Polity

A Polity may be any group that organizes for political purposes. Also commonly known as interest groups.

• This includes organizations, institutions, and many other kinds of interest groups.
• Please note that a polity does not necessarily indicate a government although it most often does.

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• Government
  • Political Function
    • Civilian
    • Military
    • Paramilitary
  • Political Science
  • Polity
    • Polity Types
      • Mesopolity
      • Subpolity
      • Supra-polity

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Description (Specifications)

A polity can be manifested in many different forms, such as a state, an empire, an interstellar organization, a political organization and other identifiable, resource-manipulating organizational structures. A polity, like a state, does not need to be a sovereign unit.

Polities may cleave upon any number of binding factors such as:

• Cultural identification (folkways)
• Geographic identification (astrographics)
• Historical identification (shared experiences)
• Racial identification (common genetics)
• Religious identification (belief system)
• etc.

Polity Types by Size/Organization

• Sub-polities are members of a polity or supra-polity. They have often been given considerable sovereignty over their governing powers. Some think of them as states, provinces, domains, or sub-groupings within a nation-state.
• Polities are a standard government or interest group, consisting of various numbers of members. They range from World-States to Hyper-Powers although hyperpowers generally form Supra-polities. Sometimes called meso-polities.
• Supra-polities are overarching polities that create a grouping of more conventional polities, usually to resist the advances of a larger polity. Many to most super- and hyper-powers form supra-polities. All of the governments or polities of the major races are supra-polities to some degree.

History & Background (Dossier)

While no formal system of polity classification has ever been agreed upon by the major races, the majority of the interstellar academic community has generally agreed upon the below system:

Polity Data Type Table

Powers (Politea)

#	Size Descriptor (Power)	Type (Sovereignty)	Allegiance Code	Ling. Descriptor (State)	Comparitive Descriptor	World/s	Range	Remarks / Notes / Examples (Polarity)
1.	World-State (Petty Power)	Non-Aligned Power (Improbable Sovereignty) (extremely limited sovreignty)	NaXX	Micro State (Micro Nation)	Petty Power	1	World	Non-polar (20th century CE / -2550 3I / Terran Conflict Analogy: Unrecognized. No mention. Not newsworthy. 4th or 5th world (least well developed) powers: Andorra, Malta, etc.) [Extremely impoverished] [Typically Client states]
2.	Pocket Empire (Lesser Power)	Independent Power (Possible Sovereignty) (limited sovreignty)	4ltr Allegiance Code	Mini State	Small Power (Smaller Power)	2+ (2 to 24)	1+ Subsector/s	Sub-polar (20th century CE / -2550 3I / Terran Conflict Analogy: 3rd World (poorly developed) Africa) [Typically Client states]
3.	Minor Power (Smaller Power)	Independent Power (Probable Sovereignty) (significant sovreignty)	4ltr Allegiance Code	Minor State	Lesser Power	25+ (25-49)	1+ Subsector/s	Quad- or Multi-polar (20th century CE / -2550 3I / Terran Conflict Analogy: 2nd World (lesser developed) Asian Tigers, Portugal, etc.) [Typically Client states]
4.	Major Power (Great Power)	Independent Power (Sovereign)	4ltr Allegiance Code	State (Conventional) Meso-state	Great Power (Meso-power) (Middling Power)	50+ (50-99)	Several Subsectors to 1+ Sectors	Tri- or Multi-polar (20th century CE / -2550 3I / Terran Conflict Analogy: 1st World (well developed) France, Germany, Japan, etc.) [Mostly Independent]
5.	Super Power (Greater Power) (Very Great Power)	Independent Power (Sovereign)	4ltr Allegiance Code	Major State	Very Great Power (Greater Power)	100+ (100-999)	Several Subsectors to 1+ Sectors	Bi- or Multi-polar (20th century CE / -2550 3I / Terran Conflict Analogy: Cold War: USA vs. USSR superpowers) [Well developed and leading powers] [Almost always Independent] [Typically Supra-polities]
6.	Hyper Power (Greatest Power)	Independent Power (Sovereign)	4ltr Allegiance Code	Macro State Hyper State	Greatest Power (Mega-power)	1,000+ (1,000+)	Multi-sector	Uni- or Multi-polar (20th century CE / -2550 3I / Terran Conflict Analogy: Clear dominance: USA, Ancient China, Roman Empire, etc. hyperpower) [Superlatively developed and THE leading power] [Always Independent] [Typically Supra-polities]

References & Contributors (Sources)

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.

• 101 Governments]]
• Mongoose Traveller: Societies and Settlements
• Traveller Wiki Editorial Team
• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science