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Caria

Paegilini System

File:PUTCARIAHERE

Sector: Sparring Sea

Capital: Yaskarit

Species: Humans

Common Languages: Vulgar Morozi, High Morozi

Demonyms: Carian

Part of: Empire of Dominia

Formerly part of: Sol Alliance

In the far-flung Paegilini System lies a strange, tidally-locked world of the Empire of Dominia: the Imperial Viceroyalty of Caria'. Controlled by the Empire since 2424 and often referred to with the derisive nickname of the “Witch World,” it is a world shrouded in darkness and rumors. The planet serves as the Empire’s gate to the Eastern Military Frontier and its hand is soft here, allowing for the local oligarchy to thrive — though some conservatives have called for it to be reigned in. Its inhabitants are known as Carians and are often regarded with suspicion abroad due to their planet’s mysterious nature. They adhere to an acceptable deviation of Tribunalism known as Carian Tribunalism and are renowned for their abilities as seers and diviners within the broader umbrella of Moroz Holy Tribunalism.

Contents

History

Prehistory (Circa 2190 - 2375

“By the Aderlai’s mercy alone were we able to survive and endure,” - Excerpt from pre-Imperial Carian writing on the Prehistoric era.

The pre-Imperial history of Caria is poorly documented. Attempts by Imperial and – more recently – Solarian researchers to uncover its past have been frustrated by a lack of available records about the planet written before Elyra’s secession in 2302. It was most likely colonized at roughly the same time as Novi Jadran and Sun Reach, in the late 22nd century, and intended to be a habitation or scientific center in the Baltian and Arcadian Frontier Sectors due to its strange environment and ideal position between Sun Reach and inhabitable worlds further into the frontier. A Solarian Department of Colonization report from 2205 notes it as a research-focused colony and transit hub, but does not contain any further information. The lack of formal information from this era has led to Imperial scholars referring to it as “Prehistoric Caria” and have settled on referring to the planet as a Solarian scientific colony, based on what information is known about it from historical records and Carian genetic code showing signs of past genetic tampering associated with Hegemonic-era Solarian experiments to produce more adaptable colonists.

Carian academics have similarly fractured records which are often mixed with legends, half-truths, and oral histories. Officially they do not deviate from their Imperial counterparts in calling the planet a Solarian research colony. In their mythology Carians state they were brought to the planet by the Alliance, which abandoned them when its planetary rotation locked into place, and were saved by the geothermal vents modern Carian cities are now built around. According to modern dating by the Imperial Jadranic Academy of Sciences, Caria’s vents are thousands of years old and have been held by more conservative Tribunalist scholars as an example of the Goddess planning out the history of the Spur far in advance. Prior to the Imperial era, these mythologies substituted the Goddess for the Great Mother – or Aderlai – a local deity associated with Caria who possesses superficial resemblances to the Goddess.

The poor amount of information on prehistoric Caria has led to numerous theories about the Witch World’s true origins. Some in the Holy Tribunal claim the colonists, like Morozians, were brought to the world to serve a special purpose, as She has ordained, and their unique nature is a sign of Her blessing. Others claim malevolent witch-spirits moved the planet known for its connection to sorcery from the depths of the Lemurian Sea – or beyond the Spur – to the modern Empire through vile witchwork for purposes unknown – but undoubtedly nefarious. Yet others claim the Carians are the end result of Solarian hegemonic-era experiments with the nature of humanity, and go beyond the limits of conventional human beings. The inoperative and broken remnants of warp gates in its system attest to the possibility of form of Solarian warp drive experimentation during their era of control, but the secrets of Caria’s past may never be truly known.

The Pirate Lords

“The only loyalties they have is their own, and their coins,” - Ernst Zhang, High Captain of the Pirate Lords, on Carians, prior to his execution (2424).

Well-recorded and attested Carian history starts in 2375, with the planet’s subjugation by the Pirate Lords of Sun Reach. The Lords used the world, which had by then developed its own local oligarchical government, in much the same way the Empire would: as a transit world between Sun Reach and their domains beyond Caria. This, and the soft hand of the Lords, caused the planet to benefit more from their control than perhaps anywhere else due to trade profits. By the late 24th century, the families that ruled Caria on behalf of Sun Reach were wealthier, more influential, and more independent than their overlord would have liked them to be. Rumors in the Adirim, Caria’s government, began to circulate that the Pirate Lords were planning to punish their most successful underlings and take over their trade empire themselves.

But any censure of Caria’s oligarchical families would never come thanks to its growing conflict with Novi Jadran: an insignificant, frozen world home to a surprising amount of industry which had – out of frustration with constant raids on their world by Sun Reach – sworn loyalty to Moroz, a distant, nearly as frigid world of little importance to the Adirim or Carians more broadly. The Pirate Lords’ decisive and rapid defeat in Sun Reach in 2422 shocked the planet and threw it into a temporary panic as patrician families sold off what assets they could and prepared for an inevitable Dominian assault on their world. The local military – a shadow of what the Pirate Lords had, let alone the Empire’s military – rapidly dissolved in fear of what was to come.

When Imperial forces entered into the Paegilini system on 7 July, 2424, they were greeted by a planet on the verge of surrender. A look at the forces arrayed against Caria by the Empire led its leader, Grand Estate-Holder Bomilcar Magonbaal, to surrender immediately to the Imperial Fleet, which landed in the planetary capital and raised the Emperor’s standard in an official ceremony. The only shots fired in the Dominian invasion of the planet were in a ceremonial salute, and by a startled Dominian Imperial Fleet armsman at a migrating animal.

Imperial Era

“Never forget the mercy Emperor Godwin showed you,” - High Lord General Dorothea-Frieda Strelitz to Grand Estate-Holder Kusarit Maharbal, 2458.

As when it was controlled by the Pirate Lords, Caria and its government have thrived under Dominian rule. The mostly peaceful nature of its transfer to Morozian rule led to little damage to the Carians, with most disruptions coming from a shift between the native religion of the planet, known as Carianism to Dominians and the 'Hatim Aderlai-Zlim' (lit. “Blood Path of the Great Mother”) to the pre-Imperial population, to Carian Tribunalism. Strategically, the planet’s role as a gate between Sun Reach and the broader region has not shifted, with House Caladius vessels replacing those of the Pirate Lords and colonial bureaucrats having replaced tribute collectors.

Beneficially, Caria never faced the infrastructure and urban decay of Sun Reach, nor the privations of Novi Jadran, enabling it to bargain from a stronger position when it submitted to the Empire. While they lost their native faith to Tribunalism, canny maneuvering – which some claim involved sorcery – saw the Adirim and the Grand Estate-Holder remain in charge under the nominal oversight of a colonial Governor-Viceroy. The massive investment projects which changed life patterns on Sun Reach and Novi Jadran did not occur on Caria, and the planet has retained a level of autonomy alongside its prosperity. This has led to its non-trade economy being less integrated with the Dominian colonial economy, aside from the entry of Dominian textile products into a market once dominated by more expensive local Carian output.

But despite its relative wealth from trade and freedom, not all is well upon the Witch World. Rumors of its sorcerous connections and the odd appearance of Carians cause them to often be discriminated against abroad in the Empire, with Imperial citizens blaming them for inexplicable phenomena when they are near and accusing them of trafficking with dark forces. In the Sparring Sea, where their trade networks are, tensions between the Republic of Elyra and Empire are higher than ever, and any war between the two will place them uncomfortably close to the frontlines and destroy many of their trade ventures. On Moroz, conservative nobles and clergy call for their autonomy to be restrained and their divination practices to be curtailed. And in Yaskarit, its capital, the Adirim is divided and volatile, with patrician families willing to use any dirty trick they can muster to win influence and power – even at the cost of the broader planet.

The Paegilini System

More here tomorrow.