House Crux is one of the Houses Major, alongside House Fornax and formerly Houses Cygnus and Vela. Based off of the planet Hiera, House Crux’s sacred duty is the administration, the development and the compliance of Imperial Law.
House Crux’s mandate to the Empire and the wider Sector of Acheron Rho is to bear the burden of law in all respects. This is done in two ways: through the creation and preservation of Imperial Law, and the enforcement of Imperial Law.
House Crux’s foremost responsibility is the creation, preservation and interpretation of Imperial Law on behalf of the Noble House Pyxis and the Emperox. Undertaken by the Department of the Judiciary (DoJ) the legal and legislative tier of the House, the DoJ works alongside the other Imperial Houses, corporates and respective organizations of Acheron Rho to sculpt the legal landscape of the Empire.
Once Imperial Law has been created, the DoJ must also enforce it. House Crux’s Judicial Enforcement Services (JES), perhaps the most feared branch of the Department of the Judiciary, acts as the first line of defence for Imperial law-keeping. It is the role of Judicial Enforcement Services to uphold Imperial Law unwaveringly and firmly, to prevent crime across the Empire and to pursue and bring justice to those who break Imperial Law.
Other Roles of House Crux[]
Within Crucian controlled space, House Crux also serves multiple other functions, namely that of the administration and protection of Crucian assets, nobility and property, undertaken by the Primeborn and the House Guard.
The administration of House Crux is upheld by the Prince’s Council and the Primeborn, all senior Crucian nobility and primary holders of Crucian land and enterprises. The Prince’s Council makes up the most important and significant of these administrators, acting in an advisory role to the sovereign who, on the Prince’s behalf, organize the day-to-day operations of House Crux.
In terms of defence, House Crux employs a permanent private military force to defend its people, property and interests. It’s primary roles, known as the Core Directives, are to employ a perpetual standing force of professional noble officers, and in the event of an emergency, raise and coordinate levies of serfs owned by Crucian nobility.
Organization of House Crux[]
For a more in-depth look into the organization of House Crux and its titles, see House Crux Organisation.
House Crux is organized in the service of the Prince of Crux, the chosen leader and monarch of the House, and consists overall of two individual tiers: Their Royal Highness the Prince of Crux and Prince’s Council, and the Tripartite Pillars made up of the Primeborn, the Department of the Judiciary, and the House Guard.
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The Prince of Crux[]
House Crux is led by the Pince of Crux, the chosen leader and monarch of the House. Chosen from amongst the Preeminent Family and the Electors so that the House may put forward an Emperox Candidate every 100 years, the Prince is the ultimate authority for the House short of the Imperial House and the Emperox themselves.
Some time either before or during Scream, the term “Prince,” became synonymous with “leader,” for the House, indicating both power and subservience to the Emperox, and lost all connotation of gender. All chosen monarchs of House Crux are Princes, (Prince Helana, Prince Hecktor, etc,) but many of them may also go by monikers or other significant titles (i.e, The Mother of Mercy.)
The Prince's Council[]
Acting in an advisory role to the sovereign is the Prince’s Council, a body of House Crux’s most renowned nobles and figures whom on the Prince’s behalf organize and dictate the day-to-day operations of the House, with all decisions deferring to Their Highness’ will.
Do the extensive nature of the Council, most councilmembers themselves are separated into roles based off of their expertise, from legal experts to leading Crucian advisors on politics or infrastructure, all the way to current and former admirals and generals. If it impacts House Crux, chances are, there is an expert (or thereabouts close enough) on the Prince’s Council.
Seldom, however, do most Princes deign to step into the Council’s chambers, and as such, the Council is considered to be the de facto ruling body of the faction.
The Tripartite Pillars[]
To carry out its Imperial Mandate of the Law across the Empire while also remaining efficient and well-defended, House Crux is assembled in a tripartite order consisting of the Primeborn, the Department of the Judiciary and the House Guard.
The Primeborn of House Crux are the primary title holders for their noble families. They are the designated heirs to their family's estates and holdings. Raised and taught since the moment of their designation how to govern and rule, the Primeborn are granted the right to bear titles reflective of their elevated position, and often also hold positions of power within Crux’s other civilian administrative sectors, such as the Hieran Board of Commerce.
The Department of the Judiciary is the legal and legislative arm of House Crux and the parent organisation of the Judicial Enforcement Services and the Papierkrieg Büro. The duties of the Department span the Empire in the creation, preservation and interpretation of Imperial Law with assets found all across the sector, from JES officers to special investigation task forces, Richters, Scharfrichters to drone operators.
The House Guard (the House Guard, That Venerable Order of Sentinels Bound By Blood And Service To The House of Crux, Bearers Of The Banners And Protectors Of Those Who Would Walk The Path Of Justice and Judgement) serves as the private military of House Crux, charged with the protection of Hiera and House Crux installations across the sector. It is staffed by employed nobles and serf levies that may be called upon from the noble families of Crux and their estates in times of emergency.
Special Organizations and Departments[]
Within Crux, several individual specialist organizations do not conventionally fit within the Tripartite order.
The NULL Division of House Crux is dedicated to the investigation, isolation, elimination, and prevention of maltech and extranormal phenomena that pose an existential threat to humanity. When technology goes too far or when the unexplainable needs explaining; NULL Division is on the case.
STRAFE (S.T.R.A.F.E., Crux Kommandos) is a multi-functional special operations branch responsible for highly specialized, small scale, high-risk operations through direct action and counterinsurgency. Only deployed when situations escalate beyond the scope of House Crux’s other departments.
The Cathar Bureau[]
The Crux Cathar Bureau is the premier data collection and analytics agency for House Crux. Responsible for both analyzing evidence gathered from crime scenes as well as pre-emptively acting on data to avoid Imperial Brinkmanship. From dispatching covert corvettes for CourTrans to Forensic Analysis and Cleanup, the Cathars are a public-facing aspect of the House Crux law enforcement regime.
Responsible for the realms of patents, trademarks, intellectual property, contracts, and all forms of legal paperwork, the Papierkrieg Büro, complete with the Sequential Archives and General Administration, or SAGA, is the forefront of the clerical arm of House Crux.
House Crux Titles and Naming[]
Like other noble houses of the Empire, the naming syntax of House Crux is structured in priority of importance and is formally constituted as:
Occasionally, some individuals of status belonging to areas of significance beyond the Heiran continental area, such as outlying Hieran provinces or Crucian estates beyond the Ellis System, will add the epithet “of <Location>” to the end of their complete title. For example, Graf Crux Hendez Manda of Castleshannon.
While some nobles of Crux will technically have multiple titles, usually only the most important / higher ranking title will be carried. Names including two or more titles tend to only used during ceremonial purposes.
The ancestral home of House Crux is the planet Hiera, located in the Ellis system in Hex #0605, which is shared by the ruin of Gats, the former House Cygnus homeworld.
It has three moons, Khal, Throphe, and Vailami and an orbiting ruin, Semeykin IV.
Classified as a terrestrial planet, Hiera has a dry, breathable atmosphere and a variable cold-to-temperate temperature. Before it’s biosphere was engineered, Hiera was a lot colder than it is today but now it only merely varies around an approximate 7°C (44°F).
As of the current census, Hiera supports a population of 10 Billion across 16 provinces and operates at Tech Level 4.
For more information on Hira and its locations and points of interest, see the Hiera page.
Crux Holdings and Bases of Influence[]
Across the sector, House Crux owns and operates in many holdings and Bases of Influence.
Imperial Corrections Facility Gleipnir[]
Imperial Corrections Facility Gleipnir, also ICF Gleipnir, Gleipnir, locally Tlazōteōtl, formerly Gleipnir Incorporated, is the largest prison facility in the Empire of Acheron Rho. While technically belonging to Emperox Pyxis Solanum Rona, House Crux oversees the day to day operation of the planet, the prison and its inhabitants with assistance from House Triangulum.
Alexandron Tor[]
A sprawling fortress of police barracks, garages, offices, and courtrooms,Alexandron Tor is a forward-operating-base owned and operated by House Crux on Imperial Prime built for the reign of the Eternal Rose.
