Larry Niven's Kzin also held together a STL Empire, in some stories they had a specialized priestly caste called the Conservers of Tradition.

__________________
"If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction."
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
Illuminati's Razor-The most complicatedly evil answer is usually the most correct answer. - Fazor
"Every book is a children's book if the kid can read." - Mitch Hedberg
"Distance doesn’t matter much in space, where if you just start a thing off with the right kind of shove, sooner or later it will get where you want it to go." -Frederik Pohl, Mining the Oort

Interesting.. I´ll be looking forward to reading it.

End of Eternity also presents a 'temporal' [as opposed to spatial] Empire, with the underlying idea of Guardians of the order [akin to Conservers of tradition]. But the end result would be the same as a spatial galactic empire, since the actions of those in charge take a long time to produce effects.

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If you're careful enough, nothing bad or good will ever happen to you.

There have been some civilizations that have been relatively stable for thousands of years on earth. Or at least they look relatively stable until you have a closer look at them. Then you see they were typically full of civil wars, rebellions, invasions, periodic breakdowns of central authority, warlordism and so on.

Larry Niven's The State (from A World Out of Time) was a rigid "Hydraulic Despotism", that lasted thousands of years until it colonized other star systems, and were unable to maintain control over such a distance even with the most totalitarian social structure in history.

__________________
"If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction."
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
Illuminati's Razor-The most complicatedly evil answer is usually the most correct answer. - Fazor
"Every book is a children's book if the kid can read." - Mitch Hedberg
"Distance doesn’t matter much in space, where if you just start a thing off with the right kind of shove, sooner or later it will get where you want it to go." -Frederik Pohl, Mining the Oort

Without FTL, only for immortal beings.

In Niven's Known Space universe, Kzinti Patriarchy is a no-FTL interstellar empire and Kzinti lifespan is about same as modern humans, but Kzinti are far more culturally and biologically uniform than humans ever were. All Kzinti have one language, one state, and one religion, with obedience to the state an integral part of said religion. Also, Kzinti have hibernation technology, so Patriarch's emissary can reach an outlying colony without aging. Moreover, Niven (or one of his "playmate authors") makes it clear that with farthest colonies about 40 light-years from KzinHome Patriarchy reached its effective limit, and any further expansion would result in secession.

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Fiction has to be plausible. Reality is under no such constraint.

You could govern a sub-light empire. Develop a bureaucracy that either lives long individually, or more likely uses suspended animation to move into the future to a relevant time where they perform their function then hibernate until next required. So the planets govern themselves in real-time and this interstellar bureacracy rules the empire on a much longer time scale.

The threat with a interstellar empire like this is like that faced by the roman empire, as it increases the governors at the extreme ends of the empire get further from the administrative centre and require more independence; so at some point see themselves as the centre of their own empire - and secede, rebel, march on the capitol etc.

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plenty of woo, at the hotel hoagaland...

Hey, guys, people crossing the stars very close to c don´t need suspended animation, since they can cross distances in short times in their frames.

__________________
If you're careful enough, nothing bad or good will ever happen to you.

Depends on how close to C they get, and how fast they can accelerate to reach their top speed.

__________________
"If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction."
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
Illuminati's Razor-The most complicatedly evil answer is usually the most correct answer. - Fazor
"Every book is a children's book if the kid can read." - Mitch Hedberg
"Distance doesn’t matter much in space, where if you just start a thing off with the right kind of shove, sooner or later it will get where you want it to go." -Frederik Pohl, Mining the Oort

In the end, there are very few things worth utilizing the entire mass energy of a star (or even a major planet) to ship betwixt two stars.

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Iyam what Iyam

Why not, when you rule a whole galaxy of stars? Assuming that it does actually take that much.

Overseers, maybe. Genetically engineered for long life, mentally programmed for Imperial loyalty and manipulative charsima, with cybernetic implants linking their brains to the planet's local governing AI but stil able to move among and directly but secretly influence people.

__________________
"If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction."
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
Illuminati's Razor-The most complicatedly evil answer is usually the most correct answer. - Fazor
"Every book is a children's book if the kid can read." - Mitch Hedberg
"Distance doesn’t matter much in space, where if you just start a thing off with the right kind of shove, sooner or later it will get where you want it to go." -Frederik Pohl, Mining the Oort

You can't just jump from zero to near-C. It takes time to accelerate and decelerate, and any ship going that speed would need some means of withstanding the effects of ripping through gas and dust that fast. Not to mention the huge energy consumption.

__________________
"If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction."
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
Illuminati's Razor-The most complicatedly evil answer is usually the most correct answer. - Fazor
"Every book is a children's book if the kid can read." - Mitch Hedberg
"Distance doesn’t matter much in space, where if you just start a thing off with the right kind of shove, sooner or later it will get where you want it to go." -Frederik Pohl, Mining the Oort

Well, we all know that. We´re just exploring possibilities.

__________________
If you're careful enough, nothing bad or good will ever happen to you.

I guess if you can postulate instant-near-C drives, you could postulate FTL too. Maybe this Empire could simply be taking advantage of a network of wormholes, Krasnikov-like space tunnels or Kerr-Tippler objects left behind by a prior, more advanced civilization. (or an existing one that doesn't bother to guard their stuff.)

__________________
"If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction."
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
Illuminati's Razor-The most complicatedly evil answer is usually the most correct answer. - Fazor
"Every book is a children's book if the kid can read." - Mitch Hedberg
"Distance doesn’t matter much in space, where if you just start a thing off with the right kind of shove, sooner or later it will get where you want it to go." -Frederik Pohl, Mining the Oort