What do you call an interstellar empire?

[Steve]

I'm trying to come up with a good name for the galactic empire I am discussing in the thread "Feudal Stars" that is not overdone.

 

Currently, I am just calling it the Imperium, but I'm curious as to what other names might work and are less cliché.

[Xavier Onassiss]

Are you looking for a name to call the government, or the volume of space that it rules? The word Imperium has been used interchangeably to refer to either one, or both at once, but it's an important distinction. They might have different names.

[Steve]

A name to call the government. I'm currently using Western European noble titles, but I'm wondering if I could mix in something non-European to call the overall government. I could just call it the Fourth Imperium or the like, I suppose.

[Lord Liaden]

A number of states, real and fictional, have used terms for their empires with slightly different connotations reflecting their self-image and philosophy, such as dominion, union, regime, order, or hegemony.

 

Then of course, there are those states which for public relations purposes, choose deliberately benevolent and liberal sounding names which may not at all reflect their reality: republic, commonwealth, federation, protectorate, alliance.

[Zeropoint]

The Democratic and Benevolent People's Republic of the Milky Way

[IndianaJoe3]

I did a weird SF/Fantasy game where the, "Evil Empire" was the Celestial League.

[Sundog]

There's a lot of variation you could use. Concordance, covenant, alliance, union, confederation/acy, commonwealth, league, mandate, caliphate, sultanate, region, charter, magistracy, dominion, as well as the more common republic, empire, kingdom. Even just "state" has been used at times.

 

In this case, perhaps something like "The Noble and Imperial Covenant of Worlds" would be suitable..

[Captain Obvious]

If it's the whole galaxy, and there's no contact outside the galaxy, does the area need a name?  They'd probably refer to "the (ruling family) Dynasty" for anything specific to government, and "the galaxy" for anything specifically physical.

[Christopher]

A number of states, real and fictional, have used terms for their empires with slightly different connotations reflecting their self-image and philosophy, such as dominion, union, regime, order, or hegemony.

 

Then of course, there are those states which for public relations purposes, choose deliberately benevolent and liberal sounding names which may not at all reflect their reality: republic, commonwealth, federation, protectorate, alliance.

I was born into the "German Democratic Republic". Wich was basically a communist Police State. Luckily it broke down when I was 5. I like to call it the "German (not quite so) Democractic Republic".

 

Some space strategy games like Space Empires (V in particular) have listings of "Government forms" for random empires/the indecisive player. Don't have any of them installed right now and most have been note by Lord Laiden.

[CptPatriot]

I suppose the name of the interstellar empire would either be the name used by the government of that region or the name made up by the other governments in the region, if no formal name has been declared.

[Tom Carman]

I was born into the "German Democratic Republic". Wich was basically a communist Police State. Luckily it broke down when I was 5. I like to call it the "German (not quite so) Democractic Republic".

Given the socio-economic structure and political modus vivendi, I can see a name involving both "Socialist" and "Nationalist"... (And why they wouldn't... just entirely too appropriate in some respects.)

[DShomshak]

In Jack Vance's "Demon Prince" quintet of novels, galactic society was called the Oikumene, Greek for "the inhabited world," ultimately from Oikos, a house. It's "the home of all people." Also has a somewhat religious connotation through words such as "ecumenical."

 

Vance never went into detail about how the Oikumene was governed, but there were a numberr of powerful and widespread institutions, such as the bank that issued the forgery-proof bank notes, and the Institute whose goals and influence were... a bit mysterious.

 

The name might refer to some institution or creed that keeps people thinking they live in a common social framework, despite division into many societies. For instance, Muslims speak of the Umma as the totality of Muslim societies (and everyone outside the Umma lives in the House of War or, possible, the House of Truce).

 

The Holy Roman Empire managed to include religious ideology, a historical precedent it wanted to claim for itself, and a political statement of how it was ruled. (Though the Emperor was arguably not an Emperor, it only held Rome on-and-off, and while it was Christian, the holiness was debatable too.) Maybe the interstellar Imperium similarly tries to claim succession from a greater, more unified galactic society of the past.

 

Dean Shomshak

[Lord Liaden]

The Holy Roman Empire managed to include religious ideology, a historical precedent it wanted to claim for itself, and a political statement of how it was ruled. (Though the Emperor was arguably not an Emperor, it only held Rome on-and-off, and while it was Christian, the holiness was debatable too.)

 

My understanding (and I'm open to correction) is that the "Holy" designation is a later historical revision for labeling convenience. The people living in it -- or at least their rulers -- considered it the "Roman Empire," spiritual successor to its earlier incarnation. Which is also how the Byzantines defined themselves. Probably a touchy subject for their diplomats.

[DShomshak]

Could be! I'm just commenting on the information from my old history college textbook.

 

The Holy Roman Empire might be a model for Steve's Imperium, though, at least in what it looks like politically. I have this map (in Historical Atlas of the World, ed. by R. R. Palmer) of the HRE after the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. By modern standards, it's deranged. A patchwork of Kingdoms, Archduchies, Duchies, Principalities, Abbacies, Bishoprics and Archbishoprics, Counties, Electorates, Margraviates, Landgraviates, and Imperial Free Cities. Lots of exclaves, especially with the ecclesiastical statelets. Coloring shows the possessions of the Spanish Hapsburgs, Austrian Hapsburgs, Brandenburg, and Sweden.

 

Dean Shomshak

[Christopher]

In Jack Vance's "Demon Prince" quintet of novels, galactic society was called the Oikumene, Greek for "the inhabited world," ultimately from Oikos, a house. It's "the home of all people." Also has a somewhat religious connotation through words such as "ecumenical."

Got an intersting idea: What if the name is based on the Culture it "copies/puts into space"

A "greek in Space" state would follow concepts of the Greeks: A Republic/Democracy, maybe with Dictator for emergencies. Name that is a wordplay on greek word for home/empire/government.

 

Once you get a cultural theme, you can start digging in the language.

[pinecone]

The Concordium, because everyone agreed to join (so they would stop hitting them... )

[McCoy]

Seriously?  Everyone has passed up the straight line?

 

"It doesn't matter what you call it, it's not going to answer."

 

 

 

Thank you, I'll be here all week.

[BlueCloud2k2]

The Empire of Man, The Great Empire of Man, or The First Great Empire of Man

 

The Imperial Union

 

The Terran Dominion

 

The Dominion of Man(kind)

 

The Nice and Just Imperialized Unification of The Human Race

 

Okay, some of those were either stolen or mocking what's already been done, but hey, it's the end of my work week and I'm EXHAUSTED!

[Lord Liaden]

Could be! I'm just commenting on the information from my old history college textbook.

 

The Holy Roman Empire might be a model for Steve's Imperium, though, at least in what it looks like politically. I have this map (in Historical Atlas of the World, ed. by R. R. Palmer) of the HRE after the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. By modern standards, it's deranged. A patchwork of Kingdoms, Archduchies, Duchies, Principalities, Abbacies, Bishoprics and Archbishoprics, Counties, Electorates, Margraviates, Landgraviates, and Imperial Free Cities. Lots of exclaves, especially with the ecclesiastical statelets. Coloring shows the possessions of the Spanish Hapsburgs, Austrian Hapsburgs, Brandenburg, and Sweden.

 

Dean Shomshak

 

Agreed! And let's not forget about the Hanseatic League. Given the vast distances between planets, a trade-based alliance of worlds controlling important trade routes could wield substantial power in a galactic state.

 

That scale would also make it reasonable to translate the diversity and loose hegemony of the Holy Roman Empire (and I stand corrected, my research suggests that name was regularly applied to it by the mid-13th Century onward) to a futuristic interstellar state. Within that context, terms such as "League," "Coalition," or "Consortium" would be appropriate descriptors.

[Xavier Onassiss]

Sometimes I throw out a name that hints at the setting's background history, like "Second Pact of Epsilon Fornicis IV, Reformed."

 

Which hints at a number of questions:

 

What's so important about Epsilon Fornacis?

 

What happened to the First Pact? (Did something go Horribly Wrong?)

 

And why was it necessary to "reform" the Second Pact?

 

Of course every one of these events could give rise to dissident factions; those who were betrayed when the First Pact went Horribly Wrong and still hold a grudge... others who felt they got a raw deal at Epsilon Fornacis when the Second Pact was forged... and those who always thought the Reformation (whatever the heck that means) was a bad idea all along.

 

Okay, that's a silly example, but you get the idea.

[Nolgroth]

Not so silly. Just that message could spark an entire campaign.

[Steve]

Using Dynasty in the title could make for an interesting approach, especially if the royal family changes every now and then. Old lineages weaken and are overthrown, to be replaced by another family that is later replaced as well.

 

I wonder if such a thing could be ritualized somehow? China had the Mandate of Heaven, so perhaps some variant of that could be incorporated.

[Werehawk]

I have an up and coming empire (or menace depending how you deal with them) called The Rohalaan KaiserRealm I use in my 31st century settings. I based it on Germany between its unification and the beginning of World War I and did not want to use a literal German language name for it so I came up with a mash of German and English for the name of its empire that sounded different and unique.

[Lucius]

 

The Authority

 

 

The Interstellar Trade and Treaty Organization

 

 

The Palpatinate

 

 

McCoy speaks in jest, but it does suggest another possibility:

 

 

Seriously?  Everyone has passed up the straight line?

 

"It doesn't matter what you call it, it's not going to answer."

 

 

 

Thank you, I'll be here all week.

 

The Bureaucracy

 

Seriously, Xavier Onassiss has an excellent idea -

 

Sometimes I throw out a name that hints at the setting's background history, like "Second Pact of Epsilon Fornicis IV, Reformed."

 

Which hints at a number of questions:

 

What's so important about Epsilon Fornacis?

 

What happened to the First Pact? (Did something go Horribly Wrong?)

 

And why was it necessary to "reform" the Second Pact?

 

Of course every one of these events could give rise to dissident factions; those who were betrayed when the First Pact went Horribly Wrong and still hold a grudge... others who felt they got a raw deal at Epsilon Fornacis when the Second Pact was forged... and those who always thought the Reformation (whatever the heck that means) was a bad idea all along.

 

Okay, that's a silly example, but you get the idea.

THAT is how you avoid a bland and generic sounding name. Even if the players never get to Epsilon Formacis or even try to discover the answers to these questions, the fact that such questions can be asked gives an impression of depth and color to a setting.

 

 

Lucius Alexander

 

My understanding (and I'm open to correction) is that the "Holy" designation is a later historical revision for labeling convenience. The people living in it -- or at least their rulers -- considered it the "Roman Empire," spiritual successor to its earlier incarnation. Which is also how the Byzantines defined themselves. Probably a touchy subject for their diplomats.

the palindromedary explains that while in its earliest centuries it didn't call itself that, before it was over it was sometimes calling itself "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation." More often it just called itself "Holy Roman Empire." Voltaire famously called it "neither holy, not Roman, nor an empire." After Napoleon won at the Battle of Three Emperors, the last Holy Roman Emperor called it "Quits."

[Lawnmower Boy]

Heilige Roemisches Reich Deutches Nation. There are many ways to go in translating this, and the absolute worst way would be to follow Voltaire, that dastardly Franco-Prussian apologist.