Welcome back to the dev diaries! This week we're going to be looking at two closely linked systems: the Imperial Court and the Empire's policies. These are really the highest level of how you govern your realm as Emperor - and as you'll see, governing a crumbling empire is never as simple as just making the right decision.

Let's start with the court. Playing as Theodosius V you have five key offices that you fill with characters from your realm.

The Magister Militum is your supreme commander of the land forces. A character with high Tactics in this role will boost the effectiveness of every army in the Empire. The Magister Nauticum does the same for your fleets. Then there's the Master of Diplomacy, whose Cunning skill helps with the treaties and barbarian neighbours you'll need to navigate. The Master of Economy oversees the imperial treasury - a character with strong Governance here means more gold in your coffers (and you will always need more gold). Finally the Master of Religion (whose title depends on your religion) manages the Empire's various faiths, and a character with high Authority in the role will help keep religious tensions in check across your settlements. Given that only about half the Empire actually follows the state religion of Apsodenian Borgutianism, this can be a very important appointment.

Each of these positions also has room for up to five subordinates, who chip in about a third of what a main officeholder would. So even if your Magister Militum is a bit mediocre, surrounding him with talented subordinates can make up for it.

Appointing someone to court is a politial decision. Characters gain fame from holding office, and the act of bringing someone to court creates patronage obligations that bind you together. The Foederati Council - one of the political factions within the Empire - may also push you to appoint barbarian leaders to positions traditionally held by Rephsians. Give them what they want and your Rephsian courtiers won't be happy; refuse and the foederati grow more restless.

If you can't find anyone suitable among your existing courtiers and subjects, you can spend gold to promote a new courtier - essentially sponsoring someone from the provinces to come and serve at your court. Different types of courtier come with different strengths, so this is a useful way to fill gaps.

The Empire has seven policy areas, each representing a strategic choice about the direction of your rule. Each one is a trade-off, and where you set them will depend entirely on the situation you're facing and the fires you're trying to put out. The most straightforward is the Tax Rate. Crank it up and you'll collect significantly more gold - up to one and a half times your normal revenue - but your governors will resent the burden, and their loyalty will suffer. Lower it and they'll be happier, but your treasury will suffer instead.

Religious Toleration is probably the most consequential policy in the game. At the intolerant end, Borgutianism spreads aggressively and heretical movements are suppressed - but religious minorities in your provinces cause far more unrest. At the tolerant end, unrest from religious diversity is halved, but your state religion stops spreading entirely and heresies start popping up everywhere. The middle ground tries to balance both, but satisfies no one completely. The Religious power bloc has very strong opinions about where this should sit.

Imperial Bureaucracy controls how centralised your administration is. More centralisation means more tax revenue but alienated governors who resent losing their autonomy. More decentralisation means less money but more loyal provincial administrators.

Public Games is the bread and circuses of Rephsis. Funding public entertainment costs gold - quite a lot of it at the higher levels - but it keeps the populace content, boosts governor loyalty, and dampens religious tensions.

Imperial Agents are your network of informants and inspectors across the provinces. Expanding the network brings in more tax revenue (they're very good at finding people who aren't paying their share) but makes your governors uncomfortable. Scaling the agents back means less oversight but better relations with your provincial leaders.

Military Stance determines whether you invest more heavily in land or naval forces. Prioritising one comes at the expense of the other, and the right choice depends on where your enemies are. If the Neutarnic tribes are pouring over your northern frontier, you probably want strong armies, but if raiders from Neutarnia Ultima are harassing your coasts, a powerful navy is the priority.

And then there's Frontier Strategy, which is one of my favourites. At one end you have the limes - a system of static border fortifications. This is safe and predictable: your governors like it, because their provinces are well-protected. But your field armies become much less effective, because they're spread out in garrisons rather than concentrated as a fighting force. At the other end is the comitatenses approach - mobile field armies. This makes your armies more powerful in battle, but provinces near the frontier are exposed to more raids, and governors won't thank you for the risk.

You don't adjust these policies directly, though. Instead you issue Edicts - imperial decrees that shift a policy one step at a time. Policy changes in a vast empire don't happen overnight, and each edict takes time to go into effect. More importantly, many policy changes cause short-term unrest across the Empire. Governors and their populations don't appreciate sudden shifts in how they're governed - every settlement takes a small stability hit and your governors' opinion of you drops. Shifting three policies at once in the middle of a war could trigger rebellions across half your provinces (ideal when you're already fighting on one front!).

This is where the systems really come together with the power blocs - the political factions within your Empire. Each power bloc has preferred policy positions. The Military Establishment wants strong armies and an aggressive frontier strategy. The Religious authorities want Borgutianism enforced, and so on. When your policies don't, their happiness drops - and if they stay unhappy long enough, they'll rebel against you.

Your policies apply to your provinces as well. When you change a policy, it cascades down through your entire hierarchy of subject provinces and foederati. Your subjects can see your policies but can't change them. A loyal provincical ruler on your northern frontier might stay loyal for years - until you shift to a naval military stance and pull all the investment away from his border. The governance decisions you make for the Empire affect everyone under your rule, and not everyone will agree with them.

That's it for this week! Next time we'll be looking at the military system and how battles play out. Thank you for reading.