The Third Imperium

The Imperium was a Feudal Confederation with individual worlds, and even entire systems, free to govern themselves as they desired, provided that ultimate power was always accorded to the Imperium. Member worlds of the Imperium agreed to pay taxes and obey a few fundamental laws which the Imperium promulgates, known as the High Laws. In return, the Imperium agreed to patrol the space between the worlds, to protect interstellar trade, to encourage travel and commerce, and to arbitrate diplomatic relations between worlds. Beyond this, individual worlds were left to their own devices so long as they acknowledge the power of the Imperium to rule the ‘space between the stars.’

It had a population of almost 18 trillion inhabitants, with 80% being human but also a wide range of non-human species included. Humans, known as Humaniti, were the dominant species on the many thousands of systems and worlds within the Third Imperium and while most humans are of Solomani, Vilani, or mixed ancestry, literally dozens of other races and sub-species of humans exist. These include Minor Human Races, Human Chimera, Variant Races, ethnic groups, and nearly every other possibility imaginable. Humans are a prolific species and can be found in large numbers throughout vast tracts of both what was the Third Imperium and Charted Space.

The Third Imperium was expansive being divided into sectors, twenty of them, with each 32 by 40 parsecs in size. Each sector is divided into sixteen subsectors, each 8 by 10 parsecs in size. And within a sector are perhaps thirty or forty systems, on average, each within a star, worlds, and satellites. Interstellar government began at the subsector level with on one world designated the subsector capital. The ruling figure at the subsector capital was a high-ranking noble selected by higher levels of government. The duke had a free hand in government, and was subject only to broad guidelines from her or his superiors. At the same time, the duke owed fealty to the higher levels of government, ultimately to the Emperor himself.

 

On 132-1116 at the Imperial Palace on Core, Archduke Dulinor Astrin Ilethian of the Domain of Ilelish assassinated Emperor Stephon. He tried to claim the 'Iridium Throne' by Right of Assassination but failed. Instead Lucan Alkhalikoi Alkhalikoi, Prince of the Imperium, became Emperor. He was the younger twin newphew of the late Emperor Stephon. Both Dulinor and Lucan would between them lead to the desteuction of the Third Imperium.

Conventional Military Conflict (1117 to 1122)

From 1117 to 1122 the war was a more-or-less conventional military conflict, primarily with Lucan and Dulinor attempting to achieve absolute military superiority while the other factions mainly acted in self-preservation; none were able to decisively defeat their rivals. It was a five-year period of constant naval maneuvering, sporadic battles, planetary invasions, and open conflict that destroyed most of the military assets of the former Third Imperium, now a balkanized ruin.

Black War, Scorched Earth and Hard Times (1122 to 1130)

From 1122 onward the factions, believing that outright superiority was impossible, switched to a strategy of asset denial and started a period called the Black War. Black War actions started a set of mutually-reinforcing trends that decreased interstellar trade and travel, degraded infrastructure, and reduced populations, leading to a period known as the Hard Times, where the notion of a reunited Imperium died in the minds of its citizens.

 

 
 

Source Material from and Links to the Imperial Encyclopedia, a game resource for Traveller rpg

Map  Source: GDW's Survival Margin

Winwick Pig Publications 2022