Unified Government

At the same time, the lower courts also took on the task of promoting legal awareness.

Besides explaining the Imperial Regulations and Imperial Law, the courts would also try defendants according to the Badab Codex while giving onlookers a general explanation of its contents.

The Badab Codex had been written by Huron, based primarily on the laws and regulations from his previous life, combined with the realities of Warhammer and the Imperium's various distinctive laws.

After all, the Imperium's laws and regulations were still mainly statutory law, especially Imperial Law. It was a code formed around legal provisions and precedents issued by the Emperor during the Great Crusade, with further precedents and statutes added continuously over more than ten thousand years.

Given the Imperium of Man's rigidity and extremism, there were naturally plenty of absurdities within it.

For example, under special circumstances, being kidnapped was also against the law—and could even be a more serious crime than the kidnapper's.

A classic joke from the M3 era: "An employee got hit by a car and died, delaying the company's project. Can I demand compensation from the employee?"

In the Imperium of 40k, that was no joke. No matter the reason, once any department conscripted you, failing the mission was your fault. At best, your superior would die alongside you.

Even if they ordered you to split yourself into thirteen groups and block the Eye of Terror, failure would still be your fault.

Naturally, such utterly deranged laws did not suit Huron's tastes. By comparison, even the marriage laws from his previous life suddenly looked rather respectable.

And so, in order to change that atmosphere, the Badab Codex came into being.

Originally, Huron had planned to wait until he had finished spending his National Policy points, then Coreize Badab while implementing the Badab Codex.

But plans could not keep up with changes. Since they had already purged Badab's nobles ahead of schedule, they could only establish a Unified Government and promote legal awareness ahead of schedule as well.

That was also why Odinson had hurried away after presiding over just one Public Trial.

After more than a week of martial law in Palatos Hive City, with much of the former ruling class wiped out, the entire hive had a great many matters that needed handling.

Although Palatos, like the Imperium of Man, wore the skin of a Unified Government while actually operating under medieval feudal autonomy, the sudden disappearance of the ruling class still caused some chaos.

After all, power did not remain vacant. If you did not seize it, all sorts of monsters and demons would.

For that reason, Huron convened a joint meeting of the Chapter's senior officers and the Auxilia's senior officers.

"This is the current proposal. Take a look first," Huron said from the head seat, watching Servo-skulls distribute documents to the attendees. "Its core principles are centralized authority, a five-tier structure, religious control, and the integration of the Chapter and government."

Odinson looked over the contents. They were largely the same as what the Chapter Master had discussed with him before, with only a few personnel details changed.

All administrative personnel in the new government would be appointed uniformly by the central government, while civil servants would be selected through standardized examinations. This would eliminate the absurd old arrangement where nobles had staffs of aides, and those aides had staffs of their own, maintaining consistency in the source of authority.

The five-tier structure consisted of sectors, subsectors, planets, hive cities, and districts. Beneath those would be grassroots self-governing organizations such as neighborhoods and communities.

The current framework had only been practically designed down to the Planetary Government level. The sector and subsector levels had only a rough framework and held no practical significance.

Take the Badab Planetary Government as an example.

Odinson would serve as Planetary Governor, the highest administrative head, military commander, and judicial authority of the Planetary Government;

The Planetary Council would consist of representatives from the various hive cities, industries, and social circles, responsible for reviewing and approving laws, budgets, and major decisions;

The Planetary Administration Bureau would serve as the executive body of the Planetary Government, coordinating the work of all subordinate government departments. Its chief administrator would be appointed by the Planetary Governor and would currently be Odinson himself, while the deputy chief administrator would be Old John.

The Planetary Government would have bureau-level departments beneath it, corresponding to the central government's ministries, such as the Interior Bureau, Finance Bureau, Public Security Bureau, Economic Development Bureau, Construction Bureau, Education Bureau, Health Bureau, and so on.

At the same time, there would be two independent departments. One was the Supervisory Commission, directly accountable to Sector Governor Huron, with duties including anti-corruption work, oversight of administrative efficiency, and investigations into official misconduct.

The other was the Audit Office, independent of the Finance Ministry. Led by the Auditor General, it would be responsible for financial audits of all government departments and public institutions.

That was roughly the overall structure of the government.

Religious control meant bringing the Ecclesiarchy under management. Or rather, it meant replacing Badab's former local Ecclesiarchy with a new Ecclesiarchy created by the Astral Claws Chapter, then incorporating it into the government's administrative system and even establishing a dedicated "Religious Affairs Bureau."

As for integrating the Chapter and the government, there was not much to say. Screw that nonsense about Astartes not being allowed to interfere in politics or Mortel affairs. That rule did not exist for the Astral Claws or Badab.

Although most Chapter members had little interest in becoming government officials, more than a hundred Astartes with administrative experience, led by Odinson, would take up important government positions to improve its efficiency.

As for external appearances, Deputy Chief Administrator Old John would serve as the nominal "Planetary Governor," creating the nominal impression of "Mortels ruling Mortels."

The Chapter would later attempt to purchase, manufacture, and capture naval warships of every class. These warships, which were not exclusive to the Astartes, would exist under the name of the "Badab Planetary Fleet," but would in reality take orders from the Astral Claws Chapter.

In short, they would keep up appearances and avoid openly tearing things apart with the High Lords. As for whether the High Lords would abandon all pretense themselves, of course they would not.

In the original timeline, the Astral Claws had not paid the Gene-seed Tithe, had withheld the Badab Sector's Tithe, and had even raided the Culln Sector's Tithe. Yet the High Lords had still tolerated them again and again.

It was only when the Culln Sector could no longer endure it that they called in the Fire Hawks Chapter, which had an old grudge against the Astral Claws. Both sides started fighting and calling in reinforcements, ultimately triggering the Badab War.

What he was doing now was nothing by comparison.

Besides, given the Imperium's ability to exchange information, by the time they confirmed that he had violated the Codex Astartes by expanding his forces without authorization, who knew how long it would take.

It was like having the Astropaths contact the Lamenters and Mantis Warriors. Nearly a year had passed, yet they still had not established a stable channel with either Chapter.

By the time the Imperium reacted, it would be hard to say who had the stronger army.

Only after everyone had finished reading the documents did Huron ask, "Does anyone have any opinions or questions?"

Old John raised his hand. "Chapter Master, why have I been appointed deputy chief administrator?"

Since Odinson was also serving as chief administrator, the deputy chief administrator was effectively the government's second-highest-ranking official, second only to Odinson.

Old John truly did not think he had accomplished anything remarkable enough to deserve such an honor. Were those Astartes Brothers not better suited for the role?