While the whole Imperium is a feudal empire, feudalism is an extreme on Sepheris Secundus. Everyone born on the planet must have a master to whom they pay nine-tenths of everything they produce, which for most citizens means the ore they hack from the rock faces of the planet's mines. [[Queen Lachryma III]], the planet's absolute monarch, sits at the top of this feudal system. The rights to the labour of these billions of serfs belong to the barons appointed by the queen or to noble families and business consortiums that

purchase them from the crown. The queen's own master is the Imperium, to whom she hands over truly staggering amounts of ore, metals and raw fuel to fulfil the planet's tithe. Sepheris Secundus's tithe is the highest in the Calixis Sector, and without its immense output of raw materials, the economy of the whole province would be badly unsettled.

Two principal forces maintain Sepheris Secundus's feudal system. The first is the weight of tradition: every serf labouring in the mines is doing what his father did and his grandfather before that, often at the same rock face. The second force is physical violence. One of the reasons that Sepheris Secundus's culture is so primitive by many standards is that weaponry and other technology is monopolised by the crown. The queen's Royal Scourges are equipped with lasguns, grenades and chainblades, contrasting with their gaudy, stained-glass-like armour. Though few in number, the technological advantage that these troops possess has been enough to put down a great many uprisings in the mines of Sepheris Secundus, and the planet's history is littered with massacres where thousands of serfs

fell to volleys of lasgun fire.

==Planetary Data==