Editing Nobledark Imperium Drafts (section)

== Imperial Governmental Structure ==

[[Image:1485614099098.jpg|thumb|Emperor Oscar of the Glorious Imperium and its people uncounted, Consort of the All-Mother and her most favoured champion, last of the Golden Men, founder of the Imperium, bane of gods, unifier of all civilized peoples and Defender of the Realm. Not as gold-colored as most people think.]]

The Imperium is vast and covers a little over a million inhabited worlds of humans and xenos and the styles of governance of these worlds varies greatly from one planet to another. Represented under the ever watchful Aquila can be found meritocracies, stratocracies, bureaucracies, plutocracies, oligarchies, theocracies, monarchies, aristocracies, democracies and many others. All of these are local systems usually confined to a single solar system or planet or even a nations on those planets.

The Imperium itself is an autocracy under the rule of the Emperor who operates mostly via benevolent indifference. As a general rule the Imperium does not care what you do so long as you pay the tithe and don't rock the boat.

The only time when the Imperium does care is when one of it's few rules is broken to a degree that they can't pretend to not see it any more. The rules being:

# Pay the tithe
# Don't worship the gods of Chaos
# Don't worship the Emperor
# No militarized religious institutions
# No open warfare between member worlds of the Imperium

So long as these few rules are followed the Imperium does not care. If those rules are broken or the boat is excessively rocked the Imperium suddenly does care and that is terrible because it has no sense of proportional escalation and will confiscate your planet.

Although the Emperor officially rules in practice the Royal Couple spend most of their time touring the Imperium overseeing and inspecting. The day to day running of the Imperium is done by the High Lords of the Imperium who reside on the Holy Planet of Old Earth, know as Terra to the Mechanicum and affiliated institutions.

The High Lords of the Imperium are:

*[[Nobledark Imperium Notable People#Master of the Administratum Irthu Haemotalion|The Master of the Administratum]]
*The Inquisitorial Representative (currently Hector Rex)
*[[Nobledark Imperium Notable People#Fabricator-General Oud Oudia Raskian|The Fabricator-General of the Adeptus Mechanicus]]
*[[Nobledark Imperium Notable People#Grand Provost Marshal Aveliza Drachmar|The Grand Provost Marshal of the Adeptus Arbites]]
*[[Nobledark Imperium Writing#The Saga of Fedor Jiao|Paternoval Envoy of the Navigators]]
*[[Nobledark_Imperium_Notable_People#Master_of_the_Adeptus_Astra_Telepathica.2C_Astronomican.2C_Schola_Psykana_and_the_Black_Ships_Lady_Ina_Kissa|The Master of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica, Astronomican, Schola Psykana and the Black Ships]]
*Grand Headmaster of Rhetor Imperia and Schola Progenium
*[[Nobledark_Imperium_Notable_People#Lord_Commander_Militant_of_the_Imperial_Army_Lukas_Bastonne|Lord Commander Militant of the Imperial Army (ground forces)]]
*[[Nobledark_Imperium_Notable_People#Lady_High_Admiral_of_the_Imperial_Navy_Merelda_of_House_Pereth|Lord High Admiral of the Imperial Army (space forces)]]
*[[Nobledark_Imperium_Notable_People#Spokesman_for_the_Collective_Synod_of_the_Imperium_Walden_of_the_Aaldenbergs|Spokesman for the Collective Synod of the Imperium]]
*[[Nobledark_Imperium_Notable_People#The_Speaker_for_the_Merchant_Navy_and_Rogue_Traders_Abdul_Golberg|The Speaker for the Merchant Navy and Rogue Traders]]

[[Image:Nobledark Aquila.jpg|thumb|left|250px|The Imperial Aquila, with the twin heads of the Eagle and the Phoenix, symbolizing the union between humankind and Eldar. This is merely the most common variant, with the colors and even to some degree the shape of the Aquila varying based on organization and world.]]

The High Lords of the Imperium were originally set up during the days of the Unification of Old Earth as the task of ruling was becoming too time consuming even for the superhuman Warlord, as he was known at the time. The Warlord's long term hope was that they would eventually be able to replace him entirely and he could step down as the temporary immortal ruler of the masses. His short term goal was to get a bit of free time to learn how to socialize.

As the years wore on it became obvious that humanity on the galactic scale would always need one man of supreme competence to set precedents for the High Lords to follow. The rank of Emperor was created but not occupied by the Warlord who instead became the Steward and would wait for such an individual to arise. In his mind humanity should be ruled by humanity, not be an artificial construct of a failed and half forgotten Empire.

After Goge Vandire was appointed Emperor, screwed everything up and was promptly executed the Steward was bullied by Inquisitor Sebastian Thor and the demands of the masses into taking the role of Emperor. He was not particularly happy about this and at first refused until Inquisitor Thor pointed out that by the end of the day one of them would be sitting on that gaudy old chair and out of the two of them one of them would die of old age eventually and then another civil war this time of succession would almost certainly ensue.

With the exception of the position of the Inquisitorial Representative (which is a ten-year rotating position to make sure the High Lords have the best expert for whatever crisis is facing the Imperium on hand and no one Inquisitor gains too much power), the High Lords of Terra are all human. This is because Eldar live for thousands of years and no one wants to be stuck with one person in the same position for thousands of years. Of course, this doesn’t stop every High Lord and numerous officials beneath them having at least one Seer on their payroll giving advice and wisdom. This benefits the Eldar as well, as it allows them to influence Imperial government without putting themselves directly in the crosshairs. The idea of non-human, non-Eldar High Lords has never come up, seeing as the Imperium has only been officially admitting other species for the last 4,000 years and other species make up only about 1% of the Imperium’s total population. Though given the Tau’s current political ambitions it’s likely that this point is going to be brought up in the near future.

=== Xenos Classifications ===

As the Great Crusade made its way across the stars, back before the Eldar joined and the Imperium was merely the Imperium of Man, the nascent Imperium encountered numerous forms of sentient alien life. Some were non-aggressive towards humanity but merely wished to be left alone, something the Steward was more than willing to oblige. The point of the Great Crusade was to strengthen and unite humanity, not start a hundred petty wars that could weaken humanity in the future via a death of a thousand cuts. Other races, like the Kinebrach or the Eldar of Colchis, were interested in interacting with humanity on peaceful terms, either coexisting as equals or acting as trading partners. The Steward allowed this with some reservation, though he probably told the Xenos in no uncertain terms if he ever found out they were antagonizing or abusing humanity his response would be swift and vengeful. And still others, such as the Nephilem and the Laer, were just so destructive and antagonistic that they simply could not coexist with humanity and had to be destroyed. Any Xenos that would enslave or prey upon proud humanity, and as it often happened other meeker sentients alongside them, would be put to the sword.

It is these types of interactions that led to the modern Xenos classifications that we know today. Today, the Ordo Xenos of the Inquisition recognizes three major types of sentient alien life:

'''Xenos Familiaris''' – Literally “familiar Xenos” in this case. Used to refer to any Xenos species that is a member of the Imperium. Eldar, Tau, Tarellans, and Demiurg are all representatives of this category. Ironically enough humans also fall into this category if used by a non-human Imperial citizen, as the term essentially means “species that are not my own that are part of the Imperium” as opposed to a human-specific term.

'''Xenos Independens''' – Xenos races that are rational enough that they can negotiate with the Imperium, but for whatever reason are not part of it. Some engage in heavily restricted trade with the Imperium (usually through Rogue Traders, as the Imperium likes to use free trade with the rest of the Imperium as a selling point for minor races to join). Others are aloof and territorial and may have even fought minor skirmishes with the Imperium, but are generally smart enough to sue for peace before things escalate beyond the point of no return. The Q’orl and the Jokaero represent the aggressive and affiliative extremes of this category, respectively. Ordo Xenos Inquisitors like to monitor Xenos Independens like a hawk, as they are ideal tools for Chaos to subvert and use against the Imperium. Most modern Xenos Familiaris (with the exception of humans, eldar, kinebrach, and a few others) were treated as Xenos Independens prior to M36, when the Demiurg were inducted as the first official non-human, non-eldar member state of the Imperium. Interestingly, the [[Nobledark_Imperium_Xenos|Necron Star Empire]] was in this category at one point when the Imperium thought they could be negotiated with until the Silent King started getting unreasonable.

'''Xenos Horrificus''' – Hostile xenos. Xenos that are aggressive, destructive, cannot be negotiated with, or have express aims to make total war upon the Imperium, and therefore should be eradicated whenever possible. A declaration of Xeno Horrificus is essentially an all-out biological declaration of war on the species. Orks, tyranids, Crone Eldar, Rak’gol, Slaugh, and Barghesi, among others, all fall into this category.

There is also a fourth category recognized, though not commonly used, by the Order Xenos to refer to Xenos that the Imperium knows little to nothing about: '''Xenos Obscuras'''. Most of the time this classification is used to refer to long-dead races that are of little to no threat to the Imperium, though sometimes it will turn out the species is not as dead as everyone once thought. This doesn't stop entertainment media from using it to explain Inquisitorial heroes finding knowledge of rarely-glimpsed xenos of rumor. If the Inquisition decides that rumors of a xenos species have enough truth to warrant a classification, it is listed as Independens (Pending) or Horrificus (Pending).

Although some Imperial citizens mistake abhumans for Xenos, there is actually a very clear line between the two. If an organism is an Earth-based lifeform originally descended from humanity, it is an abhuman, no matter what it looks like. Anything else is a Xenos, with few possible edge cases concerning ancient extraction of biological samples form earth species by Xenos later developing on other worlds.

{| class="wikitable"
!|Xenos Familiaris
!|Xenos Independens
!|Xenos Horrificus
|-
|style="width: 33%" |'''Humanity''' (including abhumans)<br> '''Eldar''' ([[Nobledark_Imperium_Notable_Planets#The_Craftworlds|Craftworld]] and Exodite)<br> '''[[Nobledark_Imperium_Member_States#Tau_Empire|Tau]]''' (joined M39)<br> '''Demiurg''' (joined M36)<sup>1</sup><br> '''[[Nobledark_Imperium_Member_States#Watchers_in_the_Dark|Watchers in the Dark]]''' (joined M36)<sup>2</sup><br> '''[[Nobledark_Imperium_Member_States#Kinebrach|Kinebrach]]''' (joined M36)<sup>3</sup><br> '''[[Nobledark_Imperium_Member_States#Tarellians|Tarellians]]''' (joined M38)<br> '''Nicassar''' (date unknown, M36-37?)<br> '''Kroot''' (joined M39)<sup>4</sup><br> '''Poctroon''' (joined M39)<sup>5</sup><br> '''Vespid''' (joined M39)<sup>5</sup><br> '''[[Nobledark_Imperium_Member_States#Diasporex|Diasporex]]'''<sup>6</sup><br> '''Enoulians'''<br> '''[[Nobledark_Imperium_Drafts#The_Pale_Wasting_and_the_Thexian_Trade_Empire|Thexians]]'''<sup>7</sup><br>
|style="width: 33%" |'''[[Nobledark_Imperium_Xenos#Hrud|Hrud]]'''<br> '''Jokaero'''<br> [[Nobledark_Imperium_Forces_of_Chaos#Saruthi|'''Saruthi''' (the Sane)]]<br> '''Q'orl'''<br> '''Thyrrus'''<br> '''Zoats'''<br>
|style="width: 33%" |'''[[Nobledark_Imperium_Xenos#Da_Orkz|Orks]]'''<br> '''[[Nobledark_Imperium_Forces_of_Chaos#The_Crone_World_Eldar|Croneworld Eldar]]'''<br> '''[[Nobledark_Imperium_Xenos#Dark_Eldar|Dark Eldar]]'''<br> '''[[Nobledark_Imperium_Xenos#Necron_Star_Empire|Necrons]]'''<sup>8</sup><br> '''[[Nobledark_Imperium_Xenos#Tyranids|Tyranids]]'''<br> '''[[Nobledark_Imperium_Drafts#The_Rangdan_Xenocides_and_the_Slaugth|Slaugth]]'''<sup>9</sup><br> '''[[Nobledark_Imperium_Xenos#Rak'gol|Rak'gol]]'''<br> '''Barghesi'''<br> '''[[Nobledark_Imperium_Xenos#Medusae|Medusae]]'''<br> [[Nobledark_Imperium_Forces_of_Chaos#Saruthi|'''Saruthi''' (the Broken)]]<br>'''†Khrave'''<br>'''†Laer'''<br> '''†Nephilem'''<br> '''†[[Nobledark_Imperium_Drafts#The_First_and_Second_Viskeon_Wars|Viskeon]]'''<br> '''†Yu'Vath'''<br>  
|}
† - Considered extinct by the Imperium<br>
<sup>1</sup> - First non-human, non-eldar species to officially join the Imperium. Offered alliance in recognition of the great help they gave the Imperium during the Age of Apostasy and the Imperial Civil War <br>
<sup>2</sup> - Were allied with the Dark Angels as early as the Great Crusade, officially didn't exist until Imperium began admitting other species in M36<br>
<sup>3</sup> - Were a protectorate of the Interex until M36, at which point they obtained separate representation <br>
<sup>4</sup> - Originally allied with the Tau, carried over when the Tau joined the Imperium. The Kroot technically don't see themselves as part of the Imperium, rather the Imperium are "preferred clients", but given they dislike Chaos as much as the rest of the Imperium does and the Necrons and tyranids don't hire mercenaries the difference is almost academic.<br>
<sup>5</sup> - Originally allies of the Tau Empire, still associated by proxy<br>
<sup>6</sup> - Technically a union of multiple species, including humans. Treated as distinct because it's unclear what species, if any, is in charge.<br>
<sup>7</sup> - Formed a Xenos Independens empire called the Thexian Trade Empire with relatively good relations with the Imperium until its destruction in M34 due to the [[Nobledark_Imperium_Drafts#The_Pale_Wasting_and_the_Thexian_Trade_Empire|Pale Wasting]]. Inducted as Xenos Familiaris when surviving representatives were found.<br>
<sup>8</sup> - Were Independens until M40 and the war sparked by the return of the Silent King, still some exceptions like the Gidrim (Nemesor Zahndrekh) and Solemnace (Trazyn the Infinite) Dynasties who are mostly Independens.<br>
<sup>9</sup> - Declared extinct multiple times

=== Member States ===

Most of the worlds encountered by the Imperium during the Great Crusade had greatly devolved during the Age of Strife, and ended up having to be directly administered by the Imperial Government and the Administratum. However, several national entities, including other technologically advanced Survivor civilizations, the Eldar Craftworlds, and several other species of xenos joined the Imperium whilst being interstellar powers in their own right. In these cases, these entities joined as semi-autonomous member states, granting them almost complete political and industrial autonomy in exchange for following the Imperium's few universal rules.

For more information see [[Nobledark_Imperium_Member_States|Member States]]