Imperial consulates

[warwizard]

The way I see it, this situation is like any national border on earth can be crossed , anybody could sneak onto a planet. The Imperium only administrates a few select worlds themselves, everywhere else the imperium is the mainworld starport or starports, and access to interstellar travel is what the visa is good for, it allows you to access the starport and take passage on imperial registry ships. It's not for entry into Regina, it's for exit from Regina. Unregistered ships are subject to interception and boarding and or sieziure, and registered ships are the only ships allowed at the starport, with exceptions for visiting foreign naval vessels showing the flag, and interface lines of course.

The Imperium controlls the space between planets, so you have to turn it around to the imperial visa is how you leave the planet. The planet will have offices at the starport to allow entry controls on whom they let in, but the Imperial consolate offices controls who is allowed into the starport and allowed access to the imperium at large. Therefore the consolate offices would be strictly sized according to the demand level of that world's citizens for interstellar travel.

 

[Enoki]

I've had to think about this situation a bit for a project I'm doing right now a bit too. I would think that the Imperium, and other major powers, would have embassys with each other. That is, there might be one or two "embassys" within each power's borders.

In addition there would be diplomatic conusulates and missions that were like satellites to the embassy. These would be on other worlds according to need. So, there might be one consulate per sector or so along with smaller missions on significant system worlds.

A single non-aligned planet might rate a consulate or mission if it were significant enough in terms of local goings on. But, on many non-aligned worlds there would be next to zero diplomatic presence by a major power as they have little reason to waste resources on one particularly if it were fairly far from their borders.

I don't think that the exact composition of these would matter as much as their abiltiy to perform certain tasks and interact with the local government.

So, an example might be that the Darrians have an embassy on Captial along with possibly some consulates or missions in sectors or subsectors near their own borders. You probably wouldn't find any diplomatic presence in say, the Fornast sector for example.

 

[rancke]

This may be of interest. It's an exerpt from A Festive Occasion, an adventure I wrote for Mongoose's Living Traveller campaign. With the campaign shut down I can't vouch for its canon status, but you may find it useful anyway.

"The Diplomatic District houses representatives from other Imperial member worlds and nations and from comparable non-Imperial states, worlds and nations. Representatives from other dukes and from various Imperial organisations are mostly housed in the Ducal Palace and the major neighbouring empires each have large compounds in Wavecrest City outside the Imperial enclave, or outside Wavecrest City in the case of the K’kree. But diplomats from the Darrians, the Sword Worlders, the Tobians, many Aslan clans, the Thoengling Empire and the Commonality of Kedzudh, to name but two Vargr states, and high-population worlds from Fornice to Terra congregate in the district. Obviously, not everyone bother to send representatives to Mora, only those with interests there, but that covers a lot of nations. Some make arrangements to share a single consul. The next step up is rented office space in the outskirts of the district. But if that’s not sufficiently grand, estates consisting of a mansion surrounded by a sizable garden – a small park, really – is available. The richest worlds either occupy several adjacent estates, or have big grav supported flying islands (known as laputas) floating high above an estate where the mansion has been torn down and replaced by a pavilion where those who arrive on foot can state their business and be conveyed up to the embassy (Anyone in a grav vehicle simply flies to the laputa in the first place)."​

--- A Festive Occasion, p. 17​

Hans

 

[MCEvans]

A small aside: For an extended list of Diplomat ranks, GT:Nobles mentions

Minister Plenipotentiary (Minimum noble rank: Marquis)
Ambassador Extraordinary (Minimum noble rank: Baron)
Ambassador (Minimum noble rank: Knight/Baronet)​

Hans

Cool!! I unfortunately have no GURPS stuff

 

[Easterner9504]

Those are Zhodani embassies and consulates. Not Imperial embassies and consulates on member worlds.


Hans

I edited for clarity

 

[rancke]

I edited for clarity

Not actually needed. I understood what you meant. I was pointing out that it didn't have anything to do with the subject at hand (Imperial consulates on Imperial member worlds).


Hans

 

[Easterner9504]

I see.

My point was there couldn't be Embassies or Consulates on member worlds only foreign.

An embassy or consulate would be called Educational, Trade, Cultural or Colonial delegation/board depending on circumstance. Even if fulfilling the diplomatic function between hostile members it would be cloaked in bureaucracies love of euphemism.

 

[rancke]

My point was there couldn't be Embassies or Consulates on member worlds only foreign.

An embassy or consulate would be called Educational, Trade, Cultural or Colonial delegation/board depending on circumstance. Even if fulfilling the diplomatic function between hostile members it would be cloaked in bureaucracies love of euphemism.

That may be the case today. But as I mentioned in my original post, canon shows an Imperial consulate on Zila (and also one on Alell although I didn't mention that one). So there evidently can be consulates on Imperial member worlds. And since that is the case, I don't see why there couldn't be embassies too, although I'm not saying that there necessarily has to be -- that was merely one possible explanation for having a consulate in the starport city instead of the capital city.


Hans

 

[Easterner9504]

My sources say Zila has an Imperial Trading Station for contacting the Vargr. Perhaps something got lost in an authors translation somewhere and that is what was there?

 

[rancke]

My sources say Zila has an Imperial Trading Station for contacting the Vargr. Perhaps something got lost in an authors translation somewhere and that is what was there?

I thibk the least strain is produced by assuming that the Imperial diplomatic tradition is in many ways similar to the diplomatic tradition of 21st Century Terra (being the cultural heir to the Terran Confederation and all), but that it is not a carbon copy and that there are a few differences here and there.

For example, an Imperial Minister Plenipotentiary outranks an Imperial Ambassador [GT:Nobles, p. 71], whereas in 21st Century Terran diplomacy the reverse is true.


Hans