The current system of Imperial government is an artifact of its gradual evolution, growing into place due to various external and internal pressures. When the Bear Tribe initially entered negotiations with New Oldria and the Thane, they were in a position of overwhelming strength. New Oldria had been hastily thrown together for negotiation and the Thane was barely keeping the clans in check. In contrast, the Bear Tribe was a united front with a powerful war machine. They had recently defeated the Devlos clan decisively and no one doubted their ability to continue expanding if they so chose.
Due to his bargaining strength, the first Emperor (Titus I) wrote a treaty heavily biased in favor of the humans. He set himself as the supreme ruler and named the current dorn and sylvan leaders as his advisors. His dynasty was to rule until they abdicated or died out, and the humans were to keep every real power in their hands.
The second Emperor, Titus II, was a more mindful student of lore and sociology. He knew that the sylphs and dorn were once great. He suspected that they would become great once again, and that they would resent the humans’ rule. The Imperium was still young, however, and he did not want to risk its stability by rewriting parts of the treaty.
Instead, he rebuilt the system of provincial governance. His father had simply appointed governors from his cadre and continued to rely on their advice as he always had. Titus II divided the duties of governance and advice. He recalled the human governors over dorn and sylvan provinces to Odessa and made them into the ‘Senexa’, or advisors. They were appointed chambers in the Imperial Palace and administrative duties within the bureaucracy. The Senexa became Titus II's official cabinet and, as the Imperial bureaucracy expanded, accumulated significant internal power.
To replace them as provincial governors, Titus II asked the dorn and sylvan courts to provide him with a list of nominations for the positions. He approved every name they put forth, setting a precedent that continues to this day. In this way he gave effective self-governance to the sylphs and dorn but retained authority in the Imperial throne if necessary.
Though the Imperium is a centralized feudal system on paper, the governors and barons have a surprising amount of latitude. This is partly because of the different power structures of the racial courts, but more due to the empire’s rapid expansion. During the major expansion campaigns, Emperor Cyrus III examined the rigid structure of taxation and governance set in place when the Imperium was smaller. The bureaucracy was already swelling beyond his control, and he saw that it would only continue to expand as the Imperium’s borders advanced.
Cyrus III responded by pushing as much power as he could onto the provincial governors and barons. He simplified the tax quotas, drawing up a correspondence chart to allow vassals to pay in any valuable good in addition to the required personnel. He unified the various censuses into a single endeavor once every ten years and put most of the responsibility for its execution into the hands of his vassals. Finally, he dramatically reduced the number of federal laws and opened those issues up for provinces or shires to legislate on their own initiative. The result of this is a highly decentralized power structure which is still in place. Low-level lords have a great deal of leeway in how they govern their fiefs, especially in the satellite provinces outside Untioch and Shiekli.
All precedent and policy regarding secession attempts dates back to the Crown Wars. In 394 IE, the northeastern sylvan provinces attempted to declare their independence from the Imperial throne. The following conflict is an interesting illustration of the difficulty a mixed-species Imperium faces. To the human Emperor, Argus I, these provinces had been part of the Imperium for several generations. They were old growth, an established part of the empire, and the idea of their secession was unthinkable. However, for the sylphs in question their induction into the Imperium was still within living memory. They had an older generation that still remembered life before the humans and a younger generation who thought it sounded better.
The result was civil war on an unprecedented scale. Three provinces worth of sylvan industry banded together and declared themselves a sovereign state. The Emperor at the time gathered the provincial armies and the federal military and put the entire Imperium on a war footing. He poured men and novel war machines into the rebel provinces until he had beaten them into utter submission. For the first time since the second Emperor, he placed human governors over the reclaimed provinces and installed occupying governments. This established a valuable precedent for secession which later informed federal action when the Mordren Insurrection began. The rebels in that case were unable to gather much support from other governors because of the memory of the Crown Wars, and their campaign was rapidly shut down.
Immediately after the Crown Wars, however, the Imperium had to handle a more immediate crisis. War golems became feasible on a large scale shortly before the hostilities, and the Imperium produced huge numbers of them. Some were eventually assembled into golem-only units, but early in the war many were intermixed with traditional soldiers. The soldiers bonded with the golems that helped them, and in many cases actively taught them self-preservation. In addition, many war golems were built for more complex assignments and given enough intelligence to think independently by design.
When the Crown Wars ended and the Imperium began stepping down military assets, huge numbers of golems faced decommissioning. Sympathetic soldiers and more intelligent golem models began organizing an enormous protest movement. Entire divisions of heavily armed artificial soldiers mobilized to resist decommissioning efforts. In calmer times, a strong federal government may have fought them down like the elves. Immediately after the brutal, bloody Crown Wars, the populace was weary of war. The Golem Uprising, as it was later called by historians, quickly met with acceptance and concessions.
Hastily-drafted legislation soon protected golems’ right to self-preservation, wages, property, and the other benefits of citizenship. But it brought its own set of problems. Golems were no longer profitable. They were unsocialized. Most importantly, they were now seen as a hostile force by the majority of Imperial citizens.
One of the few jobs ideal for emancipated golems was maintaining city infrastructure magitech. They were largely immune to radiation, making the hazardous work easy. Golems flocked to sewer and generator work. Before long, they almost completely displaced organic workers in those fields. City officials were quick to see an opportunity. They began offering golem workers free housing in the maintenance areas, drafting cumbersome decontamination protocols, and doing whatever they could to discourage golems from leaving irradiated zones. To this day, very few golems live outside the sewers and maintenance areas of large cities.
Due to his bargaining strength, the first Emperor (Titus I) wrote a treaty heavily biased in favor of the humans. He set himself as the supreme ruler and named the current dorn and sylvan leaders as his advisors. His dynasty was to rule until they abdicated or died out, and the humans were to keep every real power in their hands.
The second Emperor, Titus II, was a more mindful student of lore and sociology. He knew that the sylphs and dorn were once great. He suspected that they would become great once again, and that they would resent the humans’ rule. The Imperium was still young, however, and he did not want to risk its stability by rewriting parts of the treaty.
Instead, he rebuilt the system of provincial governance. His father had simply appointed governors from his cadre and continued to rely on their advice as he always had. Titus II divided the duties of governance and advice. He recalled the human governors over dorn and sylvan provinces to Odessa and made them into the ‘Senexa’, or advisors. They were appointed chambers in the Imperial Palace and administrative duties within the bureaucracy. The Senexa became Titus II's official cabinet and, as the Imperial bureaucracy expanded, accumulated significant internal power.
To replace them as provincial governors, Titus II asked the dorn and sylvan courts to provide him with a list of nominations for the positions. He approved every name they put forth, setting a precedent that continues to this day. In this way he gave effective self-governance to the sylphs and dorn but retained authority in the Imperial throne if necessary.
Though the Imperium is a centralized feudal system on paper, the governors and barons have a surprising amount of latitude. This is partly because of the different power structures of the racial courts, but more due to the empire’s rapid expansion. During the major expansion campaigns, Emperor Cyrus III examined the rigid structure of taxation and governance set in place when the Imperium was smaller. The bureaucracy was already swelling beyond his control, and he saw that it would only continue to expand as the Imperium’s borders advanced.
Cyrus III responded by pushing as much power as he could onto the provincial governors and barons. He simplified the tax quotas, drawing up a correspondence chart to allow vassals to pay in any valuable good in addition to the required personnel. He unified the various censuses into a single endeavor once every ten years and put most of the responsibility for its execution into the hands of his vassals. Finally, he dramatically reduced the number of federal laws and opened those issues up for provinces or shires to legislate on their own initiative. The result of this is a highly decentralized power structure which is still in place. Low-level lords have a great deal of leeway in how they govern their fiefs, especially in the satellite provinces outside Untioch and Shiekli.
All precedent and policy regarding secession attempts dates back to the Crown Wars. In 394 IE, the northeastern sylvan provinces attempted to declare their independence from the Imperial throne. The following conflict is an interesting illustration of the difficulty a mixed-species Imperium faces. To the human Emperor, Argus I, these provinces had been part of the Imperium for several generations. They were old growth, an established part of the empire, and the idea of their secession was unthinkable. However, for the sylphs in question their induction into the Imperium was still within living memory. They had an older generation that still remembered life before the humans and a younger generation who thought it sounded better.
The result was civil war on an unprecedented scale. Three provinces worth of sylvan industry banded together and declared themselves a sovereign state. The Emperor at the time gathered the provincial armies and the federal military and put the entire Imperium on a war footing. He poured men and novel war machines into the rebel provinces until he had beaten them into utter submission. For the first time since the second Emperor, he placed human governors over the reclaimed provinces and installed occupying governments. This established a valuable precedent for secession which later informed federal action when the Mordren Insurrection began. The rebels in that case were unable to gather much support from other governors because of the memory of the Crown Wars, and their campaign was rapidly shut down.
Immediately after the Crown Wars, however, the Imperium had to handle a more immediate crisis. War golems became feasible on a large scale shortly before the hostilities, and the Imperium produced huge numbers of them. Some were eventually assembled into golem-only units, but early in the war many were intermixed with traditional soldiers. The soldiers bonded with the golems that helped them, and in many cases actively taught them self-preservation. In addition, many war golems were built for more complex assignments and given enough intelligence to think independently by design.
When the Crown Wars ended and the Imperium began stepping down military assets, huge numbers of golems faced decommissioning. Sympathetic soldiers and more intelligent golem models began organizing an enormous protest movement. Entire divisions of heavily armed artificial soldiers mobilized to resist decommissioning efforts. In calmer times, a strong federal government may have fought them down like the elves. Immediately after the brutal, bloody Crown Wars, the populace was weary of war. The Golem Uprising, as it was later called by historians, quickly met with acceptance and concessions.
Hastily-drafted legislation soon protected golems’ right to self-preservation, wages, property, and the other benefits of citizenship. But it brought its own set of problems. Golems were no longer profitable. They were unsocialized. Most importantly, they were now seen as a hostile force by the majority of Imperial citizens.
One of the few jobs ideal for emancipated golems was maintaining city infrastructure magitech. They were largely immune to radiation, making the hazardous work easy. Golems flocked to sewer and generator work. Before long, they almost completely displaced organic workers in those fields. City officials were quick to see an opportunity. They began offering golem workers free housing in the maintenance areas, drafting cumbersome decontamination protocols, and doing whatever they could to discourage golems from leaving irradiated zones. To this day, very few golems live outside the sewers and maintenance areas of large cities.