Hoth: Blood and Ice

[Dapper Dog]

Living Standards

Imperial citizens enjoy a high living standard compared to the general populace of the Republic but the concept of freedoms and rights is alien to an Imperial citizen, the state controls the populace and the people serve the State. This lack of freedom is not much an issue to the average citizen as they often have everything need and consider democracy to be a chaotic and destabilizing element unlike the stability and control of the Imperial bureaucracy.

Unemployment exists but normall among the wealthy and the nobility who have no reason to work, while the average citizen is usually funneled into a position that suits their capabilities and skills, this includes those identified as Sith. Typically there is upward mobility to a point for most citizens but there are ceilings for progression often reserved for the Sith, Military, and the wealthy.

Citizens are offered affordable housing, employment, and a general lifestyle that keeps them busy but allows ample downtime. In the frontier regions the standard of living is not as high but government control is also more lax or perhaps not as omnipresent, a trade off some enjoy.

Sith are few in number and are a privileged class of citizen. Typically a Sith is supplied a spacious apartment or ship by their Lord and a modest stipend when they are first starting out but Sith can quickly grow their influence and power in the Empire. Sith Lords often have vast holdings to control and exploit, but they also in tern tend to have to see to their servants and apprentices as well. By the time one rises to Darth it is expected they have vast resources or access to vast resources some controlling whole sectors of space within the Empire.

Nobility, including high ranking military, are a lesser privileged class within the Empire afforded lavish homes and even their own live in slaves. Most slaves are owned by the state but the extremely wealthy can afford whole armies of slaves. It is not uncommon for these wealthy citizens to have multiple residences on a variety of worlds, some even keep them fully staffed at all times while others may only have servants on hand at one location.

The use of slave labor frees up Imperial citizens to focus on more specialized occupations and the military while menial labor is done by the slaves. This also means that safety regulations in such fields are low, slaves are not exactly expendable but they are close. Removing slavery would be a fairly traumatic change for Imperial society.