Champions of the Empire

Subject

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Ramshackle Empire - Common term used during the Long Night to refer to the Rule of Man, also known as the Second Imperium. As the successor to the First Imperium, the Rule of Man took over the territories (and the problems) of its predecessor. Pro-Second Imperium histories contend that the Rule of Man delayed the inevitable collapse. Pro-First Imperium histories claim that the First Imperium was stagnant, but stable, and that the Ramshackle Empire actually precipitated the Long Night by looting subject worlds and promoting Terran superiority.

See Rule of Man

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Red Zone - The Traveller's Aid Society travel zone classification for a nation, world, or system which is dangerous to travellers. In general, the imposition of a red zone classification indicates the location is quarantined, interdicted by higher authority, or at war.

Quarantine indicates that a dangerous disease is present, and the danger of war is self-explanatory, but interdiction requires further discussion. Interstellar governments often find it necessary to restrict access to worlds or systems for political or military reasons, and they do so by publishing interdictions.

Enforcement of interdiction varies with the reason for the restriction. Interdiction may be imposed on a world if it is a military base or other sensitive installation, for the private reservations belonging to powerful families desiring seclusion, for developing societies which the government elected to allow to evolve in isolation, or for valuable resource areas being saved for later development or exploitation.

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Rule of Man (3265-3693) - A short-lived interstellar empire formed after the conquest of the Vilani Imperium by the Terrans. The conquered territories were under military rule from 3250 to 3265. Vilani military forces were incorporated into the Terran forces. Terran naval officers took over key posts in the Vilani bureaucracy (which was otherwise retained intact).

In 3265, the Terran Secretariat attempted to transfer control directly to Terra and to incorporate the conquered regions into the Terran Confederation. The commander in chief of the Terran Navy, Admiral Hiroshi Estigarribia, realized that the Confederation government could not possibly control the vast territories of the Vilani Imperium. He proclaimed himself Regent of the Vilani Imperium, and Protector of Terra, so both states were now united in the Rule of Man. Nearly all the fleet sided with Estigarribia both because it was composed largely of colonials, where were under-represented in the Terran Confederation government, and because of Estigarribia's careful preparation. The Confederation was dissolved without significant resistance.

The Terran fleet headquarters on Dingir became the capital of the Rule of Man. The bureaucratic center of the Imperium remained on Vland, although arrangements were undertaken to gradually transfer it elsewhere.

Upon Estigarribia's death, he was succeeded by his chief of staff, who crowned himself Emperor Hiroshi II. Estigarribia, even though he did not actually assume the crown, is therefore known to history as Emperor Hiroshi I.

Hiroshi II transferred all functions of government from both Vland and Dingir to a more centrally located world, renamed bilingually Hub/Ershur. This world was to remain the capital of the Rule of Man for the next four hundred years.

During the Rule of Man, large numbers of humans from Terra and its oldest colonies emigrated throughout the Imperium. People of Terran ancestry or culture (many of them assimilated Vilani) assumed positions of power on most worlds and became industrialists and administrators.

The problems of sheer size and scientific stagnation, which had brought about the fall of the Vilani Imperium, continued to plague the Rule of Man. The Vilani had coped with the problems of ruling a large empire by a rigid caste system with all citizens rooted permanently in their places, but this system could last only as long as there was not significant exterior threat. The Terrans did away with this system but were not able to replace it with a new social order. The destruction of the caste system swept away the foundations of society. Key industries fell apart as their workers became free to move elsewhere.

The 3693 date for the end of the Rule of Man is arbitrary and it notes the financial collapse of the central government which occurred when the Treasury at Hub/Ershur refused to honor a monetary issue of the branch treasury at Antares. The resulting lack of confidence within monetary circles marked the end of large-scale interstellar trade and of effective governmental power within the Rule of Man. Although the Imperium did not completely fall apart for many years, the Rule of Man had effectively ceased to exist as a viable interstellar community, and the period known as Twilight had begun.

The Third Imperium refers to the Rule of Man as the Second Imperium, which emphasizes its own roots in the Solomani-dominated Second Imperium and the Vilani-dominated First Imperium. Anti-Solomani elements emphasize the failure of the Solomani-dominated Ramshackle Empire.

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Rule of Terra - A Solomani terrorist group active in selected regions of the Solomani/Imperial border. Violently anti-Imperial even by the standards of most Solomani political groups, the Rule of Terra seeks to force the return of all "rightful Terran property" to Solomani hands through assassination and other acts of violence.

The organization, although interstellar in scope, was apparently not a very strong organization in the beginning; some of its claimed attacks have proven to be accidents, while others were the work of different dissident individuals or organizations.

The Rule of Terra's acts, although not its goals, have been disavowed by many other Solomani groups, including the Confederation government; in return, the Rule of Terra has attacked even Solomani populations, by stating that "all who do not contribute to the Manifest Destiny of the Race are not worthy to be part of the Race."

Since the death of Strephon and the resulting Solomani incursions into the rimward reaches of the Imperium, the Rule of Terra organization has apparently mushroomed in popularity. The group has claimed responsibility for many terrorist acts along the current Solomani/Imperium border.

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