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Imperial Government

I don't if it's the right place for this question, but here goes.

While I'm familiar with the concept about the Imperium having juridiction over the space between worlds and not the worlds themselves, I find it a little hard to see how it should work (or how it works in the Traveller background). I know it covers a lot of stuff (the Peer system, the Navy, the Marines, etc) but a good overview of the basics of the system is what I need for now.

Thanks for your time.
 
Alas, as you know Yarrick is dead and cannot tell you.

The Imperial system of government has pretty well been in dispute since it was stated. On one hand you hand, you do have pan-Imperial institutions like what you alluded to (navy, starport authority, nobles, etc.) and the other hand you have planetary governance.

However, as space and consequentially trade is all important to hold everyone together with the agreement that the Imperial Credit rules over all keeps planets in line. Plus, when planets accept the Imperium, they are also expected to accept part of the costs of the whole thing (the above mentioned navy, starports, etc.). This can be a very loose arrangement like NAFTA, whereby autonomous nations have signed away part of their sovereignity to the larger economic entity and will abide by binding decisions of their domestic institutions to carry out the treaty. It could mean a denser network of supra-national bodies directly intervening into a country's affairs like the European Union. Or it could mean a model that is the United States, division of powers with the Federal government retaining the lion's share. Or it could mean the USSR, whereby, all institutions are a facade and their secret direct rule from the centre.

What becomes clear is the Imperium when Traveller was first written was a very loose organization of planets but as the Campaign was written, more and more details got imbellished, therefore, more institutions developed. Out of these institutions came a stronger "government". In French, is there not a word called 'nebuleuse' that describes governance without government? This might help explain the persistance of Imperial norms.

How it all works out in your Traveller universe is up to you. However, we are likely to see a product from SJG called Nobles that might clarify the issue. In the meantime, I would direct your attention to MT Imperial Encyclopedia, especially the section on nobles and for a background on how the Imperium grew: Milieu 0. For other opinions, there is a whole thread dedicated on the Surveys section.
 
I was looking through the Milieu 0 book, and it appears to have a lot of information on just this subject, including a history of how Cleon set it all up. You might want to check that out.
 
Another rather important way to look at Traveller Imperial Government is to look at ROMAN imperial government. thet handled governing just about the same as Traveller. Matter of fact i belive that the powers that be COPYED it from real history, there are to many "very closly related things" that are almost a perfect "match"!!!, maybe didnt copy all of it, maybe some of it, its just to close to be coincedence!!!....maybe i can start a "flame" war here!!! who agrees, who doesent? who reads Roman History??? I do. ;)
 
I think the general consensus is that it's a mixture of Roman and British imperial models with some American federalism thrown in. The history is very strongly flavored with Roman elements (Long civil war, Emperors of the Flag, etc...) but the governing model is more along the lines of the late 19th Century British colonial system. The concept of limiting communications to the speed of travel was directly taken from the era when the British colonies were only in contact with England via steam ship, and local governments had to operate on their own with only the regular messages arriving once a week on the regular steamer. The federal element comes in the form of dual sovereignty, where each system has its own, locally sovereign government, but has to conform to the imperial system on major issues (trade law, armed forces, etc.). The nice thing about this is that it allows for a system that has some basic elements that remain the same, but specific circumstances may very widely, thus allowing the GM a lot of latitude to create adventure settings while still falling under the broad setting.

Just my thoughts,

Rob
 
If you have read GURPS Traveller Lauren Wiseman states that the Roman model was very influential in designing Traveller - so no flame there, just fact.

Imperial government has its dark side: look at Kininur: one mission is to rescue a 'disappeared' political dissident senator from the Gaesh. In Adv 6 (I think) Imperial agents zap a Zho agent with FGMP 15's in front of the player's eyes. Not even the FBI are that bold!
 
Yes, double adventure 6 has imperial intelligence underming a local solomani party on an independent nation on an imperial world in the solomani rim. Imperial aganets were quite happy to get the PCs arrested for quite serious crimes, they wasted several local thugs employed by one of the factions using an FGMP-15. all very morally dubious.

There is an adventure in one of the earlier white dwarfs that has a covert imperial aganecy in a branch of the scouts responsible for the quality of ships rescue equipment. They struck against a pirate band being supported by the government of alell and were to kill the pirates and leave plenty of evidence for the local authorities to find so that they knew the imperium knew.

hmmh, not completely white knights.

Cheers
Richard
 
Further back on Thrash's site (the link I sent earlier) there is the discussion of the Third Imperium being Russia, as opposed to the criticism that Traveller is merely the Anglo Saxons in Space. While I agree that Rome laid the basis for the thinking of the 3i. I think we need to look to the fact that GDW was a wargame company before it was a producer of RPGs and continued to produce many fine wargames. As a result, many of the Traveller motifs would have been spun off their WWII battles series as much as WWIII notions of superpowers duking it out in the galaxy.

I am hoping that we are going also to see what insights alien cultures bring to bear in the 3i with T20 products. Afterall, as much as the Imperium ought to resemble something familiar, it ought to be truly alien, as well.
 
Funny you should ask this I wrote an article on the Imperial Govt. What do you think? Please feel free to use.

Essay on the Government and Constitution of the Third Imperium

Count Joachim Merguez

(Former Minister of State for Defense and Cleon V Professor of Politics at Sylea University)

A summary for the lay reader

The variety of governments within the Imperial Sphere is almost legendary; as the first Director of the Imperial Grand Survey, Dame Margaret Tsu-Hsi, once remarked “scarcely a day goes by that the IGS does not discover a new, and in many cases very strange, way by which the many are governed by the few”. However, in this paper I wish to turn that analytical eye upon the government of the Imperium itself, and examine the mechanism of government that encompasses all these others.

The Imperial government, henceforth referred to simply as the government, is on the surface an advanced form of feudalism, of the type sometimes referred to as a feudal technocracy; as our examination will reveal, however, it has as much in common with various forms of bureaucratic rule as it does with feudalism. If the “citizen with the middle passage on the liner from Reference”, if I may use Lord Advocate von Marienburg’s seminal definition of the average person, were to be asked how the Imperium was governed they would give some variant upon two possible answers. They would state either that the government rested in the hands of the Emperor or they would suggest some combination of the Moot and the Emperor. Both of these answers are, as one might expect, only partially correct.

The Emperor is, of course, the Head of State and ultimately the Head of Government as well, however no emperor could rule alone. The government consists of various committees and councils of various sizes, prestige, and power. In this paper, I shall examine the roles of these bodies, and attempt to demonstrate how they interrelate and provide stability for the Imperium.


The Structure of Government


The Moot is the best known of these bodies; however much that is commonly known about the Moot is wrong. In the first place the gathering of the Imperial nobility is only technically the Moot when it meets under the presidency of the Earl Marshal to adjudicate upon matters related to the succession; in its role as a legislative body it is, correctly, referred to as either the Imperial Grand Senate or, archaically, as the Lords Spiritual and Temporal. As a side note this body also possesses a limited judicial role; acting as it does as the ultimate court of appeal for the High Nobility. As we are discussing the politico-legislative role, we shall use the term Senate in this paper unless it is particularly important to draw a distinction.

Later we will discuss the details of the passage of a bill through the Senate and other Councils to become a decree. For now, I wish to discuss various officials that have a role within the Senate. There are three individuals who can preside over the Senate: the Chairman, the Earl Marshal, and the Lord Advocate. In the normal course of events the presiding officer is the Chairman of the Senate; this is usually a high-ranking noble of middle years who is elected by his peers from a list presented by the Emperor on Holiday following the resignation of the previous incumbent. The Chairman holds office at the pleasure of senate and may only be removed from office by impeachment. The Chairman is granted the courtesy title of Excellency and has precedence just above that of a sector Duke. The Earl Marshal presides, as has been mentioned above, over the Moot; his is a very ancient title dating to, at least, the Rule of Man. The title of Earl Marshal was once hereditary passing, by means of complex genealogical precedence, to the noble with the longest direct ancestral line; however during the time of the Barracks Emperors (604-622) as the agreement of the incumbent Earl Marshal was necessary for proper succession by Moot election there followed a spate of accident prone Earl Marshals. On her accession to the throne (629), the Empress Arbellatra created her Flag Captain, Commodore Marcus hault Pashtun Duke of Belerophon, Earl Marshal to replace Gustus’ cousin who had died at Zhimaway. On his death in 630, she appointed the retiring Lord President of the Privy Council, Countess Xenia Mortimer-Saxe, to the post and decreed that henceforth the title would remain in the gift of the emperor. The Earl Marshal is also granted the title of Excellency and has precedence over all peers save the Lord Great Chamberlain and the Lord High Constable if they are dukes and the Chairman of the Grand Council, the Lord President of the Privy Council and the Lord Privy Seal by right. In the relatively rare occasions that the Court of Arches is convened, the Lord Advocate presides over the house. Two groups may sit with the peers although they are not of the council; these are the Archdukes and the Council of Ministers. Speaking in the Senate is done by strict order of precedence controlled by a computer system. Archdukes and Ministers may speak in the Senate but may not vote.

The most powerful section of the government is the Grand Council. This is made up of the Council of Ministers and the junior ministers and senior civil servants of the ministries. The Grand Council has its origin in the, informal, Cabinet who with the chancellor served the early emperors. After the accession of Porfiria (245), on the advice of the surviving Cabinet members and the Privy Council, the Council of Ministers was established under the presidency of the Premier Minister. The Council of Ministers grew only slightly in power until the Civil War; in 613, the Premier took direct control of Capital and assumed the powers of Captain-General of the planet. The Premiers had a slightly high survival rate than the Earls Marshal and the support of Baroness Petra Stein helped to establish Grand Admiral Arbellatra as regent. In gratitude, Arbellatra granted extended powers and protections to the Council of Ministers including the right of the Premier to appoint civil servants. Margaret I in agreement with Premier Gustavason established the Grand Council; Duke Gustavason, on his appointment as Chairman of the newly created Council, established a series of Sub-Committees under his Chairmanship. These Sub-Committees, which include additional senior civil servants, speed up the Council of Ministers’ deliberations on bills, and, coincidentally, increase the power of the Chairman through his role as Minister of the Civil Service. Ministers are appointed by the Chairman and can be removed from office only by senatorial impeachment; the Chairman is appointed by the Emperor although he too can be removed by impeachment. Ministers take precedence over other peers of the same rank; the Chairman of the Grand Council ranks immediately below the Imperial family.

There are nine ministries that comprise the Council of Ministers; there once were many more but part of the reforms of Margaret I was to merge these minor ministries into the new super departments. The ministries are the Civil Service, the Treasury, the Interior, the Foreign Ministry, Defence, Technology, Justice, the Armed Forces, and the Security Council. The Ministry of the Civil Service is the responsibility of the Chairman of the Grand Council; this ministry has responsibility for the appointment and promotion of all government civil servants, it also coordinates the Imperial Records Office. His Majesty’s Stationary Office, and the Office of Decrees and Treaties. The Treasury has oversight over the macroeconomics of the Imperium; this department controls the Statebank and the Imperial Mint. The Interior Ministry controls the Imperial Police forces, the Central Information Bureau, the Imperial News Service, the Prison Service, the Bureau of Public Morals and the Immigration and Naturalization Service; it holds joint responsibility for the regulation of interplanetary trade and the Customs and Excise Service with the Foreign Ministry. The Foreign Ministry deals with all official extra imperial relations; the Marshal of the Diplomatic Corp appoints what is known as the foreign civil service, and the Ministry retains expert departments on all major and many minor neighbours. The Ministry of Defence works in close liaison with the Armed Forces Ministry and the Security Council; the Defence Ministry is responsible for broad military policy within the Imperium and has responsibility for upholding the Rules of War and monitoring the activities of mercenary units. The Armed Forces Ministry is responsible for overseeing the administration of the military services; the Armed Forces Ministry is in actual fact something of a fifth wheel as many of its duties could be assumed by either the Ministry of Defence or the Security Council. Margaret I was reluctant to deprive the armed forces of this additional voice in government and no later administration has cared to attempt to do so.

The Ministry for Technology coordinates research and provides funding for state sponsored technological development; it is rumoured that the Ministry is also guilty of suppressing new technology that is felt to be inappropriate or dangerous. As one might imagine the Office of the Chief Scientist works closely with both the Universities and the armed forces. The Ministry of Justice, also sometimes referred to as the Lord Advocate’s Department, advises the Emperor on the appointment of Imperial judges, appoints Imperial Councils, coordinates the Judge Advocate-General’s department and controls the Imperial Prosecutors Department. Finally, there is the Security Council; this is not in fact a Ministry although the President of the Council ranks as a minister. The Security Council consists of the Lord High Admiral, the Marshal-General, the Marshal of the IISS, the Commandant-General, the Chief of all Imperial Police, the First Lord of the Admiralty and the Chief of the Imperial General Staff. For many years, the post of president was a military one usually held by either the Marshal-General or the Lord High Admiral, but following the accession of Cleon IV (475) a civilian was appointed to the post. During the civil war many of the “emperors” either held this position themselves or granted it to their military deputy; however a custom developed after the interregnum (613-615) that retired senior military figures held the post. This custom was followed by Arbellatra who appointed Marcus hault Pashtun as President in 625; the custom of a civilian President was codified in the Treaty of Kroprow (629) which also established the right of the President to membership in the Order of the Sword of Vland to which only the Lord High Admiral, Marshal-General, Marshal of the IISS and the Commandant-General had previously been entitled.

The Grand Council has offices in the Moot Spire and the Imperial Palace and meets every third Twosday or when necessary. The Sub-Committees meet at the various ministries or at the Chairman’s office in the Imperial Palace. The Ministerial Offices that make up much of the Capitoline region of Capital are of course only the tip of the bureaucratic iceberg which spreads over much of the Home Worlds connected by the X-Boats and fast ministerial couriers.

The oldest of the councils of state is the Privy Council; this body, whose members are appointed by the Emperor and hold office at his pleasure, is headed by the Lord President and consists of the Great Officers of state and other members of the household. The Great Officers are the Lord President, the Lord Privy Seal, the Lord High Treasurer, the Lord Great Chamberlain, and the Lord High Constable. The other members of the council are the Lord Steward, Lord Chamberlain, the Master of Horse, the Lords Commissioner of the Great Seal, and various Lords in Waiting. All members of the Privy Council automatically resign on the death of the Emperor who appointed them; as a result, the council fell into abeyance during the Civil War. Only Nicolai (610-612), Cleon V (615-618) and Gustus (621-622) appointed Privy Counsellors. Gustus’ Council was reappointed en bloc by Arbellatra on her appointment as Regent. Despite their archaic titles, many of the Privy Councillors do possess both power and responsibility; the Great Officers command large budgets and have great authority.

Finally, for this section we come to the smallest, obscurest and least powerful of the councils of state the Gerusia. This council of Archdukes was created by Artemsus in 120 after the establishment of the domains; its name was allegedly the result of a joke made by one of the first Archdukes. A contemporary described this as a “classical allusion” so historians believe it must be an obscure Vilani joke although the reference has remained obscure. The Council meets once a year on Holiday in the Chamber of the Stars in the Moot Spire; although Artemsus may have intended it to have power, it has now become the most exclusive club in the empire.

The Legislative Process


This is another area in which the average citizen is ill informed; although the Emperor can, if he so chooses, govern by decree this has not occurred since 625. A partial codification of this custom occurred during the reign of Margaret I; in the Declaration of Regina (690), the imperial decrees became subject to Council ratification within one year. The Ultimate Decree (980) passed by Styryx during the Third Frontier War established the post of Dictator; this position, which exists only in an emergency, was created to devolve absolute authority on an imperial agent. The Dictator can govern by decree and is protected against legal repercussions both during and after there term of office. However, in the normal course of events this is not how imperial law is made.

Bills, the technical term for a proposal before it receives the Imperial consent, can be generated either by the Senate, the Gerusia, the Grand Council or the Emperor; it is almost unheard of for the Gerusia to propose Bills and very rare for them to emanate from the Emperor. Most of the Bills begin in the Council of Ministers where they are debated and amendments proposed; the Bill with attached amendments is then passed to the Senate. The Senate then votes on the Bill as a whole; they then propose their own amendments and the Bill is passed on to the Office of Decrees and Treaties. The ODT phrase the Bill, encompassing the Council’s amendments, in legal terminology; the Bill with the Senate’s amendments attached is returned to the Grand Council; from the Council it is passed directly to the Sub-Committees who can veto the Senate’s amendments and propose their own. The Bill then goes to the Council of Ministers and they make the final decision upon it; if the Bill passes the final hurdle it then goes back to the ODT who compose the final text of the Bill, which is then passed to the Emperor for the consent. The Emperor may then impose his veto; otherwise, the Bill becomes a Decree and passes into law.

A Bill generated by the Senate follows a similar path; first, the Bill is submitted to the Senate. This submission must be accompanied by the approval of at least five other peers who are currently present at the session; time is allocated for debate in order of precedence of the most senior peer supporting or proposing the Bill. There is an initial vote on the Bill after a short period of debate; should the Bill be passed at this stage it is then submitted to the ODT who, in consultation with the proposing peer, couch it in legal language. Copies of the Bill are then provided to all interested peers and a provisional date is set for the debate. At this debate amendments can be proposed to the Bill; each amendment is voted on, a simple majority is required, and the whole bill must then receive the consent of the Senate.

The Bill is then passed to the Grand Council who can veto it; assuming the Bill is not vetoed it passes to the Sub-Committees who make amendments to the Bill prior to referring it to the Council of Ministers. The Council then vote on any of the amendments and pass the amended Bill to the ODT. The Bill is finally placed before the Emperor for the consent. The rare Bills proposed by the Gerusia follow a similar path; however, by custom the Senate and Grand Council may not amend these Bills and a two-thirds majority of the Senate is required to veto the Bill.

If the Emperor submits a decree for confirmation, it first goes before the Council of Ministers who, by a two-thirds vote, may veto it. If it receives the consent of the Council, it then passes to the Senate where a unanimous vote is required to prevent the confirmation of the decree.

At this point, I will digress to a related matter regarding the signification of consent by these councils. Historically, seals were used to signify the consent of the great lords to a decree; with today’s high technology, such wax seals are of course not only obsolete but also insecure. During the Rule of Man, a technique of bioelectrical tagging was developed to modernise the ancient custom of sealing documents. Each minister and senior officer of state is given a signet ring on his or her appointment to office; the crystalline lattice in this ring is keyed to the bio-signature of the minister should the ring be removed or the wearer die then the lattice is disrupted and the ring becomes useless. To signify consent or to validate a document the ring’s stone is placed in a reader attached to the computer and an electronic validation is attached to the document. The Privy Seal is used by the Emperor as his electronic identifier; this seal differs from the norm in as much as the crystalline lattice is not permanently disrupted by removal from the bioelectrical field it simply becomes invalid; the Privy Seal is kept by the Lord Privy Seal and it is his duty together with the Lords Commissioner of the Great Seal to attune the seal to each new monarch. It is interesting to note that this requirement of validation made Lords Privy Seal almost as vulnerable as Earls Marshal to unexplained accidents during the Civil War.

This paper has barely skimmed the surface of the complexity of the Imperial Governmental system, but hopefully it has provided some insight into the working of our own government. Interested readers may consider the following additional reading:


• Merguez, J “A History of the Imperial Government” 1102 Capital
• Merguez, J “An Analysis of the Treaty of Kroprow” IJPH 12-1099
• Pashtun, G hault “Lives of the Earl Marshals” 650 Capital
• Zimmerman, Q “The Privy Council” 1000 Regina
 
This took a lot of effort, Vice-Admiral - I am impressed!


*******

If you assume that the noble holdings of most of the peerage is off-Capital, it would seem that the noble will have to spend the vast majority of his time in or near his holding (unless he has additional Imperial duties that takes him off his titled area). Relatively few nobles would be at Capital at any one time: most likely, there would be a middle-ranking noble - A Marquis or a Count - who would repesent X number of nobles, and would use their votes as a block.

In all likelihood, only a vote to dissolve the Imperium would have more than 2/3rds of the Senate/Moot present. I would guess that even a vote for a new Emperor would only have 20% of all nobles physically present at Capital.

This leads to an interesting question: what consistutes a legal quorum for the Senate? And a related question: just how many nobles, of Baron rank, are there in the Imperium? (There are far fewer nobles of other ranks, and Baronets are not techincally of Noble rank)
- Assuming one Baron for every 20 million people, and a total Imperial population of 10 Trillion, there's about 500,000 possible Barons and Baronesses.
- Assuming that only half of these titles are live (have a legitimate and active claiment) at any one time, and the number falls to 250,000
- Assuming that 50,000 of these Baronies are held as a single title, and that another 50,000 Barons actually hold more than one barony (an average of four, in this example)
- So, there are 100,000 Baronical titleholders, plus 1,000-2,000 people of higher rank.
- Assuming 5% of these nobles are on Capital at any one time, and that's about 5,000 people in the Moot Spire.

********

In your somewhat variant universe, the Moot/Senate acts as a real legislative organ, instead of a grand debating chamber (with ony two real powers) in the OTU. This tends to clash with the rather autocratic nature of Imperial power. I would say that your Imperium is more realistic for a more strongly centralized body, as the Imperium has been offically depicted since MegaTraveller.

A more loose Imperium need not create many laws - maybe 0-10 or so new/modified laws a year which affect trade and individuals, and about 50-200 new/modified regualtions for the Imperial organs of state per year (Navy, Justice, etc). A much simpler government can be run by much fewer people, be more autocratic, more conservative, and be much more flexible to local conditions (enforcement of the laws is 'flexible', depending on how much economic/political capital the Emperor is willing to spend to enforce them, and how resistant the local nobles/worlds/cultures/ organizations are).

A far looser government would permit a more autocratic style of government (including rule by decree), and fewer Imperial restrictions on the characters. But there is a price for everything: in this case, most legislative power would be shifted to the Subsectors & individual nobles. (And a bit more power to Sectors and Domains, as well). The Emperor may be able to keep a tight grip on the Imperial Navy, but would be much too weak to really *govern* a subsector (compared to a subsector noble, who has little influence on the Imperium as a whole, but great power in his own holding).

This Imperial structure helps to stress the local, feudal nature of the Imperium, IMO. And opens the door to local corporate, familial, and other 'unoffical' influence on government, as well.
 
I should note that IMTU, the actual governmental and legislative structure is very light, and - if you squint just right - even libertarian. There are very few new laws created in any one year, the Imperial Moots hardly ever meet, and almost all law are decrees by various nobles, which are anulled with their deaths.

On the other hand, the web of social connections between nobles, the Imperial military, corporations, planetary governments, and various social/racial/religious groups do have a very strong, stable influence in shaping interstellar society. Understand, the Imperial government comes - at most - third or fourth in most people's scale of loyalties. And many (read: most) of the non-Imperial groups do carry weapons, and have their own system of laws and obligations.

Because of the widespread but weak allegance to the Emperor, Imperial rule is 80% an unoffical affair, with local pro-Imperial leaders and nobles leading mainly by persuasion, force of character, and charisma. Familial connections with local gentry and some serious money also has a lot to
do with how the Imperium *actually* rules.

Military force - especially Naval power - remains the Imperial ace in the hole, but it's use must be carefully weighed: overuse merely hardens resistance and isolates the Imperium from the locals.
 
I like your decree point although I also think the moot is less centralised and is rather like the European Parliament - a debating and consultation chamber that is ultimately toothless to veto what the executive wishes.

Cannon seems to call call what you call decrees Edicts - as in the Edict of Cleon's 17th year on the rights of Imperial citizen's. I always envisaged they would be written like old English statutes: regnal year and number - e.g The Edict of 17 Cleon I 1 would be the first edict of Cleon I's 17th year as emperor.

I also envisage that there is a supreme court sitting at the moot spire made up of 15 judges raised to the level of Imperial Dukes. They make the binding legal decisions on Imperial law. It probably isn't called the Supreme Court but has a prosaic name such as the 'the judicial chamber of the moot spire' or the 'room of the iridium table' or something nonsensical.
 
Hi Elliot - I see that, with Soc-12, you have already made Baron
Congratulations!

Taking a quick look at www.dictionary.com, I find that the entry for Edicts is "A decree or proclamation issued by an authority and having the force of law." So according to common reference, edicts are the same as decrees.

Thinking about it, I would change this to fit my Traveller universe. Decrees are the usual rulings that a noble gives; Edicts are rulings that the noble believes want to emphasise. In practice, this just means that edicts are given a serious second look before they are annuled, and if the new noble desires, he can "re-proclaim" the Edict for his own reign.

I suspect that this is what has happened to Cleon's edict - every Emperor since has reproclaimed this edict upon their assension to the Irridium Throne.

As for the Imperial Supreme Court... well, IMTU the Emperor's Court is actually at the top of the heap, but after the first century or so, the Emperor will only take cases that have a major political import to the Imperium as a whole. Major non-political cases are handed to the Crown Prince, who takes the advice of various legal specialists before making his ruling.

In the *offical* universe, the material only says that the Emperor makes his ruling, and final legal responsibility rests on his shoulders.
 
A few minor comment's on Vice-Admiral Vidmar Kulkinski's post:

It seems obvious that there will have to be some circle of minsters who are permanently at
Capital - Kulkinski's Council of Ministers, and the Grand Council (the Ministers plus the top
bureaucrats). Elliot's 'Supreme Court' is another example of what I'm thinking of.

A good initial question: are these folks actual Ruling nobles, or Rank nobles? ('Rank' - holding the title only till their deaths: their children do NOT inherit it.) What's their presidence? And are they expected to care for their holdings - wouldn't this detract time from their major duties?

Different referees will have different solutions. My own solution is to give them Baronies in Capital system, but allow their family members to actually rule the barony while the actual titleholder goes about his business in the Emperor's service.

Rank and honours are of serious importance in the Imperium. Surely, these individuals are quite important - but not in the same way that a subsector Duke is, or a Marquis of a 15 Billion pop, TL D system. Much more important in some ways, but not so in others.

My solution? Add a title modifier - in this case, "Central Baron" or "Capital Baron". On the Capital world, a Central Baron has presidence over all but the Imperial Family and the Archdukes: off Capital, he is accorded the same respect as a subsector Duke.

******

I also use the modifier "Grand" for retired nobles: the Fourth Grand Duchess of Deneb, for example, is a retired lady of 287, who willingly stepped down 150 ago so the younguns could get their chance to rule.

Question: How does the Grand Duchess live so long? Besides clean living, a healthy diet, and being 1/16th Vilani?

Answer: after she retired, she arranged her life so that, for every 10 years living in 'real time', she spends 20 years in a customized Low Berth. Who needs anagathics?

I'm going to have to describe her more fully elsewhere...
 
I have always assumed that any hereditary noble who wishes to participate in the Imperial government either has no feif or has chancellors seneshalls what have you to administer the feif in his abscence and forward any imporatant documents to Capital.

In my universe there is only one feif on Capital, that of the Baron of the Capitol, the rest is Imperial domain; however a lot of old famillies heve a residence on Capital anyway. These residences vary from the ultra modern (for the parvenu) to archaic Sylean or even Long Night buildings for the very old families.

Two famous buildings are Kroprow Tower an Imperial residence where the regalia is stores and Castle Repzinski which serves as a descrete prison for High Nobles and members of the Imperial Family.
 
this topic has brought to mind a peave of mine about fiefs. :(

Why do they have to be land based? I have always believed that whilst many of the old nobliity may own extensive estates on their ancestral planet many others will recieve "money fiefs". This is a term I've pinched from recent Medieval History research and basicly consists of nobliity whos wealth (the ultimate purpose of fiefs) comes not from owning land and whatever is produced by that land but who own, for example, mining rights, shares in Megacorps or manufacturing monopolies.

These rights would be much more likely to be farmed out to agents than land administration (although this could also be done especially on long established fiefs) and would not involve the noble in local administration.

The original purpose of fiefs was to allow the noble to maintain a certain number of soldiers to serve his lord and in the Imperium with its professional troops that would be irrelevant however you can still tax a money feif and use that to support local military units.

This is not to say that some of the older families will not also raise and maintain Army units in the old fashioned way and presumably get some form of tax rebate for doing so.

Just a thought... but it would free up the hereditory nobility to serve in the civil service, the government or the armed forces on a long term basis without losing a skilled person to his duties in the back of beyond.

Vidmar
 
I basically agree with you, Vice-Admiral: money fiefs are the way to go, for non-military Nobles. Note that military force is more important in the Third Imperium than in modern western culture (armed corporations, etc), so land nobles would tend to have more prestige, and land titles more coveted.

It bears me mentioning *explicitly* that I assume that there can be more than one Baron per world. The offical universe is unclear, but seems to agree.

Hans-Ranke has created a wonderful knighthood system, based on wealth & population, which I feel is better than a "one Baron per 20 mil" that I use. Naturally, in his universe there is a "one Baron per non-high pop world" rule. (Important worlds get a Marquis, as per Trav rules)

So I would upgrade the Baron of Capital to a Marquis, myself. javascript:void(0)
Wink

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Question: upon occasion, there is a mention of unoffical "subsector Moots" and "planetary Moots". What's your opinion on this?
 
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