Her Imperial Majesty's Space Navy

This is an example of lore derived from the game code. You will find no mention of Her Imperial Majesty's Space Navy in the literature which came with Classic Elite (the Manual or the novels The Dark Wheel & Imprint). But many of the various versions of Elite included missions - and for at least one of these, the player was instructed by Captain Carruthurs/Carruthers of Her Imperial Majesty's Space Navy! And in our own Oolite, Captain Carruthers of Her Imperial Majesty's Space Navy once again materialises to seduce the unwary player into deeds of derring do!

The problem

So what is Her Imperial Majesty's Space Navy? All we know is that Carruthers is a Captain of it!

• Is it a forerunner of the Duval Empire which exists in Frontier/Elite 2 (but is conspicuously absent in Elite & Oolite)?
• Is it another body hinted at in the original manual: The Galactic Co-operative is only one - although the largest - of several planetary federations, and maintains trade and diplomatic links with over 2000 planets spread throughout 8 galaxies. (p11)
• Is it something else?

After prolonged confabulation amongst the early savants of Oolite, a concensus was reached.

The solution

Lave has never been Earth - Old Earth is mentioned in both TDW and the manual as a separate entity, and although never clearly stated, it is implied that it is some distance away. Also, Lave's population is listed as Human Colonials. In Frontier and FFE, the galactic map puts Lave some distance to the south-west of the Sol system, and that's the first confirmation of where Earth is in relation to Lave. If you look in the Gallery on my site, I have a Frontier map of the same area covered by Galaxy 1's map in Elite. OK, Her Majesty's Space Navy is a holdover term from Elite before the whole question of Lave's and GalCop's heirarchical structure was discussed. AFAIK, Bell and Braben never really set out the structure of the organisation or galaxies involved, and Rob Holdstock was given very free reign to make it up as he went along. If you notice, in original versions of Elite, GalCop is never explicitly mentioned - it is a term restricted to the manual and fiction that went alongside it! So - the term His/Her Majesty's Space Navy is not a term related to the Empire, since the Emperor is usually referred to as His Imperial Majesty. Also, the term HER Majesty would never be used to refer to an Empire of Achenar ruler, since they do not allow female monarchs. In my writing, Her/His Majesty's Space Navy is a traditional term harking back to the days of the Old Worlds Alliance, where members of what had once been Earth's royal family set up a government on Lave and became self-styled Kings and Queens. With the formation of the Space Navy following the Thargoid threat, it was the royal famiy who funded and approved the Navy, becoming the patrons of the organisation. By this time, however, they were no longer rulers of Lave, having turned the rule of the world over to an autocratic government. A monarch is still in residence on Lave, and has governmental rule over one continent of the world. She retains control of the Space Navy in a purely patronising way (as in she is the PATRON of the Navy, not that she patronises it) but has no direct control over the way it is run. For the record, the current monarch is Queen Isabell, and she is over 90 years old. Her 67 year old son is much chagrined at her obstinate refusal to die, and is seeing his chances at taking the throne fade away with his health. He already has had most of his internal organs replaced in order to remain fit and healthy and eligible to take over the throne.

(http://www.aegidian.org/bb/viewtopic.php?p=17024#p17024 Selezen, 2006)