dominant governments

hi everybody. i am new to this forum and this will be my first post, though hopefully not my last. i am looking for some help. i am sorely confused about this game and how it’s played, but i’ll make an honest attempt at playing it before giving up on it; and i REALLY don’t want to give up on it because it looks sooo cool and so different from regular rpg’s. if i can just understand how it’s supposed to be played, i’ll definately put together a campaign with my friends. but i’m getting ahead of myself. before i can put together the campain i’ll need to know how its played and so that why im “testing” it out first.

im currently in the process of building my own world (and im trying to choose options that will force to learn other rules, such as choosing alien-life-atmo or whatever so i get to try out the alien burner) now however, i am in the process of choosing my government, and there are some thing i am hoping you guys could help me with.

first of all is this thing called “civilian commune”. i find i don’t really understand what a civilian commune is. i have even read the “extra” info on the life-path setting but i’m afraid the author is using words in english that are way beyond my understanding.

also, could someone explain to me the difference between a noble fief and military dicatorship. it seems the two governments are roughly similar; the difference i gather is the forged lord has inherited his rule while a warlord from the military dictatorship has simply “taken” his place.

so what do you say? will you please help me sort out these questions and bring me a little closer to playing this game i have so much hope for?

Hi etorres,

Welcome!

A commune is essentially a democracy. They’re inspired by medieval communalism.

A noble fief is feudal in nature. It embraces the standing social order of the various empires in that the aristocracy rules. Its military is run by the aristocracy. Rank is accorded by birth.

A military dictatorship is much more flexible. It could be a group of nobles who illegitimately seized power with their military might. It could be professional soldiers from a Merchant League or Civilian Commune which seized power, etc. Such a government maintains itself by force, it has no recognized legitimacy beyond that force.

Does that help?

Hello and welcome!

Please don’t double post your questions in multiple forums. As you can see, we are happy to quickly answer your questions. If you accidently posted your question to the wrong forum, we’ll move it for you.

Thanks!
-Luke

thank you very much thor, that clears some questionmarks. could you also correct me if i’m wrong in my assumption here that; if you choose imperial stewardship, it means that its leader, the steward, is represented in some kind of galactic senate? maybe i didn’t phrase that well… it was my impression, that imperial stewardship meant that the empire in question (the darikhan for example) asserted its control over the planet, throught the planets steward. is that right?

i might have that wrong though. i took it to mean that void planets were not longer part of any of the eight empires, and if that is right, that would mean you couldn’t choose imperial stewardship for a void planet.

how does the “leader” of every empire keep control of the multitudes of planets in their emprie? do the empires have a capital planet somewhere?

if your planet is not an imperial stewardship, does it belong to an empire?

sorry luke, i just realized this thread would be more at home over at world burnign instead of general questions is all. won’t do i again.

The Steward is not a member of a galactic senate. He is the representative of the Emperor. Think of him as a Viceroy.

i might have that wrong though. i took it to mean that void planets were not longer part of any of the eight empires, and if that is right, that would mean you couldn’t choose imperial stewardship for a void planet.

A Void world is a world which is no longer in contact with the rest of the Iron Empires. Some of them are completely surrounded by Vaylen worlds. They CAN have Imperial Stewardships though. It could be a world that was under the control of one of the empires but which has been lost, or a world that belongs to a whole other empire that exists out in the void.

how does the “leader” of every empire keep control of the multitudes of planets in their emprie? do the empires have a capital planet somewhere?

Yes. Each emperor has a world from which he rules. Each emperor appoints Lord-Stewards to represent his interests and administer his worlds.

if your planet is not an imperial stewardship, does it belong to an empire?

That depends on what you and your group decide. Ostensibly, if your world is not a Void world, it belongs to one of the empires by default. Sometimes an empire “owns” a world but is not able to project enough power there to control it. Such a world will have the Imperial Bureaucracy/Court as a Faction (or not at all) rather than as the Dominant Government. Some worlds might have a charter from the emperor, like a chartered free world (Civilian Commune), or a for-profit prison world (Merchant League).

wow! thank you for clearing all that up! i am indepted to you!