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Sollan Empire

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Sollan Empire
Map
  • Founded
  • Capital Forum
  • Ruled By House Avent
Sollan Empire
Map
  • Founded
  • Capital Forum
  • Ruled By House Avent

For more than sixteen thousand years the Sollan Empire had been expanding, its influence spreading across an ever-widening and lengthening wedge of the galaxy, spreading along the spiral arms until at last some brave pioneers made the leap across the gulfs that separated one arm from the next.

— Hadrian Marlowe[1]

The Sollan Empire is the largest and oldest single polity within human-controlled space.[2] As of the early seventeenth millennium ISD, the Empire encompasses half a billion habitable planets—as well as billions of airless moons and station outposts—across four of the galaxy's spiral arms.[3] Throughout its history, the Empire has been continually ruled by the Aventine House.

The Empire is comprised of innumerable ethnic groups, countless religions, hundreds of thousands of nobile families—palatine and patrician—and tens of millions of soldiers, and thus its population cannot be counted, but the best estimates put the number at more than one quintillion human souls.[3] Natives of the Sollan Empire are formally called Sollan Imperials, but more commonly referred to simply as Imperials.[4]

Culture

Religion

Holy Terran Chantry

For more information, see Holy Terran Chantry.

The Holy Terran Chantry is the state religion of the Empire. It teaches of the icona—spirits or gods embodying an ideal, virtue, or natural law. Among these, the Four Cardinals—Justice, Fortitude, Prudence, and Temperance—are venerated above all others. Central to its morality are the Twelve Abominations, the most grievous sins defined in the Chantry’s Index. Those who are found guilty of such transgressions are stripped of all legal privileges. Apart from being a purely religious body, the Chantry also functions as the judicial arm of the state, especially where the use of forbidden technology is involved.[2]

The highest ecclesiastic office of the Chantry is Synarch, whose most important function is the coronation of new Emperors. The Synarch also presides over the Synod—the ruling body of the Chantry.[2] Furthermore, the Chantry maintains a catalog of punishments—monetary, corporal, and capital—which are enforced by its judicial branch, called the Inquisition.[2][5]

Museum Catholic Church

The Museum Catholic Church is an adorator cult centered on the planet Caritas, believed to have existed since the Golden Age of Earth and protected on reservations by Imperial decree.[2] Their symbol is a cross.[6]

Cid Arthurianism

Cid Arthurianism is a syncretic religion founded late in the fourth millennium ISD as an offshoot of Buddhism, recognizing the British King Arthur as a Buddha, emphasizing chivalric virtue as a means of pursuing enlightenment.[8] They have not been granted adorator status, and are therefore not recognized by the Chantry.[9]

Other Religions

There exist several other religions and cults in the Sollan Empire, of which only some are granted adorator status and thus tolerated by the Terran Chantry.[2] Among these are the Orthodox Hindus and Buddhists, the Seekers, and the Jaddian Zoroastrians.[7]

Demographics

Languages

Galstani (Galactic Standard)

For more information, see Galstani.

Galstani, also called Galactic Standard, is the common language of the Sollan Empire.[2] It is descended from Classical English, and many scholars have dedicated their careers to unraveling its evolution. It bears heavy Hindi and Franco-Germanic influences, with aspects of Bengali and Urdu.[10] The script is written in block letters.[11]

Classical English

Also called the King's English, Classical English is the language used by the early Imperial settlers on Avalon, still used by Imperial scholiasts. Classical English was also used by the ancient Mericanii.

Politics

Government

Relations

Military

Command Structure

Equipment

Training

List of Planets

Full series spoliers below, proceed with caution.

History

Preceding the Books

Founded approximately two thousand years after the development of space travel, the Sollan Empire began when William Windsor, King of Avalon, defeated the last bastion of the Mericanii Empire at Earth. Crowning himself Emperor of Man on the Aventine Hill in Rome, William Windsor launched the greatest dynasty in human history. The renamed Aventine House has ruled for sixteen thousand years in line unbroken, maintaining its control of the lesser nobility through a careful breeding program that has wrested reproductive control from the nobile houses and placed it in the hands of the Imperial Office. His line and Empire have endured several threats throughout its long history, none greater than the invasion of the Cielcin.

In Empire of Silence

In The Lesser Devil (Novella)

In Howling Dark

In Queen Amid Ashes (Novella)

In Demon in White

In Kingdoms of Death

In Ashes of Man

In The Dregs of Empire (Novella)

In Disquiet Gods

In Shadows Upon Time

In Tales of the Sun Eater & Other Stories

Trivia

See Also

Notes and References
  1. Demon in White, Chapter 3
  2. Empire of Silence, Lexicon: A Note on Translation
  3. Kingdoms of Death, Dramatis Personae: In The Sollan Empire
  4. Ashes of Man, Chapter 15
  5. Empire of Silence, Chapter 38
  6. Kingdoms of Death, Chapter 17
  7. Disquiet Gods, Chapter 34
  8. Kingdoms of Death, Lexicon: A Note on Translation
  9. Ashes of Man, Chapter 11
  10. Disquiet Gods, Chapter 59
  11. Demon in White, Chapter 57
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