Imperial Territories

The Dalamin Sector
Region V22

For the attention of the Governor of the Extrastellar Territories
Security Level: G

Your Excellency

After two years (Galactic Standard) in the Dalamin Sector I present my report for your information and for the benefit of the Council.

Spoiler: 1. Cosmography
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At the heart of the sector lies the great black hole which the natives call Pokól [I have adopted native terminology except where otherwise noted]. This supermassive entity exerts a commanding influence over all nearby astronomical objects, which are steadily being drawn towards it. Given sufficient time it will doubtless collapse the entire habitable sector, although the time so required is of course of such a magnitude as to be outwith the relevancy of this report.

In direct orbit around Pokól is the enormous station identified by explorers as a military academy, on which I will expand at the appropriate juncture.

The homeworld of the people of the sector is Szodóm, which is an unremarkable planet of approximately 6x10^18 megatonnes. It is also virtually uninhabitable. Centuries of environmental neglect, recklnessness, and deliberate destruction have degraded its atmosphere and ravaged its ecoysystem. Unfortunately, before this reached critical levels, the population had developed space-faring technology and so the wealthiest and most powerful inhabitants decamped to the planet's moons and thereafter to other worlds throughout the sector.

There are approximately 38 inhabited worlds, as we would so describe them, the most significant of which are:

Adma
Zeboim
Komorra
Echaron
Disz
Flejeton
Malebolje
Kokytus

A full list of each of the worlds and their attributes is included at Appendix 1.

I have heard that on the surface of Szodóm there still exist some “hab-cities”, contained areas where air qualtiy is controlled and people can survive. These appear to exist principally for the purpose of mining and further exploitation of the planet's natural resources, and I have not yet visited any of them. Details of the reports I have received on the “hab-cities” is at Appendix 2.

Spoiler: 2. Population
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The people of the region (Kaynites) are human, at least in biology. In temper they vary somewhat from what we might term “humanity”.

The vast majority of the population, perhaps as high as 90%, are slaves. Wealth is concentrated in the upper echelons of the patrician class, the descendants of those sufficiently rich to escape the doom of Szodóm of their own will. Slaves exist entirely at the whim of their masters. The life of a slave is common currency.

With the entirety of the labour in the system performed by slaves, the patricians are free to devote their entire time to hedonism, and this has degenerated beyond all moral comprehension. Not only the pursuit of luxury, but of pleasure without regard to any consequence, is near-universal. All manner of perversions can be and are pursued with impunity. Incest, paedophilia, and the like, are routine.

There is little in the way of Kaynite culture to be spoken of. In past eras it seems that the arts flourished but as any art requires both talent and application to master, and such is something valued by vanishingly few of the people and possessed by fewer, what art is produced is of minimal value. Education and true intelligence are rare, although in order to survive in the twisted and somewhat violent world of high society, a kind of low cunning is widely possessed and considered something of a virtue.

The most popular entertainment involves equipping slaves with mechanical suits of armour and weapons and setting them upon each other in a gladiatorial arena. In order to train the most effective gladiators, pilots begin young, children torn from the bosoms of their mothers and trained to fight for the amusement of their masters. While it is widely recognised that only with the onset of adolescence does a pilot attain both the acuity and the aggression to be a true competitor, it is not as uncommon as one might wish for true children to be set upon one another in the arena for the sake of novelty.

I have until this point attempted to maintain an air of impartiality and relate only the facts, but it is increasingly difficult to do so. As your Excellency is no doubt aware, in the first year of my appointment I invited the High Priest of Leda to visit the sector, on the principle that if anybody could make sense of this society it would be him. His conclusions are, I understand, included in a separate report to the Philosopher-General, and are likely to be instructive. I note only his overriding conclusion expressed to me: “This society goes beyond honest vice and has descended into wholesale depravity”.

I should note at this stage that a people such as the Kaynites could almost certainly never have developed the technology they have, which extends to a form of FTL travel, if left to their own devices. While the truth remains obscured, I have reason to suspect Eradicator influence in the technology of the region. The sources leading me to so suspect are outlined at Appendix 3, but further research on this point will be necessary.

Spoiler: 3. Native Governments
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There is no unified government, with each community – generally each world – governed by a different individual. They are collectively known as the Thirty [Tyrants], and it is some measure of the degeneracy of the sector that in my research on its history it appears that at no time were there ever thirty such. There are currently thirty-two.

I use the term “tyrant” for these are tyrants in both the true and the common sense, though the native term is somewhat different and varies from world to word. While some of the tyrants affect to come into office by means of an election or hereditary succession none of them enjoys a truly legitimate authority. These tyrants rule, almost without exception, in a capricious and self-serving manner.

At some point it is probable that the sector possessed institutions with an interest in the public service, staffed by individuals of integrity. These have fallen victim to the general rot, and have been hollowed out through generations of partisan appointment, public deprecation of their accomplishments, and rejection of their researched conclusions.

Illustrative of the state of the government in general is Adut Játszik, a fat, vain, corrupt and deeply stupid man whose sole redeeming feature is that he is of an advanced age and therefore hopefully will not trouble his people too much longer. Completely ignorant of diplomatic niceties or the reality of of his parlous political situtation, on our first meeting he alternately tried to threaten or charm me, meeting with no success on either count. When challenged with the extent of his incompetence and corruption, his response was not to attempt to refute the charges but rather to attempt to deflect attention, then, in attempting to deny them, to admit them, and indicate his intention to commit further similar crimes in future.

On realisting that he had failed to talk his way out of the situation, he instead endeavoured to seduce me and was disappointed to discover that my skirt was in fact a holographic projection over a standard-issue skinsuit. Not without some satisfaction, I alerted the Tribunes, who immediately arrested him and removed him from office for laying hands on an Imperial officer.

Emboldened by this I replaced him with an Imperial governor, and did the same on four other worlds before receiving a deputation from some of the more competent (which is not to say accomplished) tyrants, who informed me that were I to continue with this programme it would meet with forcible resistance. Not wishing to commit the Empire to another costly war, I suspended my plans. It appears it may be necessary to proceed with more subtlety and caution than I would prefer.

In my view the emancipation of the slave population should proceed as quickly as is practicable, but the economy of the sector is so arranged that to do so without proper preparation would likely lead to widespread destutition and a general worsening of conditions for the subject population.

The reception of the Imperial occupation has been met by the slaves with what seems to be a cautious optimism, but the general atmosphere remains febrile. While I believe that the sector is ready for a slave uprising, and that given proper support this might present the most satisfying means of eradicating existing power structures, there is of course a danger in unleashing any revolution.

In my time in office to date I have curtailed the most egregious corruption and ameliorated the status of the slaves (Appendix 4) but there remains much to be done and the sector may remain unstable for some time.

Spoiler: 4. Resources, and the Military
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As identified in the section above, the training of children to pilot machinery for combat is a specialism of the region. Slaves who display particular skill are frequently given their freedom and seconded to the military. At the point of being given their freedom, the slaves take a name (having previously usually been known only by number) and it is a measure of the primitive culture that when they do it is usually a weak pun, such as “Maverix”, the commander whom the Lord Admiral defeated in her conquest of the region.

Alone among institutions of Kaynite government the military has retained something of its original purpose and value. The academy retains a degree of independence and the tendency is for it to hire tis pilots as mercenaries as required to the tyrants rather than for each tyranny to maintain its own costly military establishment.

Military counsel is deprecated, and the state of the sector is such that no true wars as we would recognise have been fought in centuries, and as such understanding of strategy is much retarded, but in terms of technical mastery of their equipment and training in tactical dogfighting, the academy maintains a relatively high quality.

The progression from child slave to gladiator to combat pilot has given the Kaynites a surfeit of skilled Mech Pilots, and it would be in the interests of the Empire to attempt to retain this production lines, even as the system which currently underpins it is uprooted.

Spoiler: 5. Ideology
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As your Excellency will no doubt anticipate, any true native philosophical genius has long since been absent from Kaynite society. There are remnants of a native religion, but these are preoccupied with sacrifice and outward expression of devotion such as the Kaynite patricians find appealing at a given moment, with any encouragement to virtue long since abandoned.

The slave population represent a fertile ground for philosophic conversion, and there are a number of interesting beliefs in circulation, a non-exhaustive summary of which is at Appendix 5. In addition to these, the Church of Rust has made inroads, particularly in the military academy which represents the only true seat of learning remaining in the sector.

My overriding sympathy for the condition of the slave class may lead to the inference that they are more morally virtuous than the patricians. While there may be some truth in this, it is a conclusion to be acted upon with caution. The slaves are still part of the same savage, cruel society and when given the opportunity, frequently show themselves no better than their masters. (See the statistics on criminal activity, at Appendix 6)

Where they differ, of course, is in the control of their own circumstances. Freed and shown a better way, the slave population can likely be redeemed, and if the sector is to prosper, it is surely there that we must find our answers. In particular, having been subject for so long to the tyrannous demands of illegitimate power, when presented with a legitimate alternative and a corresponding underpinning ideology, this would likely find widespread acceptance.


On the basis of the above, your Excellency could be forgiven for considering that the optimal solution to the problems of the sector would be to bombard each world into extinction from orbit. The patrician classes would certainly deserve such a fate. However so long as there remain even a handful of blameless individuals on each world (and I am convinced that that is the case), I recommend that we continue with a programme of gradual reform rather than outright destruction.

Iskachagash
Imperial Governor of the Dalamin Sector

P.S. On a wholly personal note, what did I do to deserve this posting? Put me down for transfer to Dulce or Ceylan once my term here ends, or I swear I'll take that job the CG offered me before I left.

Council Note: Report read and approved by order of Council, NIC 30. The recommendations of the Report are endorsed. The Imperial Governor is instructed to continue on her present course. No military action authorised. Additional resources to be made available to her as required on the authority of the GEXT.

Spoiler: Update on status of the Dalamin Sector
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During the years following the conquest of the Dalamin Sector, the Governor had gradually transferred large numbers of Tabine warriors to the sector to act as a gendarmerie in support of regular law enforcement, but had otherwise taken little direct action against the Kaynite aristocracy.

While the sector remained febrile, it lurched towards crisis when Lord Donál was arrested on charges of smuggling at the Exposition, having attempted to sell his entire slave stock at auction.

Three days after news reached Pokól, the Tabine knight Mikara Yudokia, the local gendarme commander on Donál's homeworld, was abducted, tortured and murdered, her body dumped back on the street not far from her home. None had any doubt that the Tyrant, Tamás Aprod, had ordered her death in retribution for Donál's arrest.

Within two days of her death, Yudokia's drones had stormed the Tyrant's palace and summarily executed him, flinging his body from an upper-floor window.

A group of Tyrants presented a petition to the Governor, demanding the arrest and execution of the drones for Aprod's death. The Governor passed the matter to the local Censor, who declined to bring charges, on the imaginative legal basis that to kill a Tabine knight without making adequate provision to protect oneself from their drones was an elaborate form of suicide.

Following this decision, first two, then four, tyrants declared independence from Imperial rule. Governor Iskachagash issued an order for all planetary rulers in the sector to attend an emergency summit. Ten did, including the five Imperial planetary governors. The remainder declared for the rebels.

Iskachagash called for emergency reinforcements from the Imperial Navy, and was answered by Rear Admiral Dashunul and Battlegroup B. Arriving ahead of her battlegroup on the Penetrator, the Admiral broadcast a message to the rebels. Emperor Durgadoresh had been crowned, and his second act as Emperor was to sign into law an act for immediate and total emancipation of Kaynite slaves.

Every world immediately erupted in a slave uprising. On some worlds, the slaves overthrew (and usually killed) the tyrants, but more common was a quickly emerging stalemate, between the tyrants' own forces, the Tabine peacekeepers, and the militant slaves. A few weeks later, Dashunul's battlegroup caught up with her, and she transferred her flag back to the Terminus. The arrival of the Navy led to a flurry of surrenders among some of the less committed tyrants, but around half the planets remained in open rebellion.

On Disz, the tyrant had dug in in his palace and made the mistake of opening fire on the approaching Imperial forces. His fortress was completely obliterated by orbital bombardment from the Terminus. Kokytus surrendered following a number of salvos from the Lara. At Yomi, the remaining lunar fleet was deployed to oppose the Navy, and was blown apart by Constanzia and Forksby.

The final meaningful engagement was on Echaron, where the tyrant Lajos Molnar had taken prisoners to use as live shields against any Imperial bombardment. Dashunul forced a landing on the Offence and at the head of a Tabine regiment fought her way into the palace, where despite being badly wounded she personally arrested Molnar – after blowing off his right kneecap.

As the dust settled, Imperial agents moved in to restore order, and the sector was finally pacified.

Of the twenty-seven tyrants in place at the start of the Expo, one was killed by Yudokia's drones. Five attended the Governor and surrendered their authority peacefully. Four surrendered following the arrival of the Imperial fleet, before commencement of hostilities; four were killed during the slave uprising; eight were taken prisoner by the Imperial Navy following combat; six were killed fighting Imperial forces and one was apprehended attempting to flee.

Two remain missing, and are presumed dead or fled outside the sector.

Following the war, the Penetrator was renamed Liberator, as the vessel from which emancipation was proclaimed.

While recovering from her wounds, Rear Admiral Dashunul was promoted to Vice Admiral.

Governor Iskachagash was finally rewarded with a transfer to Dulce.


The Gamalin Sector
W23

Spoiler: Stellar Cartography
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The region now known as the Gamalin Sector is the usual starfield of which the most interesting portion is a white star surrounded by planets notable for a preponderance of desert.

Spoiler: People
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The people of the region are generally short and fairly slight. Other than bright-coloured eyes, they appear as fairly normal humans. It is common for both sexes to swathe themselves in cloth, to protect themselves against the harsh desert environment in which the majority of them live, although there are cities with air conditioning.

Spoiler: Resources
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The principal resource of the region is the Subspace Camel, a utility vehicle. They are hardwearing, efficient, and easy to repair, and consequently are popular among self-sufficient colonists. The sector is so dependent on them that a large part of the recent history of the region is in effect a history of the Subspace Camel.

Spoiler: History of the Subspace Camel
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When the people of the region first came to explore their system they found themselves regressing to more primitive means of transport, and camels became the principal means of transport, and by far the most common livestock, within the system. Their noteworthy hardiness made them the ideal companions on the arid worlds reached.

That was until the Bera Plague, which devastated the camel population. It is estimated that upwards of 90% of the camel herd in the region was destroyed, much of it deliberately in order to stop further contagion. Bera combined a high infectiousness with a long gestation period, easy transmission and hosting in other species, and a high mortality rate. So lethal was it to camels that some suspected it had been designed by some malign force to destroy civilisation.

Civilisation was saved by the intercession of Sarki Jatau, the inventor of the Subspace Camel and founder of the Oxus Corporation. Mechanised camel substitutes had been on the market for some time but none had ever caught on, being generally larger and less reliable than their biological counterparts. The Subspace Camel, however, was designed so that two could occupy the space of a single camel (hence the name) together with being extremely hardwearing, easy to manufacture from local materials, and able to run on nearly any fuel source. Jatau made the design for the Subspace Camel publicly available and soon they were a fixture on every world.

Since recovery from the Bera Plague, several more marques of Subspace Camel have been released by Oxus, in addition to the Superspace Camel (generally considered a vainglorious failure), the Hyperspace Camel (the prototype for which disappeared on launch) and the Vector Camel.

Mk1 is still the most common variant and can be seen almost everywhere.
Mk2 was the spacefaring upgrade to the Mk1. Superior but more expensive to produce, it has largely been supplanted by the Mk5 and Mk8.
Mk3 was a combat variant, still occasionally seen (especially when converted to civilian use) but now largely obsolete.
Mk4 was the first version to be fully autonomous and AI-piloted.
Mk5 was essentially a streamlined and improved Mk2. This is one of the most common variants now seen.
Mk6 finally abandoned the “subspace” philosophy for a significantly larger frame. Never as popular as the earlier civilian marques it has nevertheless found a number of uses.
Mk7 was a supercharged variant, and was considered to sacrifice the Camel's trademark reliability for power. It never caught on and original Mk7s are now collectors' items.
Mk8 was intended as the replacement for Mk2, and combined optional AI piloting with generally better performance. It is now one of the most common marques.
Mk9 is the combat version of the Mk8, and comprised the majority of the Dominion's fleet.
Mk10 was a rather larger version of the Mk9, designed to be crewed and for heavy combat support.

After Mk10, Oxus issued the Mk11, a proprietary variant never released to the public, and after that the linear numerical pattern of marques broke down. Instead of publishing design specifications the corporation switched to in-house manufacture and production run. Some of the more famous models produced since have been:
Camel X, described by critics as “trying much too hard to be cool”.
Camel Jatau, a limited-edition run mimicking the very earliest Mk1s with hand-finished elements
Camel Original, despite the name, an update of the Mk2 design
Camel C-type, an attempt to create a new “standard” to replace the Mk1
Camel Camel, a novelty variant produced exclusively in a light brown.
Camel No Filter, designed to look good in selfies.

A number of other corporations produce their own versions of the Camel, such as Gaulois, Dromedary, and F#. None of them have obtained the universal appeal of the Camel, although all have their devotees.

Spoiler: Government and Ideology
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The educated people of the region conceive an ideology not entirely incompatible with that of the Imperial philosophy, founded in principles of the rule of law and good governance. The seat of this learning, long since converted to a doctrine similar to the Way of the Illuminated Mind, is the Takadama.

The mild and inoffensive government that resulted was nevertheless insensibly vulnerable to manipulation by those with less elevated principles, and shortly after 217500 fell victim to the improbably named warlord “Madlass Joe”. Perverting the governing ideology to his own selfish ends, the tyrant imposed his will across the system and ruled with disgrace for more than twenty galactic years, until the forcible termination of his rule by the Imperial fleet.

Since that date the system has had bestowed upon it an Imperial Governor, as with all newly occupied territories, who endeavours to restore the principles lost under Joe. A visit has already been paid to her to the Takadama to speak with its members.


The Panuyin Sector
V24

Spoiler: Stellar Cartography
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Despite the presence of a number of stars, there are no immediately habitable planets. While it is not impossible that some might yet be terraformed, many of the stars are cold and dying, and locating a system where life is sustainable will be a challenge.

Instead, the population reside on the Phi station, a new construction in the heart of the sector. Phi bears a resemblance to former Imperial stations, most notably those in the Twr system, but similarities to the Albigensian are noteworthy. As yet new and without the chance to sprawl, it stands as a symbol of Imperial ingenuity and authority.

Spoiler: People
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The people of Phi are all colonists, drawn mostly from Malak but with a significant number of Kuvetli. Given their station-based experience, the Norduin peoples are also much in evidence. Other peoples of the Empire are present in smaller numbers.

The station is designed for scientific research first and foremost and it has yet to develop much of its own native culture. Instead, and despite the best efforts of well-intentioned station designers, the station has a rather sterile and anodyne atmosphere, enthusiastic décor and multicultural restaurants and recreation centres somehow only adding to that impression.No doubt that will change in time, as successive generations are born on the station.

Spoiler: Resources
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The region being barren, its only resource is its people. The researchers have a particular focus on experimenting with Entropic Pearls and other energy sources and consequently have become known as Energineers.

Spoiler: Government and Philosophy
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The station is the first colony outside the Maturin Sector to be Imperial from creation, and as such its government may be taken as that of a model Imperial province. The Station Chief, who also holds the rank of Viceroy, is head of the government. The Chief is elected, but is subject to Council approval before taking office. Below the Chief runs a reasonably efficient bureaucracy concerning all elements of life on the station, allowing the researchers to get on with their work with minimal interference.

There is an academy on the station which calls itself, somewhat prematurely, a University. All posts within the University are in any event occupied by firm subscribers to the (Ninurtine) Imperial ideology.


Violet Sector
T22

Spoiler: Geography
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The Violet Sector is a lonely starfield, swept by clouds of mineral dust which glitter an amethyst hue in the light of their stars. Several rogue planetoids throughout the sector seem to be made from a similar mineral, suggesting the dust comes from collisions between those objects. These crystal clouds seem relatively harmless, although in rare cases, they interfered with long-range sensors by refracting radiation used in scanning, creating phantom images of large objects floating in the void. These sensor ghosts had explorers a bit jumpy, expecting hostile natives, asteroid collisions, or other threats whenever one appeared too close by.

Initial explorations determined that there was one inhabitable planetoid, now named Pune (Violet-Seeds in Syndrome parlance). In subsequent years and with more extensive exploration, more have been discovered, most notably the planet Siriqua in the Mishod system, to the south of the sector.

Pune seems to be covered in a thick, purple fog. Found at the inner edge of its star's habitable zone, in a lopsided orbit, it seems to be a captured exosolar object, caught by the star's gravity well. It has a majestic set of rings of purple crystal. Explorations into the dense cloud cover of its surface revealed a landscape of rocky spires and hoodoos, carved out by constant gale-force winds.

The fog was found to be an organic, hallucinogenic substance carried by the winds, with good nutritional value, but its source was unknown. It took several days before the research party came across a grove of trees around a spring hidden within the rocks. These trees produced the substance, their pollen, in large quantities. It was discovered that the strong winds spread the pollen to other groves across the planet. These plants are known as Amethyst Trees.

Mysteriously, no other macroscopic life has been discovered, leading explorers to believe that the trees are the dominant life-form. The rocks and trees of Pune themselves are purple, owing to the purple mineral which makes up the planet.

Siriqua is a different prospect. Habitable, with plentiful water and plantlife, it is nevertheless remarkable for its absence of animal life. While arthropods and small vertebrates are present, there is no megafauna whatsoever. The planet has however been home to extensive building in the past, and there are whole cities across the world, all of them eerily silent.

Spoiler: History
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The sector was discovered by explorers from the Ninurtine Empire seeking exotic resources to bring back to their homeworld and a lost Relay believed to be in the area. Following discovery, the neighbouring Syndrome also showed interest in the region, and dispatched a warfleet to take control of the sector. At the signs of Syndrome advance, the Imperials fell back to their home system, allowing the insectoid natives of the Heart-Beacons to take control. The Syndrome subsequently established research stations to cultivate the Antispice as a food source.

After building up its navy, the Ninurtine Empire returned a few years later, and the Syndrome in turn chose not to contest the conquest, falling back to their home sector. Imperial ships this time spread out rapidly throughout the sector, seeking to establish uncontested control.

It was this that led to the discovery of the Mishod system and the abandoned planet of Siriqua. Imperial explorers discovered the remains of an apparently abandoned civilisation. Not knowing the native name, these people have come to be called the Babida. Although the Babida did not seem to have possessed the technology to dispatch colonists off-world, they had established a degree of control over their immediate orbit and the remnants of their satellites and space stations remain around the world.

The question of what happened to Babida has occupied a significant proportion of the time of the Violet Governor’s office, with some believing that the planet is contaminated and should be left untouched, while others see it as an opportunity for extensive settlement.

Spoiler: People
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In the first years after discovery and settlement, Pune was inhabited primarily by Syndrome colonists. With no native intelligent life, they lived in sealed research colonies away from the hallucinogenic substance blown through the atmosphere.

Since the Imperial conquest, these colonists were for the most part been ordered back to Research Station Alpha, their places taken by Imperial personnel or AIs, or the colonies sealed off completely. With the strengthening of Imperial control, this has continued. The colony has attracted settlers from across the Empire, with Kuvetli being relatively common. Duenem workers are also a major feature of the population, and Montargis traders have made homes in every station.

Siriqua is home to an increasing number of colonists. Despite there being no official policy to allow colonisation of the planet, the failure to impose a clear policy to prevent it has led to colonisation happening anyway. The majority of colonists are researchers, seeking to study the

Spoiler: Government
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The colonial Syndrome government was very authoritarian, even by Syndrome standards. In order to prevent contamination from the Antispice, strict rules were in place regulating who could come and go from the colony, and when. A divide formed between the upper echelons of the settlements, who wanted to keep the order as it is, and the lower classes, who wanted more freedom to move between colonies and more availability of Antispice for recreational use.

Since the Imperial conquest Research Station Alpha and its operation has been left untouched but all other Syndrome colonists have been encouraged to depart. The sector was initially placed under the auspices of the Violet Viceroy, appointed by the Emperor himself, although until the region was fully pacified the Lord Admiral remained in effective control.

The Governor of the Extrastellar Territories made representations that the Violet Expanse should fall within his purview, rather than the Viceroy reporting to the Emperor directly. But since the Viceroy governed a territory larger than all those currently managed by the Governor, this was controversial, and was never implemented.

Following the reordering of Imperial government under Cherahiteth II, the Violet Sector was formally constituted as an Imperial Territory, and placed under the rule of an Imperial Governor. Officially, the Governor continues to maintain her office on Station Violet-Bet, but it seems increasingly likely that it will relocate to Siriqua before too long, if only to better manage the currently self-governing colony there.

Spoiler: Resources
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The pollen of the Pune Amethyst Trees has become known as Antispice because of its peculiar properties. Chief among these is the fact that it is so bland that it makes other foods exposed to it less flavorful as well. In addition, it has hallucinogenic properties in many life-forms. Despite this, it is edible and nutritious, if thoroughly unpleasant to consume.

The Syndrome established three “research stations” on and around Pune.. These were initially designated Alpha, Beta, Gamma. In fact, however, only Alpha was ever built to anything like sufficient standard for its intended purpose. Alpha is still maintained by the Syndrome and cultivates Antispice to ship back to the Heart-Beacons for processing into food for livestock.

Following the Imperial conquest, Imperial personnel took over Station Beta and brought it online, renaming it Violet-Bet.

The third station remains completely uninhabitable, and lacks the facilities to harvest and process the Antispice.

Spoiler: Philosophy
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The hallucinogenic Antispice floating in the air on Pune leaves unprotected people on the surface dazed and unsure of what is real. They are highly receptive to new ideas as a result.

Among the ruins of the Babida civilisation there remains a goldmine of information for research, and indeed the fabric of universities and schools on Siriqua, together with records for study.

Whatever the beliefs of the Babida, they are long since lost, but hope of their discovery continues to enthuse visiting researchers. The community has established what they rather grandly call the University of Siriqua, in the hope of attracting new scholars and concentrating expertise.

The sector would be ripe for re-occupation by a suitable ideology, but none has yet done so.


The Tomb Worlds
Q3

Spoiler: Stellar Cartography
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A blue giant is the only notable solar system in this sector. The giant blue-hot star hosts three desert worlds in its orbit each sharing an orbital path but spaced equilateral around the sun moving unnaturally at perfectly matched speeds. UPT scientists believe the solar system to be artificially created, or more accurately, artificially curated by some long past stellar empire. The three planets, whose names have been translated as Misr, Kimt, and Ra, were not exact duplicates in that they each were engraved with their own unique pattern of Geo-Glyphs but in size, mass, rotation, and almost every other geographic and stellar quality they matched perfectly.

Each of the three desert worlds are completely covered in arcane symbols great and small as well as hieroglyphs both warnings and mythical histories. The worlds were primarily vast tomb worlds riddled with catacombs and tombs but tunnels and glyphs, many of which could only have been designed by a space-capable power, crisscrossed the planets utilizing some necrotic arcanology to fuel an ongoing process of raising the dead as mindless drones. The level of detail as well as the planets shared characteristics orbiting an unusual blue giant star leads UPT to conclude a stellar power with a capable understanding of some form of magic placed these planets here before vanishing or abandoning their work for unknown reasons.

Spoiler: Populace
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The living population of the system is rather negligible as UPT colonists are few and far between with the desert worlds being treated as a resource in space rather than viable new worlds to populate. The dead and undead population on the other hand numbers in the tens of billions. With three earth-size tomb worlds packed full of mummified aliens taken from across the nearby galaxy there was no shortage of bodies in the region. Archaeological surveys have revealed Tal-Amanyn, Gray and human seeming mummies sequestered within the tombs and a number of unidentified aliens besides. Hieroglyphics suggest different burial and resurrection traditions held different social value within whatever necromancer power had once reigned over these worlds as there were both apparent kings or other people of note preserved in tombs alongside treasure troves as well as mass pits seemingly set aside for criminals or slaves as some means of punishment.

Spoiler: History
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Misr, Kimt, and Ra appear to have been both the names of the planets as well as either the creators or gods associated with them. It remains unclear according to the Symbraum who have begun studying the tomb worlds whether these were actual practitioners of the arcane responsible individually for the crafting of one of three worlds or mythic god-like figures in whose name the worlds were dedicated. They appear intended to cooperate however as the Geo-Glyphs of the world's appear to be capable of interacting and triggering reactions offworld from the initial trigger.

UPT has managed to, since their initial contact with the planet and the overwhelming of the survey team by a horde undead of mummies, develop a greater but still highly lacking understanding of the arcane principles which govern the tomb worlds. The Symbraum have managed to understand and avoid the majority of trap glyphs as well as gain control over the ability to create and control mummies created through the manipulation of arcane runes planetside. While these are great feats which allow UPT access to more of their secrets the full functions of the geo-glyphs remain unknown as does the history and original purpose of the worlds. Many Symbraum find the arcane works intriguing while an equal number find the idea of manipulating brainless flesh a nauseating proposition. Requests for additional funding in the years since the annexation concluded have tended to languish in committees as debates over morality rage.

Spoiler: Philosophy
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The undead produced by the tomb worlds are not intelligent and with many Symbraum back in the homeworlds already conflicted over the adoption of Kamasati ideology out here on the frontier among the dead and living dead of so many species the notion of a standard ideology is one of the first things to go.

Great Pyramid of Ra (Open): A massive stone pyramid exists on the surface of Ra visible even from orbit. Its interior has been cleared of traps and undead and acts as a sort of central arrival point and largest "settlement" in the sector.

Spoiler: Resource
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Through arcane means that continue to function despite the absence of their creators the tomb worlds produce Alien Mummies animating the lifeless bodies of any species under the control of whomsoever wields their associated talisman. Mummies can be raised in groups with a single talisman controlling dozens, hundreds, or even thousands or individually assigned one talisman, one mummy. Currently the UPT believes with proper instruction these mummies can serve the galaxy as drones but without the need for advanced robotics to simulate the mobility and flexibility of an organic form.

Great Pyramid of Ra - Open
Deep Tomb of Kimt - Open
Three Pyramids of Misr - Open