Third Imperium

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Third Imperium (Polity) Synopsis

The Imperium is also called the Third Imperium.

It was founded in 0 by Cleon Zhunastu from the Sylean Federation in what is now Core Sector. The Imperium grew swiftly during the pacification campaigns and more slowly thereafter until stability was reached in the 600’s, by which time the Imperium had absorbed much of the territory of the First and Second Imperiums.

The Capital of the Third Imperium is at Capital/Core (Core 2118), formerly known as Sylea, and is the location of all of the most important symbols of the Third Imperium:

Third Imperium (Polity) Goals

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.

See Warrant of Restoration for more information.

The Third Imperium is concerned with the following goals of Imperial High Law:

  • Emperor & Nobility: The Imperial High Laws should first of all establish the hierarchy of the Nobility with the Emperor, of course, at the peak of the power structure.
  • Imperial Military & Scout Service: The Second priority should be the establishment of Imperial military forces (Navy, Marines, Army, and Imperial Interstellar Scout Service) and laws/rules of war/expansion.
  • Imperial Taxes & Tribute: Third should be the system of taxes and tribute.
  • Imperial Federalism: Most remaining authority could be delegated to Sector Dukes and Subsector Barons.

See High Laws for more information.

Third Imperium (Polity) Government

Government Structure:

  • Feudal Confederation: The Imperium can be best thought of as a form of feudal confederation. Member worlds of the Imperium agree to pay taxes and obey a few fundamental laws which the Imperium promulgates, known as the High Laws.
  • Third Imperium Duties: In return, the Imperium agrees to patrol the space between the worlds, to protect interstellar trade, to encourage travel and commerce, and to arbitrate diplomatic relations between worlds. Beyond this, individual worlds are left to their own devices so long as they acknowledge the power of the Imperium to rule the stars.

Imperial Governmental Institutions

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 enhance the Emperor’s strength.

Please see Imperial Bureaucracy for more information.

Imperial Territory

The Imperium’s territory is divided into sectors, which are in turn divided into subsectors and systems.

Groups of sectors, called domains, have been created above the sector level.

Imperial Executive Power

Executive power for the Third Imperium is vested in the Emperor. The Emperor's power is supreme within the Grand Empire of the Stars.

Please see Emperors of the Third Imperium for more information.

Imperial Judicial Power

Judicial power for the Third Imperium is vested in the Ministry of Justice.

The Imperial Ministry of Justice exercises authority over violations of Imperial law, especially when those violations occur on Imperial territory, including within the extrality boundary of starports. Judges, justices, and the other personnel of the Imperial justice system are part of the Ministry of Justice.

The Ministry of Justice possesses a number of duties including:

  • Imperial Courts: High nobles, acting as the Minister of Justice, operate the Imperial Courts.
  • Imperial Prison System: The Ministry of Justice also maintains the Imperial Prison System to house convicted criminals.
  • Special Agents: Lastly, the Ministry of Justice appoints Special 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, and a few have limited Imperial Warrants, making them personal representatives of the Emperor.

See Ministry of Justice for more information.

Imperial Legislative Power

Legislative power, or deliberative power, for the Third Imperium is vested in the Imperial Moot, whose members are composed of the Imperial Nobility.

Some claim the the Emperor has subverted the power of the Imperial Moot, and that the Moot is no longer a representative or deliberative body.

See Imperial Moot for more information.

Imperial Legislation

Most Imperial legislation is classified as an act or an edict.

Some representative examples of Imperial legislation include:


Imperial Trade & Currency

The Imperium maintains a very high level of trade and uses the Imperial Military to maintain the safety of the spaceways.

The Imperium also uses the Imperial Credit, informally known as the Crimp, as its currency. The Crimp is well-known for its stability and ability to hold value.

Please see Imperial Currency for more information.

Imperial Calendar

The Imperium maintains the calendar, which sets the standard for all others.

Please se Imperial calendar for more information.

Third Imperium (Polity) Military

The Third Imperium retains the largest and most powerful military in Charted Space.

While the centralized Third Imperium maintains an Imperial military, the Imperium, is by nature, a feudalized 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.

Imperial Military Primary Branches

This military includes:

Please also see Imperial Rules of War for more information.

Imperial Military Supporting Branches

A related institution that supports the Imperial military includes:

The Imperium also regulates and even sometimes hires:

Third Imperium (Polity) History

The end of the Third Imperium was hastened by increasingly dangerous power games, which culminated in a Civil War.

Six Imperial Domains

During the Pacification Campaigns, Emperor Artemsus divided space into six regions, labeled them domains, and appointed an archduke over each of them.

To each archduke, he assigned the continuing pacification of the domain’s many systems and their integration into the Imperium. The domains were:

  • 1. Antares (Lishun, Antares, Mendan, Amdukan)
  • 2. Gateway (Ley, Glimmerdrift Reaches, Gateway, Crucis Margin)
  • 3. llelish (Ilelish, Zarushagar, Reaver’s Deep, Daibei)
  • 4. Sol (Dispora, Old Expanses, Solomani Rim, Alpha Crucis)
  • 5. Sylea (Core, Fornast, Massilia, Delphi)
  • 6. Vland (Corridor, Vland, Gushemege, Dagudashag)

Most of the domains were never totally absorbed into the Imperium. This was a recipe for disaster.

Seventh Domain of Deneb

In 589, during the First Frontier War, a seventh domain was established:

  • Deneb (Spinward Marches, Deneb, Trojan Reach, Reft).

The intent was to appoint an archduke to be responsible for their supervision. However, the Civil War broke out before an archduke was appointed.

Following the civil war, the emperors expressed concern about individuals with powers equaling their own, so they moved to lessen the power of the archdukes in the Imperial government. Because of this, no archduke of Deneb was ever appointed. As a result, the domains came to have little practical significance. Each archduke did retain the power to create knights and baronets.

In the years after the Fourth Frontier War, and after the problems it presented from lags in communication, Emperor Strephon felt a strengthened archduke position could enable the Imperium to more quickly respond in defending the realm. Against the protests and opposition of some prominent members of the Moot, Strephon reestablished the domain as a level in the bureaucracy of the Imperial Navy and returned to the Domain the ability to collect taxes. Still later, Strephon gave the archdukes the ability to legislate and enforce the desires of the emperor on the local level.

Archduke Norris

One of Strephon’s last acts before his murder was to finally appoint an archduke of the Domain of Deneb:

The Divided Imperium: With the assassination of emperor Strephon and all immediate heirs to the throne in 1116, the resulting turmoil has caused some confusion as to who will succeed Strephon to the throne.

Thus, at the moment, factionalism in the Third Imperium is at an all-time high. Even with the uncertainty of the current moment, the Third Imperium still stands. The archdukes are instituting local stopgap measures until such time as a strong central government can be re-established

Third Imperium (Polity) Additional Historical Data

The Imperium is a series of consecutive galactic empires.

  • 2. The Second Imperium (or Rule of Man) was formed by the Terrans after they had conquered the First. The Rule of Man collapsed due to the weight of the stagnation that it had absorbed from the Ziru Sirka.

Third Imperium (Polity) Other References

For more inflation, please review the following data entries:

Third Imperium (Polity) Sectors

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Third Imperium (Polity) References

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Far Future Enterprises or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.
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