Lit The Rebel Alliance is suprisingly clean

On the contrary, I think the Rebel Alliance being clean makes perfect sense. The Rebel Alliance is made of Senators who are well aware of the effect of media and political legitimacy. ALL the Rebellion has going for it is the promise of a legitimate government after it. Terrorism, bluntly, WON'T WORK against the Empire. Authoritarian regimes only benefit from it and there's no chance of the Empire negotiating to stop attacks.

So, really, appearing as the good guys is their only winning strategy.

 

Damn C19, long time, no see. I do wonder how the Empire and Rebellion would react to non-belligerents or recue services helping out the survivors of space-battles after they are over? I think there's a line in either "Pirates and Privateers" or "The Far-Orbit project" that states that there is an official "neutral" rescue service that helps pick up spaced pilots and crew and provides medical services for both sides. Any one interfering or attacking this group and its ships would end up being gunned down by BOTH SIDES!

Would killing surrendering enemies in the middle of a fight be considered war-crimes? Actually I think in the real world there's a clause in the Geneva Convention that basically says that "accidents happen" in the heat of battle but afterwards any killing is a crime. Basically if you are in the middle of a fire fight and some of the enemy have surrendered/raised there hands from the group you are fighting but others are still shooting they can all still be considered as combatants?

 

As a general rule, the Empire has always killed Rebels after extended torture from what has been implied in the EU. This isn't even them being their usual totalitarian selves. The Rebellion is an insurgency and all of it's people are technically traitors against the Empire. Certainly, no one is being held prisoner except maybe those who would be sent to work camps.

I think in the Rebel Alliance sourcebook, it's been mentioned that Imperials were marooned on prison planets the Rebellion had until the end of the war.

 

Yep, stuck on isolated parts of low tech safe worlds with resources to take up farming and regular visits from Rebel doctors.

A good old Space Rescue Corps, unsung heros of the space ways. These guys and girls are sort of the like the red cross of Star Wars, stuck in unarmed ships will fly out during battles and catastrophes enter damaged ships and try to rescue anyone they can, often risking their own lives in the process.


Just like the Sector Rangers, planetary security forces or the Survey Corps they are left from the days of the Old Republic, though formally Imperial many of them follow old codes and traditions not even the Empire really wants to mess with and if they do backlash will come. Like the master stroke of them shutting down the Survey Corps and a lot of those experienced, dedicated people who know how to fly and repair ships, survive on harsh worlds and chart unknown worlds, joining the Rebels.

 

There's a practical reason for that, anyway, since after 3 months most Imperials would be considered deserters or KIA and would know there's no place in the Empire for them. If it was found out they'd surrendered, well who KNOWS what might be done to their families.

The Rebellion, by contrast, is open for business.

Or maybe that's me making the Rebellion more Machiavellian than I'd give it credit for.

 

I don’t think many from the prison camps would join with the Rebels, those that had Rebel sympathies would likely ask to join before being send their and the rest where properly Imperial loyalist that likely did not sway before the Death of the Emperor.

 

The Rebel Alliance: Clean and Articulate.

 

Seriously, though, I do think terrorism would have been worthless against the Empire. It's a dictatorship so it's not like terrorism is going to undermine them as a whole since any terrorist activities done by the Empire justifies them expanding their military and is usually attributed to the rebels anyway.

 

Yes, usually terrorism leads to emergeny laws, which in turn leads to more power in the hands of the central authority. Whatever that might be.

 

I mean, that's a storybook, man.

 

I do wonder how much of the Rebel Alliance's cleanness was enforceable, though. It was primary cell based. You can't control that the way you could a military.

 

The Alliance Sourcebook mentions that Sector Forces that start to mess up in that regard get their support cut and apparently the Alliance just wait’s for the Imperials to kill them before forming a new Sector Force, whilst Privateers would be hunted down and imprisoned.

 

It would be in the interests of the Alliance to disown and if possible destroy rogue cells. After all, Imperial Army Special Missions units would pose as Rebel units, attack the local populace to incite anti-Rebel sentiment, and then the Empire would move in a garrison of regulars at the request of the planetary government. Such assignments were termed Political Gain Operations, a.k.a. "straw man" missions. Having your own people playing right into the hands of that kind of strategy is something you need to nip in the bud.

 

I recall a character from "Wanted by Cracken" who the Rebellion threw under a bus after he started blowing up star cruisers.

 

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Greldo_Farnor

 

Nice cache!

There were some nasty rebels too.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Lohn_Genden

 

He seems to have been more of an equal-opportunity terrorist.

 

Eh, some men just want to watch the world burn.