The Stormtrooper Corps was an independent military branch that operated alongside the Imperial Army and Navy of the Galactic Empire. It was the smallest of the primary three branches of the military. Though they functioned under their own command structure, Imperial stormtroopers ultimately answered directly to Emperor Palpatine, the architect of the New Order that incorporated most of the known galaxy under Imperial rule. Regarded as elite shock troopers and the special forces of the Empire, the Corps also functioned as Palpatine's chief enforcers—both within the military ranks and the galactic populace alike—due to their uncompromising loyalty to Palpatine.