Imperium of Vectis

> *"Justice, Honour, Obedience"-* official motto of the Imperium of Vectis.
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The Imperium of Vectis, often referred to as the Imperium and sometimes the Empire, was established by emperor Hastus Aucorian, shortly after the planet Vectis unified under a single ruler and developed space travel. While the people of the Imperium were originally strictly human the vast majority of Vectisian people were largely xenophilic. While open minded, the people of the Imperium greatly valued order and stability. The emperor was granted decisions over all facets of the government, though he was counselled by consuls, influential members of vectisian society.

## History

The Imperium was formally established on May 5th, 5211. The vectisian people had reached the capability of space travel eleven years prior and the ability to utilize the Riftway in 5210. With unanimous support from the imperial senate and the populace at large, emperor Hastus Aucorian declared the Imperial Expansion Project.

A network of shipyards was constructed around a barren world in the Vecarion system and began creating exploratory and military vessels. Within a year, the first of the exploratory ships had used a rift gate to jump to the nearest star system. Within a decade, the Imperium had claimed over a dozen systems, several of them containing inhabitable worlds. In this way was the Imperium truly born.

As the empire continued to expand, concerns rose among the imperial senate that Aucorian was gaining too much power. Both the military and the navy were almost fanatically loyal to him and the senators came to fear that he would purge those few that disagreed with him. However, the populace that were served by the senators threatened to withdraw their support of said senators.

Having come dangerously close to losing public support and their seats in the senate, the resistance to the emperors' reign dissipated quickly. In a bid to strengthen ties with those consuls loyal to him, emperor Aucorian rewarded them worlds and star systems in exchange for their continued loyalty. Consuls were granted rulership of the world and placed in charge of the wellbeing of its' inhabitants.

### First contact

The Imperium first encountered an alien race on 5231.09.13, when Imperial survey ships came across the planet Kabor. There, the crew of the vessel made contact with the reptilian humanoids, kaborans. Though they had developed limited fusion cores and space-capable ships, they lacked the technology to enter the riftway. What the reptilians lacked in spacefaring technology, they more than made up for in weapon manufacturing.

After a brief session of the senate, the planet Kabor was offered membership in the Imperium, with access to imperial technology, in exchange for kaboran weapons manufacturing. The transition to being confined from a single star system to having access to known imperial space sealed the loyalty of Kabor and the kaborans' impressive penchant for arms crafting. Kaboran Arms was created from this fortuitous encounter, with the company having a presence on most of the Imperium's' worlds and providing most of the weaponry for the Imperial Army.

Perhaps more importantly, such a peaceful, not to mention prosperous, union between two peoples spurred vectisian curiosity. More people than ever were signing on to crew surveyor ships or colonize new worlds. This lead to a massive expansion of the Imperium's borders, more than tripling them within half a decade. The Vecarion system became the seat of the empire, with Vectis itself becoming the crown jewel, prospering from trade deals with a dozen minor galactic powers.

### The Cyporean Technocracy

Main article: Imperium-Technocracy war

Shortly after the expansion of the Imperium's' borders, several frontier worlds reported strange and disturbing events. Several worlds reported strange meteor showers, even when ground and space sensors failed to detect them. Others, sudden, localized communication blackouts. The most disturbing was to follow. People would go missing, taken from their homes and open areas by unknown assailants. Local authorities organized search parties of the areas the people were reported to have last been seen, to no avail.

Things came to a head when the entire crew of a mining base in the Liandus system disappeared overnight. When an investigative force arrived, they found the asteroid base deserted, with bloody scratches on the floor and walls, indicating the crew had not willingly abandoned their base. Before the investigators could return to their ship, it was destroyed by an unidentified vessel. They were stranded and at the attackers' mercy.

By the time reinforcement arrived, they found the investigative force had been wiped out, though not before leaving a message about 'metal monsters'. In the eyes of the senate, and the Imperium at large, this unprovoked attack was an act of war. The cry for justice was swift and both the imperial navy and army were shifted to a war footing.

It was not long before scout vessels discovered traces of recently opened rift gates in the systems the disappearances had taken place in. Back engineering the origin point lead an imperial retribution fleet into the territory of the Cyporean Technocracy. The imperials faced stiff resistance from ships they had never seen before and the first shots of the war were fired.

The war between the Imperium and Technocracy lasted several years and ended in a stalemate. While the Imperium managed to hold its territories, the population of the empire no longer was optimistic about what dwelt among the stars. Militarism was embraced by the Imperium, in the name of being prepared for future conflict with the cyporeans.

### Treachery at Triborium

Main article: the assassination of emperor Aucoran

After the devastation of the Imperial-Technocracy War, the empire was slow to recover and faith in the emperors' leadership was badly shaken. Civil unrest on the outlying worlds of the Imperium stretched the imperial navy and army thin. Several systems seceded entirely, sparking bloody civil wars or conflicts with their neighbours. While this was nearly disastrous for the rulers of the Imperium, it presented a one-in-a-million opportunity for consul Gardon Tricorus.

Tricorus had always seen the emperors' leniency as weakness and in the aftermath of the war, began to gather like-minded allies. Generals, senators, and several high ranking consuls were convinced to support Tricorus as a contender to the throne. The consul knew he could not openly declare war on the emperor. So, instead, he invited emperor Aucorian to the triborium system, where he had assembled his fleet and a large graviton minefield.

The treacherous consul suggested Aucorians' ship, *Empire,* and it's three escorting ships merge with his own fleet, to survey Tricorus' domain.The emperor agreed, and the four ships began to make their way across the system. Once they reached the edge of the graviton field, the first of the escort vessels, the *Imperious-*class battleship, *Tempestuous,* was caught with its' shields down and crew caught fully off guard.

By the time the *Empire* realized that they were drawing dozens of graviton mines to them, both of it's escorts had been crippled, and the ship had suffered multiple hull breaches. The emperor died alongside his loyal crew and more importantly, died without any heirs. Consul Tricorus declared his ambitions for the throne, but was killed soon after. With his death and the death of the emperor, a short, bloody, civil war broke out, as four claimants all attempted to take the imperial throne, ending with Dacius Vestarion becoming the new emperor in 5243.

### Imperialization

Under Vestarion, the Imperium became much more militaristic, focusing on tightening coordination between sectors and systems, while installing safeguards in the form of the Imperial Security Agency and the Imperial Investigative Bureau. Imperial spending on starships and weapons tripled within four years of emperor Vestarion taking the throne. High Consuls were given sector fleets, to ensure the security of their territories. The vectavian sector was renamed the throne sector, and inhabitants of the sector were known to enjoy a higher standard of living. Companies in imperial space, such as Kaboran Arms, were swiftly nationalized. Despite minor protesting in some outlier worlds that keenly felt the sudden increase in security, the imperial populace generally accepted the change in policies.

## Government

The Imperium of Vectis was ruled by an emperor or empress, even before they took to the stars. While they ultimately made decisions regarding the empire at large, senators of the imperial senate were more than capable of moving against a ruler that they found unsuitable for their purposes. For this reason, many rules of Vectis sought to gain the loyalty of the imperial military, to use as a deterrent against would-be usurpers. While there have been instances of the senate dethroning rulers they saw as 'unfit' outright coup attempts were rare and far between.

The imperial senate was responsible for counselling the current ruler, overseeing the legislative and executive branches of the empire. In addition to this, they were capable of dethroning a ruler if they felt that said individual was working against the empires' best interests. The senate was answerable to the people they represented and seeing their needs and interests addressed in sessions. It was not uncommon for rival senators to politically or literally sabotage one another in order to gain favour or further their own agendas.

As the Imperium grew, senators were among the first to gain greater territories and influence. Senators became responsible not only for a handful of people but entire planets and in some cases, star systems. This lead to each senator gaining in both wealth and some cases, ambition. In most cases, this amounted to little more than one senator attempting to grab power from another, but there were some notable exceptions.

Governor-Consuls were raised from the rank of consuls in the imperial senate on Vectis. Once the vectisians took to the stars and began settling other worlds, these men and women were charged with ruling the worlds of the Imperium. While senators represented the people in the senate, consul-governors were responsible for overseeing the construction, economic infrastructure, and military of the world. Governor-consuls reported to the high consul of the sector, who in turn reported to the consul-praefect, based on Vectis.

### Executive branch

The executive branch of the Imperium was lead by the Office of the Emperor, a handpicked group of officials, from Vectis or nearby worlds, that handled the day-to-day activities that kept the Imperium running. The real power behind the executive branch was in theory, the governor-consuls, as laws needed to be passed from them to the populace of their worlds. However, the praefect-consul on Vectis, had the power to 'override' the decisions of any or all governors, if they believed the governor's to be in error or going against the interests of the empire.

As the Imperium became more centralized, the governor-consuls lost most of their influence and became little more than mouthpieces for the praefect-consul. In the interest of avoiding another civil war, many governors went along with their roles. It was no secret that the Praetorae, the elite bodyguard legion of the emperor, would be dispatched to 'adjust' the views of any dissidents. Examples were frequently made of the more rebellious administrators, in order to dissuade further unrest. This tactic was not always successful, as shown with the Trigia riots.

### Judicial branch

Overseen by the High Court on Vectis, the judicial branch of the Imperium was charged with interpreting and pronouncing laws, setting standards, and deciding questions that affected all aspects of vectisian society. Courts on the worlds throughout the imperium were responsible for upholding local laws as well as the wider laws of the empire. Police forces throughout the imperium were ultimately answerable to and served the courts.

The Imperial Security Agency served as the imperium's secret police force, and were generally seen attached to military units, as observers and occasionally tasked to hunt down dissidents. While the ISA was technically under the authority of the courts, in reality, it operated autonomously, subjecting officials throughout the Imperium to vigorous scrutiny on a whim. The ISA was divided into three branches. The Imperial Bureau of Investigations, is responsible for domestic threats, often working with planetary security forces.

The Imperial Intelligence Agency was responsible for surveillance of enemy assets, intelligence gathering, and counter-intelligence. They were most often attached to military operations, often for entire campaigns. They worked to collect, analyze and process information before disseminating it to military leadership. In active battlezones, the IIA was tasked with locating high-priority targets and objectives, as well as breaking enemy encrypted communications.

The Imperial Corrections Agency, contrary to what it's name might suggest, is actually the branch of the ISA that is the most secretive. While Imperial Intelligence worked in the shadows to monitor and disrupt enemies of the Imperium, it is the Corrections Agency that acts on this information. Each agent of the ICA is a highly trained operative, that is often inserted deep into enemy territory, tasked to eliminate officials and politicians that need to be 'quietly removed' from the equation. It is an unfortunate truth that the Emperor may utilize these operatives against troublemakers within the Imperium itself, though none dare mention that beyond closed doors.

### Military

The Imperial military was the primary armed force of the Imperium. It consisted of the Imperial Army, the Imperial Navy, and the Imperial Advanced Tactical Corps. All three branches of the military worked closely, either to bring rebellious worlds under control or defend imperial holdings from outside forces. Imperial Intelligence and the Imperial Bureau of Investigations often worked with the military and on occasion were embedded into military units throughout the Imperium.

Soldiers of the Imperial military, specifically the infantry, were called legionnaires and organized into legions of four thousand men, led by a legate. Every legionnaire was expected to serve a five year term in the military, although this could be extended indefinitely in times of conflict. Legionnaires who performed above expectations were often selected to undergo specialist training, often becoming members of the Imperial Special Operations Corp. Serving in the Imperial military as an auxiliary was the fastest way to guarantee citizenship for people not from the Imperium.

### Other Imperial organizations

One of the other imperial organizations was the Imperial Science Corps, designed to expand the Imperium's technologies. In the early days of the Imperium, the science corps, were responsible for developing powerful artificial intelligence systems, designed to improve the lives of imperial citizens and day to day administration of the Imperium. After the first war with the Cyporean Technocracy, all but the simplest AI's were outlawed, and even those were subjected to severe scrutiny.

After the war, much of the science corps' energies were directed toward weapons and shield technologies. Military technological compounds were some of the best guarded in the Imperium. Over the years, the imperial military scientists developed the R9-disruptor, the *Hadian*-shield gate, and the *Refractor-*pattern shield generators. Most of these inventions were classified, and created on worlds or space stations that had sparse populations. Rumours of the science corps creating mind-controlling chemicals, intended for biological warfare circulated frequently, but no such projects ever came to light.

Though the military scientists received the lion's share of funding, they were not the only research complexes in the Imperium. A joint Alliance-Imperial team was among the first to discover means to reverse the effects of global warming on worlds that had suffered exploitation by negligent or overzealous corporations. The F5 carbon scrubber was a simplistic drone, designed to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere of heavily populated planets. The SN-200 Regulator was designed to monitor and diminish the byproducts of factories throughout the Imperium, lowering their effect on the environment and improving quality of life for locals and factory workers.

The Imperial Exploration Division was responsible for scouting out new systems, unclaimed worlds, and valuable resources. The exploration division was equipped with lightly armed ships, built more for speed than combat. Despite being one of the least acknowledged organizations, Imperial scouts gladly boasted that they were responible for the expansion of the Imperium. Though this is debatable, it is true that they are often the first to set foot on a soon to be Imperial colony.