Founded in 2013, The Empire's Edge is online community for Star Wars fans with "a certain point of view:" namely, a shared appreciation of the oft-maligned, much-misunderstood Galactic Empire. In the EE, the rebels are the villains of the saga: they are criminals, traitors, terrorists, and masters of propaganda. In contrast, the noble heroic Imperials are the true heroes, bravely fighting to preserve order, a catch-all term for a complex idea: a society in which stability, prosperity, and justice are shared by all sentient beings in the Galaxy.
Members of the EE explore this shared Imperial perspective in various ways, such as writing fiction set in a modified version of the Star Wars Legends where the Player Characters comprise a splinter faction of the original Empire.
In addition, members can:
- Role-play in an ongoing and persistent play-by-post story forum
- Write more traditional "fan fiction" stories
- Play a range of solo and multiplayer video games, the latter with their fellows at the EE
- Chat with each other in the text-based Jabber/XMPP chat
The front page is here
, and the actual stories are here.
This show provides examples of:
- A Father to His Men: Many Squad and Squadron leaders end up becoming this, both IC and OOC.
- Amazon Brigade: Numerous Stormtrooper Squads and Starfighter Squadrons have had a rosterful of women at times.
- Ax-Crazy: Many Player Characters over the years, including some particularly brutal Naval Intelligence characters.
- Chekhov's Gun: Loose ends from one major story often tie into the overall plot of the next.
- The Dark Side: What the elite writers are using as Dark Jedi.
- Elite Mooks: All Player Characters and a few notable NPC units.
- The Empire: Somewhat subverted, as while Empire's Edge has retained very few of its predecessor's bigoted and cruel influences, it's still mostly totalitarian. Members have occasionally cited this trope as an excuse to micromanage their OOC subordinates.
- Elites Are More Glamorous: Player Characters are rarely considered run-of-the-mill soldiers by the time their second battle rolls around.
- Ensign Newbie: Newcomers which prove their worth and are very active can ascend the command structure quickly during lulls in activity.
- Guns Akimbo: Fairly common in the Army.
- Gunship Rescue: An oft-used premise when one of the squads is in a jam.
- Hand Cannon: Sometimes carried around by members of the squads.
- Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Averted, sometimes to the point of Improbable Aiming Skills.
- Laser Blade: Is reserved for members of the elite and secretive Imperial Jedi Order.
- Katanas Are Just Better: Some old stories had Stormtroopers with vibrokatanas.
- More Dakka: An effective solution to enemies who can dodge bullets and wipe out squads with a stone knife. Sometimes.
- No One Gets Left Behind: Comes up about as much as you'd expect. Some Squad leaders make it their slogan.
- Old Soldier: Several, both in-character and out.
- One-Man Army: Played straight for certain scenarios where a normal squad would be expected to die.
- Redshirt Army: The Imperial Army and the "normal" Stormtroopers, as well as the majority of the Starfighter Corps, who take many more casualties than their PC counterparts.
- Take Over the World: Well, the galaxy.
- The Remnant: The Empire's Edge itself qualifies. Others are occasional villains in stories.
- Sociopathic Soldier: Several. See Ax-Crazy above.
- Squad Nickname: For all the Squads and Squadrons.
- The Squad: Most Player Characters are assigned to an Army Squad or Navy Squadron.
- Villain Protagonist: The premise of the Empire's Edge.
- Wingman: Starfighter combat relies heavily on wingmen.
