The Sun Empire was famous for the sheer amount of institutions it featured, which were often redundant and introduced inefficacious layers of bureaucracy. Often, a distinction between "imperial" - i.e., centralized institutions, though they could sometimes draw funds or other resources from local institutions and merely stand under central command or control - and "local" organizations was made.

This article covers all known executive institutions, from the establishment of the Sun Empire to its fall.

Inherited Institutions

The armed forces, called the imperial military, stood under centralized imperial command. They encompassed a sizeable navy, an infantry, a Dragonarmy, and guards. These were primarily used for foreign intervention, though many recently established Balebian settlements stood under military protection and administration. The guards were of two distinct types: imperial guard, which acted as an internal police force, enforcing the law within the armed forces and tracking down soldier criminals; and regular guard, which were the military equivalent of civilian police and performed such tasks like standard policing or protecting settlements from outside threats, including bandits, wild animals, or rebels. The guards were also some of the first responders in case of uprisings, though the more numerous infantry was often also called upon.

The distinction between imperial guard and guard was not always made, however, and "guard" units could sometimes fill both roles. Occasionally, the "imperial" descriptor was merely used to denote elite status.

Political Polices

In 67 OW, due to domestic disturbances, the imperial People Control Corps were formed. These were elite soldiers recruited as policemen, who infiltrated urban insurgent cells, performed raids against known cells, and interrogated (often by torture) and executed arrested individuals. They wore black cloaks and light firearms when acting openly; these were a part of their purpose as vehicles of terror. The People Control were specifically designed to terrorize the population and keep them in line with the extensive communist reforms of the government.

During the Searing Sun, the People Control were used for much more extensive tasks, them being the only centralized institution under full imperial control. They implemented most imperial policies, including genocides. Later, they "only" served to repress political expression among the people. The institution nevertheless always remained the most effective tool for the emperor to enforce his policies when disloyal elements stood in the way. Towards the end of the Veiled Sun, they grew less and less of a fighting force and more of a diplomatic means for government administration and a tool of terror for the masses; their military weakness grew apparent around 167, notably due to their inability to contain rioting in central Balebu, and their expulsion from Intralu; they were thereafter mostly used as a elite policing unit without the terror aspect. They notably maintained the Longhornian oil embargo in 173.

A subunit, the People Control Ranger Corps, was responsible for rural political policing. They typically traveled between communes, making sure quotas were maintained and executing anyone who didn't keep to them. They were disbanded after the failure of collectivization.

Authority for executions was shifted to the newly created People Division in 72 OW, allowing the People Control to focus on policing and transferring arrested individuals to the Division for interrogation and execution. The group remained a rather discreet part of the political police throughout the Sun Empire, though it rarely maintained a monopoly on torture and execution.

Social Sobriety, 154 - 161 OW

The Bureau of Sobriety was created in 154 to enforce the Social Sobriety Edict. It was divided into local Offices, which recruited cheap untrained people as plainclothes officers to uncover and arrest drug traffickers. They were notoriously ineffective, badly organized, and corrupt. The Internal Regulations Commission, established by the central Bureau, was supposed to regulate the institution and remove corruption, but it was largely unable to do so due to lacking resources and horrible Office organization.

The Bureau of Propriety under People Control administration was formed in 159, in the aim that this new branch - formed largely out of Sobriety personnel - would not suffer from categorical corruption and be able to shut down brothels. However, the institution suffered from the same problems as its parent, and was dissolved in 160, simultaneously with the end of the Social Propriety Edict.

In 160, the Bureau of Sobriety was renamed Unit of Sobriety and placed directly under People Control administration, to circumvent some of the gang influence through city funds. One year later, when the Social Sobriety Edict ended, the unit was reformed into the Unit of Narcotics and Propriety Regulation. It gradually focused less on regulation and more on taxation, until it was switched from People Control to treasury oversight in 168. By then, it was largely free of its unprofessional and corruption problems.

Military guard units saw action in several cities between 158 and 166, supporting local police forces and citizens against gang militias.

In order to counteract a powerful gang in Tyshnyk, the People Control formed the Bureau of Investigation in 162, a subunit that initially sought to track down the gang's network outside the city and close down its warehouses. The Bureau grew into a fully independent institution after a few years, dedicated to tracking down organized crime independently of politics in the Londer's Land area.