Colonial Governor
Appointed by the Emperor to oversee the running of the Imperial Colonies, Colonial Governors, as well as often being the butt of jokes made in the Imperial Court, a living example of how the rampant corruption amongst the upper echelons of Imperial society have led to the erosion of proper and effective rule.
Qualifications
As with Satraps, no formal qualifications are required for someone to be appointed into the position of a Colonial Governor, a fact which has led to the appointment of some truly atrocious individuals, some of whom have almost driven their charges into extinction.
Appointment
As with all important appointments in the Empire, it is the Emperor who has the decisive say on who is appointed as a Colonial Governor. However, as with all key appointments, there is scope for the Machiavellian minds of the Imperial Advisors and wider court to tip the balance in favour of one person or another.
Unlike with the appointment of Satraps, where influential families vie for their members to be placed higher up the list of potential candidates that will eventually be put before the eyes of the Emperor, vacant Colonial Governor positions tend to produce the opposite phenomenon. Instead families and interest groups will try to get their enemies placed higher up the rankings, with the hope that they will be sent to the ends of the earth for an indefinite period of time.
The office of Colonial Governor is also regarded as a position to send people that the Emperor or the Imperial court generally regard as a problem, but whom they do not want to disgrace or to be dealt with by the Imperial Inquisition for political reasons. Instead, these individuals are often sent into a form of political exile amongst one of the Imperial Colonies, where any potential damage they could cause is limited, and where a keen eye can be kept on them.
Responsibilities
Each Colonial Governor is responsible for the administration, defence and success of the colony that they are placed in charge of. This means that they have to have a hand in all manner of decisions, from budgeting to the construction of infrastructure.
Unlike Satraps, who have access to the much larger machinery of provincial organisation, Colonial Governors are not able to foist as many of their duties off onto underlings as their more illustrious counterparts, as they have far fewer underlings at their disposal. This means that they play a much large part in decision making, which has an infinite amount of potential to go wrong, as no Colonial Governor is a master of all of the areas they are responsible for, and many of them do not hold the basic bureaucratic skills to effectively manage a party, let alone a colony.
Benefits
Colonial Governors are provided with a residence for them and their family to live in whilst they are in post, which provides them with a much greater deal of comfort and security than the majority of the colonists under their jurisdiction. Because of the more remote nature of the Imperial Colonies, these residences do not come near approaching the opulence of a Satrap's Provincial Palace, but they tend to be rather quirky buildings in their own right. Many, for instance, are constructed out of beached ships, generally the one that the first colonists sailed in on, whilst the Governor's Residence in Port Belliotrix is housed inside a long abandoned step pyramid that was found in the cavern in which the colony is based.
Governors are also provided with their own forms of transport, they will generally have access to at least one Firewings as well as ships and land transportation. Their capacity as head of the colony’s security also means that they are provided with their own contingent of Colonial Guards to act as an escort and to protect their residence.
Grounds for Removal/Dismissal
Just as with Satraps, the removal of a Colonial Governors is entirely down to the prerogative of the Emperor.
However, because the majority of the Imperial Colonies lie so far away from the rest of civilisation Colonial Governors find themselves in a much safer position than the Satraps of the Provinces do, which means that it is much rarer for them to be dismissed from office. The kind of disasters that would certainly lead to the dismissal of a Satrap rarely come to the ear of the Emperor, though members of the Imperial Inquisition and certain advisors in the Imperial Court will certainly be aware of everything that goes on in the colonies. As a result, Colonial Governors can get away with far more heinous blunders than their more esteemed colleagues can and their mistakes or crimes have to be of particularly monstrous proportion for the Emperor’s Advisors to recommend the dismissal of the incumbent.
Type
Civic, Political
Form of Address
His/Her Grace
Reports directly to
Related Locations
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