Sollan Empire

Caste System

The Imperial culture is divided into four main castes: palatine, patrician, plutocrat, and plebeian. The palatines represent the Imperial aristocracy, and are descended from the humans who resisted the Mericanii. Genetically enhanced, they may live for several centuries. Alongside the patricians, they are collectively known as the nobiles. Patricians are drawn from plebeian or plutocrat stock, elevated through genetic augmentation bestowed by the palatine caste as a reward for loyal service.

The plebeians comprise the vast peasantry of the Empire, descended from unaltered human settlers carried aboard the oldest colony ships, and are expressly forbidden to employ high technology. Plutocrats, by contrast, are wealthy plebeians who have been able to purchase genetic augmentations for themselves, thereby attaining a status effectively equivalent to that of the patricians.^[2]

Religion

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 recognized by the Chantry, and thus, have not been granted adorator status.^[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, the Cinarians, and the Jaddian Zoroastrians.^[7][12]

Languages

Galstani (Galactic Standard)

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.^[10] Classical English was also used by the ancient Mericanii.^[2]

Sports and Entertainment

The Colosso

The Colosso is the great sporting event of the Empire.^[29] It comprises a series of events held in a coliseum involving professional gladiators, slave myrmidons, animals, races, and more.^[2]

Imperial Family

The Empire has been ruled by the the Aventine house ever since the reign of the first Emperor, William Windsor. As of the rule of Emperor William XXIII, the royal line numbers two hundred and fifty-one monarchs, going back some seventeen millennia.^[13] During the majority of this time, House Avent has—in the royal line—married only itself, relying on the ministrations of the High College to prevent mutation.^[14]

Rules of Succession

Originally, the heir to the Solar Throne was chosen through unsexed primogeniture—meaning the eldest child of the ruling emperor was favored.^[35] This practice was later abolished by Emperor Sebastian the Great, who, during the second millennium ISD,^[24] instituted a new system in which the emperor designated their successor in a will.^[15][35] The will is then read and executed by the Imperial Council, who, along with the Chantry, have some power to resist the Emperor's choice if they disapprove of it.^[17][18] With this system, the throne was still often inherited by one of the elder children, though sometimes a younger child was favored.^[16]

Known Emperors

Laws

Great Charters

Ratified in ISD 1443, the Great Charters is an ancient collection of legal codes imposed on the Empire by a coalition of the houses palatine.^[24] Its purpose is to maintain a balance between the palatine houses and the Emperor.^[2] Among many other things, the Charters regulate duelling, conscription, the use of atomic weapons, and who is allowed to bear children.^{[25][26][27][28]}

Writ of the Chantry

The Writ is the Chantry’s legal and moral code. Among other things, it regulates the use and trade of all complex machinery. Though certain electronic devices are permitted, unlawful actions include building a private datasphere, harboring foreign technicians, trading forbidden technologies with the Extrasolarians, or purchasing too many uranium enrichment crawlers without Chantry permission.^[30][31] It is enforced by the Inquisition and the Index.^[2]

Index of Law

The Index of Law, more commonly called just the Index, is the Chantry's catalog of punishements, enforced by the Inquisition. For executions, common methods include the firing squad, hanging, and beheading. Beheading, however, is reserved for members of the palatine caste. These formal executions are performed by Chantry cathars using the White Sword—a ceramic greatsword made of polished zircon.^[2][33] Other punishments include lashing and pillory.^[5]

The Index's most grievous sins are the Twelve Abominations, where legal priviliges are stripped and the guilty will be executed without trial. Known abominations include:

• consortation, conversing with or having similar contact with artificial intelligence, even unknowingly,
• duplication, the copying of an individual's genetics, likeness, personality, or memories through cloning or related practices,
• possession, where an individual or computer system is under the control of an artificial intelligence,
• profanation, the combination of human flesh with machine implants or prostheses, especially where the modifications transcend ordinary human function.^[32]

Slavery

In the Empire, it is common for palatine houses to own slaves. Often, slaves are felons, marked for their crimes with tattoos or slit nostrils.^[34] These criminals are often forced into fighting in the Colosso as fodder for the professional gladiators or wild animals, and are called myrmidons. At other times, slaves are homunculi, and are bred for specific tasks, such as sexual pleasure, manual labour, or fighting. Lastly, xenobites are also often enslaved, such as the Umandh, and are used for trading or in the Colosso. Slaves are overseen and traded by douleters.

Foreign Relations

Principalities of Jadd

As of the seventeenth millennium, the Principalities of Jadd is a nation comprising eighty principalities.^[50] The Jaddian worlds were originally under Imperial control, but over the millennia grew more and more independent. From the eighth to twelfth millennium, the Jaddian palatine families tended to intermarry, and thus became gradually more isolated from the rest of the Imperium. This separation reached a turning point in the twelfth millennium, when Imperial Prince Cyrus absconded with the Jaddian Princess Amana di Jadi. The scandalized Jaddians claim that Amana was kidnapped and raped, while Imperial accounts attest to a romance between the pair. What is not disputed, however, is that Amana was later recovered by the Jaddian Duke Katanes du Otranto. During this recovery, Katanes also took the High College genetic codex tied to her, which contained the intelligence necessary to free the Jaddian palatines of Imperial control. In the following years, the Jaddians developed their first clone armies, defeating the Imperium in the Battle of the Encircling Moons and becoming independent in ISD 11466.^[51]

During the following centuries, relations between the Sollan Empire and the Principalities of Jadd were strained—though they eventually relaxed when they were forced into an alliance against the Lothrian Commonwealth in the Persean Wars of the thirteenth millennium.^[51][8] Millennia later, during the Cielcin wars, the Empire and the Principalities again entered into an alliance. During the wars, they were mutually dependent on one another, with the Empire having need of the Jaddian navy and clone armies, and the Jaddians requiring Imperial gold, uranium, ytterbium, adamant, antihydrogen, and antilithium.^[52]

Lothrian Commonwealth

The Sollan Empire and the Lothrian Commonwealth, being the largest and second largest polities in the galaxy respectively, have long been enemies on the galactic stage. The Commonwealth is a totalitarian collectivist state, and have often contested the Empire for control of territory in the Upper Perseus.^[3][8] In the thirteenth millennium, a series of conflicts, called the Persean Wars, broke out between the Empire, along with the Jaddian Principalities, and the Commonwealth. Following the wars, the Rasan Belt was used as a neutral zone between the two polities, stretching across the Upper Sagittarius.^[53][54]

In the early eighteenth millennium, the Empire sent the famous war hero Hadrian Marlowe as an apostol to secure an alliance with the Commonwealth against the Cielcin. Unknowing of the fact that the Commonwealth had already aligned itself with the Cielcin, Hadrian was captured and given over to the Cielcin. After Hadrian escaped the Cielcin, he and Valka Onderra brought word to the Empire of their betrayal, and another war broke out between the two. This war continued even after the Cielcin were defeated, though it was primarily fought between Jadd and the Commonwealth.^[55]

Norman Freeholds

The Norman Freeholds is the collective name for the self-ruling planets of the Norman Expanse.^[19][8] Throughout the history of human settlement in the Norma Arm, territory has been contested between the Empire and these independent planets. Some former freeholder planets have been seized by the Imperium, such as Marinus, Emesh, and Omana,^[47][48] while others have effectively become client states of the Empire, such as Sulis.^[50] Though the relation between the Freeholds and the Empire varies from planet to planet, Norman starship production is generally well known by Imperials. Ilium, Monmara, and Uhra are all known for their production, though their ships are often mocked by the Imperial saying, "Fucking Normans. Build cheap, build fast, but only Empire's built to last."^[49][50]

Durantine Republic

The Durantine Republic is an interstellar republic comprising around three thousand worlds. It pays tribute to the Sollan Empire, and during the threat of the Cielcin and the Lothrian Commonwealth during the eighteenth millennium, they sent emissaries requesting aid and fought alongisde the Empire.^[2][40][41] They construct and use mechanical golems, called strojeva, which violate both Imperial and Chantry law, though it is unclear how this affects their political relations.^[42][43]

Demarchy of Tavros

The Demarchy of Tavros is a small interstellar polity located far from the Sollan Empire.^[2] Compared to the Imperium, they are radically open to technology. This fact is often frowned upon at the courts of the Empire, especially by the Chantry.^[44] In fact, the Demarchy's dissociation and criticism of the Chantry is well known, and their autonomy is maintained primarily by their isolation from the Empire.^[45][46] Despite this, they fought alongside the Sollan Empire against the Cielcin during the war of the eighteenth millennium.^[41]

Kingdom of Latarra

Originally a Norman Freehold in the Veil of Marinus, Latarra would go on to be conquered by the Extrasolarian warlord Calen Harendotes.^[64] Becoming then the Kingdom of Latarra,^[65] Harendotes would rebuild the shipyards on Monmara and annex the Norman kingdom of Ashklam. Latarra also played a role in creating the LTH-81 plague that ravaged the Sollan Empire by providing Minoan scientists several thousand human test subjects.^[62][63]

Representatives from Latarra were present during the council on Forum during the Cielcin war, where they revealed a new technology giving them the means to trace the location of quantum telegraph nodes. Ostensibly, this was presented as a means of locating Cielcin ships, but the implicit threat—namely, that the Latarrans possessed the technology to track any ship—unsettled the Imperium. The Latarrans were willing to share this technology, but only in exchange for the Empire’s total renunciation of all claim to the Norman Stars, as well as their formal recognition of Calen Harendotes as Monarch of Latarra—a compromise the Empire reluctantly agreed to.^[63]

Following the Battle of Vorgossos in ISD 17458 and the revelation that the Latarrans never actually possessed the technology to track non-Cielcin telegraphs, a confrontation ensued that culminated in the destruction of the Latarran Sojourner Hermetic Melancholia.^[65][66] They would, however, be reunited during the Battle of Gododdin where the Cielcin Prophet Syriani Dorayaica was slain.

MINOS

In the Imperial archive, there exists virtually no record of the Extrasolarian organization called MINOS outside the account of Hadrian Marlowe.^[3] Specializing in biomechanics and technological research, MINOS aligned itself with Syriani Dorayaica during the war with the Cielcin of the seven- and eighteenth millennium, dedicated to the dismantling and destruction of the Sollan Empire.^[8][61]

Mandari Corporations

The Mandari are an ethnic community loosely connected to Imperial society, most commonly found staffing the massive interstellar trading corporations. The largest of these, the Wong-Hopper Consortium, holds numerous government contracts—most notably in terraforming—and conducts extensive commerce across Imperial space. Mandari corporations frequently trade with the Imperium and make use of the Imperial mark, the shared digital currency widely favored over hard coinage.^[2]

Nipponese

The Nipponese are the descendants of the Japanese colonists who fled the Old Earth system during the Third Peregrination.^[2] Although they are officially part of the Sollan Empire, the lord of the Nipponese is still permitted to call himself Emperor while on the worlds he governs—a realm often referred to by the Imperium as the "other Empire".^[40] The Nipponese are known in the Empire for their paper sculptures.^[60]

Eudorans

The Eudorans include any of the spacefaring bands claiming descent from the failed colony on Europa in Old Earth’s system. In the Empire, the Eudorans are known for their operas and theater, often performing at sporting events such as the coliseum.^[56] There are also records of the Eudorans having traded with the Imperium.^[57]

Imperial Legions

Legion Intelligence Office

Special Security

Expeditionary Corps

Command Structure

Naval Division

Ceremonial Roles

Auxilia

Resources and Equipment

HAPSIS

Praetorian Guard

Martian Guard

Knights Excubitor

Orbital Defense Force

The Orbital Defense Force, often acronymized as ODF, is a fleet maintained by any palatine lord or lady for the defense of their planet or system.^[2] At times, the ODF receives the old and discarded equipment of the Imperial Legions. For instance, during the Battle of Berenike around ISD 16700, the Defense Force of the planet employed the outdated Falcon-II fighter crafts.^[67]

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.

Footnotes

References