Imperial High Law

[Mythmere]

Is there any description of the Imperial High Law? Specifically, I'm wondering what happens if the government of one system gets expansionist and decides it wants to grab another system by force. I assume the High Law forbids this, but what happens when the hostility takes place anyway?

 

[Rodina]

I assume that the Subsector Navy takes care of this and, if it cannot, the Imperial Navy does by force or blockade, if necessary.

Adventure idea: The Subsector Duke is politically weak and the Sector Duke is looking for an excuse to push the local authorites out in favor of someone of their own chosing. Subsector Duke wants to crush the expansionism before word leaks out. An agent of the Sector Duke needs to get word past the blockade - perhaps several systems deep - and hires the adventures to run the blockade.

 

[Mythmere]

Other than having played in the early 80's I'm newly returned to Traveller. The subsectors have navies independent of the Imperial Navy? Paid for by whom? Under the direction of the Subsector Duke? Here is another thought: if an invasion is made and completed (high tech guerillas could easily dominate a lower tech level planet), might the Imperium not back away from the situation? The Imperial mandate is to protect planets from invasion, but trying to reestablish a government (which might have been a dictatorship or a feudal system) would be beyond the Imperium's finances and manpower. Though of course a longer war would be squelched.

 

[Mythmere]

Fantastic essay, Thrash! Where is the top of your web site so I can see what else you have? I think with this information, I can surmise that the situation would be like that of the East India Company after it was nationalized, with the Imperium playing the part of the East India Company. The subsector duke will use his navy to prevent wars, but if one happens too fast for response (or if he is involved for personal gain or for the gain of the Imperium and "happens" not to respond fast enough) the Imperium might choose to replace the junta with a government more favorable to the Imperium, or look the other way if the junta is pro-Imperium. One sees the government in exile vying with the junta's diplomats at the subsector capital trying to sway the duke's opinion one way or the other...

 

[trader jim]

if i remember right, Father Fletch wrot a very good artical on this subject...its in the forums some where, youll have to dig it out though, but is worth it.

 

[RainOfSteel]

thrash!

I too, feel your collections of data points on the Imperium are quite valuable. I've read many of them, independently scattered through various works, but your centralized document will make a lot of my own personal research coming up easier.

Thanks!


Sincerely,

Chris O.

 

[jchurchill]

Thrash,

I think you have done an excellent job of trying to organize and reconcile what has often been conflicting "dogma" of the OTU. [In fairness to MM and the original authors it always seemed that they were busy creating the Imperium and adding details as the games deleveloped. Consequently there were odd contradictions here and there.]

Imperium appears to me to be mixture of federalism and feudalism....esp in the aspects of high and low justice. In fact, high & low justice sort of screams of medieval common law.

 

[jchurchill]

Other than having played in the early 80's I'm newly returned to Traveller.
================================================
Welcome back. I'm in the same boat. I stopped playing in 1984 or 1985 and now feel like Rip Van Winkle.

The subsectors have navies independent of the Imperial Navy?
================================================
Some of this is addressed in High Guard and Trillion Credit Squadron but Thrash has thoughtfully distilled key parts of the CT/Imperium background into the documents that he has on his website.

I also recall vaguely that somewhere Marc Miller or L. Wiseman referenced parts of the Imperium to the old Persian satraps. Perhpas in Mercenary, perhaps in my corrupted memory.

 

[jchurchill]

"The prosecutors and high courts of the Imperium concern themselves with crimes that would affect worlds in more than one subsector of the realm. These include the capture, transportation, and possession of slaves, piracy, the murder of Imperial officers, officials, or members of Imperial nobility, theft of Imperial property, treason, and conspiracy to commit treason against the Imperium ....
================================================
You omitted ripping the tags off of mattresses in interstellar commerce.

 

[flykiller]

You omitted ripping the tags off of mattresses in interstellar commerce.

(laugh)

seems to me there's an adventure in there somewhere. maybe some policeman ... what's the name of that inspector from the novel les miserables? ... could pursue the adventure team across the imperium.

 

[jchurchill]

what's the name of that inspector from the novel les miserables? ... could pursue the adventure team across the imperium.
================================================
Inspector Javert I believe. Yes high drama amidst the stars. As soon as a character is settled into a life Javert shows up and reveals PC's crime--destroying the PC's career and reducing his social standing in that world to 2.