Fiction:Draconid Imperium

The Draconis Empire is a galactic territory within the Upper Ducina Arm of the Sepithas galaxy, an empire notorious for it's romanesque style of government and a belief system that causes nothing but xenophobia.

=History= The Imperial dating system is divided into ID (Imperial Date with 0 being the year the Empire was founded) and pID (Pre-Imperial Date) with the year number as a suffix. The calender is based on the orbital period of Alcanti, with each year lasting 360 Aldcanti and 420 Earth days. The dating system is then divided into eras, each of which ends after a significant event.

pID.2505-ID.0: Ascension Era
The Draconis complete the first interstellar vessel, the A.E.V. Gloryseeker in pID.505, which places the first colony on the moon, for the next fifteen years the Draconis continue to develop prototype terraforming technology, converting the moon into the first habitable planet. After 100 years the Draconis adapt Gloryseeker for interstelalr travel and she travels to the Elimatia system, establishing a colony on the system's second planet 10 years later. the empire exists as the Draconis solar Confederacy until contact with the Speeder in pID.210. Realising the potential the Draconis diplomatically annex the Speeder Trade Federation, establishing the first instance of Pax Draconica in pID.1, a year later the confederacy rebrands itself the Draconis Empire.

ID.0-ID.35,000: Prime Paragon Era
Much of the era was quiet, Octavus Vospus I cbecomes the first Paragon and elevates his entire family to this status, a marbe statue of him is erected outside the palace within Minos'Drakon. His family rules for the next 35,000 years. in ID.23,340 a race calling themselves the Korkonid take to space, the stubborn Korkonid see the growing empire as as a threat and they declare war in ID.32,640, the Janos war begins. The war ends in ID.32,700, 60% of the Korkonid population were killed and the rest become the first slave race of the empire. For the next 100,000 years the planets in the Noranerus system struggle to recover, and are placed under complete jurasdiction of the Homeland council. The Prime Paragon Era ends with the death of Alexia Vospus V after she grieved for her late husband.

ID.35,000-ID.70,000: Era of expansion
With no idea what to do to replace the former Paragon the empire falls into chaos and into the First House Wars, House Oskavarum declares an end in ID.38,240, proclaiming that their family will take the place of the Paragon and placing Erinis Oskavarum I on the throne. The next 30,000 years sees the empire's territories doubling with the population reaching the first trillion in ID.62,415 along with the formation of the Imperial Talon Navy in ID.40,314. The era ends with first contact from the Grox in a border system of the Speeder protectorate, although the scouting force was repelled, aany were curious at their origins.

ID.70,000-ID.110,310: Era of Upstarts
The arrival of the Grox caused many nearby cultures to grow bold, the Lillo Confederacy begin the First Protectorate War in ID.72,450 after raiding outlying Speeder Protectorate systems, victory from the combined efforts of the protectorate and the Empire resulted in other species submitting to Pax Draconica, resulting in the Draconis Empire becoming the dominant force in the cluster, the Grox are not heard from again until ID.108,340 and destroy the TNSS Omis with Paragon Kest VIII and half of her family on board, Assah Oskavarum V becomes Paragon after her sister's death and eventually dying of age in ID.108,510.

ID.110,310-ID.165,500: Era of Diamonds
Terraforming technology and practices are perfected by the start of the era, the population triples to 4 trillion as more and more colonies become more like the homeworlds. This is considered the Empire's most significant golden age along which included the coronation of Uriel Ultanos I as Paragon in ID.140,420. There was another Grox raid in the Osimmi Protectorate in ID.162,483, Alexis Ultanos III declared a research project was to be established to investigate the nature of the Grox, a small fleet contaning TNSS Axon was sent to find out about the Grox, last seen heading towards the galactic core. The Era ends after the asassination of Uriel Ultanos IV.

ID.165,500-ID.171,300: Era of the Imposters
After Uriel IV's death, house Khaxvis takes charge, placing Axos Khaxvis on the throne and secretly sending the rest of the Ultanos family into exile. A soldier by the name of Oniron Voxis discovered the Ultanos family in a bunker within a border system in ID.169,240. After killing the guards and making their escape the Ultanos publicly declared the Khaxvis line to be traitors to the paragon line, sparking the Second House Wars in ID.169,950 and executing them in ID.171,300, the Ultanos line returns to the throne with Alexis V.

ID.171,300-ID.210,200: Era of Tunnels
The work of scientist Olsinar Senvinus would bear fruit duting this era. His research had uncovered that black holes could be used to cross vast reaches of the galaxy instananiously, three-hundred years later the first colony is established near a black hole - dubbed 'waystation zero' - and over the course of the era the Drraconis extend their reach across the galaxy, claimimg new territories via the assets back home and securing the black holes to ensure they were not used without the Empire's permission. scientific knowledge, and imperial strength explodes during this era.

=Organisation= The empire is vast, as a result it is divided into several administrative regions each with a noble controlling it. It is possible for the most powerful houses to control entire sectors of space. Imperial law states that a house cannot control an administrative region unless they control the majority of a division. This means that unless a noble house has more than 50% of an administrative region of any scale under it's control it cannot place family members in higher positions (for example House X controls 7/10 systems in Alpha cluster and 4/5 systems in Beta cluster. But because Orion subsector contains 5 clusters house X cannot have anyone in their house as subsector governor unless they ally with house Y who controls Kappa and Delta clusters.

At the highest level are sectors. These are large clusters of both colonies and protectorates and governed by a sector capital. Outside of the core worlds a sector capital is normally in the centre of the sector and is one of the most heavily defended systems other than gateway colonies (Stars between 0.5-1.7 parsecs from a black hole, these surround a black hole and control travel through the wormholes).

Sectors are divided into subsectors, these can encompass either an entire protectorate or several Imperial colonies and are governed from a subsector council, the empire has taken great pains to ensure sector and subsector capitals are some of the most pristine planets under their control. the majority of the protectorate and homeland concils is made up of cuncillors who represent these capitals. A subsector can contain between 5 and 20 colonies.

Subsectors are made up of between 2 and 5 clusters. Clusters can consist of between 2 and 8 star systems. These are unoficcial regions the existence of which simply helps make local politics more eficcient. Clusters will have representetives on subsector councils but cannot represent themselves in the senate. Clusters will typically have an unoficcial capital that purely serves as the gathering point for planetary governors, as a result a cluster capital will not have a designated capitol building or a governors' residence unless the world happens to be a subsector capital.

Planetary systems with more than one colonised planet are run by a solar governor who may or may not have a position in the cluster council. A multi-colony system will have a solar capital on one of its planets which includes a capitol and governors' residence. A solar governor is advised by representetives from the planetary councils and will normally hold a noble title.

Administrative regions are named differently depending on scale. Sectors are named by expansion phase (determined by how many wormholes must be crossed to reach the home world, defined by a Dracis letter) and which connection they are centred around (the connections are numbered based ony how many wormhole entrances in the previous sector were colonised before X). For example the core worlds are labelled Axah-0 while a third sector colonised from this one is labelled Ovohn-3. Subsectors are named after the system the subsector capital resides in along with using the sector name as a prefix, for example Ovohn-2-Alcartin. The sector name is only used when outside the resident sector. Clusters are numbered by what subsector they are in and are named in order of colonisation (e.g. cluster Alcartin-4 when local, formally Ovohn-2-Alcartin-4). Planetary systems are simply named after the star with each planet numbered in order of distance from the star, the initial colony or planetary capital replaces its number with the word 'prime' and moons retain an individual name. The only exeptions to the naming rule regarding planets are species homeworlds and sector capitals.

=Government= Although the Paragon is seen as the head of state, The empire's territory is ruled through two different councils; the Homeland council and the Protectorates' council. These councils govern Draconic colonies and vassal territories respectively but both can be overruled by the paragon. The economy itself is controlled by the state and imports are rare, but not unheard of, with Imperial colonies producing items themselves or trading with vassal territories.

Pax Draconica
Considered the heart of the Imperial ruling system, Pax Draconica permits outside species to allow themselves to become part of the empire as a whole; retaining cultural identity, freedoms and individual laws. These species become a protecotorate of the Empire and function like a province in any other empire. However they are considered subordinate to Imperial colonies and must accept the Draconis within their governments. The agreement is that in exchange for technology, protection and freedom to learn Draconic values, species that join are required to provide technology, supplies, goods, vessels and even auxillary soldiers to the Empire.

Although somewhat restrictive - non-Draconis citizens of protectorates require a permit to traverse through or near Draconic colonies and are subordinate to any Draconis regardless of rank - Pax Draconica is seen as a more pleasant alternative to the fate of species who choose to defy the Empire: Species that do this risk war and are either exterminated or enslaved, losing all rights in the process and considered nothing more than a source of production (Slaves do not register as part of the population and so are left out of census figures), any child born to two slaves is seen as a slave by birth.

The Empire only considers aquiring slaves from worlds it raids or conquers, meaning they do not barter with slavers. This is because species aquired from conquered worlds would have fought and died for their beleifs and independance, any survivors must live in the knowledge that their people failed against a superior force. Merchants do not know where outside slaves have been aquired and might never have known of the empire's might, thus they do not deserve to serve in the empire.

The Paragon
Synonymous with emperor, the Paragon acts as the head of state. The title is hereditery and those who bear it are considered the chosen of Drakos - the patron god of the Draconis - For the past 120,000 years the Ultanos line has ruled the empire continuously, with the current paragon being Uriel Ultanos XVI. The past four Paragon families (Ultanos, Vospus, Oskavarum & Khaxvis) have been noted to bear a different scale colour to the norm, in some cases this has been a mutation in others the paragons simply dyed their scales.

The position of paragon is nearly identical to that of a king or queen - The next in line is the eldest and they rule for life - When a paragon dies black banners are hoisted along the Paragon's walkway (the central and widest road within Minos'Drakon, it leads directly to the imperial palace and is traditionally used for celebrations and parades). In the event of a paragon being the last of their line, black banners are draped from the imperial palace and the senate must choose a new paragon while the chancellor acts as the head of state. Where it differs is that Paragons must pass their proposals onto the senate before anything is passed. Upon the ascension of a new paragon banners of gold are draped along the Paragon's walkway, along with banners of the Paragon's family colours.

The Senate
The senate actsas the Empire's governing body, they both advise and support the Paragon along with running the empire day-to-day. The territories are run by two logistical councils, both act as governance within their allocated territories and answer to the Paragon and their family. Along with this, the senate also includes the security council in charge of the empire's military, the burocratic council which runs the state-regulated economy and the science council who are responsible for technological and scientific development within the Empire. Each member is elected differenty depending on the council and occasionally all meet to discuss matters as the grand council. The Chancellor acts as the senate's head consul and must - along with the Paragon - always have the final say in decisions that could affect the empire as a whole. Most positions apart from the homeland council are for life and council members are taught to respect the position they have gained.

Homeland Council
Founded a year after the establishment of the empire's first colony in the Elimataia system, the Homeland council acts as the voice of the colonies within the Imperial Senate.

Charged with overseeing the management of the colonies established by the Imperial Government, the homeland council amkes up a large proportion of the administration due to the fact the Draconic colonies make up the majority of Imperial space. Each member is voted democratically by house, the noble house itself is then charged with choosing which member represents them on the council. Each house holds their position for 50 years before a new election is held. The council has free reign to requisition the aid of the Imperial Navy in order to defend a colony.

Protectorate Council
Founded three months after the annexation of the Speeder Trade Federation, the principle of the Protectorate council provides the protectorates a chance to aid in the development and direction of the empire, however since establishment this has not been the case.

For starters, protectorate species cannot become members of the council, normally there is a minority of Draconis within these territories who act as a higher government. The system works siilarly to above, however only Draconis citizens may vote for a house to represent and once a house elects a family member they hold a chair for life until that family member dies. After this happens another election is held. Protectorates can requisition for support from the Imperial Navy however they are normally lower priority than a colony (This is true unless the planet stages a revolt, but even this is still lower priority compared to an outsider invasion). Many have cited the Protectorate Council to be biased and unfair yet theri voices go unheard.

Security Council
Composed of the highest-ranking military officials in the empire, the security council acts as the governing branch of the military. The proconsul's seat is always held by the current lord-admiral and during their absence the executive lord-admiral rules in their place. Members are always chosen by the council based on military service with more senior and veterenated officials taking prority. Under ememrgency conditions the security council can quarantine a planet or system.

Positions in the council are held for life, while some see it as demotion by getting pulled out of the field, others see it as a great honour. Council members may still engage in field duties. Although all races are capable of joining the military, it is extremely difficult for a non-Draconis to rise through the ranks, often reamining as auxillaries. As a result non-Draconis councillors within the security council are very rare.

Burocratic councicl
Charged with regulating the empire's economy. This council is one of the more open to outsiders, and is made up of some of the wealthiest and most successful merchants in the Empire. It is also one of the only two councils - the other being the science council - where there is a near-equal chance for certain protectorate species to join the council (mainly the trade-enthusiastic Speeders). However they are still open to being ignored due to the fact a fair portion of the council normally consists of the Draconis.

Science Council
Containing the brightest and most enigmatic minds in the Empire, this council specialises in maintianing a certain level and quality of scientific research. Members usually require a significant degree of recognition within the scientific community to be accepted, the result is that there are very few young scientists within the council (however, due to the longevity of the Draconis, it is unsurprising to encounter council members who serve for over a century). This has become one of the more lenient councils in accepting non-draconis provided the species has an advanced mind and a natural talent for science. Again, non-draconis members require more recognition than Draconis to join.

There are cases where the science council can declare certain practices or technologies - such as cruel sentient experimentation - illegal. In most cases this is based on ethics but there are some cases (Such as genetically altering direct ancestors of Draconis) that are the result of a religious factor.