Setting Quirks

Aliens
Extremely limited contact has been made with Aslan colonies to trailing.  Aslan within human space number no more than a dozen and, as such, attract considerable attention.  Non-intelligent alien plant and animal species exist on some planets.

Augments
Augments are generally accepted in the Free Republic, Halowon Empire, and on Chelou, Kieran, and Ozawa.  They are viewed with disdain in Svetlana, Antioch, and many parts of Trinity.  They are outright prohibited on Vauclain, Titania, Wellesley, and some states on Perseus.

Extraterritoriality
Extraterritoriality zones do not extend past the physical boundaries of the ship itself.  Numerous treaties and accepted legal practice hold that a ship is the sovereign territory of the registering state.  Likewise, no state in the Halowon subsector has willingly ceded legal authority on its sovereign territory.

Grav Technology
Gravitic technology in the Halowon colonies lags the rest of known space.  Thus, gravitic items and drives are generally not available until 1-2 tech levels above those listed in various rulebooks.

Low Berths
In his landmark 5673 book Seeds of Death, Alsace historian Herbert Dirkenson argued convincingly that low berths contributed to the rapid spread of plague through the cluster.  That, combined with technological regression which made aging low berth units unsafe, has contributed towards prejudice against low berths in general.  Very few polities use them and travel by low berth is extremely uncommon.  Prejudice towards emergency low berths is not as great, but most cluster residents would see entering an emergency low berth as an absolute last resort.

Technology
Technology has regressed over the past century, though the sector is entering somewhat of a technological renaissance.  Artifacts of higher technology from the pre-plague era still exist, though in many cases their functioning is limited.  Attitudes towards technology vary.  Most people in Halowon and FRE areas consider technology advantageous.  Svetlanan cultural mores place a greater emphasis on tradition and craftsmanship.  Luddite sentiment is strong on Vauclain, Wellesley, parts of Perseus, and in minor pockets on nearly every planet.  Centurist cults and activists are widespread and are responsible for recurring terrorist attacks in the subsector.

Transponders
No subsector-wide technical standard for transponders exist nor does an interstellar body of law governing their use.  Thus, ships may choose whether or not to have their transponders active and what data they are sending.  The frequencies on which transponder data is transmitted vary from system to system as does possible enforcement.  Espiaux approach, for example, reacts harshly to inbound vessels not transmitting whereas in some of the less patrolled parts of the subsector ships regularly remain silent.  In any case, a given transponder ping should not be considered authoritative regarding a ship’s actual identity.

Astrography of the Halowon Sector



Gateway - The route through which the original colony ships entered the sector, Gateway itself is a sparse region of space with few attractive worlds.  Most human habitation in Gateway was in the form of outposts and fueling bases to support the colony ships.  No human settlement in the subsector is thought to have survived the Plague.

Termet - Surveyed during the time of the original colonies, the Termet subsector was also found to be lacking and was never developed.

Tahahorol - The heart of Aslan settlements in the sector.  The size, strength, technology level and intentions of the Aslan are not generally known and fear of Aslan is common, especially on worlds in the trailing part of human space.

Starearuiwuikhoah - Also known to contain Aslan worlds.

Espiaux - Home to the worlds of the Free Republic of Espiaux.  Further detailed elsewhere.

Halowon - The heart of human settlement in the sector.  Further detailed elsewhere.

Grant - Although unsettled by humans (though some Aslan presence is thought to exist in the subsector), the planet Grant (1715) has been surveyed and the subsector is sometimes called Grant by extension.

Subsector H - A rift-like area of space, this unnamed subsector only contains a handful of stars.

Subsector I - The FRE may have explored this uninhabited subsector, but has not publicized the results.

Jakhontsk - The Principality is known to have established at least one small outpost in this area and has declared the name Jakhontsk for the subsector.  Other powers are deliberating whether or not to recognize the name.

Omicron Orionis - An exception to the convention that subsectors are not named until settled, the bright blue giant star Omicron Orionis is visible throughout the sector and beyond, giving this unexplored subsector its appellation.

Subsectors L,M,N,O,P - These subsectors remain unexplored.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:47, Sun 09 Jan 2011.

The following polities comprise human space:

The Free Republic of Espiaux – Comprising Espiaux, Alsace, Savigny, and minor colonies and outposts on St. Croix, Rabaul, and Marsoui, the Free Republic is the most technologically advanced polity in the sector.  A parliamentary democracy devoted to the welfare of its citizens, the Free Republic’s economy is growing at a modest, but steady rate.  Parliament is overwhelmingly dominated by the progressive planet Alsace and the xenophobic world Espiaux.  The twin threads of optimism and worry are recurring themes in FRE diplomatic and defense policy.  The currency is the FRE Credit.

The Halowon Empire – The largest polity, in terms of number of planets and systems, in the sector, the Empire is also the most aggressive.  Unlike other polities, the Empire claims a buffer zone around its holdings and is actively seeking to expand.  The empire actively seeks to expand its influence in other parts of the sector, leading the FRE to oppose such expansion as a measure of necessity.  Imperial forces fought a brief war against the FRE in 5728-9 and tensions continue.  The Empire’s economy is growing strongly, as an enormous amount of resources have been channeled into economic development.  Research has suffered, though.  The currency is the Imperial Credit.

The Principality of Svetlana – The largest political unit in terms of population, the Principality is held back by underdeveloped infrastructure and a conservative ruling class.  Nevertheless, Svetlana has made modest efforts to explore and colonize rimward.  Politically, Svetlana often finds itself in an uncomfortable balancing role between Halowon and the FRE.  Domestically, the Principality is a constitutional monarchy.  Svetlana’s unit of currency is the Kleb.

The Krim Confederation – The most developed state to trailing, the Confederation is a loose collection of participatory democracies.  As the populace of Chelou, Kieran, and Anapa, the three member planets of the Confederation, find governance a burden, Confederation policy tends to be minimalist and somewhat schizophrenic, depending on current trends.  The currency unit is the Liberty.

The Republic of Antioch – Only a few years removed from revolution and civil war, Antioch society has been scarred by a decade of bitter violence.  Currently ruled by popular, but strict General Cassius Ulrich, the planet is hovering between recovery and further conflict.  Despite having liquidated the nobility, Antioch’s currency is still the Crown.

The Trinity system – As the name suggests, Trinity is a trinary system.  The system contains nine inhabited worlds, the most of any system in the sector.  No system-wide government exists.  Major worlds include: Titania – a repressive police state, Callisto – a protectionist bureaucracy, and Oberon – a corporatist jungle.  Prothero, Janus, and the warring states of Caliban also exert varying degrees of influence in the system.  Low-level interstate violence is a near constant backdrop.  Various states in the Trinity system account for the bulk of sector arms purchases in the sector.  Halowon and Svetlana are the major suppliers.  Each planet issues its own currency, but corporate letters of credit and precious metals are common forms of tender for interstellar trade.

Others – Several other independent entities dot the sector’s demographic landscape: the neo-luddite society on Vauclain, Ozawa’a corporate headquarters, the city states of Perseus, the Lord of Santander’s diminutive, piratical domain, and isolated groups of refugees, squatters, prospectors, and would-be colonists.  With the exception of Perseus and Vauclain, none of the other groups number more than a few thousand souls.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:21, Sat 01 Jan 2011.

Major events of the last ten years:

5731
035 Ozawa Lines jumpship Titan departs Vauclain, carrying HIS Cataphract, the last Halowon Empire ship to be removed from the Battle of Vauclain in 5729.
132 Strict protectionist regulations on patents on Callisto strangle technological progress on that world.
310 Troy’s Rock exceeds one thousand personnel.
333 The FRN commissions the first of a new class of courier, FRS Crocus.
346 Santander is diplomatically recognized by the Principality of Svetlana.  Svetlana becomes the first interstellar power to enter sovereign diplomatic relations with the tiny state.  The act, although widely decried, adds an element of legitimacy to Dominitrix Michela Marko’s rule.

5732
022 Nightshade Inc. vessel Nightmare is declared overdue on a run from Perseus.  She is declared missing six months later.
045 FRS Greatsword misjumps from St. Croix to Tahahorol (Halowon 2110).
062 In general elections on Espiaux, Liberty’s fortunes rebound, collecting 42% of the popular vote.  The other parties do slightly worse: FSP 41%, Alliance 12%, and young IRP barely manages to muster the minimum 5% in their second general election.  Alliance overplays her hand, resulting in Liberty and FSP forming a ‘Grand Coalition’.
149 In the wake of an industrial pollution scandal, the Crown Prince of Svetlana promises the people government action to clean up the mess.  The resulting bill totals nearly a half a billion credits.
192 While on a state visit to Titania, King Ignatius I of Antioch suffers some sort of seizure.  He is rushed to a Titania state hospital where he may be misdiagnosed and given the wrong treatment.  Wrong treatment or not, within a few days he is dead.
202 FRS Greatsword arrives insystem Espiaux to great fanfare.  Analysis of FRS Greatsword’s experience in Aslan space leads is classified.  A xeno-strategic panel recommends a multi-ship expedition within five years to investigate and report.
249 A private group called the Committee for the Reclaimation of Nestor, heavily backed by, and loyal to, the Halowon government, re-establishes an outpost on Nestor.
275 ROS Bolivar fails to arrive from Wellesly.  She is later declared lost.
281 Prospectors from Svetlana establish a small base on Nikolishin.
330 Svetlana establishes a refueling outpost on Redstone.
365 Somerset is reclassified tech level seven.

5733
032 Following a private meeting with Field Marshal Jarrett on Halowon, Vice Commander of the Imperial Navy, Admiral Velazquez, announces her retirement.  Her deputy, Vice Admiral Leland, who performed well in the Vauclain war, is promoted to her position.
084 Following the official pronouncement of Somerset’s advance to tech level seven, Field Marshal Jarrett retires, abdicating the throne in favor of his daughter Gabriella.
086 Gabriella Jarrett is crowned Empress Gabriella the First at her coronation on Halowon.
175 General Count Cassius Ulrich issues an edict as Royal Regent to the Court of Antioch.  The edict significantly curbs the political power of Antioch’s nobles.  Rebellion begins almost immediately.
211 Ozawa's population exceeds ten thousand.
268 At the advanced age of 97, Morgan Ozawa dies on Espiaux.  His death leaves a vacuum in Ozawa Transport’s strategic vision.  Although mourned, he lived to see his dream of the founding of Ozawa as an independent, functioning colony.
313 Prime Councilor Kyela Wengis of Vauclain dies.  With the last voice of restraint silenced, the rest of Vauclain’s Council turn Vauclain into an armed camp.
365 Alsace is reclassified tech level ten.

5734
001 Civil war rages on Antioch as Genral Ulrich attempts to force the nobles to his will.
164 Star Concepts Unlimited trader Komet Northern is reported six weeks overdue to Alsace from Troy’s Rock.  It is later speculated she has turned the pirate under the name Overdue Revenge.
255 With the connivance of two ship’s captains, Dana Ataa leads an uprising against Michala Marko on Santander.  In extremely bloody fighting, Michela Marko is killed.
311 Nikolishin exceeds one hundred inhabitants.  Nikolishin harbor reclassified `D’ starport.
315 A new type of starship, the boat tender, is commissioned in Svetlana.  Named SRNS Tarantul, she is capable of carrying a division of four 400ton Pauk Class SDBs on two consecutive jump ones.  Her ability to deliver four powerful SDBs to the battlefield attracts the attention (and, for some, alarm) of naval personnel throughout the subsector.
329 After almost a century of faithful service, FRPS Pina is decommissioned and turned into a museum piece on Alsace.  Her replacement, FRPS Sonne is commissioned a month later.

5735
001 Corvette Captain Zoe Puzegi retires from the Free Republic Navy at age thirty eight.  After twenty years of exemplary service, including heroism while assigned to FRS Flamberge during the First Battle of Fortin, she decides to enter politics and will be Liberty’s candidate for Chancellor in 5737.  She is an exemplary leader, committed to technology, industrialization, and colonization.
125 Halowon Lines Free Trader fails to arrive on a jump from Somerset to Tupolev.
278 SRNS Terjets destroys two alleged pirate vessels in the Santander system.
361 An era ends with the decommissioning of FRPS Jeleis, the last pre-Plague ship in active service with Espiaux.  She joins the starfaring museum on Alsace.
365 Halowon Highport Yard expands to one thousand tons per year construction capacity.  Halowon immediately lays down a new class of armored frigate.

5736
125 Cassius Ulrich finally succeeds in defeating the nobles on Antioch.  They are executed, their families imprisoned, and their estates burned.  General Ulrich installs himself as dictator.
154 Dr. Bennett Dykuis takes control of Chelou’s technological research programs, displaying an uncanny ability to fund research which produces results.
178 After an unusually brief rule, Gabriella Jarrett abdicates in favor of her second daughter Gina on Halowon.  Gina proves to be a spectacular ruler.  Although initially politically naïve, she is brilliant, charming, and learns quickly.
258 SRNS Tarantul enters Olga yard for repairs to stress cracks found in her structure.
314 Svetlana Royal Naval vessels begin exploration of the Jakhontsk (subsector J - immediately rimward of Halowon) subsector.
320 Independent Fat Trader Marcello is declared lost from Callisto.
350 Kalvin Ajun, Captain of Overdue Revenge, seizes power in a coup on Santander.  He has the captains of Nighthawk and Nightshade assasinated and declares himself Lord of Santander.  Nightshade Inc’s power over the planet is broken and the company is dissolved.
358 SRNS Loshad, first of a new class of colony riders, commissions over Svetlana.
365 Espiaux completes expansion of Espiaux Highport Yard to retain its industrial edge over Halowon.

5737
079 In general elections in the Free Republic of Espiaux, Zoe Puzegi, Liberty’s candidate, is elected Chancellor.  Her diplomacy and leadership are directly responsible for winning Alliance over into coalition with Liberty rather than the FSP.
085 Jarrett Belt reaches one thousand total population.
107 A horrific earthquake and subsequent tsunami shake Svetlana.  By the time the catastrophe is over, one hundred thousand people are dead.
254 HIS Redoubt, the most powerful military starship built in Halowon sector since the Plague, is commissioned over Halowon.  Although undergunned and slow, she is heavily armored and represents a leap forward in Halowon's naval architecture.
357 Corvus Corporation begins overhauling starships at Corvus Corporate Downport on Oberon.  The starport is officially reclassified by Gateway to Class `B’, though the port still lacks any construction facilities.

5738
071 Nine ships, FRPS Pioneer, FRPS Pathfinder, FRPS Sonne, FRPS Gautheaux, FRS Glaive, FRS Peregrine, FRS Nighthawk, FRS Lilac and FRS Flamepetal depart Espiaux for Aslan space. Senior Captain Yvette Pascal (formerly of FRS Greatsword) is selected to command the mission.
168 The first of a new type of fighter, designated Project 806, roll of the assembly lines on Svetlana.  Initially assigned to a temporary Test and Development Squadron, the prototype fighters perform impressively on trials and quickly become popular with their pilots.
184 Halowon Lines Scout Rephem is declared overdue from Dekker.
197 Revolution begins on Vauclain when disaffected citizens storm the headquarters of the Council for Technological Control in New Obrok.  Finding many illegal, higher technology luxury items and medical treatment items throws the mob, whose members have little to look forward to other than work and an early death, into a rage.
198 The leaders of the previous days riot are arrested and taken to the basement of the Ministry of Public Health.  The next the Vauclain Vanguard the planet’s only newspaper and official mouthpiece of the Commune Council prints a virulent attack on the ringleaders of the riot and promises they will be tried and speedily executed.  Calling the revolutionaries perverse monstrosities is clearly a step too far, as the populace responds with universal disbelief at the characterization of the four librarians and elderly pensioner.  The next day demonstrators gather in front of the Ministry for Public Health to petition the librarians release.  Police and MPH agents fire into the crowd, killing dozens, including some off-duty soldiers.  The crowd rises as one and lynches two MPH agents, while the remainder barricade themselves in the Ministry.
200 The Commune Council issues a proclamation against the citizenry of New Obrok, accusing them of losing the `true path’ of the Commune and declaring the need for renewed dedication to the cause.  The army is mobilized to resettle the citizenry to the countryside.  As the horror of the program makes itself clear to the citizens, the bonds of discipline break down in the army.
231 FRPS Pioneer arrives insystem 1715 (Grant) and discovers a Chelou prospecting base.
252 FRS Lilac arrives insystem 1115, on her way back to Alsace via a seperate route from the main body of the Aslan mission.  HIS Saracen arrives insystem on day 254.  Approaching the system’s only gas giant, HIS Saracen detects FRS Lilac and closes her.  FRS Lilac is destroyed.
264 The Halowon Empire issues a short statement to the press a few days later to the effect the Halowon Navy destroyed a `foreign intruder’ in Halowon space with no loss of life to the empire.  HIS Saracen's captain, LCDR Ophelia Gibbons, is mildly praised for defending the empire.
268 FRS Glaive, FRPS Gautheaux, FRS Peregrine, and FRPS Pathfinder arrive insystem Espiaux while FRS Nighthawk arrives insystem Alsace.  Several Aslan cultural artifacts and curios are later displayed at prominent Espiaux and Alsace museums and short clips of interactions with the Aslan are released to the media, but substantive comments of the Aslan capailities or intentions are not released.
281 Total population on Marsoui exceeds ten thousand personnel.
296 FRS Lilac is declared overdue to Alsace.
328 Incited by pamphlets distributed by provocateurs, popular revolution on Vauclain erupts in flame.  The chambers of the Commune Council are stormed and burned to the ground.  The Councilors are quickly tried by a `People’s Court’ and executed.  Revolutionary Councils are formed in population centers around the planet, the old system destroyed, it’s supporters killed.

5739
042 Free Republic of Espiaux places the first batch of Hellcat fighters in ordinary as new Piranha fighters begin to fill the ranks.
050 HIS Haskell arrives insystem Nestor on a resupply mission to the tiny group of settlers there.  Upon arrival, the settlers inform her of the independent Free Trader Zoe, registered out of Qorom but carrying an entirely Espiaux crew, refueling at a local sea.  HIS Haskell, commanded by Lieutenant Georgia Gibbons (younger sister of LCDR Ophelia Gibbons of HIS Saracen) boards and impounds Zoe, taking her by prize crew to Tupolev for process of violations of Imperial procedure (to wit unpermitted refueling).  Accusations of espionage would also later surface.  Protests over the `Nestor Affair’ would be forthcoming from Espiaux and Qorom embassies.
123 SRNS Yellowjacket and SRNS Komar jump insystem 1618 and detect an emergency beacon from Santander based scout Viper.  The crew of Viper claim to have been conducting legitimate salvage on a derelict vessel when they were attacked by the independent trader Zijus They allege they had to destroy Zijus in self-defense, but suffered irrepairable damage themselves.  Although skeptical of Viper’s crew version of events, the Svetlanans transport Viper’s crew to Santander.
167 Independent Free Trader Selrik Dawn collides with a Halowon Lines Slow Boat, returning from a supply run to the base on Duglach, in Tupolev system.  The collision damages Selrik Dawn’s cargo hold, but breaches the Slow Boat’s bridge, killing two crewmembers.  Although Selrik Dawn is a stateless vessel, her captain is from Espiaux and Halowon press treats it as a wanton act of recklessness and disregard for safety by an Espiaux ship.  The captain, Celene Hubert, is arrested for murder.
231 Halowon Lines trader Halowon Progress is boarded by Free Republic Kirin class SDB, PB20, while approaching Alsace on an unscheduled run.  Declaring health concerns, the Free Republic Navy places Halowon Progress in quarantine for two weeks.  While in quarantine, the ship is subjected to an extensive counter-espionage search.  Unable to find any evidence of espionage, Espiaux is forced to release the vessel.  The quarantine and search are strongly protested by the Halowon Consul on Alsace.  Espiaux responds by declaring the Consul persona non grata and expelling him from the planet.  He returns to Halowon, where he is given a hero’s welcome.
345 SRNS Skorpion and SRNS Riag deliver six Cutters to Antioch as part of an arms transfer.
365 Titania is reclassified tech level eight.

5740
029 Corvus Corporation on Oberon presents the Republic of Janus with six Svetlana-built Falcon fighters for planetary defense.  One is already inoperable by the end of the year and is cannibalized for parts.
044 Titania begins construction of Trinity system’s first highyard.
060 Independent Free Trader Zoe is released from impound, but only after her captain pays an extortionate fine.  She departs Tupolev under military escort.
074 An unusually powerful storm over a gas giant damages FRS Framea.  She limps home and spends three weeks in drydock over Espiaux.  Two starmen are wounded.  Uncharacteristically, the FRN refuses to comment on FRS Framea’s location or nature of her operations at the time of the accident.
094 Callisto and Prothero sign an economic understanding treaty.
109 Principality of Svetlana announces the establishment of an outpost in the Jakhontsk subsector.
230 Gateway News Agency breaks a story on Ozawa about the FRS Lilac incident and a subsequent, secret transfer of survivors from FRS Lilac to the Free Republic in exchange for Halowon agents.  There is immediate public outrage in Espiaux, while official Halowon organs are mute.
237 An Antioch Cutter is bombed on Damascus in an attack by the Damascus Liberation Front.
292 A Council of Transition is announced on Vauclain which quells the violence of the revolution and puts Vauclain society on a path toward reconciliation.
342 Amidst great fanfare, FRS Desaix is commissioned over Espiaux.  She is both the largest starship and the largest warship in the sector.  It is a tribute to Zoe Puzegi’s bipartisan political skill that the FSP offers only mild criticism of her cost and size.
358 FRPS Consul transmits a patchy distress signal to Antioch.  Although heavily jammed, the signal says FRPS Consul is under attack, though by whom is not clear.  Nothing further is heard.

5741
001 On New Year’s Day, theRevolutionary Council on Vauclain peacefully transfers power to a Council of Public Welfare, which promises to institute stable, and relatively liberal, government on Vauclain.
065 News of the FRPS Consul attack reaches Espiaux.
108 Princess Raisa celebrates her eighteenth birthday on Svetlana.
140 A fusion powerplant suffers catastrophic failure on Kieran, killing eight thousand people.
212 Volcano induced tsunami kills sixteen thousand on Caliban.
219 A blown cargo seal damages cargo on FRS Bayern and requires shipyard repair.
350     NOW
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:17, Fri 07 Jan 2011.

The Halowon sector was originally explored roughly five centuries ago.  It remained an uninhabited reach deep on humanity’s rimward frontier until population pressures in older colonies in the Banners sector forced waves of colonization from the early 56th century to the early 57th century.  Gateway and Termet subsectors (A and B respectively) are relatively sparse regions of space, with few attractive star systems.  In contrast, the Espiaux and Halowon subsectors (E and F on the sector map), boast more than a dozen potentially rich worlds in a relatively small volume of space.  Fleets of massive, long-range, sleeper colonization ships were used to bypass the Gateway and Termet subsectors and establish colonies directly on some of the most attractive worlds in Halowon space.  Worlds with strong agricultural potential, such as Halowon, Svetlana, Alsace, and Tupolev, were initial targets for colonization.  Espiaux, Somerset, Chelou, and the worlds of the Trinity cluster were colonized in the second wave.  Bases, research stations, outposts, and informal colonies took root on worlds along the J-3 colonization route through the Gateway subsector, and on lesser worlds in the Halowon subsector.

The colonies were flourishing.  Issues of self-determination had been peacefully resolved with the mother worlds, dozens of parsecs away and the fifty odd human worlds in the sector formed a self-governing commonwealth.  Several worlds had built industrial bases sufficient to achieve economic and technological self-sustainability at tech level C.  Interstellar trade with the mother worlds added to the prosperity of the new colonies, and a trickle of new colonists continued to arrive.  The rim remained largely unexplored, but trade with nascent Aslan colonies in the Tahahorol subsector (subsector C) to trailing was conducted.

In 5644, nearly one hundred fifty years after the first colony was established, disaster struck.  Archives indicate the sleeper colonization ship Friedhof refueled, routinely, over the ice-world Frost, in the Gateway subsector.  The ship then arrived over Halowon three weeks later, with no sign of crew aboard.  She was brought into orbit by the ship’s computer.  A data scan of the computer was conducted, but without result.  Unusually, the several blocks of low berths on the colony ship were empty.  Most of the colonists revived were also baffled.  Three weeks later, most of Halowon was dead or dying.  Quarantine measures were put into effect, but it was too late.  The plague spread like wildfire to every inhabited world in the sector.

Several theories about the origin of the plague have been proposed, but none proven.  It is not even certain that the plague arrived in the sector on Friedhof, though the ship is generally accepted as the most likely carrier.  Regardless of origin, the effects were devastating. Mortality rates exceeded seventy percent and tens of millions died.  The lethality of the plague caused societies to unravel and millions more were killed in civil strife, or displaced.  Interstellar trade collapsed as quarantine blockades were put into place in a vain attempt to stem new outbreaks. Planets became isolated and people xenophobic.  The Commonwealth lay in ruins.

Contact with the motherworlds was lost.  Industry in the sector sputtered, education plummeted, and technology was lost as the living focused on survival.  Luddite movements and doomsday cults circulated.  Rebel movements and bandits vied for power.  Starships and shipyards were abandoned or destroyed.  Offworld concerns were forgotten as each planet focused on itself.

Some worlds fared better than others.  The waterworld Espiaux, lying deep within the jump shadow of its massive primary star, suffered far fewer outbreaks than most planets.   The only major outbreak that occurred on Espiaux was halted by the destruction of three habitat domes to prevent the plague from spreading to other domes.  Rich Alsace, beautiful Halowon, and rugged Chelou, all kept viable industrial and technological capabilities alive, mainly by virtue of having had larger populations at the start of the cataclysm, but also because their governments were better able to maintain order and preserve civilization in the aftermath.

In 5696, Alsace diplomat Bernice Gautheaux convinced the notoriously reclusive dome states of Espiaux to join Alsace in a parliamentary union, called the Free Republic of Espiaux.  One of many laudable acts of the first Chancellor of the Free Republic, Chalsain Desaix, was to order the rebuilding of a shipyard on Expiaux.  Chancellor Desaix’s interest in shipbuilding was as timely as it was important.  By 5700, less than a hundred aging starships remained in the sector.  As the horrors of the Plague time faded, new ships were necessary to communicate, to trade, and to explore.

Other polities followed suit, ushering a new era of trade and even tentative colonization.  However, unlike previous eras, which were based on cooperation and a mutual identity, this new period revolves around parochial interests, competition and power.

The year is now 5741.  In over ninety years since the Plague, not a single communication has been received from coreward.  Long range surveillance indicates signs of civilization were snuffed out on the motherworlds mere months before the Plague arrived on Halowon.  Halowon may be all of humanity that remains.   Over two hundred fifty starships are in the service of navies and merchants from fifty worlds.  Long-range, by sector standards, trade missions to the Aslan have been conducted by the Free Republic.  The missions returned with cultural artifacts and treasures, though, apart from acknowledging the Aslan are still there, the Free Republic has been exceptionally tight-lipped about what they found.  The major powers have skirmished, or fought proxy wars, on and over Perseus and Vauclain.  They have raced each other to claim strategic worlds, vied for influence and legitimacy in dark corners, and sent arms and advisors to various factions in the Trinity cluster’s endless disputes.  Derelict starships and bases from the old time are still being found and rumors of alien civilizations to rimward remain exceptionally persistent.  The Free Republic Pathfinder Service (Scouts) has questions.  Will you step forward to answer them?
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:29, Sat 01 Jan 2011.