Earth Empire
The Earth Empire was formed sometime between 2480 and 2520 and fell sometime between 2980 and 3020.
History
The definitive date of the formation of the Empire remains unknown. Around 2501, Earth was controlled by EarthGov. (PROSE: The Monsters Inside) In the 2530s, an Earth Federation existed. (PROSE: The Colony of Lies) It seems likely that an Earth Alliance or Earth Federation formed the core of the nascent empire.
By 2472, Earth was severely polluted and overpopulated, with a hundred billion citizens. (TV: Colony in Space) In 2480 Earth was invaded by the Korven, leading to a human victory. Tensions between the Earth Empire and the Korven lasted until at least 2618. (TV: The Korven) Food was imported from the colonies. In the 26th century, cities like New Glasgow and New Montreal were built in the Arctic, and population control laws restricted families to one child unless they moved to the Arctic cities. A free press and broadcasting service existed. (TV: Frontier in Space)
The Earth Empire continued to grow and established Skybases as command centres wherever Earth had a presence. (TV: The Mutants, PROSE: Cold Fusion) In the 26th century, humans occupied one part of the Milky Way galaxy, while the Draconian Empire occupied another. There was a war between the two, ending with articles of peace that guaranteed a "frontier in space" between the two; trade agreements and cultural exchanges were instituted to lessen tensions. (TV: Frontier in Space) In 2540, the Master, employing Ogrons, stirred up war between Earth and Draconia on behalf of the Daleks. His plan was exposed, (TV: Frontier in Space) and the Second Dalek War began. (PROSE: Return of the Living Dad)
Not every human in space chose to live in the Earth Empire. One band of the anarchist Travellers, for example, settled on Heaven, a neutral planet used as a burial ground by both sides. (PROSE: Love and War)
Some time after the 26th century, the Earth Empire invaded Tractis and enslaved the Tractites. (PROSE: Genocide) In the 28th century, the Empire came to Sense Sphere to exploit its mineral wealth. The humans seemed to die when their spacecraft exploded, though some survived and began poisoning the Sensorites. When more humans came, the Sensorites held them hostage until the the First Doctor and his companions made peace. (TV: The Sensorites) Some time before the 30th century, the Earth Empire attacked the Greld homeworld, conquering it and turning it into the prison planet Dis. (PROSE: Original Sin)
In later centuries, a Divine Empress became head of the Empire. In 2957, Earth had recently fought the Wars of Acquisition. An aged Divine Empress reigned from her Imperial Palace in orbit around Saturn. Some imperial subjects of this time were prejudice against other species, even though humans, by this time had learned to "body bepple" into new, sometimes alien-seeming forms. Earth Reptiles had the highest status among non-human species, as they were Earthborn. The rich lived in hovering Overcities, leaving the poor and alien on the polluted surface of the Earth. (PROSE: Original Sin)
In 2981, as a war with the Ogrons dragged on, the Seventh Doctor and his companion, the Adjudicators Roz Forrester and Chris Cwej got involved in a political struggle which would end in the installation of Roz's sister, Leabie, as the new Empress. (PROSE: So Vile a Sin) In 2982, the current Empress was centuries old and her mind was slaved to the computer intelligence Centcomp, which effectively ran her Empire. (PROSE: So Vile a Sin)
Some time in the late 30th century or early 31st century, environmental devastation had degraded Earth's ecology. The Empire had begun to crumble: with Earth exhausted politically and economically, it could not afford an Empire and began giving independence to its colonies. (TV: The Mutants, PROSE: The Sorcerer's Apprentice) Its collapse left a power vacuum that, by the 34th century, would be filled by the Galactic Federation, which would be less Earth-centric and human-dominated. (PROSE: The Dark Path) The Galactic Federation would last to at least the 40th century. (PROSE: Legacy) Humanity would return to power by the 41st century, (TV: The Daleks' Master Plan) creating the Second Great and Bountiful Human Empire. (TV: Planet of the Ood)
Technology
Empire ships were generally built of spheres, connected by scaffolding. Ships were covered with bas-relief carvings of leaves and faces and similar decorations. The designs used by the Earth Empire were considered unpleasant by other species. (PROSE: The Dark Path)
A specific type of ship was the Dauntless-class Imperial Destroyer. (PROSE: The Dark Path)
The citizens of the Empire (and others) used puterspace, a form of virtual reality. (PROSE: Love and War) The Empire's monopoly on null-grav technology kept it powerful. (PROSE: Original Sin)
Political system
The Earth Empire was a lumbering bureaucracy with as many civil servants as civilians. The planetary or colonial governor of a planet was called a Viscount. (PROSE: The Dark Path) In the 26th century it was overseen by a President of Earth, who headed a world government with a Cabinet, a congress, and a senate; a democratic opposition existed within the congress and senate. The government also had a Bureau of Population Control. An outlaw political group, the Peace Party, tried to gain power. (TV: Frontier in Space)
Eventually, the Empire would be run by a Divine Empress with absolute control. (PROSE: Original Sin)
There also existed an Earth Reptile Economic Confederation in the 30th century. (PROSE: So Vile a Sin)
The Folflower System was unusual in its constitutional monarchy for most of the duration of the Empire. (PROSE: The Graves of Mordane) Sirius IV was also odd. It was a dominion instead of a colony, giving it considerable autonomy. (TV: Frontier in Space)
Military forces
In purely military matters, the President's power was limited; to overrule the head of the military in these matters, the President needed the backing of the full Senate. (TV: Frontier in Space)
The Empire had the Spacefleet (PROSE: Deceit) and an Imperial Navy (PROSE: The Dark Path). Security was provided by the Landsknechte or Naval Troops. (PROSE: The Dark Path) They also had a feared Earth Security organisation that interrogated suspected traitors, often using mind probes. A Special Security Act allowed the President to deport traitors to the Lunar Penal Colony without trial. (TV: Frontier in Space)
In 2540, some of the senior military officials believed a military dictatorship would lead to a more effective and stronger Empire. (TV: Frontier in Space)
In 2618, the military force of Earth was the Global Command. One of the divisions of Global Command was the Special Operations Commando. (TV: The Korven)
In later centuries, the Empire's forces would begin to conquer alien races and inhabited worlds. (PROSE: Original Sin)
In 2982, the special army/religious order Unitatus was part of Earth's defences. (PROSE: So Vile a Sin)
Crime and punishment
In the 25th century, the Adjudicators Bureau settled legal disputes in the Empire and enforced Earth law. (TV: Colony in Space) In the 26th century, Interplanetary Police Commissioners administered off-planet law, using their own ships with cell facilities. (TV: Frontier in Space)
During war, condemned criminals were given the choice to be sent into Dalek space as Dalek Killers, essentially a suicide mission, rather than execution. (COMIC: Abslom Daak... Dalek Killer)
Under the Special Security Act, political dissidents went to the Lunar Penal Colony (TV: Frontier in Space, PROSE: Love and War), Justicia (PROSE: The Monsters Inside) or Draconian Penal Colonies (PROSE: The Dark Path). The Lunar colony was a life sentence. Many of the dissidents were members of the Peace Party. One Peace Party member remarked to the Doctor that you could be arrested merely for criticising the government. Hardened criminals from regular prisoners were hired as trustees at the Lunar Penal Colony. (TV: Frontier in Space)
In the later years of the Empire, the Adjudicators (now the Guild of Adjudicators) would become an armed law enforcement body. (PROSE: The Dark Path)
Territories
Colonies under Earth control included:
In the 25th century, planets were tasked for either colonisation or mining. (TV: Colony in Space) There were often tensions with the colony worlds, even into the 26th century. (TV: Frontier in Space)
Some of these planets, such as Sirius IV, had dominion status, allowing them to tax and try their own citizens. Many on Earth looked down on them, seeing them as still colonies. (TV: Frontier in Space)
The Empire would capture and subjugate many inhabited planets and their indigenous populations. (PROSE: Original Sin) (PROSE: So Vile a Sin) An apartheid system would exist on some of these planets, including Solos. (TV: The Mutants)
In the 30th century, the Empire began to collapse. Many colonies were given independence. (TV: The Mutants)
Notable individuals
As noted previously, the Adjudicators Chris Cwej and Roz Forrester of the powerful Forester family grew up in the late Earth Empire period of the 30th century. (PROSE: Original Sin)
Two other, very different 26th century individuals, both of whom had loved ones killed by the Daleks (and who would one day meet (COMIC: Emperor of the Daleks) lived during the earlier history of the Empire:
- One, a particularly savage Dalek Killer named Abslom Daak, living in the time after the human-Draconian War, survived (COMIC: Abslom Daak... Dalek Killer) and did so well for himself that, by 2573, at least one clone of him existed in human-occupied space (PROSE: Deceit).
- The other, adventurer-archaeologist Bernice ("Benny") Summerfield, had lost both parents in the Second Dalek War. She met the Seventh Doctor on Heaven, a neutral planet, in mid-2570. (PROSE: Love and War) She joined him on his travels, but after her marriage to Jason Kane (PROSE: Happy Endings) and a divorce from him (PROSE: Eternity Weeps), settled back into her own time. (PROSE: The Dying Days) She would have many adventures on her own.
Though originally native to the late 1980s , after her travels with the Seventh Doctor, Ace decided to stay on Heaven at the same time as Benny joined him. (PROSE: Love and War) Ace joined Spacefleet, where she served for at least three years in her mid-to-late twenties. (PROSE: Deceit)
