Humaniti
originated on
Terra
(
Sol
/
Solomani Rim
1827). Most races of
humaniti
were seeded amoung
charted space
by the
Ancients
(c.-300,000); the
Solomani
are the descendents of the original
humans, who never left
Terra
but evolved in place, with the original ecosystem. Modern homo sapiens emerged on
Terra
in c.-35,000 (30,000 BC).
The Terrans remained at pre-industrial level (TL 3-) up to c.-2600 (c.1900 AD), when they suddenly shot up in tech level, primarily due to a number of wars. Within a hundred years, they had reached TL 9, but not without cost; they had overtaxed the ecology of Terra. Global warming caused sweeping changes to weather patterns, changing the farming patterns of the world and causing food wars.
The United Nations Space Co-ordinating Agency (UNSCA) was formed in -2508 (2010 AD), colonising Mars and moving into the asteroid belt (both in the Terra system). While doing research on a new thruster plate design to transport large quantities of ore, a lab in the belt discovered jump drive in -2431 (2087 AD). The zero-G environment allowed researchers to see the space-rending effects of jump drive metaconductors.
UNSCA made the first jump to Barnard's Star ( Sol / Solomani Rim 1926) in -2422 (2096 AD). There they encountered a prospecting outpost of the Vilani Imperium, a vast and advanced (human) empire. It came as a great shock to the Terrans to discover that many nearby worlds were already claimed.
Over the course of the next three decades, UNSCA and the UN transformed itself into a true world government. Early colonisation efforts concentrated on the worlds closest to Terra, and the colonies joined the UN, which was renamed the United Worlds (-2400). The Terrans gradually realised the size of the Vilani Imperium, and began building more colonies in strategic locations. GenAssist was created in order to speed up these efforts, and the Terran Confederation was born in -2398 (2120 AD).
The uneasy peace between the Imperium and the Confederation did not last. The Confederation continued to expand, conquering and absorbing Vilani frontier worlds. A series of wars (the Nth Interstellar Wars, -2408 to -2219) were fought between the Terrans and the Imperial province nearest Terra. The Eighth War broke open the frontier, and caused the Vilani to send major fleet elements to the area. However, the Terran invention of jump-3 drives made the Ninth War end in a crushing Terran victory. Further wars occurred over the next few centuries, leading to the defeat of the decadent and crumbling Imperiumin -2219.
The Terrans moved quickly to occupy the remaining Vilani territory, dispatching more than 100,000 officers to systems of the Imperium, to rule them and maintain order. However, Terra voted to administer the Vilani colonies directly, making them part of the Terran Confederation. The colonies resented this, believing that their autonomy would disappear. Admiral Hiroshi Estigarribia, sympathetic to this viewpoint, seized control of the Confederation and the colonies, proclaiming the Rule of Man in -2204 (2314 AD). When he addressed the new empire, he used the term "Solomani" for the first time. It appears to have been meant to mean "All Men", although others saw it as meaning Men of Sol, or Sole Men. Today it has come to mean humans descended from ancient Terra. Upon Hiroshi's death, his son was named Emperor Hiroshi II (retrospectively naming the Admiral as Hiroshi I). Hiroshi II moved the capitals from Dingir ( Dingir / Solomani Rim 1222) and Vland ( Vland / Vland 1717) to the more central Hub ( Ershur / Massillia ????).
The Rule of Man caused many more Solomani humans to venture into space to open banks, mines, factories, and other businesses. This mass migration lead to the Plague of Duskir . The plague was curbed with a wide-spectrum vaccine, but it killed many Vilani and often left the Solomani in the majority. Today, human stock is so intermixed that such plagues are rare.
The Rule of Man was plagued with the same problems of size and stagnation which caused the collapse of the Vilani Imperium . The Vilani colonies used a feudal-military system of rule which differed from the Terran colonies. There was never a formal method of chosing an Emperor, resulting in civil unrest during succession. The elimination of the Vilani caste system caused widespread unemployment. Financial uneasiness grew, and the refusal of the Central Treasury to honour a monetary issue of the branch treasury at Antares ( Antares / Antares 2421) lead to financial collapse in -1776. Twilight had arrived, and the Rule of Man broke apart.
During the Long Night , a number of former Rule of Man worlds gathered together in trading alliances. Examples include the Turin Consolidation in Alpha Crucis ; the New Slavic Solidarity and the Wuan Technology Association in Magyar ; the Vegan Polity and Terran Mercantile Community (TMC) in the Solomani Rim . In time, however, some of these faltered; even the TMC was forced to fall back to the Old Earth Union (-1110), a local trading group. Other examples of these groups include the Easter Concord and the Dingir League , both in the Solomani Rim . This was the age of the Reavers, pirate bands who stripped technology from old Confederation worlds in order to plunder others. The Reaver era ended upon contact with the expanding Aslan . The Aslan Border Wars (-1118 to 380) resulted, and were not resolved until increased Imperial presence lead to the Peace of Ftahair (380).
By -500, Night was lifting from some areas of human space, and small interstellar states were being formed. The most successful was the Sylean Federation (-650 to 0), which grew into the Third Imperium under Cleon I . The Solomani worlds were contacted late, partly due to distance and partly due to Vilani anger over the Solomani Hypothesis (114). Later, Solomani nobles petitioned Emperor Artemsus to incorporate Terra into the Imperium ; he declined, fearful of the role Terra might play in Imperial affairs. Early in the Pacification Campaigns (76 to 120), he stated that the Imperium had to stabilise "before fully involving Earth ".
Empress Porfiria was petitioned by Solomani nobles to verify the Hypothesis , and she quietly sent a small contact envoy into the Rim in 305. This action moved the Easter Concord to officially recognise the Third Imperium and request to become a client state . Easter built a chain of bases from itself to the Imperial interior, and contact was eventually established with the remainder of the Solomani Rim via this "Starlane". Easter was incorporated into the Third Imperium in 426, and Terra itself in 588. Shortly after, an official historical mission to Terra verified the Hypothesis . Terra was the last Solomani world prior to the Imperial Civil War (604 to 622) which was made a member of the Imperium .
The Solomani saw the Imperial Civil War (604 to 622) as being caused by racial differences. Vilani megacorporations were influencing the Imperial Core, whereas the frontier aristocracy were largely Solomani. Admiral Plankwell became Emperor in 606 with the support of the Solomani Moot , while other contenders were backed by the megacorporations. Arbellatra 's final victory in 622 was seen as a Solomani victory. However, Vilani influence grew, and the Solomani felt betrayed when Arbellatra 's son, Zhakirov , married into Zirunkariish (679). Relations deteriorated and eventually Zhakirov 's daughter ( Margaret I ) avoided war by creating the Solomani Autonomous Region in 704, letting the Solomani rule themselves.
In the 860's, a new political movement advocated the formation of a true Solomani state, and the various independent states became signatories to the "Charter for Confederation of the Free Solomani States"; the enabling act for the Solomani Confederation. The growing Confederation was seen as a threat to the Imperium , who revoked the charter of the Solomani Autonomous Region in 940 and attempted to re-integrate the area. This provoked the Solomani Rim War (990 to 1002). Initially going well for the Solomani , the war stalemated and finally the Imperium advanced into the Solomani Sphere. The Solomani Grand Fleet was defeated at Dingir ( Dingir / Solomani Rim 1222), and Terra was captured in 1002. This pyrrhic victory forced the Imperium to a halt, and an indefinite armistice was negotiated.
The Imperium re-integrated much of the conquered systems into itself, and set up the Vegan Autonomous District to oversee Imperial interests along the border. Terra is due to return to Solomani control in 1110.
(ADV-12, 1107; MT-ENCYC, 1120; MT-ALIENS2, 1120)
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