This is the tenth in a series of articles covering the in-world history of the Astral Web. I originally wrote the history as 15 or so eras of history. Rather than make one long post, each era is getting its own post.
As I’ve posted these, some of the eras have been combined. Instead of 15 eras, there are now ten. And this is the tenth. That’s right… this is the last entry!
The Story so Far
The First Step: Mankind had terraformed Mars, and established settlements there.
The Departure: Mankind decided to send a million settlers to establish life around distant suns.
Left at Albuquerque: The fleet leaves Earth and is scattered far and wide by some unknown event.
The Awakening (Years 1 – 167): 20,000 humans settle on the planet Dearborn.
Expansion & Empire (Years 168 – 431): Scientists on Dearborn developed the first working Nexus drive. Dearborn makes contact with the other settlers spread out over 74 other planets. The Empire is formed, the pirates rise, and the Interstellar Sentinels are formed.
The Great Revolution (Years 432 – 478) The Duke of Schellenberg leads an accidental but successful rebellion against the Dearborn Empire. The Empire is split and the Schellenberg Republic is formed.
The Two Nations (Years 478 – 608): A period of cold war.
The Fall of Dearborn & The Interstellar League (Years 608 – 852) The cold war leads to the collapse of the Dearborn Empire.
Milthrani Invasion (Years 852 – 905): The galaxy is invaded by an alien race.
The Phoenix Offensive (905 – 909)
While the Milthrani invasion was an assault of all of humanity, simple geography meant the it was the Schellenberg Republic that suffered. In 905, President Slater saw a way out. Through a diplomatic outreach, she had arranged a formal peace treaty with the Milthrani, though the price would be high. In addition to the planets that the Milthrani already held, the Republic would also have to surrender Engla Waldend. This would give the Milthrani access to the worlds of the Interstellar League. In return, the Milthrani promised that it would leave Schellenberg alone.
Admiral Kleiber was the commander of the Republic’s fleet at Engla Waldend. He was outranged when he received the order to move his entire fleet from Engla Waldend to Triesen. The retreat was to take effect immediately—he wouldn’t even have time to organize an evacuation of the planet’s civilian population. He felt that he had been ordered to betray the very people he had dedicated his life to protecting. Worse yet, he was being forced to forsake his race to the sadistic Milthrani.
Feeling like he had no other alternative, Kleiber disobeyed his orders. Not only did he not retreat to Triesen, he mobilized his fleet and launched a surprise attack on the Milthrani fleet amassing at Falster. The assault was an overwhelming success. Kleiber suffered no losses, yet had completely eliminated the Milthrani’s Falster fleet.
Having committed to the offensive, Kleiber had little alternative but to continue the assault northward. One by one each planet in the Phoenix constellation was liberated by Kleiber’s fleet. In less than nine months, Kleiber had completely driven the Milthrani threat from Phoenix Constellation.
President Slater tried to spin Kleiber’s success as her plan, but Kleiber refused to play along. In an act of open rebellion, the Admiral declared the President a traitorous outlaw and ordered her arrest. In term, Slater declared Kleiber’s actions illegal and ordered his arrest. A nation born of rebellion, the Schellenberg Republic now faced a rebellion of its own.
Early in the three year war, the IL announced that it recognized the Phoenix Empire as a lawful nation. The Phoenix Empire joined the League immediately, which, in turn, lead non-military aide to their struggle and a trade embargo on the Schellenberg Republic1.
Retrospective
This is the end of the history. In my mind, play starts about 35 years from where this leaves off.
At the end of this era, the world looks like this:
- The Phoenix Empire (13 worlds)
- The Schellenberg Republic (23 worlds)
- The Dearborn Confederation (22 worlds)
- About 20 independent worlds
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Many in the Schellenberg Republic felt that the Phoenix situation demonstrated that the Republic’s refusal to join the L was Phoenix’s key to victory. In order to smooth intergalactic relations and gain a say in League policy, the Republic Joined the League in 911.↩
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