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The Greater Haromian Empire

"The Greater Haromian Empire is the result of millennia of war and fighting, of tolerance and extermination. However our rhetoric remains true. Humanity alone is fit to rule this galaxy. From the Terrans of Sol to the Knephians and ourselves, humanity has shown the capacity for war, for destruction, for great evil deeds, but also the capacity to temper war and destruction with charity and benevolence. It's our duty to guide the alien races into a greater, human-led future, whether they want it or not." - Emperor Ghenadie VII of Haroma

Section I: Introduction

Current Emperor: Emperor Isaiah II of Haroma

Estimated Population: 3,516,500,430,000,000 (3.516 Quadrillion) Citizenship Rate: 42% Human: - 33% Haromian - 18% Knephian

Anthropomorphic: - 13% Evoradi - 12% Vervortian - 10% Remnoran - 8% Astain

Alien: - 6% Nublor

Primary Vassals: - High King Erik V of Remnora Novus - Queen K'an III of Remnora - King Cecilio of Astain - King Velimir of Nublor - Doge Amilcar (Serene Republic of Kneph) - Director Csonka (Evoradi State) - Grand Marshal Vasiliev (Vervortian State)

Religion: - The Haromian Church (All Branches): 97% (estimated)

A purely democratic state is an experiment of the fools, run by fools, and a sign of societal decay. Only the strong can truly rule and democracy allows the weak to rule the strong. At least that's what the Haromians believe. Viewing themselves as the prime evolution of humanity, among the four known human species, the Empire dedicates itself to war, cold and hot, against any that would oppose its authority. As the pre-eminent military power of the galaxy, the Greater Haromian Empire believes itself to be the vanguard of humanity, or at least of Haromian interests.

In the early days of the Second Haromian Empire, the nation had a stance of racial purity and actively exterminated non-Haromian races they came across. As like-minded species were encountered on a similar military level as the Haromians, this policy gradually softened. In the early 10th Imperial Century, a war broke out between the two Remnoran states. In an effort to prevent excessive bloodshed and to absorb the small, unstable states, the Haromian Empire intervened. The intervention cost the lives of tens of billions of Remnorans but ultimately resulted in the two nations being made vassals to the Empire.

With the newfound military power and additional manpower to draw from and throw onto the front lines, the Empire quickly subjugated the equine Evoradi and the ursine Vervortians and forced them into vassalage to the Empire. Seeing greater benefits, the Doge of Kneph chose to voluntarily join the Empire. These six nations, as a result, formed the founding nations and leaders of the Greater Haromian Empire. As a union of nations, though clearly preferential toward the Haromians, the Greater Haromian Empire relaxed its ideas of racial purity in order to keep the Empire together.

In the years before the founding of the Galactic Council, a move the Empire only nominally supported, and its implementation of regulations that would make its rule more difficult, Emperor Ghenadie III chose to invade the kingdoms of Astain and Nublor. Their forces were overwhelmed by the combined forces of the Greater Haromian Empire and, like with the nations before them, were forced to submit.

The current Greater Haromian Empire is a union of the seven species and is the single most populous entity in the galaxy with over 3.5 quadrillion citizens. This is due to the larger Avlocraic Confederacy and United Federation of Talon not wielding direct control over their protectorates compared to Haromian control over the vassals. While there's some unrest within the vassal states, the Imperial Guard actively keeps order on the more contested worlds.

As of Imperial Year 4997, or in the more formal imperial calendar Isaiah 2, Emperor Isaiah II rules over the Greater Haromian Empire as the first mixed heritage emperor. His ascension to the throne was due to an attack on the royal family by disloyal Army units, resulting in the death of the Emperor and the original Crown Prince, as well as the second heir and several others. As the oldest surviving child of the Emperor, Isaiah was forced to take the throne. However, compared to recent emperors, Emperor Isaiah II is notably more brutal in handling species relations. Rumors swirl around the Emperor as some believe he orchestrated the assassination of his father and elder siblings to take over.

Section II: Government

At the top of the Empire's government sits the Emperor wielding absolute power over all matters of state and foreign policy. His, or her, word is law, when they choose it to be. As it has been for millennia, the Empire is a simple, absolute primogeniture system. Men and women are able to assume the throne equally so long as they are within the imperial bloodline. This succession has been in place for millennia.

Under the current inheritance laws, which have remained unchanged since first contact with other species, non-humans can inherit if they are part of the bloodline for some reason, but they are generally placed to the bottom of the line of succession. However, due to widespread alien traits and other unusual mutations that have seeped in over the millennia, any biological sexes that are neither male nor female are prohibited from ever inheriting due to the issues that it could pose.

With the large number of vassals and the size of the Empire, the Greater Haromian Empire has increasingly decentralized over the centuries and allowed the establishment of a partially elected legislature to handle domestic affairs that don't require the monarch's intervention. The Imperial Senate is made up of 9,700 Senators, one for every major settled world of the Third Haromian Empire, plus small caucuses from the vassal states, and handles domestic affairs for the Empire as a whole. These Senators are typically appointed by the planetary governor they are meant to represent, though some worlds elect them through councils on the planet. None are elected by the people.

While the Senate legislates in the monarch's name, there exists the High Council that advises the monarch on all matters of foreign and domestic policy. Made up of the top nobility across the vassal states and within the Empire, it's believed that the High Council is largely made up of those that are best qualified to handle succession issues or other problems that may occur during the reign. In the event of a lack of a successor, occasionally due to war and the death of strong heirs, selection of a new monarch falls to the High Council. This has never been required however.

While the Senate handles the internal issues on the national level, the bureaucracy breaks down into various sector governors, system governors, and planetary governors, all with various types of governance. Most planets have some form of democratic elections for the planetary legislatures, and the vassal states sometimes have totally different systems of government from the Empire as a whole. Even while the general opinion of democracy is relatively negative, Emperor Ghenadie V recognized that a small bit of power vested in the people can keep them placated and so allowed such governance over 2000 years ago.

To handle the affairs of each vassal state, they have been given the power to establish a national legislature that answers to the Imperial Senate and to manage the laws of those lands so long as they are in accordance with Imperial Law. As well, these vassal states are allowed to organize defensive forces, but to do so will also require them to be put under Imperial Army control in the event that they are required. Ultimately the vassals are treated as semi-autonomous states, as managing the massive populations, huge number of worlds, and countless outposts and small settlements would be a bureaucratic nightmare for any centralized government.

Section III: Society

Imperial society has evolved over the centuries into a closely managed and highly stratified society. While there is some social mobility, the general rule of the Empire is that non-humans are always second class, and even non-Haromians may be treated as second class. Even the highest nobility in the Empire face similar discrimination if they aren't human, and Emperor Isaiah II isn't immune to the scrutiny that comes of mixed blood. But despite such regulations on species, the Empire has attempted to adapt to the ever growing and ever-changing population by offering the feeling of freedom without allowing it.

Generally the Empire has seen a flourish of conservative ideas, carefully managed by the Church and the government, to ensure that any dissenting thought is suppressed simply by the people themselves rather than government action. Through careful management of access to information and access to tools to bypass such restrictions, there is a feeling of free access to outside information without actually allowing it. Everything that gets through is carefully managed.

While dissent and information is carefully managed, internal laws remain relatively lax across much of the Empire. Knowing that a content people is a people that won't cause problems, the Empire has allowed almost total freedom within its borders to its citizens, with only a few restrictions for all others. Complete freedom of speech, freedom of religion free press, free markets, right to bear arms, and free expression are all enshrined in the Imperial constitution, a fact that the Empire holds up with pride as most other states in the galaxy regulate some or all of those.

With such freedoms and ensuring the people are kept happy through small means, there's relatively little unrest for a nation as large as the Empire. Corporate workers tend to riot, but such things are seen as outside the purview of the government and the corporations are given freedom to handle any such riots as they see fit. Any dissent in the Empire comes from the nobility or leadership of the vassal states primarily, and is usually squashed through the stripping of titles and power and imprisonment of dissenters. The military, likewise, is a considerable force in Imperial politics, but with some exceptions they are absolutely loyal to the monarch.

Depending where one lives in the Empire, things may be easier or harder. The Core Worlds are particularly wealthy and generally the easiest places for anyone to live, with most of those that find homes in the Core Worlds enjoying a high quality of life and high wages. As one heads out from the core worlds of the Empire and its vassals, it quickly degrades to agricultural and industrial worlds with varying quality of life and health down to the fringes of the Empire. Those on the fringe tend to be outlaws, exiles, and other unsavory sorts. Live on the fringe is hard, but for those that prosper it's almost a better life than in the Core Worlds.

S ection IV: Religion

As the cornerstone of Imperial stability, the polytheistic Haromian Church has a strong grip on the government and society as a whole. It's estimated that almost every person in the Empire follows some branch of the Church, at least publicly. The Church's hierarchy has been reformed several times, but at the top of the hierarchy rests the Grand Patriarch, or Matriarch. Such an individual has been chosen by the Archcouncil to represent the greater Church. The Archcouncil itself is made up of the leaders of each branch of the Church, except for the "heretical" Syra'ku'jarl followers.

The theology of the Church emphasizes the five major gods and goddesses and how they are usually in opposition to each other, but still essential. The largest branch of the Church is the Undivided Doctrine; a belief in equal worship of all deities. The five main gods however are Hauja, the God of Creation; Tnexuux, the God of War; Ch'sylar, the Goddess of Order; Syra'ku'jarl, the God of Chaos and Destruction; and Gefhus, the God of Peace. The sect of Ch'sylar is the largest of the branches as the goddess is seen as the most neutral of the deities.

It's common for any family, or individual, to have a shrine to their deity of choice in their home where most religious activity takes place. Sometimes there may be a call to worship at a local chapel in a town. Marriages likewise take place at such chapels with wildly varying religious rites for whoever may be marrying. By Church law marriage between people of different branches should be prevented, but in practice this is rarely enforced.

The Haromian Church has a few paramilitary forces that have various purposes. Most notable is the Divine Guard - the ceremonial military force that protects the holy sites and the Palace of the Divines in the Haroma city of Lontus. The Inquisition is the most controversial of the forces, and one that's functionally illegal under Imperial Law. As freedom of religion is enshrined in the constitution, the Inquisition is an illegal entity as it forces people to follow the Church or otherwise be executed. There is however little that the government can do to truly rid the Church of the group.

Section V: Military

The Empire regularly boasts that they possess the largest and most advanced military in the galaxy, and by all measures that is entirely correct. Tens of billions of soldiers serve in the various branches of the armed forces, with the Imperial Guard - the Empire's reserve forces - making up the vast majority of those in service. The Imperial Army over the millennia has been transitioned into a fully powered military with powered armor in universal service for all personnel. To protect the massive Empire and all of its vassals, the Imperial Navy has grown to millions of warships in size. This sets the Imperial Armed Forces as at least a full magnitude larger than the combined forces of the rest of the galaxy.

While the monarch may command a truly massive force and be the most powerful person in the galaxy, the Imperial Armed Forces are an unwieldy beast. With such a scattered command system across nearly a whole quadrant, the time it takes for orders to get across the Empire may take anywhere from hours to days to, in the most isolated systems, weeks to arrive. Whenever the military needs to mobilize the logistics required to move forces around is so immense that it may take weeks for even the smallest operational units to be able to maneuver. The Empire is no longer able to fight an offensive war unless they are given almost a year to stockpile the resources and set up the supply routes for an army in transition.

Despite this the armed forces are the most respected and loved institution in the Empire and they have never failed to meet recruitment quotas. With the path to citizenship being mostly through military service, those that manage to complete the minimum requirement and proceed to earn their citizenship are generally bound by a shared military experience. It's believed that, because only citizens can vote and hold elected office, this camaraderie has helped to streamline the Empire's legislature and few democratic institutions.

Overview

The Greater Haromian Empire is one of the two hyperpowers of the galaxy, and with that status comes the size, strength, and influence that is inherent to such a position. As the only known true monarchy left, if decentralized, in the galaxy it sees itself as the last bastion of proper royal rule. In the eyes of the other states of the galaxy, the Greater Haromian Empire is believed to be the most likely state to kick off a galactic war due to the immense military when in reality they see themselves as the most likely state to end a galactic war for the same reason.

However, the Empire remains locked in the Galactic Cold War with no end in sight. With the Empire and Federation at odds and both too powerful to actually start a war that wouldn't spiral into a galactic catastrophe, political machinations and covert operations rule the day. Military interventions in the Council-protected non-aligned states are rare by the Empire, forcing the Empire to exert influence over some tiny states in Primitive Space just starting to reach to the stars.

Many outside the Empire consider the GHE to be the embodiment of evil as it's the last monarchy in the galaxy of any note surrounded by democracies in various forms. To the Haromians and the people of the Empire the Empire is the last bastion of stability and freedom in a galaxy that increasingly erodes the rights of its people in the name of freedom and security. As with all politics, this is wholly subjective based on who is asked, but the fact remains that the Greater Haromian Empire is a powerful entity whose only threat is one other nation.

As with most nations in known space, the Empire faces an uncertain future. With growing instability in the galaxy as a whole coupled with growing internal unrest on the frontiers of the Empire, may serve to undermine the current institutions of the Empire and bring forth a new period of political instability that may, in the worst case, cause the nation to splinter.