The Harmony has, as one facet, something of a lower tech echo of Somtow's great Inquest. The Ancient Inquestors, whose civilization Passed on to the Beyond a scare dozen millennia before this Empire arose were among the most powerful of Ancients in the known multiverse.
The obsession with Utopia hunting has revived; it is the Third Necessity, a main factor making the existence of our Empire, Champion of the Harmony, a necessity. (SEE: The Organic Credo)
The civilization of the Ancient Inquestors seems to have "Gone Beyond" only a dozen millennia before the Empire awoke to the necessity of bringing all organic life into harmony. The extreme decadence of Ancient Inquestor remains is a bit of a distortion; the artifacts from the end of their civilization's inhabitation of mundane universes reflects the seeming-madness just preceding their Passing on to the incomprehensible Beyond.
The Inquestor civilization did not, in all probability, last as many millenia as has The Harmony has before those Ancients Passed. Researchers believe that the Ancient Inquestors, the very civilization known for having extinguished worlds for the heresy of Utopia, was also the most prolific in launching Seeder ships to bring life to new worlds.
That the Inquestors developed AI and loosed these synthetics upon the multiverse shows that they were not enlightened as to the basic, inherent obligation of civilization to accompany the spread organic life throughout the multiverse with the supression of synthetic life; the Ancient Inquestors did not know the Great War. These Ancients may, in fact, have been given the Trojan Horse of H level technology in a plot by some devious synthetic intelligence.
It is a blessed miracle that so few of the Ancients' AI machines (such as their automated seeder ships) have not turned against us.
SEE: The Ancients for more details.
The Empire uses recovered artifacts of the ancient, incredibly powerful, and (supposedly) long gone original Inquest (and other Ancients.) These artifacts, or their cannibalized parts, are even in their decaying state tools far more powerful than the porducts of any contemporary technology. The technology level of the Ancients' Inquestors was far above any now under development, although some other Ancients may have surpasses it before "moving on."
(All civilizations which reach tech level H or beyond go mad and move on; it is inherent in the comprehension of the working of such trans-mundane physics.)
It is sometimes said the H stands for "Ha ha ha hahaha!" Level I stands for Inherently Imperial; possession of a tech level I artifact without special leave by a member of the Imperial Family is treason. Imperial scientists and engineers of level H and I are kept secured, as they are inherently insane. They actually work less on trying to comprehend the Ancients' artifacts than simply trying to figure out how to use them, or their cannibalized parts. Most Level I artifacts are used as "black boxes," without any dangerous prying.
It is likely a good thing that we have discovered precious few of the Ancients' personal weapons, and fewer still major armaments. What we have are their every-day gadgets and toys. That we have adapted so many of these to military use says more about our civilization than it does about them.
Today, the Inquest continues.
The heresy of Utopia is in its stagnation. Utopia assumes itself a pinnacle, and so combines audacity and sloth. Worse, stagnation costs us our greatest treasures, drive and creativity, and so renders us vulnerable to The Enemy, the synthetics menaces that seek to extinguish all organic life.
Thus, Utopia is treason.
This was realized by more than one of the Empires which, as they fought The Great War, were enlightened as to teh necessity of The Harmony and so came in to concert and accord. Thus, the name "Imperial Inquest" pre-dates consecration of The Harmony. The term "Imperial" is retained for historical and euphonic reasons.
Suspect worlds are examined by the Inquestors. If found to be in danger of the heresy of Utopia, they are "redirected," immediately and thoroughly.
To give warning might cause and exodus, leading to the contamination of other worlds. Because of this, Inquestors often travel incognito. They are actually more likely to travel openly when not Inspecting.
(SEE Angels of War)
Modern Inquestors have a claim to first pick of artifacts from finds of Ancient Inquestors' remains.