Ramshackle Empire: Common term used during the
Long Night to refer to the Rule of Man, also
known as the Second Imperium. As
the successor to the First Imperium,
the Rule of Man took over the territories (and the problems) of its predecessor.
Pro-Second Imperium histories contend that the Rule of Man delayed the
inevitable collapse. Pro-First Imperium histories claim that the First
Imperium was stagnant, but stable, and that the Ramshackle Empire
actually precipitated the Long Night by looting subject worlds and promoting
Terran superiority. -ld
IE