As pointed out in the comments, as far as EU resources go, the Crimson Empire graphic novel is probably the place to look.

The book describes the training process of the Imperial Guard in great detail. The training is, as one would expect, kind of brutal. Only the toughest and most loyal recruits make it to the end - the others die.

In the book it is implied that out of an initial group of around 40 recruits, only 2 make it to the royal guard. So you have to be pretty convinced of the cause from the beginning, if you are willing to take those odds.

The only consolation that the recruits have is that they are trained in pairs, so they can always rely on their training partner:

For the past year you have trained in pairs -- living as close as brothers -- learning to rely on one another and to work together. By seeing the strengths in your training partner, you have learned to build those strengths in yourself. By seeing his weaknesses, you have learned to overcome your own.

-- Words from one of the instructors on the final day of training

Of course, there is a catch to all this. In a final test before Palpatine himself, the training partners are put to an unexpected duel. Only if they are willing to kill their partner on the Emperor's order, they are deemed worthy to join the guard.

The cover of the second issue depicts such a fight to the death between training partners:

So yeah, you basically have to prove that you are willing to kill your brother at the whim of the emperor. Seems loyal enough to me.

As pointed out in the comments, as far as EU resources go, the Crimson Empire graphic novel is probably the place to look.

The book describes the training process of the Imperial Guard in great detail. The training is, as one would expect, kind of brutal. Only the toughest and most loyal recruits make it to the end - the others die.

In the book it is implied that out of an initial group of around 40 recruits, only 2 make it to the royal guard. So you have to be pretty convinced of the cause from the beginning, if you are willing to take those odds.

The only consolation that the recruits have is that they are trained in pairs, so they can always rely on their training partner:

For the past year you have trained in pairs -- living as close as brothers -- learning to rely on one another and to work together. By seeing the strengths in your training partner, you have learned to build those strengths in yourself. By seeing his weaknesses, you have learned to overcome your own.

-- Words from one of the instructors on the final day of training

Of course, there is a catch to all this. In a final test before Palpatine himself, the training partners are put to an unexpected duel. Only if they are willing to kill their partner on the Emperor's order, they are deemed worthy to join the guard.

The cover of the second issue depicts such a fight to the death between training partners:

So yeah, you basically have to prove that you are willing to kill your brother at the whim of the emperor. Seems loyal enough to me.

As pointed out in the comments, as far as EU resources go, the Crimson Empire graphic novel is probably the place to look.

The book describes the training process of the Imperial Guard in great detail. The training is, as one would expect, kind of brutal. Only the toughest and most loyal recruits make it to the end - the others die.

In the book it is implied that out of an initial group of around 40 recruits, only 2 make it to the royal guard. So you have to be pretty convinced of the cause from the beginning, if you are willing to take those odds.

The only consolation that the recruits have is that they are trained in pairs, so they can always rely on their training partner:

For the past year you have trained in pairs -- living as close as brothers -- learning to rely on one another and to work together. By seeing the strengths in your training partner, you have learned to build those strengths in yourself. By seeing his weaknesses, you have learned to overcome your own.

-- Words from one of the instructors on the final day of training

Of course, there is a catch to all this. In a final test before Palpatine himself, the training partners are put to an unexpected duel. Only if they are willing to kill their partner on the Emperor's order, they are deemed worthy to join the guard.

The cover of the second issue depicts such a fight to the death between training partners:

So yeah, you basically have to prove that you are willing to kill your brother at the whim of the emperor. Seems loyal enough to me.

As pointed out in the comments, as far as EU resources go, the Crimson Empire graphic novel is probably the place to look.

The book describes the training process of the Imperial Guard in great detail. The training is, as one would expect, kind of brutal. Only the toughest and most loyal recruits make it to the end - the others die.

In the book it is implied that out of an initial group of around 40 recruits, only 2 make it to the royal guard. So you have to be pretty convinced of the cause from the beginning, if you are willing to take those odds.

The only consolation that the recruits have is that they are trained in pairs, so they can always rely on their training partner:

For the past year you have trained in pairs -- living as close as brothers -- learning to rely on one another and to work together. By seeing the strengths in your training partner, you have learned to build those strengths in yourself. By seeing his weaknesses, you have learned to overcome your own.

-- Words from one of the instructors on the final day of training

Of course, there is a catch to all this. In a final test before Palpatine himself, the training partners are put to an unexpected duel. Only if they are willing to kill their partner on the Emperor's order, they are deemed worthy to join the guard.

The cover of the second issue depicts such a fight to the death between training partners:

So yeah, you basically have to prove that you are willing to kill your brother at the whim of the emperor. Seems loyal enough to me.