Empire Defense Council

The Empire Defense Council is a civilian group of high-level advisors. Considered the best and brightest strategists, military scientists and data analysts in the Holy Tekkelien Empire, their role is to provide strategic recommendations to the Premier General in the deployment of the entire Imperial Armed Forces. No law nor the constitution actually requires the Empire Defense Council to exist. They serve purely at the pleasure of the Premier General, and occasionally disbanded entirely, only reformed in times of crisis.

Role
The EDC is not a part of the command structure of the Imperial Military at all, although many of their members are veterans of various branches. The executive branch selects their prowess based more on academic credentials, although the Premier often takes recommendations from high-ranking military officers. This has historically resulted in the members mostly being closely associated with the military establishment.

Since they are outside the chain of command, the EDC does not actually have any power to make decisions or order the armed forces at any level. Their only influence comes from their ability to inform and advise the Premier, however they have an immense amount of soft power with their majority opinions effectively always being adopted.

The EDC most often employs advanced statistical analysis, using computers to deal with the immense numbers of troops and resources that the Empire has at its command. They have the ability to request various studies, simulations or wargames be carried out in order to test the effects of different battlefield conditions and tactical scenarios. They aggregate their algorithms and statistical models into software that is only accessible to the Premier, allowing them to experiment with projected outcomes.

Organization
The EDC is led by the Chairman-General. They are responsible for testifying on behalf of the group in the Parliament as well as moderating debate among the members. There is generally a member of every medium of warfare (land, sea, air, space) as well as several specialists for unconventional warfare such as antipiracy, counterterrorism, domestic fortifications, or war economics.

There is a significant amount of overlap with the Ministry of Economics, especially during times of total war, and the EDC often cooperates directly with them to understand the amount of forces that can be produced or mobilized, as well as the effect it would have on the civilian world.