| abstract | - The Glorious Armada of the Golden Empire was by far the largest ministry of the Golden Empire, in terms of both manpower and budget. It was the agency responsible for all aspects of the Empire's defense against external enemies; internal security was largely left to individual system law enforcement and the Ministry of Justice, as well as the Order of Keltrayu. Though not originally so named, the Glorious Armada was the first component of the Golden Empire, formed from the Ta'asyak Za`vek Rin Sakaros commandeered from her father after their duel in 87 ABY. During the early years of the Empire, both Rin and Tariun Sakaros simply referred to their forces collectively as "the fleet". After the Empire began to expand and acquire dozens of worlds, though, means of production were sufficient to create additional warships. Existing capital ship complements of member worlds were also assumed into the fleet. It was around this time that the word "Armada" began to be used for the total forces of the Empire, with "the Prime Fleet" describing Rin's personal battle fleet. The adjective "Glorious" was added some time before the Great Liberation, both to satisfy Rin's desire to create a sense of awe and grandeur among her citizens and to build a similar sense of great power and invincibility among her enemies. As the Empire continued to swell following the defeat of the Tetrarchy of Mezlagob, the Armada was broadened from just the fleet and its constituent parts to the much broader "all agencies related to the defense of the Golden Empire against external threat". The Armada played a crucial role in the expansion of the Golden Empire's territory, not only through offensive conquest, but also making a strong impression on the minds of potential member systems. Not merely intimidating, the size and complexity of the Empire's warships often gave a sense of wealth, power, and technological superiority, especially to systems which were still in the nascent stages of their own spaceflight development. On the home front, the Armada was often used for propaganda purposes, painted as a strong and noble defender of the Empire. Though the Armada's various subfleets experienced defeat occasionally in battle, the strategic genius and prophetic powers of Rin Sakaros granted the ability to turn even defeats into eventual victories. It was this seeming inability of the Armada to fail in the long run, not her own personal combat prowess, which eventually saw Rin given the epithet "the Invincible".
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