Galactic empire

Galactic empiresare ascience fiction setting trope,in which most or all of the habitable planets in the setting'sgalaxyare ruled by a single centralized political entity. Galactic empires most frequently appear in works in the sub-genres ofscience fantasyandspace opera,although they may appear in other sub-genres as well. Works featuring galactic empires may have them as the story's focus, chronicling the empire's growth and/or decline. Alternatively, they may merely serve as a backdrop against which the events of the story play out.

While depictions of galactic empires can vary wildly from work to work, most galactic empires share several key tropes:

The empire, or at least its wealthier and more powerful regions, has advanced considerably in science and technology compared to currenthuman civilization.
Among these advances are some form offaster-than-light travel,which enables transit and communication across the empire's extent to occur in a reasonable time frame.
Habitable worlds are either directly administered by representatives of the centralized imperial government, or else their local leadership is ultimately subordinate to the central government.

Characterizations of these empires can vary wildly from work to work. They may be benevolent or malevolent; all-powerful or too weak or incompetent to exert power in anything but name; or anywhere in between.

Background

Most of these galaxy-spanning domains depend on some form of transportation capable of quickly or instantly crossing vast cosmic distances, usually measured inlight-years,many times faster than familiar particles such asphotonstraveling atlight speed.These, instantaneous orfaster-than-light(FTL) (tachyonic) technologies invariably require some type of propulsion or displacement technology forbidden byAlbert Einstein'stheories on relativity.Described methods often rely on theories that circumvent or supersede relativity: for instance, the hypothesis of awarp drive(such as, more specifically, anAlcubierre drive) that bends the fabric ofspace-time.

In many cases, the term "galactic empire" is misleading. First, the "galactic" in "galactic empire" suggests an organization encompassing far morestar systemsthan is actually described. This may come about as a result of propaganda exaggerating the spread of an imperial entity in order to appear stronger than is actually the case — just as historicalnation-statessuch as the 'Holy Roman Empire' presented themselves; being roughly twice the size of modern Germany. While some of the noted fictional empires encompass a large portion of the galaxy, many other empires may be classified as interplanetary or interstellar empires, since they encompass only a local group of star systems.^{[citation needed]}

When works feature galactic empires that truly do span most or all of their parent galaxy, they usually depict their capital as a "core world", a planet in a star system relatively close to a galaxy'ssupermassive black hole.Typically, "core worlds" will be portrayed as wealthier and more politically powerful than "rim worlds" closer to the edge of the galaxy. However, this portrayal, while common, is not universal; many works may invert this dynamic or reject it altogether.

Second, the "empire" in "galactic empire" is also misleading, as it suggests the empire's government isauthoritarianto at least some degree, if not completely autocratic. While many galactic empires do correspond to this description, many do not: galactic empires may adhere to any real-world political philosophy, or a unique form of governance created by the work's author(s). A prominent example of a non-autocratic galactic empire is theGalactic Republicof theStar Wars prequel trilogy,which is ahybrid regime parliamentary democracy(albeit one that collapses intofascist dictatorshipover the course of the story).

Notable examples

Caesar Augustusand other powerful leaders ofImperial Romehave had a wide-ranging influence upon fictional empires.

Star Wars

The best known such organization to the general public today isthe Galactic Empire fromStar Wars,which was formed in turn from theGalactic Republic.

Star Warsdepicts an empire ruled autocratically byDarth Sidious,supported by a powerful space navy. It is stated in theoriginalStar Warsfilmthat there was an Imperial Senate that was later disbanded by the Emperor. There was a galactic empire called the Sith Empire founded by Darth Revan. This galactic power was close to overthrowing the Jedi's Republic during the Jedi Civil War.

As amilitary dictatorshipbased upon fear and terror, the Empire is an explicitlyvillainous forcewith linguistic and visual traits directly reminiscent ofNazi Germany.For example, their armored forces known as "stormtroopers"are named analogously to theSturmabteilung(often known as theSA), a paramilitary entity created by the Nazis in 1920.^[1]Their best-known weapon is the iconicDeath Star,aMoon-sizedspace platformthat can destroy entire planets.

In theStar Warsuniverse, the fall of the Galactic Republic and its replacement by the Galactic Empire – as depicted inRevenge of the Sith– recall the historic fall of theRoman Republicand its replacement by the Roman Empire headed byAugustus.

The term "galactic empire" has, perhaps because of association with the Empire fromStar Wars,gained a pejorative meaning.

Foundation and CoDominium

In contrast to Star Wars, the galactic empires from theFoundationuniverse and theCoDominiumuniverse are relatively benign organizations. Much of the plot of theFoundationseries, authored byIsaac Asimov,revolves around who can best and most quickly revive thefallen galactic empire;it is taken for granted that this is a positive and worthy aim. In writerJerry Pournelle'sCoDominiumseries, members of the empire often work to maintain the best interests of humanity despite efforts by violent political extremists to pursue their own ends.

Galactic empires are in many cases consciously modeled on historical Earth-bound empires. Asimov stated explicitly that the Galactic Empire whose fall is depicted in hisFoundationbooks is also modeled on theRoman Empire,with the author taking direct inspiration from thehistorical writingsofEdward Gibbon,even to the point of basing someindividual characterson historical figures. Specifically,Pebble in the Sky,which is set on Earth – a poor and backward province of the Galactic Empire – is modeled on Roman-ruledJudeain the 1st century AD. Asimov's Earth – like the historical Judea – is sharply polarized between those who accept the Imperial authority and the fanatic "Zealots"who hatch violent plots of bloody rebellion and are the book's clear villains.^[2]

Foundationis depicted as having started life as a Foundation of scholars, taking up just one city on one faraway planet and setting up a modest municipal government headed, naturally, by aMayor.Through a centuries-long series of developments which are the main subject matter of theFoundation Series,the Foundation gains enormous power and territory and comes to rule virtually as many stellar systems as the earlier fallen Empire - but continues to call itself "Foundation" rather than "Empire", and its ruler - though wielding as much power as any Emperor - retains the title of "Mayor".

Dominic Flandry

WriterPoul Andersonmakes the point that the declining empire depicted in hisDominic Flandryseries does not span the entire galaxy but only a fraction of one of its spiral arms. Nevertheless, the institution is vast beyond a regular human's ability to truly comprehend, and it is in the process of collapsing under its own weight.^{[citation needed]}This series also consciously compares its imperial organization with the Roman Empire, to the point of tracing out the space equivalents of the Roman 'Principate' and 'Dominate' phases.

Dune

The universe established inFrank Herbert'sDuneonce again recalls the Holy Roman Empire, as well as theByzantineandIslamicempires, especially given the role of hitherto disregarded desert-dwellers who, due to a powerful new religion, expand to topple an old empire and build a new one. For example, the Egyptian-Canadian commentator Khalid M. Baheyeldin has enumerated the obviously Islamic concepts and references appearing inDuneto the level of finding multiple similarities between the career of Herbert'sPaul Atreidesand that of the Islamic prophetMuhammad.^[3]

InDune,the empire's power is held within three organizations: the Imperial family; theLandsraad,representing thenobility;and theSpacing Guild,an interstellar travel monopoly.

Warhammer 40,000

Another notable example of a galactic empire is theImperium of Manfrom theWarhammer 40,000universe, which is afeudal theocraticindustrial andmilitaristic totalitarianregime (nominally anabsolute monarchy) that does in fact span almost the entirety of theMilky Way Galaxy.Despite massive strength, the institution's territories are constantly at risk due to unending conflicts with variousalien races and rebel factions.The Imperium of Man is managed by a vast bureaucracy, ranging from the High Lords of Terra to various mostly-autonomous planetary governors (they can do whatever they like so long as they pay taxes), all of whom govern the Imperium's territories on behalf of the comatose God-Emperor. It is supported by several organisations, such as the Ecclesiarchy, its state church; and the Adeptus Mechanicus, which produces most of its military equipment, which also operate independently from each other and the central Terran government.

Others

In the final arc of theSailor Moonmanga series byNaoko Takeuchi,a fictional organization calledShadow Galacticahas established an empire all over the Milky Way. Shadow Galactica is stealing "starseeds", the essence of sentient life in the galaxy. Its members come from different Star Systems and Sailor Galaxia, the self-proclaimed "Golden Queen of Shadow Galactica", has built her palace around the Galaxy Cauldron, the birthplace of all life in the Milky Way located inGalactic Center.

Bertram Chandlerwrote two interstellar series – onefeaturing a Galactic Empireruled by a series of non-hereditary Empresses while the other hasa Republican Galactic Federation.Chandler's Empire and Federation, both relatively benign, have much in common – both covering the same volume of space, having much the same kind of Space Navy and both having the same commercial spaceflight company called "The Dog Star Line", suggesting that these are twoalternate historytimelines which branched off from the same original space travelling culture.

InUrsula K. Le Guin'sHainish Cycle,the interstellar entity known as "The League of All Worlds" and later as "The Ekumen" is in possession of the 'ansible' (a tachyonic device). Technology makes possible instantaneous interstellar communications, and the ability to send instantaneous unmanned ships carrying bombs to another planet is exploited as well. However, living beings cannot survive such travel, and thus humans are limited to space exploration at relativistic speeds. Correspondingly, this organization, despite on occasion waging war across interstellar distances, ends up being looser than a true empire.

AuthorOrson Scott Card's "Starways Congress", an organization featured in the workSpeaker for the Dead(the follow-up toEnder's Game), similarly relies on the ansible. Yet it is moreauthoritarianand less benevolent than Le Guin's creation. Much of the story-line of the book and its sequels involves attempts to avoid interstellar bloodshed despite difficult circumstances.

References

^Klein, Christopher."The Real History That Inspired" Star Wars "".History.Retrieved16 March2021.
^Gallant, Joseph (1 January 1951)."Earth People vs. the Galaxy".Commentary.12:303–304.ProQuest 1290130442.
^"Frank Herbert's Dune – Islam and Science Fiction".