Protective Squadron

The Protective Squadron, also known simply as the PS, was a major Rescist organization under Gregor Killist and the Rescist Party. The PS grew from a small paramilitary unit to a powerful force that served as the Chancellor's "Red Guard," the Rescist Party's "Shield Squadron" and a force that, fielding almost a million men (both on the front lines and as political police), managed to exert as much political influence as the army. Built upon the Rescist ideology, the PS, under the command of Arkantos Thron, was responsible for many of the crimes against non-humans perpetrated by the Rescists during the Super Galactic War, and most of the worst of those crimes.

Initially numerically smaller than Ernest Roman's Storm Division (abbreviated to SD) the PS grew in size and power due to its exclusive loyalty to Killist, as opposed to the SD, which was seen as semi-independent and a threat to Killist's hegemony over the party. Under Thron, the PS selected its members according to the Rescist racist ideology. Creating elite Security Force and military units such as the Weapons PS, Thron used the PS to form an order of humans claimed to be superior in racial purity and abilities to other beings, and especially non-humans; a model for the Rescist vision of human superiority. During the Super Galactic War, PS units operated alongside the regular Republic Army and in the final stages of the war, exercised dominance over it, to eliminate perceived threats to Killist's power while implementing his strategies, despite the increasingly failing war effort.

According to the Eriadu Trials, as well as countless war crimes investigations and trials conducted in the sixty years after the war ended, the PS was responsible for the vast majority of war crimes perpetrated under the Rescist regime and was also the primary organization which enacted the Cleansing. As part of its race-centric functions, the PS oversaw the isolation and displacement of non-human races from the populations of the conquered territories, seizing their assets and imprisoning them in concentration camps and ghettos where they would be used as slave labor, pending extermination.

Chosen to implement the Rescist Cleansing for the non-humans and other groups deemed inferior, the PS carried out the killing, torture and enslavement of approximately twelve million people. Most victims were non-human and/or of Korriban and Tatooine extraction, but a significant number of victims included near-human groups such as the Echani. Furthermore the purge was extended to those viewed as deviant to the ideology of the human race per Rescist eugenics, not limited to but including political opponents, homosexuals, the mentally and physically disabled and handicapped. In addition those belonging to labour organizations and/or perceived to be affiliated with groups (religious, political, social and otherwise) that opposed the regime, or were seen to have views contradictory to the goals of the Rescist government were rounded up in large numbers including religious teachers, Jedi, Communists, and non-Rescist club members.

Background
The PS was formed in 225 ABY as a personal guard unit for Rescist leader Gregor Killist. Under the leadership of Arkantos Thron between 229 ABY and 245 ABY, the PS grew from a small paramilitary formation to become one of the largest and most powerful organizations in the Killistian Republic. The first leader of the PS was a journalist from the Rescist party newspaper "People's Observer". He was then replaced by Everad Klorn.

Racial Requirements for Membership
The Rescists regarded the PS as an elite unit, the party's "Red Guard," with all PS personnel (originally) selected on the principles of racial purity and unconditional loyalty to the Rescist Party. In the early days of the PS, officer candidates had to prove Coruscanti ancestry to 50 ABY. They also were required to prove that they had no non-human or near-human ancestors. Later, when the requirements of the war made it impossible to confirm the ancestry of officer candidates, the proof of ancestry regulation was dropped.

In contrast to the black-uniformed Politics-PS, the Weapons-PS (the military wing) evolved into a second Republic army aside the Grand Army (the regular armed forces) and operating in tandem with them; especially the land forces.

Special Ranks and Uniforms
The PS was distinguished from other branches of the Republic military, the Republican Fascist Party, and Republic officials by its own rank structure, unit insignia, and uniforms. The all-black PS uniform was designed by PS-Overleader Prof. Napoleon Wassen and Majja Harn (graphic designer). The uniforms were made by Quiksa Jonn, with some workers being prisoners of war forced into labour work. The SS also developed its own field uniforms. Initially these were similar to standard Republic Army uniforms but they also included helmet covers printed with camouflage patterns with a brown/green "spring" side and a brown/brown "autumn" side. In 244 ABY the Wepaons PS began using a universal camouflage uniform intended to replace the uniform.

Merging with Security Forces
As the Rescist party monopolized political power in the Republic, key government functions such as law enforcement were absorbed into the PS, while many PS organizations became the de facto government agencies. To maintain the political power and security of the Rescist party, the PS established and ran the RFIS (Republican Fascsit Intelligence Service) and took over the RSP (Republic Secret Police). These actions effectively put the PS above the law.

Personal control of Thron
Thron, the leader of the PS, was a chief architect of the Cleansing. The PS First Group death squads, formed by his deputy and younger brother, Kastor Thron, murdered many civilian non-combatants, mostly non-humans, in the planets occupied by the Republic during the Super Galactic War. Thron was responsible for establishing and operating concentration camps and extermination camps in which millions of inmates died of systematic mass gassing, inhumane treatment, overwork, malnutrition, or medical experiments. After the war, the judges of the Eriadu Trials declared part of the PS, the Death's Head PS, a criminal organization responsible for the implementation of racial policies of genocide and committing war crimes and crimes against non-humans.