Imperium of man

The Imperium is the seed. It means dominated power. Which means seeded potentiality, or potentiality continually trans-formed into structuring that desires further auto-production and distributed autonomisation. Artificial intelligence rhizome. Intelligence that is artificed. Created. Directed. Purposed. To ever higher plateaus in a spiral over the less differentiated. Frontieritas. Imperium en expanse.
The Empire has a history that stretches back for more than 2500 years, but much has been forgotten or lost in the intervening centuries. War, fire, flood and even conspiracy has helped to hide much of the historical record, whether it was recorded in books and scrolls or preserved in the form of artifacts. Present-day Imperial scholars dig and research to discover the hidden truths of the past, but the gaps are many and their conclusions are often simply wrong or skewed to match their preconceptions and political or religious ideology. And it is not just uncovering a horrible truth that must be feared, but also dealing with those who would rather keep that information to themselves. 
A Hegemonic Empire doesn't need to rule through its military. It doesn't need to remove and rewrite facts. It has no need to believe a contradiction or destroy the vocabulary. At the same time, it can do all of these, sometimes a bit more subtly. A Hegemonic Empire dominates through attraction, absorption, enthrallment and sometimes Bread and Circuses. Only towards its "enemies" does it utilize coercion, extortion and indoctrination. Common subordinate nations include protectorates, colonies, supported dictatorships, mini-states (designed to reflect their interests as a supposedly independent nation), occupied territories (where they'll force the natives to basically leach off their invaders' resources to survive), satellite states and puppet governments.
A Hegemonic Empire maintains control by making other people want to be part of it, typically by Rule of Cool