Empire

The Empire is one of two interstellar super-states that has been sharing human-controlled corner of the Universe during the First Era of human Civilization. During the First Era, the Empire is an interstellar state that includes seven star systems. It is ruled by an absolute Monarch from the Khan dynasty. Imperial seat of power lies at the Capitol City on the planet oceanic planet Limmea.

## History

#### The Great Oligarchy, year -678-715

Year 678 after the Exodus. Pangea, the largest continent of Limmea was ruled by the Great Oligarchy, a cartel of rich and powerful business magnates. Their ambition was literally to rule over the whole planet. Shortly Oligarchs have started the Unification Wars.

#### Unification Wars of Limmea, year 701-715

Unification Wars started year 701 when a giant armada of ships under the leadership of Grand Admiral Unmesh Khan embarked to conquer two other continents of Limmea, Zeeland and Dar.

The Unification Wars concluded with Oligarchy's full formal control over all three continents of Limmea. But in the reality, all of the conquered states have pledged allegiance to the Grand Admiral Unmesh Khan. Oligarchy was aware of it, so a restraint order based on accusation of treason was sent to displace the victorious Grand Admiral. Fortunately, operatives who was supposed to carry out the order were killed on sight by Khans loyal troops under the command of his husband, Alexander Denj.

It was a natural conclusion that Grand Admiral Khan turned his armada back to conquer Pangea itself and cleanse Limmea from the corrupt Oligarchy. With merely meeting any resistance Unmesh Khan have marched his troops over Capitol and displaced the Oligarchs. Under applause of his troops and citizens, who were happy that Unification Wars are over, Unmesh Khan have proclaimed himself as the first planetary King of Limmea.

One of the classical ancient imperial songs tells the heartbreaking story about how the First King Unmesh Khan had to abandon his husband, Alexander Denj, in order to start the Khan dynasty with Anissa, a imprisoned noblewoman and daughter of an executed Oligarch.

#### Kingdom of Limmea, year 715-847

For over 200 years the Khan dynasty was ruling Limmea with justice and iron fist, but closer to year 811 the Kingdom started to face a crisis of overpopulation combined with ineffectiveness of an overly centralized governmental rule. Severe climate change that destroyed 25% of Limmean crops caused famine in year 828. Civil unrest started to boil among among hungry and unemployed workers on the distant continents of Zeeland and Dar under the rule of the Queen Priscilla Khan I. Under the fear of revolution, she employed the Colonial Fleet to crash the monarcho-sceptics with military might of the Kingdom, but that move have only undermined the loyalty of Priscillas own troops.

On the brink of planet-wide revolution, the unrest was relieved when an imperial scientist, Rufus Haddad have invented an interstellar hyper-engine year 835. News of Royal spaceships that can conquer the depths of universe were widely used by the governmental propaganda machine in order to give citizens a sense of hope in the future. Soon sensational discoveries of other human-inhabited worlds in the neighboring solar systems started to reach Limmea. It helped to mobilize dissatisfied citizens around an idea of conquering the new frontier in the name of the Monarch.

#### Empire of Limmea, year 847-1029

The 840s became a time of ruthless colonization of newly discovered worlds when desperate and hungry citizens from the Limmea were literally descending from the skies on local populations, of neighboring planets, taking their lands and settling their homes. By the year 847, five colonies were added to the Kingdom of Limmea and that time Monarch Alexander Khan I, who succeeded Priscilla Khan I, declared this new interstellar state to be called the Empire of Limmea.

Since then the Empire was going through a transitional period when new institutions were established to rule distant worlds under the imperial might. The Empire of Limmea was thriving and consolidating its power over new lands until in 1024 one of the imperial patrols shot down an unidentified vessel. That spaceship turned out to be a scout from the Human Interstellar Alliance. This act of aggression laid the beginning of the Mirror Wars.

#### Empire, year 1029-

During Mirror Wars, in order to manifest the unity in the face of an enemy, the Empire of Limmea, by Monarchs Decree was renamed to be called simply Empire. It was a sign of modernity and consequence of successful integration of the colonies into the unified system of imperial government.

#### Mirror Wars 1024-1092

During the Mirror Wars the modern Federation and the Empire of the First Era were born. These interstellar entities waged devastating war over hundreds of lightyears of their bordering space until the devastating mutual defeat of both fleets in 1092, during the Battle over the Blue Hive. This giant loss made both Federation and the Empire come together behind the negotiations table.

#### Future of the Empire 1092-

After signing the Mutual Respect Act and declaring peace with the Federation, the Imperial government chose to focus on developing its inner worlds and fortifying borders. Nominal peace has never been seen by the Empire as such, more like a declaration of Cold War with the Federation.

## Khan Dynasty

#### **Imperial Monarch**

The Empire is an absolute monarchy. It is ruled by an Emperor or an Empress from the Khan dynasty. Officially the title of the Emperor or Empress is a lifelong commitment, but most of the monarchs choose to step away from the power, leaving the rule over to their chosen Prince- or Princess-Consort. The Consort is one of the Monarchs children that is chosen as most suited to be in power over the Empire.

#### Cult of Personality

The Imperial Monarch is seen as an infallible, incorruptible being that is equal to a divinity in its power. Although religions are banned in the Empire, the cult of the Imperial Dynasty is the most common religious practice amongst the common people. It manifests in day to day practices like loudly thanking the Emperor or Empress before each meal, or widely celebrating Monarch-related dates, like their birthday or the anniversary of their sacred union.

#### Succession

Unrelated to their sexuality, each Monarch is obliged to commit to a sacred union with a suitor of the opposite sex in order to create multiple possible successors. Aside from that, the Imperial monarch is allowed to have multiple concubines of any gender to satisfy their true needs. Historically, multiple Emperors and Empresses of the Khan dynasty have spent their lives in deep relationships with their concubines while seeing their formal partner only during official ceremonies and celebrations. This practice is kept secret from the general public, but is completely accepted by the court.

Each Imperial Monarch is obliged to have multiple biological children. More than three is a rule and no adoptions are allowed. The reason for this is to preserve the genetic line of the Khan dynasty. There is an existing practice though that the identity of Monarchs children is kept in complete secrecy until one of them is being chosen for the throne. Rumors suggest that until that moment, Princes and Princesses are given away at a young age to the trusted families or institutions to be raised as common citizens on Capitol. The Imperial Monarch is observing their lives carefully and choosing the Consort based on their manifested ability and life merit.

## Governmental structure

There are three branches of power that stretch under the rule of the Imperial Monarch:

#### **Imperial Chamber of Lords**

Lords are nobles that govern over planets under the Empire. The Chamber of Lords is an executive branch that is applying all imperial laws on populations of their controlled planets. Each Lord is nominally pledging for lifetime service to the Empire, but they are usually being replaced by a successor long before their age starts to affect their performance in the executive role.

Most Lords are living with their families in the Capitol, but all of them are obliged to spend at least 50% of each imperial universal cycle on their governed planets. There is a clear pattern where most competent Lords are living the larger part of IUC on their governed planets. It is still debated if it’s a cause or effect of the planet's prosperity.

#### **Court of Representatives**

The only democratic institution and the second legislative power after the Imperial Monarch themselves. CoR is being formed from elected citizens from all of imperial worlds. Each world has its population proportionally represented by one Representative per 100 million people. Representatives are being elected every ten IUC. During each term they live and work on their home planets and gather in the Capitol five times per IUC to pass laws and seek an audience with the Imperial Monarch themselves.

#### **The Secret Council**

The anonymous cabal headed by the Imperial Monarch that is involved in every aspect of the Imperial state. The secret council is more like a club for the most powerful and rich, but has formal collective power over all formal institutions. Members of the Secret Council are either appointed by the Imperial Monarch, or suggested and voted upon by other members, and then allowed to join by the Monarch themselves.

Usually the Secret Council is assembled out of industrial, business- and military elites. Membership in the Secret Council is indefinite, but can be revoked any moment by the rule of the Imperial Monarch. While the Intelligence services and spaceship builders are always sitting on the Council, membership of the military and navy have been revoked a few times when the Imperial Monarch was suspicious of a military coup.

Officially, the Secret Council can, equally to the Imperial Monarch, override, reject or approve any initiative from the Chamber of Lords or the law suggested by the Court of Representatives. This makes the Secret Council a de-facto ruler of the Empire in the case of the Imperial Monarch's absence.

## Military

#### **Imperial Colonial Fleet**

Unofficially called Imperial Navy is the strongest branch of Monarchs military power. It`s name calls back to the Unification wars when the Unmesh Khan led his armada of ships over the endless oceans of Limmea to subdue other continental nations and turn them into colonies under the Royal rule.

Currently the Imperial Colonial fleet encompasses thousands of spaceships and millions of personnel on active duty. Most of the ICF forces are stationed on imperial fringe worlds in order to intercept smugglers, pirates and Federal attack groups. Only a small portion of ICF is protecting the Capitol on Limmea.

Most ships for the Imperial Colonial Fleet are being built on Zirkon with components made Amenda and other colonies.

#### **Imperial Peacekeeping Corps**

The empire has neither a distinct Police force or Army. Both of these institutions are combined in the militarized Imperial Peacekeeping Corps. This branch of military power specializes in ground combat policing of civilians and riot suppression. The Empire has adopted a practice of always sending the Peacekeepers to serve on planets that are foreign to them, like Peacekeeper from Zirkon would serve on Amenda, while Amendan recruits would be sent to Zirkon. It is done to keep the loyalty of Peacekeepers unchallenged even when they need to execute civilian rioters by eliminating any possibility that Peacekeepers will have to subjugate their disobedient childhood friends or family members.

The only imperial planet that has no Peacekeepers stationed on it is Limmea itself. It is guarded by the Honored Legion that is officially led by the Imperial Monarch themselves and doesn't answer even to the Secret Council.

The Imperial Peacekeeping Corps don't either possess any means of interstellar transportation except for a few smaller vessels that are used by the Imperial High Command. All interplanetary transportation of troops and materiel is being handled by the Imperial Colonial Fleet. Imperial Peacekeeping Corps were deprived of their own space fleet by the Decree of Emperor Alexander Khan II as a consequence of a failed military coup attempt.

#### **Honored Legion**

Elite force of the Empire that protects the Capitol and answers directly to the Imperial Monarch. Each Legionnaire is handpicked from any branch of the imperial military, except those that belong to INI or Imperial Hand. After rigorous screening and training process, only 10% of the recruits get an opportunity to join the ranks of the Legion. In order to serve, they are obliged to pledge for 15 ISC of continuous service without bakes or vacations.

During initiation to the legion each Imperial Legionnaire is going through a ceremony of short death - they are being artificially drowned and when they are on a brink of death, the Legionnaire is being revived and obliged to recite the Sacred Oath to the Imperial Monarch. Since the ceremony and until the last day of five year service, each Legionnaire does identify as a dead soul that has no other desires, but to serve the Imperial Monarch.

At the end of service, each Imperial Legionnaire is given The Gift Of Fife, another ceremony where they also get drowned and wake up the opulence of newly acquired riches of compensation. It is considered fair in the Empire that Each veteran of the Imperial Legion is eligible to a life without poverty or need. Aside from hefty financial compensation each former Legionnaire is being offered an effective rehabilitation program to reintegrate them into the Imperial society. Plenty of former Legionnaires became prominent citizens of the Empire.

On duty, Legionnaires do often wear fully covering armor that hides their physical appearance. Citizens of the Capitol see them as nothing other but pure manifestation of Imperial might and justice.

#### **Imperial Militia**

Civilian police force that protects citizens on Limmea outside of the Capitol. By the firepower and standard of equipment, of all imperial forces they are closest to the Federal Local Police Force.

#### **Imperial Naval Intelligence**

Prime intelligence service of the Empire. INI operates in tight collaboration with the Imperial Colonial Fleet and has a mandate to commission any vessel for its purposes. INI is led by the Master of Whispers that has a seat on the Secret Council.

#### **Imperial Hand**

A small and highly trained group of operatives that answers directly to the Imperial Monarch and the Secret Council. There is no information on either organization or these operative, selection criteria, nor routines that guide members of the Imperial Hand. Rumors suggest that this small branch of the imperial military force is an informal bunch of highly regarded scoundrels and sleeper agents that operate mostly in federal space and act as unseen agents of the Empire.

## Society

The Empire has evolved to have a variation of a caste society with different tiers of citizenship and strong incentives for the citizens to remain in the caste that they were born to. After the birth, each citizen is being granted a tier of citizenship that is equal to their parents. That tier can be upgraded or degraded over the individual's lifetime.

### **First Class Citizenship**

The First Class Citizen can travel freely around the empire, commit to a sacred union with anyone and choose any occupation they desire. FCC doesn`t either put any restrictions on the amount of offspring a citizen can conceive. This is the most freedom a citizen can have while living under Imperial rule.

### **Second Class Citizenship**

Second Class is most prominent Citizenship in the Imperial colonies. Statistically, 75-90% of colonial citizens are of Second Class. Belonging to this cast gives the citizen a privilege to work and own property. Procreation though is limited where each union of Second Class citizens is allowed to conceive one child. License to have multiple children should be requested from the local Lord and is given only after a high financial or societal merit. The prime Privilege of Second Class Citizens of the empire is being able to apply for First Class citizenship. It may be given if the citizen is choosing to participate in a dangerous job that is needed for the good of the Empire.

### **Non-Citizens**

Not having Citizenship at all puts one in the lowest caste of the Imperial society. These are the foreigners and citizens who got disowned by the Empire for their crimes or betrayal. Non-Citizens can not own any property in the Empire and their offspring if found can be terminated on sight. Plenty of Non-Citizens willingly sterilize themselves and work as slaves for food and shelter in homes of even relatively poor Second Class Citizens. Just like Second Class Citizens, Non-Citizens can earn Citizenship for a significant merit, but there are very few individuals that have managed to do so.

According to unconfirmed rumors, there is a giant City of the Damned under the surface of Zirkon that is inhabited by Non-Citizens. Only there they can live a decent life and have children, but the location of this secret city has never been confirmed by the Imperial authorities.

### Downwards social lift

Given the uncontrolled reproduction of the First Class citizens, the Empire has developed multiple mechanisms that can downgrade citizenship of an individual:

**Citizenship test** - it takes place in the end of the school, when the citizen is roughly 15 Limmean years old. It is a week of rigorous mental and physical tests that give the young citizen an average score. Best performing children do either get to behold their First class citizenship, or being granted it if they have clearly outperformed their peers. The amount of top performers that are allowed to be First class citizens is varying each year according to the needs of the Empire. Teenagers that are downgraded to Second class citizens get one week to say goodbyes to their families before deportation from the Capitol.

**Unqualified Demotion** - if a First class citizen fails to have a steady job for two Limmean years, they are being demoted to the temporary Second class citizenship and deported from the Capitol. They have a chance to be reinstated if they find a suiting career in the Capitol over upcoming five Limmean years.

Last, but not least the citizenship class can be downgraded or even stripped completely as a punishment for a crime. Also, it is important to mention that citizenship classes do not apply to the noble families and their members.

## Religion

All sects and religions in the Empire are strictly forbidden. Of course there are plenty of local traditions and faiths that are being précised among the population of Imperial worlds, but they are all mixed and intertwined with the Cult of the Imperial Monarch. Citizens of the empire are conditioned to see the ruling member of the Khan dynasty as an infallible, divine being and praise it at any suitable moment.

Imperial relation to the religion brightly manifests in the strict ban on the teachings of the Children of the Strings. Any willing contact or collaboration with this federal religion is punishable by death according to the decree of the Imperial Monarch themselves.

## Culture

While being spread over multiple worlds, the Empire incorporates populations that foster multiple vibrant local cultures. All of them are being suppressed by the centralized cultural narrative that is being created in the Capitol and spread through media and education. Sometimes, the influence go both ways, like when the Empire adopted a local Zirkonian festival of colors as an empire-wide Day of Zhia. While living in a strict hierarchical society, imperials in general value honesty, devotion and servitude. The figure of Imperial Monarch serves as a vector for admiration and a reminder of a just social order of the Empire.

### Work and occupation

Imperial media work hard to uphold a narrative that the Empire is a perfect society where each individual is being born with a pre-determined purpose inside their own caste. People who devote themselves to one single craft over the course of their lives are being praised by their peers. It results in a comfortably static population where children often continue the occupation of their parents. Over hundreds of years this trend have created precedents where over five thousands of workers from one Zirkonian shipyard happened to belong only to three interconnected families. There are few social lifts in the Empire, but individuals who try to use them are being frowned upon. Unless the person is being backed by state media as an exceptional imperial citizen that is being obliged to ascend between casts in order to play a bigger part in the shining monolith of the Empire.

### Fashion and behavior

There is an interesting trend in the imperial society that can be described as High-Low, Middle. It manifests in a pattern that the Highest and lowest classes share plenty of similar behavioral traits, while the middle class of citizens looks and behaves completely different.

For example, it`s only the Imperial Monarch, few prominent personalities and the whole non-citizen caste that can allow themselves to wear hair longer then the shoulder line and dress in colorful clothes outside the rare festivities.

Middle class of First- and Second class citizens live according to a completely different code of conduct: Industrial workers dress mostly in calm pastel colors, favoring tints that represent their industry. Servants of the imperial bureaucracy prefer to dress in white, black and all shades of gray. This high conformity is being enforced by peers and praised as a sign of devotion to the Empire. Some highly positioned bueraucrats do even choose to shave their heads clean in order to mimic the baldness of the Imperial Monarch of old.

### Sexuality

There is no sex- or gender based discrimination written in imperial laws. Any citizen can commit to life partnership (merry) if they belong to the same caste. Non-citizens though have no means to legalese their marital status.

Homosexuality is seen as a part of the norm in the imperial society in general. The only exception being families from lower middle-class that have either First or Second class of citizenship. Low tolerance towards same-sex relations is being caused by both legal and cultural factors:

Second class citizens that have achieved some recognition in the imperial society are still not allowed to have more then one child. So, each son or daughter is being seen as a keeper of the bloodline by them.

First class citizens are allowed to reproduce beyond control but they are also concerned with strengthening the bloodline. Given that first class citizens are not provided with any maternal benefits during childbearing, finance and reproductive health are only factors that hold their population in check.