House Barnaba Guard The House Defense Forces represented the internal armed forces belonging to the noble houses located within the Tapani sector.
Each individual house maintained its own naval fleet, responsible for patrolling its designated province, alongside ground-based armies tasked with safeguarding its respective planets. Collectively, these houses ensured the protection and surveillance of the entire Expanse region. While the houses, in theory, possessed the capability to unite and deploy a substantial combined army and fleet, such an event had not transpired for centuries.
The house navy's core responsibilities encompassed customs enforcement and the capture of lawbreakers. They were also intended as a defense against potential invasions, although the Galactic Empire era saw no such incursions into the Tapani sector for hundreds of years.
Under Imperial rule, most planets were permitted to maintain small defense forces. However, the Tapani sector was deemed trustworthy and sufficiently divided to be granted permission to sustain somewhat larger internal forces. During this period, the majority of a house's naval assets were restricted to intrasystem patrols, with only a tenth of its fleet authorized for jump-capable operations. Ship types utilized by the house navies included Victory II-class Star Destroyers, Nebulon-B Frigates, and modified Dreadnaught-class heavy cruisers. Certain houses also combined their resources to commission the development of new ship designs from the Tallaani Shipyards.