Metagame: Continued Ramblings on the Permatic Imperium.

So, again, I am late with my blog postings. Sorry, but again, real life just has a way with interrupting the best laid plans. Still it did bring good news, I now possess my first published credit. Not much per se, but it does include an official, canonized LIC. So, what the hell I am talking about? This: Mongoose Publishing's Traveller Third Imperium setting book, Deneb Sector. For the interested, I am in the Special Thanks and on page 33 right at the top is my newest and official company, Thornwood Security, LIC. So, that is the coolness for me for the week. Now on to the post you have all been waiting for...

In our previous portion of the Lecture we discussed the role of the Sovereign and the Imperial Moot. In this portion we will discuss the Imperial Senate, the Knightly Orders and of course as mentioned in the previous portion, holograms. We might also given enough time delve deeper into the roles of the Imperial Nobility. 

First let us take a look at the over all structure of the government of the Permatic Imperium. 

Structure of the Imperial Government.

As you can from the image, I have skipped a few parts of the government, such as the Imperial Household, the Star Chamber and the Offices of the Crown and Throne. I will attempt to detail them at a later date, but for now let us pick up where we left off in Government House. 

Government House is composed of the Moot and the Senate assembled in the whole. It is composed of the Moot and the Senate and is considered the Moot and Senate assembled in the whole. The Title is only used for those actions which are taken jointly by both the Moot and the Senate together, otherwise the house that originated the particular document is cited as the authority. So say a Proclamation issued to commemorate a visit by a foreign power will be labeled as coming from Government House, where as an Appointment of the Director of the Imperial Scout Service will be labeled as being issued by the Senate.  

So what are the responsibilities of the Senate? Well, first off the Senate functions as the House of Commons or say the old Terran Federation Assembly. The Members are appointed by Member Worlds of the Imperium according to the Rules of the Senate. Senators are the representatives of their worlds, they are not as the nobility is, appointed by the Emperor or Moot, but by a Member World's local government. As such they are beholden to their world and then to the Imperium and the Emperor. They represent the "commons" spoken of in Imperial High Law and other Imperial documents. 

The Senate is responsible for the oversight of the Imperial Treasury and several Imperial Ministries that are also considered the turf of the Senate including the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Information, Communication and Education. They also oversee the Imperial Scout Service, in fact they are the sole authority when it comes to matters concerning the Scouts. Not even the Sovereign can undo those acts undertaken by the Senate regarding the Scout Service. They also may propose legislation and have final approval over appointment of Imperial Judges to the Crown Courts. The Senate also has the right to originate or sponsor Petitions for the Removal of the Sovereign, in addition to jointly approving such Petitions with the Moot. The Senate is also responsible for approving the appointments of members to the Imperial Bureaucracy below the rank of Minister and approval of Ministers.

There is one last power that the Senate holds and that is the trial of nobles. All Imperial Nobles charged with high crimes and misdemeanors are tried by the Senate. If such a trial results in a guilty verdict the Senate is empowered to remove the noble's titles, offices and holdings. While they can remove said noble's titles, offices and holdings, they can not reassign them (unless one of the offices held was in the Imperial Scouts), that power goes to the Sovereign with the approval of the Moot. 

Having detailed the Imperial Senate we now move on the Orders of Knighthood of the Imperium. 

There are many Orders within the Imperium and most of them owe their allegiance to either the Sovereign or to the Imperium itself. They mostly supplement the Imperial Armed Forces in times of war. Each Order has its own rituals and traditions. Some Orders are open only to certain types of applicants, such as the Imperial Order of the Senate which is only open to those Citizens or Subjects who have a Social Standing ≤A. Those of greater Social Standing B≥ are refused entry to the Order and this is codified in the Imperial High Law. The IOS gets its Charter and Orders directly from the Senate and its members are knighted by the Speaker of the Senate. Its motto is "All Are Equal on the Floor." Other Orders, older ones that have extremely long histories owe their allegiance to the Thrones of the Old Empires, but still serve the current Imperium. There is some question which side they may give their service to if one of those Old Empire's Sovereigns should ever make an appearance. 

And now on to holograms. Most media makes a point that the people in that universe know that they are dealing with a projection and not a real person. This is often done by having "scan lines" flit up and down through the projection. This is done on purpose, at TL-E≥ holography is not merely a projection but a dynamic interface. It not only looks real, it feels real, it gives feedback if interacted with. This means that a properly tuned hologram can be very difficult to distinguish from real things. So, to make sure that a being knows that it is dealing with a projection the Imperium encourages a certain amount of imperfection in projections. Now, while most media merely use the old school scan lines, this does not account for the fact that a hologram is in fact a three dimensional projection and not a flat image. So a real true 3d dynamic system will actually have its added "scan lines" show as a three dimensional distortion, not a two dimensional distortion. this results in weird blobs and funny blurs that will manifest inside and move out to the edges. The best way to think of them would be when you see lightning inside of clouds during thunder storms. Slight color changes or shifts might be another method used as well.

Our last bit shall be a brief bit about the military and the nobility. There are a class of the nobility known as the Elevators. The Elevator is a member of the Peerage, usually Barons or Marquises elevated for their actions in the Imperial Armed Forces. They are generally known as either no bullshit, brutally honest and mildly tactless persons or they are very skilled and dangerous hustlers. The military nobles tend to have a bit more leeway to be blunt than is normally accepted due to the nature of "the Services". Generally the blunt will be Barons and Marquises and the political will be Viscounts or better. 

And this concludes our ramble throughout the Permatic Imperium for today. We hope you have found this Lecture both entertaining and informative. For the interested we will be sponsoring a Lecture later in the Series further defining the duties, privileges and responsibilities of the Imperial Nobility later in the year and we hope to see you there. Till we meet again, be well and travel safely. 

Laterness,
Craig.