Overview
By the 38th Century virtually all of humanity is incorporated into a single society: The First Unified Imperial Combine of Earth. The head of state is the Empress, Ecoria Faustrathes Maerane.
The Imperial Combine occupies many of the habitable systems on the Orion arm of the Milky Way galaxy, as well as significant portions of the Perseus and Sagittarius arms. While the Imperial Combine was not the first of mankind's attempts to spread to the stars under a single banner, it has certainly been the most successful. It is now in its sixth Solar century.
The Empire is a meritocratic society in which capability and talent are not just rewarded, but directed deliberately from a young age. As such, the civilisation boasts a cohesive, productive majority.
The Imperial Combine is technically a monarchistic empire, but the position of the head of state is somewhat ceremonial. The real political power is held by the Home Council, based on Earth, and each star system in the empire exists under the rule of a single proconsul.
Citizens living under Imperial rule are divided into two broad classes: Ordinaries and Raised. An Ordinary citizen does not have so many privileges as a Raised citizen, and in many political matters must petition a Raised to advocate on his or her behalf.
The security and material interests of the Imperial Combine are protected by four organisations, discussed in the next section. To allow those organisations to operate effectively, and to ensure they are trained and equipped adequately, the Empire maintains a number of facilities throughout its territories.
The Imperial Combine occupies many of the habitable systems on the Orion arm of the Milky Way galaxy, as well as significant portions of the Perseus and Sagittarius arms. While the Imperial Combine was not the first of mankind's attempts to spread to the stars under a single banner, it has certainly been the most successful. It is now in its sixth Solar century.
The Empire is a meritocratic society in which capability and talent are not just rewarded, but directed deliberately from a young age. As such, the civilisation boasts a cohesive, productive majority.
The Imperial Combine is technically a monarchistic empire, but the position of the head of state is somewhat ceremonial. The real political power is held by the Home Council, based on Earth, and each star system in the empire exists under the rule of a single proconsul.
Citizens living under Imperial rule are divided into two broad classes: Ordinaries and Raised. An Ordinary citizen does not have so many privileges as a Raised citizen, and in many political matters must petition a Raised to advocate on his or her behalf.
The security and material interests of the Imperial Combine are protected by four organisations, discussed in the next section. To allow those organisations to operate effectively, and to ensure they are trained and equipped adequately, the Empire maintains a number of facilities throughout its territories.
Security
Imperial NavyTerritorial security and space superiority are the responsibilities of the Navy. The Imperial Combine controls a huge armada of ships. The armada is sub-divided into fleets, each of which is usually commanded by an admiral.
Fleet Command directs the admiralty, but it is the officer in the role of Commander Operations who has strategic control. |
CAGAThe Combined Air and Ground Assault forces are the Empire's combined army, marine, and air forces.
CAGA assets are normally ferried by the Imperial Navy, but they have their own internal command hierarchy. While the Navy may fight in orbit or in deep space, it is CAGA men and women who operate on the surface of planets. |
Eyes and EarsEyes and Ears is the Empire's covert intelligence bureau. This agency is responsible for domestic security, as well as countering threats and gathering information from rival civilisations.
Every Imperial world falls under the remit of a Monitor, and each star system is overseen by an Invigilator. The agency also makes use of field agents. |
The Shard ProgrammeAlthough it uses CAGA soldiers in the role of counterparts, and navy personnel as executive pilots, the Shard programme is considered entirely separate from the other military branches.
Shards are elite operatives appointed by the Throne, and their remit is as expansive as it is obscure. They are often deployed to carry out work which the Empire would prefer to keep quiet. |
Meritocracy
Following a series of fundamentally flawed social concepts, humanity grew tired of trying to build a star-reaching civilisation which did not waste natural or human resources. The Imperial Combine was designed from the ground up to be as close to fully meritocratic as any society could be.
Individual citizens in the empire are obliged to be educated according to the state's sanctioned curricula. Throughout their formative years — and, indeed, throughout their lives — the population is monitored and assessed so that two things can be established about every citizen:
There is little to no nepotism or favouritism in the Imperial Combine, and very few opportunities for individuals to coast along effortlessly while enjoying the fruits of others' labours. With contemporary medicine being sufficiently advanced to prevent or correct most debilitating conditions, and advanced stipend and saving systems in place to enable care for the very young and the retired, the cost of social care in the empire is ridiculously low. In short, the Imperial Combine boasts a productive, proactive, and intelligent majority.
Every facet of society is intended to support and promote human expansion, colonisation efforts, defence, resource exploitation, technological progress, and so on. There is no room for people to overly exploit the social fabric for purely selfish ends. Because of this meritocratic nature the Imperial Combine could not afford the luxury of indulging a proliferation of the over-privileged classes. As such, a two-tier system was devised to allow political expedience and security in decision-making. Under this system, the majority of citizens are considered Ordinary, while an accomplished few are Raised.
Individual citizens in the empire are obliged to be educated according to the state's sanctioned curricula. Throughout their formative years — and, indeed, throughout their lives — the population is monitored and assessed so that two things can be established about every citizen:
- Their natural skills and projected aptitudes,
- Their Intellectual Fitness Coefficients (IFCs).
There is little to no nepotism or favouritism in the Imperial Combine, and very few opportunities for individuals to coast along effortlessly while enjoying the fruits of others' labours. With contemporary medicine being sufficiently advanced to prevent or correct most debilitating conditions, and advanced stipend and saving systems in place to enable care for the very young and the retired, the cost of social care in the empire is ridiculously low. In short, the Imperial Combine boasts a productive, proactive, and intelligent majority.
Every facet of society is intended to support and promote human expansion, colonisation efforts, defence, resource exploitation, technological progress, and so on. There is no room for people to overly exploit the social fabric for purely selfish ends. Because of this meritocratic nature the Imperial Combine could not afford the luxury of indulging a proliferation of the over-privileged classes. As such, a two-tier system was devised to allow political expedience and security in decision-making. Under this system, the majority of citizens are considered Ordinary, while an accomplished few are Raised.
Ordinary CitizensOrdinary civilians are those not identified as presenting advanced intelligence, special skills, or useful aptitudes. Typically, Ordinaries fill the fabrication and service industry roles on most planets — as well as the less glamorous and riskier off-world positions — but this is by no means an absolute rule.
Ordinaries have limited voting rights and can only vote directly on local matters affecting the province in which they live. This would generally include legal or political development on their own planet, but not Empire-wide political or legal changes. They are unable to present their own motions to the local proconsul, including those to do with wider Imperial policy, and can only petition Raised to do so on their behalf. |
Raised CitizensA Raised citizen is one who has been given more political prestige by the government of the Imperial Combine. This occurs because they have been identified as excelling; whether in intelligence, talent, drive, or accomplishment.
During their education citizens of the Empire are constantly assessed; those showing high potential are marked for future development. Raised citizens may vote directly in non-local matters, rather than relying on a proconsul to vote on their behalf. They may also bring matters before their proconsul on behalf of Ordinary citizens, in the form of a petition. |
Imperial Standards
Governing an interstellar civilisation is a lot of work, and involves the reconciliation of thousands of measurement units and calendar systems. As such, the Empire has a number of standards which take primacy in situations where multiple competing standards would create confusion.
Earth Legacy CalendarThe Earth Legacy Calendar (ELC) is the standard, present-day Terran calendar, modified for interval regularity and uniformity.
Thanks to synchronous communications the ELC provides a universal date reference which can be used throughout the many star systems of the Empire. |
SolarsOne Solar is a standard Earth year. This unit of time is adopted almost universally for describing date differences, and placing periodic events such as human birthdays.
The Solar would not be used for location-specific purposes. For example the harvest period on a non-Terran planet would be better identified using the local metric. |
MeasurementThe metre is still the standard unit of distance, and as such all derived units are still in use. These include:
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