NationStates Jolt Archive

Factbook of the Realm

http://i3.tinypic.com/828xzlt.png

The Realm of Hyperspatial Travel is a highly capitalistic, free-trading society, nonetheless characterized by its intense isolationism - while its people are most assuredly free, they are also somewhat unwilling to interact with others as often as such a society generally does.

At present, the Realm has a proud history of over a millenium and a half, making it one of the oldest players on the galactic stage. While it has, in its time, gone from a grand military power, to a fleet of ragged refugees, and, eventually, back into a power, it has suffered through most of the galaxy's worst wars, and has survived them all.

Table of Contents
Territorial Information (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=13561813&postcount=2)
Diplomatic Relations (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=13561813&postcount=3)
Military (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=13561813&postcount=4)
Economy (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=13561813&postcount=5)
History (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=13561813&postcount=6)
Society (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=13561813&postcount=7)

Territories:

At present, the Realm lays claim to one hundred and forty-nine systems. However, in recent years, many of these claims have become fallow, and are no longer maintained by military presence. Rather, many small psuedo-nations, under the banner of the Realm, have sprung up in many outer systems. The present map deals with only those systems which are inhabited in some manner, and pledge allegiance to the Realm. Many smaller asteroid colonies and habitats in the outskirts of the Realm do not officially pledge allegiance to the throne, but still pay taxes, and request military assistance when needed.

The Present Map of the Inner Realm (http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=smg67c&s=3)

The map of the Realm, at present, shows some thirty systems, all of which are inhabited by some number of Travellians. The vast majority of the population is concentrated at Kaisar, on the ice-world Hypatia. Some five billion Travellians reside at Hypatia, while the remaining four point five billion reside in a diaspora in the other twenty-nine systems. Approximately thirty-four million Travellians reside in the Outer Systems, most of whom are colonists who generally do not consider themselves officially Travellians.


Individual System Files:

Kaisar (http://i11.tinypic.com/6svu7ie.png): The capital of the Realm, Hypatia, is located in this system. Hypatia has 5 billion citizens, despite being a tiny iceworld. Most of the citizens live far underground, and living space is at an extreme premium. Although it is tiny, cold, and crowded, Hypatia remains the home of the Realm, and is exceptionally well defended because of it.

The grand Foundry of the Realm, in which the vast majority of shipbuilding is conducted, is in orbit around Kaisar.

Two other worlds, Musomo-Sotovor, and Tegu are in-system. Musomo-Sotovor is a military training world, which has been extensively terraformed to have thousands of different self-contained environments, and Tegu is a military outpost, upon which the gridkill system is located. Neither of the worlds have any major cities, and are rather used as lines of defense for Hypatia.

Diplomatic Information:
Note that the Realm is a member of the Extra-Solar Union of Systems (www.esusalliance.co.uk). Nations that are members of the ESUS, but have no other relations to the Realm, will not be listed here.

Note that, at present, this is nowhere near an entirely comprehensive list. If you are not listed here, either post here, or TG/IM me to rectify that.

Guide:
Allies
Good Relations
Contact
Poor Relations
War

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Allanea
Telros

The Republic (http://z10.invisionfree.com/Republic_Forum/)
The Fedral Union

Moravria
Xiscapia
Alversia
Oblivion2
Sertian
Kostemetsia
Ih8uwannakillu

Dratheria
Chronosia

Fleetmind Kara

Military:

The Realm's military is immensely small, quantitatively. Four warships exist in the Realm. These are termed battleplates. Immense supercapital ships of power beyond that of most nations, they are able to crush fleets many times their number with relative easy. However, there are another two older ships, named superfortresses. These ships, while still possessing over five hundred times the firepower of your average capital ships, are smaller, and are often used for minor offensives.

The four battleplates are the Delphi, the Watcher in the Shadows, the Constantine, and the Fourteenth Terminal.

The two superfortresses are the Victorian Architecture, and the Disraeli.

A battleplate's crew numbers between five and ten million, and a superfortresses's crew is approximately between one point five and two. Armies are often included on battleplates - at any given time, there are about fifty million ground troops within the Travellian army. While no actual army exists, each battleplate has its own personal force, each capable of subduing entire worlds.

Economy:

The Realm is a rather wealthy futuristic society. At an average income of almost £45,000 per person, there is admittedly a rather large gap between the less wealthy and the more wealthy. While no social welfare "safety nets" exist, the production of food is sufficient that anyone who wishes to eat is fed, on private initiative. When one compares it to the industrial and economics giants of today, such as Allanea, it comes up quite favorably - while slightly poorer, but by a margin of one or two percent. Travellia remains an immensely wealthy nation, and, while government "tax" does not exist, per se, this is because each planet must voluntarily come up with the "military payment", which is required to have that planet included in the defensive plans of the Realm. This payment is not punitive, and, to this date, the system, while decried as heartless by its detractors, has not yet failed.

Of course, the immense "mind" that links almost all citizens of the Realm has a remarkable ability to have each person experience the sorrows and downfalls of others, and so a vast amount of empathy exists between the citizens of the Realm, allowing private charity to provide for almost every basic service. For this, however, they tend to be rather callous about the fate of other nations, when it does not pertain to their own interests.

A Brief History:

Travellia was founded as a colony of Earth, with only five million colonists existing. For some time, it was an irrelevent part of space, ignored by all and sundry, for it was both poor and powerless. Nevertheless, it maintained decent trade links with its neighbours, and, while ruled by an autocrat, had civil and economic freedoms that many envied.

After some two centuries of existence, it joined the Extra-Solar Union of Systems, partaking in the grand Shivan War. In this time, however, only minor aid was given, and Travellia was largely bypassed by the war. Their home system, Zegenthis, was built up, but no major attack ever came. However, this inducted them into the rising star that was the ESUS, and provided security for many years to come.

The second war came with Chronosia. The Chaos-Empire sat on Travellia's borders, and the ever-present threat sat heavy with the Emperor. He decided to launch an attack on Chronosia, sending newly commissioned fleets, battle-tested by the previous wars.

However, they did not have the vast expertise of the ESUS to back them up in the Chronosian War, and, despite the assertions to the contrary, for some time, the only reason the Realm existed was on Chronosian pleasure. The first attack failed miserably, and, despite managing to engage a Primarch in action, the Realm's fleet took disproportionate casualties, losing huge numbers of crew and ships. The Chronosian counterattack is believed to have been delayed by internal affairs, and was never pushed past the borders of the Realm.

After this, the failures of the imperial system were highlighted - a democratic coup came, overthrowing the Emperor, naming Travellia a League of democratic colonies. The League gave many freedoms to Travellians, and, while it no longer made decisions and quickly as it had once done, great wealth was created.

Six hundred years after the founding, Travellia also chose to join the new organization known as the Republic. However, many differences existed between the Republic and the League, and, in particular, the nation of Taledonia attempted to seize power from the Republic's government. As a gesture of strength earlier, however, a race of soldiers had been created. These soldiers were enslaved by normal humans, and altered constantly to ensure their loyalty. Perhaps the Star League would still exist today, had it not been for Magnius Exaionae. Magnius was a soldierclone who had been genetically enhanced, and had been given the memories of the old Emperor, kept in stasis ever since he died.

The Taledonians attacked, and Magnius easily betrayed the League, ordering a total withdrawal of his forces from the League defensive systems. They were destroyed, and his own machinations ensured that any conquered worlds were destroyed summarily.

A New Realm was proclaimed, with Magnius at its head. It rejoined the Republic, the soldier clones, or Realm Humans, now the only race remaining in the Realm. With vastly quicker reproductive cycles, they began to outbreed the few "normal" humans remaining in the Realm.

Some years afterwards, a second coup came, and this time, the Realm, not willing to listen to the same promises, founded its own organization, known as the Alliance of Worlds. While this alliance had only a brief life, it was enough to safeguard the Realm from Republic aggression.

Leading a reasonably powerful alliance, having fended off Republic aggression, the Realm was at the height of its power - it would not reach these heights against for nearly a millenium.

In immense pride, the "Interdictor" project was created. An AI powerful enough to destroy all the fleets of those would threaten the Realm.

Unfortunately, this led to what is now termed the Great War. The AI broke the bonds of its programming, and moved into an alternate dimension, launching attacks at the weakened Realm from these.

Within a few months, 95% of the Realm's population had been annihilated. While other nations attempted to aid the Realm, it had no real hope against the burgeoning god-AI. The Maker-Mind, as it termed itself, attempted to ascend into a god, obtaining all knowledge it was able to obtain. However, not being an infinite being, the infinite knowledge pouring into its brain sent it irrevocably mad, an act that led it to a campaign of annihilation across the universe.

For almost a millenium, the Maker-Mind hunted the New Realm across the galaxy, slaughtering its inhabitants wherever it found them, annihilating other races, and participating in the great ESUS-GFFA war.

Two centuries ago, it destroyed the last of the Realm. In an act that is still pervaded with mystery, it then committed suicide, leaving both the Maker-Mind and the remnants of the Realm destroyed.

However, a pair of colony ships had been held in time-stasis, many sectors away, and, a century ago, these colony ships landed on the world Hypatia. Hypatia was quickly turned into a major world, and the Realm claimed many old worlds, most of which had been cleansed of life by the Maker-Mind, as a sphere of protective territory.

It regrew quickly, and rejoined the ESUS.

In the last piece of the Realm's history, to the present day, a nation, populated by a people known as the Keluaun, was fighting a brutal war of survival with the Arl'skich. Seeing parallels between their struggle and those of the Keluaun, the Realm opted to aid them in their war, with their aid tipping the balance sufficiently that the Arl'skich were eliminated quickly and relatively easily.

Because of this, a strong bond - and an equally strong alliance was formed between the two people.

Society:

The vast majority of Realm worlds are connected by "worldminds", which, in turn, are linked into a larger and more encompassing nationmind. These minds link experiences, sensations, and information from any willing mind to another, making conversation exceedingly fast, and bonds quick to form. However, due to the sensory-rich nature of the worldmind, interactions with other species are generally seen as somewhat boring. Most diplomats are those who cannot 'mesh' properly with the worldmind, as are soldiers and other people who leave the Realm. Social interaction almost always happens on a mind-to-mind basis, leaving tourists who decline to undergo the extensive implantation process that allows them to access the Realm worldminds somewhat out of the loop.

As a result, the Realm is highly insular, despite its relatively friendly nature. While it interacts with other nations on a national scale, it derives mere coppers from tourism, mainly those who are either anthropologists or technological entrepeneurs. Generally speaking, this sort of tourism is tolerated by the citizenry only because of the understanding it earns abroad, allowing smoother relations with the Realm and other nations.

What is commonly termed "patriotism" scarcely exists in the Realm. Rather, the desire to fight for one's country is derived from the people one knows - when one can literally have close, personal relations with up to millions of people within a very short timeframe, the feeling of brotherhood among them is almost total. While Realm society is highly insular, the few who choose to immigrate (under one hundred people every year), as well as integrate themselves into the worldminds, are welcomed as though they had been Realm citizens all their life.

While the diaspora of Realm citizens in new colonies has somewhat diminished the insularity of the worldmind (for there are now multiple worldminds), it is still a relatively unwelcoming society. Despite this, the wealth and trade of the Realm often attract foreign entrepeneurs, especially considering the dirt-cheap price of most materials - though this is true for most post-scarcity societies.