Imperial Bureaucracy

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The Imperial Bureaucracy of the Third Imperium is the group of governing bodies that administers the needs of the Imperium and is divided into three parts:

  1. Civil Ministries of the Imperium
  2. Defense Ministry of the Imperium
  3. Offices of the Emperor

Description[edit]

The Imperial Bureaucracy is the bones and body of the Third Imperium. While the Emperor, Moot, and the Ministry of Justice form the eyes and mind of the corpus. While those high institutions and leaders legislate and adjudicate in important ways, the day-to-day running of the Imperium comes from local nobles and bureaucrats who have sworn loyalty and service to the Imperium through its figurehead of the Emperor. In a very practical way, the Imperial Bureaucracy is the most visible part of the culture of the Imperium.

  • A. The largest part is the civil ministries which support the inner workings of the Imperium and is overseen by High nobles.
  • B. The second part is the Ministry of Defense which oversees and is run by, the Imperial armed forces through appointed nobles and officials.
  • C. The third and smallest part is the various Imperial Offices, which report directly to the Emperor. They serve the Emperor's needs and function as a personal office, cabinet, and advisory.

Bureaucracy Organization[edit]

The three primary groupings of the Imperial Bureaucracy each perform specialized tasks:

  1. Civil Ministries of the Imperium: (Ministry of State and Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Information and Communication & Ministry of Science and Ministry of Technology: Administrative needs such as justice, commerce, communication, science, etc.)
  2. Defense Ministry of the Imperium: (Ministry of Defense: Military needs such as the defense of the realm and maintenance of the starways)
  3. Imperial Palace: (Offices of the Emperor: Needs of the Emperor such as security, ceremonial functions, lodgings, travel, etc.)

Civil Ministries of the Imperium[edit]

The civil ministries are overseen by the Imperial Nobility, it is the duty of the high nobility to serve as the minister and director of each of the ministries within their demesne. The civil ministries within the Imperium are:

State & Justice Ministries[edit]

Commerce & Communications Ministries[edit]

Science & Technologies Ministries[edit]

Defence Ministry of the Imperium[edit]

The Minister, also known as the High Imperial Marshal, is in charge of advising the Emperor on military affairs, evaluating the general state of the Imperial military, and supervising long-term military planning, research, and development. The Minister of Defence is appointed by the Emperor and reports directly to him.

Offices of the Emperor[edit]

These offices are part of the Emperor's staff and oversee various aspects of the Third Imperium that do not belong to the other ministries.

Imperial Household[edit]

Secondary Service Offices[edit]

Closed Offices[edit]

History[edit]

When Cleon founded the Imperium, there were five primary bureaucratic agencies. Over the years these agencies have grown, split, intermingled, and rejoined. The bureaucracy at any one point in time can be wildly disparate. For instance, the Imperial Quarantine Agency was once a stand-alone branch of the government, but it was subsumed into other parts of the Imperial Bureaucracy when technology changed. The Quarantine's many roles were distributed to the Navy, Scouts, and others.

Bureaucratic Origin[edit]

The original bureaucracy of the Third Imperium was based upon the governmental institutions of the Sylean Federation and the corporate structure of Zhunastu Industries. Cleon I cleverly blended the two into a unified institution designed to handle the rulership of a people and the direction of a mercantile empire.

  • Later Emperors adapted these bureaucratic structures to the needs of their times. After the First Civil War, Empress Arbellatra decreed that the institutions be given further authority to continue running even when an Emperor might be inept or infirm... Or the Moot might be locked into indecision.
  • In a very real way, the Imperial Bureaucracy is the Third Imperium.

Grand Dukes[edit]

Grand Dukes were a part of the pre-foundational state of the Third Imperium, the Sylean Federation. They had vast stated power and fiefs in excess of the current ducal title. The title was later stricken from the Nobility Lists. The role that Grand Dukes once played has now been replaced by Archdukes.

Domain System & Archduchies[edit]

During the period of the Pacification Campaigns in 76, the Emperor Artemsus subsequently created a new form of Archduke when he initially established the original six nominal Domains of the Imperium, each of which has an Archduke exercising overall control of his/her respective Domain, and acting as an intermediary between the Emperor and the other levels of nobility (except for the Domain of Sylea, where the Emperor himself acted as the titular Archduke). The intended goal of these new Domains and their associated Archdukes was to give each Archduke the responsibility for the prosecution of the "pacification" and integration of new systems into the Third Imperium within the defined boundaries of the given Domain by whatever means were most expedient.

By the late 6th century, the feudal confederation of the Third Imperium had devolved into a state of Civil War under the Emperors of the Flag over what were largely instances of petty ducal and archducal infighting by squabbling dukes. Certain problems were direct antecedent causes of the Civil War of course, but the core issue of preventing the splintering and secession of worlds and regions from the Third Imperium had remained a problem of the Emperors since its founding.

Arbellatrian Reforms[edit]

In response to and as a result of the struggles of the Imperial Civil War, the power and authority of the Archdukes within their Domains was gradually diminished by the Empress Arbellatra after the conclusion of the Civil War, at which time the Domain level within the bureaucracy was restructured and became largely bypassed. The titles of Archdukes who had been either deposed for disloyalty or who had died without a clear heir were allowed to become extinct, resulting in a situation after the Civil War in which most of the Domains of the Imperium did not have an appointed Archduke.

Strephonian Reforms[edit]

In more recent times, and in order to stave off the perceived gradual fracturing of the Imperium into local regional loyalties, the Emperor Strephon has been once again expanding the role of Archdukes and the Domain level of the Imperial bureaucracy, appointing new Archdukes to previously vacant titles.

Imperial Governance & Long-term Stability[edit]

One of the far-reaching goals of several of the Emperors of the Third Imperium has been to explore and achieve aeonic stability, or the establishment of a perpetual system of stability and prosperity, a system that preserves and promotes a peaceful and vigorous civilization without inhibiting it. After studying the eventual failures of the First Imperium and the Second Imperium, it has become apparent that the current model of civilization has its limits and the social constructs of sophontdom rise and fall with frightening regularity. The very existence of the Imperial Bureaucracy is rumored to be part of this program to achieve aeonic stability.

Imperial Longevity Programs[edit]

A number of programs have been launched in the over a millennium of the Third Imperium's existence including the following:

  1. Exploration of and experimentation with Psychohistory
  2. Deliberate programs of sophont species inclusion and diversity
  3. A program to establish Imperial Cultural Regions and establish diversity and tolerance of thought
  4. A program to establish Imperial Autonomous Regions and greater self-rule
  5. Gradual improvements to the Imperial Bureaucracy to create continuity, flexibility, and stability of governance
  6. The rumored existence of a special agent program to expand the reach of the Emperor
  7. A failsafe program to safeguard civilization in the case of an apocalyptic event or a second Long Night

See also[edit]

Third Imperium[edit]

§ == ( Please refer to the following AAB Library Data for more information: ) == §

Third Imperium

Sources[edit]

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 Mongoose Publishing or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.
  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 Loren Wiseman. Nobles (Steve Jackson Games, 2004), 65.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Loren Wiseman. Nobles (Steve Jackson Games, 2004), 64.
  3. ↑ Jim Cunningham. High Passage 1 (FASA, 1981), 32-39.
  4. ↑ Loren Wiseman. Nobles (Steve Jackson Games, 2004), 67-68.
  5. ↑ Loren Wiseman. Nobles (Steve Jackson Games, 2004), 72.
  6. ↑ Greg Porter. Central Supply Catalog (Imperium Games, 1996), 5.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 Loren Wiseman. Nobles (Steve Jackson Games, 2004), 66.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 Loren Wiseman. Nobles (Steve Jackson Games, 2004), 63.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Loren Wiseman. Nobles (Steve Jackson Games, 2004), 55.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Loren Wiseman. Nobles (Steve Jackson Games, 2004), 56.
  11. ↑ Loren Wiseman. Nobles (Steve Jackson Games, 2004), 54-56.
  12. ↑ Lester Smith. Milieu 0 (Imperium Games, 1996), 51.
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