The Late Small States Era

5154-5346CE

Overview

Existing interstellar nations across the old Imperial region strengthened and differentiated during the Late Small States Era.  During this period, technologies for vacuum distillation and improved macrojump drive engines spread throughout many of the civilized states, greatly increasing the viability of trade and enhancing the bonds between worlds within the rising interstellar states.  By the end of the era, no wormships remained, the few functional imperial era artifacts were worth a fortune, and only the remaining twenty-five billion Eternals, a billion and a half Nobilis and mere millions of Ibrahimities with access to the Elixir could even remember the old Empire.

During the nearly two centuries between the Red Khalif's War and the Third Paradise War, the major interstellar states remained fairly stable, some slowly expanding, some static and often introverted.  The period saw increasing cultural differentiation, with many non-Human realms reverting to isolation and to culture traditions that were pre-Imperial, and often pre-Grand Federation in origin.  Even between Human states, cultures diverged significantly as existing social and religious structures ossified.  The Bengali Dominions magnified this trend when Emperor Talon denied Dominions membership to the Brennar to maintain the purity of his empire's Human Variant caste structure.  Only the Alimeen bucked this trend, opening up Drifts and encouraging diplomatic contact between Human states and the Swarm.  In the far rimward regions, the Betelgeuse Union also maintained an open society, keeping good relations with the Khald'aron and Cubics, a policy whose foresight was evident when those races came to the small Human state's aid during the 5296-5301CE Grim War against the Bengali Dominions.

The Merchant Guild continued to dominate the Coreward region during the era.  Other than the Zhantlas Union, only non-Human, former Grand Federations Races maintained an interstellar civilization in the region: the Kith'turi-Salvaatiki Union of Worlds settled into a static, slowly evolving culture; the Yerman and the Cargomen retreated into xenophobic isolationism and nativism; the B'dr'rak reverted to their pre-Grand Federation language and culture with remarkable ease for a race that had spent eleven thousand years under alien cultural domination.

The conflicts between the Mendam Codominium and the Dragon States continued to dominate interstellar civilization in the Spinward Region.  Two more Dragon Frontier Wars occured during the period, but cooperation between the Codominium and the Zhantlas Union became more sporadic and the Merchant Guild began to gain some influence over Codominium policy.  After the abortive Operation Defender spread anti-Dragon weaponry, though not enlightened rule through the region bordering Mendam space, the Rouge Defenders, originally led by Captain Malcolm Heath, began their semi-piratical campaign against continuing Dragon Raiding.

The Trailing Region continued to be dominated by the Star Kingdoms Confederation, though the Bengali Dominions began a slow expansion into some rimward Trailing Sectors.  With the death of King Adam of Markham in 5229CE and the ascension of Martin II as King of Tannberg five years later, the Star Kingdoms entered a period of deteriorating ties, often erupting into trade wars.  A crisis, resolved by Olav II of Lanander, nearly led to full scale warfare in 5244CE.  With worsening trade relations, often encouraged for profit by the Merchant Guild, the Star Kingdoms grew further apart for the remainder of the 53rd century and into the 54th century, stagnating growth and development.  During this period the Institute for the Advancement of Knowledge regained influence as a cross-Kingdom non-partisan organization and took the lead in establishing the Recontact Service in 5294CE, beginning the first tentative attempts to rekindle contact with distant Trailing worlds.

In the Rimward Region, the Betelgeuse Union grew to encompass over a dozen worlds.  The secular, democratic Union established firm relations with the Khald'aron, Cubics and Swarm states.  Conflict with the Bengali Dominions over the theft of vacuum distillation technology from Luminous led to the Great Rim War, or Grim War of 5296-5301CE, a conflict fought mostly in Sectors 391 and 392 and marred by bio-warfare and indiscriminant attacks on civilian targets.  The Treaty of Karnak ended the Grim War and established lasting protocols of war, banning biological and civilian attacks throughout the Rimward region.  After the war, the Betelgeuse Union continued its slow steady expansion, establishing the Vanguard service in 5327CE to support exploration into uncontacted space and contact with non-Human races.

The Central Region saw tensions between the Terran Khalifate and its rimward and coreward neighbors, the Bengali Dominions and the Reconstruction Federation.  All three states grew by almost 50% during the two centuries of this era, each mostly carefully incorporating willing worlds, often after a long courtship.  The Khalifate under Mohammed II spent much of the period consolidating its hold on the worlds of the former Kalmar Union, slowly overcoming dissent and rebuilding economies.  The Khalifate also continued its slow expansion and missionary work, often coming into conflict with the Dominions or the Federation, but diplomatic resolutions and a desire to avoid another destructive war kept a fragile peace for the remaining years of Mohammed II's reign.  After Mohammed's death in 5339CE, his once estranged son Ibrahim became Khalif and, as described below, Ibrahim increased tensions to force a conflict with the Bengali Dominions.  The resulting Third Paradise War of 5342-5346CE ended with little change in territory, but it established firm borders between the Khalifate and the Dominions, paving the way for both states to concentrate expansion efforts in different directions.  The Treaty of Vulcan, signed at the end of the Third Paradise War, solidified Vulcan as a neutral arbitrator of the Central Region and formed the small non-aligned League of Vulcan out of border worlds unlikely to thrive in either the Dominions or the Khalifate.

The Northern and Southern Regions remained locked in a Dark Age, with only small portions of the nearer Southern Region coming under the influence of the Bengali Dominions.  For these Regions and for the Rim-Spin expanse, the dark ages would continue for another millennium.

Political

All the existing states within the sphere of Human Space continued to evolve along divert paths during the Late Small States Era.  The Central Region saw continued expansion of civilization within the three interstellar states, but elsewhere, save for the small Betelgeuse Union and for the racially motivated recontact missions of the growing Swarm Republic and Khzraut States, most civilizations remained fairly static islands of civilization in a sea of pre-interstellar systems. 

For the Terran Khalifate, the absorption of the Kalmar Union and the suppression of dissent marked most of the period.  Mohammed II's first son, Ibrahim Hassani, born in 5172CE, eventually became the dominant force within the Khalifate.  Though his father's displeasure at his marriage to a secular wife stripped initially Ibrahim of his influence, his military leadership against rebels on Mars forced his reinstatement.  With the full support of the Order of Purity and much of the clergy, Ibrahim demanded his own reinstatement as heir, forcing his father to murder his own his second wife and younger son in 5224CE.  Gaining the title of Grandmaster of the Order of Purity, Ibrahim became responsible for internal security throughout the Khalifate and led the efforts to decisively suppress the Martian and Kalmar rebellions. 

Ibrahim was a patient man whose planning horizon spanned decades.  During the 53rd and 54th centuries, he slowly amassed internal power and developed trade and diplomatic contacts with the Star Kingdoms.  These contacts neutralized the Reconstruction Federation's relationship with the Kingdoms and, by offering access to the markets of the Khalifate, Ibrahim was able to acquire the biological technology he used to suppress dissent.  After his ascension as Khalif, he forced the Third Paradise War upon the Bengali Dominions, not to recapture Paradise again, but to acquire the technology and hardware to strengthen his military and to further develop his relations with the Star Kingdoms.  The Third Paradise War ended with the Khalifate's Rimward flank secured by Treaty and the Star Kingdom's neutrality secured by trade.  Now the troublesome Reconstruction Federation lay open for his eventual conquest.

Among most states, from the liberal secular technologist Betelgeuse Union to the increasingly idiosyncratic Zhantlas Union and the traditionalist cultures of the many non-Human races, divergence remained the major theme of the period.  Even with the strengthening of interstellar contact between most of these states, many observers during the period noted that any reintegration of Imperial Space would be very difficult, as few could imagine common ground between most Human states, let alone between the non-Human governments.

Technological

The reintroduction of vacuum distillation and improved, Type IIa, macrojump drives changed the dynamic of interstellar travel.  Easy access to antimatter greatly decreased the cost of interstellar travel, and though it rendered large antimatter generating stations obsolete, those stations often converted into way stations and bases for the growing fleets of macrojump vessels.  Between 5150CE and 5350CE, the number of macrojump vessels operating in former Imperial Space more than doubled, to over 3,600 vessels, and most of vessels these were newer Type IIa vessels, capable of longer jumps and more robust operations.  The range of travel improved in the 54th century, with voyages of two or three hundred light years becoming economically feasible and jumps to remote systems and smaller stars becoming more reliable.

An interesting side-effect of cheaper and more robust interstellar travel was the first hints of emerging pirate activity, most notably the Rouge Defenders operating against Dragons on the Spinward Frontier and the philosophical grandfather of Coreward pirates, Harold Destructor, conqueror of Nachen harrying the Merchant Guild.

Another marvel of post-Imperial technology was the successful completion of the Symmetry Project.  HSPG generators finished moving Mercury and Venus into stable orbits in resonance with the Terra-Luna system and later, moved Mars into a closer, more circular orbit, stabilizing that world's climate as well.  The success at improving Venus's climate had the most long-term effect, saving the faltering ecosystem that was home to over eight billion people.

Cultural

Most of the divergence of Human cultures during this period had antecedents in philosophies and religions of the Imperial Era.  For non-Human states, the origins of their distinct cultures often had much deeper roots.  The former members of the Grand Federation of Races had spent thousands of years under the cultural domination of that society prior to their thousand or more years of Imperial Rule.  The Grand Federation encouraged the use of standardized languages and institutions to support integration between the races, and since none of the races absorbed in the Empire of Humanity was a Primary Race or even a particularly ancient Federation race, the culture of the Federation contained few influences from those races.

The Kith'turi and Salvaatiki, long allies, regressed the least, their ancient cultures all but subsumed by millennia of Grand Federation influence, but even in these two cultures, the inherent matriarchal dominated social structures strengthened, though the culture and language remained essentially Grand Federation-based.  For the B'dr'rak, a proud people never comfortable with Grand Federation cultural trappings, the regression was almost complete, with a return to the language, dress and ostentatiousness of their pre-contact past.

The Cargomen and Yerman both regressed into isolation.  The Cargomen returned to a pre-contact culture, readopting their old religious rites and their ancient language and regressing all but their transportation and power technologies to an industrial era level.  The Yerman did not regress in language or technology, but they became extremely xenophobic and developed a new, distinct culture based on native, Grand Federation and Imperial elements.

Among the "Human raised" major races, the Khzraut and Swarm both returned to more nativist roots, but maintained some relations with Humans and other races.  The chronically decentralized Khzraut developed a series of independent states, bound by trade and racial bonds, while the Swarm developed a closely knit interstellar government across much of the Rimward region.

The Alimeen became more open and gregarious towards other races, striving to become arbitrators of Human conflicts and establishing Human colonies and stations within their systems.  The Human enclaves allowed the Alimeen to acquire symbiotic interstellar trade routes, overcoming the race's intolerance of macrojump drive by using human crews to travel between Alimeen systems, much faster than gravstar travel would allow.

Less numerous Major races in the civilized Rimward region enjoyed economic contact with major states, with the Brennar and Turgil becoming Associate States of the Bengal Dominions and the Cubics developing ties with the Betelgeuse Union.  These associations provided technological and trade benefits, but did little to hamper independent cultural evolution.

Along the fringes of recontacted space, the Rootjalik, !Tak, Khaddahl and Octopods redeveloped their own technological civilizations, cultures that would soon impact the civilized states as raiders returned to interstellar space in the ensuing centuries.

Chronology Table

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