[GlenBarrington]

I've just started the 3rd book in the series, and the thought has occurred to me that the Marine culture described in these books seems to have evolved from the US Marine Corps culture.

I don't think that an empire with an "honest to God" emperor as its head of state would have used that particular tradition for any part of its military as it is antithetical to the whole royals thing. The US military tradition is to swear loyalty to the US Constitution, and not to individuals, or philosophies, or even groups of people. And much of the American military tradition evolved from that infrastructure.

I understand that this might be a convenient tradition to use for the story arc, and might make it more marketable in some ways, but I'm not sure it fits into the "Empire" as described by Nuttall.

Still, I'm enjoying the heck out of the series. . .