The Emblem of the Galactic Empire.
In Isaac Asimov's Robot/Empire/Foundation series of novels, the Galactic Empire is an empire consisting of planets settled by humans across the whole galaxy. It is clearly based on the Roman Empire.
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This article, Galactic Empire, contains spoilers. Be forewarned, plot and/or ending details follow.
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The Galactic Empire consists of 25 million inhabited worlds, all colonized by Settlers from Earth (as opposed to Spacers).
The Galactic Empire is ruled by a single man the Galactic Emperor.
The Empire's capital is Trantor, a planet covered entirely by a giant city, located near the center of the Galaxy. It is both the center of power in the Galaxy, and also the administrative head.
History
The history of the Galactic Empire is over 12,000 years long.
- The first emperor was Franken (1-). He unified the Galaxy. In the later years, an Emperor called Aburanis wrote a code of laws for an easier rule of the empire.
- Earth situation was bad. After the radioactive attack, the population lived in some parts of the planet, and the only Imperial avanpost was on Himalaya. In the time of the Emperor Kandar V, the majority of Earth people were sent to Alpha.
Rise of the Empire
Golden Age
In 12,068 GE, a mathematician called Hari Seldon, by the means of Psychohistory, the science he invented, predicts the fall of the Empire. He predicts that the empire will collapse within 300 years, leading to a 30,000 year period of anarchy before a Second Empire is established. To influence events so that the interregnum period will be only 1,000 years and not 30,000, he creates a small haven of technology in a corner of the galaxy (on the planet Terminus) called the Foundation, whose job it will be to preserve knowledge from the collapse, thus reducing the time required for the next Empire to rebuild.
Fall of the Empire
Two-hundred years later, when the Empire was well into its collapse, it launches an attack against the First Foundation, led by general Bel Riose. By this time, the Foundation holds economic control over a large portion of the galactic periphery, and word of the Foundation is starting to reach the Empire at the Galactic Core. Riose repeatedly defeats the Foundation through brilliant tactical and strategic planning. Before he can complete his conquest, however, he is recalled by the Emperor, tried for treason, and executed, as the Emperor fears that the general might become strong enough to dethrone him.
Following the defeat of Bel Riose and the subsequent death of Cleon II, the Galactic Empire falls into a civil war. After this civil war an even more rapid phase of decline begins, with weak emperors losing vast amounts of territory and strong ones barely holding onto what they have. Three-hundred years after the Foundation's creation, the Galactic Empire's capital world, the city-planet Trantor, is sacked.
The Empire now bases itself on "Neo-Trantor", which is almost mockingly named so; it was an agricultural colony that used to feed Trantor. The Galactic Empire, which used to touch every planet in the Milky Way galaxy, is reduced to 20 agricultural planets. It is dwarfed by most barbarian kingdoms.
The greatest conqueror the Galaxy has ever seen, The Mule, defeater of the First Foundation, later conquers the pathetic remains of the Galactic Empire as well.
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