Comments interspersed

On 19/9/23 09:08, Jeff Zeitlin - editor at freelancetraveller.com (via
tml list) wrote:
> In the Lord Darcy stories, the current King of the Angevin Empire and
> Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire is titled
>
> <snip>
> It's fairly obvious that some of these titles were accreted as a result of
> conquests and treaties suborning political entities to the Angevins.
>
> What titles might the Emperor of the Third Imperium have accreted? Would
> some of them pre-date the Third Imperium in actuality?
>
> Some of the titles I imagine the Emperor might hold:
>
> *Canonically, Emperor of the Third Imperium
> President of the Senate of the Sylean Federation
> King in the Chanestin Worlds
> Ishimkarun to the Vilani Peoples (possibly in Vilani as "Ishimkarun
>      Bilanidin")
> Secretary General of the Terran Confederation (NOTE: The head of the
>      Solomani Confederation probably also claims this title. So what? Both
>      the Emperors of the Eastern and Western Roman Empires claimed to be the
>      representative before G-d of the Senate and the People of Rome...)
> Protector of Terra ("Inherited" from the Emperors of the Rule of Man)
> *Canonically, Archduke of Sylea

A quick shufti at the Travmap data for Core sector fails to find a
distinct capital for either Core subsector or Core sector, so I expect
they're subsumed into Capital's polity-capitalness.

In light of such subsumption:

     Can you see any major reason for HIM _not_ to be the (at least
nominal) Core subsector duke/duchess?

     Can you see any major reason for HIM _not_ to be the sector
duke/duchess of Core sector?

If so, none of that precludes palming the lesser titles' duties off to
someone else.  (eg in Ciencia's case, Casimir(?) might functionally be
the Core subsector duke after a couple of decades).

Abdicating such a lesser title substantively (eg in current Grand
Prince(ss)' favour) might be much rarer, but if a given emperor wants to
stack the Moot, it's a possibility.

GT:Nobles puts sector duchies outside direct Crown control - Adair (AD
Sol) unilaterally inserted himself as Solomani Rim sector duke (GT:N,
p99), Delphine (Mora) managed it with "decades of political maneuvering
and consensus building" (GT:N, p 18)

Said book also imposes a legal schizophrenia upon HIM's person re: the
Moot.  _Empress Ciencia_ can quite properly and legally be told to take
a flying leap, but _Archduchess Ciencia of Sylea_ is a Moot member by
right of that archducal title and cannot thusly be excluded.

Given how frequently and blatantly Trav's future history has knocked off
from (post-)Roman empire history, I find the "I'm Spartacus!"  "Bugger
you, I'M Spartacus!" situation for the 2I-and-predecessor titles between
the Sol Confed and 3I entirely fitting.

I'd expect the SC head to also claim the "Protector of Terra" title, and
actively neglect the Ishimkarun bit.

> *Canonically, Marquis of Usdiki
> Sovereign of the (Imperium-wide orders listed on
> https://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Knight)
> Sovereign of the (Domain of Sylea orders listed on that same page)
>
> Any "cultural region" that has a history of being an interstellar polity
> probably also has a title that accreted to the Emperor when the worlds of
> the polity/cultural region acceded to the Third Imperium.

The Vegan Autonomous District (and its predecessor states, going back to
before Muan Issler got flattened - ie, before us mob got out of BCE) has
the Guardians of the Inviolable Covenant tuhuir, which contains all
Vegan members of the Imperial peerage as members.  It wouldn't be too
far beyond the pale to add "Guardian of the Inviolable Covenant" (or
whatever - fancy it up for Vegan tastes) to HIM's list of titles.

For something generic, "Protector/Guardian/Steward of (Region)" ?  eg
"Guardian of the Sylean Worlds, Steward of Spinward Woop Woop, Protector
of Lancia, Guardian of the Inviolable Covenant...."

> Thoughts? Discussion?
>
>
Hope that's something to get discussion started.

Alex