Earth Empire

The Earth Empire existed from circa the early 26th century until its fall circa the late 30th century.

History
The definitive date of the formation of the Empire remains unknown. One account says that the Empire existed in 2501 (NSA: The Monsters Inside. Another set in the 2530s, mentions an Earth Federation exiting at that time (PDA: The Colony of Lies). It seems likely that an Earth Alliance or Earth Federation formed the core of the nascent empire.

In the 26th century Humans occupied one part of the Milky Way galaxy, while the Draconian Empire occupied another part. In 2540, the Master, working for employing Ogrons, successfully stirred up war on behalf of the Daleks (DW: Frontier in Space). The Second Dalek War began. (NA: Return of the Living Dad) (The First Dalek War was probably the 22nd century Dalek invasion of Earth.)

Not every Human in space chose to live in the Earth Empire. One band of the anarchist Travellers, for example, settled on Heaven, a neutral planet used as a burial ground by both sides. (NA: Love and War)

The last years of the 26th century saw an actual Divine Empress established as head of the Empire. (MA: Cold Fusion) The Empire had established Skybases as command centers wherever Earth had a presence. (DW: The Mutants, MA: Cold Fusion)

In 2957, Earth had recently fought the Wars of Acquisition, and an aged Divine Empress still reigned from her Imperial Palace in orbit around Saturn. Some imperial subjects of this time showed prejudice against other species (even though humans, by this time had learned to "body bepple" into new, sometimes alien-seeming forms). (NA: Original Sin) During 2981, as a war with the Ogrons dragged on, the Doctor and his companion, the Adjudicator Roz Forrester (as well as Chris Cwej, also a native of that era) got involved in a political struggle while culminated in the installation of Roz's sister, Leabie, as the new Empress. (NA: So Vile a Sin)

By the 30th century and early 31st centuries, environmental devastation had degraded Earth's ecology. The final blade would fall when a massive series of solar flares seared the Earth's surface, wiping out all life on the planet, except for a sleeper colony specially prepared aboard the Nerva Beacon. (DW:The Ark in Space) The Empire also had begun to crumble from within. (DW: The Mutants, MA: The Sorcerer's Apprentice) Its collapse left a power vacuum that, by the 40th century, would be filled by the Galactic Federation, which would be less Earth-centric and Human-dominated. (NA: Legacy)

Technology
Empire ships were generally built of spheres, connected together with scaffolding. Ships were covered with bas-relief carvings of leaves and faces and other such decorations. The designs used by the Earth Empire was considered to be unpleasant by other species. (MA: The Dark Path)

A specific type of ship was the Dauntless-class Imperial Destroyer. (MA: The Dark Path)

The citizens of the Empire (and others) used puterspace, a form of virtual reality. (NA: Love and War) The Empire's monopoly on null-grav technology kept it powerful. (NA: Original Sin)

Political system
The Earth Empire was a lumbering bureaucracy with as many civil servants as civilians. The planetary or colonial governor of a planet was called a Viscount. (MA: The Dark Path) It was overseen by a President, with a democratic opposition, a congress, and a senate. A free press and broadcasting service existed. The government also possessed a Bureau of Population Control, limiting families to one child unless they moved to the newly reclaimed arctic settlements. (DW: Frontier in Space)

The Folflower System was relatively unique by having a constitutional monarchy for the majority of the duration of the Empire. (TDL: The Graves of Mordane)

Military forces
The Empire had the Spacefleet (NA: Deceit) and an Imperial Navy (MA: The Dark Path). Security was provided by the Landsknechte or Naval Troops. (MA: The Dark Path)

Crime and punishment
At least as early as the 25th century, the formidable Guild of Adjudicators had maintained order through the Empire. (DW: Colony in Space) The Earth Empire sent Dalek Killers (generally condemned criminals) into Dalek space on what were essentially suicide missions. (DWM: Abslom Daak... Dalek Killer) Political dissidents went to the Lunar Penal Colony (DW: Frontier in Space, NA: Love and War), Justicia (NSA: The Monsters Inside) or Draconian Penal Colonies. (MA: The Dark Path).

Territories
Colonies under Earth included control included Sirius IV (DW: Frontier in Space), the Althosian system (NA: The Pit), Beta Caprisis, Mal Oreille, the Justicia System (NSA: The Monsters Inside) and the Folflower System (TDL: The Graves of Mordane). In the 30th century, the Empire also forcibly occupied the planet Solos. (DW: The Mutants)

Some of these planets had dominion status, allowing them to tax and try their own citizens. (DW: Frontier in Space)

Notable individuals
As noted previously, the Adjudicators Chris Cwej and Roz Forrestor of the powerful Forester family grew up in the late Earth Empire period of the 30th century. (NA: Original Sin)

Two other, very different 26th century individuals, both of whom had loved ones killed by the Daleks (and who would one day meet (DWM: Emperor of the Daleks) lived during the earlier history of the Empire:
 * One, a particularly savage Dalek Killer named Abslom Daak, living in time period after the Human-Draconian War, survived (DWM: Abslom Daak... Dalek Killer) and did so well for himself that, by 2573, at least one clone of him existed in Human-occupied space (NA: Deceit).
 * The other, adventurer-archaeologist Bernice ("Benny") Summerfield, had lost both parents in the Second Dalek War. She met the Doctor on Heaven, a neutral planet, in mid-2570. (NA: Love and War) She joined him on his travels, but, after, her marriage to Jason Kane (NA: Happy Endings) and a divorce from him (NA: Eternity Weeps), settled back into her own time. (BNA: The Dying Days) She would eventually have many adventures on her own.

Also, though originally native to the late 1980s prior to her travels with the Doctor, Ace decided to stay on Heaven at the same time as Benny joined (NA: Love and War) She joined Spacefleet, where she served for at least three years in her mid-to-late twenties. (NA: Deceit)