Post by Flax on Aug 13, 2005 1:22:38 GMT -5
Ideology
The Zaon Imperium strongly opposes artificial life and they despise even more replicants. In their opinion all machines made to imitate man are abominations. This is further backed by the religion most influent in the Imperium, The Illuminati. Yet they recognize that they could not compete with the highly robotized corporations without some level of automation, hence as long as a machine has only a simple A.I. and is not made to mimic mankind in full or in part, then that machine is legal.
Religion
The Illuminati is all about humans being the chosen of the galaxy, but in order to accomplish this destiny all humans must perfect themselves on a physical and spiritual level. In order to obtain this physical perfection, humanity must work hard and not indulge itself luxuries. Hence, machines are somewhat scorned since they do the works for humans and because they aren’t living creatures. A heavy reliance on anything is considered very bad, be it drugs or technology. On the spiritual level, the order expects daily meditation sessions from their followers. For those who wish to broaden their spiritual experience, a few special monasteries have been built. These monasteries actively recruit followers but are very secretive.
Politics
The Imperium is controlled by an imperator, which has been from the Setus family since the beginning. Technically the imperator controls his empire and takes the decision that will affect the whole of his domain, but in reality most imperators are content to leave that power to others because they want to enjoy the privileges of their position without the responsibilities. The last competent imperator was Keilan Setus, a brilliant strategist who died when his flagship, the ZIS Zaon, was shot down over Cilia. None of the dreadnought’s crew presumably survived, the ship remains to this day on the planet and all known attempts to find it have mysteriously failed with no survivors. The second interstellar war ended 10 years after his death. Now, 13 years after the war, his successor the imperator Craith Setus is still in power. He fancies great parties and grand estates, he has no interest whatsoever in the affairs of the state.
The Imperium has survived because the imperator does not stand alone, a council of six persons and the Senate helps the imperator. If the council votes unanimously it can overrule the imperator. The council is composed of the minister of health, the minister of foreign affairs, the minister of finance, the supreme commander of naval forces, the supreme commander of the ground forces and the director of the B.I.S., the bureau of interstellar surveillance. In theory they are only supposed to help the imperator in his decisions, but in fact many imperators have given their powers to the council in order to avoid the responsibilities of the position. While the current council are somewhat more competent than their imperator, their constant squabbling bogs down the decision making process. For example, when a distant outpost called for help because of food shortage, it took so long for the council to decide to help them, that by the time they gave the order to help, everyone in the outpost was dead.
In addition of the council the Senate can overrule the imperator if the vote is unanimous. The Senate is composed of one senator for every one hundred million people, for a total of 156 senators. For example, Zaon Prime has 45 senators.
As for the lower levels of power, one basically needs to impress his superior to advance in rank, either in the military or in the ministries. Impressing a superior can be as simple as bribing him, of course some people impress their superiors through their actions but they are rare. These methods of rank advancement have reduced the number of competent persons in positions of power to a bare minimum, at least 70% of them are inadequate or incompetent and the rest are either competent or brilliant.
Each colony is headed by a governor that has supreme power on his planet, but not the space around it. The governors report directly to the Senate and any one except the Senate, the council or the Imperator are subordinate to a governor on his planet.
Economy
The Imperium is self-sufficient, yet since a few years it started commerce with the corporations. Most of freighting outside the Imperium’s border is done by war freighters, transport ships that can hold off a small capital ship. This reduces greatly the threat of piracy outside of the borders, while inside fleets of capital ships roam about thus rendering piracy a very risky business. A fleet of standard freighters carry essential goods from planet to planet, thus assuring no planet is missing something vital. The commerce guild, a subsection of the ministry of finance, takes care of outside shipping and transactions while the ministry takes care of inside shipping. The Zaon Imperium uses the Zaonite credit or Z-cred as its official currency.
Private industries are allowed in the Imperium as long as they do not work in anything military grade. Weapons research and production, shipbuilding and military vehicle construction are all handled by the government.
The Zaon Imperium strongly opposes artificial life and they despise even more replicants. In their opinion all machines made to imitate man are abominations. This is further backed by the religion most influent in the Imperium, The Illuminati. Yet they recognize that they could not compete with the highly robotized corporations without some level of automation, hence as long as a machine has only a simple A.I. and is not made to mimic mankind in full or in part, then that machine is legal.
Religion
The Illuminati is all about humans being the chosen of the galaxy, but in order to accomplish this destiny all humans must perfect themselves on a physical and spiritual level. In order to obtain this physical perfection, humanity must work hard and not indulge itself luxuries. Hence, machines are somewhat scorned since they do the works for humans and because they aren’t living creatures. A heavy reliance on anything is considered very bad, be it drugs or technology. On the spiritual level, the order expects daily meditation sessions from their followers. For those who wish to broaden their spiritual experience, a few special monasteries have been built. These monasteries actively recruit followers but are very secretive.
Politics
The Imperium is controlled by an imperator, which has been from the Setus family since the beginning. Technically the imperator controls his empire and takes the decision that will affect the whole of his domain, but in reality most imperators are content to leave that power to others because they want to enjoy the privileges of their position without the responsibilities. The last competent imperator was Keilan Setus, a brilliant strategist who died when his flagship, the ZIS Zaon, was shot down over Cilia. None of the dreadnought’s crew presumably survived, the ship remains to this day on the planet and all known attempts to find it have mysteriously failed with no survivors. The second interstellar war ended 10 years after his death. Now, 13 years after the war, his successor the imperator Craith Setus is still in power. He fancies great parties and grand estates, he has no interest whatsoever in the affairs of the state.
The Imperium has survived because the imperator does not stand alone, a council of six persons and the Senate helps the imperator. If the council votes unanimously it can overrule the imperator. The council is composed of the minister of health, the minister of foreign affairs, the minister of finance, the supreme commander of naval forces, the supreme commander of the ground forces and the director of the B.I.S., the bureau of interstellar surveillance. In theory they are only supposed to help the imperator in his decisions, but in fact many imperators have given their powers to the council in order to avoid the responsibilities of the position. While the current council are somewhat more competent than their imperator, their constant squabbling bogs down the decision making process. For example, when a distant outpost called for help because of food shortage, it took so long for the council to decide to help them, that by the time they gave the order to help, everyone in the outpost was dead.
In addition of the council the Senate can overrule the imperator if the vote is unanimous. The Senate is composed of one senator for every one hundred million people, for a total of 156 senators. For example, Zaon Prime has 45 senators.
As for the lower levels of power, one basically needs to impress his superior to advance in rank, either in the military or in the ministries. Impressing a superior can be as simple as bribing him, of course some people impress their superiors through their actions but they are rare. These methods of rank advancement have reduced the number of competent persons in positions of power to a bare minimum, at least 70% of them are inadequate or incompetent and the rest are either competent or brilliant.
Each colony is headed by a governor that has supreme power on his planet, but not the space around it. The governors report directly to the Senate and any one except the Senate, the council or the Imperator are subordinate to a governor on his planet.
Economy
The Imperium is self-sufficient, yet since a few years it started commerce with the corporations. Most of freighting outside the Imperium’s border is done by war freighters, transport ships that can hold off a small capital ship. This reduces greatly the threat of piracy outside of the borders, while inside fleets of capital ships roam about thus rendering piracy a very risky business. A fleet of standard freighters carry essential goods from planet to planet, thus assuring no planet is missing something vital. The commerce guild, a subsection of the ministry of finance, takes care of outside shipping and transactions while the ministry takes care of inside shipping. The Zaon Imperium uses the Zaonite credit or Z-cred as its official currency.
Private industries are allowed in the Imperium as long as they do not work in anything military grade. Weapons research and production, shipbuilding and military vehicle construction are all handled by the government.