What is the name of your player association, and which galaxy do you play on? Our player association is Imperial Army (IA) on Chilastra, and we often refer to our unit designation as the 47th Imperial Expeditionary Force.
How many members are in your guild roster? There are approximately 200 players covering over 400 characters and alts.
When and how did your player association get started? It started with a group of players back in beta. We officially formed as a PA in February 2003, by our first guild leader, Reev Jax, along with other members, some of which are still active in guild today. We have since built ourselves into one of the most recognized player associations on our server.
Is your guild based out of a player city? If so, which one, and how did the city get started? The guild is based out of the IA Command Center on Naboo, and was one of the original 10 cities on the planet. We have a prime location about 3k north of Theed on what we refer to as the North Shore.
Our city has been through a few design changes over the years, our most famous a double wall of Medium Naboo houses that made a 400m by 300m closed in area where we placed our player placed bases.
Is your guild partial to one faction over another? Why did you choose that faction? We have always been Imperial. Our name says it all, Imperial Army (IA). We chose the Imperial faction because we liked the structure that went along with it. A lot of our members past and present have served proudly in the military, so having the role-playing aspect of the Imperial Army appealed to us. Plus many of our founding members played the old X-wing vs. TIE Fighter games together.
How is your guild leadership organized (i.e. single guild leader, council, etc.)? It is run like a military organization. The structure is set up with a Commanding Officer who is the guild leader and holds the guild rank of Surface Marshal, of which there have been four.
Immediately following the Surface Marshal is our Executive Officer, who holds a guild rank of a Flag Officer. Then we have a group of Line Officers serving as department heads, and they take on various roles in activities such as Academy Commandant, Field Commander, Mayor, and Wing Commander.
We then have a tier of members who serve as non-commissioned officers who take on additional duties and responsibilities in the guild and assist the officers in leadership roles. Over our five years, we have enjoyed a lot of stability with this organizational structure.
What sets your guild apart and makes it attractive to current and prospective members? Our longevity definitely makes for a convincing selling point. Very few guilds match our track record of continually operating under the same name and principles for five years like we have.
In addition to that stability, we add into the mix that we haven't locked ourselves into a single part of the game. When people ask what IA does, I simply tell them, "We do it all." We participate in every part of the game. We role-play the Imperial Army; that is part of our everyday activities. We run quests and instances for those that like or need these. Being formed from a group of old X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter players, we have some very good pilots for space. Our crafters are some of the best on the server.
We have always taken an active role in the GCW in PvP and been part of most of the landmark battles on our server. One of our biggest strengths has always been base destructions. We were there when the first base on our server was sliced, the last base pre-CU, the first base post-CU, the last base pre-NGE, and the first base post-NGE taking 42 bases that day.
Our greatest strength is that the people of IA don't consider themselves just guild mates, but a family, and we take care of family.
What professions are most popular with your guild? It varies from week to week. Right now bounty hunter, Jedi, and commando are the more popular professions. We have always had and promoted a diverse population of professions within the guild.
Does your guild put together events (i.e. raids, parties, storyteller events, etc.)? We are known for our events. The first impromptu live event on our server took place, much to our surprise, in the Imperial Army Command center. It felt kind of strange seeing a system message flash that Rebels were enroute to my position.
In the past we have had such iconic characters as Colonel Veers and the Emperor at our events along with frequent visits from Darth Vader. In fact, on Pex's Events Page the screenshot he uses for the interactive NPC events came from one of our weekly guild meetings where he came in as Vader and gave us the mission to destroy 15 Rebel Bases in 24 hours. We took out 21bases in 6 hours that night!
Some of our events are geared for members only, but often we invite other close Imperial guilds that we often take part in joint operations with.
Does your guild have a web site? If so, what is the link? Yes we do. Our website and forum date back to our inception in 2003. Visit us at http://www.imperialarmy.org .