Clone Commander

Of the 8 Career Skills, choose 4 to get a free rank. Of the 4 Specialization Skills, choose 2 to get a free rank.

Clone Soldier Career Skills: Athletics, Brawl, Cool, Discipline, Medicine, Ranged (Heavy), Ranged (Light) and Vigilance

Clone Specialization Skills: Knowledge (Core Worlds), Knowledge (Warfare), Leadership and Perception

The biogeneticists on Kamino understand that a clone army needs specialized commanders. While non-clone commanders could serve the function, the Kaminoans wished to sell a fully staffed military as a whole package and took on the challenge of providing an independent thinker with unwavering loyalty to their buyer. A Clone Commander can come from the soldier’s ranks, having shown a natural ability to command, or can be engineered on Kamino through specialty training. The Jedi lean on these commanders to advise them, enforce discipline, and execute the Jedi’s orders.

A Clone Commander leads a regiment of four battalions of four companies each, taking orders directly from the Jedi on the field. They must think large scale, advising the Jedi on tactical and strategic matters, questioning when appropriate, but following orders when commanded. They must also interpret those orders, making sure they can accomplish the Jedi’s goals while keeping casualties low. Lastly, they must pay attention to logistics and supply lines, ensuring that their regiments can hold the territory they take or have the ability to wage an offensive.

Recreation time provides little relaxation for a commander, and “free time” is often given over to administrative work. “If the droids don’t get me, the paperwork will” is a common refrain among command staff. On the other hand, this reinforces accountability. A regular record keeps a commander informed of his resources. Debriefings and planning sessions provide an opportunity to reflect and learn from past decisions. A commander is always prepared to explain to his superiors why he used an asset or chose a certain tactic.

In addition, a good commander must defend his troopers from administrative flak from above. Blame rolls downhill, and a commander who cannot shield his soldiers from blame engenders little loyalty from his subordinates and threatens to undermine his own authority. This also works the other way; information flows upward, from troopers to commanders to generals. A commander acts as a filter, making sure grousing and complaints don’t spread among the troops, but delivering important information about troop status, enemy locations and potential dangers to the mission to get analyzed and processed.

These responsibilities illustrate the power commanders do and do not have. They have a responsibility to the lives of each individual soldier in their regiment. At the same time, the success or failure of a campaign rests on their shoulders. They must weigh the possibility of a high casualty and fatality list against the benefits of a victory. Though they know that all clones are ready to sacrifice their lives for the greater cause, commanders cannot depend on that spirit alone. With planning, preparation, and a little luck; they can bring their brothers home in one piece.

Potential Stories

  • Individuality: Clone Soldiers continually see themselves in their comrades. As they are strong-willed individuals, this challenges them to forge distinct identities. Unique acts of heroism, unusual interests, or novel insights and discoveries all offer ways to set a particular clone apart from his peers. Finding and seizing such opportunities is a vital part of each Clone Soldier’s life.
  • Dedication: Conditioned loyalty to the Republic is integral to Clone Soldier training. At many times throughout their careers, Clone Soldiers may face the temptation to turn away from their duty. They might face overwhelming odds, encounter a generous bribe, or even have to turn their back on a friend in order to fulfill a responsibility.
  • Self-Sacrifice: Even though Clone Soldiers are each a distinct sentient being, they recognize that their sacrifice may be necessary to secure a victory for the Republic. These soldiers are willing to pay any cost in order to complete their assigned tasks—even though the cost may be grievous personal injury or even death.
  • Superiority: Programmed with a sense of pride, all clones strive to be their best, but some try to take it further: to be the first to the objective, destroy the most droids in a skirmish, or always be the one to rescue a fellow soldier from the field. Sometimes reckless, always dangerous, these actions may reveal a soldier’s pride in their work or a darker egoism.
  • Martyrdom: Clone Soldiers are ready to die for the Republic, but after several sorties, a few might begin to think their death is the reason for their existence. These soldiers volunteer for even the most dangerous missions, the ones offering no hope of survival. These soldiers believe their death must be meaningful, so they seek the assignments that allow them to go out in a blaze of glory.
  • Purity: The Republic has enemies everywhere, including within. Traitors and spies threaten it, but sometimes the Republic threatens itself. The Clone Wars may push certain soldiers toward an unbending sense of purity, making them self-appointed arbiters of right and wrong. These soldiers would never question the orders of a superior, but might also feel their peers never push themselves to go that extra kilometer. Perhaps they don’t love the Republic enough.