[FpM 4 A] The Fall of the Empire (Star Wars)

I've been researching again, and I'm currently fascinated by death troopers - so, here's the pitch.

The Galactic Civil War is over, and the Empire has surrendered. Some Imperials surrender along with their leadership; some continue fighting, refusing to accept their fates; some escape, with Republic bounties on their heads; some of these are captured and some manage to disappear, at least for a while, into new worlds or new identities.

The newly-fledged Galactic Republic, building itself from the Rebel Alliance and a patchwork of other rebel cells across the galaxy, now has to determine their enemies' fate at significant scale. Some, quite genuinely, can plead ignorance or at least innocence of the Empire's wrongdoings. Others cooperate, pointing the rebels towards their leaders and comrades and shielding themselves in the process. Still others are sentenced to death after Republic trials, or summarily executed on the battlefield by those unwilling to leave justice up to a court.

For the galaxy at large, but especially for the ones who surrender or are captured, the future is uncertain.

My character is one of those Imperials, captured after years oppressing the galaxy under ever-unquestioned orders; yours, one of those rebels, suddenly on top of the galaxy after years spent narrowly avoiding capture, torture, and death at the Empire's hands - in the former cases, perhaps not avoiding it at all.

As a death trooper, my character fully considers himself one of the Emperor's finest: a man who's never been anything but a soldier, who's been given the best training and indoctrination the Empire has to offer, along with - if the rumors are true - even genetic modifications, to make him a better soldier. Throughout the war he spent time on the front lines, fighting alongside other death troopers and stormtroopers. He also performed duties guarding high-ranking ISB officials, a silent background character privy, by nature of his role, to highly-classified meetings and last-minute plans as the end of the war approached.

That's the pitch! We have loads of flexibility where backstory is concerned: did our characters know each other before the war, or outside the war? Did they meet during the war, was your character personally harmed by mine, or even vice versa? Or do they know nothing about each other except for preconceived notions, prejudices, and outlooks shaped by experience of the darkest sides of humanity?

I'm also not wholly committed to writing a death trooper! I would also be more than willing to write another Imperial, if there's a branch, a trooper faction, or just a particular character background you find particularly intriguing. I love creating new characters.

I'm very interested in the push and pull of opposing ideology and loyalty here; the real and justified anger, the the after-effects of indoctrination, conditioning, perhaps even genuine brainwashing. I'm down with romance as an eventual subplot, though any kind of mutual feelings will have to be slooooowburn. If you're willing to be patient, then I am too, and I promise the payoff will be worth it!

I'm not looking for anything smutty, but violence is likely to be on the table; if there's anything you're uncomfortable with, please let me know and I'll be sure to leave it out. Likewise, just tell me if there's something you really want to see! I'd like to discuss and make this story our own - we don't have to have everything plotted out from the very beginning, but I am looking for somebody who wants to geek out over this idea with me and discuss what we like, so we can make sure we create a story that makes you as happy as it does me!