Editing Nobledark Imperium Notes (section)

==The Commissariat==

Commissars represent a tangible tie for the foot sluggers to the Imperium of Man and Eldar. Some people in the real world have trouble thinking past their city/tribe/religion to focus on what's good for their nation. Take that problem, and magnify that to a galactic level. Guardsmen that might previously have considered the trip to the big city a long ways away are suddenly surrounded by technology beyond imagining, aliens they've only heard in legend, and worst of all, guardsmen that they're told are the same species as they are, but do everything completely wrong in the most disgusting ways. Some of those freaks have TATTOOS for pity's sake!

This isn't just the problem that the grunts suffer. Officers, graduating top of their class at the finest war academies on their worlds are forced to rub elbows with complete yokels that couldn't tell you the difference between a flanking maneuver and their asshole, or complete snobs that sneer at one another's credentials and undermine authority with their pompous arrogance. In short, for humans faced with the weird and unknown, they can get unpredictable. The commissar is there to ensure that every soldier remembers their duty to the Imperium, and prevent culture shock from harming army cohesion. Guardsmen regiments are given a great deal of latitude- they may specialize in their own methods of warfare, select their own uniforms, and create their own command structures, with the exception of the commissar. Every raised regiment requires a commissar, and every commissar dresses exactly alike, and every guardsman regiment is required to train and recognize what the commissar represents as the Imperium made manifest, the final word on matters of justice, and the last resort commander. Regiments across the galaxy immediately know that if all their native officers fall, they need to look for the cap and great coat to follow.
They do not rule, they do not follow.

They look over the shoulder of the rulers to make sure they aren't doing anything too stupid and they make sure the plebs follow.

They can't pull any rank unless everyone else with a real officer rank is dead. They can't execute anyone unless they are sure that they are acting in cowardice rather than tactical sense, they are obviously Douglas Haig levels of incompetence or that they are secretly on the other team.

They have no rank. They have very limited actual authority, although what authority they do have is terrible and terrifying. Everyone gets a basic anti-Chaos education, the commissars get additional training.

This time around there was no great and cast iron divisions in the break up of the old Legions. If you are part of an Imperium commissioned fighting force you get one of these scary fuckers traveling around with you.

It's not so bad, they are usually very well educated in the ways of war and they sometimes come out with good ideas.
Commissars still have their trademark “more lethal to their own troops than it is to the enemy” bolt pistol. However, in this timeline the purpose of the bolt pistol is less for morale-boosting executions, and more to provide mercy killings to guardsmen who are beyond saving and are in the grip of some tentacled horror or who have been corrupted by Chaos. The enemies of the Imperium, particularly the Crone Eldar, can kill you in a hundred different ways, but they can make you wish you were dead in a thousand. This isn’t to say that executing people for extreme cowardice still doesn’t happen.

Nevertheless, commissars are still people, and power still corrupts. Just like in canon, you still get the overzealous trigger-happy commissars who BLAM! their own men at the slightest hint of them stepping out of line and build their careers over the corpses of their fellow soldiers. The only difference is that in this timeline, if you’re lucky, those commissars get caught (or Catachaned) and put on military trial. Whenever a commissar gets assigned to an Imperial Army regiment, the Imperial Army troops hold their breath to see if they are going to be brave or insane. Sometimes, if they are particularly unlucky, they are both.