Imperialis Militia

"It is of paramount importance that the worlds of the Imperium shall look to their own defence as well as the shield of Terra to protect them. They shall also look to the defence of the wider Imperium, and the prosecution of such wars as the Emperor in His wisdom shall decree. To this end, it will be the prime responsibility of every Imperial Commander to ensure the raising of a militia according to the resource, rank and nature of their world..."

- From the Preface to the Lex Imperia Munuimenta, Vol. 1

The Imperialis Militia was the primary auxiliary Imperial military force of the much larger Imperial Army, comprised of normal men and women that served as the ancestor of the modern Planetary Defence Forces of the late 41st Millennium. Their primary duties was to secure and hold those worlds brought into Imperial Compliance, acting in various capacities such as security for Imperial officials, the planet's local law enforcement as well as its standing military force. The Imperialis Militia were the bulwark against recidivism and disorder.

History
During the time of the Great Crusade, across the entire Imperium, it fell to the Imperialis Militia to secure and to hold those worlds brought to Compliance by the Expeditionary Fleets of the Great Crusade. Part of the vast, sprawling body of the Imperium's military and its support structure, known collectively as the "Excertus Imperialis", they formed what was in effect the lowest and most common run of the wider Imperial Army, or the "Imperialis Auxilia" as it was more precisely known. Once a world was declared Compliant and under the full control of an appointed and independent Imperial Commander, part of that Commander's principal duty was the raising of an Imperialis Militia to protect their domain and sustain their control. It was the duty of this militia to act in no small part as the enforcers of the Imperial Truth if needed, and its protectors should the Iterators and cadres of administrators of all stripes who were left behind to oversee the long transition to full concordance become threatened or meet resistance. When the Crusade hosts departed, such worlds stood alone once more. Should rebellion ignite, the world's own militia were to crush it. Should xenos raiders or outcasts attack from without, the world's own militia were to hold until help arrived. The Imperialis Militia were therefore the first, and in many cases, the only bulwark against recidivism and disorder, and its forces, whether they were raised as conscripts from a hive's teeming masses, the yeomancy of a feudal order or tirbal levies, stood guard as watchmen against the return of Old Night.

Order of Battle
The Imperialis Militia was not a coherent, galaxy-spanning organisation by an means, and, except in times of great emergency, was not subject to the chains of command of the Excertus Imperialis. Rather, each was a colonial defence force raised from a planet's own populace and its commander-in-chief was the Imperial Commander of the world it defended. Some were ancient martial classes with their roots in the Age of Strife, while others were irregular levies activated only in direst need, and in most cases the template of command structure and hierarchy imposed by the Imperium's Principia Militaris was adhered to only in its generality. Just as varied as the standards of equipment and pattern of accoutrement of individual Imperialis Militia regiments. Some wore gaudy dress uniforms or burnished plasmesh chainmail, others furs and hides, while some few might be clad in advanced armour such as local pattern semi-powered carapace; all as dictated by the culture, environment and technological base of their home world, and so also the diversity of their weapons, within a minimum standard issued them from the Principia Command. In theory at least, Imperialis Militia armies were irregular in nature, each member first and foremost a subject of their world only called to arms in times of emergency, but many worlds with large populations required a standing army simply to maintain civil order as well as deal with any outside threat. In practice, many Imperialis Miliita forces consisted of a core of professional soldiery, supplemented by an influx of men and women called upon to serve a period under arms as needed, after which they returned to their previous lives. The core of professional commissioned and non-commissioned officers of the Imperialis Militia were usually career soldiers, even on worlds without a strongly martial culture, and in many cases, these were often older Imperial Army veterans retired from the Great Crusade into a position where their skills and experience might still serve the Imperium. The darker side of this coin was the indenture of prisoners, recidivists and thousands considered to be members of abhumanity mutations below the standard of the accepted human norm, but not so debased as to warrant immediate extermination. These forces often served the Imperialis Militia entirely unwillingly, their control guaranteed by cadres of veteran Discipline Masters, and the ruthless application of lethal sanction and chemical inducement where needed.