The Third Imperium
The Feudal Confederation of the Third Imperium is one of its must successful and enduring institutions. It simultaneously binds people to the Imperium through the good leadership of talented nobles and leaves enough room for world societies to develop meaningful solutions to local exigencies.
Many Travellers are familiar with the Spinward Marches and its neighbouring sectors, Deneb, the Trojan Reach, and Reft. These sectors are on the frontier, located behind the Claw of the Great Rift, a massive region devoid of stars that separates the domain from the heart of the Imperium. While The Marches are mostly Imperial territory, they are far from the imperial core. Others may be familiar with the Solomani Rim, the origin sector of Humaniti. A little more than a century ago, the imperium fought the greatest war in its 1,000-year history against the Solomnai space as an occupying
Core sector, the seat of empire, is a far different place. These are the hallowed grounds where the Third Imperium was born from the ashes of the Long Night. The drama of Imperial history has played out in this storied sector and it has the scars to show for it. Core has endured dynastic crises, betrayals, assassinations, a Civil war that nearly tore it apart, and the agony of defeat in war. It has also experienced rebirth, survival, astrographic and economic growth, the ascendance of dozens of Emperors, technological advancement and the joy of victory over worthy foes. The crucible of time has burned away the utopian dreams of its first Emperor and yet his Imperium live on. At its heart the Imperium was intended to be a sprawling free-trade zone, its worlds free to chart their owun fates with in well defended border. This it has acheived. The Imperium has proven to be a worthy successor to the previous great empires.
The Imperium is a diverse and cosmopolitan place, It is home to two Major Races, dozens of Minor Races and to many individuals from among the other Major Races who have immigrated to the Imperium from their own polities. Generally speaking, the Imperium is a welcoming and accepting place for all of them. There are xenophobic cultures that might take issue with foreign humans or aliens on their worlds, usually backwaters and lwo-population workds that see litte interstellar traffic that are less accutomed to the divers naure of the Imperium surrounding them. Even in the heart of the Imperium, pockets of such worlds exist. Likewise, Travellers might witness isolated acts of racism and intolerance here and trhere but overall the varied array of human and alien races are accepted as part of life in the Imperium. There is mutual respect and tolerance between most soponts who see little difference between each other regardless of the fact that many Minor Races look and behave quite differently from the human majority.
Imperial culture is varied and its worlds can be quite different from one another, even those onlya few parsecs apart. Religion, fashion, sport, entertainment and other aspects of culture differ from world-to-world. Imperial worlds do have some things in common; trade and the presence of the Imperial Military and nobility. Each of these institutions imports ideas, styles of dress and cultural norms that are often mimicked by the societies of Imperial worlds, especially those more open to interstellar culture. Imperial culture is also defined by its contrasts with neighbouring human and alien polities. For example, the Zhodani embrace the use of psionics but they are anathema in the Imperium. Likewise, the stark differences seen in Aslan, Vargr and other alien cultures contrast with Imperial culture, more sharply defining it.
Structure
The Third Imperium holds to classical divisions of governance including an executive, legislative, and judicial branches supported by a large bureaucracy and a powerful military. Both the bureaucracy and the military are split into numerous subdivisions. The division of power between the three branches is not equal and the executive, through the person of the Emperor, holds supreme power.
Both the bureaucracy and the military answer to the Emperor although the nature of the feudal confederation creates the following status quo. The bureaucracy is largely subordinate to the Emperor with local parts of its subject to various members of the Imperial Nobility. The core of the military, the Imperial Navy and Imperial Marines, is subordinate to the Emperor while many other parts of the military answer to Sector Dukes and local powers.
Executive Branch
Executive power for the Third Imperium is vested in the Emperor. The Emperor's power is supreme within the Grand Empire of the Stars.
Legislative Branch
Legislative power, or deliberative power, for the Third Imperium is largely vested in the Imperial Moot, whose members are composed of the Imperial Nobility.
The Moots deliberations are advisory to the Emperor, and he is wise to heed them. The Moot has only one power: to dissolve the Third Imperium. When this power is brought to bear, it compels compromise between opposing factions. It has the power to examine the qualifications and credentials of any new Emperor and, in unusual situations, to reject them.
Judicial Branch
Judicial power for the Third Imperium is vested in the Ministry of Justice. The Ministry exercises authority over violations of Imperial law, especially when those violations occur on Imperial territory, including within the extrality boundary of starports.
One of the duties of the High Nobles is to act as judges for all cases brought before the Imperial courts. As judges, they serve to enforce Imperial law, determining guilt and assigning punishments. Cases may be appealed to the next highest nobility rank.
The Ministry of Justice also the Imperial Prison System to house convicted criminals. The Ministry appoints Agents to travel throughout the Imperium to investigate specific cases, and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice. Most of these agents act with the direct authority of the Minister or the noble hearing a case.
Bureaucracy
Imperial power is present on member worlds in the form of consulates, bureaucratic offices, bases, and sometimes, larger enclaves of Imperial power are located where they can enforce the Emperor’s will.
Military
The military is subordinate to the Emperor.
Culture
The Third Imperium covers a broad expanse of space that includfes distinct regions, peoples, and cultures. Howwever, there are certain nomrs and standards consistent across Imperial space. The forst of these is language. While many human and alien races speak their won native languages, Galanglic is the official languange of the Imperium. Galanglic is descended from Terran English but has changed significantly in the millennnia since Terrans first took to the stars.
The governments of Imperial worlds are independent. There is no uniform Imperial style of government or guidelines for how to govern a world. However, the Imperial bureaucracy is present on most of its words, run by the nobility. Nobles serve as Imperial administrators, collecting taxes, interfacing with other Imperial agencies such as the navy and scouts, and making sure that the worlds of the Imperium abide by its laws. Each world also has its own legal system; the laws of each world can be very different. Some worlds have highy codified, stringent legal systems on which it is quite easy for Travellers to run afoul of the law. Others have few or now laws at all. The Imperium does not impede upon the laws of its worlds unless they conflict with the Imperial law. Imperial law is mostly vague, allowing the Emperor to alter if depending on circumstances but some Imperial laws are immutable.
Public Agenda
The preamble of the Warrant of Restoration of the Imperium reads:
- The worlds of the universe lie separated by the vastness of space, each alone, and dependent upon its own resources. In the past, a greater community of worlds has existed, promoting a greater good for all its members, and for all those who have interacted with it. The time has now come to reestablish that greater community.
- On the foundations of the past, in order to promote:
- Safe travel among the stars, the exploration of worlds circling those stars, the pursuit of knowledge, mutually profitable trade and commerce, the active exchange of information and tech the individual pursuit of personal betterment, and the collective pursuit of community good, we hereby reestablish the Grand Empire of the Stars.
Territories
The Imperium is the primary empire of Charted Space, spread out over a vast region of space. Consisting of all or part of 28 sectors, an empire of over 11,000 worlds. These worlds are inhabited by over 18 trillion sophonts of various humanb and alien races.
Military
The Third Imperium is widely regarded as retaining the largest and most powerful military in Charted Space. The Imperial High Command, an organization in equal stature to the civilian ministries, oversees all the military operations. The High command divides into the Imperial Navy and Imperial Armies and Marines. The high command is answerable only to the Emperor.
While the centralized Third Imperium maintains an Imperial military, the Imperium, is by nature, a feudal government, and nearly every power-holder under the Emperor maintains additional private militaries if they can. These forces can be called upon and even pressed into the service of the Imperial military.
Ground Forces
The Unified Armies of the Third Imperium, or Imperial Army is divided into sector-sized units (one per sector) with the civilian command given to the Sector Duke. The Imperial High Command determines Imperium wide policies affecting the Imperial Army while the sector dukes determine the more local strategies. Tactical decisions are left to the Imperial Army commanders.
Naval Forces
The Imperial Navy is recognized as unmatched throughout all of Charted Space. The Navy patrols the interstellar highways and maintains the stability of the interstellar trade order while maintaining enough distance and cultural tolerance for some very diverse cultures to prosper.
Imperial Marines
The Imperial Marines are the smallest of the three armed forces. Attached to, and reliant on the Navy for transportation, they serve as the forces protecting the naval elements. The Marines are a quick reaction force, backed up by the Imperial Navy, to handle any disturbance or trouble.
Paramilitary Forces
Related paramilitary institutions that support the Imperial military includes:
Colonial naval forces, raised by the local worlds for local defense
Mashkim (System or Planetary Police)
- Ducal Security Forces
- Mainworld Security Forces (Constabulary)
- Irregular "For Hire" Mercenaries
- Regular Contractual Mercenaries
- The IISS mandate is to map the Imperium and the surrounding worlds. This naturally includes a collection of intelligence of interest to everyone. Imperial Intelligence branch of the IISS is the group concerned with the collection and collation of intelligence information.
- The INI is primarily concerned with military intelligence; it tracks starship and troop operations, and can mount intelligence-gathering activities into all parts of the Imperium.
- The MOJ is primarily concerned with Imperial society; it has contacts with the court systems of the worlds of the empire, and it has an intelligence network that concentrates on criminal activity. The MOJ is especially valuable when dealing with the criminal elements of the empire and can offer great rewards (in terms of amnesty or pardon) to those who support its mission.
Trade & Transport
Trade is the lifeblood of the Imperium. At its heart, the Third Imperium is a federation of worlds unified by free trade and open communication. The first Emperor established the empire based on the notion that free trade would enrich it citizens and bring civilisation to its worlds. The history of the Imperium has proved him right.
The Majority of trade revenue is earned by megacorporate and sector-wide merchant lines that run freight operations along the major trade routes. These routes primarliy serve worlds with high populations and other factors that give them importance. Trade goods are transported aboard megafreighters in the multi-10,000-ton range. However, the trade routes only serve 10 percent of Imperial worlds. The remaining 90 percent get their goods from subsector merchant lines, interface lines and tramp traders.
The tramp trader is the bottom rung of the food chain but operating such a ship is a romnaticised enterprise. The captains of tramp traders are their own bosses, plying interstellar space in Type-A free traders or Type-A2 far traders, picking up small freight and mail lots when possible, carring and serving passengers, and speculating on cargoes that may or may not be in demand a the next port. It is a difficult live, made more so by the constant need for an influx of Credits to pay tthe starship mortgage. Most of them would not have it aany other way. Tramp traders do not have to leave the trade routes well. In spite of the fact that the big merchant lines gobble up most of the business, there is work to be had by small traders. There are many niche and underserved markets hidden away on the orlds of the trade routes. Most tramp traders spend time on the main routes and veer off them when profits beckon elsewhere.
An ancillary benefit of trade missions was cultural exchange. Visiting distant worlds enabled Imperial traders to establish common ground with peoples and cultures that had not been a part of interstellar society for centuries. The day would come when they would be asked to join the empire. The less foreign and alien the Imperium seemed, the more likely these worlds would be willing to become full-fledged members. Such missions are still undertaken along the frontiers of the Imperium, although there are far fewer unincorporated worlds in Charted Space in modern times.
Founding Date
0
Type
Political, Confederation
Capital
Alternative Names
Imperium
Demonym
Vilani, Solomani,
Leader
Leader Title
Family Leader
Head of Government
Government System
Monarchy, Absolute
Power Structure
Feudal state
Economic System
Market economy
Currency
The Imperial Credit, or simply the Credit is the currency of the Imperium. There may be some instances in which barter or local currencies exist on various worlds but the currency of interstellar trade and commerce is the Credit.
Cr: Imperial Credit = 1.0 credit
DCr: Decacredit = 10.0 credits
KCr: Kilocredit = 1,000.0 credits
MCr: Megacredit = 1,000,000.0 credits
BCr: Billion credits = 1,000,000,000.0 credits
GCr: Gigacredit = 1,000,000,000.0 credits
TCr: Trillion credits, or Teracredit = 1,000,000,000,000.0 credits
Subsidiary Organizations
Location
Controlled Territories
Neighboring Nations
Related Species
Comments