Friday 11 March 2011

History of the RimWorlds #6 – A Pocket Empire with Teeth: the Klarthur Confederacy

Lanii Harpurii - Interstellar News Anchor“In breaking news, Imperial Interstellar Scout Service sources have confirmed that the loss of the survey vessel, IISS Joralanii, in the Choraptur system in Riinu Subsector, was due to hostile action. This contradicts earlier statements by Lord Saaroi hault-Creaso, Vice-Regal Minister for Exploration, that the Joralanii had suffered catastrophic decompression following a collision with ring material during a refuelling run around the main Choraptur system gas giant.

“IISS sources further confirmed that the Scout Service, as well Vice-Regal officials, have been aware for nearly six months that a large and reasonably technologically advanced Pocket Empire has a presence along the Spinward border of RimWorlds Sector Map
the Riinu Subsector. Believed to be centred in Aemilor Subsector, this Pocket Empire has, so far, disputed Imperial claims to systems in Riinu and Daltharmai Subsectors.”

In my last post on the history of the RimWorlds, I was happily writing along when this last paragraph fell out:
Expansion was rapid and successful, and Kolin began to dream of a Sector Duchy. And then his advancing wavefront of scouts ran into a technologically competent Pocket Empire, the Klarthur Confederacy.

While chronologically and spatially logical, we are currently in the 497 – 540 period and, as seen below, it’s nearly 150 years before the Klarthur Confederary boots the Imperium out of most of Riinu Subsector. So, what happened, and who are the Klarthur Confederacy?

History of the RimWorlds



















103 Thongaloros Empire falls to the Outrim Barbarians.
497First Imperial presence in the Rimworlds in Kaorin and Berimar’s Sceptre subsectors.
540 Sector Duchy of the Rimworlds established with its capital on Raelmar/Thurgandarn. Kolin I Venuraeki is first Sector Duke.
690 - 699Reign of Sector Duke Morthar II the Weak. Imperial control of the Sector, disrupted during the Civil War of 602 – 610, continues to weaken. Morthar is assassinated by his cousin, Deserai, who succeeds him as Neal Zuro II. During Morthar’s reign, Riinu Subsector is mostly lost to the Klarthur Confederacy.



The Klarthur Confederacy is one of those things in my sector history that I have never made a decision upon. And now it has slipped up and bitten me.

So, options –
· A Thongaloros Empire successor state. Though, this is a “confederacy”. This could mean a number of Tsalur clans working together at an interstellar level, though independent at a planetary/system level, and possibly jockeying for status within the Confederacy. On the face of it, it doesn’t sound particularly strong – strong enough to hold off Kolin and his mates.
· A true confederacy that happens to include some Tsalur worlds with their higher technology. If the Tsalur dominate the fleet, with their high tech heritage and past control of Jump tech, this may explain their stubborn, yet long-term approach to resisting Imperial expansion into Confederation space.

I need to think on this and post in a couple of days.

2 comments:

  1. I really dig your sector map. And sweet mother of Crom is that a real news anchor?? She is gorgeous.

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  2. Thanks Greg. The sector map is a scan of the original hand drawn map that dates from the mid-to late 1980's.

    Eli, in his Alcovia blog, Mark on Dropship Horizon, and Steve Blease in his 1980s era English Civil War blog have used stills of newsreaders to great effect. I've just taken that idea a little further.

    Apparently, the young lady is a news anchor - Google Images keeps bringing her up under the heading "Hottest newsreaders" - but I have no idea of her name, nor where she works. I'm operating under the premise that 3000 years in the future, human DNA will once again combine in a similar pattern and produce Lanii Harpurii.

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