Military doctrine of the Golden Empire

The military doctrine of the Golden Empire referred to the policies of battle, siege, and conquest carried out by the Glorious Armada of the Golden Empire.

Leadership
The Sovereign of the Golden Empire was technically the absolute military commander of the entire Armada. The Sovereign had the right to command any unit, or delegate command to lesser officers. The Sovereign alone could declare war and conclude peace.

In practice, the Prime Legate oversaw most military matters, having responsibility for both administrative matters and actual campaigns. Administrative authority was further delegated to the High Commands of the Royal Army and Royal Starfleet, while field command rested with various commissioned officers on a regular basis, as well as specially-commissioned Legates for large-scale conflicts.

Use and deployment
The Armada was primarily used for border control against organized threats, as well as expansionist campaigns and pacifying armed resistance inside the Empire which had grown beyond law enforcement's ability to control. Though not statutorily prohibited from doing so, Armada personnel were not usually used to enforce the laws of the Empire, as Rin Sakaros did not wish to duplicate the ominous quality of Imperial Stormtroopers.

The major exception to this general rule of thumb concerned pirates. As no system defense forces were authorized to use force outside their own systems, the Royal Navy was the only spacefaring agency with Empire-wide jurisdiction. As such, it sometimes assisted in the interdiction of pirates, slavers, and smugglers.

Long-term strategy
The Empire employed the following strategies in theater commands and as general military doctrine:
 * Disproportionate Response: "If attacked unprovoked, the Golden Empire will retaliate against its enemy with overwhelming force designed to completely eradicate the enemy's ability to make war."
 * Debellatio: "Save at the decision of the Sovereign, the only acceptable outcome of declared war is debellatio."
 * Total war: "Authority to declare a state of total war for the Golden Empire rests with the Sovereign."

Tactics
In individual enagagements, the following rules were imposed:
 * Surrender: "At the onset of any engagement, when feasible, the commanding officer will offer the enemy commander the chance to surrender unconditionally. This offer of surrender must be made only at this time.  Accepting an offer of surrender at any point following the opening of hostilities is at the sole discretion of the commanding officer.  Except by the personal direction of the Sovereign, only unconditional surrender is acceptable."
 * The need to accept surrender only before an engagement commenced was a change from the original doctrine of the Empire instituted in 101 ABY. During her early conquests and even the first year of the Great Liberation, Rin Sakaros generally had a lenient attitude toward surrender.  However, after the death of her apprentice Keltrayu at the Battle of Tizgo V, the cost of war was driven home to her and she became much less forgiving toward her enemies.
 * Terms of Unconditional Surrender: "When surrendering, an enemy commander must do the following:
 * Immediately submit himself and all forces under his command to the custody of the Golden Empire as prisoners of war.
 * Deactivate and surrender all personal and artillery weapons.
 * Power down shields, weapons, and engines of all aircraft, starfighters, ground assault vehicles, and capital ships.
 * Cede control of any world under the protection of his command."
 * Chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction: "The use of lethal or permanently harmful biological or chemical agents, as opposed to those causing temporary incapacitation, will not be allowed in the Golden Empire. Enemies employing such tactics will be shown no quarter and given no opportunity to surrender."
 * No quarter: "No quarter will be given to enemies who commit any of the following attacks:
 * Intentional attacks on civilian or other noncombatant targets
 * Use of fatal or permanently incapacitating chemical and/or biological weapons."
 * Speciecide and Mundicide: "Acts of speciecide (intentional extinction of an entire sentient species) or mundicide (intentional destruction of an occupied planet and all life on its surface, or intentionally making an occupied planet unlivable to its native sentient beings) must be approved by the Sovereign of the Golden Empire."

Prisoners of war
The following rules were applied to captured enemy forces:
 * "Those who surrender unconditionally are to be taken without violence into custody."
 * "Prisoners of war are entitled to the minimum required nutrition to sustain health for their species, and sanitary refresher and sleeping facilities."
 * "Prisoners of war of any rank, officer and enlisted alike, may be put to manual labor or other work in the interest of the Golden Empire's war effort."
 * "Execution of cooperating prisoners of war is prohibited, with the exception that the commanding officer and other senior officers may be executed at the discretion of the Legate or other commanding officer."
 * In practice, the Golden Empire usually only executed officers when they were clearly trying to stir up rebellion or facilitate escape, or if they had committed war crimes prior to capture.
 * "Any prisoner attempting to escape confinement, pass intelligence to the enemy, or cause damage or injury to Golden Empire property or personnel, will be immediately executed."

Typically, prisoners of war who were sentenced to death were executed by firing squad, the usual method of execution in the Empire. Officers were sometimes given the option of taking poison instead, which was viewed as more honorable. If a Royal commander wished to make a noteworthy example of a prisoner and a Centurion of the Order of Keltrayu was present (or in command himself), prisoners could also be decapitated or otherwise killed with a lightsaber.

System classifications
On tactical holomaps, both Royal and enemy systems were classified with the following nomenclature:
 * Importance
 * Vital: Of extreme importance to the military, economic, and/or political establishment of the government concerned. Elimination of vital systems would cause grave damage to the government's war effort.  Prime targets.
 * Key: Of great importance to the military, economic, and/or political establishment of the government concerned. Elimination of key systems would cause serious damage to the government's war effort.
 * Important: Substantially contribute to the military, economic, and/or political establishment of the government concerned.
 * Control
 * Loyal: Demonstrates majority loyalty to the governing power.
 * Held: Securely controlled by the government concerned, but against the will of a substantial percentage of its populace.
 * Forcibly held: Controlled by the government concerned, but against the will of the majority of its populace.