Area of Imperial territory, based on four adjacent
sectors, generally under the control of a
Archduke.Area of Imperial territory, based on four adjacent
sectors, generally under the control of a
Archduke.
In 76, Emperor Artemsus divided space into six regions, labelling them domains. These were designed to better manage the Pacification Campaigns (76-120). He then appointed an Archduke to administer each of them. To each archduke, he assigned the continuing pacification of the domain’s many systems and their integration into the Imperium.
In 589, during the First Frontier War, Empress Jaqueline I established the seventh domain of Deneb ( Spinward Marches, Deneb, Trojan Reach, Reft ). The intent was to appoint an archduke to be responsible for their supervision. However, the Civil War broke out before an archduke was appointed.
Following the Civil War, the Emperor expressed concern about individuals with powers equaling their own, so they moved to lessen the power of the archdukes in the Imperial government. Because of this, no archduke of Deneb was ever appointed. As a result, the domains came to have little practical significance. Each archduke did retain the power to create knights and baronets.
The domains of the Imperium are:
Note that Sylea was administered directly by the Emperor in his role as Archduke of Sylea. Most of the domains were never totally absorbed into the Imperium.
In the years after the Fourth Frontier War, and after the problems it presented from lags in communication, Emperor Strephon felt a strengthened archduke position could enable the Imperium to more quickly respond in defending the realm. Against the protests and opposition of some prominent members of the Moot, Strephon reestablished the domain as a level in the bureaucracy of the Imperial Navy and returned to the domains the ability to collect taxes. Still later, Strephon gave the archdukes the ability to legislate and enforce the desires of the emperor on the local level.
One of Strephon’s last acts before his murder was to finally appoint an archduke of the Domain of Deneb: Archduke Norris.
With the assassination of Emperor Strephon and all immediate heirs to the throne in 1116, the resulting turmoil has caused some confusion as to who will succeed Strephon to the throne. Thus, at the moment, factionalism in the Third Imperium is at an all-time high. Even with the uncertainty of the current moment, the Third Imperium still stands. The archdukes are instituting local stop-gap measures until such time as a strong central government can be reestablished.
(MT-ENCYC: pp 23, 42, 1120; MT-REFMAN, 1120)
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