Allegiance

[Supplement Four]

Here's a nice little esoteric discussion for ya.

I'm thinking about the depth of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism to the empire the common Imperial citizen has.





-1-
First, let's consider travel. The vast majority of people in the Imperium don't leave their homeworlds. It's too expensive in both time and money. Think about it. Just jumping to the nearest world is equivalent today of spending $8,000 bucks for a week couped up on a shrimp boat. And, that's one way. The spacers who do travel make up a new class of citizen: Travellers.

I mean, this isn't Star Wars, baby! You can't just hop in the family starship and zip across to the next world.




-2-
OK, next issue is government. The Imperium rules the space, but the local governments rule the worlds. If you never leave your homeworld (see #1 above), how likely is it that you will have strong patriotic feelings for some distant political mumbo-jumbo that you only hear about on the news?

What if you live on a world with a government akin to the United States today? Then, some "noble" with subsector authority comes in and tells your President on which side he should butter his toast.

How would you feel about that?

I don't see too many US citizens sitting real well with the idea of a feudal government and an "emperor".

What if that feudal government drafted you? What if that feudal government drafted your son?

And, what would happen if you did become a "Traveller", leave your homeworld, and run into a situation where one of these Imperial nobles had some big influence on your life, both personal and professional? It'd be like a boss at a job you hated having some control over you 24/7.

How would you feel about that?




And what if you're from one of these lower tech worlds on the border? Say you're from Aramanx, where the place is still balkanized, and local tech is about that of the Vietnam War. Helicopters are new, flying around using vacuum tubes. Then, some megacorporation comes in, invests in your world, bolsters the armies of some small-time country, and suddenly you've got the next Hitler on your world, gobbling up everything it touches.

And, the Imperium is doing nothing about it.

How ya feeling about the emperor and his empire now?







So...the question is, how loyal a citizen do you think the typical Imperial is to his lord and empire?

 

[Supplement Four]

Here's a nice little esoteric discussion for ya.

I'm thinking about the depth of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism to the empire the common Imperial citizen has.





-1-
First, let's consider travel. The vast majority of people in the Imperium don't leave their homeworlds. It's too expensive in both time and money. Think about it. Just jumping to the nearest world is equivalent today of spending $8,000 bucks for a week couped up on a shrimp boat. And, that's one way. The spacers who do travel make up a new class of citizen: Travellers.

I mean, this isn't Star Wars, baby! You can't just hop in the family starship and zip across to the next world.




-2-
OK, next issue is government. The Imperium rules the space, but the local governments rule the worlds. If you never leave your homeworld (see #1 above), how likely is it that you will have strong patriotic feelings for some distant political mumbo-jumbo that you only hear about on the news?

What if you live on a world with a government akin to the United States today? Then, some "noble" with subsector authority comes in and tells your President on which side he should butter his toast.

How would you feel about that?

I don't see too many US citizens sitting real well with the idea of a feudal government and an "emperor".

What if that feudal government drafted you? What if that feudal government drafted your son?

And, what would happen if you did become a "Traveller", leave your homeworld, and run into a situation where one of these Imperial nobles had some big influence on your life, both personal and professional? It'd be like a boss at a job you hated having some control over you 24/7.

How would you feel about that?




And what if you're from one of these lower tech worlds on the border? Say you're from Aramanx, where the place is still balkanized, and local tech is about that of the Vietnam War. Helicopters are new, flying around using vacuum tubes. Then, some megacorporation comes in, invests in your world, bolsters the armies of some small-time country, and suddenly you've got the next Hitler on your world, gobbling up everything it touches.

And, the Imperium is doing nothing about it.

How ya feeling about the emperor and his empire now?







So...the question is, how loyal a citizen do you think the typical Imperial is to his lord and empire?

 

[Pickles]

Of course, you might be living on a different kind of world. A world where an autocratic despot has you in his iron grip. A world where the wrong word to the wrong person could mean imprisonment, torture, or disappearance. A world where the one ray of hope which even your leader cannot extinguish is the almost mystical existance of a greater power, an Emperor ...

Then, one day, comes your chance, your key to the universe:

"Citizen Restal, delta-grade, ID THX-1138: Report to your nearest imperial recruitment station for immediate induction to the imperial navy. Failure to report within 21 hours is cause for arrest and punishment according to the imperial military code of justice."

 

[Pickles]

Of course, you might be living on a different kind of world. A world where an autocratic despot has you in his iron grip. A world where the wrong word to the wrong person could mean imprisonment, torture, or disappearance. A world where the one ray of hope which even your leader cannot extinguish is the almost mystical existance of a greater power, an Emperor ...

Then, one day, comes your chance, your key to the universe:

"Citizen Restal, delta-grade, ID THX-1138: Report to your nearest imperial recruitment station for immediate induction to the imperial navy. Failure to report within 21 hours is cause for arrest and punishment according to the imperial military code of justice."

 

[boomslang]

Originally posted by Supplement Four:
How would you feel about that?

What difference does it make? Imperial citizens are required to obey Imperial law and nobility protocols.

As you point out, for the vast majority of the citizenry, it doesn't matter; local autonomy and "home rule" address most people's concerns regarding the role government plays in their lives. The Imperium is all about racketeering interstellar trade, and that system is feudal, and if you don't like it, you can just be interdicted and that ends that discussion, enforced by the IN as necessary.

One of the often-overlooked dimensions to the Imperial feudal system is the relationship between a world's Imperial Marquis and its head of state. The Imperial Marquis is both a diplomat and a governor as regards Imperial interests, but local matters are always left to the local government, whatever its type. (Well, Gov 6 excepted, perhaps.) Just so long as your king or president or prime minister or theocrat or council of elders or board of directors swears fealty (and especially, pays the assessed taxes) to the Iridium Throne via the proxy of the Imperial Marquis, everybody's happy -- or at least they have no grounds to complain under Imperial law...

 

[boomslang]

Originally posted by Supplement Four:
How would you feel about that?

What difference does it make? Imperial citizens are required to obey Imperial law and nobility protocols.

As you point out, for the vast majority of the citizenry, it doesn't matter; local autonomy and "home rule" address most people's concerns regarding the role government plays in their lives. The Imperium is all about racketeering interstellar trade, and that system is feudal, and if you don't like it, you can just be interdicted and that ends that discussion, enforced by the IN as necessary.

One of the often-overlooked dimensions to the Imperial feudal system is the relationship between a world's Imperial Marquis and its head of state. The Imperial Marquis is both a diplomat and a governor as regards Imperial interests, but local matters are always left to the local government, whatever its type. (Well, Gov 6 excepted, perhaps.) Just so long as your king or president or prime minister or theocrat or council of elders or board of directors swears fealty (and especially, pays the assessed taxes) to the Iridium Throne via the proxy of the Imperial Marquis, everybody's happy -- or at least they have no grounds to complain under Imperial law...