Even using the Cepheus rulebook to try and stay organized I already missed something. Under Benefits I wanted to mention the right of return for Imperial careers. At the end of any Imperial career you can ask to be returned to your world of enlistment and the Imperium will ship you there via cold sleep. People refer to this as return postage.
On to the Noble career. The reason this is an NPC career for me is I see them as being tied to a place not traveling. So the Emperor is at the top for the whole Imperium, Arch Dukes have a domain, dukes have a sector, Counts have a subsector and finally Marquis are special agents of the throne, Barons have a world they are responsible for and Knights and Lords work for one of the other nobles, Technically all nobles owe personal fealty to the Emperor who asks them to serve another nobles. Because the Imperium is not an actual feudal government what do the Nobles actually do and what are they responsible for? I view them with naivety and ignorance of an American looking at the United Kingdom's Royal Family. They are the living embodiment of the realm that don't directly rule but have enormous influence. All other powerful organizations in the Imperium are wary of the nobles who can show up almost anywhere and putter about, No company, world government or service branch are going to say no to a visit from a noble without risking the attention of the Imperium. This would allow for an immense amount of corruption balanced by the fact the "job" is solely based on the personal whim of higher ranking nobles. The other thing they are responsible for is to hear citizen's petitions. One of the benefits to being a citizen as opposed to a subject is you can always petition a noble for assistance, the noble has no obligation to provide it just to listen to you.
Book Two: Starships and Interstellar Travel
The biggest change pure fluff J drives and M drives create fields that effect a volume irregardless of mass. So this is why there are letter drives and standard hulls that is the fields the science can create.
I am not a big fan of the specific trade goods table preferring the book 7 cr tl code but until I actually start playing I doubt I am going to make any changes for a while.
Only Imperial citizens can own a jump capable ship and only military ships can have bay weapons and screens.
Book 3 Referees
Every inhabited world in the Imperium has a starport and Imperial Consulate which are located on the estate of the world Baron and pays rent to the noble. This sets them apart from the world government and allows the noble to have a substantial income separate from all the competing interests within the Imperium. Anyone arriving or leaving the world is required to visit the consulate and non-landed nobles are required to pay a courtesy visit to the Baron's office in case their services are needed. I am still of two minds on what tech level means. Is it the highest common tech of local produced goods or the average tech of goods readily available? Or is it the highest tech on the planet writ large? I am leaning toward the average level or readily available goods. The Imperium is overwhelming concerned with economic activity so information they produce is geared toward that so it is most likely what the IISS reports. Communication routes map out what in MT terms are the safe zones they will by and large be the most economically important worlds so naval patrols are frequent and piracy will be very low. The further away from a route the greater the risk. Worlds can only have non-jump vessels so and important system will be well patrolled but less populated systems rely on the scout service S/Cs on mail duty for most patrolling. That is not to say there isn't a naval presence off the xboat routes just far most infrequent.
And that is it for a pre-play scan of the rules. I want to play so I didn't go into the rules like I did before because I am not making my own universe just tweaking GDW's. Tomorrow I hope to generate a character and do a scene or two to get a feel for solo play to see how much I like it.
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