On 19Jun2020 1608, xxxxxx@gmail.com wrote:
> Yes, that's kind of how I see it also.
>
> One thing unclear about the Emperors of the Flag - how many were
> Mooted to formally be Emperor? Or were they just 'Emperors in Fact'
> rather than 'Emperors in Law'?
Based on Supplement 8, hault-Plankwell proclaimed himself emperor,
kicking the whole thing off, so he wasn't. His chief-of-staff revolted
and killed him and was proclaimed emperor 'by right of moot election'
(and was assassinated in the same year). After that there are a whole
bunch who ruled for short periods before dying in battle or to
assassination. Over half are listed as 'proclaimed' as opposed to
'self-proclaimed', so it seems that the moot was willing to legitimise
quite a few claims.

It's not clear how active the moot was in all that assassinating, and in
the various power-plays, etc. They could've been significant players,
either collectively or individually, or the moot could have just been
rubber-stamping the claim of anyone with decent manners or who looked
like they'd last the week out. I don't recall MegaTraveller having much
more information, other than listing some of the pre-Flag
assassinations, etc. as being via 'Right of Assassination', presumably
to provide that precedent for Dulinor to exploit.

The thing is, killing the emperor and replacing them, and it being
consider legitimate either before or after the fact is something that's
a thing in one of the very earliest CT sources on the 3I - it's not
something made up from whole cloth with MegaTraveller. If anything the
long period after Arbellatra was proclaimed empress during which there
was one abdication and otherwise a clean line of succession is the
anomaly. Dulinor brought the curtain down on a golden age. Well, it was
for the Imperial classes - the travellers, the nobles, etc., and the
planetary elites at least. For the average sapient, maybe not so much.

--
Rupert Boleyn <xxxxxx@gmail.com>