Everybody Wants to Rule the World: Traveller Nobility

The Marquis of Aramis: As an Imperial noble, the Marquis Leonard Bolden-Tukera of Aramis holds his patent directly from the Emperor, although the channels of allegiance provide (and require) fealty to intervening nobles between him and the Emperor.

The Marquisate is a hereditary position which, on Aramis, has made him ruler of the planet. The Marquis owes allegiance to the Count Knowln of Celepina (in nearby Rhylanor subsector), who in turn owes allegiance to the Duke of Rhylanor, one of several Dukes in the Spinward Marches.

The Marquis, as head of the feudal technocracy of Aramis, grants a variety of subordinate positions in city government to citizens of Aramis and Leedor in return for money, pledges of loyalty, and other services (The Traveller Adventure).

I went down my latest Traveller rabbit hole in the usual way, with a seemingly innocent question about nobility that led me somewhere else altogether. CT Supplement 8: Library Data (A–M) tells us that in the Third Imperium, “Individual worlds, and even entire systems, are free to govern themselves as they desire, provided that ultimate power is always accorded the Imperium” (7). Imperial nobles on member worlds generally act only as a local representative of the larger Imperium, but there are scattered mentions in canon of Imperial nobles also acting as the ruler of their world. I was wondering if such arrangements were still allowed in the latest iterations of the rules, and if so what types of worlds would have an Imperial noble as the head of state.

The Heraldic Crest of the Baronet of Montlivan (Magyar 3222).

The idea of an interstellar nobility has been in Traveller from the very beginning with the Social Standing characteristic and the associated titles that line up with SOC scores of 11 or more. This is not unexpected, as many of the most influential sci-fi sources on Traveller featured some kind of space nobility, including the Dumarest saga, Foundation, Dune, and H. Beam Piper’s Space Viking.

Despite this long history, the specific place of nobility in the Third Imperium setting has always been a little unclear. Partially this is by design: the Imperium is vast and the role of Imperial nobility has to adapt to the needs and preferences of different regions and individual worlds. But the idea of nobility has also evolved over time, as can be seen by a survey of different editions.

For Classic Traveller, the best primary source of information on nobles is Supplement 11: Library Data (N-Z) from 1982. Supplement 11 has an entire essay on “The Imperial Nobility,” which provides a nice high level overview of the topic. The second best source is probably The Traveller Adventure (1983), which offers a good example of how the nobility actually works on a subsector level.

For MegaTraveller, the Imperial Encyclopedia (1987) has an entire chapter on “Nobles” that collects most of the information from classic Traveller and adds a few more useful details.

GURPS Traveller has an entire book devoted to the topic. GT: Nobles (2004) is written with the usual high standards of most GURPS supplements. Although well-researched, the book introduces a few quirks that don’t appear to line up with subsequent editions.

Traveller⁵ (2019) really shakes things up by introducing some significant changes in how nobles are assigned to Imperial worlds. In Traveller⁵ the planetary trade codes determine what rank of noble is assigned to different worlds. For example, a Marquis is associated with worlds with the Pre-Industrial trade code (Pop 8).

This change, reflected in the latest data on Traveller Map, basically invalidates all of the noble titles and relationships described in The Traveller Adventure. A major NPC on Aramis (Spinward Marches 3110 A5A0556-B) is the Marquis of Aramis; in Traveller⁵ Aramis has a subsector duke and a knight but no marquis. Similarly, there is no Count of Celepina (Spinward Marches 2913 B434456-9), a world that only merits a single knight.

Although the Traveller⁵ books provide very little setting information on the nobility, an article from the Imperiallines 7 (2014) tries to explain how all this works. While a good start, a planned second part of this article has unfortunately never been published.

Mongoose Traveller’s Third Imperium (2021) sourcebook incorporates some elements from both GURPS Traveller and Traveller⁵ newsletter in its chapter on “The Nobility.”

Small changes to the terminology and descriptions across editions make comparisons difficult: it can be unclear if a change marks a true shift in mechanics or is simply different nomenclature. 

For example, most sources identify three broad types of nobles: (1) Nobles with titles issued to acknowledge some type of notable Achievement, such as creating an important work of art or making a scientific discovery; (2) Nobles with titles issued to support a Position held within the Imperial administration, such as the representative to an Imperial world or a high level bureaucrat in subsector office; and (3) Nobles with titles issued as rewards for exceptional Service to the Emperor. The latter type includes some of the oldest and most powerful families in the Imperium.

Any of these titles might or might not be accompanied by a fief, might or might not be inheritable, and might or might not make the holder a member of the peerage or have a place on the Imperial Moot. The following table summarizes changes:

Nobility Across Traveller Editions

Description	CT	MT	GT	T5	MgT
Achievement	–	Honor Nobles	Honor Nobles	Honor Nobles	Honor Nobles
Position	–	Rank Nobles	Rank Nobles	Ceremonial Nobles	–
Service	–	High Nobles	High Nobles	Landed Nobles	Rank Nobles
Fief	Baron+	Baron+	Viscount+	Knight+	Knight+
Moot	?	Baron+	Baron+	Baronet+	Baron+
Peerage	Baron+	Baron+	Baron+	?	Marquis+

Traveller⁵, which makes the biggest changes to the nobility system, uses a largely new set of terms and definitions perhaps to reflect the magnitude of the change. Traveller⁵ also fleshes out all the various income streams that can flow to nobles with different Social Standing scores. Mongoose Traveller seems to combine High Nobility and Rank Nobility into a single category, though it’s not clear to me whether this is an intentional choice or simply an accident of editing.

Getting back to my original question: are Imperial nobles still allowed to be rulers of worlds in the latest editions of Traveller? The answer is yes, though this is never common in any edition. “On many worlds the Imperial noble has no role, while on some worlds an Imperial noble is also the world’s ruler” (GT: Nobles 76). “On lower population worlds, the knight may even be the ruler of the world” (Imperialines 5). “For the most part, noble patents do not indicate actual rulership of worlds” (Third Imperium 48).

In most cases, an Imperial noble is probably at best only the titular ruler of a local world with limited or no authority or responsibility over the planetary government. For example, Queen Elizabeth II was the “Queen of Canada” and her image has been on Canadian bank notes since the 1930s.

So what types of worlds in Traveller would be good candidates for having an Imperial noble installed as planetary ruler? Hands down, I think Feudal Technocracies (Government Type 5) are the most likely candidates. In Imperialines 7 Marc Miller himself wrote “I would call the structure of the Imperium a Feudal Technocracy” (3). And if we look at Aramis, a world that canonically is ruled by its senior Imperial noble, we find that its government is a Feudal Technocracy.

Not all Imperial worlds with Government Type 5 will be ruled by an Imperial noble, and not all worlds ruled by an Imperial noble will have that Government Type, but it’s a good place to look. As it happens, one of the PCs from my Into the Interface campaign has a Baronet father established as the Imperial representative to Montlivan (Magyar 3222), a feudal technocracy in New Mars subsector. The Imperial nobility in Magyar was essentially wiped out or dissolved during the Solomani period and almost all titles needed to be freshly issued following the Rim War. Putting all of this together we can construct the following narrative of the Baronetcy of Montlivan, using the description of Aramis as a template:

Montlivan (Magyar 3222 C688456-A). A hot, medium-sized world with a dense oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere, located on the Rim Main in New Mars subsector. Montlivan was originally colonized by the Vilani First Imperium and named Sukun. Because of the low population and lack of infrastructure, the world has been issued an Amber Zone travel advisory.

Montlivan supports a population of little more than 26,000, almost all contained in a single settlement, Rayim, which is the site of the world’s starport. Rayim is the personal fief of the Baronet Sir Cedric Radimir Garner, Knight of the Order of Sol (K.S.).

Sir Cedric was born on Jarslav (Solomani Rim 0123) in 1032 and rose to become the senior marketing manager, New Mars Subsector, for the Imperial megacorporation Ling-Standard Products. In this capacity he became friends with Sir Noah Kossuth, the son of Duke Solon Kossuth of Fugue. In 1060 Sir Cedric married Dame Augustina Rigby of Beta; they separated in 1063 shortly before the birth of their only child, Daren. 

In 1074 Sir Noah was confirmed as the second Duke of Fugue following the death of his father. At Duke Noah’s urging Sir Cedric was granted the title to his baronetcy by Archduke Adair of Sol in 1088. In 1096 Duke Noah was forced to abdicate as part of scandal popularly known as the Union Affair, leaving the new baronet without his powerful patron.

The baronetcy is a hereditary position which, on Montlivan, has made the Baronet the ruler of the planet. Although Baronet Cedric holds his patent from the Archduke of Sol, the channels of allegiance provide and require fealty to intervening nobles between him and the Archduke. The Baronet owes direct allegiance to the Baron Garzikhur of Dirramu, who in turn owes allegiance to Comtesse Agatha haut Ikin of Beta, who in turn owes allegiance to Duke Wawebes of Fugue, the subsector duke for New Mars. Duke Wawebes owes allegiance to Sector Duke Robert Stephanos Beaudoin of the Solomani Rim.

As the titular head of the feudal technocracy of Montlivan, the Baronet grants a variety of subordinate positions in world government to citizens in return for money, pledges of loyalty, and other services. All important posts and contracts are let on the Baronet's sufferance and can be canceled at his whim.

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The Heraldic Crest of Montlivan was created using DALL-E Free AI Image Generator.

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