A History of the United Worlds of Rigel
-Part 1
Preface
Rigel is a vibrant starfaring civilization with a long standing as the one of the pre-eminent cultural and trading hubs of local space. This star nation has weathered many crises across the centuries, and yet amidst the strife and conflict found in this turbulent region has maintained its strong democratic institutions, and refused to compromise on its traditions of civil liberty.
Before 450 CE the world we know as Rigel III, and which the native inhabitants then referred to as Chelar, was home to the Chelonian species who were at the very beginning of an industrial revolution. However before the Chelonians could begin to construct their machine age civilization, and begin an ascent towards space flight on their own, the Rigel system was discovered by interstellar travellers.
First Contact
In the darkness of space it is an unfortunate truth that star systems with a life bearing habitable world are uncommon, such systems are prized by star nations for colonization and expansion. Rigel is a system that is truly rare in that it is host to two such worlds, that have independently developed life. Chelar or Rigel III is one, the other is the sixth moon of the gas giant Rigel V.
It was the long range detection of these two life bearing planets that drew the attention of the Javeer Astroindustrial Consortium, a powerful hypercorporation of the rapidly expanding Orion Empire. Eager to exploit the land rights that developing such a system for the Empire would gain, the JAC dispatched an armed survey expedition beyond the edge of then Orion space to stake their claim.
The survey ship
Ventim discovered that the world moon of Rigel Vf was a paradise waiting to be conquered, its ecology and climate was almost perfectly suited to Orions, and it was home to no indigenous sapient species. However turning their eyes in system, they saw the telltale pinpricks of artificial light flickering upon the night side of Rigel III.
Investigating further they discovered the thriving Chelonian civilization on the surface.
First contact between Orion and Chelonian was amicable, the natives were awed when the
Ventim descended from orbit to land outside Ategn, then the largest city and capital of the Kingdom of Meronat, the most powerful planetary polity. The Orion captain Hayar Matessik introduced herself and her species as explorers and traders from across the stars, and in an act that would secure her place in history she negotiated the trade deal in which the Chelonians sold the mineral rights to their system, and ownership of Rigel Vf to the Javeer Astroindustrial Consortium. What exactly the Chelonians received in return is lost to history, and has been variously reported to be anything from few trinkets of Orion entertainment systems, to detailed technological and scientific documents.
Very quickly the JAC moved to exploit their new possession, developing valuable mining and extraction sites across the Rigel system, and ushering waves of Orion colonists to the world of Rigel Vf, now named Kolar.
This bold expansion had pushed forward the boundaries of the Orion Empire, further than in the previous hundred years. The prestige accrued propelled Javeer executives into the highest echelons of the Imperial court, enabling them to expand the hypercorporation's interests and portfolios throughout the Empire.
Within a few decades the investment poured into the Rigel system began to show dividends, greats increasing corporate profits, the colony on Kolar was prosperous, and rapidly growing. Interaction between the Chelonians and their new Orion neighbours was inevitable. Orions established trading concerns and businesses on Chelar, whilst the Consortium purchased Chelonian convicts and indentured servants for use as labour on its many projects on Kolar and around the system.
The impact on Chelonian civilization was immense, even the meagre resources and trinkets the Orions traded with them allowed the Kingdom of Meronat to become the pre-eminent power on Chelar, launching a series of conflicts that subdued their rivals and asserted dominance over lesser powers. A state of affairs that enterprising Orions were eager to get involved in, selling to all sides. By 500CE the Chelonians had achieved a sophisticated machine age industrial civilization. However it had come at a cost, unequal trades with Orions had lead to a heavy offworld involvement in the economy and politics of Chelar. Orion business magnates held vast estates on the surface, extra-territorial legations could be found in most major cities, and even the might Kingdom of Meronat paid heed to the words of Orion political advisers.
Seeking to build upon the success of Rigel, the Consortium began further exploration of the surrounding space. Their ships discovered significant resource deposits in neighbouring systems, along with several more non-spacefaring native species. With a hunger in their hearts the executives of the Consortium began another wave of expansion, seeding mining and industrial construction facilities across the sector. It was their dream that Rigel and its surroundings would become a new hub for the Empire, with them as its proprietors. To this end their rebranded their hypercorporation the 'Rigel Consortium'. Some within the Empire even began to whisper that the Consortium might become a true rival for the Orion Syndicate.
The First Rebellion
By 530CE the inequality of the Chelonian-Orion relationship was beginning to cause unrest on Chelar. Resentment at perceived unfairness, and Orion monopolization coincided with large social restructuring of Chelonian society as it transitioned into a fully industrial civilization. Huge numbers of Chelonians flocked to rapidly growing cities eager to find work in the new factories, many of which were owned by Orion businesses. Labour disputes lead to mass demonstrations, demanding an end to unequal treaties and the end of land sales to Orions.
This wave of public feeling unsettled the ruling classes, who depended on Orion support to maintain their power. Attempts to suppress these demonstrations began to end in violence, and by 535CE, several low level guerilla conflicts were in progress.
The spread of these Chelonian nationalist sentiments among the labour population throughout the Rigel sector deeply worried the Consortium board, so when the unrest on Chelar erupted into outright revolution they were spurred into action.
Several of the minor independent states were overthrown in violent populist coups, the revolutionaries banded together to form a United Chelonian Republic that was firmly opposed to Orion interference on Chelar, and sought to tear down the stratified social order of the oligarchical Orion client states.
The Kingdom of Meronat and its allies responded to these events with hostility, mobilising military force to crush the upstarts to their hegemony. However heavy internal dissent and an ossified bureaucracy slowed their speed of action giving the Republic a large amount of time to prepare. The initial campaigns went poorly for the Meronese, with the Republic making large gains in land, material and manpower. Inspiring propaganda lead many Chelonians to join their cause bolstering republican armies. For a while it seemed that the revolution would sweep all before it, and cleanse Chelar of foreign influence. Then the starships landed.
Determined not to let the petty squabbles of a lesser species interfere with their plans for political asendance within the Empire, the Consortium began giving direct military aid to the pro-Orion Chelonian alliance. Prop powered fighters mounting ballistic cannon proved no match for disruptor fire from Orion gunships, and Consortium Security shock troops used a massive superiority in fire power to turn the tide and crush the Republic
Exasperated by the incompetence of the Meronese, and seeking a greater degree of control in the future, the Consortium effectively dissolved the local governments putting in place an Orion lead planetary administration, and directly annexing Chelar into the Orion Empire. Abduction and enslavement of other species in the sector also began on a large scale, as the Consortium sought to diversify its labour force, hoping to avert any possibility of one species successfully revolting.
The short lived Republic, and the war it fought to free Chelar would later become known as the first Rebellion, it would not be the last.
Intrigue and Industry
For the next hundred years the Rigel system was relatively peaceful. Occasional minor nationalist uprisings on Chelar and small slave revolts aside. As the Consortium had hoped their efforts had succeeded in establishing Rigel as almost a second centre if the Empire. The industrial and mineral wealth of an entire sector was almost completely owned by the Consortium, making them a powerful broker in Imperial politics, equalled only by the ancient Syndicate. It was this ascendancy that also made them many powerful enemies, not the least of which was the close knit board of the Syndicate itself. Unused, and entirely opposed, to sharing power with upstarts, they began to carefully and slowly draw their plans against them.
It was during this period that the Empire was engaged in several conflicts with the Gorn, repeated engagements that demanded ever increasing expenditure of resources to replace losses, and build new fleets. The Consortium, eager to expand their influence bid aggressively for these contracts, winning many. New yards in Rigel began to turn out ever increasing numbers of warships, and required yet more labour. The workforce was significantly expanded with draftings from Chelar and yet more fresh abductions from surrounding species.
During the course of these forced recruitments, and in order to maintain a steady supply, the Consortium proceeded to directly annexe several of these planets, including the homeworlds of the: Jelna, Zami, Raylar, V'gel and Bodas species. Establishing Orion lead administration and military fortress-capitals upon them.
In an effort to prevent any one species from gaining to much critical mass in the event of a nationalist revolt, a series of forced relocations occurred across the Rigel system distributing many slave populations across Chelar, Kolar and the system's mining outposts. These callous and cruel acts laid the seeds for Rigel's multicultural future.
Slavery in the Rigel sector as in much of the Orion Empire was not an inescapable situation, and it was not uncommon, thought quite difficult, for a slave to earn their freedom. Thus over time a sizeable Freed population began to develop within Rigel with enclaves throughout the system. Looked down upon and generally discriminated against by Orions the Freed drew together to form their own society, though from different species and they found common ground and developed their own language and customs. A culture that was both common and unique to Rigel. Despite discrimination, several Free Rigellians managed to become build successful businesses, and strived to achieve a measure of acceptance within Orion Imperial society.
In 658CE, as the most recent war with the Gorn wound down, political shifts within the Empire led to a new trend of inward looking policies. The sharp drop in lucrative military contracts caught the Consortium flatfooted. The vast military-industrial machine they had built in Rigel was now no longer profitable, and they scrambled to rediversify. However they found that commanding market positions in many sectors had already been attained by Syndicate subsidiaries and their affiliates. To compete the Consortium was forced to drastically cut costs, conditions for the Rigel labour force rapidly deteriorated, and the cost of buying freedom rose prohibitively.
In an effort to reduce reliance on costly and maintenance intensive automation, slaving efforts were redoubled. Harsh debtor laws were enacted, which ensnared Free Rigellians back into indentured servitude.
Incensed by this curtailment of their rights, the Free Rigellians appealed to the Imperial Bureaucracy. However they distant Orion Empire paid them little heed, and in any case was hesitant to interfere with an area under the control of the still powerful Consortium.
Discontent spread like wildfire in the Rigel system across slave and Free communities alike. Symbols and stories of the long ago Chelonian Rebellion began to appear and strikes and protests became common.
The Consortium reacted harshly, cracking down on any dissent with violent and overwhelming force. However the message kept spreading, and soon weapons and materiel began to be stockpiled among rapidly growing resistance cells, provided in secret by agents of the Syndicate.
The Second Rebellion
The Second Rebellion, or the Rigellian Mutiny as the Empire referred to it, was not just limited to Chelar. All across Rigel, and in several other systems of the Rigel sector a massive simultaneous uprising occurred in 682CE. It caught the Consortium by suprise, and many security units were overrun, quickly giving the rebels access to heavy equipment, advanced weapons, and even starships.
Though unprepared, the Consortium wasn't without resolve, and acted to crush the uprising with all the force the could bring to bear. The considerable military hardware and large numbers of security troops the Consortium had built up were rapidly transported to the Rigel system. Pitched battles flared across the system and Consortium forces attempted to regain control, though at the same time commanders were ordered to try and preserve as much of the hypercorp's valuable infrastructure as possible. This handicap proved hard to work around, as rebel forces made successful defences of their holdings, and even gained ground.
Even as the battles raged the rebels set about building the foundations for the society free from the Consortium. They declared the formation of the Free Rigellian Republic in 684CE when rebel forces secured the northern hemisphere of Chelar. This new society was heavily based on Free Rigellian culture, mixed with heady revolutionary symbolism from the brief Chelonian Republic. Despite Orion chauvinism, many lower class Orions also participated in the revolution, eager to be free of the Consortium's chains.
Meanwhile news of the Rebellion spread to the Empire's core worlds, and proved deeply embarrassing for the Consortium, many rivals used the opportunity to undermine them, not least the Syndicate. Imperial authorities however were alarmed at the scale of the revolt, and feared the consequences if it were to spread to the rest of the Empire. Significant pressure was applied to the Consortium, to end the rebellion quickly.
When Consortium security forces were forced to evacuate from Chelar, the tone of the conflict changed. Restrictions on infrastructure damage were rescinded, and a wave of atrocities was unleashed. Stations that fell to the rebels were destroyed, and direct orbital fire was used on rebel controlled settlements on Kolar. By 686 CE much of the Rigel system was in ruins.
Consortium forces marshalled for a great offensive that would break the rebels' resistance, desperate to end the conflict the executive board appealed to the Imperial Military for aid. The call was answered and heavy units of the Imperial Orion Navy arrived to crush the Mutiny.
The rebels fought hard, but they were out gunned, and with a heavy blockade of the system in place were running out of supplies. By 687CE the Free Rigellian Republic formally surrendered on Chelar. The Second Rebellion was over.
The terms offered by the empire were surprisingly magnanimous, most of the slaves were returned to servitude, and the Republic's leadership was either executed or enslaved, however the Imperial court deemed the Consortium to have been at fault. The Rigel Consprtium and all it's holdings were nationalised, and the Rigel Sector was incorporated as an Imperial Province to be ruled by a Viceroy. New rights and protections were confirmed for both slaves and Free Rigellians. As well as limited representation for non-Orions in the province's government.
It was hoped that these measures, along with the convincing way armed resistance had been decisively crushed by the Imperial Military would prevent any further uprisings in Rigel and elsewhere.
However the Orion hypercorporations that had eagerly anticipated reaping the fruit of the Consortium's fall were bitterly disappointed by the nationalisation, especially the Syndicate. The accusations of Imperial overreach in this matter would be one of the cracks in the Orion Empire.
A/N: I didn't think there would be that much of this, but I kind of got into it.
