The History of the Republic
by Ilim Nagatashi, Chair of Historical Studies, New Capital
|
|
The History of the Republicby Ilim Nagatashi, Chair of Historical Studies, New Capital |
It is clear in hindsight that the Third Imperium was already in decline by the reign of Emperor Strephon in RY -1879 (Imperial 1110), though of course the extent of that decline was anything but obvious to those alive at the time. Expansion and exploration had nearly ceased as the Imperium devoted most of its attention to defense of its borders, containing internal strife, and the sheer effort of governing its vast territories. Stagnated social mobility meant that the peerage became increasingly isolated from everyday life. A stagnated economy made it all but impossible for those who did not already have wealth to acquire it by legitimate means. Indeed, one of the main sources of employment and education at the time was the armed forces of the Imperium itself. Unfortunately, while these highly trained and motivated people were a boon to the Imperium as long as they remained in the military, once they retired and found how difficult it could be to make an honest living, many of them turned their training to piracy, mercenary operations, or other activities that tended to destabilize the Imperium further, requiring an increase in armed forces to counter it, and leading to a dangerous cycle.
Matters came to a head when Dulinor Astrin Ilethian, a member of the nobility, assassinated Emperor Strephon in RY -1873. His daughter, Grand Princess Ciencia Iphegenia, immediately assumed the throne and, by all accounts, governed ably, but as word spread of the assassination, a civil war erupted. The uprising began in Illelish and quickly spread from there.
The Imperial armed forces were eventually able to contain the rebellion at the Battle of Illelish, but their victory did not last long. In RY -1871, an unknown agency released a nanotechnological weapon on Capital, the Third Imperium's capital world. To this day, no-one has claimed responsibility for the release of the weapon, and we don't know the reasons behind it, though both legitimate and conspiracy theories abound. What we do know, however, is that the weapon was rapid and devistating. Within the space of a few days, it had engulfed the entire planet, killed most of the Imperial family including Empress Ciencia, and forced the Imperium to interdict its own capital world.
The social repercussions were terrible. Only a few percent of the planet's population were able to escape on starships, and the Imperial Navy had to intercept those overcrowded, under-provisioned ships and quarantine them for up to a month to insure they hadn't been infected with the weapon. Indeed, some were infected and had to be vaporized with all hands to contain its spread.
Civil war again erupted. Imperial response, without benefit of a clear leader, ranged from ineffective to brutal, with some admirals resorting to nuclear, particle-beam, or meson bombardment to bring rebellious worlds under control.
In the meantime, the Moot convened to try to appoint a new emperor from what remained of the Imperial family, but events overtook them. In early RY -1870, blockade runners trying to salvage valuables from Capital became infected with the nanotechnological weapon and spread it to the neighboring world Orphan. The Imperium was forced to expand its interdiction zone to contain the weapon and fell further into chaos. With some members of the peerage in open rebellion, often with miltary backing, the Moot dissolved itself in RY -1869.
The period known as the Rule of Warlords is traditionally dated from the dissolution of the Moot in RY -1869. Over the next several hundred years, a series of warlords and dictators ruled all or part of Imperial space. None succeeded in unifying the previous holdings of the Imperium for more than a generation, since as soon as one got control he or she would be deposed by the next one. The chaos proved too much for the economy as it, and the technology it supported, fragmented and declined, leading to the Second Long Night.
The Second Long Night traditionally dates from RY -1488, by which time most interstellar trade had ceased. Military and express messenger boats (the X-boat network) still remained in operation, allowing some news to travel for those who could afford it, but their maintenance became occasional at best and many were lost in misjumps, to corsairs, or to simply falling apart. The last operating X-boat was destroyed in RY -1346 by corsairs seeking to salvage its jump drive; rather than surrender the boat, the pilot deliberately scuttled it.
During the Second Long Night, a period of over 1100 years, huge numbers of people died as worlds were cut off from their food supplies. Most planets lost the knowledge of jump technology altogether, and many even lost space travel capabilities.
At this point, the focus of this history must necessarily shift to the area around the Republic, since many of the former Imperial worlds lost during the Second Long Night have yet to be re-contacted.
Towards the end of the Second Long Night, many of the Sylean worlds had rediscovered jump technology and were beginning to trade with one-another. This development eventually led them to form the Sylean Trade Federation, a loosely-organized trading association and co-prosperity sphere.
Since the worlds shared a great deal in common culturally, and found that their Trade Federation worked quite well for their mutual benefit, they eventually decided to unite into a stronger political entity. In RY 0, Trade Federation President Norton Clogoth officially declared the formation of the Sylean Republic (since shortened to "the Republic"). President Clogoth became the first Prime Minister of the Republic.
Among the first acts of the Republic was the passage, in RY 1, of Republic Law 46, which was a reaction to the attack on Capital and the tremendous sustained effort required to prevent the spread of that weapon any further. Republic Law 46 reads, in part,
It shall be a capital offense within the Republic for any person to possess, distribute, transfer knowledge relating to, or engage in research into self-replicating nanotechnological devices.
This law, while quite necessary, has also become quite deeply ingrained in the psyche of the Republic. Indeed, many worlds have passed stricter versions of the law which prohibit research into nanotechnological devices altogether. This protection has come at a cost, however, since much of the more advanced Imperial technology was based on nanotechnology, making it quite difficult to reproduce in modern times, or even for us to read the few Imperial electronic records that still exist.
Over the following 100 years, the Republic grew gradually, eventually encompassing 60 systems by RY 91 when annexation ceased. At that point, the focus of the Republic turned inward towards consolidation attempts, leading to a degree of stagnation. One measure of the drive towards consolidation was the establishment of the official Republic calendar in RY 119 which retroactively set year 0 at the year of Prime Minister Clogoth's inauguration. While presented as a tool of trade, it is clear from scholarly work that the real driving force behind the calendar was to unify the Republic and eliminate the mix of individual calendars in use among the various member worlds.
The Republic remained stagnant until RY 214, when a number of crises changed its course. The economy had been in gradual decline for many years. Also, early in that year neighboring worlds began a series of border raids, looting what they could from Republic worlds and then jumping out of system. Finally, the nanotechnological weapon on Capital spread once again, this time to Vena/Core. In the face of the resulting financial and political crisis, several Prime Ministers came and went, unable to hold a stable coalition together.
In late RY 215, Prime Minister Clugil Schlugin took power. Realizing he needed a dramatic initiative to drive the Republic into recovery, he took a bold and brilliant step. In his First Day Address of RY 216, he proclaimed, in a simply-written and powerfully-worded speech, that the Sylean Republic had a Manifest Destiny to reclaim the worlds occupied by the former Third Imperium. In fitting with that destiny, he spearheaded a drive to change the name of the organization from the Sylean Republic to simply The Republic, both to eliminate the regional sound of the former name and to echo "The Imperium", a name which still carries a great deal of prestige.
To carry out the Manifest Destiny, Prime Minister Schlugin established the Republic Interstellar Scout Service, patterned after the Imperial Interstellar Scout Service, and charged it with the mission of not only exploring and recontacting former Imperial Worlds but also of integrating them into the Republic.
The strategy worked better than he'd hoped. Not only did the financial crisis disappear by the end of RY 216, both because of the boost in optimism and because of increased public spending to create and equip the RISS, but the Republic expanded rapidly. Indeed, in the present day, RY 266, the Republic contains over 200 inhabited star systems, with nearly 100 more in protectorate status with the eventual expectation that they will gain full memebership.