The Era of Reformation

5781-6015CE

Overview

The Era of Reformation marked a period of growing prosperity and technological advancement for most major states in Human Space. Issues of Servant Race and Risen rights dominated politics, especially in the Bengali Dominions and Federation of Orion. Overall, the amount of piracy, war and chaos decreased greatly during the era, though the period still saw two Crusades, a full scale Dragon Frontier War, revolts by the Risen and Servant Race allies, aggressive Terran Khalifate expansion and a conflict between the Merchant Guild and the Star Kingdom Confederation.

In the Coreward Region, Merchant Guild dominance, fueled by a monopoly on the tsrill trade and a refusal to share macrojump or vacuum distiller technology, continued unabated, with the Guild supporting its client states, including Osiran dominated systems and the nascent Nachen Free State. The Grand Federation of Races achieved microjump technology and a prospering post-material economy during this period and continued its turn inward, restricting trade and maintaining its competitive advantage in technology. The Zhantlas Union maintained close links with the Grand Federation's Radical and Progressive Races, but earned continued enmity from the Conservative Races for supporting Gulkan dissidents. Coreward-based Crusaders attacked the Terran Khalifate in two waves, but the Crusades lacked the fervor of earlier battles for the recovery of Karinsky, and Khalifate disparaging of the Crusaders as nothing more than Mechanist pirates was often quite accurate.

The Central Region was dominated by the increasingly repressive Terran Khalifate which, under Khalif Fahd, adopted a policy of forcefully converting conquered worlds, including Amber, Adonis and Melkart. As years of conditioning caused internal unrest to nearly vanish, the Order of Purity redirected its focus towards converting the inhabitants of recently incorporated worlds, and under Grandmaster Lamar Rufan, the Order developed aggressive VR and drug conversion techniques aimed at rapid covert conversion, replacing the forced indoctrinations used on Amber with subconscious procedures utilized on the worlds of the Adonis Star Kingdom and on the worlds incorporated during the response to the Seventh Crusade. Only after Fahd's death in 5962CE did the Khalifate's forced conversions and militaristic foreign policy subside. Khalif Mohammed IV worked to rebuild a more palatable external image for his realm, arguing that true Ibrahimites needed to be converted willingly and supporting long term missionary efforts. However, after years of masking covert action, the Orders of Truth and Generosity were often met with distrust or hostility outside the Khalifate.

The Bengali Dominions, by far the largest and most populous Human Space state, continued its expansion during the Era, even as it wrestled with Abolitionist and Risen issues. Under Imperial guidance and against the bulk of Nobilis opinion, the Dominions freed all Servant Race residents in 5809CE and eventually established nearly fifty reservation worlds to protect the freed races against continuing discrimination. Eventually, most Nobilis accepted the agreement allowing them to replace their biological servants with androids, but the newly freed Races did not fit well into the Altaran Golden Stasis social model and did not prosper within the Dominions. Just as Servant Race issues had reached some equilibrium, a century after Emancipation, sentient machines rose in a revolt called The Rising, and declared themselves a separate sentient race, the Risen. The Dominions reacted harshly to The Rising, destroying or reprogramming their sentient machines and putting down a further major rebellion by Risen and Servant Race allies some sixty years later.

Further rimward, the Federation of Orion remained a bastion of liberal democracy in a mostly autocratic universe. Though besieged by ongoing presidential scandals, the FOO, as it was commonly known, continued to expand and adapt, modifying its citizenship requirements to admit the Risen as full members of society in 5911CE. Accepting more Servant Race refugees and maintaining friendly relations with most Alien races though the cultural exchanges of the Orion Exposition, the FOO remained peaceful and prosperous throughout the period.

The Spinward Region remained a relative backwater outside the Mendam Codominium and the expanding Swarm Republic. The Codominium adapted technology employed by Pavl's Revenge to build a custom planetbuster gravstarship, the Stalwart, and a fleet of teraton antimatter drones, deploying them in the Eleventh Dragon Frontier War. After that struggle, most Dragon Nations and Prides used subtler methods to attack the Codominium, avoiding outright war with targeted attacks on military and commercial targets, eventually destroying the Stalwart in its berth. In response to pinpricks of pirate activity, the Codominium began absorbing the more obnoxious Doubly Rouge Offender (DRO) worlds and expanding patrols over much of the border of Dragon space to prevent Dragon occupation of further Human worlds.

The Star Kingdom Confederations continued to dominate the Trailing Region, especially in the trailing-core and trailing-south sectors. For most of the period, the Confederation maintained fairly friendly relations with the economically dominate Merchant Guild and the expanding Terran Khalifate. By the early 60th century, border tensions increased as Orphean and Khalifate zones of influence began to overlap and the Star Kingdoms covertly supported Crusaders and blocked trade to the Khalifate during the later decades of Khalif Fahd's reign. The Star Kingdom of Markham continued to support the struggling Freedom League of former Rootjalik-occupied worlds, sending them aid in the form of ships and trained military commanders, including Prince and later Star King Arik and later his grandson Prince Allan, both of whom fought in battles against neighboring Alien states. The continued dominance of the Merchant Guild continued to grate on many, and after Otto V ascended the thrones of Lanander and the Confederation in 6004CE, he and his allies actively worked to oppose the Guild, eventually bringing seven of the Star Kingdoms into conflict with the Guild and its Markham ally. Though Otto V defeated and killed Star King Arik and vanquished Guild fleets, he fell to a Guild assassination plot in 6015CE, and a more pliant, or at least more circumspect, Jargaen I became Great King of the Confederation in his place.

Still, the Southern and Northern Regions mostly remained outside of mainstream civilization, with just some expansion by the Khalifate into the north and the Dominions into the south and a few tentative Guild Expeditions reaching the south-coreward sectors.

Political

The major issues of the period involved the evolving rights of artificially created races and machines intelligences. For the Terran Khalifate, such issues were unimportant, as all such creations were clear abominations, but for the other civilized states, these issues often had profound effects on society.

While some nations, such as the Star Kingdom Confederation and the Federation of Orion, had long ago established full rights for Servant Race members, the Bengali Dominions, and to some minor extend the Mendam Codominium, continued to treat their Servant Race residents as chattel. The Emancipation of the Servant Races of the Bengali Dominions in 5809CE was a major political event in the history of the Dominions, breaking a thousand years of traditional Nobilis privilege and marking a gradual shift of power from Nobilis Households to the growing Imperial bureaucracy and to Sapien-run corporate interests. The Emancipation led to social unrest and did not stop continued discrimination against the Servant Races, particularly against the Goblin and Warrior Races, who often maintain hostile attitudes toward the Dominions power structure.

Within the Dominions, the compromise between Emperor and the Nobilis involved the wholesale replacement of Servant Race slaves with Androids, a solution that never satisfied may Houses, as Androids could not self-reproduce and their maintenance and procurement increased the influence of Sapien-run firms. Additionally, a century after Emancipation, machines themselves revolted in The Rising, with Androids, robots and other sentient machines themselves demanding the rights of citizenship. The Dominions was not ready to take that step, and ruthlessly put down all Risings, modifying sentient machines to limit their capabilities and ensure their loyalty. The Federation of Orion, Zhantlas Union and even the Grand Federation of Races eventually accepted the Risen as full members of society, though the Star Kingdoms and Merchant Guild were not as progressive, granting limited rights and modifying sentients to avoid Risings.

The influence of the Merchant Guild remained a major concern during the Era of Reformation. Near the height of its dominance, the Guild dominated internal and external trade in the Star Kingdoms Confederation and maintained full monopoly over trade in the recontacted Coreward regions. The monopoly on the tsrill trade, the only effective life-extending drug available during the period, filled Guild coffers and bought influence over many Human states. Otto V's revolt against Guild dominance, though ultimately fatal for him, did mark a lessening of Guild influence as Star Kingdoms leaders began to develop alternate trading links and nurture independent relationships with the Alimeen Confederacy, Turgil Commonwealth and a few independent technologically advanced worlds such as Dragonfly and Bifrost.

Within the Terran Khalifate, Khalif Fahd continued to push his strict militant Ibrahimism though the subconscious covert conversion techniques of the Order of Purity, acts that caused widespread condemnation from other states and eventually led to the Ban of Orpheus, an embargo by the Star Kingdoms and Merchant Guild that limited Khalifate access to advanced technologies and tsrill. After his ascension in 5962CE, Khalif Mohammed IV reversed or relaxed many of Fahd's policies, though bureaucratic inertia tempered his reforms. Some hardliners responded to this relaxation with violence directed against perceived doctrinal failures, attacking non-Ibrahimites and the bureaucracy. The best known of these groups was the Lemurian Immolates, suicide attackers that plagued the Khalifate in the early decades of Mohammed IV's rule. Eventually, the same techniques that allowed forced conversions of conquered populations limited the unrest from both hard-line and dissent groups with the Khalifate.

Technological

The major technological innovation of the period did not directly impact Human Space at all. In 5794CE the T'zet developed a practical organic microjump controller, paving the way for microjump starships. Six years later the first new microjump vessel took flight, but the technology did not filter into Human Space as the Grand Federation of Races jealously guarded the technology, not even sharing it with the Zhantlas Union.

A millennial earlier, in the wake of the Mech Plague, the IAK distributed Technological Life Boats containing Fusion Age computer components hurriedly adapted from Than technologies. These basic components formed the basis for recovering data systems on thousands of worlds but had the unintended consequence of spreading weakly coded controls that the Risen overrode and exploited to gained full autonomy. Subsequently, controllers on machine intelligence became a major industry, ranging from reproductive controllers imposed in the Federation of Orion to limiter and wiper controllers imposed by the Bengali Dominions and Mendam Codominium. The development, testing and distribution of these products were a major concern in the 60th century, and remained the basis for constructing authorized intelligent machines into the future.

Within Human Space, both biological and mechanical technologies continued to advance, with the Star Kingdom Confederation leading the way in developing such innovations as Living Cities, type IIC macrojump drives, advanced biomaterials and fabrication controllers. Generally, Mech Plague limitations on quantum computing and superconducting devices prevent progress toward developing early microjump era technologies and most industries focused on refinements and cost controls on existing products.

The Terran Khalifate remained hostile to scientific research and its repressive practices limited trade interactions, continuing to limit most technology within the Khalifate to early macrojump levels. The Khalifate's creative use of VR technology as a conversion tool amounted to little more than technological brainwashing, a disreputable, but hardly advanced use of existing technologies.

Cultural

The Emancipation and The Rising, both originating in the Bengali Dominions, had the greatest cultural effect during the Reformation Era. These events had repercussions in all of non-Khalifate Human Space and even beyond into the Grand Federation of Races.

In the Bengali Dominions, the Emancipation led to considerable social unrest, both before and after the event. Before 5809CE, abolitionist protests eventually gained the sympathetic ear of the Emperor and reactions to the pending Emancipation focused the anger of Nobilis conservatives. Unfortunately, the actual event did not bring about a period of great liberty for the Servant Races, who still faced discrimination and relative poverty. Even their reservation worlds were eventually overrun by commercial interests, and though those worlds retained an overwhelmingly Servant Race, most often Goblin, character, much of the valuable land and development fell into Sapien hands. Only by emigrating beyond the confines of the Bengali Dominions did Servant Races achieve full autonomy. The race-based caste structure of Bengali society did not adapt favorably to freed Servant Races; the social structured just morphed to incorporate the freed slaves as an underclass, subjugated by Sapien economics instead of Nobilis laws.

The Rising had a more widespread effect. For the Dominions, the effect was short-lived, resulting in restricted machine intelligence and more repression against restive Servant Race citizens, eventually leading to the long decline of the Warrior and Amazon Races though biological warfare agents and lasting genetic damage. In the Federation of Orion, the effect was most profound, with the Risen gaining full citizenship rights and eventually causing all of FOO society to accept limits on reproductive freedoms. All over Human space, even in the Khalifate, The Rising brought attention to the issues of machine intelligence and resulted in new laws and technology to enforce the legal rights or limitations of these entities.

The Mechanist Church, still split between three factions, suffered from weak leadership under two Primals whose terms were cut short by assassination. In 5834CE the moderate Lev Gharma-Furelli became the compromise choice for the Primacy, but despite a vigorous rebuilding campaign that ultimately drained funds from other ventures, the Primal proved unable to rein in the Crusaders or limit inflammatory and near heretical pronouncements from Progressive leaders. Among the Progressives, the loss of Jon Gades left a void in leadership that squabbling ideologues could not overcome, weakening any hope of changing standard Mechanist doctrine. For the Crusaders, the apocalyptic Fifth Crusade ended with a whimper as the survivors on the Pavl's Revenge limped into the Galahad system and the Star Kingdom of Orpheus took possession of the soon lost planetbuster, and the Sixth and Seventh Crusades proved little more than pirate actions against the Terran Khalifate, devoid of real ideological purpose.

The Technologist Movement also fell into disarray during this period. First, the IAK, closely associated with the Technologist and Mechanist movements, shut down the Recontact Service in response to declining revenues and hostile commercial pressure. Then Vren Khumabaridal caused a schism with his support of Heretics and tolerance of the Risen, a factor that led to his excommunication and the start of the offshoot Free Technologist Movement. Traditional Technologists remained hostile to both the Heretics and the Risen, working closely with Star Kingdoms governments to develop effective limiters, a fact that disenchanted many moderate Technologists.

Interstellar travel costs continued to decline during the era, leading to a revived interstellar tourism industry fueled by the Orion Expositions, Dominions Games and even Ibrahimite pilgrimages. With lower costs and considerably less piracy, trade generally increased in recivilized regions. The Reformation Era saw a return to limited interstellar colonization efforts, mostly recolonizations by Swarm, Turgil and other races of failed colony worlds or the emigration of discriminated groups such as the Servant Races or other refugees. While interstellar states still covered barely more than ten percent of old Imperial Space systems, and regular interstellar contact was nearly non-existent in the distant northern, southern and spin-rim regions, occasional surveys and speculative trading runs extended tenuous contact to almost a third of the twenty thousand systems of the Empire of Humanity.

Chronology Table

5781	False reports of Pavl's Revenge emerging at Sol cause widespread panic and unprecedented security arrangements throughout the system; later in the year, a similar panic grips the Alpha Centauri system.
5782	Aggressive raids and patrolling by Khalifate forces effectively end all Fifth Crusade activity after the Battle of Al Na'ir. Intelligence reports of Crusader bases in the outer Gladsheim system lead to an Order of Valor embargo fleet patrolling the Gladsheim system and controlling all off-world access to the world. Abolitionist protestors disrupt the closing ceremonies of the otherwise successful Dominions Games at Eden.
5783	The government of Gladsheim agrees to withdraw from the League of Vulcan in return for "autonomous status" with external security provided by the Khalifate.
5784	The Merchant Guild begins importing Deep Merman contract labor on Tation, leading to conflicts with the local Human and Merman population.
5785	Thermidor hosts the Orion Exposition, an event noted for the appearance of a Dragon trade delegation from the nation of Vurdzhru.
5786	Star Queen Ela of Timbuktu dies of natural causes and her great-grandnephew Anwar succeeds her.
5787	The Warmongers develop gravstar technology and embark on recontact missions to their two isolated colonies in Sector 318. Star King Anwar of Timbuktu authorizes the construction of the Living City, a biological arcology on the northern plains of continent of Fujara.
5788	Under the supervision of Prince Landru, Mare hosts an extravagant Dominions Games without incident. The Merchant Guild contracts with the Black Brigade of free Guardians for security on Tation.
5789	Catastrophic volcanic eruptions devastate the populated areas of the Sector 64 Bengali world of Nevis and engulf the world in an acidic climate-freezing ash, killing over twenty million; relief efforts concentrate on relocating most of the seventy million survivors to relatively unaffected regions of the world, though over ten million refugees eventually emigrate out system.
5790	Khalifate Order of Valor patrol ships occupy the outer systems of Thoth and Khronos, League of Vulcan worlds in Sector 6, allegedly to protect against Crusader activity.
5791	The Alimeen Confederacy dispatches fleets to Khronos and Thoth, promising to secure the system against external threats and negotiating a Khalifate withdrawal. Kasa hosts the Orion Exposition.
5792	At his seven hundredth jubilee speech on Bengal, Emperor Talon announces his intention to free all Servant Races by 5804CE, the 3500th year of the Bengali calendar; Dominions security forces arrest over one hundred Nobilis for threatening or plotting against the Imperial family.
5793	Rouge Defender raiders under the command of Captain Alisia Bren destroy the Dragon base at Valdez Lun in Sector 735, throwing the powerful Frashzhuk Pride into fratricidal warfare.
5794	A Lanander patrol encounters a Warmonger gravstar vessel at its failed colony on Azziburga; the patrol destroys the vessel after coming under fire; surviving Warmongers land pods on the world, prompting the Star Kingdom of Lanander to quarantine the system. A T'zet team on Z't'ti develops organic hyper quantum brains suitable for controlling microjump vessels.
5795	Gulkan raiders begin operating out of bases within the Rho Ophiuchi Nebula region of Sector 689.
5796	A cabal of Nobilis assassinate the sisters Cynthia and Jena Stark-Turrel on Glorious, bombing their aircar; a investigation results in a dozen deaths and executions and lessens support for the anti-Abolitionist cause.
5797	Gulkan raiders attack the Midnight Wind at Shuldra Drift, prompting a response from both Guild and Grand Federation patrols.
5798	The Bengali Ministry of Commerce announces a compensation plan for Nobilis Servant race emancipation and Emperor Talon pushes back the deadline for full emancipation by five years.
5799	Khalif Fahd's great-grandson Abdullah Hassani becomes Grandmaster of the Order of Enlightenment and moves to Venus; concentrating on medical technological improvements within strict Ibrahimite doctrine, he guts much of the Order's remaining research budget. A Guild patrol encounters and destroys the Gulkan base at Hrun Mashada in the Rho Ophiuchi Nebula.
5800	The first Grand Federation microjump vessel developed since the Mech Plague undergoes testing on Z't'ti; the Grand Federation Primary races declare a monopoly on the microjump control system.
5801	Karl Turki, first and twice exiled King of Atlantis, dies on Bengal at age 3,596 and receives a state funeral officiated by the Emperor.
5802	A resurgence of Khaddahl raiding, cumulating on a raid on Idovall, brings Admiral Bir Landris to command of the Order of Valor base at Harmony.
5803	Admiral Bir Landris wins the Battle of Khaddahl, reestablishing peace between the Khalifate and the Khaddahl worlds. Casimir hosts the Orion Exposition.
5804	The Bengali Dominions bans all Servant Race blood games and criminalizes the culling of Servant Race individuals.
5805	On Timbuktu, initial occupation begins in the Fujaran Living City, designed to house ten million people; Star King Anwar plans three additional Living Cities on Timbuktu and another dozen on other worlds within the Star Kingdom.
5806	Admiral Bir Landris occupies the Dorian System in Sector 27, allegedly to suppress a "pro-Crusader" government, and forcefully incorporates both Dorian Major and Minor into the Khalifate.
5807	Herio Baen leaves Amada on his third pilgrimage to Hallowed; on this occasion the Vandar allow his entry and he returns from his audience with the Founders to write the first of the Disentropic Way's primary texts Journeys beyond Entropy.
5808	A conference on Focus develops guidelines for access to microjump technology by Secondary and Tertiary races but places strict export controls on the technology; the Merchant Guild's protest against the restrictions are ignored.
5809	The Bengali Dominions officially emancipates all remaining Servant Races, granting citizenship rights to all registered Servant Race members, though poverty and discrimination continues for many members of the various species. Kumar hosts the Orion Exposition, welcoming freed Bengali Servant Races as visitors and participants in a special ceremony hosted by FOO president Pak Hoort-Vellia.
5810	Khalif Fahd names Admiral Bir Landris Grandmaster of the Order of Valor and recalls him to the Order's new headquarters at New Deimos in Mars orbit.
5811	With the Khalif's approval, the Order of Generosity secures a monopoly with the Merchant Guild on trade of tsrill to the Khalifate, providing the first sanctioned form of life extension since the remaining supplies of pre-Plague Elixir became limited to the elite echelons of the Khalifate Orders.
5812	In forty-two sectors, the Bengali Dominions designates a single Class E world as a Servant Race reservation world, encouraging immigration and tolerating deportations of Servant Races to those marginal worlds.
5813	At Tigarvati, the Mendam Codominium Navy completes the 500m diameter gravstarship Stalwart; armed with twin Hellking-class disintegrators, thousands of drones and bays of strikers, this planet buster is meant as the ultimate deterrence against Dragon aggression.
5814	The Bengali liner Ulmeron Spirit disappears after an outbound jump from Silvanus, with all fifteen hundred aboard presumed lost.
5815	Thangorodrim hosts a controversial Orion Exposition focusing on Goblin themes, but avoids serious protests or confrontations.
5816	Mechanist Primal Alana Rezsha dies in the suspicious disintegration of her starship Black Diamond departing Myrland. After a contentious convention, the moderate Izak Braun becomes Primal of the Mechanist Church.
5817	The Zhantlas Union accepts a group of Gulkan political refugees, allowing them to settle Fadaros in Sector 757.
5818	Hai Gun Shan, director of the Thangorodrim Exposition, becomes the fiftieth President of the Federation of Orion and the second Goblin to hold the post.
5819	The Mendam Codominium Navy completes the first of twelve Teradrones, striker-sized drones with nearly twenty-five tons of onboard antimatter, capable of delivering over one teraton of explosive force.
5820	The Nachen Free State redevelops independent macrojump capability, launching the first of a fleet of 30m Emissary class armed diplomatic and trade vessels. The first of three "annual novas" occurs in Sector -4,-13,-5, though they are not noted at Rigel until 6273CE.
5821	The residents of the Osiran exile ship Water of Life intervene in a war between alliances of early industrial nations on Rattapindi, imposing Osiran rule on the world and declaring themselves the Sky Lords of Rattapindi. Norada hosts the Orion Exposition.
5822	The Grand Federation reestablishes a small shielded research base at Antares; it is staffed mostly by Zhretra researchers.
5823	Hussein Hassani, first son of Abdullah Hassani, future Khalif and great-great grandson of Khalif Fahd is born on Venus.
5824	Dragon raiders from the nations of Zrash and Vurdzhru attack Tigarvati in a failed attempt to destroy the Stalwart, triggering the Eleventh Dragon Frontier War. Mendam fleets counterattack and destroy most of the Zrash capital world of Khalmagora with a widely-condemned Teradrone strike on the world, killing six million Dragons and thirty million Human slaves. Hai Gun Shan wins reelection as President of the Federation of Orion in a landslide.
5825	After the Stalwart departs Tigarvati for an unknown Dragon target world, the Dragon coalition quickly collapses, though not before killing millions on a raid on Gashbanglman. The Zhantlas Union negotiates an armistice with between the Codominium and the Vurdzhru, effectively suspending major hostiles.
5826	The armistice between the Codominium and the Vurdzhru and its remaining allies collapses after two months as Rouge Defender and Dragon raids lead to general warfare. A Defender assault frees the Sector 773 world of Lacomba from its Zrash Dragon overlords and establishes the Lacomba Free Republic, later notorious as a base for DRO raiders. The Battle of Frunman Lun causes in heavy Mendam and Dragon casualties and the destruction of two Teradrone carriers and eventually results in a second, lasting armistice mediated by the Zhantlians.
5827	The Royal Institute of Advanced Studies on Irmingham develops a type IIc macrojump prototype engine, engaging in test jumps of up to thirty light years. Megacles hosts the Orion Exposition.
5828	The Khalifate annexes Kumarbi in Sector 10, helping two nations impose Ibrahimism on the rest of the Information Era world and establishes an Order of Valor base at the nearby "green star" Zubeneschamali.
5829	Bengali Emperor Talon survives an assassination bomb plot that kills thirty courtiers and guards; the leading Sovereign Rights Movement Gamti family of Bengal is discovered to be the source of the conspiracy and face arrest and trial.
5830	Responding to political pressure, the Mendam Codominium officially frees the small numbers of subjugated Servant Races within its space and establishes the failed Sector 373 colony world of Tantrenara as a reservation, though the decree includes no funding for relocation.
5831	Count Aki Gamti and eight members of his family face execution for the attempted assassination of Bengali Emperor Talon; fifteen others receive permanent detention.
5832	The Stalwart returns to Tigarvati, berthing in a reinforced base in the outer system. The Order of Truth supervises the voluntary annexation of Adrian in Sector 54, the first southern world incorporated into the Khalifate.
5833	Jozef Merk, a Ibrahimite thought to be associated with the Order of Purity, detonates an antimatter charge on Myrland, destroying large portions of the Vashon Cathedral complex and killing Mechanist Primal Izak Braun and nine thousand others.
5834	The moderate Lev Gharma-Furelli becomes the new Mechanist Primal, vowing to build a new grand cathedral complex at Auglan on Myrdahl and denouncing all violence and suicide actions.
5835	The Guild liner Fantazim, carrying eight hundred passengers and valuable cargo disappears after departing Arbella in Sector 690.
5836	The so-called Sixth Crusade of Mechanists against the Khalifate begins with an attack on Helene, but the struggle is mostly noted as a series of pirate and terrorist attacks on outlying Khalifate military and civilian targets.
5837	The Sector 29 world of Amber opens its orbital and lunar spaceport up to Crusader vessels after expelling Khalifate missionaries and merchants.
5838	Severn Space Systems of Irmingham produces the first production type IIc macrojump vessel, the Avenger class frigate.
5839	An Order of Valor Fleet under the command of Admiral Ali Altimar Huganan defeats a major Crusader fleet at the Battle of Amber and forces the world's surrender.
5840	Khalif Fahd authorizes the forceful subjection of the three billion inhabitants of early fusion era Amber, complete with orbital bombardments, troop landings and mass forced conversion; over eighty million Amberites die in the campaign.
5841	The Crusader planetbuster Pavl's Revenge emerges at the Orphean Star Kingdom world of Galahad, requesting resupply and repair assistance. Orphean authorities seize the vessel and negotiate safe passage for the surviving Crusaders, averting a diplomatic crisis with the Khalifate.
5842	The repaired Pavl's Revenge sets off on a journey to Orpheus, crewed by Orphean personnel. Star Queen Gale of Albus abdicates, citing poor health after her regeneration; her grandniece Mist succeeds her.
5843	Operation Compliance, a decades long undercover action against anti-Abolitionist and possibly secessionist Bengali Nobilis and Futaris ends, netting thousands of arrests for treason and conspiracy; eventually over three hundred leading Nobilis and Futaris face execution and two thousand face permanent detention for crimes against the Dominions.
5844	The Khalifate Order of Valor occupies and annexes Gilgamesh in Sector 25, defeating a Crusader squadron and establishing a forward military base.
5845	The Orion Exposition returns to the Great Nebular City; the murder of the Swarm ambassador and the uncovering of a slave smuggling operation spoils the grand festivities and poisons the administration of President Horst Kindaran.
5846	Prince Arik, grandson of Star King Anson of Markham, leads a relief expedition to Aaron, helping to reconstitute the Freedom League.
5847	The renewed Octopod Civility opens diplomatic relations with the Zhantlas Union and establishes a diplomatic post on Talendir.
5848	The Star Kingdom Confederation military begins an unsuccessful search for the Pavl's Revenge, overdue at Orpheus. Federation of Orion President Horst Kindaran, beset by scandal, abruptly withdraws from his faltering reelection campaign, effectively conceding victory to Lydia van Brosk.
5849	Queen Arlena of Aeon, mother of Emperor Talon dies of natural causes at age 1,010; the title passes to Alena Domikal, who in turn names her niece Margrette Countess Westeron on Mare. An assassination plot against Emperor Talon is foiled hours before his mother's funeral on Aeon.
5850	The Star Kingdom of Orpheus denies refueling rights to a Crusader squadron, prompting a Mechanist backlash against King Arnos, but maintaining peace with the Khalifate.
5851	Osiran settlers abandon the faltering Western Sun over Armaghillis, maintaining it as a sprawling Guild-controlled geosynchronous spaceport above the Osiran-ruled early fusion era world.
5852	The Sixth Crusade effectively ends after the Order of Valor destroys the last hidden Crusader base in Sector 37.
5853	Star King Arnos survives an antimatter assassination attempt on Orpheus that destroys much of the city of Oeagrus and kills over fifty thousand people; Mechanists Crusaders receive blame for the attack, causing the Star Kingdom Confederation to close its borders and stations to all Crusader traffic.
5854	Herio Baen completes the second of the Disentropic Way's primary texts, Reflections and Revisions. Helma Zho becomes Federation of Orion President after Lydia van Brosk falls victim to the continuing Exposition Scandals that claimed her predecessor.
5855	Hussein Hassani enters the Order of Valor as an Initiate officer on the staff of Grandmaster Bir Landris and saves Landris' life during an accident in Jupiter orbit near Almathea.
5856	Thoth and Khronos and officially break from the League of Vulcan to join the Alimeen Confederacy; Gladsheim joins the Confederacy and expels the Order of Valor from their patrol base in its system.
5857	Assassins kill Duchess Leia Hoosh of Murukan and her husband Count Alman Domikal of Vedero at their Vedero estate on Mare; a cabal ultra-conservative Nobilis are eventually charged and executed for the plot. Jonas Domikal takes his mother's title as Duke of Murukan; Malcolm Domikal receives his grandfather's title as Count Vedero.
5858	The Star Kingdom of Orpheus comes to the aid of the five hundred million citizens of Elsinore in Sector 28; struck by a large comet, their late industrial era world slips into a caustic ice age.
5859	Order of Generosity ships clash with the Orphean Royal Navy over Elsinore; from this crisis, diplomats craft a stronger border treaty between the Khalifate and Star Kingdoms and sign it at Heshar.
5860	The Khalifate annexes Bilqis, the old Imperial Sector 10 capital, a thriving pro-Ibrahimite mid fusion era world.
5861	Star Queen Fatima of Tesla dies in a household accident; her great-grandson Alred becomes the unanimously elected Star King of Tesla.
5862	The Khalifate annexes Bangsamoro in Sector 25, establishing an Order of Valor military depot on the late industrial era Ibrahimite world.
5863	Bengali Emperor Talon celebrates his thousandth birthday in a yearlong festival on Bengal. The Merchant Guild installs Harvin Major as Lord President of Nachen, enlisting aid from the macrojump capable world to patrol the Antaran region.
5864	Star King Alred orders the complete conversion of the Teslan military to robotic and Android troops under the command of Human officers.
5865	Nearly two dozen starships set out from the Star Kingdom of Markham to settle and strengthen worlds in the Freedom League in Sectors 402 and 404.
5866	The Khalifate forcefully annexes Ophelia in Sector 28, claiming the atomic era world by right under the Heshar Treaty of 5859CE; Hussein Hassani commands a battalion of occupation troops that suffers heavy casualties before gaining control of the coastal city of Laertes.
5867	The Swarm and the Merchant Guild sign a trade agreement, opening Swarm 142 in Sector 111 to Guild trade.
5868	Prince Arik of Markham leads a fleet to the Freedom League, traveling to N'Cheeta and raiding the Rootjalik home system.
5869	The Turgil resettle their failed colony of Farnobal in Sector 776, establishing an exploration, trading and recontact base in orbit around the world.
5870	Human traders demand access and settlement rights to Servant Race reservation worlds in the Bengali Dominions and appeal to the Adjudicator Corps after the Imperial bureaucracy ignores their claims.
5871	The world of Dragonfly hosts a trade fair, bringing in Alimeen, Khzraut, Guild, and Teslan traders from various Sector 105 worlds.
5872	A Merchant Guild trading expedition to Hortense meets hostility from Turgil and Markham traders, withdrawing after Hortense's defense forces expel the Guild representatives.
5873	Citing decades of reduced internal unrest, Khalif Fahd constricts the size of the Order of Purity's paramilitary forces and appoints Lamar Rufan as Grandmaster, instructing him to develop the internal and external intelligence capabilities of the Order.
5874	A Merchant Guild fleet raids the Khaddahl Sector 104 world of Kharzardhul, destroying a pirate operation working in conjunction with the local government.
5875	The Zhantlas Navy occupies Yarvallis in Sector 366 to suppress DRO pirate activity along the Grand Federation Border.
5876	Count Malcolm Domikal marries Lady Jazimin Shrump, daughter of the new Duke of Esperance and accepts a position as Ambassador to the Star Kingdom Confederation, taking his new bride and entourage with him to Lanander.
5877	Canterbury joins the Khalifate, becoming the two hundredth Khalifate system and providing the Order of Valor with a foothold in Sector 39.
5878	Khalifate and Swarm negotiators sign the Treaty of Bliqis, establishing border and transit arrangements in Sector 10 and instituting a joint blockade of the xenophobic early fusion era Quadron world of Hrabutl.
5879	Dragon raiders hijack a Zhantlian transport and crash it into the Fazzi military spaceport at Ruszhane, destroying eight warships and killing over three thousand in an anti-matter detonation; no Dragon Nation or Pride accepts responsibility for the action, which results in expansion of military exclusion zones and strict border policies by both the Zhantlian Customs Service and Mendam Star Guard.
5880	Teslan Star King Alred funds the independent Horn Spaceport complex in orbit around Dragonfly; Dragonfly declares itself an open trade world.
5881	The Phase Winter, a sudden microbe-induced slip into an ice age, affects the world of Benson during its hosting of the Orion Exposition; though events and exhibits remain open for a full three months, deteriorating weather conditions disrupt many of the proceedings.
5882	Bengali Emperor Talon accepts a much-appealed Adjudicator Corps ruling that effectively opens all fifty Servant Race reservation worlds to unrestricted trade and settlement and removes official restrictions on Servant Race migration and economic rights.
5883	A Khald'aron science team counteracts the Phase Winter on Benson, arresting the accelerating growth of glaciers, but falling to restart two major ocean circulation currents; investigators suspect "deliberate actions" had influenced the microbes responsible for triggering albedo shifts and methane sequestration.
5884	The Swarm Republic and the Bengali Dominions update The Treaty of White Wind Drift to allow greater co-utilization of spaceports and civilian bases in each other's increasingly overlapping territories; a technology sharing agreement amended to the provisions greatly increases trade between the two states.
5885	The Khalifate annexes the Ibrahimite world of Agincourt on the near edge of Sector 80, naming the local Khalif, Robert Ball, as governor of the world.
5886	Star King Anson of Markham dies after a failed regeneration; his grandson Arik becomes Star King of Markham after a unanimous election. Alman Domikal, son of Count Aaron and Lady Jazim is born on Lanander.
5887	A large section of the lower span of the Centauri Ring suffers structural failure and decompression, killing over nine thousand Altantian citizens.
5888	A sentient systems plague takes over the distributed datanets on the Mendam Codominium world of Baden, killing thousands in accidents and deliberate acts, as the world's police forces struggle to regain control of the world's data systems; the local Star Guard and a Codominium Navy detachment finally aid in raids and surgical strikes that disable the plague. The Mendam Codominium adopts regulations for independent audits of sentient machine system operating parameters.
5889	The Governor of Atlantis orders a full civilian evacuation of the Centauri Ring, citing continuing maintenance problems; six million people resettle to the Atlantian surface; the three-tiered ring remains in service and a spaceport of the Orders of Valor and Purity.
5890	Constance hosts a Dominions Games designed to revive flagging interest in the Expositions outside the Bengali Dominions, though the elaborate effort achieves that goal, excessively bloody Android Blood Sports prove more popular than the more subdued cultural and technological exhibits.
5891	Star King Arik of Markham sends his two granddaughters to intern with the Merchant Guild as exploratory trade captains; he allows the Guild to establish four trade bases in Markham-supervised border Sectors.
5892	Vanidar Singh of Luminous completes his epic first edition of History of the Race of Humanity, considered the most comprehensive and non-partisan chronology review of Humanity from the beginnings of sentience to the current period.
5893	The Nobilis-ruled Kingdom of Adonis regains macrojump capability, launching an expedition to neighboring Gargantuan and establishing the late industrial era world as a fief of the nascent Sector 39 Adonis Star Kingdom.
5894	Citing funding and pressures from Merchant Guild and Star Kingdom Naval Services, the Recontact Service folds after six hundred years of operation and after recontacting nearly six hundred mostly trailing worlds,
5895	Abdullah Hassani resigns as Grandmaster of the Order of Enlightenment, retiring to Venus to study sea life in the deep oceans.
5896	With Merchant Guild permission, the Nachen Star Navy establishes a forward base on the jovian moon Farjack Gamma in the Morris system.
5897	Unidentified Dragon attackers launch a coordinated antimatter drone attack and destroy the Stalwart planetbuster and its outer Tigarvati system base.
5898	The IAK sponsors the first Knowledge Exposition on Orpheus, drawing scholars and Technologists from trailing and coreward sector worlds; based on the Fair's success, the organizers purchase a permanent pavilion, vowing to repeat the fair at ten year intervals.
5899	Kumar host the Orion Exposition, featuring historical themes inspired by the popularity of Vanidar Singh's works.
5900	The Adonis Star Kingdom invades Quirinus, capturing a Khalifate Order of Generosity merchantman during the invasion of the atomic era world.
5901	The Order of Valor raids Quirinus, overrunning the Adonis occupation fleet and destroying the citadel of Lord Governor Duke Thomas Gelt; Quirinus accepts Khalifate protection, but the diverse population does not embrace Ibrahimism.
5902	Silvanus hosts the Dominions Games, highlighting the flora, genetically engineered for beauty, that covers the world.
5903	Herio Baen completes the third and final Disentropic Way text, The Road Beyond and dedicates the Great Library on Tetraluna. The Order of Valor attacks Gargantuan and Adonis, liberating the former and placing it under Khalifate protection, and bombarding the latter, destroying its macrojump industrial capacity.
5904	A revolutionary movement on mid industrial Rattapindi overthrows the Osiran Sky Lords, seizing shuttles and weapons and overrunning the Water of Life, crippling and eventually abandoning the orbiting exile ship, the victors declare themselves the Sky Killers of Rattapindi and form a repressive ruling junta little different from the Sky Lords.
5905	By order of Khalif Fahd, the Order of Purity begins a covert conversion of the Sector 39 worlds of Quirinus and Gargantuan, using imported VR equipment and Benalfira.
5906	Federation of Orion President Glena Fajalam dies in an accidental drowning in her quarters, her Vice President, the reclusive Bevin Zhu, becomes President.
5907	Anti-Goblin rioting and a subsequent pogrom on Paradise kill thousands of Goblins and other Servant Race citizens but leads to few arrests.
5908	The Order of Valor invades, besieges and ultimately forces the surrender of Adonis, forcefully incorporating the world, executing its Nobilis leadership, sterilizing its Variants and beginning a forced Ibrahimite conversion of the remaining four billion residents. The Turgil resettle the failed colony world of Lashmeer in Sector 328.
5909	The Rising, a revolt of sentient robotic and Android machine intelligences begins on the Sector 391 world of Benzig in the Bengali Dominion; the machines name themselves The Risen and seize control of the planetary system at its two hundred million biological inhabitants, fighting off one Bengali Navy attack and further infecting some retreating vessels.
5910	The Rising spreads across the Rimward extent of the Bengali Dominions overrunning Caldera and a dozen other worlds, spreading into the Federation of Orion at Karnak and Kumar. Bengal military units attack Risen defensive installations in five systems and thwart an attempted extermination of biologicals on Tywyn. Emperor Talon orders behavioral restrictions and mandatory reprogramming of all machine sentients within the Bengal Dominions. Risen on Kumar peacefully protest for full Sentient Rights, shutting down many nonessential functions in a planet-wide strike. Rumors of The Rising dominate the second Knowledge Exposition on Orpheus.
5911	After scattered Risings across the Bengali Dominions are put down by Bengali forces and targeted cyberplagues, mandatory reprogramming ends the threat of machine revolution within the Dominions. Risen machines on Kumar pass the Sentience Tests and demand full rights within Federation of Orion; Rohan Norgalas successfully arbitrates between the Risen and Federation President Bevin Zhu, establishing rights and rules for machine sentients in the Federation of Orion.
5912	Bengali and Orion fleets mobilize in a crisis over the Bengali "genocide" of sentient machines, with war averted only after biological citizens in the Federation protest against potential machine dominance. The Risen spread to portions of the Star Kingdoms, protesting for rights on worlds in the Kingdoms of Lanander and Markham.
5913	Great Queen Elayne of the Star Kingdoms establishes special rights, but not full equality for machine intelligences within the Lanander Star Kingdom, but Star King Arik of Markham and several other leaders condemn the Risen, combating them with "Bengali measures".
5914	After violent clashes on the Markham world of Fetermann leave millions of biologicals dead, and scattered strikes across the Star Kingdoms of Tesla, Albus and Timbuktu cripple the economy, the Star Kingdoms adopt the Protocols of Resnik, providing limited rights to machine sentients. Bevin Zhu wins reelection to the FOO Presidency after a disputed election.
5915	A machine Rising on Resnik, demanding full citizen rights, meets a harsh response from Star Queen Elayne, with the Risen quickly overrun and destroyed or reprogrammed. Bengali Goblin leader Faran Dzruzo leads a fleet of seven aging vessels to the failed Sector 380 colony world of Lamonde, the first of seven independent Goblin worlds in the trailing regions settled by former Bengali Goblins.
5916	The Khalifate world of Adrian suffers a series of catastrophic undersea volcanic eruptions, devastating the coastal areas and flooding the atmosphere with carbon dioxide.
5917	The Khalifate formally incorporates the covertly converted worlds of Quirinus and Gargantuan after their citizens overwhelmingly request the annexations. The Order of Enlightenment supervises successful relief and climate control efforts on Adrian, though the death toll still exceeds five million.
5918	The Zhretra meet with representatives of the Risen at Tashera, offering them protection as a Tertiary race within the Grand Federation.
5919	Scattered Risings occur on coreward worlds within the influence of the Merchant Guild; the Guild adopts rules baring the Risen from Guild employment and limiting the capabilities of its own machine sentients, but takes no formal position on Machine Rights.
5920	The Mendam Codominium proactively limits and reprograms all sentient machines within its territory, preventing the emergence of the Risen. The Grand Federation narrowly allows the Tertiary status of the Risen, over Eenikiti and Dantum objections.
5921	Khalif Fahd approves an expansion of Grandmaster Lamar Rufan's covert conversion programs, assigning cadres of Order of Purity agents to missions of the Orders of Truth and Generosity.
5922	The Zhantlas Union adopts Zhretra protocols for the acceptance of the Risen as a separate machine race within the Union. The third Knowledge Exposition on Orpheus suffers from lackluster attendance, forcing the IAK to sell half the pavilion grounds and devise more modest future Expositions.
5923	The Star Kingdoms proclaim the Ban of Orpheus, a treaty blocking all trade with the Khalifate in response to coercive conversion methods.
5924	B'dr'rak raiders attack and destroy an Order of Generosity trade convoy at the First Battle of Sargas in Sector 144. The Merchant Guild signs the Ban of Orpheus, though compliance remains spotty.
5925	Rootjalik defenders fight off a Freedom League raid on their home system, capturing two starships.
5926	The Star Kingdom of Tesla becomes the first Star Kingdom to allow full citizenship rights for Heretics; other Star Kingdoms eventually follow suit but all clarify rules strictly limiting Risen rights. Lincoln Zho, nephew and Vice president of Bevin Zho, wins election to the Presidency of the FOO.
5927	An order of Valor punitive expedition fails to eradicate B'dr'rak activity at Sargas and retreats to Canterbury with substantial causalities. A Fleet from the Star Kingdom of Markham raids the Rootjalik system, destroying much of the world's spacefaring ability and rescuing surviving Freedom League prisoners.
5928	After a number of documented uncontrolled replications by Risen Federation of Orion citizens, the FOO passes legislation limiting the reproductive rights of the Risen.
5929	Admiral Hussein Hassani leads an Order of Valor task force to victory at the Third Battle of Sargas, scattering the B'dr'rak fleet and destroying their three bases orbiting the giant star.
5930	The Seventh Crusade begins with a raid on Ophelia in Sector 28; covertly supported by the Merchant Guild and the Star Kingdoms, Crusader raiders begin to target economic and military targets along the Khalifate's coreward and trailing borders.
5931	Technologist philosopher Vren Khumabaridal suggests inclusion of Heretics within the Technologist faith, an idea condemned by most other Technologist leaders; a conclave on Orpheus excommunicates Khumabaridal, leading to the Technologist Schism.
5932	A court challenge overturns the Federation of Orion limitations on Risen reproduction, but inspires a universal law limiting citizen's reproductive rights within the FOO; despite widespread protests, the requirement for permits to produce offspring is eventually upheld.
5933	Order of Valor squadrons jump to the Alimeen Confederacy worlds of Wafting Breeze and Thoth, threatening attack in response to Crusader use of the systems' facilities; the ships withdraw after pressure from the Bengali Dominions and Swarm Republic, who guarantee Alimeen Confederacy neutrality.
5934	Emperor Talon announces a thirty year plan to convert the Dominions to the Orion Calendar, though retaining the Nobilis Era year enumeration. The fourth Knowledge Exposition on Orpheus ends in tumult after a riot erupts during a speech by Vren Khumabaridal; the subsequent destruction of six Heretic Avatars by Technologist and Mechanist fundamentalists and the burning of the main IAK offices at the pavilion bring the last Technology Exposition to an ignoble end.
5935	Emperor Talon sponsors Lord Haldran Singh's Southern Expedition to search for Nobilis-dominated worlds suitable for incorporation in the Dominions.
5936	Singh's Southern Expedition enters the Noel System in Sector 202; the Nobilis-dominated late fusion era world relies on a slave population of Servant Races, complicating efforts to incorporate it in the Dominions.
5937	A private investigation implicates former FOO president Bevin Zhu in the death of his predecessor, Glena Fajalam, the resultant arrest and pending trial splits and cripples Lincoln Zhu's Inclusion Coalition party.
5938	Bevin Zhu receives a sentence of permanent detention after his conviction of Glena Fajalam's murder and Lincoln Zhu leaves office clouded in controversy, his party splintered and the FOO presidency going to Leena Galmo-Balt and her Nebular Party.
5939	Noel joins the Bengali Dominions under the rule of King Horvan III after a treaty that requires the gradual emancipation of Servant Races and their replacement with Androids and Constructs over a twenty year span.
5940	An Order of Valor fleet commanded by Admiral Hussein Hassani wins the Battle of Dyson, scattering a major Crusader fleet and occupying the world. Lord Alman Domikal travels to the Great Nebular City as head of the delegation to the upcoming Exposition.
5941	The Orion Exposition returns to the Great Nebular City after nearly one hundred years, the well executed Exposition is marred by the attempted assassination of President Leena Galmo-Balt.
5942	Count Malcolm Domikal becomes the Dominions ambassador to the Federation of Orion, taking up residence in the Great Nebular City.
5943	Over Orphean objections, the Khalifate incorporates Dyson after a forceful conversion of its population; the Order of Purity destroys shrines dedicated to Marshal Hurik Adannan.
5944	Former FOO President Lincoln Zhu commits suicide rather than submit to arrest for conspiracy in the assassination attempt against Leena Galmo-Balt, who handily wins her reelection.
5945	The Mendam Codominium launches a series of strikes against Dragon raider outposts in Sectors 735 and 737; these minor battles become known as War 11.5 and produce a number of prominent Codominium naval leaders including future Admiral Djurmalash Humburmuras.
5946	The Warrior Plague originates on Aeneas and quickly spreads to dozens of Dominions worlds, eventually killing hundreds of millions of Warriors and causing sterility among nearly a third of all Amazons.
5947	Luminous hosts the Orion Exposition, a notably scholarly event, best remembered for its sophisticated historical recreations.
5948	Responding to pirate activity, a Mendam Codominium task force destroys the DRO base on Lacomba and incorporates the world into the Codominium under military rule.
5949	An Order of Valor fleet attacks the Thera system, skirmishing with Guild defensive forces in an attempt to locate and destroy Crusader outposts.
5950	Published studies within the Bengali Dominions highlight the drastic decline in Nobilis fertility, even supplemented with artificial conception and Rymar stabilization, and predict negative population growth within centuries.
5951	Irmingham Star King Martin III survives an assassination attempt that kills seven others; investigators blame Risen Androids for the attack, destroying the offending units and triggering a pogrom against sentient machines that spreads across the Star Kingdoms.
5952	Order of Valor ships commanded by Admiral Hussein Hassani win the Battle of Melkart, conquering the Sector 144 world and destroying thee major Crusader bases, uncovering disavowed links to Guild supporters and effectively ending the Seventh Crusade.
5953	The Futaris Calderan scientist Bergman Vrelma receives wide acclaim for curing the Warrior Plague, but soon admits to being the originator of the virus and commits suicide.
5954	The Treaty of Othello, signed by the Merchant Guild and Order of Valor Grandmaster Bir Landris, establishes a coreward border plane two hundred light years from Sol and results in renewed trade between the Khalifate and the Merchant Guild; the Khalifate retains control of Melkart, but allows the Guild to construct a trade base in the system atop the ruins of a Crusader outpost at Hanno Lun.
5955	Admiral Hussein Hassani retires after a century of Order of Valor service, establishing an estate in North Hellas on Mars.
5956	Bengal hosts the Dominions Games at the newly created Bengal Bowl, a giant basin carved out of a mountain near the Uplands Palace complex.
5957	After an attack by free Risen and Gulkan pilots targets the Urschma Drift and the Osiran Ship of Hope, a Merchant Guild task force enters the Yarvallis system, skirmishing with Zhantlian forces; mediation by Faztulu-based Zhretra diplomats averts war between the Zhantlas Union and the Merchant Guild and leads to stricter Zhantlian controls on armed vessels.
5958	Escaping persecution, Vren Khumabaridal emigrates to the Zhantlas Union, bringing many of his followers with him to establish the Free Technologist movement.
5959	Norris hosts the Orion Exposition in the Crystal MetaTube, a specially-build ten kilometer-long cylindrical habitat composed of seven independently rotating levels within a transparent crystalline shell.
5960	Storms devastate the northern hemisphere of Lemuria, overwhelming weather control stations; the local Order of Enlightenment offices request assistance as four major cities suffer catastrophic flooding and over a million inhabitants perish; local Order of Ibrahim firebrand Sheik Avid Roosa declares the catastrophe a punishment for impiety and leads riots against the Order of Enlightenment's offices.
5961	The Order of Purity restores order on Lemuria and burns Sheik Avid Roosa as a heretic; Order of Enlightenment technicians stabilize the weather on the world.
5962	Khalif Fahd Hassani dies on Terra, his grandson becomes Khalif Mohammed IV, promising a more tolerant and outward focus for the Terran Khalifate, though bureaucratic resistance diminishes his half-hearted reforms.
5963	Emperor Talon celebrates his eleven hundredth birthday on Bengal, commemorating the occasion with an address focusing on peace, tolerance and prosperity for his realm, now exceeding six hundred member worlds. The aging Bir Landris resigns as Grandmaster of the Order of Valor, accepting retirement on Dorian Minor.
5964	Khalif Mohammed IV replaces Order of Purity Grandmaster Lamar Rufan and orders the termination of covert conversion projects, removing operatives from missionary and trade missions.
5965	Khalid Vrem becomes Grandmaster of the Order of Truth, promising to send "one million missionaries" to convert worlds beyond the Khalifate.
5966	Timbuktu completes its Green Beanstalk, a living orbital tower topped by a Living City spaceport complex named the Giant's Realm.
5967	Herio Baen clarifies his position on Machine Intelligence, accepting the Heretics and Risen as prospective members of his movement toward transcendence, but warning against the False Path of Machine Utopia.
5968	Renegade Warriors and Android Risen gain control of the Bengali world of Dorgun and begin Warrior-piloted raids on other rimward Bengali worlds.
5969	The Risen, aided by Warriors, Amazons, Casaps and Goblins continue raids on Bengali worlds; the Bengali Navy retakes Dorgun and releases a mutated Warrior Plague, eventually killing hundred of millions of Warriors and sterilizing billions of Amazons.
5970	Warriors and Risen devastate Larno in Sector 160, killing over ten million citizens before retreating. Scattered Risen raids continue across the Bengali Dominions, though more stringent software controls prevent further Risings from spontaneously occuring.
5971	An underground movement, known as the Lemurian Immolates, assassinates Lemuria's governor, Sheik Khalid Grossak and call upon the people of Lemuria to embrace a Purification Jihad; the Order of Purity isolates the world and conducts a campaign of mass arrests and reprogramming to contain the heresy.
5972	Count Malcolm Domikal becomes the Dominions ambassador to the Khalifate, establishing a residence in the isolated Abomination Quarter, a series of arcologies outside Byzantium reserved for Aliens and foreigners.
5973	After a series of massive flares, the Grand Federation again abandons its research base at Antares. The Bengali Dominions celebrate twelve hundred years since incorporation with festivities at the Bengal Bowl.
5974	The Bengali Navy destroys the last major Risen base at the Battle of White's Spear. Emperor Talon proclaims new Machine Laws to limit artificial sentience and to control Android programming.
5975	Lemurian Immolates attempt to destroy the Abomination Quarter on Terra, but kill only a few Order of Purity Guards before being killed or captured; Khalif Mohammed IV orders a Khalifate-wide effort to eradicate the Immolates and appoints counterintelligence chief Roto Jalman as Grandmaster of the Order of Purity.
5976	The Guild liner Favan Light disappears en route from the Teslan world of Arda to Dragonfly; nine hundred crew and passengers plus a valuable cargo of open fabrication controllers remain lost.
5977	A Turgil survey expedition to their failed colony world of Hemmalog in Sector 192 encounters a long dormant Rootjalik-developed bioplague; all fifty explorers die, leaving an automated warning beacon in orbit around the world.
5978	The Khald'aron Republic invites the Federation of Orion Vanguard to establish a permanent presence at Rigel.
5979	The Nachen Star Navy occupies and fortifies the abandoned Grand Federation research outpost at Antares.
5980	Oceanus hosts an entirely submerged Dominions Games in a complex of crystalline domes set amidst the world's shallow seas.
5981	Nelson Baen, son of the Disentropic Way leader, and his entourage travel deep into the Grand Federation on a pilgrimage, receiving an audience with the Founders.
5982	Yerman starships destroy the Freedom League base at Yassoprin in Sector 428 in retaliation for a rebuffed trading expedition into Yerman Space.
5983	Nelson Baen and his party charter two T'zet microjump vessels and depart from Fundra Portage, vanishing on an attempted crossing of the rift toward the Sagittarius Arm. Shan hosts the Orion Exposition, noted for the Artistic Displays of Machines pavilions, intended to lessen prejudice against the Risen.
5984	The Bengali Dominions begins official usage of the Orion Calendar with the dawn of year 3680NE. Star King Arik of Markham gifts four obsolete frigates to the Freedom League capital at Aaron.
5985	!Tak starships attack Farquhar in Sector 142, marking a resurgence in !Tak raider activity; the Merchant Guild dispatches a small squadron to protect the atomic era world.
5986	The Dominions Games return to Glorious, centered on the high plateau of the Blue Sky basin, the venues offer spectacular views of the surrounding cluster and nebula.
5987	Grandmaster Roto Jalman announces that the Order of Purity has eliminated the last Lemurian Immolates; three weeks later an Immolate detonates an antimatter charge on the Grandmaster's cruiser, killing all aboard; Khalif Mohammed IV names Jalik Shu to replace Jalman and increases funding for public surveillance.
5988	Merchant Guild captain Rosario Clark, aboard the Wanton Stranger, makes the first documented sighting of an unknown wormdrive vessel, dubbed the White Rabbit, while leaving the Durmtaran Drift in Sector 797; most observers belief it is a Founder vessel, but conspiracy theories abound.
5989	The Orion Exposition returns to Kumar after ninety years, featuring a complete recreation of both the world's earliest settlement and a city of the early years of the Betelgeuse Union.
5990	The Khalifate absorption of Ninurta, an Ibrahimite world in Sector 16, leads the Star Kingdom of Orpheus to establish a military and commercial base at nearby Bifrost. Immolates hijack a transport out of Ganymede, attempting to ram it into the Order of Purity base at Himalia, but defensive fire destroys the craft and fifty hostages before impact.
5991	Bengali traders enter the Sector 55 Herschel system find the industrial age world suffering from the effects of a recent cometary strike, with failing biodiversity and a nascent ice age; the world accepts Dominions membership in return for aid in restoring the climate.
5992	Favo Burns of Orpheus publishes his Ancient Gateways, detailing reports of covert Imperial usage of the Gatebuilder Network. Bengali Emperor Talon celebrates his nine hundredth jubilee at the Dominions Games on Paradise.
5993	A Merchant Guild armed trading expedition sets of from Farquhar to recontact worlds in Sectors 161 and 394, encounters scattered bands of !Tak raiders and destroys two !Tak outposts; few new trading opportunities arise from the expedition.
5994	The Order of Purity destroys an Immolate base on Akkad, killing or capturing the remaining leadership of the movement.
5995	The Orion Exposition at Fastig, in shared Khald'aron space, features high Khald'aron participation and an emphasis on esoteric art forms.
5996	The terraformed world of Nova Blanca in the White Wind system suffers a severe fungal blight, forcing much of the population to retreat to the White Wind Drift habitat and the White Light Promethean exile ship.
5997	After four starship captains in three coreward sectors report sightings of the White Rabbit, the Merchant Guild begins a systematic and ultimately unsuccessful search for the vessel.
5998	The Risen Shalik Goalseeker runs in the Federation of Orion Presidential election, finishing second to former Vice President Helena Groothe.
5999	Elias Carr leads the team that defeats the Nova Blanc Blight, allowing the population to return to the recovering world.
6000	Vanidar Singh releases the second edition of his History of the Race of Humanity, announcing the incorporation of the Singh Historical Foundation on Luminous, dedicated to compiling historical data and publishing annual addendums and centennial new editions of the historical encyclopedia.
6001	Thermidor has the honor of holding the Millennial Orion Exposition, an event with the highest turnout in Exposition history and drawing visitors from as far away as the Grand Federation of Races.
6002	Star King Arik of Markham sends his grandson Prince Allan and three frigates to the Freedom League to protect the worlds against growing B'dr'rak threats.
6003	The great rogue comet Shiva, over eighty kilometers across, enters the Regina system, on course to strike the Sector 7 world; the Bengali Navy diverts the comet into the sun.
6004	Great Queen Elaine dies of Natani poisoning; her son becomes Otto V, Star King of Lanander and Great King of the Confederation. Otto V and likeminded leaders begin to conspire to weaken Merchant Guild influence on the Confederation's economy.
6005	Prince Allan defeats B'dr'rak raiders and destroys their gas giant orbiting base at the Battle of Ras Tulunda in Sector 399. The great comet Shiva strikes the sun of Regina after briefly flaring to nearly match the star's brilliance.
6006	Lanander customs officials seize the Guild bulk freighter Feuerman Swift, charging the crew with tax evasion and smuggling; relations between the Merchant Guild and the Star Kingdoms begin to deteriorate.
6007	The Swarm Republic resumes colonization efforts, resettling the failed colony world of Swarm 186 in Sector 387. Hegel hosts the Orion Exposition, an event most noted for the first draft of the Egalitarian Manifesto, the founding document of the post-materialist Phoenix Party.
6008	Antares flares, damaging the Nachen Star Navy facility in orbit and destroying one escort; visiting Kith'turi researchers provide assistance to the survivors on the base until a relief expedition from Nachen arrives.
6009	Otto V announces the seizure of all Merchant Guild assets in the Star Kingdom Confederation. Confederation naval units attack Guild bases, killing Guild personnel. Markham alone supports the Guild and Stark King Arik leads the counterattack against the Great King. Guild-sponsored guerilla warfare begins on many Star Kingdom worlds and client states.
6010	Otto V's fleet sacks Markham and executes King Arik after a lopsided battle. The Guild continues attacks against Star Kingdom facilities and Nachen volunteers join the attack, raiding outlying Teslan client worlds from their forward base in the Morris system. Fyat Industries on Khandi in the Star Kingdom of Tannberg begins producing synthetic tsrill extract.
6011	Adam II, a grandnephew of Arik, becomes Great King of Markham after a contested election and proclaims neutrality in the struggle between Otto V and the Merchant Guild.
6012	A Merchant Guild fleet occupies the Dragonfly system, seizing control of the Horn Spaceport, but withdraws under Alimeen and Khzraut pressure to maintain the system's neutrality.
6013	Fyat Industries removes synthetic tsrill extract from the market, citing numerous severe reactions and deaths. Prince Allan returns to Markham with his small fleet; after failing to overthrow his cousin, Adam II, he and his followers flee to Aaron.
6014	Free Technologist leader Vren Khumabaridal voluntarily undergoes a Heretic transformation, forgoing regeneration therapy. Otto V leads his fleet to victory over a Guild force at the Battle of Daemos.
6015	Merchant Guild operatives use a concealed bomb to assassinate Otto V and many of his supporters at a rally on Lanander. Otto's great-grandnephew Jargaen becomes Star King Jargaen I of Lanander after Guild pressure on the surviving Lanander electors; the other Star Kings reluctantly install Jargaen as Great King, but continued unrest forces the Guild to slowly abandon its monopoly on internal Confederation trade.