The map marker used to indicate Imperial bases.
The Empire is a faction that was added to the Ludeon Studios' game Rimworld in it's Royalty DLC in February of the year 2020. The Empire can be allied with and provide player controlled characters (pawns) with titles of nobility and faction specific benefits (such as Imperial protection) that come with such titles. As with all factions in Rimworld the name of it is randomized with such names as 'Imperium of the Sun' or 'The Shattered Dominion' being examples of what the faction might be called in any given game.
Lore[]
The Empire originated on the planet Sophiamunda and their imperium controlled multiple worlds. Despite having ultratech (technology beyond Spacer norm in the setting, to the extent of being close to magic) the Empire did not use mechanical servants. Rather slavery and a dedicated labor caste served the nobility. The Empire saw frequent combat and expanded regularly until a calamity struck the capital world during an invasion by outsider (barbarian) forces. The Empire has lost it's territory and most of it's people. It's refugee fleet, along with it's Emperor, has arrived to the Rimworld and established outposts on the planet's surface with the intent of establishing a position for themselves there. The Empire has treaties with the civilized unions of the Rimworld and operate their outposts with permission from these industrial societies. What ultratech the Empire has is what little it brought with it and it's unknown if the enemy will pursue them to the Rimworld.
Society[]
The Empire has a strict caste and honor system with an intricate code of warrior ethics. Sophian culture is largely derived from old Greece though evolved over a period of over 1000 years. While the Imperial Ideologion is Archist (seeing ancient Archeotech super computers as the ultimate moral authority in the universe) some monotheistic Sophian church derived from old Orthodoxy does exist with in the state.
Conception[]
Game developers modeled the Empire primarily after the Byzantine Empire and drew lightly from the Ottoman Empire as well; most notably in it's use of Janissaries.