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Wow. Are you some sort of professional writer?

Hey Kid

Just a quick thanks, this thread has inspired me start writing background fluff again. I'm fleshing out my fluff a lot and might even talk to to my Dark heresy Gm to see if he is willing to include some of it in our campaign.

Can't say enough how brilliant this thread is as a resource for those of us wishing to create a detailed background for our armies.

Spank

Thanks all! I'll start putting it together in a more organized article shortly. In the meantime here's something I just added.

Any resemblence between imperial democracy and American democracy is purely coinicdental.

Government

Most planetary offices in the Imperium are hereditary, the Imperium needs to plan long term and finds a certain stability in letting one family run things over generations. But on some worlds a form of democracy is practiced. The Imperium recognizes that things run more smoothly if the subjects approve of their rulers and if their rulers make at least token efforts to appease the masses. But the results bear little resemblance to the ideals we are familiar with. Voters make their choices on clan or company lines, with every member told who to vote for if they value their positions. Sometimes angry mobs take to the streets to ensure the opposition never has a chance to get near the voting the booth. And in any case the nomination process is tightly controlled to ensure the voters never have too many choices anyway. After a while the same families begin to appear again and again, with fathers handing power to sons, husbands handing power to wives. In the Imperium, democracy soon becomes a de facto hereditary system, though sometimes surprises do happen.

In contrast most Imperial offices are appointed and promotions are earned. The Imperium itself demands total devotion, total loyalty and tries to draw on officials who have no outside ties. Many are orphans, others are posted far from their home worlds to sectors where they know no one. Once in place their promotions are based on results. Is production up? Is disorder down? Are Imperial laws obeyed? They are closely monitored and their every move is scrutinized for signs of disloyalty, heresy or incompetence. A humble clerk might labor in obscurity for years only to be suddenly made responsible for an entire sub-sector based on his years of impeccable work. Or at least that's what they're told.

In truth the Imperial system has become corrupt. A wealthy family can buy a Director's rod, a Cardinal's staff or even an Admiral's throne if they have the money and connections. Of course if they buy a position and the incumbent proves a failure the whole family will be held accountable.



Automatically Appended Next Post:
Well the first half is up, the second half will have to be a separate article. Artwork to come.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Civilian_Life_in_Warhammer_40%2C000_AD