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I'm flicking through the Rogue Trader rulebook because i'm in the process of fleshing out a homebrew and this paragraph popped out

Planetary Administration lies in the hands of governors called Imperial Commanders - a title which corresponds roughly to the term 'Lord'. The Commander is appointed by the Administratum to oversee a planet or, more rarely, a continent or a special project of some kind. The position is often regarded as an hereditary one, associated with an ancient title (Duke of Calaco, Baron of Ymgarl, Lord of Lambs World, etc). Although duty-bound to the priesthood, the Commander is essentially an independent governor, and so long as his taxes come through, his quotas are met and his planet kept in order, he is free to run things in any manner he chooses. Commanders can recruit and maintain their own armies and inter-planetary fleets, and may even be permitted access to interstellar spacecraft.

Now, for the purposes of my setting, I was hoping to have a "Imperial Lieutenant Commander" and they're basically intended to be a 'lower tier' authority to that of a actual planetary governor.

Does this concept seem plausible enough?

The Rogue Trader rulebook is pretty old, a lot of the lore has changed since then. The extract you quote seems pretty much in line with current lore though. Except GW usually refers to them as Planetary Governors rather than Imperial Commanders these days.

This Imperial Lieutenant Commander of which you speak, this would be someone who reports to the Planetary Governor? Or someone who is part of the chain of command. Seems plausible enough to me.

Remember that there are many planets in the Imperium, fitting a structure in that applies to at least one planet is usually pretty plausible. The Administratum don't care too much how a planet is governed, as long as the Tithe is paid.

El Torro wrote:
The Rogue Trader rulebook is pretty old, a lot of the lore has changed since then. The extract you quote seems pretty much in line with current lore though. Except GW usually refers to them as Planetary Governors rather than Imperial Commanders these days.

This Imperial Lieutenant Commander of which you speak, this would be someone who reports to the Planetary Governor? Or someone who is part of the chain of command. Seems plausible enough to me.

Remember that there are many planets in the Imperium, fitting a structure in that applies to at least one planet is usually pretty plausible. The Administratum don't care too much how a planet is governed, as long as the Tithe is paid.

As my notes stand, the Imperial Lt Cmdr is basically the 2ic or deputy to the 'full' governor. I intend for it to be a 'civilian' posting as opposed to it being a Naval Lt Cmdr (O4)

There almost certainly will be a command structure upon a world, with the Planetary Governor at the very top. And from what we know, they have the final say regardless.

That top position is a mix of Absolute Monarch, and British Empire Governor, due to external oversight and the very real threat of being replaced if your planet isn’t run well. But so long as you meet your tithe (the main metric for a world being well managed), you can otherwise pretty much do as you bloody well please.

Running a planet is no small task of course. You can’t be everywhere. And there’ll no doubt be societal aspects to your world you’ve little to no understanding of. Which means….Council! And delegated authority.

Imperium being the Imperium though, I’m not sure there’s a set hierarchy tree to follow, anymore than the Imperial Guard has a universal command structure.

There's always a line of succession or chain of command to follow.

Governorship isn't always hereditary. Verghast had an Imperial House (House Sondar) but during the Sabbat Worlds Crusade they were only the latest in the line of ruling Houses.
There was an assembly of the various Houses of Verghast (really just the most powerful families in Vervunhive specifically) that could and would remove the Imperial House from power if needs be.

And if you want to change things there is a lot freedom to do so.

You can have the planet be a newly annexed world discovered and populated by a Rogue Trader, who placed a favorite (or someone he wanted off his flotilla) in charge of the world.

Or you could have an entirely new regime after an Eversor Assassin removed the old one.

Then there is always the planets ruled by various factions, as there are no Imperial Governors on Knight Worlds or Forge Worlds.

You virtually can have any regime you want on your world. Pay tith and live how you want - that the only rule for goverment on any planet. You can be barbarous canibals with lineage of rulers or militaristic all even world with elections and other democratic things like Atraxia where people do what they do the best way. There is billions of worlds so up to you how yours work

I'm with Gert. Succession is an important thing. Some worlds will have a clear line of succession, e.g. the 2IC being the current Governor's firstborn child (or relevant identified heir). The second Perlia book in Cain's series has a nice example of that, with the Governor's niece.

Other governors will be relying on in-fighting between potential successors to maintain their own position, and therefore the 2IC is more likely to be an administration/trusted advisor position rather than grooming a successor. This is basically the trope in most of the other 40k books that cover the issue as its gimmer and darker