Torpedoes

The Federation
The first effort to unify humanity was the
Terran Federated Democracy. It formed a
great parliament, complete with representatives
from every human culture still accepting
outside contact. Unfortunately, this
body lacked any real direction. Within a few
short generations, the Federation collapsed
under the weight of the massive bureaucracy
it had spawned. Furthermore, expenditures
far outstripped tax receipts, and the
Democracy was eventually forced into
bankruptcy. The Federation’s underpinnings
dissolved entirely as whole planets
seceded when their specialized needs went
unfulfilled.
The Drive for the Empire
There were ambitious people who foresaw
the riches that could be had if all humans
were working toward common
goals—goals determined for them by
strong rulers. Preeminent leaders of the
Federation, backed by the Democracy’s
floundering military, decided that totalitarian
leadership was required to govern humanity.
Soon great fleets of deep-space war
vessels were constructed, and the drive for
the Empire was on.
The following centuries were scarred by
wars, revolutions, uprisings and hard politicking.
When it was over, the Terran Star
Empire was born. Immediately after, the
first Emperor was crowned: Macedon Gaius
Triptolemus I.
The First Emperor
Though having dictatorial powers,
Macedon I realized that he could extend his
already considerable influence by instituting
a feudal “land leasing” agreement with
several distant but loyal planetary governments.
In the first Imperial Year, the Emperor
inaugurated 27 Provincial Territories
run by the Great Families. These Provincial
Houses paid an annual tithe to the Emperor
for the privilege of governing a province
that frequently encompassed upwards
of ten individual star systems. The more
profitable worlds a province could lay claim
to, the more influence it came to wield in
the Imperial Senate.
To ensure the security of his new realm,
the first Emperor banned the use of holocaustic
weapons. This ban ended the pro-
duction and use of nuclear and matter/antimatter
warheads until the Empire’s last
days. Unfortunately, the temptation to use
and abuse such devices of mass destruction
was to prove too great.
The Empire’s Structure
The Star Empire was centered on
humanity’s home planet: Old Earth, a.k.a.
Terra. All of humanity sprang from this
planet, and it was from this planet that they
took the name by which they are known:
Terrans.
It was fitting that the first Emperor chose
Terra as the seat of his Imperial Dynasty
Throne. Though numerous idyllic worlds
had been discovered in the far reaches of
space, Old Earth was steeped in Terran history
and tradition. Despite the fact that the
vast majority of humans had never seen the
planet, it still served as a metaphor for
“home” for Terrans all across the universe.
Although ravaged by war and cosmic disaster
(the planet was struck by a rogue asteroid
in 2798 AD), Old Earth remained the
focus of humanity’s power until the
Empire’s fall.
The ten systems clustered closest to Old
Earth’s solar system (named after its sun,
Sol) were the first to be colonized by humanity,
and their histories were nearly as
rich as Old Earth’s. These were known as
the Imperial core systems. Some of the
greatest worlds in Terran history lay among
these stars: Centauri Prime, Eden, Menhotep,
Barnard’s World and Jericho, just to
name a few. Most of these planets were
dominated by urban megalopolises, strong
and industrious and fiercely loyal to the
throne. These were the true foundation of
the Emperor’s power. These worlds housed
the Empire’s greatest shipyards, factories,
museums, laboratories, libraries and more.
Though each of these worlds had its own
distinct planetary government, their fealty
to the Empire was indisputable.
Beyond the core systems lay humanity’s
well-traveled starlanes, the heartland of the
Empire. Although each settlement was
ruled by a planetary governor, Minor Clan
figurehead or bureaucratic administrator,
the systems in this region were firmly held
within the Emperor’s domain. There were
literally thousands of inhabited planets,
planetoids and stations scattered through-
After the Fall
Once the Empire fell,
the former provinces
felt the need to break all
ties with the Imperial
way, so they began the
numbering of years all
over again.
Imp 511 became 0 AL
(Annus Libertatis: Year
of Liberty). It was then
that the next millennium—a
fresh start, a
time of incredible
potential for both hope
and destruction—
began.
The current year is 7
AL. Proper notation for
a date begins with the
year and then the date,
separated by a colon.
For example, 7:125 AL
stands for the 125th day
in the 7th Year of
Liberty.
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