Imperial Race

The Imperial Race is a non-scientific term broadly for the general members of Humaniti residing within the Third Imperium.

• a.k.a. "Imperial Man"

Description (Specifications)

The "Imperial Race" or "Imperial Man" are terms coined to describe the generic race of people resulting from the intermixing of primarily Vilani and Solomani genes among the two primary human subraces within the greater population of the Third Imperium.

History & Background (Dossier)

From almost 10,000 years ago when the Vilani first encountered other human races, considerable inter-breeding has occurred, and from that time onward many humans could no longer be said to purely belong to the Vilani-branch of the Homo sapiens species, the other subspecies of Homo sapiens that they had encountered likewise having become mixed with them and each other as well to a greater or lesser degree. Much later, after the Vilani made contact with the early Terrans as the Solomani were anciently known, during the period that resulted in the Interstellar Wars and the subsequent Rule of Man, the Terran Solomani genes likewise became thoroughly intermixed (regionally, to a greater or lesser degree) with the greater bulk of the Vilani citizenry of the Empire. As a result, this intermixing of Vilani stock with the influx of Solomani genes over a period of approximately 3500 years through the Long Night (and continuing down to the present) to the Third Imperium has led some Imperial citizens to begin identifying with their mixed-ancestry status, considering themselves to be of the "Imperial race". Some laymen even use the subspecies name Homo sapiens imperialis. This is technically incorrect of course, since the Imperium incorporates a broad and non-uniform genetic mixing of human races, from near-purebreds of isolated examples of some races to thorough mixes that are impossible to categorize.

Nevertheless, the term "Imperial Race" is generally taken to refer primarily to this intermixing of Vilani stock with the influx of Solomani genes over the period of the Rule of Man through the Long Night, continuing down to the present to the Third Imperium. In reality, a more accurate assessment would be to say that if any "race" can be said to be typically "Imperial", it is the vast population of humans with indeterminate (but thoroughly mixed) ancestry.

References & Contributors (Sources)

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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.

• GURPS Traveller: Humaniti
• Contributor: WHULorigan
• Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science