NAME: Gunther Banning
BORN: 26 BBY
HOMEWORLD: Commenor
SPECIES: Human
GENDER: Male
HEIGHT: 1.69 meters
HAIR COLOR: Brown (dark)
EYE COLOR: Blue
AFFILIATION: Pentastar Alignment
RANK: Major, 422nd Battalion
DESCRIPTION
A capable, but otherwise average and undistinguished officer of the Imperial Army, Major Banning is the commanding officer of the 422nd Stormtrooper Battalion, comprised of 1,000 men (four companies of 250 each). The Battalion is based on Eriadu under the command of the Pentastar Alignment, where it doubles as a security/law enforcement unit. In addition, Banning is known to infrequently command special operations through out the Alignment. He is not loved, nor hated by his soldiers (or superiors).
PERSONALITY
Banning is a blunt and temperamental man. It has been said that he ".. will enter a room with all the presence of a proton torpedo, and none of its subtlety." He is criticized (in private) as doltish, and unable to grasp the nuance of military tactics; but he possesses an instinct for combat, and has proven himself an able officer with his infamous "battlefield improvisations." He is partial to the maxim that the best defense is a good offense (usually to the neglect of any defense whatsoever). In person, he is an amiable man with a crude sense of humor, but is quick to suspicion of anyone he regards as subversive, rebellious, or worst of all: intellectual. He holds a particular distaste for nonhumans, and he is a firm supporter of the Empire without ever having questioned why.
BACKGROUND
Captain Banning distinguished himself early in his career in 1 BBY during the Imperial campaign on Sriluur (during which he claims that ".. a dozen Weequay died at the point of my pistol, and damn near as many Houks. Good riddance"), for which he would be promoted to Major. He is also reputed to have fought in the Battle of Giju, but his career has been otherwise unremarkable. A prideful native of Commenor, he is fond of boasting that he graduated second-to-last in his class at the Corulag Academy, but still managed to outrank or outlive most of his fellow students. His Battalion was transferred to Eriadu late in 4 ABY, where it would remain throughout the collapse of the Empire and the rise of the Pentastar Alignment. Banning often feels out of place among the fine mannered Eriadu aristocracy, but nonetheless enjoys the latitude afforded him by his superiors and enforces the law on the streets of Eriadu City (and on other Alignment worlds) with his own brand of brutality, for which he is infamous.
