Unitary Imperial American Empire

Congress

The **American Empire** (Officially the **Unitary Imperial American Empire**) is the most powerful successor state to the United States of America that came before it. It controls a vast Empire across the East Coast of North America from Florida in the south to Labrador in the north to Colorado in the west as well as multiple overseas and interplanetary colonial holdings in Europe, Africa, South America, Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn. The United States that preceded it was effectively destroyed during the Third World War leading to the creation of several successor states of the survivors. One such state was the **American Empire**, proclaimed in its capital of Fayetteville (Now called Fayette) by its first Emperor; James Erwin of House Bryson on January 1st 2101 and quickly subdued many of it's rivals in the region using its superior military capabilities, forcing its people into subservience with a mix of physical fear and state run propaganda. Over the centuries the Empire has slowly become less authoritarian, reestablishing the Senate and Congress of the United States as mostly administrative and ceremonial bodies, allowing free Enterprise with a focus on Corporatism and relying less on physical force and more on subtle propaganda to maintain order.

The Empire is one of the wealthiest and most politically powerful in the world, making it one of the Solar Systems Superpowers. The Empire was one of the first to begin Extra-Terrestrial Colonization on Mars and Lunar, possesses a vast array of superweapons, spacefleets and weapons technology was a major driving force behind the establishment of the League of Solar Nations, has aided in many intergovernmental projects such as the Centuri Expedition and is credited for the final victory over the Last Directive in the Great Robotic Uprising.

The Empire is divided into 7 states, each ruled by a Lord Marshal (a hereditary or appointed position) and governed by a State Congress (a series of elected positions) in a system between the State system of the former United States and Feudalism. Each state is subservient to the Absolute Authority of the Federal Government however regional laws are used to fill any holes in the Federal Governments decrees. These states are sometimes used by the Federal Government as testing grounds for new laws as a way to examine their effects on the populace before they are administered at a national level.

The Imperial Marshal (Colloquially referred to as 'Emperor') of the American Empire is possibly one of the most powerful individuals in the Solar System. The role is handed down from the previous Marshal to their son or daughter on either death or abdication and is not bound by rites of firstborn. Abdication is common for Marshals to undertake when they become too old or incapable to serve their position effectively. The role of Imperial Marshal has been contested four times in the Empires history resulting in Civil Wars for succession called the Interregnums. From birth, all children and nephews/nieces of the Imperial Marshal are trained to one day fill their parents role, the most capable is selected by the Marshal with all others servings as Lord Marshals or Military Generals.

The Imperial Congress and Imperial Senate are the representative bodies of the Federal Government, both serve the same roles of administration, voting on bills that will be presented to the Imperial Marshal and acting as advisers to the Imperial Marshal. The Congress is elected based off popular vote with each of the 100 seats representing a percentage of the population, while the Senate is elected based off the votes of each state, between 5 and 20 seats are allocated for each state. The two houses overlapping duties have often led to political infighting between them and animosity between the two groups, this infighting is engineered by the Imperial Marshal to shift the blame of the occasional poor political decision from the Marshal to the Congress and Senate and due to the Imperial Marshals absolute power this infighting rarely causes issues in the apparatus of state. In truth, the power of the Senate and Congress is merely ceremonial and an illusion established to placate the populace. This process has been wildly successful because as of the present day 53% of Congress and 75% of the Senate are dominated by the Autocrat Party, a party sworn to dissolve the democracy of the Empire.