![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gridloreI know, i said last time that this would feature a discussion of the threats facing the Imperium. I lied. Or more accurately, I realized that there was some that needed to follow the discussion of the now-ripped apart nobility. Namely, we need to examine Imperial Law.
There isn't any such thing as Imperial Law. Drive home safely!
You need more detail? OK. One of the big problems in the ongoing development of the Third Imperium is that is was defined by people living in Western democracies for the most part. This grossly affected how we defined a functional government. For those of us living in the US, the idea that we are "A government of laws, and not of men." as put forth by John Adams dominates our views. So we invented civilian ministries and the entire concept that there were three branches to the Imperial government, giving the Moot some sort of shadow legislative ability and assuming a standing court structure relying on published laws.
Which absolutely would not work in something on the scale of the Third Imperium. Imagine the logistical nightmare of a thousand regional courts issuing rulings on the same laws in wildly different ways, all crawling up the chain to the Imperial High Court! Between the backlog of cases, travel times, and the general slowness of high courts, it could be years or decades before the correct interpretations filter down.
No, the Imperium is a nation of men, not laws. One man, actually. The Emperor holds supreme authority over the state, and rules through Edicts that have the effective force of law. Over a thousand years Edicts and how they are enforced has built up into a semblance of a legal code. As an example, Imperial Edict 7 states that "the possession of weapons capable of mass destruction if forbidden unless specifically authorized by the Throne." Well, that's vague. But over the centuries numerous enforcement actions have defined both what constitutes WMD and what the punishments should be.
Most of the early Edicts are like this. Cleon I issued 27 Edicts in the first few years of his reign that defined the Imperium. Edit 4 defines treason as "making war upon the Imperium or a member state of the Imperium, adhering to the enemies of the Imperium, or any attempt to undermine the sovereign rights of the Imperium." Again, a very broad order that has been interpreted over time.
Now we come to enforcement. As I said above, it is insane to think that any court system could function in this setting. So instead you have the Imperial Navy. All naval officers (including Marines) act in the Emperor's name and with his authority. So when there is a violation of law, nine times out of ten the investigation and punishment will be handled by the Navy. Usually this means Naval Intelligence and Admiralty Courts. But out on the frontier it might be the next light cruiser to come by on patrol. A green Commander might find herself sitting in judgment of a group of conspirators against the realm. (Hint: this is a campaign hook.)
So what prevents abuses? Such trials and their results are reported up the chain of command and to the local Consul-General and Count-Elector. Appeals also go to the Count-Elector for review. If that Commander botches the job, she might not only find her career trashed, she might be riding a prison barge into exile himself! (Possibly with a few other interesting fellows, who are suddenly given a chance to escape. This is a Blake's 7 campaign hook.)
Despite the informality and vagueness of Imperial Edicts, there are lawyers who specialize in Imperial Law. They study the precedents from across the Imperium to ferret out arguments and loopholes. They are very expensive, and every good Travellers' Aid Society office has a few in the Rolodex right next to the hostage rescue team's contact information.
There you have it. A state where one man rules, but those rulings are carried along by the force of traditional and precedent, and where your fate may in the hands of a Naval officer who slept through his Legal Theory classes at the Academy.
As always, comments wanted.
There isn't any such thing as Imperial Law. Drive home safely!
You need more detail? OK. One of the big problems in the ongoing development of the Third Imperium is that is was defined by people living in Western democracies for the most part. This grossly affected how we defined a functional government. For those of us living in the US, the idea that we are "A government of laws, and not of men." as put forth by John Adams dominates our views. So we invented civilian ministries and the entire concept that there were three branches to the Imperial government, giving the Moot some sort of shadow legislative ability and assuming a standing court structure relying on published laws.
Which absolutely would not work in something on the scale of the Third Imperium. Imagine the logistical nightmare of a thousand regional courts issuing rulings on the same laws in wildly different ways, all crawling up the chain to the Imperial High Court! Between the backlog of cases, travel times, and the general slowness of high courts, it could be years or decades before the correct interpretations filter down.
No, the Imperium is a nation of men, not laws. One man, actually. The Emperor holds supreme authority over the state, and rules through Edicts that have the effective force of law. Over a thousand years Edicts and how they are enforced has built up into a semblance of a legal code. As an example, Imperial Edict 7 states that "the possession of weapons capable of mass destruction if forbidden unless specifically authorized by the Throne." Well, that's vague. But over the centuries numerous enforcement actions have defined both what constitutes WMD and what the punishments should be.
Most of the early Edicts are like this. Cleon I issued 27 Edicts in the first few years of his reign that defined the Imperium. Edit 4 defines treason as "making war upon the Imperium or a member state of the Imperium, adhering to the enemies of the Imperium, or any attempt to undermine the sovereign rights of the Imperium." Again, a very broad order that has been interpreted over time.
Now we come to enforcement. As I said above, it is insane to think that any court system could function in this setting. So instead you have the Imperial Navy. All naval officers (including Marines) act in the Emperor's name and with his authority. So when there is a violation of law, nine times out of ten the investigation and punishment will be handled by the Navy. Usually this means Naval Intelligence and Admiralty Courts. But out on the frontier it might be the next light cruiser to come by on patrol. A green Commander might find herself sitting in judgment of a group of conspirators against the realm. (Hint: this is a campaign hook.)
So what prevents abuses? Such trials and their results are reported up the chain of command and to the local Consul-General and Count-Elector. Appeals also go to the Count-Elector for review. If that Commander botches the job, she might not only find her career trashed, she might be riding a prison barge into exile himself! (Possibly with a few other interesting fellows, who are suddenly given a chance to escape. This is a Blake's 7 campaign hook.)
Despite the informality and vagueness of Imperial Edicts, there are lawyers who specialize in Imperial Law. They study the precedents from across the Imperium to ferret out arguments and loopholes. They are very expensive, and every good Travellers' Aid Society office has a few in the Rolodex right next to the hostage rescue team's contact information.
There you have it. A state where one man rules, but those rulings are carried along by the force of traditional and precedent, and where your fate may in the hands of a Naval officer who slept through his Legal Theory classes at the Academy.
As always, comments wanted.
no subject
Date: 21 Jun 2016 01:38 (UTC)What sources are you using for all this? I've got a storage box full of Traveller material and I confess I've never heard of the “Moot” or specific numbers of edicts or of the Imperial High Court. Of course it's all from the time and stops at about 1985 save for Traveller New Era and Fire Fusion & Steel which is invaluable as a gaming resource in its own right…
I'd guess you're drawing on GURPS Traveller for much of this?
no subject
Date: 24 Jun 2016 03:34 (UTC)There's no specific count for Edicts, There are specific references to them. Imperial Edict 97 establishes the power of an Imperial Warrant, and there are mentions of specific Edicts revoking the charters of all Psionics Institutes in the Imperium. This all dates back to MegaTraveller as well.
no subject
Date: 24 Jun 2016 03:40 (UTC)Okay, that makes sense - I never meshed with MegaTraveller (or Traveller: 2300, tho' that one looked interesting). The original rules and supplements were good enough for me.
“Old School RPGs”
Date: 24 Jun 2016 14:10 (UTC)An opinion:
https://oldschoolrpg.wordpress.com/2009/09/17/traveller-the-rise-of-megatraveller/
…The quality in art and layout compared to the LBB’s was night and day. This
was a true ’80’s game with all the new talent emerging in the field to fuel
a really impressive product. Traveller had also used a means of
proliferation and expansion that MegaTraveller continued, which I didn’t
like. It used licensed producers of the product. In fan circles and from
GDW alumni it is regarded as fact that GDW produced a new product every 22
days for 22 years. Imagine the scale of that. Try to find a modern RPG
company that could match it. You can’t. Still, they found the need to
license out to other companies the production of Traveller merchandise.
In the original classic Traveller, the most impressive notable
subcontractors for Trav were RPG legends in their own right: FASA and
Judge’s Guild. Their material was good, but also a lot harder to find than
the straight-GDW material, hence my disdain overall for the idea.
MegaTrav made it worse. GDW contracted out some of their products to Digest
Group Productions (DGP). These products were incredible and are considered
some of the best to be produced for Traveller in detail and overall quality
of layout. The Starship Operator’s Manual, Vilani & Vargr and Solomani &
Aslan remain some of the hardest to find and most expensive of the old Trav
products. Thus, I hate them. It’s a love-hate thing. I have ’em, but it
took forever to acquire them. They were never offered by my local game
store, which outside of the parent company was the only way to get a new
game back in the ’80’s. You had no internet to get you by.
All the same, MegaTrav and the accompanying new setting won me over and I
started collecting books for this series. The enhanced character creation,
in my opinion even more detailed and impressive than that of Classic Trav,
was a real winner. The clunky game system was not…
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Me, I went straight on to Traveller New Era, in which everything is possible, from old-school adventures in the Regency (the one surviving realm of the Imperium) to bloody senseless pocket wars fought in systems no longer possessing jump-capable ships, to creepy-as-fuck scenarios on “graveyard worlds” where the life support systems had suddenly failed but maybe not everything is dead…
If I were to run a game again I'd use the WEG Star Wars RPG D6 rules because they're usable for everything, but I'd still want that setting.