Guardsmen were trained in various forms of martial arts, including Echani. Candidates for tutelage under the Academy, picked from various units in the Imperial Military, underwent rigorous training programs designed to build a sense of extreme loyalty to the Emperor, with students often being forced to kill each other in live combat. The Royal Guard was based out of the Imperial Royal Guard Academy on Yinchorr, a barren planet rendered lifeless by genocidal airstrikes by the Empire. Like the stormtroopers of the Stormtrooper Corps, the Royal Guards formed a military unit independent of the Imperial Military and answered directly to the Emperor. The exact number of Royal Guardsmen serving the Emperor was unknown, with speculations ranging from less than fifty to tens of thousands, although their numbers were estimated to be at least four hundred at any one point. Palpatine was almost never seen without a detachment of Royal Guards at his side, so much that they usually accompanied him to his bed chambers and his office within the Death Star. The Emperor's Royal Guard, sometimes referred to as the Imperial Royal Guard or Imperial Guard, was an elite unit of the Galactic Empire's armed forces (specifically the Stormtrooper Corps) tasked with the protection of the Emperor, Palpatine. This is his goal in life, and his desire in death.' ― Grodin Tierce His entire goal in life is to serve the Emperor, and the New Order he created. ' A Royal Guardsman never seeks special privileges, ever.

Imperial guard concept art