worlds and protect them from the marauders, raiders and aliens that assailed their forges and factories. The Cyber Guardians were created to match their masters, a force of cybernetically enhanced soldiers, capable of following the commands of their officers in perfect synchronism due to their advanced implants and cybernetic parts. Many kinds of robots were also created to serve civilian or military support roles, complementing the human workers and the cybernetic warriors.
The dogmatic groups of the Tech Adepts grew as the millennia passed, making it increasingly difficult for new technology to appear from the radical groups, as most deviations from the known technology were branded dangerous and their creators often exiled as renegades. Despite that, some breakthroughs still happen from time to time and the Empire advances forward a little each century, getting closer to the advanced technology of the elves and the Elders.
Imperial Brotherhood
The Imperial Brotherhood is an organization focused on spreading the Imperial Cult throughout the Empire, in an attempt to increase the allegiance of the people, as well as reduce corruption, heresy and many other activities that might undermine the Empire. The Brotherhood is composed of priests, missionaries, bishops, cardinals, monks, nuns, preachers and all other sorts of religious representatives, in essence fulfilling the role of the imperial church.
Although its name might be misleading, the Imperial Brotherhood is composed of both men and women, with the reason for the name coming from the fact that the institution was initially founded by two brothers belonging to the imperial family in Mintor III, with the objective of reducing the number of rebellions and trying to eliminate barbarian cults as early as possible, through the evangelization of the people.
The Brotherhood is mostly a peaceful institution, but many of the preachers and missionaries travel through some of the most dangerous regions of the Empire, meaning they are usually capable warriors, even if their focus is only on self defence. The other exception to the peaceful ways of the Brotherhood is among the priests, monks or nuns travelling with the Crusaders of Faith, which often accompany the warriors into the front-lines, with their combat training being needed for survival, as well as to serve as an inspiration to the Crusaders fighting alongside them. Some become famous by their courage and stalwart morale, truly an inspiration to the followers of the Emperor.
Crusaders of Faith
Among those that live and fight throughout the Empire there is often need to atone for past sins and actions that weigh on their conscience. Those that receive the call of Faith end up joining the ranks of the Crusaders, a group of hardy and zealot soldiers, often fighting under the command of the Imperial Brotherhood or the Order of the Faith, crusading throughout the galaxy and facing all sorts of heretics and corrupt imperials.
Almost as heavily armoured as the Special Forces, the Crusaders of Faith focus mostly on close range or melee combat, feeling that the proximity to their enemies and the risk of being injured or killed is all necessary for their sins to be cleansed. Their forces are mostly composed of infantry, but powerful exoskeletons and armoured support vehicles are also a common sight among the ranks of the Crusaders, providing the needed support to the warriors in the front-lines.
Crusaders are often accompanied by members of the Imperial Brotherhood and they will support the evangelization of any pacified territory as acolytes to the priests, missionaries or others that might preach the Imperial Cult. Those that survive throughout the crusades become true champions of the Emperor, the legends of their deeds being passed down through centuries or even millennia, their example inspiring new generations of warriors to join the Crusaders.
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