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Reimagine the Imperium of Man as a Republic

the atom

the atom

Anarcho-Kemalist Thought Leader
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Comfortably numb
Without drastically changing the theme of the faction or the setting, try to envision an Imperium that is a republic of some sort.

And I do mean Republic, not a constitutional monarchy.
 
It would probably basically be like the Roman Republic. As in political power is centred entirely within the main "democratic" body residing on Terra made up of who are basically an aristocracy anyway. Which honestly isn't that different from how the Imperium is already run. There would still be a lot of ground level authoritarianism because of the realities of the Imperiums gigantic size.

Some things that might happen is the military being somewhat less unilateral since power must flow from an atleast nominally civilian government, and maybe there'd be more respect for democracy flowing around if Republican values are part the Imperial belief system
 
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Just let Girlyman deal with all the problems first, he might be so fucking Roman enough that he pulls a reverse Roman empire and turn the whole Imperium back into a Republic.
 
Likely Tiered election system. sheer scale of Impirium, and limited amount of communication and travel between planets pretty much limits it to this.

Exact nature of each planets government varies across the entire spectrum of types, monarchies, dictators, democracies, republics, ect… Enforcing Republic on each planet would... be problematic to say the least. likely a lot of passive pressures toward elective forms of government though. have control over personal planetary defense fleets.

Planets select a representive to serve on the sector council, which manage relations between a few dozen to a hundred or so worlds close to each other. they have overall control over local fleets, and can press gang the fleets of individual planets.

Some of the greater planets skip the sector council step and appoint officials to the Imperial senate directly (Earth, Mars, ect..)

Each sectors select someone to represent them in the Imperial Senate, which is on Terra. Set overall policy, and nominal control over all fleets, and direct control of the Space Marines chapters(technically).

Emperor of Mankind.. is the Emperor of Mankind. Imperial senate elects someone to the position every 20 years, and every 20 years the same person tied to the Golden throne is elected to the position. If someone votes for someone else in the position, the Space Marine guards assigned to the Senate kill them. so.. Yhea, no one votes against the Emperor
 
Ah but then you have to get rid of the Esseleriachy. And the Inquisition. And Space Marines must allow their planets to have democracies too. And God knows how Mars would react.
 
I'd guess that Mars would be a client state? They'd be under the Imperium's aegis but have generally large control of their internal affairs. Their factions might actually lend themselves to a parliamentary system with coalitions forming to promote various ideas.

Planetary rulers selected by Mars/current with a yay/nay vote with probably some mechanism to ensure that each bloc in descending order of power/popularity gets to nominate their guy. Same process for selecting a representative to the grand forum. Academia is somewhat political has it offers large influence but while in the field you are functionally separate fro the political body and cannot campaign for your research until you leave the post.

Tech priests and inducted members of the machine cult have voting power.

...would that work at all?
 
While the Emperor on His throne is alive in a certain sense of operating as a source of powerful magic, he has not been able to speak or otherwise express any opinions for millennia, and is not seriously expected to resume such capabilities.

Which means that the actual decisions, including choosing new decisionmakers, must be made by others.

Precisely who?

How about, call Emperor dead, and the Empire a republic (while of course continuing to maintain his body in condition to emanate his magic)?
 
That's easy. The Emperor never proclaimed himself Emperor. He was 'elected' President. After the Horus Heresy, he's still doing the same job, Kim Il Sung-style. Everything's the same, only the names of the institutions are slightly different.
 
Impirial republic. Just because a nation is a republic, dose not mean it can not have an Emperor. especially if that Emperor is immobile and incapable of speech. simply a figurehead, to put it more simply.
 
chornedsnorkack said:
While the Emperor on His throne is alive in a certain sense of operating as a source of powerful magic, he has not been able to speak or otherwise express any opinions for millennia, and is not seriously expected to resume such capabilities.

Which means that the actual decisions, including choosing new decisionmakers, must be made by others.

Precisely who?
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The Imperial Senate.

The Imperium is still nominally ruled by the Emperor of Mankind. However, since his ascension to the Golden Throne, the duty of actually ruling the Imperium falls to the Senatorum Imperialis - the Imperial Senate, formed by the twelve High Lords of Terra. The identities and responsibilities of these High Lords may vary, as individuals inevitably die and their influence grows and wanes, but its members are always the leaders and representatives of the most powerful Imperial organisations.
This system endured for ten thousand years until the end of the 41st Millennium, when the revived Primarch Roboute Guilliman became Lord Commander of the Imperium and ruled over even the High Lords.
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I'd like a Republican Heresy, LOGH style, whereupon humanity divides into two civilizations: the Theocratic Empire and Republican Alliance, with the Eldar caught in the middle as a nominally neutral party. "Xenos" species form coalitions in mutual defense; they ally with the powers that be (Craftworlders and Republicans). Generally, they are to the periphery of the great powers; imagine them as the underprivileged and oppressed. Orks like fighting, but recently developed a blood sport inspired by some ancient game called football-- it is said their Fan Mobs are brutal. "The present day" happens to be in the midst of a millennia-spanning cold war. Chaos is where it's usually at in the meantime.

Also, Eldar are primary protagonists.
 
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A republic doesn't necessarily have to be a very democratic state. The US has been a republic since its founding, but only instituted universal male suffrage after the Civil War (and even then, there were restrictions) and women didn't gain the right to vote until the 20th century. The Roman Republic was an oligarchy in all but name, Plato's Republic has more in common with fascism as a political system than democracy. And that's not even getting into all the republics-in-name-only that have come into existence since the early 20th century.

You could easily have an Imperium that labels itself a Republic but is otherwise exactly the same as canon because only 1% of the population (if that) actually has voting rights.
 
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