First Decline

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—+ StarSystems/EpsilonIndi - Chronology/FirstDecline

—++ A World Divided (2800-2985)

Von Brenan’s World was, by the end of the Chronology/FirstExpanse, a thriving colony. Largely self-sufficient, it was exporting large quantities of refined metals and minerals. It had a population of nearly 800,000 people, some 92% of which lived in the balmy equatorial regions.

When Chronology/HyperspaceVortices first started causing trouble, the StarSystems/EpsilonIndi system was hit very hard. As starships became more infrequent, money became scarce. In 2811, a series of severe crop failures (due to a very nasty local virus) created major food shortages. Many were forced to start experimenting with the local lifeforms, the most complex being little more than bacterial mats. Nearly 100,000 colonists died of starvation and poisoning before the few edible organisms were discovered.

The divide between the equatorial Hawkinian peoples and their hardier, more self-sufficient Coldblood neighbors became permanent during this early part of the Chronology/FirstDecline. A confederation of settlements in the higher latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere officially declared their independence in 2819. The Isaactown administration, still reeling from the crop failure and ensuing famine of 2811 could do little.

For the next century the population of Van Brenen’s world dwindled to about 600,000 people. Contact with Earth diminished to the point where the average of only one ship every ten years made it through. One thing that was maintained during this darkest period was technology. With a good supply of natural resources, the equatorial colonists managed, if not always very easily, to hang on to key technologies, particularly medicinal and computational.

During the 2900s the population finally began to rebound, and by 2950, Von Brenen’s World was up to 1.2 million. A growing population put demands upon agriculture and living space, and slowly Hawkinians began moving into some of the deeper valleys in the higher latitudes, thus bringing renewed conflict with the Coldbloods.

—++ The Coldblood Wars (2985-3004)

Leaders on both sides tried to keep hostilities at a minimum, but it was only a matter of time. In 2985, a group of Coldblood prospectors, angry over Hawkinians homesteads being built in a small valley they had been using for generations, killed the settlers. The outrage among the equatorial population was too much, and the Isaactown government collapsed, felled in a bloodless coupe by General Anton Devries, who vowed revenge. Thus began the First Coldblood War (2985-2996), which ended in a ceasefire that amounted to little more than a stalemate.

The Second Coldblood War (2999-3004) saw the smaller but more skilled Coldblood forces wreak great devestation on the agriculture base of Hawkinian society, risking mass starvation once again. In the end, however, the Coldbloods simply did not have the numbers or the equipment, and despite their early successes, they were ultimately defeated, signing an official surrender in 3004. It was of little credit to the Hawkinians that they swept into many Coldblood settlements, destroying them and driving the defeated peoples to the Cold Side of Van Brenen’s World, but such was the mood of the Hawkinian populace that no other outcome was possible.

—++ The Empire of the Devries (3004-3520)

Now Isaactown was the center of a vast empire, and General Devries, buoyed by his great successes, was able to swiftly bring down the last vestiges of the old democratic system, naming himself Emperor Simon I. He and his descendants would rule much of Von Brenen’s world for the next five centuries.

While Von Brenen’s World may have been cut off from Earth and the other colonies, under the stable (if not always kindly) rule of the Devries, the Hawkinians took full advantage of the lands wrested from the Coldbloods, and turned the moon into a rather impressive industrial complex. The Empire of the Devries resembled in many details the old Corporations of the Chronology/EmergenceEra, with the Emperor as a CEO and President of the Board. Society became highly stratified, with proficiency tests given during the teenage years determining not only one’s occupation, but whether one would enter the elites, the middle class or be relegated to the common laborers.

By 3150, the first explorations of the rest of the Epsilon Indi system began, though Von Brenen’s World was sufficiently mineral rich that other than research stations on some of the minor moons and planets, there was little to be gained. Never the less, the Devries were keen to keep a toehold in space, and set up a number of permanent outposts on other bodies in the Epsilon Indi system.

For the remaining Coldbloods, now eeking out an existence on the harsh Cold Side of Von Brenen’s World, none of this meant very much. They became a secretive, fearful people, losing much of their technology, though they remained skillful enough in breeding that they managed to turn a few varieties of algae and bacteria into a nutritous food source. Still, despite all the difficulties of their life, their populations too begin to grow, largely unknown to people on the other side of the moon.

In time, of course, even the Empire of Devries, as successful as it its early years had been, began to descend into a cruel police state. The later Devries were all too often a combination of incompetence, corruptability and intense paranoia. Political prisoners, along with many criminals, were sent to the Cold Side, and though many died, those that remained often escaped the horrific gulags and began to swell the Coldbloods not only with strong workers, but also scientists, engineers, technicians and even a few scholars.

Though the Devries maintained an iron grip on much of their empire, opposition began to grow. Secret organizations sprouted up, sabotage of industry and assassinations of high-level functionaries (not to mention a few kinsmen of the Emperors) increased.

Much worse for the Devries were the secret contacts that Coldblood clans began making with various opposition groups beginning around 3490. The Coldbloods, now in possession of hundreds of skilled engineers and technicians, and sitting atop some of the most resource-rich regions on the entire moon, created networks to smuggle in weapons and explosives. In 3487, the next step was taken when they formed a tribal confederation under the High Chieftain Karl Bloodbeard. By the time the Devries fully understood that their old enemies were back, it was too late.

—++ The Fall of the Empire of the Devries (3520-3542)

Beginning in 3520, provincial governments began declaring independence from the Devries. Though individually incapable of facing off against the resources of the Empire, together they began to undermine the control of the Devries. Unable to fight all the rebel provinces at once, the Emperor Charles III Devries-Say’ed (r.3501-3542) instead concentrated on the most important and left the others, thinking that in time they would have little choice but to return.

Unfortunately for the rebel provinces, they soon learned that the Coldblood confederation was not nearly as altruistic as they had thought. They invaded the provinces, seized control and imprisoned or executed anyone in the provincial governments that stood in their way, or even looked like they would stand in their way. Now with a bulwark, open warfare between the Coldbloods and the Devries began in earnest, with the first battles being fought in 3531.

For the Devries, there was little hope. They had so alienated their subjects that many took up arms against them. Still, the war lasted eleven years, and at least two million people died. In 3541, Isaactown, oldest and most beautiful city on Von Brenen’s World was besieged by an army personally lead by Karl Bloodbeard, and in 3542, tiring of a long siege, the Coldblood High Chieftain simply ordered the city razed. At least 800,000 people died, though Emperor Charles III Devries-Say’ed was not among them. He, his immediate family, a few distaff relatives and some ministers fled Von Brenen’s World in a spacecraft. The Empire of the Devries had finally fallen.

—++ The Karlian Empire and the Rise of the Octarchy (3542-3800)

Karl Bloodbeard moved quickly to establish himself as Emperor. Various offshoots of the Devries family were publicly tried and executed. The so-called Karlian Empire was, in fact, much better than the Empire of the Devries. The remnants of the old bureaucracy were given their old jobs back, though under Karl’s closest relatives and allies’ watchful eyes. The Karlian Empire was initially modeled on the Coldblood clan system, but ultimately became a hybrid of the Devries more centrally controlled system and the looser clan model.

Unfortunately, Karl Bloodbeard’s heirs were not as capable. His son, Heinrich (3558-3575) was more interested in his veritable harem of women, and left the empire to be ruled by his clan chieftains, who were becoming terribly corrupt. Karl’s grandson, Karl II (3575-3600), was an actual mental deficient, not to mention something of a psychopath, whose reputation for enjoying the severe torture of prisoners became so black that in 3600 the clan chiefs had him assassinated.

This gave the provinces, some with Coldblood clan chiefs as governors, all the excuse they needed. They declared Karl II’s murderers traitors, refused to recognize his two sons as heirs to the throne, and declared the Empire defunct. Briefly they joined in the Von Brenan’s World Confederation, under a council made up of the governors, but that lasted less than two years. By 3620, the old empire had split into eight states, the Octarchy. Unity was now all but impossible, and the populations of the states were too weary from war and incompetence to let any empire-building ruler stand.

For the next two centuries, the Octarchy remained relatively stable. Border wars were not uncommon, though they rarely threatened the existence of any state. A mixture of governments could be found; from monarchies (the states dominated by old Karlian clan chieftains were in this category) to democracies and even a couple of dictatorships. There was little technological development during this period, though interplanetary space travel was maintained, but not nearly at the levels of the Empire of the Devries. Treaties assured that space would not be armed, and military might was concentrated in atmospheric fighters, land forces and navies.

The Octarchy represented two centuries of relative peace and prosperity. The Coldbloods and the Hawkinians were finally rejoined, and the various states of the Octarchy in fact began to actively settle the Cold Side, seeing as it was the only territory with minimal claims. Those Coldblood clans that had not taken part in the Karlian takeover in the 36th century found themselves forced to either flee to the most inhospitable regions.