Might as well explain shit about the cabinet posts...
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
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