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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''"To ravage, to slaughter, to usurp under false titles, they call empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace."''
|'''Tacitus''', Roman historian}}
The [[Evil Counterpart]] to [[The Republic]], the [[Foil]] to [[The Kingdom]], the [[Shadow Archetype]] to [[Hegemonic Empire]], and [[The Rival]] to [[The Federation]], The Empire wants to be the [[One World Order]]. Amassing [[The Evil Army]], it sets out to conquer all of its neighbors by force of arms. Taking cues from history, it [[Putting on the Reich|often resembles the historic Roman, German, Russian/Soviet, or Chinese empires in some way]]. Led by [[The Emperor]], who is usually also an [[Evil Overlord]], [[Emperor Scientist]] or [[God-Emperor]] or by some kind of [[Corrupt Church|theocratic]] [[Path of Inspiration|cabal]]. A theocracy of a [[Religion of Evil]] will almost certainly be The Empire. None of these apply to depictions of the British Empire, which was led at the height of its power by a Size 50 Matron otherwise known as [[Queen
▲{{quote|''"To ravage, to slaughter, to usurp under false titles, they call empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace."''|'''Tacitus''', Roman historian}}
If
▲The [[Evil Counterpart]] to [[The Republic]], the [[Foil]] to [[The Kingdom]], the [[Shadow Archetype]] to [[Hegemonic Empire]], and [[The Rival]] to [[The Federation]], The Empire wants to be the [[One World Order]]. Amassing [[The Evil Army]], it sets out to conquer all of its neighbors by force of arms. Taking cues from history, it [[Putting on the Reich|often resembles the historic Roman, German, Russian/Soviet, or Chinese empires in some way]]. Led by [[The Emperor]], who is usually also an [[Evil Overlord]], [[Emperor Scientist]] or [[God-Emperor]] or by some kind of [[Corrupt Church|theocratic]] [[Path of Inspiration|cabal]]. A theocracy of a [[Religion of Evil]] will almost certainly be The Empire. None of these apply to depictions of the British Empire, which was led at the height of its power by a Size 50 Matron otherwise known as [[Queen Vicky]].
▲If [[The Empire]] does not pose itself outright evil, it may represent itself as the Lightbearer of Civilization, Defender of Faith, Domain of Law and Order, The Co-Prosperity Sphere, Central State of Humankind or Legitimate Regent of Humanity. The Empire may be highly civilized, wealthy, organized, and/or vital, or corrupt, bureaucratic, sybarite and/or ossified. It may be militaristic and imperialistic, or pacifistic and turned inwards. If [[The Empire]] actually is on the ''good'' side, it may be [[The Kingdom]]. If the Emperor is an elected official and the Empire consists of independent or semi-independent domains, it may actually be [[The Federation]].
Of course, there's going to be some kind of [[La Résistance|Resistance]] movement within its borders, and small autonomous nations without who may need encouragement by the heroes to become [[The Alliance]]. They may also be helped by [[Les Collaborateurs]]. There may also be one or more powers that oppose it, often [[The Kingdom|kingdoms]] or [[Good Republic, Evil Empire|republics]], which may or may not band together into [[The Alliance]]. The Empire is usually too strong to defeat militarily (unless the story is set in a war strategy video game), but taking down the leaders while they're instigating their sinister plan is usually enough. Or [[La Résistance]] may well turn out to be nothing but a treasonous cliqué to [[The Starscream|overthrow the government or dynasty and replace it with something even more cruel and brutal]], or a nationalist or racist separation movement.
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[[Skeleton Government|Note that just being called an Empire is not sufficient to qualify a nation for this trope]]. Especially in a [[Heroic Fantasy]] setting, other types of empires abound, often based on the Holy Roman or British Empires (and occasionally a more sympathetic take on the actual Roman or the Chinese Empire). These types of empires may be better described as an expansionist [[The Kingdom|kingdom]], a militaristic [[The Federation|federation]], a nationalist [[The Republic|republic]], or a more centrally controlled [[The Alliance|alliance]]. The confusion springs from the fact that in real life, there is no actual definition of what constitutes an empire. Take Japan. With "the Empire of Japan" or "the Japanese Empire" you probably meant [[Imperial Japan|its time as a colonial power...]] but since it still has an emperor, it technically still is the "Japanese Empire" ([[Japanese Political System|although as a firmly established constitutional monarchy rather than an absolute one]]). Also, until recently the term "Empire" was used synonymously with "sovereign nation", and [[Values Dissonance|did not acquire its negative connotations until the twentieth century]]. For instance, the early United States referred to itself as an [[People's Republic of Tyranny|"Empire of Liberty,"]] without irony.
Weakened or weakening versions of
{{examples}}
▲== Anime & Manga ==
* Britannia in ''[[Code Geass]]''.
* Zaibach in ''[[Vision of Escaflowne]]''.
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* The Hellas Empire from ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' is a partial subversion, since the war was actually orchestrated by [[Omnicidal Maniac]] terrorists. However, they made it look like the empire started it, and the heroes fought legions of imperial soldiers and warships until they learned of the conspiracy.
* The Galactic Empire in ''[[Legend of the Galactic Heroes]]''. Subverted insofar it's not [[Grey and Gray Morality|actually that much worse than]] [[The Federation]], especially {{spoiler|after Reinhart becomes ''de facto'' ruler, rids the empire of the [[Deadly Decadent Court]], and reforms the system to become more friendly to commoners.}}
* Russia in ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia
* The Kushan Empire from ''[[Berserk]]''.
* This is the Methuselah's form of government in ''[[Trinity Blood]]''.
* Played Straight, then subverted in ''[[Zoids: Chaotic Century]]'' with the Guylos Empire. They get the fancier equipment and the more villainous characters who seek to sow strife, but while initially an antagonizing force, it is discovered that it is mostly through the manipulations of the high-ranking nobleman Gunter Prozen that caused war to break out and, once the rightful ruler is returned to power, the Guylos Empire becomes a vital ally to the heroes and a more benevolent force. It keeps the name "Guylos Empire", however.
== Comic Books ==
* Russia in ''[[Nikolai Dante]]''.▼
* The Eggman Empire in ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (comics)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'', named after [[Big Bad|Dr. Eggman.]]▼
* The Negation. They even rewrote the laws of physics!▼
* ''[[Empire (comics)|Empire]]''. [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Full stop.]]▼
* Water & Power in ''[[Tank Girl]]'', corrupt corporate conquistadors.▼
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* One Nation Earth in the [[Apocalypse]] film series by Cloud Ten Pictures. The design of [[Sigil Spam|their logo]] is based on the Eye Of Providence pyramid design of the Great Seal of the United States.
* The [[People's Republic of Tyranny|United Citizen's Federation]] of ''[[Starship Troopers]]'' is this, being a Federation [[In Name Only]].
▲* Russia in ''[[Nikolai Dante]]''.
▲* The Eggman Empire in ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (comics)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'', named after [[Big Bad|Dr. Eggman.]]
▲* The Negation. They even rewrote the laws of physics!
▲* [[Empire]]. [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Full stop.]]
▲* Water & Power in ''[[Tank Girl]]'', corrupt corporate conquistadors.
▲* the Colonisation Industrial Companies in ''[[Universal War One]]''.
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** Also the Morgoth's empire in ''[[The Silmarillion]]''.
** Saruman attempted to set up one at Isengard, but failed.
** Nûmenor, especially at the end of the Second Age. Nûmenor began as [[The Kingdom]], but transmuted into
*** On the other hand, the dominant human 'good guy' societies, Gondor and Arnor, offspring of Numenor's uncorrupted minority, are also empires, especially Gondor, which at its height controls most of the southern reaches of the area mapped by Tolkien. Later, Aragorn, the leader of the 'good guys' reunited Arnor and Gondor and establishes the
* In David Wingrove's ''[[Chung Kuo]]'' series, the world is run by the Seven, almost exclusively populated by ethnic Han Chinese, and called [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Chung Kuo]].
* The Galactic Empire in [[Isaac Asimov]]'s ''Empire'' and ''[[Foundation]]'' novels is a state which has already achieved this goal in the distant past - by the end of the ''Foundation'' series, the Foundation is on its way to achieving the same. Partially subverted in that Asimov doesn't treat these either of these political entities as overtly villainous.
** Asimov's Empire is explicitly modeled on [[The Roman Empire]], and the Foundation's therefore bears some resemblance to Byzantium, the Greek-centered "Eastern Roman Empire" that lasted a thousands years longer - but not exactly, as it was set up specifically to reestablish the Empire within a single millennium.
* Although the Terran Empire in [[Marion Zimmer Bradley]]'s ''[[Darkover]]'' novels didn't start this way, by the time of its collapse it was a full-blown example of this trope.
*
* The Barrayaran Empire and the Cetagandan Empire of [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]'s [[Vorkosigan Saga]] both qualify at any point they're feeling expansionist. Barrayar's at the peak of one, and starting to slide down, during ''Shards of Honor'' and ''Barrayar'', but by the time of ''The Warrior's Apprentice'', it's mostly caught up colonizing a new world (one it didn't have to conquer; it was uninhabited by anything above animals) and helps fight off the Cetagandans, who are still messing about. By ''A Civil Campaign'' Cetaganda's calmed down too.
* Persian, Ottoman, Hapsburg, and Chinese influences all show up in the Imperium of the ''[[Dune]]'' novels. While it doesn't receive a villainous portrayal (indeed, the heroes run it in some books), it doesn't exactly receive a heroic one either. It appears mainly as a status-quo form of society that keeps working because it's what the characters can build in their circumstances (particularly the civilization's dependence on the Bene Gesserit and Spacing Guild, who both rely on a natural resource found only on one single planet).
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** Eventually the CoDominium military forces leave the Earth when the USA and USSR blow each other to pieces (and other nations join in), to relocated on the planets Sparta and St. Ekaterina, where they found a full-bore aristocratic empire of their own. The last line of 'The Prince of Spartans' is ''AVE. AVE LYSANDER, IMPERATOR''
* Inverted, played with and otherwise [[Deconstruction|Deconstructed]] in the ''[[Honor Harrington]]'' series. Manticore may finally revel in some good old-fashioned imperialism, but that doesn't stop them from being ''the nice guy'' of the series, while alleged [[The Federation|Federations]] are either corrupt bureaucratic monstrosities that are falling apart at the seams (League), or alternate between that and bloody tyranny (Haven). Although Haven has gotten a lot better lately. You can make a pretty good case that are now as much the "good guys" as anyone else. Right now the only reason they're fighting Manticore is over a ''really big'' misunderstanding (details would be a major spoiler).
** Indeed, the only true black in the series now are the [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|people behind genetic slavery]]
***Even they [[Even Evil Has Loved Ones|can like their kinfolk]] and [[Nice to the Waiter|treat subordinates nicely]] if [[Pragmatic Villainy|it is useful to do so.]]
**
**Manticore is kind of like a milder [[The British Empire]] as it should have been, formed mainly by the results of wars waged against it (as to be fair much of the original was), but without the casual racism which so often blighted even the best moments of the original.
* In [[C. S. Lewis|CS Lewis]]'s ''[[The Horse and His Boy]]'', Calormen is a mild instance of this. Although it is not entirely bent on conquest, the book features an attempt to conquer Archenland, and the promise that will help conquer Narnia. The curse on Rabadash is explicitly described as making life easier for small countries nearby, as he can not conquer them himself, and is afraid of the power generals would amass if they did so for him.
* The Instrumentality of Mankind in the eponymous series by [[Cordwainer Smith]]. However, the Instrumentality is very, very unusual.
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* In ''[[The Chathrand Voyages]]'', two of these form the center of the storyline; Arqual is fairly progressive and cosmopolitan, but also aggressively expansionistic, while its [[Arch Enemy]] the Mzithrin is an insular, theocratic regime. Neither empire is exactly what you'd call "nice"- we see more of Arqual's oppression of its subject peoples up close (because many of the main characters are Arquali or from Arquali-occupied territory), but the Mzithrin have the dubious distinction of producing the [[God-Emperor|Shaggat]] [[Complete Monster|Ness]].
* The Kingdom of Witchland and its many vasall states in E. R. Eddison's ''[[The Worm Ouroboros]]''.
* ''[[An
* [[David Eddings]] has played with the concept. The ''[[Belgariad]]'' and related works has the Tolnedran Empire, which is one in name only, in order to concrete its [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture|similarity to Rome]], and the Mallorean Empire, which in the first series is nothing more than a source for countless [[Mooks|cannon fodder]] and in the sequel is [[Expansion Pack World|expanded and explored in greater depth]], revealing a rich and diverse multiculture who almost universally serve the [[Big Bad]] only because they're forced to, and are freed from his grip by the end of the series without any major political upheavals. The ''Tamuli'', sequel to the unrelated ''[[Elenium]]'' series, similarly explores the Tamul Empire in a similar way.
* The Empire of Nilfgaard in [[The Witcher|the Witcher series]]. An expansive power ruled by an iron-fisted emperor which routinely uses terror tactics against the enemies' populace, it is also the place of flourishing economy where [[Trains Run On Time]], scheming wizards are rare, and there is less racial prejudice or religious fanaticism, though an occasional coup d'etat does happen.
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* Magravandias in [[Storm Constantine]]'s ''[[Chronicles of Magravandias]]''.
* Every major power is an Empire in [[Belisarius Series]]. The difference is not between Evil empire and good "something besides empire", it is between "that's just how humans arrange their affairs empire", and "Really evil empire".
* Fred Saberhagen's ''The Empire of the East'' is about the war between the [[La Résistance|Free Folk]] and the titular
* The Yeerk Empire in ''[[Animorphs]]'', complete with
* The Enterran Empire from [[The Diving Universe]]. The main character, Boss, keeps claiming that she doesn't have any particular desire to come into conflict with it; but the events of the novels cause her to keep butting heads with it again and again, and things seem to be inevitably marching towards all-out war.
* The Terran Empire in [[Technic History]] was very much an [[Anti-Hero]]ic empire. It was only founded in the first place because alien raids on Earth had gotten so pernicious that it was thought the only thing to do was to found a military regime and well, smash things. And even the first Emperor admitted to being mildly embarrassed about the whole idea. It was often corrupt, often incompetent, and sometimes devious or ruthless, but it also always had [[Even Evil Has Standards|something resembling a conscience]], had admirable servants, was [[Benevolent Alien Invasion|often a benefit to those it conquered]], and in any case was [[Lesser of Two Evils|better than any likely alternative.]]
* The Concord of the Loyal Houses (commonly just "the Concord") in M. K. Wren's ''The Phoenix Legacy'' is a [[Feudal Future|feudal technocracy]] with a population of 4.5 billion (the 21st century Decades of Disaster really cut humanity back) in the Sol and Alpha Centauri systems. Slightly more than 3.1 billion of the populace are "Bonds" — serfs/slaves. The capital, Concordia, used to be named [[Land Down Under|Melbourne]]. Some of the oligarchs, in particular the Chairman of the Directorate at the time of the story, are relatively nice people — still slaveowners, but working toward being more enlightened. A few of the others would fit right in alongside, for instance, [[Dune/Characters|Baron Vladimir Harkonnen]].
== Live Action TV ==
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** They're both bad enough that Crichton feels that destroying the ''entire universe'' is a better option than allowing either side to gain supremacy over the other.
* The Dalek and Sontaran empires in ''[[Doctor Who]]''. Subverted in the Classic Series with the Draconian Empire, which is more [[The Kingdom]] than anything else.
* The Federation in ''[[Blake's
* The Zangyack in ''[[Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger]]''.
* In ''[[Andromeda]]'', the [[Nietzsche Wannabe|Nietzschean]] plan during their rebellion against the [[The Federation|Systems Commonwealth]] was to form a strong Nietzschean Empire with the Drago-Kazov pride forming the ruling dynasty. However, during the last major battle of the war, the Battle of Witchhead, a large Nietzschean fleet (constituting 15% of their total strength at the start of the conflict) suffers heavy losses when they destroy the last [[Space Navy|High Guard]] ships ({{spoiler|with some help from Hunt}}). No longer having a strong position, the Drago-Kazov pride is unable to stay in charge, reducing the unified Nietzscheans into a bunch of squabbling prides who are more concerned with power than creating civilization. Cue 300 years of total chaos.
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** And Emperor Prosek's decision to consciously adopt Adolf Hitler as his role model ''really doesn't help''. Although Prosek is not nearly so racist or anti-magic as he pretends. He just finds it useful for keeping the public simultaneously scared and ready to fight at his command. Also, the simple act of him successfully declaring himself "emperor" the Coalition States is in line with this trope, as they were originally more democratic than they are under his rule. This is a major source of tension between Chi-Town and Free Quebec, and also causes concern on the part of the New German Republic.
* The Realm of ''[[Exalted]]'' is a classic example.
* The Imperium of Man and the Tau Empire in ''[[Warhammer
** The same with the Empire in the other ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]''
** The Imperium is notable for it's sheer scale, A million worlds and with a population in the ''quadrillions'', it fights thousands of wars at any given moment, its soldiers number in the trillions, and it has existed for ten thousand years. One man, even the greatest man, is nothing, even the death of millions matters little in the Imperium.
** They are also both interesting in that they see the other as the violent expansionist empire. Though the Tau are also [[The Federation]] made up of many different races including human turncoats while the Imperium wipes out all alien life they find.
** Various Chaos Warlords (both human and [[Deal with the Devil|not-quite-]][[Eldritch Abominations|humans-any-more]]) also sometimes manage to carve out they're own mini-empires, usually numbering a few dozen or hundred worlds. These are either eventually crushed by an Imperial Crusade or collapse into anarchy because, you know, [[
* The Third Imperium of Traveller is more like [[The Federation]] with hereditary nobles than an example of this.
** Though the first and second Imperiums may have been (and why the second one fell).
***More precisely, the second couldn't decide whether to be an empire or a federation and just imploded. The first was definitely an empire and made no bones about it(they were utterly vicious in war, and sometimes did not behave [[Understatement|in a very enlightened manner]] in peacetime). However they were not cartoonish like some Empires, and their rulers have style and a concept of grace and behave rather like Confucian nobility. Furthermore their empire really did have something to be said for it as it brought peace, prosperity, and if they could not ''invent'' technology were pretty good at ''maintaining'' it.
* [[Greyhawk]] has the Empire of Iuz, while the [[Forgotten Realms]] has Thay.
* In the [[Points of Light]] [[Dungeons
* Inverted in [[Anima: Beyond Fantasy]] with the Empire of Abel and the Azur Alliance -as well as before things got screwed up, when the Empire is described as a benevolent entity (at least for humans and not supernatural stuff)-.
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== Video Games ==
* The ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' series uses this trope on multiple occasions.
** ''[[
** ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'' has an empire called...well, "The Empire" (it was renamed "Gestahlian Empire" in the GBA release) as the main antagonist for most of the game. As if it weren't clear enough, the intro shows the emperor giving the Nazi salute to his subjects. {{spoiler|''They're'' not the dangerous ones.}}
** In ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'', Shinra fits the mold of
** In ''[[Final Fantasy IX]]'', Queen Brahne is in the process of creating one of these until {{spoiler|her death}}.
** ''[[Final Fantasy XI]]'' includes the Empire of Aht Urghan, which makes up the setting for it's named expansion. It rules over the Aradijah continent with an iron grip, and is in constant war with various Beastmen factions and the Far Eastern army. Bioweapons, chimeras, electric harnessing and Blue Mages are the result of Aht Urghan's technology. The best part is that the player character works as a mercenary/double agent for the big bad Empire for the entire plot.
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* While not always directly antagonistic, the Holy Lodis Empire is easily the largest military force in the ''[[Ogre Battle]]'' and ''[[Tactics Ogre]]'' games and makes its presence known similarly to the Harmonians listed above.
* Alfard from the ''[[Baten Kaitos]]'' video games is an interesting example in that there's no resistance against it. The reason: the empire works to instill extreme civic pride in all of its citizens, so that the idea of acting against it has all the attractiveness of stepping on one's own foot.
{{quote|
* The Combine of the ''Half-Life'' series are bent on inter-dimensional conquest. [[Blatant Lies|It's for our own good, though]]
* In ''[[Panzer Dragoon]]'', the Empire is portrayed this way, but slowly becomes more and more sympathetic as the series progresses.
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** One of three ways to win the game is to join the rebels and help take revenge by assassinating the leader of The Empire. Although this ''does'' spark a war for the second game, and, well, The Empire does have a ''few'' more legions of disposable soldiers than the rag-tag underground rebels do. (Good thing you find aliens to help you!) Seriously, this game is ''fun''.
*** Subverted starting in the third game when Avernum ends up helping the Empire out, which leads to the Reconciliation and the Empire and Avernum becoming allies. The fifth game even has you play as Empire soldiers.
*
* ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]'' series contains an unusual subversion, in that the Empire is generally treated as fairly benevolent. By [[The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim|Skyrim]], they've lost a lot of power and have become somewhat corrupt, but they are still more benevolent than most examples of this trope. The Aldmeri Dominion plays this trope straight.
* If it's a ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' game it has one of these. Generally the Empire has somehow fallen into the power of some [[Sealed Evil in a Can|dark evil God]]. ''[[Fire Emblem Tellius|Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance]]'''s Daein and its King Ashnard are the best fitting, the others are all 'correct' but with a few details of note.
** The sequel, ''[[Fire Emblem Tellius|Radiant Dawn]]'', gives this role to Begnion, which, unlike Daein, actually is an empire. The Dawn Brigade of Daein, the Greil Mercenaries of Crimea, and the empress of Begnion end up fighting against the corrupt senate of Begnion.
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** The UEF is the state formed by the Earth Empire's military (EarthCom) when the Empire collapsed. So yeah, it's essentially a military dictatorship.
** The Aeon would also count, since they happen to led by a warmongering commander who plans to usurp the princess, and their goal is to brainwash everyone into accepting [[Path of Inspiration|The Way]], and cleanse all nonbelievers.
* A few corrupt officials and officers aside, this is generally averted in ''[[Tales of Vesperia]]'', where
* ''[[World of Mana|Secret of Mana]]'' has an empire simply called
* The East European Imperial Alliance from ''[[Valkyria Chronicles]]'' is your standard Empire.
* ''[[Arc the Lad]]''
** The Dilzweld Empire. Their army seems
** The Romalian Empire were actually somewhat competent and are the cause of all the problems in the series. The Academy from ''Arc the Lad 3'' fit this trope too, albeit they are a collection of scientists and scholars.. with platoons of soldiers with heavy machine guns and plans to rule the world.
*** Romalia is a subversion: it started as a ''commercial'' empire, because a Romalian merchant was the first to discover spirit stones and to use them as an energy source: When Arc the Lad start, Romalia has been the world first super-power for already 1000 years, thanks to its control of the energy supplies, and things started to go really bad only one generation ago.
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* [[Overlord]] II has the Glorious Empire, a copy-paste of the Roman Empire, seeking to eradicate all magic in the world. {{spoiler|By "eradicate", The Emperor means gather it all in one spot then use it to become a god and reshape the world. Standard stuff.}}
* Played straight in ''[[Breath of Fire]]'' and ''extremely'' to trope in ''[[Breath of Fire]] IV''.
** How much to trope? This much:
* [[Soul Nomad and The World Eaters|All hail the BFF Empire!]]
* Averted in the ''[[Disciples]]'' series. The Empire, the human force and the local [[Jack of All Stats]] race, are more often than not generally the good guys, though there were some corrupted nobles that gained a lot of power during the time skip between the Original game and the Sequel, because the Emperor did mostly nothing for the entire decade. Once they got a new King, they cleaned up their act considerably. And then the Elves invaded them for [[Designated Antagonist|poorly explained reasons]].
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* The Confederation in ''[[Escape Velocity]]''.
** The Voinian Empire in ''[[Escape Velocity]] Override''.
** The Auroran Empire of ''[[Escape Velocity]] Nova'' is mostly [[The Alliance]] merged with [[Proud Warrior Race]], but they do have their
* The Terran Dominion in ''[[
** The UED later in Brood Wars.
** The Terran Confederacy was this in all but name, as well as lacking a single ruler. Their most famous acts are nuking a planet for some of the citizens speaking out against them and sending assassins to decapitate a family. No wonder many humans actually welcomed Mengsk's new government.
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* [[Eien no Aselia]] has the Sargios empire, the strongest nation on the continent. The people are actually perfectly content since they don't have to do any of the fighting and are benefited by the imperialistic nature of the empire.
* The Junaris Empire of [[Vanguard Bandits]]. The largest nation on the continent, they came into power by rebelling against the [[The Kingdom|Pharastia Kingdom]] and continue to war with them to the current day. They're the most consistent enemy on every path in the game.
* The Empire of the Rising Sun in [[Command
** Interestingly, if you win the game as the Empire, Emperor Yoshiro grants you the rank of shogun. Historically, the shogunate usually held all the power in Japan, while the Emperor was merely a figurehead.
* The Terran Empire in ''[[Ground Control]] II'', originally the Draconis Empire, who renamed themselves after conquering Earth. They then spend centuries solidifying their hold on the Inner Sphere colonies and building up their military. They then strike out at the [[The Alliance|Northern Star Alliance]], crushing all resistance mercilessly. The leader of the Terran fleet is Imperator Vlaana Azleea, AKA the Butcher of Ariel, charged by [[The Emperor]] to bring all the colonies under Imperial control, even if it means bombing them into nothingness. The Empire is partly modeled after the Roman Empire, including the ranks (imperator, centurion) and the fact that their foot soldiers are called legionnaires.
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* In ''[[Nip and Tuck]]'' [[Show Within the Show]] ''Rebel Cry'', the Federation is an Empire.
* ''[[Last Res0rt]]'' has the People's Republic of Celigo, which is allied with the [[Church of Happyology|Star Org]] (and it's up for debate which half is really in control).
* ''[[Homestuck]]'': It's never seen in action being that the main characters are all teenagers, but the Alternian Empire from which the [[
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* The Irken Empire on ''[[Invader Zim]]''.
* ''[[Thundercats]]'' and ''[[Thundercats 2011|ThunderCats (2011)]]'' reveals that the [[Catfolk|Cats]]' civilization, though initially presented as [[The Kingdom]], has become this, through a belief that [[Cats Are Superior]], and serious cases of [[Future Imperfect]] and [[Written by the Winners]]. Though not straight-up evil, it's clear that [[Proud Warrior Race|militarism]], [[Animal Jingoism]], [[Fantastic Racism]] and a [[Fantastic Caste System]] are all a part of everyday life. So while it's a nuanced take on the trope, one can easily have mixed feelings when the [[Lizard Folk|Lizards]] and [[Big Bad]] Mumm-Ra destroy it.
* The Galactic Federation in ''[[Rick and Morty]]''. Despite its name suggesting the more benevolent Trope, it clearly fits this one, having the goals of [[Vichy Earth]] aliens and a clear [[Putting on the Reich]] theme. Although, many of its leaders ''are'' the [[Affably Evil]] types.
== [[Real Life]] ==
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* The Persian Empire. From [[Ancient Greece|the Greeks']] viewpoint, anyway (Cyrus the Great's empire [[Subverted Trope|actually has a pretty good bill for human rights]]).
** Still an empire by any reasonable definition of the term
***To be fair, in the context of their time-and indeed in most times-the idea of a natural right to autonomy was rather rare. Being an Empire was kind of a synonym for [[Asskicking Equals Authority|"we won".]]
* The Macedonian Empire that [[Alexander the Great]] created out of his conquest of Greece and the entire Persian Empire.
* Although not the first one by any stretch of the imagination, the original [[Trope Namer]] (and, in the Western tradition at least, the [[Trope Codifier]]) is the Roman Empire.<ref>''Imperium'', from which the term "empire" is derived, originally referred simply to quasi-military authority, particularly over matters of life and death, and an ''imperator'' was simply a high-ranking and particularly honored commander, usually of praetorian or consular rank. Some terms in other languages, such as the German "Kaiserreich/Kaiser" and the Russian "Tsarstvo/Tsar" are derived from [[Gaius Julius Caesar|Caesar]]'s name.</ref>
* China, on and off until Revolution of 1911/12 and the establishment of the First Republic of China. Arguably 1949 as well, when the Communists won the Civil War and declared the Peoples' Republic of China. The PRC took advantage of the political climate to take control of Tibet and Xinjiang, which had (de-facto) seceded from the China during the 1911 Revolution without joining the Republic. Until the '60s Taiwan ("The Republic of China") still hoped that in the event of Civil War between elements of the PRC or the outbreak of World War 3 they would be able to [[Vestigial Empire|retake areas of the mainland]] from (what they saw as) a bunch of illegitimate commie rebels. At its height in the Tang Dynasty (which came during the European 'Dark Ages', characterised by their lack of documentation) the Empire's influence extended as far as the caliphate, and such was the veneration of the Emperor that the ''[[Baten Kaitos]]'' example about dissing the Empire having "all the attractiveness of stepping on one's own foot" is not so far off. Though there were always people poised to dethrone an Emperor who looked to have lost the favour of heaven - i.e. he was mad and/or incompetent.
** The later Han Dynasty and Rome were aware of each other and in fact had embassies in each other's empires. The Han were the first to disintegrate, becoming three separate kingdoms after the Battle of Red Cliffs in 208 AD - there are two major factors in the grand narrative of Chinese History: conquering foreigners and centralising state control and power. As a dynasty is established, both of these things work in their favour but after a time the trends reverse and the Empire invariably self-destructs and/or is conquered by foreigners (from the steppes). Europe only experienced one full cycle of this kind of Imperial Confederation, however.
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* [[Nazi Germany]], as well as the many territories it conquered and subjugated. In its heyday it encompassed an area stretching from the Atlantic Ocean all the way to the Caucasus mountains, and from the Polar circle to the North African desert - not counting the enormous colonial empire under [[Les Collaborateurs|Vichy French]] control.
** Elements of the Nazi leadership (including [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] himself, notably) envisioned the creation of a Greater Germanic Reich of the German Nation (''Großgermanisches Reich Deutscher Nation''), which would consist of Greater Germany (Germany plus Austria and Czechia), the Netherlands, Flemish-speaking Belgium and France, the Channel Islands, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the Aaland Islands, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, German-speaking Switzerland, even more of France, part of Yugoslavia, and eventually ''even parts of [[Fascist Italy|Italy]]'', together with all the territory conquered in the east (Poland, the Baltic states, Belarus, Ukraine, Moscovia, etc). Had they succeeded, it would have been one of the largest contiguous empires in history - and the most brutal.
***Probably though likely it would not have kept it up. If history is to go by, [[Nazi Germany]] would have deteriorated(if that is the word), until after a couple of generations it was nothing worse then the fammiliar tangle of [[Casablanca|Captain Renault]] style [[Corrupt Bureaucrat|corrupt bureaucrats.]] It was already heading that way anyway even though the corrupt bureaucrats were generally willing to carry out instructions. It would have been a really nasty couple of generations before the old guard died of course in any event. Still, being [[Sarcasm Mode|properly]] evil takes a lot of work.
* Japan still has an Emperor and fit many of the tropes up until the end of [[World War II]]. By mid-1942 they had acquired [[Imperial Japan|one of the largest empires in human history]], radiating out from the Japanese Home Islands in virtually every direction. Although claiming to be "[[Blatant Lies|liberating]]" the rest of Asia from European and American colonial rule, their actual intent was to just control it themselves. Nowadays, it's a constitutional monarchy not unlike the United Kingdom and an empire [[In Name Only]].
* Till the middle of the 20th century, Empires were actually considered the ideal form of government, kinda like Democracies today. The failure and collapse of all the old colonial empires and the new ideas propagated by both the USA and USSR saw perceptions change.
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