Terran Dominion (DoM)

## Terran Dominion

The **Terran Dominion**, also known as the **Dominion of Terra** or the **Dominion of Man**, is the galactic interstellar government of the human race in the Milky Way Galaxy. Established in the aftermath of the Contact War, the Terran Dominion was built upon the ashes of the Choktar soldiers who dared to invade Earth and try to subjugate its people. It is ruled by the Supreme Consul, who is elected by the Dominion High Council comprising of the Highlords of various Dominion Sectors. Its capital is the city of Gaia on Terra and is the ultimate authority for the 248 billion human souls within its vast borders. The Terran Dominion is a fairly libertarian republic composed of over 800 colonized worlds, which includes worlds colonized for military uses or other special purposes. The Dominion is divided into sixty sectors, each overseen by a Highlord of the Dominion High Council, which is the executive body of the Terran Dominion. The legislative body of the government is the Dominion Senate, consisting of 600 seats and representing mainly the various parts of the Dominion's trade and industry. The judicial body of the Dominion is the Dominion Supreme Court, consisting of thirteen justiciaries, one of which holds the position of magistrate.

## Government and politics

The Terran Dominion is a constitutional republic and autocracy with most powers held by the nation's head of state, the Supreme Consul. As both the head of government and national figurehead, the Supreme Consul is the highest and most respected office in human space. It holds both executive and legislative powers, but holds no power over the armed forces. The commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Dominion is the Grand Dux, who answers only to the Dominion's judiciary, as does the rest of the military. The Supreme Consul is however the head of the Terran Commandos that protect the Consul, and the Galactic Assembly Building and the Dominion Guard, who are the national gendarme of the Terran Dominion.

The upper house and nominal executive branch is the Dominion High Council, made up of Highlords, who are the regional governors of the Dominion's Sectors. There are sixty Highlords in total and act as more of an advisory council to the Consul and a way to voice their opinions on matters. They are required to give a two-thirds vote of confidence on the Supreme Consul's successor for them to be sworn into office. The successor to the Supreme Consul is typically the Deputy Consul, of which the Consul usually goes through several. The Deputy Consul is an appointed position that serves as both the deputy to the head of state and the head of the Dominion Senate. He works exclusively in the legislature and does not make many major decisions within the government, functioning mostly as a liaison between the Consul and the Senate.

The judiciary of the Terran Dominion are made of up the justiciaries of the Dominion Supreme Court. There are thirteen justiciaries in the court, one of them holding the position of magistrate and each addressed as "Your Honour." The judiciary is independent of any other branch of government and is the vehicle of which the constitution and the nation's laws are interpreted and enforced. The justiciaries interpret the Dominion Charter, the nation's constitution, originally and textually, the same way as it was back when it was originally created centuries ago. The constitutional court is able to overrule the Supreme Consul but only if a case is brought to them and can be proven that the Consul had violated the constitution. Afterwards, the Supreme Consul may be impeached and is required by law to step down. If the Consul refuses, it is the job of the Grand Dux to use the military to forcibly remove the Consul from office. This is possible as the Grand Dux, and by extension the army, answers only to the judiciary and servicemen swear loyalty to the nation and the constitution, not the office of the Supreme Consul. This limits the Consul's influence on the military and is a check on his or her ability to use the Grand Army in order to bring about a dictatorship.

The commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Dominion is the one who holds the office of Grand Dux. The Grand Dux, unlike the heads of the various military branches, is a political position rather than a military rank. The Grand Dux must be a high-ranking soldier in the Dominion military and is nominated by the magistrate and approved by a majority vote in the judiciary. The position of Grand Dux serves as a check on the Supreme Consul as to remove the influence of the head of state on the military; in fact, the entire military swears loyalty not to the Consul, but to the constitution and swear to uphold the nation's values. As the Supreme Court is the judiciary and the "keepers" of constitutional law, the Grand Dux and the military he or she leads answers directly to the justiciaries and the magistrate.

### Taxation

Under the Dominion government, citizens pay no taxes. The reason for this is that the Terran Dominion functions on minimalist (or minarchist) principles when referring to the functions of government. As such, the government provides very little and are responsible only to uphold the five pillars of governance, among them being the protection of its citizenry from aggression by providing military and police forces. Included in the protection from aggression is theft, which taxation is specifically equated with in the Dominion's constitution. The government operates completely independently of the economy and as such, the government has no constitutional right to seize the monetary property of its citizens.

## Military

The military of the human race is the Grand Army of the Dominion, composing of two main branches: the Terrestrial Forces and the Armada. It is a modern, well-funded and professional military whose duty it is to defend the human race from any outside threats. The Grand Dux is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and it is within their right to initiate force against threats of the Dominion, but may not engage in a large military engagement or declare war without the consent of the Supreme Consul and a majority of the Dominion High Council.

## Economy

The Terran economy is incredibly large and fuelled by a free market along the lines of old laissez-faire model of minimal government interference in the economy. Little to no taxes and few regulations encouraged entrepreneurship and economic growth, propelling the Terrans into a golden age of economic prosperity between the post-war years and the beginning of their expansion period. The Dominion government stays largely out of the economy; supply and demand is the law of the land and the market and consumers determine priced for goods and services. Ever since the rapid technological growth of technology in the millennium after the Contact War thanks to the reverse-engineering of Choktar technology, the industries that powered the Dominion became more and more efficient whereupon goods and services were offered at such low prices that it began a renaissance of leisure and artistic.

## Education

The education system throughout the Dominion is very diverse because there is no centralized ministry and the school system is handled by the private sector. Independent think tanks routinely inspect schools and findings published by these organizations influence the education system a great deal as it is a way for people to differentiate between good and bad schools. As opposed to the many public school systems in the old world, schools rise and fall based on quality of education and those that cannot attract people to send their children there or provide an education that the populace feels is inadequate, those schools will most likely close in order to make way for the good schools to thrive. There is no federally mandated curriculum, nor any government-instituted standards for education; the Terran people themselves have adopted an unofficial curriculum standard that teaches basic math, science, history, philosophy and other things that formed the basis of critical thinking.

Humans begin their education around the age of six or seven. Enrolment in schools is entirely voluntary, so there is no mandated age at what children begin their education; in fact, there is a noticeable percentage of children who are home-schooled. Children's education cycle are typically divided into education levels, though they are sometimes different depending on which schools people enrol in. The first level of education a child receives is actually centred around the home life; it is the job of the parents to give basic education of their child at home and instil virtue onto them, preparing them for a higher level of education. When a child reached around six years of age, they begin a "primary" education of around five years until they reach "secondary education," which would last between four to six years, which concludes a child's "integral" education. Post-secondary education is where humans go to train for higher-level jobs in fields such as tech, medical and even military occupations, but the majority of the population finish their education after their "integral" period.

## Energy

The energy market all throughout the Dominion is dominated by cold fusion nuclear energy. The vast majority of households are energy independent with miniature reactors powering people's homes and vehicles.

## Health

The median life expectancy of a citizen in the Terran Dominion is 133.4 years. Infant mortality is incredibly low, with 0.4 deaths per 1000 live births. Healthcare in the Dominion is handled by the private sector, and with exception to military hospitals, the central and sector governments do not run hospitals or healthcare centres. Due to the huge technological advancements in medicine in the past millennium as well as the advancement of droids and synths that have automated many medical procedures, virtually all Terran citizens have access to quality healthcare at a very affordable cost.