My take on several related topics, including sector dukes, based on the available data: There exist four levels of coordinated Imperial bureaucracy: subsector, sector, domain, and Imperial. Virtually all routine decision-making takes place at subsector level, which supports the image of a decentralized, feudal Imperium: "Interstellar goverment begins at the subsector level -- on one world designated the subsector capital. The ruling figure at the subsector capital is a high-ranking noble selected by higher levels of government. This duke has a free hand in government, subject only to broad guidelines from his superiors. But at the same time, the duke owes fealty to the higher levels of government, ultimately to the Emperor himself." Supp. 8, Library Data A-M, p. 7. (1981) Subsectors raise and maintain their own navies, sometimes referred to as colonial fleets (Supp. 9, p. 4), "which patrol their individual subsectors, filling the gaps that the Imperial forces cannot handle" (Book 5, p. 2). These are separate from the Imperial Navy, with an independent chain of command ending with the subsector duke (who is ex officio fleet admiral of the subsector forces, unless he appoints someone else to fill the role) (inference, from the Duke of Regina counter in FFW). In effect, the subsector forces are the feudal troops of the duke. The duke's power is not absolute, however, as he is still bound by the edicts of the Emperor and (possibly) the Imperial family (SMC, p. 16). Sectors are governmental units (Supp. 11, p. 7), modulo variations based on astrography. Sector-level government has a number of broad coordinating responsibilities, including taxation (which probably occurs on the subsector level as well, with some portion passed back to the sector to consolidate), legislation, and an echelon of the Imperial Navy bureaucracy. The sector possesses a semi-permanent capital, where these bureaucratic functions are consolidated. "Legislation and enforcement are the prerogative of the Imperium, or of the sectors." Supplement 11, Library Data N-Z, p. 7. (1982) There is no separate noble title associated with sector government, however, in contrast to every other upper level of the noble hierarchy. Instead, in each generation one subsector duke comes to be recognized as pre-eminent, and takes on the role of sector duke. "The power of the [subsector] duke depends on circumstances and the situation within the sector, but generally one duke within a sector rises to power and comes to be the sector duke, the ruler of that sector. No special title is awarded to a sector duke." Ibid., p. 36. How one becomes sector duke, we do not know: it can't be hereditary, as there is no noble title to inherit (similarly, there can be no feudal obligations, owing or owed, associated with the position). The Emperor is clearly the ultimate arbiter of the succession, but unless the position can lie fallow for up to 4 years (an option, if the position is relatively weak and supervisory), there must be some other mechanism for succession. One possibility is that the subsector dukes choose their own leader, which the "rise to power" mentioned above supports. The sector duke, once designated, holds seniority among his fellow dukes by virtue of his position in the Imperial bureaucracy, which gives him the authority to issue the "broad guidelines" mentioned above: "Precedence is accorded strictly on the basis of government position, with seniority by date of patent following." Ibid., p. 35. Without a noble title or specific feudal obligations, his power to command obedience is limited to the implicit backing of the Emperor for his policies. If pushed too far, this results in an appeal to the Emperor by the aggrieved subsector duke (as may have been the case with Duke Norris in the 5th Frontier War, SMC, pp. 11, 16). I suggest that this specifically requires the sector duke to obtain the consent of the subsector dukes before imperializing their subsector forces in a crisis. As the head of the sector bureaucracy, however, the sector duke wields considerable indirect influence. This may require him to split his time between his subsector and sector capitals, or it may be that the sector capital can be moved to follow the sector duke. (This accounts for SMC, p. 19, which says that Regina was the original capital of the Marches, vs. SMC, p. 27, where it is clearly now Mora. There is also circumstantial evidence that Duke Norris' grandfather was sector duke at the time of the Solomani Rim War, Supp. 8, p. 19, where he is "speaking for the Marches.") This picture is distinctly different from that in MegaTraveller and after. There, subsector-level naval forces are integral to the Imperial Navy as reserves, and have (apparently) no separate patrol function. This may be due to the larger regular Imperial Navy depicted, which would not require auxiliaries to "fill the gaps." As such, the Sector Admiral commands the subsector reserve fleets directly, with no need to consult the subsector duke. This shift of power from the decentralized subsector governments to the centralized Imperial hierarchy is probably accompanied by a corresponding increase in the power of the sector duke, at the expense of the subsector dukes. Copyright (c) 2002 by Christopher B. Thrash
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