Office of Charters

The King of the Etolarian Empire lays claim to any and all land conquered or claimed in its name. It allows farmers and tradesmen to ply their skills and pay taxes in order to use the kings land.
The empire recognizes that all people desire autonomy and sells "autonomy" in the from of yearly-renewable "charters" (or subscriptions). The charters are costly, but a successful community can usually afford some level of charter and the autonomy makes them more efficient (they can own land, self-govern, pass laws, negotiate, etc.). As such, the King is able to collect more revenue than it would otherwise be able to.
There are various levels of charters that can scale to villages, towns, countries and planetary bodies. The empire has a department charged with selling, reselling and upgrading charters and secondary responsibility to foster success among chartered communities.
A large staff of personnel headed by Victor Hamaday operates the Office of Charters. The office has on occasion enlisted PCs to assist communities dealing with challenges normal resources are unable to deal with.