The Era of Slow Expansion

6016-6202CE

Overview

The so-called Era of Slow Expansion represented a period mostly devoid of major political or cultural upheavals or of major conflicts between states.  Even in this period, the Star Kingdoms Confederation suffered internal unrest as political consensus faltered and to the spinward, the Dragon Frontier region remained engulfed in periodic warfare, but mostly, the early centuries of the Seventh Millennium were a period of marked by gradual expansion of established interstellar states.

In the Coreward Region, Merchant Guild dominance continued, though the continued emergence of some interstellar worlds, such as Nachen, Thera, Dragonfly and the Dhjarlapanor worlds proved that the Guild ban on Interstellar Age technological trading was not preventing the independent emergence of Interstellar Age societies.  The monopoly on tsrill and the continued failure of efforts to synthesize the life extending drug, helped maintain Guild dominance and financial prosperity.  The Zhantlas Union continued to drift, both politically and economically, toward closer relations with the Grand Federation of Races.  In 6102CE, the Zhantlas Union signed a treaty of cooperation with the Grand Federation that gave Zhantlas access to Early Microjump Era technologies and products.  By mid-century, the Zhantlas Union unveiled plans to transform into a post-materialist society, and by the end of the 62nd century, the transition was complete.  Also during this period, the Octopod Civility established closer relations with the Zhantlas Union and the Mendam Codominium, trading earlier hostility for grudging acceptance and cooperation against the common Dragon threat.

The Central Region remained mostly peaceful during the period.  The Eighth Crusade, with its release of the anti-Ibrahimite Nevermind Plague, never penetrated from the Coreward Region in to the core worlds of the Terran Khalifate, and the Khalifate itself, though surprisingly struggling more with New Immolate hardliners rather with than dissent, saw little overt conflict during the subdued reign of Khalif Mohammed IV.  The four-way effort to resolve the succession of Khalif Mohammed IV resulted in a five month civil conflict within the Khalifate, a struggle mostly confided to space battles fought within the Sol system.  The victory of Hussein Hassani and his succession as Khalif Hussein marked the end of the period and began an era of greater external focus for the Khalifate, altering the subdued dynamics of interstellar politics of the previous centuries.

The Bengali Dominions continued to dominate the rimward half of the Central Region and an increasingly large portion of the Rimward Region, with the realm growing to encompass over eight hundred worlds by 6200CE.  The Dominions was by far the largest interstellar state in both size and inhabitants, with a population exceeding one and a half trillion citizens.  With the stability of Emperor Talon's thousand year reign continuing and the government transferred to the able hands of the Regent, King Malcolm of Paradise, the major issues facing the Dominions revolved around the role of various Races and continued weakening of the hold of Altaran Golden Stasis on society. 

In the far Rim, the Federation of Orion also continued to expand, reaching nearly two hundred worlds by 6200CE, but failing in its attempts to aggressively uplift and incorporated worlds far from its core region near the Armpit Nebula.  Though occasionally beset by governmental scandal and frustrated at the failures of expansion and post-materialist conversion, the Federation of Orion remained a functional pluralistic democratic state.  The Prosperity Party was the major proponent of expansion, and never fully recovered from the failure of the aggressive Project Uplift sponsored by President Lena Jarik.  The Phoenix Party, focused on technological and social changes required for post-materialism, faltered as the required technologies failed to materialize.  The decline of these special interest parties to minority status led to a return to dominance in Federation of Orion on politics of the Conservative and Liberal Parties, which soon fell into scandal, leaving the Reform Party dominate over a field of failed parties by the end of the 62nd century.  But within the Federation of Orion, the confidence and persistence of its pluralistic traditions never faltered.

The Spinward Region suffered from the Twelfth Dragon Frontier War from 6022-2027CE.  The war was fought with little restrain by the Dragon Nations and Prides nor by the Mendam Codominium and its Guild allies.  By the end of the conflict, two Dragon worlds lay devastated by Teradrone attacks and the Dragons became even more reluctant to directly challenge Mendam's power.  The rise of the Fire Reavers further spinward proved the next challenge for the Codominium's control of Dragon expansion, and the Reaver War of 6065-6073CE, saw corporation between the Mendam Codominium and the Bengali Dominions in retaking Reaver worlds and ending the threat of Dragon expansion in the middle spinward region.  Growing ties between the Dominions and the Codominium led to increased trade across the Spinward sectors and increased cultural ties between the two states.  After 6094CE, the reestablished Recontact Service, based at Hastan, began recontacting more spinward worlds, providing another bulkward against Dragon aggression and new markets for Bengali merchants.

The Trailing Region continued to be dominated by the Star Kingdoms Confederation, though slow Khalifate expansion into near trailing sectors also caused some friction, especially with the Star Kingdom of Orpheus.  The Star Kingdoms expanded their presence in neighboring sectors by establishing External Services and stepping up patrols and influence in the fifty-six sectors that bordered their eight core kingdoms.  The Kingdoms themselves suffered through another bout of Republican unrest that led to various assassinations, coups and police actions across half the Kingdoms.  Continued second-class status for the Risen also led to a revolt in the Teslan Star Kingdom and to various repressions and reactions to suspicions of cyberplague sabotage that encouraged the emigration of surviving Risen from the Kingdoms to refuges like the Federation of Orion, the Zhantlas Union and the Dhjarlapanor worlds.  By the end of the turbulent period, the Star Kingdoms had returned to a somewhat more repressive status quo.

The far southern Trailing Region suffered from neglect in the early period, as the Freedom League remained a lone pocket of peace and stability.  In 6190CE Tesh Naga Durgabrasa proclaimed the Second Rootjalik Empire and began a period of consolidation and expansion that led to the re-subjugation of the Serlian worlds and to the effective downfall of the Freedom League after the Battle of Nadab in 6200CE.

The Southern Region received more attention in the period, with Khalifate missionaries and traders penetrating further south and establishing outposts at Nuevo Argentina and with the Bengali Dominions expanding to Glister in Sector 201.  The Merchant Guild began tentative explorations of the coreward-southern and trailing-southern interface sectors, searching for new markets, but most of the far southern sectors remained unvisited since the fall of the Empire.  The Northern Region remained mostly uncontacted except for the encroachment of Khalifate and Bengali expansion in the nearer sectors.  Suffering from the fate of being on the route to nowhere and poor in both metals and population, the far north and south continued to suffer an uninterrupted dark age, completely cut off from the burgeoning Chaotic Era civilizations.

Political

The first two centuries of the Seventh Millennium were marked by a peaceful coexistence between existing interstellar states.  With the Khalifate turned inward and abandoning its worst excesses in forced conversions and with no states successfully pursuing an aggressive expansion or attempting to impose its philosophies on others, the need for conflict was minimal.  The devastation wrought by the Mendam Codominium against Dragon aggressors proved to all that the costs of unrestrained warfare remained high, while peace brought at least stability, though not overwhelming wealth and prosperity.

While most states had comfortably determined their political and cultural nature by the dawn of the Seventh Millennium, the Star Kingdoms Confederation still struggled for identity and consensus.  On the inclusion issue, the Teslan revolts ended any hope of the Risen becoming full members of Star Kingdom society.  While the Heretics continued to enjoy the privileges of citizenship, the line was firmly drawn at incorporating formerly organic beings and not purely mechanical organisms.  The greater issue in the Star Kingdoms remained the rule of the Star Kings themselves.  Republican movements arose in all the Star Kingdoms and erupted into violence in Tannberg, Markham and Albus in the 6050s.  Later attempts by Star King Arnos of Orpheus to establish a parliament to promote inclusion backfired, leading to a full revolt in Orpheus and the rise of the Democratic Action Front (DAF) in 6107CE with its terrorist actions against the Orpheus and Irmingham Star Kingdoms.  After the suppression of the DAF, tolerance for dissent became universally low within the Star Kingdoms, but avenues for economic success provided an outlet for individuals outside the royal and Elector families, with local trading houses continuing to weaken of Merchant Guild influence on the Star Kingdoms economy.

The dominince of external coexistence as the rule of politics was best demonstrated by the reaction of all interstellar states to the Nevermind Plague.  The Nevermind Plague of the Eighth Crusade was a cybernetic mind plague that caused its victims to abandon Ibrahimism and revolt against the Khalifate.  While other states did not necessarily oppose the collapse of the Khalifate, the potential of the plague caused all states to band together to help defeat the Crusaders, cure the plague and ban further mind plagues with the Protocols of Thought signed on Kumar in 6139CE.

The Bengali Dominions, best by continuing cultural change, maintained firm leadership and a solid bureaucracy.  After a reign of a thousand years, Emperor Talon, still extraordinarily popular with all but a few recalcitrant Nobilis Houses, devolved much of his power to King Malcolm of Paradise, appointing the long-term Prime Minister as his Regent in 6093CE.  King Malcolm appointed his descendants, Duke Aaron Domikal as his Prime Minister and Aaron's son Count Malcolm Domikal as Minister of State, maintaining a family continuum of capable leaders that secured the Empire's government structure in the environment of changing demographics and beliefs.

The less powerful starfaring races began to counter the clout of Human states and the larger Alien states of the Swarm, the Kith'turi-Salvaatiki, B'dr'rak and the Yerman by founding the League of Non-Human Races in 6145CE.  Initially composed of seven races led by the Turgil and Khzraut, the League acquired a permanent headquarters at Schalmar Durgha in Secotr 42 and two more members, the Natani and the Cubics before the century was over.  While the initial form of the organization was only consultative, it formed the basis for future cooperation and coordination between the non-Human races that occupied the space once dominated by the Empire of Humanity.

The general political tone of the era was for greater cooperation and consensus between interstellar states, recognition of the benefits of harmony over conflict and an acceptance that no one government, religion or race would dominate Known Space.

Technological

During this period, the limitations of a post Mech Plague technology base became apparent as attempts by FOO and Star Kingdoms corporations to develop Early Microjump Era technology goods such as rapid fabricators and microjump controllers failed; only the Zhantlas Union, with access to Grand Federation goods, managed to develop an Early Microjump Era technological base and use it to bootstrap to a post-materialist economy. 

Outside the closed Zhantlas society, overall technological progress remained limited.  In the Bengali Dominions and in the Star Kingdoms, especially at Timbuktu, biological technologies did continue to advance, providing limited access to more advanced Variant transformations in the Dominions and more robust biologically-based products, including spacecraft, in the Star Kingdoms.

The Terran Khalifate continued to lag behind the rest of the civilized region, with only the military fleets of the Order of Valor reaching Late Macrojump Era technologies.  Elsewhere, increased trade spread most new products among the civilized states through strengthening trade networks that stretched from Rigel to Antares and Talendir to Tashera.

Cultural

The cultural choices and evolutions of states in earlier periods continued to dominate cultural life in the first centuries of the Seventh Millennium.  Freedoms for Servant Races, the inclusion or exclusion of the Risen from society, and the structure of the concentration of political power continued to differentiate most societies.

In the Star Kingdoms, a period of upheaval eventual led to a return to established cultural norms and a strengthening of local economic autonomy.  The rights of the Risen and the aspirations of the Republicans were denied and the mechanisms of the Kingdom governments worked to channel ambition in acceptable forms of behavior, either in the economic sphere or through the development of the External sectors surrounding the Star Kingdoms core region.

In the Federation of Orion, murder, intrigue and corruption at the highest levels could not break a basic faith in the governmental structures and in a society based on equality and freedom, and the FOO government and its citizens emerged strengthened from the failures of leadership that often rocked the presidential administrations during those centuries.  The death of Rohan Norgalas in 6141CE did not represent a beginning of decline for the Federation of Orion; his funeral demonstrated the strength of the institutions he helped forge nearly eight hundred years earlier.  The Orion Expositions continued to draw other cultures and species from across Known Space to the Federation and helped enrich the cultures and peoples of the nation.

The Bengali Dominions began to suffer cultural drift as adherence to the state religion of Altaran Golden Stasis became less universal.  This trend first became noticeable after the Emancipation, with fewer Dominions citizens participating in Altaran activities, but during this later period, other religions began to gain a foothold with Bengali society, including Principled Technologism and the Fzuki Way.  Part of this cultural shift was inevitable after the introduction of the Servant Races into society, and some of this shift reflected the diminishing numbers, at least in relative terms, of the Nobilis Race.  The Warrior and Amazon Servant Races continued to suffer heavy discrimination and hostility from earlier failed Warrior revolts and the continuing spread of sterility and disfiguration caused by the Warrior Plague.  Even more than the Gobilins, the Warriors remained difficult to integrate into Bengali society and were rapidly becoming an endangered species.  The emergence of the Society for Order in 6156CE and the subsequent creation of the Maximus Variant represented a new trend in the Dominions, a call for the order of the Altaran caste system, but recognition of the fading power of the Nobilis Houses.  The Society for Order remained controversial and small, but in its acceptance as a political origination, the Dominions recognized that the dominance of the Nobilis might not last forever.

During the era, two new cultural movements spawned from the Federation of Orion, the Preservationists and the Seekers.  The Preservationists believed that the colonization of thousands of worlds lessened diversity and threatened the long-term viability of those worlds, endangering future sentients and eventually hastening the fall of interstellar civilization.  To combat their fears, the Preservations embarked on the creation of the vast Nirvana Habitat in the Luminous system, a prototype of their ideal home for Humanity and other starfaring races.  Though supported mainly by five idealistic scions of wealthy families, the Preservationists gained millions of adherents within the Federation of Orion's border and beyond.  The Society for the Seekers of the Failsafe was a much smaller organization that had a single mission: to overcome the Mech Plague by discovering and activating the fabled Failsafe that would disable all three nano-mechanical plagues.  With research offices on dozens of worlds, Seeker agents scoured old records and ruins, searching for documentation on the origin and spread of the Mech Plague.  Within a few decades, the Seekers generally received the reputation as unprofessional treasure hunters ransacking Imperial era archeological sites, and the organization struggled to develop a more respective public face, allegedly countering its secretive investigative branch.

The far reaches of the Empire of Humanity remained untouched by interstellar society during the early centuries of the Seventh Millennium, but within the recontacted regions, trade and cultural exchanges continued to grow, generally leading to greater prosperity and higher levels of technology.  The failure of most states to reach a post-material society and the continued limitations based on the persistent Mech Plague forced societies to adapt into structures and technologies more suited to the current environment.  Persistent contact and growing acceptance of differences between nations and species continued to expand, leading to greater harmony within Known Space.

Chronology Table

All pages and images ©1999 - 2005 by Geir Lanesskog, All Right Reserved
Usage Policy