User blog comment:GrandMethuselah67/Neutral 'verse Character Sheet: Emperor Bradley Hargrave/@comment-4867780-20160902035840/@comment-26322734-20160902181108

When Bradley first took control of the Empire, the people were largely aware of his existence because he'd taken over the world. However, as the generations went by, Bradley took steps to completely erase himself from the public eye. He did this because he realized the most effective totalitarian superpower is one people aren't even aware of (the whole concept of controlling people without them even knowing it). Those who do know about him (which ultimately consists of those within his office) do worship him as a god, a title he only really accepts to have a greater degree of control over his underlings.

He'd managed to erase himself from the public eye with mass mind control. The magi-nanites within citizens actually syncs them with the Hargrave Matrix, making them something of a hive mind, except a more subtle version -- instead of everyone being aware of everyone's thoughts and thinking the same, Bradley has absolute psionic control over the inhabitants of his empire, and can shift what they think, believe, and know with a thought. This is actually how he managed to make the public totally dependent on media, through a mix of manipulations of entertainment media and subliminal messaging throughout random points in the day, ultimately creating "media zombies".

That isn't to say that they're not aware of the government, though. The Imperium regularly provides things like wish machines and free self-modification stations, so I'd say the people think their society is closer to the U.R.H/D.I.N, with an omnipresent and benevolent A.I. providing for them unconditionally.

And yep! In order to create his Trotskyist Utopia, he had to effectively destablize the world and start from square one. Effectively devolve the world into total anarchy to create his ultra-secretive totalitarian government that he'd use to rule the planet.