Metagame: The Counties.

So, I as you may well know by now am working hard on the Far Stars Sector and the Permatic Imperium setting. One of the things I have been working as again as you may know are the Astrogation Charts of the Imperium.

And I have that list of the Peerage of the Imperium with some details, but a lot of holes. For instance, at the time there were nine Count level worlds in the Imperium, so there are nine Counts in the Imperium. Only three are named, Daarnulud, Interhaus and Calais. Count of Calais is one of the Emperor's many Titles, Ranks and Offices. (He may use this Title in situations where he does not wish to be recognized as the Emperor officially so as to avoid a fuss or problems due to His Imperial and Royal status.)

Well, the other six Counties are yet to be named, but the planets are now marked on the Charts. I should say highlighted, check the bright spots. :D

County Seats of the Permatic Imperium. (circa 0150-0200 PIY)

I have [FS 0827] Ireaded marked as the Imperial Seat of County Interhaus. The Imperial Seat of an Imperial County (as opposed to a National County) is where the Imperial business is headquartered. So say you are an Imperial Deputy Marshal and you are hunting down a fugitive in the County Interhaus. When you bag your badguy and they get processed and see a Judge and possibly are sentenced to an Imperial Correctional Facility, all that Imperial Bureaucracy is done on Ireaded, Imperial County Seat (Interhaus). 

I have also marked out the Seat of County Calais, which of course is Permatic, no surprise there. It is also marked in the Royal Blue of the House of Kirosowa  The point is to later have all the Counties in the House color of whatever House has the County currently. Which leads into another point. 

Based on the Holdings of Count Rudolf Interhaus, I have decided that the standard Imperial County is expected to be at least eight worlds and include at least one Ag world, if not a couple or even a Ri Ag world. Basically, this world is set up so as to take the function as the County's breadbasket. 

So, as you might recall, Rudolf's father, mother and eldest sister were killed in the Winter Ball assassination attempt against the Emperor twelve years ago. It was this tragedy that cut short Rudolf's budding Career in the Imperial Navy and forced him into the Nobility and up to the lofty rank of an Imperial Count. His brother Walter is now the Duke, taking over their father's position which it was expected that their sister would inherit. Turns out if you look at the placement of the County Seats, perhaps another Count who had their County adjusted held a serious grudge. Ah, the heady scent of Court Intrigues. 

A couple of things to note are that oddly enough the Boothe Cluster happens to be eight worlds. The County Seats that are shown are those of the first one hundred and fifty years of the Permatic Imperium. There are quite a few worlds still waiting for the Imperial Bureaucracy to datamine stats for them to advise the Moot and His Imperial and Royal Majesty Vladimir the Second where the best locations are for new Imperial Holdings to be officially established, including new County Seats that might be created. The cool thing about this is it leave a bit of space for Referees to both have some nice stable, under table, free styling and profiling politics and some NPCs who can most def be used as Patrons for some scheme or another. Dangit, here I was trying to create a neato,, light, enlightened Imperium and here I have the makings of what at first looks like an attempt against the Emperor, but may in fact killed exactly who it was supposed to. Only the fact that Rudolf was standing behind Vladimir and was thus enclosed His Majesty's personal White Globe saved him from being killed as well. I wonder if Walter understands exactly where he might be sitting at the Moot. 

Wow, and this was just going to be a quick "Hey, while you are waiting for some in depth stuff, check out this groovy new map!" post and has now evolved into a true post about the Counts and Imperial Counties. Neato! (Yeah, I say "Neato" in print, kids. Because it is a cool word. Deal. :p)

So, I have yet to figure out who all the Canon Counts are and I have yet to figure out where to put the "open" County Seats. So, I have quite a bit of work to go, but this is the start of something I have been thinking about for some time. I think I will do a series of Imperial Seat Charts. Might be interesting for plots and stuff like this idea that some one at Court is still possible at large having committed High Treason for which there is still an open Warrant. (And now a brief note brought to you by the Imperial Ministry of Justice. :D Along with Sophonticide, Sophont Trafficking and Slavery, High Treason is one of those crimes that stays open and has no statute of limitations.) That person might also still have a secret beef against Rudolf whole damned House. And Captain Sir Darin Hawk, Baron Redsm's Player did say he'd like to play War of the Roses IN SPACE. I of course have my own cunning Referee Story Arcs I am starting to mess around with. Metagamewise, I have already had moments were the Psionics on the ship when it Jumped felt as Reality itself was modified while they were in Jumpspace. But, then again, Jumpspace and Psionics are not always such a good mix. Though evidence does seems to indicate that brief exposure to J-space may activate a latent psionic potential. It does not oddly enough say exactly what the percentage is compared to say the numbers that go insane, die, have body parts consumed by it. So, I don't know if I would try it, but it seemed to work for one Boothe, G/IISS, listed in what is said to be an unredacted snippet of the report. 

Sorry, if this post rambles around more than usual, been a very long day. I got some more hours in meatspace job, so have been falling a bit behind and I am tired and writing this extemporaneously.

So, back to the Counties. I am now off to fill out the County borders and mark the County Seats with an Allegiance Code for the TravellerMap Post function. Plus there is naming the Houses and Counties and so on and so forth.

I hope you enjoyed this and found it informative. And if some of you are using any of it in a game, let me know how it is working out. 

Well, here I close and proof, and edit, and proof again, and then an hour later it will look better. What, you say, by the time you get here the proofing and editing looks pretty damned sparse? Scroll up quick!  Pictures! Internets likes pictures. Makes Internet not so cranky. :p

Laterness,

Craig.

PS: While I was proofing and editing and thinking I remembered I had a brief list of the original Great Houses of the First Imperium, or Volcker's Imperium. It turns out it was near at hand. So, for the curious, here is that list circa the First Imperial Year Zero (001-0000 VIY) or as I recall, about 2719 Common Era.  The Houses are color coded by the political (and often astrographic ties). The list is by no means complete as to all the players in the formation of the First Imperium, nor does it have a full list of all the Noble Houses. Again, while a House maybe listed in a particular faction it does not mean they are actually from that region. For example the House of Thornwood is a Terran House, but sided with the Alliance agreeing with their basic grievances with the Terran centric Federation.

The Outer Colonial Alliance: Volcker, Singh, Weiss, Thornwood, West, Rezuuna, Kirosowa.

The Middle Colonies: Daarnulud, Arkiasan, Jones, Shawnyc, Inter, al-Vlada.

The Terran Federation: Windsor-de Bois, Han, Black, Haus, Felglen.