Contact Light: A universe of rainbow imperialism

[Turquoise Blue]

We evolved once, long long ago, on an unknown planet called Earth

We must have done well, but then the Mice came

Crafty, cunning, malevolent, they took us all and enslaved us

Some became their cruel experiments and became... something other than human

Others were sent to mine resources to fuel their bloody empire

Then one day the Mice just disappeared, leaving chaos in their wake

After eons of rebuilding, humanity went back in space

Many space-wars were held, but then one man united the core human regions

That was Emperor Nicholas the Awesome, and he established an empire that would last

For twenty thousand years, he declared, if not more!
The start of "A History of Symphonia: The Rainbow Empire", an official textbook approved by the Ministry of Information in 2139 IE


Ahem, okay this is Contact Light, basically the renamed and revamped version of an old thing I once had three years ago. It's essentially a pulpy space fiction thing, think Warhammer, but not grimdark and with a heavy helping of "Yes, Minister"-style British bureaucracy in it. Expect dark stuff like serfdom but also expect some lighter stuff as well. Overall, it's sort of dark, but not unrelentingly so, if you get me? There's no Chaos, but there's petty imperialist squabbling that leads to way too much wars and millions dead

Anyway...

"This Empire will last twenty thousand years or more, as long as my crown still holds power and my sceptre holds sway!"
- Emperor Nicholas I the Awesome in 1 IE

"Where some states have an army, the Symphonian Army has a state!"
- Premier Priscilla Reuter in 253 IE

"Born of humanity, the Empire has grown diverse, including many minorities like the Nekomimi. It is no longer a Human Empire, but a rainbow Empire."
- Emperor Lucas III in 2135 IE

"The Empire's honeyed words clouds its sins. The millions 'cleansed' in the Population Reduction, the many minorities in reservations, so many sins!"
- Activist Halcyone Lindgren in 4051 IE

"The Empire freely acknowledges past sins that it has committed, such as Population Reduction, the reservations, the serfdom laws, and we officially apologise for them and will endeavour to make up for those terrible actions"
"What about the laws on the books authorising prisoners to be 'sold' to wealthy people for forced labour?"
"This conference is finished"
- An exchange between Premier Fetch Cress and a journalist after Premier Cress officially stated the state apology for past crimes in 5483 IE

"Artificials are not people"
- Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Melitta Teagan in 8314 IE

"Mr. Barwegen, we would like you to come with us"
- The words spoken by a man in a dark suit to Demir Barwegen, a famous anti-Empire campaigner, in 9811 IE. Barwegen would never be seen again

"The Nekomimi Confederation fully surrenders to the Symphonian Empire in exchange for the Symphonian Empire guaranteeing full devolution to the Confederation which will continue to exist but within the Empire. We pledge to be fully loyal citizens to the Empress and her lands"
- The statement of surrender from First Minister Safira Lumigas in 11072 IE that finally concluded the millennia-long Nekomimi Wars

"Premier Reed, do reconsider. This cannot be undone once you decide"
"The Empire is one built on many sins. We must form a new Republic"
"And do you think it will be more successful than the last twelve times it was done?"
- An exchange between Premier Wilbur Reed and Emperor Benedict IV in 14711 IE

"As someone forgotten by the Empire, someone who fell into the cracks, I have heavy scepticism on the whole 'Imperial Dream' thing the Ministry of Truth is peddling. Please cease at once. We need to talk about the other side of the coin"
- Premier Valora Fent in 17954 IE

"Look to your defenses, the Empire has more pressing matters to deal with"
- Emperor Victorian XV's statement to the call from the Ruby System for reinforcements in 19350 IE

"The Empire is no more. Twenty thousand years is at an end. We enter a new era, one fraught with doubt"
- Former Premier Sapphire Moon in a statement in 20001 IE

Imperial Census, 10-15
- White Human: 28%
- Black Human: 27%
- Gold Human: 21%
- Other Human: 15%
The Imperial Census before the 700s distinguished Humans by their skin colour and before the 400s didn't acknowledge those who weren't Basic

Imperial Census, 1110-1120
- Human: 31%
- Changed: 31%
- Alien: 18%
- Strange: 10%
The Ministry of Information apologises for the outdated and offensive terminology, but it is what was used at the time and we here at the Ministry of Information endeavour to deliver the truth to Imperial citizens

Imperial Census, 2000-2020
- Basic Human: 15%
- Near-Human: 47%
- Far-Human: 23%
- Non-Human: 9%
The recent Imperial Census took 20 years, and this has led to an outcry from many who expected better from us. Clearly the people want a more quick Census and we at the MoI will listen to their concerns

Ahem. Anyway, I hope you all will enjoy what I will post here. First up on the list will be an explanation of what the Census labels I used, are

List of Premiers of Symphonia (1-20000) - WIP, obviously​

 

[Turquoise Blue]

Alright, forgot my mouse but it'll come in the post anyway

Now, where were we? Oh yes, the Census

Human: In 1100, it was used to exclusively mean "Basic Human" [explanation below] but by 2000 it means something more inclusive, officially. By the 2000 definition used by the Government, it is "Any sentient being with descent from the indigenous species of Earth". However, the more casual use of it excludes Far-Humans and you'll hear the below exchange in some rather racist areas
"Sorry kitty, only Humans allowed in this club"
"I'm a Human! The government says Far-Humans are Humans!"
"The government might say what it wants, kitty, but this club's definition is more traditional"

Ahem. Yeah, that's an example of nekophobia, which is a major thing the Empire has for well, thousands of years

Changed: The Empire was originally just mostly Basic, but as it expanded, it discovered planets with obviously humans on it, but humans with clear mutations. Like humans who could breathe under water. Recognisably human, but different. Those were called "Changed" in the time before a more neutral label [but arguably more humanocentric] was formed in the 1500s

Alien: As the Empire expanded, it discovered planets with two types of aliens. Aliens that the Speakaller [a piece of technology heavily relying on human psychology and scanning of brains] could work on, and those that it didn't work on. So there were aliens that could be talked to, and those were first called "familiars" as contrast to the "stranges", those that couldn't be talked to, but increasingly they were just called Aliens

Strange: The aliens that tended to look rather not human, and the Speakaller didn't work on. In contrast with the more familiar-looking "Familiars", they were called the "Stranges". Those days, the noun "Strange" is a quite heated word and considered quite racist those days

Basic Human: The 1000s "Humans", they're the least altered from the presumed genetic foundation the Mice tinkered with. Unsurprisingly, they tend to have quite a bit of privilege, with many Basics in the well-off sector of society as contrast to the more poorer end. "Basic privilege", "That's so fucking Basic" and "Basic pride" are phrases you'll come across. The last one especially in Human supremacist organisations that see their job as "Basifying" the Near-Humans and well, exterminating the "unclean ones" [Far-Humans]. They're not popular by 2000, with even Anzor Park being a proud Near-Human and sees his job as promoting Human unity [specifically excluding Far-Humans] but not anything to do with "Basification"

Near-Human: The 1000s "Changed", they're more or less the "silent majority" of the Empire. They can be swayed by Human supremacists, for sure, but they can also be swayed by an appeal to genetic diversity and fear of "Basification". Overall, they're not particularly for race politics, and can often vote for stuff that fucks over Far-Humans if it benefits Near-Humans. They're the ones that more or less decide elections, unfortunately

Far-Human: The 1000s "Familiars"/"Aliens", they're descended from the original Humans of Earth, but the Mice's genetic manipulation was quite radical with them, such as with the Nekomimi. They're generally the ones that tend to make up the proletariat of the Empire, and so tends left-wing and radical, but their turnout is notably pretty low due to a lot of them saying "Sure, I could vote, but I would be fired from my job if I missed even a half hour". Even the Far-Human conservatives could be described as "religious democrats", like Nya Democracy

Non-Human: The 1000s "Stranges", they're generally the bottom of the racial ladder in the Empire. They have no descent from the Humans of Earth, and so face rather overt persecution [different from the more subtle one for Far-Humans] in an Empire that prides itself on being for Human Unity and whatnot. While technology has moved on from the Speakaller and they can generally be understood, there's still that deep feeling of distrust many Humans have with Non-Humans, with Far-Humans feeling it the least due to a shared experience of persecution

 

[Turquoise Blue]

Calliope Kedzierski (Liberal Republican, 1196-1203) was the Empire's first Nekomimi and Far-Human Premier [unless you believe the rumours around Efrosyni Salazar, of course]. It was the heady days of Social Republicanism, the Empire was abolished and radical thinking was put on the menu, including equality of all races. This was a high for civil rights legislation and a radical transformation of society. Kedzierski, despite rising in the most radical era, was quite... well... "passable" for a Nekomimi, being adopted at a young age by the billionaire Casimir Kedzierski who had weird views on Nekomimi and was sterile due to a genetic condition so Calliope inherited it all and became the first Far-Human billionaire. As a result of being brought up by a Basic, Kedzierski was widely seen as "Nekomimi by blood, Basic by culture", something she proved rather... sensitive on

Using her immense wealth and business connections, she funded the entire Republican Revolution that toppled the Emperor and formed the First Symphonian Republic, and managed to get the Liberal Republican Party to be "pro-business" [read: pro-Kedzierski's finances]. The Viridians [green conservatives] were calling for an investigation of her finances for suspected corruption by the 1194 election, which the Lib Reps narrowly won, and then immediately put any forms of investigation out of consideration

With Premier Aiza resigning because of a fatal illness, the Lib Reps decided to vote in their chief financier and newly-elected AM as leader. Kedzierski made history and immediately called an election which threw the Viridians off balance and gave her a comfortable majority including record high Nekomimi turnout that wiped out Viridian seats where Nekomimi held considerable sway. Her ministry oversaw a galactic recession thanks to a run on the Bank of the Galactic Centre and despite it all, she held firm, maintaining that the only answer was fiscal conservatism

That led to some on the party's left defecting to the Democratic Socialists but she maintained the majority for the longest parliamentary term without the constitution being suspended, that of seven years. Fighting off a leadership challenge from the left-y firebrand Felicia Desmond, the party was torn in infighting, struggling with unpopularity and in the end, it all fell apart in 1203 when many Lib Reps voted with the opposition on a vote of no confidence and triggered a new election, which led to the Viridians and Monarchists winning a majority together

After her humiliating loss, the "centre" of the Lib Reps lost influence and the "left", the ones advocating a Popular Front with the Democratic Socialists, was ascendant and firmly in control of the party's leadership, with Desmond being elected leader in 1213 and successfully winning the 1217 election

 

[The Professor]

Interesting.
What were the Mice like?

 

[Turquoise Blue]

Interesting.
What were the Mice like?

Basically the Skaven, but sci-fi technological and less "kill everyone", more "enslave everyone"

 

[Turquoise Blue]

Empire’s major parties in the year of the Empire 860
Democratic Party: Populism, Social liberalism. Catch-all reformism, really.
Movement for Unity: Moderate conservatism. Emphasis on the “moderate”.
Liberal Party: Broad-tent liberalism, tends right.
Popular Rally: Broad-tent agrarianism. Tends to back the Democrats.
Tyvaldian Solidarity League: Tyvaldian minority rights, Liberalism.
Agrarian and Industrial Workers’ League: Standard socialist fare.
Conservative Revolutionary Party: Right-wing angry populists.
Dark Party: Anti-democratic, anti-liberal and heavily cultish force.

Ah, yes, an old party list I had when I first did this thing three years ago. Let refine it, shall we?

The Democrats are a social-liberal-y reformist party with not that much ideology beyond vague liberalism. Cue the "you ripped this off the American Democrats" joke. They're opposed by the Movement for Unity, which is basically just David Cameron. Inoffensive social issues, talk of "Big Society", but fiscal austerity all around. The Liberals are obviously the Clegg to the Unitists[?]'s Cameron, being liberal but right-y and classical-liberal-y. The Popular Rally is an odd beast, being somewhat socially conservative and somewhat Human supremacist, but they gladly work with the Democrats due to distrust of the Unitists' backing of radical agrarian reform that would threaten the many smallholders voting Popular Rally

The Tyvaldians are... well, I didn't think of what they were at the time, but let guess what I probably thought. Hmm... Probably a sort of blue demon-y looking people. You know what, let say that's true. They're Far-Human [or at the time, called "Familiars"] and one of the first to be annexed wholly into the Empire. Their party the Tyvaldian Solidarity League is kind of mostly minority rights, but otherwise voting similarly to the Liberals or Democrats, depends on which party promises them better protection and pork barrel spending

Of course there's socialists here. However, they're a far cry from the days of yore, being a minor-ish major party called the Agrarian and Industrial Workers' League and struggling to expand outside of agrarian communes and radical slums where they do best in. Turns out most people who otherwise would have voted AIWL is happy enough with the Democrats or Popular Rally

The far-right is divided in two, the more "mainstream" far-right called the Conservative Revolutionaries that calls for "Symphonian values", heavily flirt with "Basification" and denounces the governing parties as "far-left liberals", but they're still fundamentally pro-democratic, or at least professes such. This isn't true for the party that even the Con-Revs are sickened at, the Dark Party. Darkism is a consistent minor force in the Empire for most of its years, and it first emerges here as angry rural people and right-wing bourgeoisie rally behind a charismatic leader who promises a New Symphonia, rejecting firmly any liberal thought in favour of what they call the "Dark Path". They would end up being banned, to most people's relief since they were increasingly getting cultish and their few AMs were suspended for bringing guns into the Assembly

 

[Turquoise Blue]

Monarchs of the First Symphonian Empire (1-1182)
Nicholas I "the Awesome" (House of Osecada) 1-57
Nicholas II "the Silent" (House of Osecada) 57-63
Frederick I "the Loud" (House of Osecada) 63-90
Henry I "the Reddish" (House of Osecada) 90-112
Nicholas III "the Posthumous" (House of Osecada) 112-189
Charlotte I "the Cavalier" (House of Osecada) 189-239
Nicholas IV "the Puppet King" (House of Osecada-Bloom) 239-285
Charlotte II "the Gray Queen" (House of Osecada-Bloom) 285-291
Frederick II "the Mousy" (House of Osecada-Livingston) 291-340
Daniel I "the Magnificent" (House of Osecada-Livingston) 340-381
Luisa I "the June-Bug" (House of Osecada-Livingston) 381
Daniel II "the Moon King" (House of Sylvania) 381-420
Nicholas V "the Terrible" (House of Sylvania) 420-457 [first use of parliamentary removal of a monarch]
Charlotte III "the Sky-Haired" (House of Sylvania) 457-469
Henry II "the Radiant" (House of Battenland) 469-510
Peter I "the Purple Knight" (House of Battenland) 510-576
Frederick III "the Furious" (House of Battenland) 576-597
Evelyn I "the Elegant" (House of Battenland-Marsden) 597-639
Daniel III "Lizard-Eyes" (House of Battenland-Marsden) 639-679
Nicholas VI "the Haunted" (House of Battenland-Marsden) 679-685
Nicholas VII "the Night's King" (House of Battenland-Marsden) 685-705
Peter II "the Good-Hearted" (House of Battenland-Marsden) 705-721
Daniel IV "the Diamond" (House of Battenland-Marsden) 721-756
Evelyn II "the Young" (House of Battenland-Marsden) 756-761 [declared dead after a year of being vanished]
Nicholas VIII "the Thunderous" (House of Battenland-Marsden) 761-821
Daniel V "the Unready" (House of Battenland-Marsden) 821-846 [died without heirs]
Interregum 846-855
Evelyn II "the Restored" (House of Battenland-Marsden) 855-864 [found alive and restored to the throne]
Michael I "the Cunning" (House of Sinesappel) 864-911 [second use of parliamentary removal of a monarch]
Nicholas IX "the Familiar" (House of Sinesappel) 911-924 [Half-Nekomimi child of Michael, assassinated by a Nekophobe]
Evelyn III "the Vixen" (House of Sinesappel) 924-951 [Also Half-Nekomimi, she was the twin sister of Nicholas IX]
Daniel VI "the Mad" (House of Sinesappel) 951-973 [put on the throne, disinheriting Evelyn's children due to "impure blood"]
Frederick IV "the Star King" (House of Sinesappel) 973-1023
William I "the Tyrant" (House of Sinesappel) 1023-1061
Peter III "the Pushover" (House of Sinesappel) 1061-1119
William II "the War King" (House of Sinesappel) 1119-1135 [removed due to "undemocratic actions" and heirs disinherited]
Nicholas X "the Citizen King" (House of Sinesappel) 1135-1182 [Evelyn's grandson. Died after the Republic Act 1181 passed]
First Symphonian Republic declared 1182

Note: While the title for monarchs were always Emperor or Empress, the tendency is for people to refer to them as Kings and Queens

 

[Turquoise Blue]

One of the Empire's first splitter parties, Faith in Democracy, came around in the 60s as the Conservative Party was having a major schism. The ministry of Ahmed Gomez in the 20s and 30s was deeply controversial from the get go but he enjoyed firm loyalty from his rural base that cheered on his libertarian rhetoric against what he perceived as "growing tyranny". This won him unlikely allies with the Progressive Labour Party [later just Progressive Party], a party firmly for social liberalism and rejecting Labour's increasing ties with trade unions, and they agreed to join his coalition before they unexpectedly lost the election of 30 [an election called by the Emperor due to his distrust of what he called a "ministry of none of the talents"] to the Liberals. Gomez got an unsuccessful leadership challenge from someone who claimed that Gomez was too right-wing for the country

Gomez successfully returned to power in the 34 election by reforming his Conservative-Progressive coalition once the Liberals lost a majority and Labour were both too small to give them a majority and too hostile to the increasingly-centrist Liberals. In his second ministry, he reformed the tax code, slashed government spending due to a new Imperial Contract with the regions that gave them more power, and implemented a firm anti-trade union bill that restricted just how much they could strike. This led to the first Symphonian general strike that ended up bringing down his government in 42 due to a vote of no confidence and a new election. Gomez managed to hold his coalition majority, but the Progressives ended up voting to coalition with the Liberals and Labour instead of Gomez's Tories. Resigning in 43 in somewhat of a disgrace, he would retire from politics for quite a few years. The Liberal government would last almost two decades under first the Viscountess of Dalija and then Sir Juan Rodriguez Moore

Rodriguez Moore ended up losing the 57 election [caused by the demise of the Crown] to the ascendant Tories under charismatic moderate Urban Singh. Singh was a critic of Gomez's libertarianism, instead preferring a more conciliatory "United Nation" approach to conservatism. His ministry would last 16 years but be rife with interparty squabbling, including the walkout of "the Lucky Thirteen" AMs to form Faith in Democracy in 63. The first inkling of a split would be in 62 when Singh refused to repeal the Liberals' "Social Contract" policies and instead voted to expand some of them, including natural parks and environmentalist policies. Gomez and his protege Pietari Frederiksen spoke out against this "fundamental betrayal" of conservatism, with Frederiksen's fiery rhetoric leading Singh to order the whip be removed from him in 63, which was a misstep on Singh's part

The outrage from the party's right-wing led Singh to barely survive a leadership challenge from the aging former Premier who was then a Peer, and after that, Frederiksen and twelve other AMs declared that they were now founding a party to serve as an alternative to the Tories for the right, and it would be called Faith in Democracy. Unluckily for them, the Emperor died that year, triggering an election that Singh was hoping to undermine them, and he managed to topple two of the thirteen and win a third Conservative majority [with a little help from Liberal instability]. Faith in Democracy was now just 11 AMs and three Peers, but over the next few years they would grow as Singh's moderation proved intolerable to many in the party ranks

By Singh's assassination, they had a comfortable 41 AMs and was the third biggest party in the Assembly. Singh's successor Lady Anne Blackwood was more of a conservative than he was, and upon losing a majority in the 75 election, turned to Faith in Democracy instead of the Progressives [one of the reasons why the Progs increasingly grew close to the Liberals, leading to a merger in 81]. Frederiksen, upon agreeing to the coalition deal, announced that he would be stepping down as leader "to allow someone new to lead us through this new era". His successor as FiD leader was farmer Leland Braune who was dedicated to the cause of decentralisation [his grandfather was an Anti-Imperial AM and he inherited that small government zeal] and would lead the party through the entire "Patriotic Coalition" as some declared the Tory-FiD coalition to be

Blackwood's assassination in 80 led to an increase of security around Premiers, and her successor Imogen Vemulakonda was frankly an enigma, preferring to avoid being pigeonholed into either "moderate" or "right-wing", which frustrated Faith in Democracy as her government was seemingly determined to be the most inoffensive possible. This hurt Tory support, but it also dogged FiD since they were the junior partner. In the 83 landslide that brought the Liberal-Progressives under Mario Catlin to power, FiD lost most of its seats, including the one Braune held. In due time, he announced his resignation as leader and a new election to be held for party leader. Jacobina Bosch, an university professor and intellectual [and often described as "Gomez's protege's protege"], won the election. She would find herself conflicting quite a bit with new Conservative leader Lotti Weizmann who was perhaps one of the most liberal choices the party ever made. But in the 90 election, only one plausible Tory-led coalition had a majority, and that was the one with Faith in Democracy. So Weizmann and Bosch agreed to a coalition after the Conservative delegates explicitly ruled out a Grand Coalition with the Liberal-Progressives [Weizmann's preferred coalition] despite her moderates' lobbying for it to avoid having to work with FiD

However, the end of the Weizmann-Bosch coalition in 95 would be a clear victory for Bosch, as she successfully navigated internal Conservative party politics to get a vote to merge with Faith in Democracy as the new Conservative Democratic Party to the Conservative delegates which voted it through, much to Weizmann's horror. Bosch happily stepped down to be replaced by new CDP leader T. Raj Lott, while Weizmann and twenty AMs declared that "the Conservatives have been taken over by the radical right" and founded the new Progressive Conservatives. Still, up there in the Celestial Court of the Ancients, Ahmed Gomez must be smiling as his faction has won the battle with the moderates for the time being

 

[Turquoise Blue]

Nekomish (Nekomish: Nyatak or ᨂᨈᨀ) is the primary language of the Nekomimi, a feline Far-Human species living in the Nekomimi Confederation in the Coreward region of the Crystal Reach region of the Galaxy. It is a language with a clear consonant-vowel pairing rule where every consonant must be followed by a vowel. Hence the Ancient Script (Nekomish: Alodarit or ᨕᨒᨚᨉᨑᨗᨈ) was a script that carried vowels within consonants apart from "a" which could indeed stand on its own rather uniquely and the absence of vowel marking was read as "sound followed by a"

The missionaries from Symphonia imposed the Common script on to the Nekomish language and this led to some mess, the most notable being the "unwritten final a". Nyatak is said as niataka and Alodarit as alodareta, with the final a not written out, a result of misunderstanding between missionaries and Nekomimi scribes about the dropping of the a from vowel marking. As time went on, the Ancient Script was increasingly marginalised as Nekomimi sought to "get with the times" and follow the ascendant Symphonia. Ancient Script made a slight comeback in the last few Nekomimi Wars, but after the Confederation was annexed, there was no longer any real pressure to keep the Ancient Script with even the state Temple giving way on the issue of script due to a Reformation, and it was driven to near extinction, only held on due to remote communities and extensive archives written exclusively in Ancient Script [that and a bureaucracy that refused to change how they wrote], but after the Confederation's refoundation in the waning days of the Empire, Ancient Script is making a comeback yet again as the "Young Nekomimia" movement seek to "reforge the nation free of Symphonian influence" or something, their rhetoric is confusingly inconsistent

Pautak (Ancient Script: ᨄᨕᨘᨈᨀ) is the most common sign language version of Nekomish. It was coined by taking the word for hand - pau - and merging it with the word for community speak - tak - to form a word that could be read or signed as "hand-using community language". It's widely considered the lingua franca for deaf Nekomimi, even as they have their own community sign languages based in their regions

Nekomish has, after centuries of investigation, been declared to be a Human language due to similarities with Common and other Human languages, and so linguists say it is descended from Proto-Human and use it in their eternal endeavour to work out what it sounded like. [To pull the curtains back a bit, it's impossible. All the languages Humans speak are creoles and the disruption the Mice caused means it's impossible to track anything back that far. The Proto-Human theory is based on very strong scientific research but the Mice's existence is actually not known yet. All scientists know is that a lot of people have myths about being "taken" from their old home by demons or similarly evil beings]

 

[Turquoise Blue]

Sakoli Demucarati = Social Democrats (of Nekomimia). Their official Common translation is the Social Democratic Party of Nekomimia but in Nekomish, Demucarati can mean Democrat, Democrats, Democratic or Democracy.


Their rival's name is Nya Demucarati but it's translated as Nya Democracy since they're using it to mean a broad concept of democracy, instead of specific people who are supportive of democracy

Also, should I repost my stuff I made on my Grab-Bag Thread for Contact Light, here?

 

[Turquoise Blue]

Cabinet posts known. This will be expanded upon as more are discovered. I will repost everything I ever made for Contact Light here

Premier: The head honcho, basically. They're the ones who the Emperor (or in periods of republicanism, the President) appoints after an election, heavily tends to be the leader of the party that won the most seats in the Assembly
Steward of the Treasury: Since the Empire is technically the continuation of an older nation, the actual power that is associated with the Premier is actually in the title of Steward of the Treasury. The "Treasury" bit is an artifact, the actual money bit is called the Imperial Mint, but the title persists because of Tradition. You can certainly see that this is a very British inspired Empire
President of the Cabinet: Oh, turns out the ability to fire and appoint cabinet members are actually in a third cabinet post, that of President of the Cabinet, a legacy from older pre-Symphonia days when a respected statesman appointed the cabinet on advice of the King and Steward. Those days, it along with the Stewardship is basically just appointed as a lump sum with the Premier spot

Lord/Lady High Chancellor: Despite its name, this isn't a position that is given to a Lord or Lady, but to the "second in command". In olden days, it was given to the most likely person to take over, so they could sit in cabinet meetings and so know what to do next. It's generally considered normal after a sudden death to hand the PM position to the LHC if they're not of another party. The first time this would happen was with Anne Blackwood [who was actually a Lady, but whatever] upon the death of Premier Urban Singh in 73. Ironically, she would die as well in 80 and since the LHC was held by a Faith in Democracy politician that declined to assume power, the Minister of the Imperial Mint got the position
Vice Premier: Wholly a ceremonial position created in the 140s with the first Grand Coalition, it normally goes with the LHC spot when coalitions happen, and otherwise falls vacant in times of majority governments [or extraparliamentary ones]

Minister Perambulator: One of the more... complicated posts, and definitely a major one. Basically it's to do with foreign policy and has evolved to be that, but it was originally "Minister of the Borders", with foreign policy overall seen as something the general cabinet would do. But as time has gone on, foreign policy has grew more and more complex, and in the end, went to the Minister Perambulator since they dealt with matters connected to it anyway. Was abolished in the First Republic and replaced with the "Foreign Minister" but restored in the Restoration

Minister of the Imperial Mint: Very much an important post, it is in charge of all things financial, including managing the humongous budget. Seen as the "third in command" [in times of a coalition. Otherwise, it's second in command], the person appointed to it carries huge clout. In times of war, the traditional blue briefcase of the MIM is swapped out for a red one, symboling a "war budget".

Minister for Justice: Basically the one who has to deal with the myriad legal codes, managing the Standard Unified Code that every single legal system has to follow in some way or another, and deals with the decisions the Supreme Court [from the 1400s forth] decides. Overall very much the job of the most skilled lawyer in the party/coalition
Overseer of the Supreme Court: Ooh boy, we're getting in the dark bits early. After a few hundred years of the Supreme Court, there was a fear that it would transform the Empire into a "judiciocracy" [that's not a word], so in the end, the position of Overseer was formed and a Parliamentary vote granted it the power to veto any judicial decisions that it felt "violated the word of the Constitution". One of the most controversial posts, and those days the veto is only used in extraordinary circumstances with a heavy pressure from the Cabinet to not use it too much. Traditionally appointed with the Justice Minister, but some Premiers have appointed themselves it

Minister for Crown Affairs: An obsolete post by 2000, it primarily dealt with matters of the Crown, such as marriages, coronations, funerals, and of course, how the Crown interacted with Country and Government. Abolished in the First Republic, wasn't restored in the Restoration, and all powers from it went to the new Department of Harmony and Unity

Minister for War/Minister of the Armed Forces: Originally just the Minister for War, as the Empire expanded and the Armed Forces became more and more big, the War Office ended up in all but name the department dealing with the armed forces and less and less about actual war which was more in the Minister Perambulator's position, and it was renamed in the 1200s to little fanfare
High Commander of the Space Forces: In the military regime of the 240s to 270s, the post of Minister for War was all but merged with the post of High Commander of the Space Forces and as a legacy of this era of military government, the current Armed Forces Minister is technically the head of the entire space force. This is something that comes up every now and then, including armed forces tradition being calling all ministers "Minister" apart from the Armed Forces Minister which is always "High Commander". Yes, this is one area where things are weirdly dark

Minister for Nearer Space: Basically just the person who is in charge of administrative stuff for "Nearer Space", aka the planets that are reasonably well developed and integrated. At the start, that was basically just two solar systems. Abolished in the 700s

Minister for Further Space: Basically the person who is in charge of administrative stuff for "Further Space", aka the planets that aren't developed or integrated "enough". Split into the Departments of Deep Space and Frontier for differing responsibilities in the 1100s

Minister of Deep Space: Basically everything to do with space stations and artificial habitats in "Further Space", which means quite a lot of people are under this department's jurisdiction. Also gradually takes over the Minister Perambulator's old duties in protecting the border

Minister for the Frontier: Deals with planetary settlements, relations with "backwards states" within Symphonia's space-empire, generally responsible for some rather unpleasant stuff with natives and whatnot, but the Treaty of Co-operation and Prosperity signed in the 1800s with Nekomimi within Symphonia prevents them from being expelled, and over time they became seen as citizens, something that would be continued with further minorities as Symphonia becomes more diverse and less humanocentric

Minister for Land/Minister of Agriculture: Originally responsible for settling people down in habitable worlds and for terraforming them, it was rebranded Agriculture in the same time as the Further Space Ministry was divided up, reflecting its more narrower [but still daunting] responsibility for matters of agriculture, feeding the Empire's billions and managing relations with the many farms, both family and mechanical

Postmaster General: Generally in charge of the Post Service, a huge bureaucracy responsible for transporting post all over the Empire. Over time, it gradually took on responsibility for information, and surprisingly enough, had that split away from it to create the...
Minister of Information: But the Postmaster General post still is appointed with it, so it wasn't much of a change. In charge of information, official broadcasts, propaganda (both wartime and peacetime), censorship and rewriting history to suit its ends. Basically it's Minitrue

Master-General of the Ordnance: Even from the beginning, there was always a slight whiff of militarism to the whole Empire. This post is basically good proof of that, being essentially the Ammunitions Minister but being a military post. Military and government always were uncomfortably close in Symphonia's long history. "Where some states possess an army, the Symphonian Army possesses a state!" was likely said at some point, probably in the time when the military junta was in charge. Abolished in the 400s, thankfully

Minister for Labour: At first glance, it's basically just your "labour department", works with unions, negotiates stuff, and yes, while it does have those responsibilities, it also is in charge of the Imperial Youth League, a slightly-fascistic youth group that does unpaid labour "for the good of the Empire!" and is also responsible for prison labour and at certain times, enforcement of serfdom laws. That's one place where the Empire really can't decide by 2000, with some ministers going "no enforcement" and others "no mercy", with it being a hot social issue. Thankfully it's abolished in the Thorburn ministry and the Minister of Labour's job gets less dark. Good sometimes wins in this world

Minister for Order: Ooh boy, another darkly terrifying cabinet post. The Minister for Order is basically in charge of the police, in charge of enforcement, in charge of basically the iron fist of the law and can set quite draconic laws, or pretty light laws. It really depends on the Minister. The Department tried to argue in favour of deciding serfdom enforcement, same as Agriculture, but the Premier at the time declared that the Labour Department was in charge of it, and that was it, a precedent was made. Still, Order Ministers can be pretty hard on serfs despite Labour Ministers' decisions, which has led to some hard times in Cabinet for sure as Ministers argued over which one of them overstepped their bounds
Chair of the Imperial Shadow Bureau: The people in dark suits answer to the Order Minister. The dark suits can make anyone disappear, change their psychology, make them basically other people. They're basically the FBI of J. Edgar Hoover's wildest dreams

Minister for Trade: As the Minister Perambulator's responsibilities shifted to foreign policy, there was a void in which international trade needed to be somewhere, and internal trade also grew too big for the Postmaster General's responsibilities, so two boards were set up, and in the end, those two boards decided to send a recommendation after twenty years that they needed a clear Trade Minister. So one was set up and made President of both of those boards. The Trade Minister is in charge of the two boards and trade policy in general
President of the Board of Internal Trade: Basically chairs the board that talks about internal trade, which planets are allowed to have full trade, which planets are forbidden to export certain products, everything here is under this board's jurisdiction
President of the Board of External Trade: Basically chairs the board that talks about external trade, which nations should be free to trade with Symphonia, which nations should be restricted and which nations are under embargo to. Every trade deal must be signed off by this board

Minister for Harmony and Unity: Surprisingly enough for such an omnious name, this office is probably one of the most innocent ministries. It deals with constitutional matters such as matters of the Crown, matters of planetary government and devolution, local government and basically everything to do with non-federal matters, and also works with the Counsels on working the three chambers together in unity

Minister of Population Management: Here we go. The most dark ministry I came up with. This ministry is in charge of maintaining the "Population Equalisation Policy" of reducing population in dense planets via offering people either sterilisation after one child or accepting free transport to the frontier for settlement. As part of the Pop. Manag. Minister's responsibility is well, "population reduction" of the slums. Thankfully that has been replaced after an imperial outcry from millions... to be replaced with the offer of being forced into the armed forces or being sent to the frontier. Many choose the latter. Also part of the MPM's job is the "cleansing" of planets to get them ready for settlement by Imperial citizens. This is done in co-operation with the Frontier Ministry. The MPM tends to not last long, given the moral horizons they have to cross. The Thorburn ministry, after having to deal with several resignations, decided to just end the cleansing policy in favour of reservations. Progress?

Minister for Machine Relations: Artificial intelligence has grown by leaps and bounds and has gotten more... complicated over time. While AI has not became citizens due to the Citizenship Amendment Bill (Robotics) of 1841 that removed robots from citizenship and cemented them as merely "residents", a lot of them have formed hivemind communes that has gotten rather powerful and thus the responsibility for negotiating with them goes to the Minister for Machine Relations. Those ministers tend to last rather long in the job and quite a few have been held on despite their parties losing the election, because Machine Relations are very important

Minister of Preservation: The ministry in charge of the environment. Tends to overlap with the Agriculture Ministry, but overall work well most of the time. In charge of preserving animals and plants on planets marked for terraforming, and of natural parks all over the Empire. But unknown to the public, they are also in charge of preserving society and government in the event of a sunburst war where every planet surface is devastated. So on one level, the ministry sounds hippie with preserving flowers and environments, but on another level they sound very... dark. Dark indeed

Minister of Security: The difference between this and the Order Ministry is while the Order Ministry is in charge of the police and the ISB, the Security Minister is in charge of providing security to every single elected politician in the whole Empire. That's such a huge challenge it mandated a ministry of itself to do. The Security Minister of course has their own security as well

Minister for Nekomimi Affairs: Nya! The "Neko Minister" as they're informally referred to, is never a Nekomimi due to heavy expectations to not be biased in favour of the Nekomimi. Even the Nekomimi SDP failed to get the post due to the PLP being unwilling to bat for them in the cabinet negotiations. The Minister is responsible for negotiation with the Nekomimi in Symphonia, maintaining the Treaty of Co-operation and Prosperity, and ensuring any new Neko lands conquered from the Nekomimi Confederation is properly integrated

Minister for Minority Affairs: Basically like the MNA but for all other "minorities" [basically anyone who isn't Basic Human]

Minister for Weights, Measurements and Standards: As the Empire grew, measurements became more complex and diverse. The Imperial inch, the Nekomimi puri, the Universal Standard Century, and that's just three of the more popular ones for length! In the 700s, a ministry was established to deal with that and end mass confusion about what to use for measurement and it has grown over time to incorporate weights and standards so that everyone knows what exactly to do. It is in charge of deciding what is the new Standard House to use in new frontier towns, what hygenic standards to keep restaurants and foodhouses to, everything like that

Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation: The "mad professor" department, more or less. In charge of improving technology, increasing connection, funding quirky professors' insane ideas, approving technology for mass use, all that. First emerged in the 1100s

Protectress of the Moon Flower: An exclusively-female post, it is a ceremonial religious post deriving from the seizing of the holy Moon Flower from the planet of Akadel in the 5000s, and tends to go to AMs from that general region as part of helping them climb up the ladder of politics

Minister Extraordinary: Tends to flit around between departments and becomes an "unofficial" minister for select causes. The tradition started with Premier Gloria Battaglia appointing two people as Ministers Extraordinary, giving them cabinet spots. Every other Premier generally followed her lead by appointing someone who couldn't quite fit within a department's charge

Counsel from the House of Peers: A very old office, and [apart from Republican eras] one of the longest-lasting. It is generally there to maintain Government communication with the House of Peers, one of the three [as of 2000] chambers of the Parliament. Always a Peer, and always appointed by them to sit at the Cabinet, it is one of three Cabinet-sitting offices not appointed by the Premier

Counsel from the House of Trades: The youngest of the three Counsel offices, it represents the youngest chamber, one set up to represent the trades via electing in functional constituencies reflecting the various jobs that Imperial citizens have. From seats such as "Agricultural Labour" to the rather terrifyingly big "Office" constituency, STV elects it all in a quest to bring the Empire further together

Minister of Government Organisation: Who is responsible for the Civil Service that takes charge of all the massive organisation needed to ensure that Government runs smoothly at all levels? Why, this Minister! Always recommended by the Civil Service, always theoretically from the biggest party in government, their loyalty is always to the Civil Service above all

Counsel from the House of Assembly/Imperial Assembly: The renaming was due to the chaos of the First Republic where the House of Assembly was renamed to "People's Assembly" for the sake of it and was renamed once Restoration happened. Elected from the whole of the Assembly, it always is from the governing party due to the fact it needs a majority. Tends to be rather toothless, frankly

Keeper of the Grand Seal: In order to make up for the Assembly Counsel being toothless, the person appointed to it tends to receive this position, which gives them ownership temporarily of the Grand Seal, a huge robotic satellite that is used to methodically stamp every government bill or letter with a constantly shifting rainbow seal that reportedly make people see visions of things beyond human comprehension

Chief Whip: Basically just whips votes in the Assembly for bills

 

[Turquoise Blue]

Here's an infobox of a Premier of that twenty thousand years long Empire, Skylar Scuttle. I did her first instead of the many, many others because she's a good example of the political culture of a ridiculously huge Empire - "your loyalty belongs to your planet first, your Empire second". She very much identified as a Coralian, a person hailing from the tropical autonomous High Kingdom of Coraly, first and Symphonian second

Also shown here is some nice ministry positions. She first entered the cabinet in the ceremonial position of Protectress of the Moon Flower, something heavily related to the environment of Akadel [the planet her home orbits as a moon] as the Moon Flower is something heavily worshipped by the Akadeli. It's exclusively women who are appointed to that position because Akadeli religion insists on it. The reason it's something appointed by the Premier is because of arrogant Imperial soldiers invading it to "establish order" and declaring that the Moon Flower was now Imperial property. Even after several decades of bloodshed, they still held on to that claim and millennia later it's mostly ceremonial

Minister of Nekomimi Affairs is a cabinet spot specifically dealing with the Nekomimi. Yes, the catgirls and catboys from anime, me 3 years ago was kind of obsessed with them and I don't particularly want to erase them from the timeline. It is a heavy convention that no Nekomimi be appointed to the post, that it be primarily Basic Human or at least not a Nekomimi, so to avoid any pro-Neko bias. The Nekomimi enjoy their devolved former Empire as a part of the Symphonian Empire and this deals with that primarily, but it has grown to cover any Nekomimi, no matter where they live

Minister Perambulator is a major cabinet spot, and it deals with borders and with foreign countries, namely keeping the borders peaceful and having the Empire be in other countries' good books, or at least making sure they're afraid enough of it so to not fight. She was expected to get a major cabinet spot once she got the MPs' vote to be Deputy Chief of the Pioneer League. After the Pioneers' defeat in 7465, she stood for and won the leadership election, winning a clear majority of MPs' support

The Pioneer League is a sorta regionalist, frontier-based, rural-y populist-ish party that does well in the "Outer Ranges" which includes Coraly. The "Outer Ranges" are the areas primarily conquered or annexed in the early heyday of the Empire of the 2500s to 5000s. They also enjoy support from the Nekomimi lands due to the quite right-wing (and vaguely nekomimi-supremacist) Neko Interest party allying with them. They're not a party that wins in city seats, that's the Municipalist Reform Alliance, their rival which is basically a Macron-esque "liberal" party

Scuttle is a "foundling". The huge Empire means a lot of people fall through the gaps, and Scuttle is one of them. Her parents were probably poor and couldn't afford to bring her up, or was too ashamed of their poverty to do so. Poverty is one issue that the Empire can never quite defeat. The constant wars leads to many wounded warriors, families without their main "breadwinner" or war orphans. It's entirely possible Scuttle was a war orphan. The Pioneer League is overall a party that knows this very well and so push hard for less expansion and more time in investing in local communities, while the Municipalists seek to appease the core region's unquenchable desire for more resources. Politics of this era is rather geographical-based, but in other eras it can very much be class or race based, politics in the Empire is ever-shifting and dynamic

After resigning as Premier, she was appointed by the High Queen of Coraly to be the Lightbearer of Summerset, one of the major religious titles and enabling her to sit in the Noble Assembly as a Lady Spiritual. In 7501, she "ascended" to a higher plane of existence while in the Temple of Light, finishing her life in the present universe and moving on to the next. Or she just disintegrated. It's still unknown

 

[Turquoise Blue]

The Empire was in a period of tension, not an ideal way to start the second millennium of existence off. Human supremacism was on the rise, especially in decaying industrial planets that felt that the Empire was growing too fast and that it was losing what made it "human". The far-right Victory and Justice Party faced a split between its two most dominant figures, the elder Lenz Beringer who adhered to Human Imperialism and the younger and charismatic demagogue Anzor Park who argued for isolationism and dealing with "integrating" minorities. In the end, Park left and set up a party that rapidly acquired alliances with other parties, rapidly blossoming into the Association of Human Regions, a rural/industrial alliance based around Human supremacism, intense protectionism and an end to trade deals, and "bringing jobs back". Park's rise in Imperial recognition culminating in his party's foundation, terrified many of the Empire's most distinct minority - the Nekomimi.

Often the target of angry Humans who blamed them for the loss of jobs, the Nekomimi generally voted for their own parties - the Social Democrats on the left and Nya Democracy on the right - but before Park's rise, they were gradually starting to vote for more Empire-wide parties, such as the centrist liberal Future Movement and the broadly conservative One Nation. The Future Movement were glad to incorporate them in their ranks, and Premier Hawking was starting to talk of "One Nation of many races". But as the AHR rose and rose, Hawking stepped back and started to talk of preserving Symphonian values and ensuring that further expansion would be placed in review. This panicked many Nekomimi who turned back to their parties, the SDP and ND. The Future Movement condemned Hawking's "embrace of xenophobia" and in turn lost centre-right "polite xenophobia" Human middle-class voters to AHR. Park's rise was seemingly inevitable.

Surprisingly enough, the People's Labour Party, a party often seen as one of demagogues and corruption, and led by a man who has a dubious civil rights record [he is on record as having said in the 80s that "those damn Nekos can look after their own, this party should be a Human one"], has voted the previous year to fully work with the Nekomimi SDP in an electoral alliance distinct from their standard federated structure.

The Technocrats, lambasted for their unpopular coalition with One Nation, fell in popularity and predictably enough lost a lot of their seats back to the Future Movement. While the Big Three all lost votes and seats to AHR, it primarily split One Nation votes and enabled the Future Movement to win a clear and decisive plurality. Freya Thorburn would be confirmed as Premier by Emperor Leonidas XIV once she entered in a coalition with the People's Labour Party and thus got a majority. Her policies, tempered by the socialist sentiments of the PLP, could be allowed to go through.

Anzor Park left the election triumphant. Human supremacism and ultra-isolationism were now topics of debate and slowly entering the mainstream. Soon, soon it would be time for a government that stood for the true values of the Empire. They were ascendant!

 

[Turquoise Blue]

Here's another election, I guess. Might have a cabinet coming, or something. Quick write up because I can feel my mood going bad again. Woo, hormones, they're doing wonders with my head as is...

The Empire was founded in Year 1 of the Imperial Era with the coronation of Emperor Nicholas I "the Awesome". Nicholas declared that there was to be an Election to form an Imperial Assembly. The logistics of having an election in several Solar Systems meant that interesting solutions had to be established, solutions that would form the Rule Book of Symphonian elections. In order to maximise their influence, the various interests and political parties of the Empire grouped together into three "federations", aka the first imperial parties. Also running was a party set to oppose Nicholas and the whole Imperial Experiment, arguing that there should instead be more decentralisation

The first "federation" was born in the clouds of cigars and the quaffing of champagne, a party born out of aristocratic interests and a desire to have a stable government, one of business interests and social tradition. This was the Conservative Party and it sold itself on being the Party of the Emperor, pointing out that Nicholas came from an old family going back eons and would want a party that supported him to the hilt

The second federation was born in the chaos of public halls and the shouting of the masses, a party born out of proletariat interests and a desire to have a workers' government, one of social equality and economic justice. This was the Labour Party. Curiously enough, it shunned anti-monarchism and instead argued that it was indeed the Party of the Emperor, pointing out his social beliefs that poverty was the greatest evil in the universe and that should be eradicated, and so that a party that supported those views would be very welcome indeed

The third federation was born in the counting halls and the middle-class assemblies, a party born out of bourgeois interests and a desire to have a government that worked for business, one of fiscal liberalism and social "fairness". This was the Liberal Party. And of course, like the other two, it argued that it was the Party of the Emperor, pointing out the Emperor's preference for free trade

The fourth contester was born in the alienation of those who didn't believe in the Empire solving everything, and instead thought it was a very dangerous thing indeed, one that would just destroy everything and stifle diversity of culture. This was the Anti-Imperial Party and it certainly did not sell itself as the Party of the Emperor, in fact it attacked the others and promised an "Opposition Government" to keep the Emperor on his toes

In the end, no party formed a majority, something much unexpected as the outcome was hoped to be a stable start to the whole Empire in which a party wins a majority and chooses a Premier. The Liberals refused to work with the "socialistic" Labour after falling out on economic grounds, the Tories refused to work with the Liberals citing disagreement on trade and social views, while Labour and the Tories couldn't stand each other. And none of them wanted to work with the Anti-Imperials. In the end, after a month of debating and disagreement, the impatient Emperor said enough and sent for his childhood friend the Duke of Chalmesford, ordering him to form a three-party government

In the end, Chalmesford's proposed cabinet was enough to win over the newly-chosen leaders of the three parties [the three "unofficial" leaders, now properly put in their place as full leaders] while getting the AIP's condemnation. The first ministry of the Empire began...

 

[Turquoise Blue]

Sapphire Moon is known galaxy-wide as the last Premier of the Symphonian Empire and the one who oversaw the end of 20,000 years of history. This is all true, but people tend to miss the full context which paints her in a much less harsh light

The Empire was under a military junta for decades after the Parliament was suspended "in the interests of national order" due to a series of military defeats. Even before that, it was under a political consensus of pro-military funding. And yet everything was falling apart. Solar systems after solar systems fell out of the Crown's grasp and as Premiers were replaced by Premiers, nothing seemed to stop the decline

The aging George XVI knew that something was rotten within the state of Symphonia, and after a few sleepless nights, finally accepted that perhaps the Empire's days were over. Its enemies were too strong and too numerous, its forces too weak, its people too disenchanted. There needed to be peace, and peace needed to be secured with honour and dignity, not by fighting like cornered cats [no offense to the Nekomimi troops still fighting for Symphonia, of course]. Hence he dismissed the military government and appointed a non-partisan civic Premier which he charged with "getting a peace with honour, one that we can tell our grandchildren that we managed to win"

This nonpartisan civic Premier was Sapphire Moon. Moon was known as a prominent civic bureaucrat and an advocate for ending the war with dignity [as much as you could while the military ran an authoritarian ship...], and perhaps most crucially, was the Emperor's Monday chess opponent which brought her into his awareness. One day over a particularly boring game, the Emperor offered her "the chance to fix all of this, to put it right", which she accepted believing it was a joke offer, but once it was made real, she jumped in it with gumption

Opening diplomatic channels with the invading forces, she invited their top diplomats to the Technicolour Hall and over the next year, haggled out a peace deal in which the invading forces would have victory, the Empire would dissolve, but the invading forces would have to adhere to a list of basic points in terms of occupation, leading to the set up of several small states that would likely be under their influence. The Technicolour Conference was thrown in chaos when George XVI died and his young grand daughter Elizabeth became Elizabeth XXII. In the end, the deal was agreed to and signed on the dawn of 1 January 20000, perfectly twenty thousand years to the day after the coronation of Emperor Nicholas the Awesome

Of course, some jingoists accused Moon of having divided loyalties, of being more loyal to Nekomimia than to Symphonia, which she firmly rejected the idea of, pointing out that while she did have Nekomimi citizenship, she has consistently served Symphonia to its dying day. Her defenders lambasted the attacks as "classic nekophobic slanders on one of the greatest Premiers we ever had". After Symphonia wound up, she chose to return to her birth place and eventually entered politics there as a member of the Nya-Liberal Party, before being appointed First Minister by Queen Turquoise IV, making her one of the rare examples of being head of government of two different space-empires. She served it for six years, then chose to retire. The Queen rewarded her with an appointment to the High Council as a "Lady of the Land" as Marquise of Templeton, which she served in before she died in 20047 at the age of 71, receiving many obituaries reflecting on her life and legacy all over the galaxy

 

[Turquoise Blue]

Afon Uggeri (Democratic majority, then “National” Democratic-Unity-Liberal-War Socialist-Patriotic War Coalition) 884-893
Miron Seuss (“National” Democratic-Unity-Liberal-War Socialist-Patriotic War Coalition) 893-897
Cristina Sarkozy (Unity-“National” Democratic-War Socialist-Liberal-Patriotic War Coalition) 897-902
Joaquin Marszalek (Unity-“National” Democratic-War Socialist-Liberal-Patriotic War Coalition, then Unity minority) 902-906

The First Stellar War lasted 20 years and ended with a clear, but exhausting, Symphonian victory. In a bid for national unity, Premier Uggeri announced that she would be forming a War Cabinet of her social-liberal Democrats, the conservative Unity Party, the classical-inclined Liberals, the nationalistic Patriots and the socialist Agrarian and Industrial Workers' League. However, the war proved too much for the pacifists in the Democrats which split off as the "Opposition" Democrats [hence the pro-war side being the "National" Democrats] and for the hardline AIWLers which declared the AIWL was dead and that they were now the Pacifist Socialist Party. The rump AIWL increasingly became known as the War Socialists in contrast

In 893, Uggeri announced that due to old age and increasing dementia, she was resigning from office, handing over to her deputy leader the awkward and bespectacled Miron Seuss. Seuss was not the charismatic icon that Uggeri was, but he was a talented administrator something that the war sorely needed. Under Uggeri, it turned sour and the Unionists were increasingly critical of her leadership. With Seuss in charge, they were glad to continue the War Coalition. This was the first time the Empire entered a major space war, with previous wars being mainly regional ones. The talent of Miron Seuss pushed mountains in order to deliver victory, but even for him, it proved too much and after a series of defeats, the Emperor [against the advice of many of his advisors and even the Unity leader] called a general election which he believed would elect strong leaders for the war

The general election was a mess, the parties reluctant to criticise each other, the Opposition Democrats and PSP gleefully tearing apart the "imperialists", and in the end, the Unionists came out on top thanks to Democratic splintering, leading to the Emperor sending for Cristina Sarkozy the Unity leader. Sarkozy did not want to be Premier at this time, she was indeed content to led Seuss lead it, but if the Emperor wills it... Seuss was appointed Minister of War and essentially became the "Co-Premier" for the rest of the war, even after he stepped down from the party leadership in 904 due to health complications from an attempted assassination. Sarkozy was an individual that struggled with what she called "dark moments" and with huge amount of stress placed on her as the Premier in the war, those just escalated. She weathered it well, but in 902 she tearfully resigned from all offices citing "a collapse in my mental health". However, the Sarkozy years held many of the most significant victories in the First Stellar War and she's credited with significantly turning the tide for the Empire

Then came Joaquin Marszalek. A military man and veteran of a previous war, he was the fourth Premier of a war that was seemingly everlasting, even if more optimistic for the Empire than before. Marszalek brought a military viewpoint to the whole matter, and famously told his cabinet "This is a military matter, and I expect you all to obey my orders like my soldiers did. No lollygagging, no talking back, no disobedience." Marszalek oversaw the final victory of the war and in his time was celebrated as "the Man Who Won Us The War" but history has been less kind to him, pointing out his authoritarianism, his attempt to interfere in possibly successful fronts, and the fact that the war was turning around thanks to Sarkozy and Seuss. Still, Marszalek oversaw the final end, and after the war finished, he called an election, sure of electoral rewards

His defeat to the Democrats running on "Homes Fit For Heroes" was an upset and he proved a sore loser, talking of "spite voting", and settled down unhappily as the Opposition Leader. He would return to the Premiership, but his eight years then would be mostly one of little impact

 

[Turquoise Blue]

The figure of Lavender Blue originates in one particular Osecadan tradition of putting out lavender to attract little "Yule Fairies" who would drop off presents once they got close to houses. Eventually this changed into a belief that there was one fairy that delivered presents to people's houses.

As the Empire (originating from an ambitious Osecadan princeling's imperialist wars) was established, the tradition of "Yule" continued, it being quite an integral celebration in the dominant animist Celestial faith, eventually absorbing most of the other faiths in the solar system.

Thus the "Little Blue Fairie" as she was often referred to in the early centuries, became more popular, and the portrayal became quite diverse and often far from the original fairy figure. (The traditionally mercantile planet of Yasul portrayed her as a little bird!)

The monarchy later sought to prevent any growth of republican sentiment by wedding itself to the faith, making the first Emperor thought of as a god-like being and the myriad traditions of "Yule" into the very religious celebration of Valdetide, said to be the first Emperor's birth-day (which was untrue). This move led to religion entrenching itself and ensuring Symphonia became a very devout empire.

Lavender Blue, universally popular as the "Giver of Presents" (after some particularly glum centuries in which religious interests discouraged 'belief' in her, before they came to their senses and just hijacked her portrayal to fit their own ends), gradually became accommodated by a shadowy figure calling itself only "Nick-a-Nack", due to the religious awakening cementing an idea that "the good must be rewarded and the bad punished." Before this, Lavender Blue was popularly viewed as giving presents to all children, previous behaviour nevermind. "Nick-a-Nack" carried around a thin black whip in which it (later defined as a male) punished 'deviant' children by striking them.

The religious fervour lasted millennia, but the popularity in a "bad visitor" gradually dwindled, and Nick-a-Nack was redefined as a 'sidekick' of Lavender Blue, helping deliver presents to people's homes. The Puresax of Epidah, tentacled one-eyed alien species (perhaps the first truly alien species the Symphonian Empire ever encountered) somehow became the basis for Nick-a-Nack's new look.

The conclusion of the Nekomimi Wars and the annexation of the Confederation into Symphonia brought the next change in Lavender Blue's portrayal. Nekomimia was a proud country with its own deep traditions, including a winter-time festival called Lume, intended to honor its moon goddess, Luna. Lume was traditionally a quite solemn and very religious occasion, but slowly the concept of a more festival winter celebration became more popular. Well-connected Nekomimi businesspeople sensed the opportunity, made deals with human corporates and redefined Lume as a similar festival to Valdetide, a deeply-religious, yet celebrative, occassion.

Lavender Blue was redefined for a Nekomimi audience, adopting more explicitly the characteristics of a neighbouring species the fairy-like Cinatie, and even some of the stereotypes Nekomimi had for the Cinatie. Eventually this became the 'default' portrayal of the character.

Even after the Empire shattered in 20,000 AF, the Little Blue Fairie proved one of the most enduring figures in human (and non-human) mythology, and has even became a deity in some particularly regressed planets which were once bastons of Imperial civilisation.

Anima: A traditional Nekomimi art, that as the caption notes, became very popular in the Empire in the 13th millennium.
Residence: The original mythology just said in a particularly vague way that she lived in "forests", but the idea of her living somehow in the Galactic Core became a very popular one in the 9th millennium.
Name: "Lavender Blue" is merely the Core World standard for her name, she's called by many names in many different sectors.
Ethnicity: Sometimes it's like Jesus, portray her as your own ethnicity/race/species. Sometimes it's explicitly mangling an old myth or something. Hell, she's portrayed as a tiger by a few planets. Yes, that's right, those planets have a tiger as their Santa Claus.
Citizenship: In a moment of whimsy in the 10th millennium, probably because they tried the Valdetide vodka too early or something, the Parliament voted to grant her ceremonial citizenship "in recognition of her efforts in philanthropy." This has never been revoked, perhaps due to embarrassment
Luminarian: Basically the dominant Nekomimian religion.
Spouse: People have different views on who has Lavender Blue as a wife and who is the "Mx. Blue" and what gender they are.

 

[Turquoise Blue]

The Right Honourable Cosmo Jeffrey, AM for Empan, leader of the Nekomimi SDP in Symphonia from 2007 to 2014 and from 2017 to 2023

Also, if you look at the first Thorburn cabinet, he basically moves from cabinet spot to cabinet spot, being the most difficult to put

The picture is mostly here for reference for when I do a wikibox on him

 

[Turquoise Blue]

Party evolution, roughly, between 1 and 1145

 

[Beata Beatrix]

TB this is honestly one of the most insanely impressive world-building things I pretty much could ever imagine