ISD transported to oprbit around 11th century Earth RAR!

[amigocabal]

You are the captain of an Imperial Star Destroyer with the standard complement of crew, equipment, supplies, and vehicles, in the time period between A New Hope and the Empire Strikes Back. .

Suddenly, a mysterious Event sends you into an orbit around a planet orbiting a star in an unexplored region of the Universe. You can not contact Coruscant.

(Unknown to you, the planet is Earth, A.D. 1015.)

How do you and your crew survive?

[Purple]

With a combined crew and compliment of 46815 1 survival in the long term will depend on gaining resources, in particular food and fresh water from outside sources. And this in turn means enslaving the locals. The good news is that I have up to two years of supplies worth to do this with. The bad news is that I do not have unlimited fuel, supplies or manpower to take over the world with. Thus the best possible outcome is to claim a fertile but isolated stretch of land with favorable climate conditions and a good strategic position.

My choice would be Japan. Taking over Japan would give me a strong defensive position for generations to come. After all, I only need to bomb fleets trying to cross the seas. The local population too should be suitably savage for my needs and yet sufficiently numerous to supply my forces with ample food. I would capture the major cities under the pretense of deity. After all, how many people can say I am not a sky god when I descend from heavens in my metal mountain of fiery death? Not many. I would than take it upon my self to do the best I can to civilize these savages, giving them advanced agricultural techniques or anything at all I can to make them more productive.

TLDR; A tale of toil and slavery in medieval Japan.

[Borgholio]

Japan is not the most mineral-rich area of the world. Go for the middle-east. They have plenty of open ground for a defensive perimeter, lush and fertile river valleys for farming, and of course...plenty of oil and other mineral deposits.

[Elheru Aran]

I might actually think about Australia. It's a convenient, largely empty continent that's well isolated from pretty much everybody. Splendid from a defensive perspective. And you have shuttles and fighters available; I wouldn't worry too much about the isolation for a while, use that time to set up trading contacts. You'll get all the Chinese and Arab trade you want pretty quickly, just dangle some juicy stormtrooper armour in front of them along with slugthrower designs and what not.

Frankly with the amount of firepower an ISD's troops have at their command, and a portable base to boot, I don't see any reason why they couldn't simply bombard a convenient mountain in the Alps flat, set up the base, and start playing Swiss Mercenary for mucho moola.

[Patroklos]

Why would they have to enslave anyone? They could trade with the monarch's of the day for everything they need with the spare items in their uniform pockets. If they need more exotic material that humans haven't made use of yet I bet they would have any easier time having their droids mine asteroids. Don't run your main engines and use shuttles for space transport. The ISD consumable numbers were for normal operations and just like real warships I bet food was real limiter, not fuel. If you turn the ISD into a space station it should last for a hell of a lot longer before you have to native.

[Borgholio]

Could set up a great protection racket. Tell people that if they farm for the Imperials and look for special shiny rocks to hand over, the Imps will destroy their enemies with fire from the heavens. Wouldn't need to enslave anyone. With food and basic minerals provided for by the natives, that will take a load off the remaining supplies needed to keep the operation going.

[biostem]

ISDs, IIRC, have prefab garrisons on board. I'd go to North America, set myself up as a local god or spirit, and mobilize the local people into a feudal society - have storm troopers and walkers out as "spirits/spirit animals" and setup farms to feed your troops and the locals. As you develop things, you can move away from having to use your own supplies to feed your own troops. The only big issue would be how to resupply yourself. I'd assume you could setup at least some facilities to resupply by utilizing equipment you already have, but establishing a tech base for hypermatter, blaster gas, and so on, would be much more difficult. You could probably do things like fashion repeating slugthrowers if blaster gas supplies dwindle.

[The Romulan Republic]

As Purple discussed, I'm inclined to seize an island for defensive purposes- large, preferably something with a fairly mild/warm climate and lots of water for agriculture. Hawaii is coming to mind for me, though Elheru Aran's suggestion of Australia has its appeal because it would mean more room and resources.

I'd drop the objectionable Imperial doctrine as quickly as possible. We ain't going home, so there's no need to worry about the Emperor and good reason to not unduly antagonize the locals. We don't want to build resentment that will continue after we run out of fuel for our blasters and turbo lasers and such.

Speaking of the Emperor, I'll have to start thinking about succession immediately. For a while, we can simply follow the military chain of command, but in the long run we're going to need a proper system of government. While my personal instincts and philosophy plead for democracy, that might be a hard sell to both medieval and Imperial folks alike. So I may compromise and go for a constitutional monarchy. But I don't want leadership to be dependent on inheritance/blood, so some way to take merit into account should be established.

Trade will immediately be established with the local populations- in exchange for ceding some land to us and trading resources with us, they will have access to miraculous Imperial medicine and a promise of aid in the even of a catastrophe. I will avoid getting involved in wars, with two caveats- First, anyone who attacks my citizens, invades my territory, or interferes with my trade will be crushed, utterly, and their lands added to my domains. Secondly, any local population that voluntarily joins my domain will be garunteed the aforementioned Imperial response on their behalf if attacked.

Beyond that, I'll start transitioning to using local resources as much as possible in preparation for the day I am no longer able to maintain and fuel my more advanced equipment. I will research local agricultural techniques and shipbuilding techniques. I will also create a record of all Imperial scientific knowledge, to be preserved for the future benefit of mankind and sealed in a vault guarded by my best troops. And an educational exchange program is something I'd like to set up- have friendly countries send some of their sons and daughters to me to be educated in some of the more basic Imperial scientific knowledge, in return for me sending some of mine to learn how to farm and build things without advanced Imperial technology.

I will also encourage intermarriage between my people and the locals, both to encourage diversity and tolerance/build ties with the locals and to increase my population.

Like Patroklos said, my ISD will be kept in orbit as a space station and used as little as possible to preserve its fuel as long as possible. A skeleton crew will be kept on board to keep it running and it will act as a surveillance and communications instillation.

[Purple]

Japan is not the most mineral-rich area of the world. Go for the middle-east. They have plenty of open ground for a defensive perimeter, lush and fertile river valleys for farming, and of course...plenty of oil and other mineral deposits.

I don't really need much in terms of mineral wealth. I am not trying to build an empire to conquer the world. Just set up a nation state build around supporting the star gods and their offspring. So I do not need massive mineral reserves or wealth. I need food and a defensive position. At least for the immediate time. Some decades down the line I might decide to expand. But that's than. That's why Japan is so good a pick. It's isolated by sea from any potential foreign aggression. And at the same time it's just across the sea from China and by relation the silk route and the middle east. So if it comes to that I can always teach the Chinese how to mine the strange black goo that the silly new Japanese gods are willing to pay gold for later on.

Why would they have to enslave anyone? They could trade with the monarch's of the day for everything they need with the spare items in their uniform pockets.

Well for a start slavery is an important cultural trait in the empire. I doubt I could get my men to treat medieval savages as equal even if I wanted to. This said, I am not really going for full on american south style slavery. Basically, what I was thinking is that I'd come down from heaven with my impenetrable armor and death rifles and declare my self their god. Than I'd make the local nobility submit to me and rule as the equivalent of a divine shogun. They'd still retain a degree of autonomy, if for no reason than so that I don't have to bother with micromanagement. But they'd also serve me unconditionally or risk getting their roof opened up by a couple of tie fighters. I'd make Japan open up to trade, and conscript a percentage of each lords population to serve me as providers. Also, take a pick of the maidens, preferably voluntarily (I am sure plenty of them would jump at the chance to escape poverty) so the men don't start going out to do so unsupervised. The last thing I want is my troops to start acting out and alienate the local population.

Finally, I'd marry into the local nobility to legitimize my self, my offspring and them.

If they need more exotic material that humans haven't made use of yet I bet they would have any easier time having their droids mine asteroids. Don't run your main engines and use shuttles for space transport. The ISD consumable numbers were for normal operations and just like real warships I bet food was real limiter, not fuel. If you turn the ISD into a space station it should last for a hell of a lot longer before you have to native.

That is a great idea. Whilst my ground garrison establishes them self as divine emissaries I could keep the SD in space doing mining and stuff. And I could rotate the troops to and from the ground base to ease the load on both them and my suppliers. That way I don't have to completely abandon my SW tech in a decade or two.

---

As for my ultimate end goal. It's to establish a divine empire in Japan built around caring for my people and their offspring. A settlement built around one race (the earthlings) serving their superior species (the imperials). And to establish the framework for a future society where on one hand they can advance and keep up technologically and economically with the rest of the world but on the other that duality is and can newer be disturbed. It would not be a particularly cruel occupation. But it would newer be a nation of equals.

[The Romulan Republic]

Well for a start slavery is an important cultural trait in the empire. I doubt I could get my men to treat medieval savages as equal even if I wanted to. This said, I am not really going for full on american south style slavery. Basically, what I was thinking is that I'd come down from heaven with my impenetrable armor and death rifles and declare my self their god. Than I'd make the local nobility submit to me and rule as the equivalent of a divine shogun. They'd still retain a degree of autonomy, if for no reason than so that I don't have to bother with micromanagement. But they'd also serve me unconditionally or risk getting their roof opened up by a couple of tie fighters. I'd make Japan open up to trade, and conscript a percentage of each lords population to serve me as providers. Also, take a pick of the maidens, preferably voluntarily (I am sure plenty of them would jump at the chance to escape poverty) so the men don't start going out to do so unsupervised. The last thing I want is my troops to start acting out and alienate the local population.

Ironically enough, Japan did something very similar during the World War II era. This was not a good thing.

Edit: You really, really don't want to unduly piss of the local populace, because, even if basic morality holds no appeal to you, one day your blasters and such are going to break down and you may be on a much, much more even footing with your neighbors/subjects, and human beings can hold a grudge across generations.

[Purple]

Ironically enough, Japan did something very similar during the World War II era. This was not a good thing.

Edit: You really, really don't want to unduly piss of the local populace, because, even if basic morality holds no appeal to you, one day your blasters and such are going to break down and you may be on a much, much more even footing with your neighbors/subjects, and human beings can hold a grudge across generations.

Not the same thing. Japan had rape camps. I would offer marriage to star gods and a life of luxury and health. Arranged marriages were a normal thing back than. And if people did not complain about that I doubt they'd complain about it if a god was involved.

Think of it this way. The god of death, life and the stars wants wives for his white clad angels. And he is willing to offer a life in heaven to those that volunteer.

[The Romulan Republic]

As long as its consensual.

Anyway, as you noted, Imperial culture is not very nice. This is something that concerns me because I can't have my men abusing the locals and possibly causing revolts, but I also can't risk pushing them into a mutiny by cracking down too hard on them.

To be honest, I'm particularly worried about my stormtroopers. Is it possible they'll pull a coup if I'm too removed from Palpatine's ideology? I'm hoping I can count on a little more loyalty from my fellow naval men.

[Simon_Jester]

As a cautionary tale, let us note that Imperial troops have lost battles to primitives before. *cough* Endor *cough*

Plus, of course, your troops have to sleep some time.

So it's well worth while to convince the local population of whatever area you base out of that it is good to have you around, rather than acting like a bunch of arrogant asses everyone wishes they could figure out how to assassinate. Otherwise, well, La Noche Triste can happen.

[The Romulan Republic]

To be fair, Endor was a case where the primitives had support from a force that was technologically more or less equivalent with the Empire. And it was Chewbacca taking over a walker that let them get into the bunker.

[amigocabal]

As a cautionary tale, let us note that Imperial troops have lost battles to primitives before. *cough* Endor *cough*

Plus, of course, your troops have to sleep some time.

So it's well worth while to convince the local population of whatever area you base out of that it is good to have you around, rather than acting like a bunch of arrogant asses everyone wishes they could figure out how to assassinate. Otherwise, well, La Noche Triste can happen.

It should be noted that Palpatine did not antagonize everyone all the time. Hell, Jabba the Hutt was allowed to keep his own personal protection racket as long as he paid protection money in turn.

As Borgholio pointed out, setting up a protection racket works wonders and keeps things simple. Doing a mini-BDZ on your client's enemies would earn both their favor and their fear.

[The Romulan Republic]

In the case of any medieval army, it would be less a case of a BDZ and more a case of one turbolaser strike.

[Tanasinn]

Setting yourself up somewhere like Australia or North America, with abundant resources and a less technologically advanced native population, would probably be best. If for some reason I have to deal with European or near eastern nations it's pretty easy to masquerade as God's prophet by having "the wrath of God" follow my pronouncements in the form of a turbolaser bombardment. If they don't believe it, who gives a shit? Orbital bombardment doesn't require belief.

Slavery probably wouldn't even be necessary. By all appearances we'd be gods. We can cure their diseases, fill their bellies, and exterminate their enemies. The locals in the area we settled would probably willingly align themselves with us, especially if they're misruled. Whoever we choose to align ourselves with can be indoctrinated into the Imperial creed and our superior knowledge of science, technology, and medicine basically guarantee our primacy barring a literal act of the Force.

[Simon_Jester]

To be fair, Endor was a case where the primitives had support from a force that was technologically more or less equivalent with the Empire. And it was Chewbacca taking over a walker that let them get into the bunker.

True- but they were inflicting casualties before that. A.nd there are other similar instances in the EU

In the case of any medieval army, it would be less a case of a BDZ and more a case of one turbolaser strike.

Armies will not be the problem. Bandits and assassins and peasants on strike are the problem.

[Mr Bean]

Actually... Bandit attacks and the like are not that much of an issue.

You have a Star Destroyer on call, is there a bandit camp? Well you have sensors good enough to scan entire planets in under a few hours for human life forms. Why not put them to work providing 24/7 monitoring of your Kingdom. Bandit attack in an area? Call up the records for the relevant time stamp in those fancy computers watch the attack and watch to see where the bandits go... then an assault shuttle later it's dealt with.


In the 11 century your shuttles which can go from ground to orbit in a few minutes carry weapons stronger than 240mm artillery rounds and with defense shields design to stand up to kiloton lasers let alone rocks or big spears can simply fly CAS to any bandits or large scale lawless activity.

Assassins and Peasant on strike remain an issue but hey at least with Peasants there are stun settings, it's not like you can have your loyal soldiers hose down a crowd with stun bolts and pick up the unconscious bodies to be dealt with as needed.

Assassins remain, besides Divine Shogun is a decent idea, get the local nobility to swear fealty to you in exchange for healing, teaching, training and advancement.

[Simon_Jester]

Actually... Bandit attacks and the like are not that much of an issue.

You have a Star Destroyer on call, is there a bandit camp? Well you have sensors good enough to scan entire planets in under a few hours for human life forms. Why not put them to work providing 24/7 monitoring of your Kingdom. Bandit attack in an area? Call up the records for the relevant time stamp in those fancy computers watch the attack and watch to see where the bandits go... then an assault shuttle later it's dealt with.

In fairness, that's a legitimate point, although we saw enough successful guerilla campaigns waged against the Empire in the EU that it is... doubtful to me that Imperial sensors actually permit that kind of reliable omniscient ability to intervene against ragtag bands of misfits on the ground.

[Mr Bean]

In fairness, that's a legitimate point, although we saw enough successful guerilla campaigns waged against the Empire in the EU that it is... doubtful to me that Imperial sensors actually permit that kind of reliable omniscient ability to intervene against ragtag bands of misfits on the ground.

Those guerrilla's have an identical tech base and access to the best jamming technology they can beg, borrow, steal or capture. Our feduel era Japanese bandits will not even have the building blocks to understand how the Sky Gods know where they are. The concept of bunching up at night to keep warm would shout out their location just to exists in the 20th century thermal sensors let alone what the Empire has access to.

[Purple]

As long as its consensual.

As consensual as any middle age marriage to a distant man who she has newer met was anyway.

Anyway, as you noted, Imperial culture is not very nice. This is something that concerns me because I can't have my men abusing the locals and possibly causing revolts, but I also can't risk pushing them into a mutiny by cracking down too hard on them.

To be honest, I'm particularly worried about my stormtroopers. Is it possible they'll pull a coup if I'm too removed from Palpatine's ideology? I'm hoping I can count on a little more loyalty from my fellow naval men.

That's why I'd discourage mingling. It's not worth the risk. Instead, I'd set up the on board IM-455 as a divine fortress somewhere in the countryside and station my troops there. They would be fed what information I want to feed them to keep them in line. And they'd only leave the walled compound when ordered to perform a task. And always escorted by a protocol droid that records all things.

Combine that with liberal use of the stun setting and taking prisoners and I'd prove my self to the people as a distant but present god of death (after all, a stunned person seems dead when we drag him away) and life (and than they are miraculously returned alive to prove my mercy) and the stars (I came from the stars) commanding an army of distant human like angels.

I mean, just imagine it. This is 11th century Japan. Steel is expensive, and yet I have a castle made out of the stuff. It might as well be gold! And not just one, I have two castles. One of whom can fly!

[biostem]

Ironically enough, Japan did something very similar during the World War II era. This was not a good thing.

Edit: You really, really don't want to unduly piss of the local populace, because, even if basic morality holds no appeal to you, one day your blasters and such are going to break down and you may be on a much, much more even footing with your neighbors/subjects, and human beings can hold a grudge across generations.

Not the same thing. Japan had rape camps. I would offer marriage to star gods and a life of luxury and health. Arranged marriages were a normal thing back than. And if people did not complain about that I doubt they'd complain about it if a god was involved.

Think of it this way. The god of death, life and the stars wants wives for his white clad angels. And he is willing to offer a life in heaven to those that volunteer.

Another option, (though one I wouldn't recommend until we had a solid foothold), would be to simply setup our own orphanages. Accept unwanted children at an early age, and raise them well and teach them in our tech base. Screen them early on and often - those that are defiant or uncooperative would be sent to the "groundside orphanages", where they'd only be given education on par with the local populace, (albeit still well cared for). Those that adhere to our teachings and exhibit desirable traits would be trained in increasingly advanced fields, and given full status in the "god's government", where they can be trained to be anything from Stormtroopers to pilots, mechanics, doctors, etc. They'd retain bodily autonomy, as far as reproduction goes, but prohibitions against fraternizing with locals would be strictly enforced - this would protect our people as much as the locals, as the last things we'd want would be to have our own personnel torn in their allegiances, and we wouldn't want undereducated locals having access to our technology or influence over our personnel, either.

[FedRebel]

I'd probably set up a 'favorable' (on my terms of course) Alliance with the "Byzantine" (East Roman) Empire, aiding them in "restoring" the full glory of the Greater Roman Empire in exchange for favorable land grants, as well as hevily discounted food supplies and imminent domain rights for resource acquisition.

While the thought of terrorizing Native Americans or Australian aborigines with my bone white "Ghost Armies" is amusing, serious long-term survival needs to be pursued.

Though extremely primitive by Imperial stanards Byzantine has almost everything that'd I'd need. And the fundamental aspects of civilization are already in place, I can uplift them per my whims (introduce more advanced agricultural techniques, show them the applications of that steam "trinket" of theirs, possibilities go on.)

I'd say after a good decade, me and my crew have lavish estates in Germania, steam locomotives from the Restored Greater Roman Empire bring fresh crops and livestock on a regular basis, and in our spare time we work with the Romans (troopers training the legionaries with slugthrowers modeled after blasters, doctors teaching more advanced medicine, engineers helping the Romans harness electricity through steam generators, and the occasional genocide of any savages who dare threaten our partners.)



By the time

[Patroklos]

Well for a start slavery is an important cultural trait in the empire.

How so? Sure it exists but I have never seen any mechanism in the EU involving slavery that makes it relevant on a galactic scale (any scale actually), and indeed it only exists an a small portion of the settings we see. Slavery in the SW universe amounts to "how do I make my mustache twirler look evil without effort on my part? SLAVERY!" and as I have generally observed it appears to be punitive rather than productive in motivation.

I doubt I could get my men to treat medieval savages as equal even if I wanted to. This said, I am not really going for full on american south style slavery. Basically, what I was thinking is that I'd come down from heaven with my impenetrable armor and death rifles and declare my self their god. Than I'd make the local nobility submit to me and rule as the equivalent of a divine shogun. They'd still retain a degree of autonomy, if for no reason than so that I don't have to bother with micromanagement. But they'd also serve me unconditionally or risk getting their roof opened up by a couple of tie fighters. I'd make Japan open up to trade, and conscript a percentage of each lords population to serve me as providers. Also, take a pick of the maidens, preferably voluntarily (I am sure plenty of them would jump at the chance to escape poverty) so the men don't start going out to do so unsupervised. The last thing I want is my troops to start acting out and alienate the local population.

That's more reasonable but is not slavery in any sense of the word. And also to much work. Destructive power is at a premium because as was stated there are no sources of hypermeter or tibanna gas laying around. Five the locals the Manhattan treatment and call it a day. I think you can do the benevolent god thing instead of the wrathful god thing since it would be so easy to awe the locals with your everyday tech and your trinkets represent a priceless bounty to bestow on your followers.

One of the problems with the divine god living on Earth as you propose to do is it has a flaw I will call the "Man Who Would Be King" scenario. Basically humans, regardless of wealth or power or influence, are still humans and do things like eat, sleep, shit and bleed and with enough contact the locals will recognize are just regular old Mk1 humans in short order. Gods can't live with their subjects.

That's a great movie BTW, and is basically the exact situation we are talking about.

To be honest, I'm particularly worried about my stormtroopers. Is it possible they'll pull a coup if I'm too removed from Palpatine's ideology? I'm hoping I can count on a little more loyalty from my fellow naval men.

As long as you maintain the general hierarchy you should be fine. The Stormtroopers had orders, and as long as it wasn't something other than serve your assigned chain of command their fanaticism should have them follow that order until more are received as long as the recognize an intact chain of command. The Navy men are exactly who you need to worry about because most of them are probably not lifers and the career guys with ambitions now only have one pinnacle to compete for just a few levels above themselves as opposed to the opportunities within a galactic scale Navy.