During the dark years that followed the final collapse of the first Interstellar Council, the Forerunners of Home, as has been mentioned above, strove to redevelop the FTL technology that they had lost. By the second Cbluvo of the Seventh Cycle, they had begun, once again - to expand. Unlike the republican form of government they had spread throughout Consular space during that period, the new wave of Forerunner expansion was based on an Imperial ideal.

The system was set up so that the Emperor (or "Ruler of the Night Skies", to give the literal translation of the term used to refer to him) was in absolute control - having the power to appoint and dismiss at will subordinate "Princes" (or "Ruler of the Red/Orange/Yellow/Green/Blue/Indigo/Violet Stars" to use the exact transliterations) who could directly govern entire Sectors, and further delegate the responsibility for governing Subsectors to "Dukes" (or "Rulers of the Day Stars" to use exact transliteration). In turn these "Dukes" delegated power to "Counts" ("Commanders of the Day Stars") who ruled Provinces; they in turn parcelled out the oversight of the individual planetary governments to "Barons" ("The Watchers").

This system is, in fact, the classical centralised Imperial of the Late Roman Empire (Terra), The Mekpurr Overlordships (Classical period) and the semi-legendary Starkaad Imperium. Obviously, such a system has many advantages - especially when allied to an advanced technology, such as the "Empire of the Night's Skies" was rediscovering.

However, in its attempts to recivilise the old Consilium, and raise it back to the heights of Consular cultural and technological glory, the Forerunners of "Home" brooked no opposition - and scores of vicious wars were fought between the Empire and its enemies (i.e. any Planet or grouping of Planets that did not immediately submit to Imperial overlordship). This is not to say that the Empire was despotic in the internal affairs of individuals planets - it was generally quite mild, as long as local affairs did not endanger or threaten Imperial prerogatives - but it reserved the absolute right of to control and regulate all Interstellar political and commercial activity for itself. Even so, many planets were less than impressed by its claims, and the several thousand year history of the reconquista period is blotted by hundreds of rebellions against Imperial authority, often suppressed quite bloodily.

However, by the middle of the thirteen Cbluvoe of the eight Cycle, the work of re-establishing a unitary Interstellar political entity within the rough borders of the old Consilium has been achieved.

One should not make the mistake of regarding the necessarily bloody methods used in this reconquista period as being exemplary of the general ordering of the Empire in those regions that accepted her rule peacefully from the start, or who eventually came to terms with their conquest. Within the inner Sectors and Subsectors of the Imperium, the level of prosperity and material culture rose rapidly to the Heights the old Consilium had reached, and even began to surpass it in some areas.