Imperial Charter?

[MasterGwydion]

What is an Imperial Charter? Is it required for colonization within the Imperium? on the borders of the Imperium? I found this little blurb and it is difficult to reconcile with other material written about the Third Imperium.


Do other Imperial Worlds not have an Imperial Charter and therefore cannot govern themselves?

 

[Endie]

What’s the source volume? There’s one author I tend to heavily discount.

Edit: Wait that’s TGR by MJD. Funnily enough…

 

[MasterGwydion]

What’s the source volume? There’s one author I tend to heavily discount.

Edit: Wait that’s TGR by MJD. Funnily enough…

Yeah. I tripped over it while reading the page you recommended. Page 10. lol

 

[AnotherDilbert]

Presumably it's the Warrant of Restoration, the basis of the Imperial constitution, that is referred to:
https://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Warrant_of_Restoration

Article I - Imperial Governance, Membership, Citizenship​

The Imperium shall exercise no direct governance over any member world. Instead, the purpose of the Imperium shall be to provide for the Defense of all of the member worlds as a group, and to bring the Rule of Law to the spaces between worlds. No interference with local law or custom is contemplated, except where such local law or custom is in conflict with Imperial Law.

 

[MasterGwydion]

Presumably it's the Warrant of Restoration, the basis of the Imperial constitution, that is referred to:
https://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Warrant_of_Restoration

So, Imperial Charter just means Imperial Member World?

 

[AnotherDilbert]

So, Imperial Charter just means Imperial Member World?

I believe "Imperial Charter" in the text in the OP refers to the Imperial Constitution itself.
The Imperial Constitution gives member worlds the right to govern themselves.


An interesting quirk of the constitution is that it seems to give worlds the unilateral right to join the Imperium, simply by proclaiming so.

Article I, paragraph II:
Any world may, through a recognized Representative, proclaim allegiance to the Imperium, and in so doing, such world shall become a Member of the Imperium, equal in status to all other members of the Imperium. Member worlds shall govern themselves as they see proper, provided that such government does not violate Imperial laws.

 

[Anstett]

I would say that the Moot, etc has to recognize a sophont as the Representative of a polity first. Then they can become a member.

Just because a system says they are part of the Imperium does not make it so.

 

[ottarrus]

The Imperial Charter is the Imperial Edict #1: The Warrant for the Restoration of the Imperium.
This is the founding document, the basic legal framework, and theory of government of the Third Imperium. 'Charter' and 'Warrant for the Restoration' are often considered interchangeable terms for the same thing, though this is something of a misnomer. The Charter is that portion of the Warrant dealing specifically on How the Imperium Shall Be Governed. It's rather like referring to the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights is part of the overall Constitutional document.

 

[MasterGwydion]

The Imperial Charter is the Imperial Edict #1: The Warrant for the Restoration of the Imperium.
This is the founding document, the basic legal framework, and theory of government of the Third Imperium. 'Charter' and 'Warrant for the Restoration' are often considered interchangeable terms for the same thing, though this is something of a misnomer. The Charter is that portion of the Warrant dealing specifically on How the Imperium Shall Be Governed. It's rather like referring to the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights is part of the overall Constitutional document.

Okay, so what does it mean that a planet is granted an Imperial Charter? Does that mean they have self-rule while other Imperial worlds do not?

 

[WHULorigan]

Okay, so what does it mean that a planet is granted an Imperial Charter? Does that mean they have self-rule while other Imperial worlds do not?

The quote you raised above in the OP does not say that the world (or any world) either was or is granted an Imperial Charter. It says that the Imperial Charter permits worlds to govern themselves . . .

Having said that, going all the way back to the earliest CT version of the Imperium at its inception - GDW LBB4 Mercenary:

Traveller assumes a remote centralized government (referred to in this volume as the Imperium), possessed of great industrial and technological might, but unable, due to the sheer distances and travel times involved, to exert total control at all levels everywhere within its star-spanning realm. On the frontiers, extensive home rule provisions allow planetary populations to choose their own forms of government, raise and maintain armed forces for local security, pass and enforce laws governing local conduct, and regulate (within limits) commerce.

The earliest envisioning of "The Imperium" was that The Frontiers (specifically) had a "Charter" of sorts explicitly granting them "home-rule" provisions specifically due to the distances involved and the inherent inability of the Imperium to exert effective direct Imperial rule over such a scale.

So the quote also could be a hold-over or an allusion going back to that original verbiage.

 

[MasterGwydion]

The quote you raised above in the OP does not say that the world (or any world) either was or is granted an Imperial Charter. It says that the Imperial Charter permits worlds to govern themselves . . .

Having said that, going all the way back to the earliest CT version of the Imperium at its inception - GDW LBB4 Mercenary:



The earliest envisioning of "The Imperium" was that The Frontiers (specifically) had a "Charter" of sorts explicitly granting them "home-rule" provisions specifically due to the distances involved and the inherent inability of the Imperium to exert effective direct Imperial rule over such a scale.

So the quote also could be a hold-over or an allusion going back to that original verbiage.

Okay, so it could be a holdover. Makes sense. I was curious because Megacorps also have Imperial Charters, so I was wondering what they were since apparently, they apply to more than just planets.

 

[ottarrus]

Okay, so what does it mean that a planet is granted an Imperial Charter? Does that mean they have self-rule while other Imperial worlds do not?

I honestly don't know what an 'Imperial Charter' for a world is. This is what I think it is. YTUMV.

An Imperial Charter for a planet is most likely the planet's membership document into the Third Imperium. It would detail the planet's rights to self-government, the limitations to that self government, and the Imperium's rights and responsibilities regarding that planet.
Things included would most likely be:
- The requirement to obey Imperial High Law
- The right of the Imperium to decide trade laws, foreign relations, and matters of strategic defense
- Taxation of the member world
- The concept and specific celestial parameters of 'shared jurisdiction' within the member world's system
and so on.

 

[WHULorigan]

I honestly don't know what an 'Imperial Charter' for a world is. This is what I think it is. YTUMV.

An Imperial Charter for a planet is most likely the planet's membership document into the Third Imperium. It would detail the planet's rights to self-government, the limitations to that self government, and the Imperium's rights and responsibilities regarding that planet.
Things included would most likely be:
- The requirement to obey Imperial High Law
- The right of the Imperium to decide trade laws, foreign relations, and matters of strategic defense
- Taxation of the member world
- The concept and specific celestial parameters of 'shared jurisdiction' within the member world's system
and so on.

This is a likely interpretation.

Alternatively, it could mean as noted above that Frontier Worlds out on the fringes are still granted some special privileges and additional leeway and home-rule provisions that go somewhat beyond that of the standard member-world contract as practiced in the Old Core Worlds of the Imperium where entrenched nobility and Imperial Core cultures and societies have held sway for countless generations (or millennia).

 

[ottarrus]

This is a likely interpretation.

Alternatively, it could mean as noted above that Frontier Worlds out on the fringes are still granted some special privileges and additional leeway and home-rule provisions that go somewhat beyond that of the standard member-world contract as practiced in the Old Core Worlds of the Imperium where entrenched nobility and Imperial Core cultures and societies have held sway for countless generations (or millennia).

Except that by the time the Imperium offers a world membership on the frontiers, the megacorps usually have some influence and when a world joins that world is assigned a noble, usually from the planet's population, as its representative in the Moot. What I mean to say is that the world already has some connections to the Imperial power structure by the time membership is offered.
No world is forced into Imperial Culture... or 'starfaring culture'. The Imperium doesn't require it other than obedience to Imperial High Law and non-interference in those activities regulated by the Imperium. The vast majority of the population doesn't have contact with the outer starfaring culture and couldn't care less. Travellers contact it a lot because Traveller's activities extend into those areas where the Imperium brooks no interference... trade, defense, criminal activity, etc. But 90% of the population of Regina, Rhylenor, or Mora have almost no contact with the Third Imperium at all. These are issues for the world government, the Starport Authority, and the noble representatives to deal with.
What assimilation that does occur happens by 'soft power' means... entertainment offerings, museum exhibits, speaking tours by notables, etc. And all of that is easy to skip, ignore, or avoid by the average Eneri Smith on the street.
In matters of defense of strategic frontier worlds, the Imperium spends a fair slice of the Imperial tax base fortifying 'anvil' or 'fortress' worlds like Jewell, Efate, Regina, etc. This allows these worlds to have larger system squadrons, extensive meson gun arrays, larger armies on the ground etc.
This is also a form of influence and assimilation. All other things being equal, a world with a long history of loyalty and obedience to the Imperium and its policies will receive greater investment from Imperial taxes than one that does not have this history of cooperation.

 

[MasterGwydion]

I am starting to wonder, if like everything else, I am looking for the publisher to define the term they use in their published material. If Mongoose wants to write a setting such as the Third Imperium, then they need to actually define what the terms being used actually mean. If not, they are not producing a setting, they are producing guidelines for a setting. Terms made up by people as fanon don't matter. That isn't officially published material. The only terms that matter, as far as being Mongoose's responsibility, are the ones put forth by Mongoose.

 

[Condottiere]

Could be similar to that granted to municipalities.

Welcome onboard - terms and conditions apply.

 

[MasterGwydion]

Could be similar to that granted to municipalities.

Welcome onboard - terms and conditions apply.

Yeah. It also could be the license to open an Arby's restaurant. We have no way to know unless Mongoose tells us.

 

[ottarrus]

Except that Mongoose has intimated several requirements for membership in the Imperium. I've listed most of them that I know about.
And the reason Mongoose isn't more specific is to give referees room to make the Imperium what they want it to be without having to constantly refer back to a book or having their whole plan wrecked because they got retconned by the latest book.
Isn't that what everyone said they wanted?

 

[MasterGwydion]

Except that Mongoose has intimated several requirements for membership in the Imperium. I've listed most of them that I know about.
And the reason Mongoose isn't more specific is to give referees room to make the Imperium what they want it to be without having to constantly refer back to a book or having their whole plan wrecked because they got retconned by the latest book.
Isn't that what everyone said they wanted?

To me, so this may not be true for others, but having a poorly fleshed out setting is no different than having a setting generator, but not an actual setting. If that is what Mongoose wants Charted Space to be fine, but they need to stop calling it a setting if they refuse to define anything or make those definitions so vague as to be meaningless.

I usually complain about how poorly defined things like UWP and TL are, but now according the FFW books TL-12 troops are just as good as TL-14 or TL-15, so now I guess TL really is meaningless. What's next? Naked TL-0 armies are just as good as TL-8 armies?

At some point you need to actually state what your setting is. That requires details and definitions, or you will continue to have this exact problem where none of the game mechanics mean anything as far as how the setting actually works.

Edit - For example. The name Imperial Charter could have never been used. Don't call it anything and don't tell us anything. No more problem, but the publishers did give us this term, so tell us explicitly what it is and what it means and how it is used by the Imperium. Good Referees who like rules will be able to take that specificity and turn it into adventure. Good Referees who don't like rules will be better served by building their own version of Charted Space anyhow. Bad Referees won't matter either way.

 

[ottarrus]

Well, there is a reason why I keep insisting on a 'style guide' for Traveller...

Look, way back in the LBBs 'the Imperium' was whatever you made it. It was as corrupt or fascist or venal or lazy as the story called for. But then, back then almost every adventure was the PCs committing an illegal raid against some facility... INCLUDING AN IMPERIAL PRISON HULK

As Traveller has grown older more details were filled out. The assassination of Strephon told us more about How The Imperium Really Worked than any other source. And from there the follow-on authors took the ball and ran with it. With so many spoons in the soup, it's no wonder that things have continuity issues. And these things happen even with IPs that have a continuity czar from step one... just look at how much sturm und drang Star Wars has gone through even before Lucas told that toxic fan base to piss off and sold them out to Disney.

I think my take on the Imperial Charter is a good one for my game. It might work for your game too.

But My TU reflects a 'Grey Imperium' that is not the 'good guys' [they CERTAINLY don't suffer from the US' desperate need to wear the white hat] and not the 'bad guys'. My version of the Imperium acts for the good of the Imperium and is utterly unapologetic about it. It tries to act for the benefit of all 11,000 worlds but it realizes that acting for the good of the high pop /high tech 'islands of civilization' is the best way to provide the most benefits to the most citizens. Sometimes that means that worlds like Aramis/Aramis get eff'd over for the 'greater good'. My Imperium is one of Bismark-like 'realpolitik', where the power structure rules with as light a hand as it can but with as iron a fist as it has to. And my version of Emperor Strephon loses precisely zero sleep over that unfortunate fact of life.

You have more detail now about that the Third Imperium is and is not than ever before, Gwyd. You have as much information about the Traveller Third Imperium setting as the authors of the FASA Star Trek had about their setting in 1982. Let that one sink in.

I mean absolutely no disrespect to you when I say that you can just as easily pick a sector with the bare minimum of details... Fulani Sector for example [a full three sectors Spinward from the nearest Imperial possession] and put together a setting and government that makes more sense to you. Traveller is not the Third Imperium. The Third Imperium is a part, but just a part, of Traveller.