"Hic Manebimus Optime"
The Antares Confederacy, officially the Confederate Republics of Antares, is a loose confederation of the 11 nations of the Antares System. When forming the Confederacy, the 11 surviving nations of Antares hoped that with their combined resources, the Antares System could be fully developed, and the means to break beyond the confines of their system might be found.[1] The Antares Confederacy was established for the sole purpose of re-establishing contact with Earth, It is on this issue alone that the constituent nations of the Confederacy are united and there remains the strong possibility of secession or civil war.[2] It later reorganized into the Antares Commonwealth Federation.
History[]
Birth of a Nation[]
Earhart Colonization Program[]
On the 1st March 2159 CE, 6 million colonists departed Earth's orbit as part of the Earhart Colonization Program. These colonists were intended to become the second wave of settlers in the newly sufficient Antares Colonies. The colonization flotilla entered the artificial wormhole without incident. However, when the scheduled check-ins were missed and 30 months passed with no sign of the flotilla, Earth declared the flotilla lost, mourning the largest loss of life in the modern era.[3]
However, the Earhart Flotilla had not been destroyed in the transition but had instead arrived in an unknown star system. This system, while completely unknown, contained several worlds that appeared capable of supporting human life.
Settlement of Antares[]
The Settlement of Antares began with Operation Longshot, in which thousands of automated probes were sent across the Antares System to identify potential locations for human settlement. Before these probes had even returned the Earhart Flotilla frantically moved to reorganize itself. Everything aboard each ship, from the enormous next-generation atmospheric processors and gravitational tethers, to the farming equipment and industrial machinery, all the way down to individual colonists, seeds and gallons of water, had been the result of decades of planning. This reorganization efforts was an almost unprecedented logistics effort.[4]
Without the means to sustain their population in a single settlement, and fearful of alien diseases, natural disasters, potential hostile life or other calamities the flotilla spread itself across 19 sites in the Antares system, in the hopes that some, if not all, would survive. The flotilla colonized Dakarai, Ariane, Lindiwe, Hai, Nakiska, Alhaji, Vinh and Ziva.[5] While these settlements remained in contact at first, eventually their dwindling power reserves were better spent fueling agriculture or nascent industry. In the final meeting of the Earhart leadership, representatives from each of the 19 sites made a pledge: While it was not the home they had expected, it was the one they had been given, in a unanimous decision they declared that the star system would be named Antares, in honor of their original destination and no matter how long it might take to overcome the fate wrested upon them, one day, the pioneers of Antares would find one another, and together head once more into the unknown.[6]
At first, several of the nineteen sites remained in contact with one another, Gradually however, the effort required to overcome the system's unique stellar interference and maintain the connection grew too strenuous. Goodbyes were said, and power reallocated to where it was better spent.[7] For decades, each colony struggled in isolation, hoping that some day, they or their descendants might be reunited with each other.[8] Some, in time managed to overcome their new environment, transforming their colony ships into the centres of new, emergent nations. Others had to fight for decades simply to get their crops to grow, or find clean water.[9]
Reunification and Confederation[]
Slowly the first satellites were sent back into orbit, and contact was reestablished. In 149 AL the pioneers of Antares established regular contact with one another, marking the first Reunion Day — a holiday celebrated annually across the Confederacy.[10] The reunification was bittersweet, as not every colony had prospered, of the 19 original settlements, only 11 had survived. Of the fallen 8: 2 had starved, 4 had succumbed to disease, 1 had frozen, 1 had flooded, while the fate of the last was sealed. Among the surviving sites, the level of success varied considerably. A few nations had just barely managed to survive and would be reliant on outside help to truly thrive. Others had developed into one or sometimes several nation states.[11]
Despite their common heritage, the sense of fellowship that had existed across the Earhart Flotilla, had been greatly eroded within the nations of Antares. In an attempt to remedy this in 152 AL on the 3rd Annual Reunion Day, a new institution was created, the Antares Assembly. However, political friction grew almost immediately with several of the system's most powerful nations began manoeuvring to assume the mantle of leadership. Mutually beneficial trade, spiraled into opportunism and the establishment of rival trade blocs. Within a decade of Reunion Day, the Assembly's three largest nations, the Federation of Jut Fareed, the Republic of Retiva, and the Republic of Chengatai, had each established their own supranational unions. These were the Association of Antares Nations, the Antares Community and the Ariko Pact. These supranational unions competed with each other for political clout, and attempted to win over the other nations of Antares.[12]
While the benefits of each alliance were considerable, the increasing tension between the three only served to alienate many of the neutral nations they were attempting to influence. On March 1st, 164 AL, the Republic of Maltuan, the Republic of Sabmadi and the Free State of Sagallo, and the Union of Thanh-Jenal, established the Non-Aligned Movement of Antares. Unlike the unions backed by the system's superpowers, the language which defined the Non-Aligned Movement was clear and concise, promising mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, non-interference in domestic affairs, equality and mutual benefit. The Non-Aligned Movement quickly became the largest in the system, leading to the eventual termination of its three major competitors.[13]
By 189 AL, Jut Fareed, Retiva and Chengatai, had become the last major holdouts and compared to the increasingly gridlocked Antares Assembly, the Non-Aligned Movement had begun introducing sweeping laws and reforms that promised to further integrate its member nations. On September 4th, 191 AL, the last three holdouts were unofficially accepted into the Non-Aligned Movement, which, as a face-saving measure was immediately dissolved. Instead, the Antares Assembly underwent a complete reform, adopting both the structure, laws and decorum of the Non-Aligned Movement. Veto-power, and other benefits enjoyed by its largest nations, were likewise removed from the institution. With Jut Fareed, Retiva or Chengatai no longer able to impede the decision made by the Assembly, the first real talks of a system-wide unification began.[14]
The establishment of a centralized sovereign state, with the nations of Antares reduced to subnational entities or even eliminated entirely was seen as the most efficient option, but one that lacked the necessary political support. Instead, a compromise was reached, and a system created that would wield considerable power in dealing with interstellar affairs, yet leave domestic issues in the hands of its constituent states. The Antares Assembly was officially dissolved on April 2nd, 202 AL Simultaneously, the Confederate Republic of Antares were formally established, and Confederation Day celebrated across the system.[15]
Second Colonization Effort (210 AL - 248 AL)[]
The launch of the CAS Earhart on Saturday, November 14th, 210 AL marked the beginning of the Second Colonization Campaigns.[16] The Second Colonization Campaigns spawned many cultural works across the Confederacy, one of the most famous of which was Forward Antares!.[17] The launch of the Earhart was shortly followed by several other exploratory ships, and the discovery of communications means that could pierce the Antares Miasma, which was much larger than previously believed. Discoveries across the Miasma uncovered numerous alien artifacts that indicated that object were somehow being transported to that region of space at random.
On June 6th, 220 AL, explorer ships made contact with the Cloister of the Spirits, a sovereign state of lithoid creatures known as the Pneuma. They were the first intelligent aliens encountered by the Antares, and two years were required to establish proper communications between the Cloister and the Confederacy. The biology of the Pneuma astounded Confederate scientists, taking generations to understand. Relations were friendly, with the Pneuma expressing great empathy for the descendants of the lost colonists of Antares, and expressing interest in the religions of Antares, particularly Islam due to the black stone at the Kaaba in Mecca. Pneuma legend said their kind was born from an asteroid impacting a planet, thus creating their race in a calamitous birth.[18]
First contact with the Vrul Salvation League was made in 224 AL, with much less friendly relations developing. The League, inhabited solely by the Vrul species, threatened genocide, and considered all other intelligent life to be an affront to be exterminated. This contact convinced the Confederacy to embrace a previously rejected defensive alliance with the Cloister. Expenses from military preparation for defense against the League strained the Confederate economy, increasing inflation, while interstellar expansion continued unabated. Continued relations avoided war for decades, and it was discovered the name of the League was derived from a critical effort to rescue the Vrul species from the impending destruction of their homeworld of Vrul-Ho due to a catastrophic destabilization caused by reckless mining of the planet's mantle. Only a relatively small portion of the Vrul population survived the destruction of Vrul-Ho, mostly on the League's sole colony world of Torix, with only mostly aristocrats surviving. Numerous offers of aid from Antares had been rejected by the League.
Other alien races and nations were encountered at this time at a rapid rate. A set of diplomats was dispatched on a galaxy wide tour, which culminated in a visit to the Galactic Community and the discovery of the United Terran Protectorates by the Confederate public.
Vrul War (248 AL - 258 AL)[]
After contact with the Vrul Salvation League in 224 AL, and the destruction of the Vrul homeworld of Vrul-Ho in 239 AL, the Confederacy declared war on the league in 248 AL. A series of risk averse hit-and-run operations by the Confederate Navy brought the war to the League's capital world of Torix in 258 AL. A land invasion was nearly disastrous, but the operation was rescued by the leadership of colonel Salah al-Din.[18] Post-war discussion in Antares considered whether to annex the former territories of the now defunct League, and how to conduct military tribunals to punish the League's leaders.[19]
Confederate army troops on Torix. Image from Sagallo Courier.
Inter-War Period (258 AL - 294 AL)[]
A new Vrul Republic was created after the war, with hundreds of thousands of Vrul moving to the Confederacy. Unfortunately, protests were common across the new republic, and piracy was rampant across the frontiers, while anti-human sentiment was exploited by Vrul politicians. The pro-confederate legislature eventually disbanded the republic so that it could be absorbed into the Confederacy as the Republic of Torix. Idealistic and optimistic hopes laid at the end of the war faded as economic problems overtook the confederacy. Extra-solar colonies of Antares fared even worse, facing resource shortages, unemployment, and alien diseases. The Confederate colony world of Samsara had to be placed on complete lock-down to prevent a disease from wiping out its population. Ariane was also recolonized at this time, as scientific improvements allowed human habitation where colonies had once failed due to the planet's weak magnetic sphere. The newest colony would become the first federal territory of Antares.[20]
Contact was made with the Baanthurian raiders, descendants of a fallen empire who now formed squabbling clans, and their territories in 274 AL.[21] Despite the disunited nature of the Baanthurians they possessed powerful technology and were avoided by the Confederacy.[21] Evidence showed the raiders once formed a mighty empire that had long since declined, leaving behind large decrepit space stations with millions of inhabitants living in squalor and squabbling with each other in countless civil wars, coups, and insurgencies.[22]
Close relations with the Cloister of the Spirits evolved over this period. Initially warm relations blossomed into technological cooperation, international trade, and eventually military alliance. Both states were optimistic about their future relationship by the end of the Vrul War, with Confederate PM Zunairah Hashemi hoping that other alien nations might eventually join their alliance.[19] The alliance was cemented as the Moya Pact, but without public understanding that the Cloister was experiencing increasingly tense relations with the Anthorian Empire (sometimes called the Althorian Empire). Calm pervading the Inter-war period was shattered by the declaration of war between the Cloister and the Anthorians in 294 AL.[20]
Long Wars (294 AL - 335 AL)[]
During the First Anthorian War, the Confederacy was hesitant about committing to military actions on behalf of the Cloister. This resulted in a compromise within the Confederacy to only participate in defensive action to protect Confederate and Cloister territory. The compromise satisfied neither pacifists who felt the war was not important to Antares, and militarists who felt the Cloister was abandoned.[23]
Seeing the refusal of Antares to aid its ally, the Beldros Empire declared war on the Cloister in 306 AL.[24] This shocking event removed Confederate hesitation due to the universal hatred for the Beldross' archaic feudal system that had been expanding thanks to the effort of its warlords. Refugees from the Beldross conquests were a small but vocal minority in the Confederacy. Prime Minister Dronafeg, the first Vrul PM of the Confederacy, was inaugurated exactly 100 years after the launch of the CAS Earhartt, on a promise to confront the Beldross. Fortunately, the empire had been weakened by its conquests, its current emperor lacked political support, and its forces in the war were only supplied by a few radical warlords. They were crushed in several one-sided battles thanks to Confederate rearmament, and a new buffer state known as the Council of Tishac was formed from one of the Beldross' frontier vassal states, bordering the Cloister. The Beldross war ended in 320 AL on a positive note for Antares, with limited losses and the defeat of a local rival.[23][24] However, the recent wars were felt by many in Antares to have been driven by the Cloister's incomprehensible values, placing strain on the Moya Pact and threatening its dissolution.
Before the Moya Pact could be assessed, the Kelarr Confederation of Clans joined the Anthorian empire in declaring war on the Confederacy in 323 AL, in the Second Anthorian War. The Kelarr had once been a potential ally for Antares, but the Cloister of the Spirits had been unwilling to join with them. Caught between two enemies, the Cloister were overrun in part due to their predictable tactics and reliance on Antares for military technology. The Confederate military was unable to meet the Kelarr in open battle due to domestic economic investments. Instead, Kelarr and Confederate fleets hunted each other, although defenses on the Anthorian border convinced the empire to focus on invading the Cloister. This left the Anthorian border systems undefended, and the seizure of a colony by the Confederate military upset their military plans. The long war resulted in secret negotiation which could not progress while the Cloister was still occupied by its enemies.
The Cloister homeworld was liberated in 332 AL during Operation Chromatica, by the Confederate military.[24] A decisive victory ended the stalemate in 335 AL, with a Confederate Navy success at the Battle of Qorrolla, on the Kelarr-Antares border. This was the largest military operation in Antares history, and saw the first battle deployment of cruiser class warships. A peace treaty was signed by PM Dronafeg in her second term. Footage of this ceremony showed Humans, Vrul, Pneuma, Tavurites and many other alien race that had found refuge in Antares. A new sense of purpose and pride grew in the nation as it came to believe its best days were still ahead.[23]
Second Interwar Period[]
Following the conclusion of the Anthorian and Beldross wars, the Confederacy withdrew from the Moya Pact in 341 AL, dissolving the military alliance. Although the former members worked to maintain good relations, divisions were deep. Relations were normalized with the Kelarr following the war, but the Beldross and Anthorians remained hostile. A new war between the Anthorians and the Cloister ended in the partial collapse of the Anthorian Empire, and an enormous flood of refugees into Antares. Historians referred to this as the end of a golden age [22] An incredible discovery on the barren world of Lideco uncovered an immense tomb, larger than even the underground cities of Tehnali. Its vast labyrinths contained the body of an ancient alien, and writing that was the clear originator of many scripts used by species across the galaxy. The alien body was older than human civilization, and the information was presented to an elder alien race known as the Vran. Normally dismissive, they praised Antares for the discovery, and requested the body, providing blessings and thanks, as well as gifts, in return. The Prime Minister of Antares received a special gift, a warning, regarding a great power elsewhere in the galaxy.[22]
Great Khan War[]
Image from the Sagallo Courier from the Fall of Melaka[21]
Initial changes among Baanthurian society where not recognized when they occurred in 377AL, when the raiders unified by an individual known only as The Great Khan. Very little information was available on the so-called Khan, but it was certain that his Khanate was on the move. That year, CAS Dronafeg was deployed to investigate before being destroyed well outside Baanthurian space.[25] Their fleets attacked neighboring systems, including Confederate naval station Koloa, the largest station in the Confederacy, specifically meant to hold off the raiders. [22] Both the First and Fourth Confederate Fleets were ravaged fighting the Khanate's forces, and forced to retreat, leaving the Prithvi system with no orbital defenses. The Federal Republic of Melaka was the first Confederate world to fall to the Khan. Dar Al Salaam, a major commercial space port, orbited Melaka, was captured by the invaders well before the planet itself, but at immense cost inflicted by guerrilla forces onboard. Although the invasion initially caused mass panic, Melaka became known for the tenacious defense lead by General Lilliana "The Butcher" Reyes. Her modernization of defense plans inflicted surprising costs on the Baanthurian Khanate, mainly in the capital city of Yost. An encirclement of Yost and severe orbital bombardment turned the city into ruins, but General Reyes lead a stalwart defense that kept front lines as close to the enemy as possible to reduce the effectiveness of long range planetary and orbital fire to support Baanthurian troops. Liubaan Tower became a legend for the defense made by an understrength brigade that required an orbital strike to be defeated. Priority was placed on capturing Reyes to the point that the final defensive positions at Discovery Plaza held by the 1077th tank regiment and other elements was captured rather than bombarded in an attempt to seize her, despite her unreported death well before then. The Khan himself commemorated the Confederate defenders in Discovery Plaza by naming ships after their soldiers, including a battleship named Lilliana Reyes of Antares.[25] The heroic defense of the 1077th tank regiment became legendary in the Confederacy, and among the Baanthurians.[24]
Under his leadership the Baanthurians invaded all neighboring systems, including those of Antares. The invasion triggered discussions of surrender in the Confederate Parliament, but the resistance on Melaka lead by General Reyes revitalized morale across the nation. When the Khan lead military forces elsewhere the Confederate navy struck back to liberate Melaka. However, long term military success seemed unlikely until the Vran Pilgrims arrived in Antares with a fleet of warships to give aid. News soon arrived that the Khan had been beaten in battle by a great power elsewhere in the galaxy but had escaped capture.
Eleven years after the first invasion of Antares, the Khan lead a second invasion that culminated in a massive battle in Prithvi. The Vran battlecruiser ripped apart the Khan's fleets, which were chased down by the Confederate navy. When the Khan's flagship was destroyed, and the Khan seemed dead, the Khanate collapsed into warlords vying for power. A military campaign launched by a vengeful Antares forced the Khanate to surrender after pursuing its forces through a stable wormhole. As part of the Baanthurian surrender the Khanate was allowed to remain intact with democratic reforms and limits on the military in place. A new vision emerged from the war, and the history of the many refugee alien races that populated Antares, of liberating worlds across the galaxy.[22]
The Crusade Against the Screk[]
The strength of the United Terran Protectorates alone was far superior to the Confederacy. With the Screk not only behind them but now within striking distance of Antares itself, victory was impossible. It could also not be ignored that Antares was no longer a human nation. No citizen alive today had ever set foot upon the Earth and the last generation to breathe its air had long since vanished. Whatever link there remained with Earth, for the good of Antares, had to be severed. For decades, Antares again turned inwards. The territories taken by the Khan were established as new federal republics and then released as sovereign partners. Centers of science and discovery flourished, bringing to the nation new insights into artificial intelligence, robotics and even the means to travel through long dormant gateways constructed by a civilization long since extinct. But as communications technology improved and the galaxy grew smaller, news would increasingly reach the Antares Confederacy that the Screk had unleashed the United Terrain Protectorates against some distant nation. For all its achievements, the spirit of the nation had been wounded. The genocide enacted against the Thimodian Republic in 417 was like nothing that had come before. Their armies beaten and fleets shattered, the Screk had deployed a weapon of colossal power against one of their helpless worlds. The entire planet was encased in a shield of impenetrable energy, its inhabitants doomed to be toyed with like ants by bored Screk nobles.
This display of power was perhaps meant to awe the galaxy into submission, to show what fate awaited any who might resist. And it worked. The Galactic Community issued a condemnation, and then returned to the same tired politics. The affected peoples begged for aid and were ignored by their neighbors. The nations of the galaxy turned elsewhere. But within the Confederate Republics of Antares, something else occurred. There had once been a raging fire within humanity. An ancient martial spirit that had been decayed by decades and centuries of peace and isolationism. The destruction of the homeworld of the Vrul, the last stand of General Liliana Reyes on Melaka, these events and others had kindled that flame, yet it remained doomed to dwindle back to glowing embers. The Thimodian genocide was different. An inferno ignited. But what was perhaps most extraordinary, was that this searing desire for justice was no longer unique to mankind alone, but burned within the hearts of all those who had arrived within Antares. Every species within the nation had found a place beyond the reach of tyrants, a place where they were free to live whatever kind of life they wished. But the achievements of Antares were meaningless if they came at the expense of a galaxy that cried out for help and was ignored. The fire that burned within the nation might have been described in a thousand different ways by a thousand different cultures, but the overriding feeling expressed itself in a simple idea: “Evil must be opposed”. Historians have often claimed that the Confederacy’s declaration of war against the perpetually unstable Athorian Empire in 422 might have arisen from this feeling of helplessness turned to bitter rage that had emerged across Antares. While Earth could not be liberated, the Athorians could.
The Confederacy’s victory was swift, but the war had not been fought in the pursuit of new territories. It had been waged to free the slave armies forced to die in that Empire’s defense, to rid that nation of an Emperor, who like the Screk, saw his subjects as only chattel. Had the liberation of the Athorians echoed that of the Vrul centuries earlier, with a slow descent back into autocracy, perhaps the Antares Confederacy would have given up on its interventionism, its flame extinguished. But experience was everything, and the lessons learned with the Vrul and the Khan ensured that the institutions established by the Antares occupation forces within the former empire, were not so easily dismantled. At first, the former slaves and citizens of the Athorian Empire exercised their freedom under the protection of Confederate guns, but when those guns departed, the impact of Antares remained. The liberation of the Athorians was a seminal moment in the history of the Confederacy. It was not the first time that the nation had fought to uphold their most cherished values, but it was the first time that their success had not turned to ashes in the decades that followed. Following this triumph, the power of the Screk no longer seemed insurmountable. Senators who had once dismissed the notion of addressing their brutality, now began to argue, with increasing vehemence that Parliament denounce them, confront them. The nations invaded by the Terran Protectorates, the species enslaved, they were no longer nameless entities to the people of Antares. Humans might no longer be the majority within the nation, but they were hardly the only species to have suffered.
The Confederacy was a realm of refugees and immigrants fleeing the power of tyranny and with each new atrocity brought to light, came the desire to resist. It would be many years more before the declaration was made and the Antares Confederacy embarked on its great crusade, but the path was beginning to present itself. When the nations liberated by Antares joined together to form a new federation of equals, when construction began on a fleetyard the likes of which the galaxy had never seen, none present could have truly appreciated the lasting importance of these decisions. Whether the officials at the time recognized the true meaning behind their actions, Antares was beginning to arm itself for a seemingly inevitable confrontation. There had once been a statue located in the harbor of one of Earth’s great cities. At the time of its construction it was described as “the New Colossus" and a sonnet of the same name was inscribed at its base. Its message had been deemed so offensive and laughable to the Screk that the statue had been reduced to molten slag, reforged into alien jewelry to be worn by their mocking nobility. No human alive today has ever seen the figure that once stood upon sea-washed sunset gates. A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame was imprisoned lightning and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand once glowed a world-wide welcome. Whose silent lips once cried “give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free”. Yet a galaxy away from where that statue once stood, flames of imprisoned lightning burn not in a single torch, but across an entire star system, an entire nation. A nation that for centuries has provided refuge for the tired, the poor, the huddled masses. To all those yearning to breathe free, Antares is seen as a Mother of Exiles. The Screk see something different, they see, and fear, a New Colossus.
Civil War[]
On May 21st, 449al a synthetic life form was named the Director of the Joint Zivan Science Institute and National Laboratory. It’s appointment was the culmination of over a century of investment into cybernetic and artificial intelligence. But this was just the start. In the ensuing years, hundreds of thousands of synthetic individuals would make careers and lives for themselves within every level of the Antares Confederacy. Across the nation, the definition of “life” had been changed forever. But the integration of artificial citizens into the Confederacy was just one way in which the revitalization of the nation had expressed itself. Everywhere, the determination to prove the validity of Antares exceptionalism brought about new innovations and ambitious projects. Enormous gateways, reverse engineered from the scattered derelicts that littered the galaxy, linked together the Confederacy in ways never thought possible. Almost overnight, the distant frontiers of the Outer Rim were as accessible as the core of Antares itself.
The economic opportunities were endless. Barren worlds were transformed into paradises. Over the still burning remnants of the ancestral homeland of the Vrul, an immense new station was constructed. A new form of habitat, and the first of many, in which hundreds of thousands brought life back to a once dead star system. That same year, poverty was eradicated as enormous social programs ensured that every Confederate citizen was financially independent. But the greatest projects were directed outwards.
Across the Intisar System, enormous structures were perpetually lit by thousands of glowing engines as fleets of construction vessels moved tirelessly to complete the new center of the Antares Military Industrial Complex. A site from which the liberation of Earth could be launched and coordinated. The Confederacy was united and driven by the ideal that “Evil must be Opposed." And with every year came renewed accounts of the atrocities and carnage that the United Terran Protectorates and their Screk masters had unleashed upon the galaxy. Far across the frontier, the horrors first unleashed upon the Thimodian Republic were repeated. Entire worlds were encased within unbreakable fields of energy at the direction of the Screk. Any who resisted were crushed beneath the armies of their Terran subjects.
Within the United Terran Protectorates, the achievements of Antares were mirrored in a warped and twisted manner. The UTP had also experimented with cybernetics, but the same year that Antares welcomed its first Synthetic leaders, a vast uprising took place across Terran worlds. On Earth and its colonies, millions were butchered as artificial killing machines fought to free themselves from Terran servitude.
The Solar System again became a battleground. Terran fleets, that might have easily routed this threat, were not informed of the crisis, continuing their own senseless wars against the Thimodians and other neighboring states instead. For a brief moment, Earth itself was isolated from the rest of the Terran state, as the President and his executive Council fled the slaughter aboard a Screk courier vessel. By the time the Terran Navy had arrived back in the Solar System and the rule of the Protectorate restored, tens of millions had died across the nation.
Antares Intelligence had hoped that the uprising might serve to weaken the rule of the Protectorates or even that of the Screk themselves, but in the aftermath, the dependency the Terran state showed towards its collaborators only deepened. And while it could ultimately never be proven, there remained the possibility that everything that had transpired across the Protectorates had done so according to some terrible design. The uprising that had killed millions might have only been a kind of trial, designed to pit one tool of the Screk against another.
As the inevitable confrontation with the Screk loomed ever nearer, the Antares Confederacy began to expand its relationship with its allies. The Antares Treaty Organization, or ATO, had been signed by the Confederacy, the Commonwealth of Vi Talas and the Commonwealth of Ventin Vi’Ta, two states liberated from the former dominions of the Great Khan. At first, it had been little more than a defensive measure intended to protect these nations from outside influence, now it represented a growing base of stability and liberty in a section of the galaxy that for over a century had been plagued by corrupt regimes, failed states and chaotic borders. The admittance of the Anthorian Republic into the ATO was a controversial decision. Both Vi Talas and Ventin Vi’Ta were in many ways satellite states of the Confederacy, and while the Antares Treaty Organization was intended to be a federation of equals, many within the Confederacy were reluctant for Antares to willingly give up its place of dominance.
When the Anthorian Republic entered the ATO, the nature of the alliance evolved further, becoming a true partnership. It was in many ways a successor to the Moya Pact, yet where the Cloister of the Spirits had been enigmatic and often frustrating allies, the Anthorians were willing partners. At their insistence, interventions by the Antares Treaty Organization into the former territories of the Beldross Empire culminated in the complete overthrow of the last remnants of their oppressive government. Lawless systems were reintegrated into the Anthorian Republic and the damage wrought by centuries of warfare, was slowly healed.
The military actions taken by Antares over the previous century had been driven by many factors. An earnest desire to liberate the oppressed, a hypocritical push to acquire new territories and resources, and the growing frustration and rage over the actions of the Terran Protectorates and their Screk overlords. The success of the liberation campaigns forced a kind of moral calculation across the Confederacy, within every Republic and every citizen. Since its inception, Antares had defined itself by its scientific discoveries, its economic advancements, by the opportunities it presented to its citizens. But never by its wars, or its conquests.
And yet, the interventions, the wars of liberation, however they were branded, had done more to stabilize their section of the galaxy than every sanction, blockade or strongly worded protest. Whenever the Confederacy had stayed it hand, whenever it had relied upon a half-measure, its moral superiority had been maintained, but the galaxy had suffered. The reaction to the growing philosophy of “Antares Interventionism” took many forms across the Confederacy. To its critics, the nation had become Democratic Crusaders, cloaking their aggressive acts in utopian ideals. To its supporters, Antares had finally learned that a few years of carnage was preferable to decades of suffering and neglect. Whether the Confederacy had betrayed its values or was finally living up to them, was a question that had to be answered by each of its citizens. But the martial fires had been lit and evil must be opposed.
Had the Screk attacked Antares, the call to action would have been immediate and without any form of debate, but in 478al, the Confederacy was forced to confront not its greatest rival, but its oldest friend. As the Antares Treaty Organization had expanded its presence across its region of the galaxy, it increasingly found itself at odds with the Cloister of the Spirits. The Pneuma race that made up the cloister had often been inscrutable, but Antares had always managed to find common purpose. Now however, the good will between them seemed to evaporate. The Cloister increasingly acted erratically, its diplomats refusing any agreement with the Anthorians or Beldross, even after their liberation by Anatares. The declaration of war was one of the greatest tragedies to befall the Confederacy, and put to the ultimate test every interventionist ideal and philosophy of action. The conflict was short and bloody, and while the war was fought exactly to the specifications of the Confederate High Command, there was little sense of triumph when the last holdouts surrendered. It was only when Antares Intelligence investigated the logs and orders captured in the final months of the campaign that the true root of the conflict had become known.
Over the previous decades, thousands of high-profile Pneuma, mostly government officials, had perished in mysterious causes, ultimately ruled to be natural deaths. Antares Intelligence had initially concurred with this assessment, but patterns increasingly pointed to some outside influence. At first the struggle for leadership within the Cloister, if that indeed was what it even was, was thought to be the work of rival religious groups playing out some sort of shadow war. The evidence had been deeply buried and might have easily been missed or destroyed during the conflict, but it pointed to one unmistakable fact. Every death had a greater purpose behind it. The war between Antares and the Cloister had been engineered. It was only through their intermediaries in the ancient Vran Nation that Antares was able to demand a meeting with the Screk.
For the first time, representatives of the Confederacy spoke directly with the Empire that had taken their homeworld and reduced their lost brethren to slaves and tools of war. For hours, Confederate diplomats raised every issue, brought to light every injustice and presented their irrefutable evidence. The Confederate Diplomatic Corp had prepared for every likely outcome of the meeting, from the complete surrender of the Screk to the immediate declaration of war, but none could say which was the most likely.
The reaction of the Screk was beyond any such predictions. For days the Confederacy received nothing but silence, and then, two lists. They were breathtaking in scope, containing untold billions of items. Each list included everything from star systems, worlds, ships and stations, the names of the Prime Minister and Parliamentary officials, all the way down to individual private citizens.
The first list, it was explained, was everything that would be allowed to remain. The second, was of everything that would be taken. If the Screk’s demands were accepted, then the Antares Confederacy would be allowed to exist within the Miasma. It could see to its own affairs in whatever manner it wished, and continue to function without any fear of invasion by the Screk, the Terran Protectorates, or any other outside force in the galaxy.
This, it was explained, was a victory for Antares. No species or nation had ever been granted such an offer. The Confederacy would be permitted to survive, but it would forever renounce any right to endure beyond the boundaries of the Miasma. Antares would leave the wider galaxy and never return.
Within the pages of the monumental work known as Ab Urbe Condita Libri, “From the Founding of the City” the Roman chronicler Titus Livius tells of a moment in the history of his Empire, when despair threatened to take hold in the heart of every citizen. The words proclaimed that day were repeated two thousand, five hundred and forty nine years later, aboard a flotilla of lost colony ships that found themselves stranded in a vast alien wilderness. And they were repeated once more, by the representatives of the nation that flotilla had become.
On July 24th, 492al, the largest mobilization in the history of the Antares Confederacy began. Fleets moved to their rally points, led by the greatest concentration of military power ever put into service. Armies bearing the banners of the Confederacy and every Republic within it moved to their mustering stations. And the Screk received their answer: Hic manebimus optime. Here we will remain most excellently.
Unbidden War[]
On the 3rd of February, 517al, a gathering of scientists, technologists and officials from across the Confederacy amassed on a world that the Screk had named “The Archives.” They had assembled to witness a strange monolith, whose origins and purpose had been lost even to the remaining Screk themselves. A strange pattern of eldritch lights shimmered across its surface. They were bizarre and almost unpredictable, but unmistakably a kind of countdown.
At the exact moment the pattern reached its natural conclusion and the countdown came to an end, a previously unnoticed rise in subspace energy across the galaxy suddenly exploded in severity. Communications were ruptured, hyperspace travel became unreliable and subspace storms bathed entire star systems in vibrant but ultimately harmless radiation.
Within weeks however, the worst effects of the subspace discharge had faded. Communications were restored, the hyperlanes were busy once again and interstellar civilization resumed, seemingly without any lingering ill-effect. That the galaxy was in the opening phase of a potentially apocalyptic crisis would not be realized for months. It was only when attempts were made to recontact the Imdar System that the first worrying signs emerged.
A sparsely populated backwater on the periphery of the Madarishian People’s Federation, that Imdar had not yet been reconnected with any interstellar communications network, even months after the discharge, was hardly seen as unusual. Home to only freelancers, smugglers and piracy elements, communications with star systems in that region were routinely cut off with attempts to restore them hindered by lengthy travel times.
When neighboring star systems similarly “went dark” however, the People’s Federation began to investigate the cause in earnest. While astrologically close to Antares, unfavorable hyperlane routes meant that Imdar was of no practical concern to the Confederacy, a distant system for all intents and purposes. The efforts of the nation were instead still dedicated towards stabilizing its allies and neighbors in the decades following the capitulation of the Screk Empire.
Reports of decimated Madarishian fleets and armies were initially assumed to be the work of the Ti-Zru, an ancient nation nearly the equal of the Screk in their day. Amidst the ongoing war between the Ti-Zru and the Madarishian Alliance, the true nature of the threat in the Imdar System was confused and misidentified. The loss of an Antares Treaty Organization Battleship in the region only added to the confusion, further escalating tensions, but as reports grew clearer, came the realization that neither the Ti-Zru or the Madarishians were responsible for the growing chain of dead systems.
In ancient myth, the land of Megiddo was prophesied to be the site of an apocalyptic battle. Within the Confederacy however, it was instead merely the name given to the first extra-galactic star system settled by Antares. Located in a small cluster of dead worlds just past the outer periphery of the galaxy’s spiral arms, it had become a center of commerce due to its unique gateway nexus, perhaps the work of the Screk Empire or some other long fallen civilization. The creatures that emerged from that nexus were unlike anything foretold in Earth’s Book of Revelation, but the battle was similarly apocalyptic. Neither ships nor living creatures, vast assemblages of light and subspace itself poured into the system.
Nearly the entirety of the Confederacy’s 6th fleet, dedicated to the defense of Megiddo, was lost in an instant and the trade stations and mining outposts scattered across the star system, similarly eradicated. Faced with the irrefutable evidence that some otherworldly force had entered the galaxy, the Confederacy ordered the mobilization of its forces and the activation of wartime conditions across the Antares Treaty Organization. This order was matched by dozens of other powers across the galaxy, but with Megido cut off and the extra-galactic nexus now harnessed by the interdimensional invaders, they could now strike without warning within any one of several dozen star systems. Even the Pilgrim Fleet, the most advanced formation within the ATO was unable to evade ambush by the invaders, its last ship narrowly escaping destruction.
Everywhere across the galaxy came reports of extradimensional incursions and star systems stripped of all life. With emerging footholds in multiple territories, including those of the Confederacy’s allies, the initial strategy to counter the invaders was confused and ineffectual. Within the Confederacy, every effort was made to fortify the most vulnerable star systems, those directly connected to the gateway network. One such site was the Zorikkan Black Hole. It had become famous within the Confederacy, first for its extensive research facilities centered around the anomolies’ event horizon, and later for the construction of the Koxurem Matter Decompressor.
A station of tremendous scope, the Decompressor was considered the ultimate refinement of gravitic redirection, by boring into the black hole itself, an almost unlimited supply of matter could be extracted and refined. It was one of the Confederacy’s greatest technological achievements, and a pivotal foundation of the nation’s economy. In analyzing the movements and apparent strategy of what history would name the Unbidden, Confederate scientists would later speculate that this manipulation of gravity might have acted as a kind of beacon to the extra-dimensional invaders.
Whatever the cause might have been, as soon as the Unbidden became aware of the Decompressor’s existence, their fleets converged upon it. With the Confederacy forced to defend multiple points across its territory, the Zorikkan Black Hole was defended only by the remnants of the 6th Fleet, hastily reinforced but hardly at its full strength. Underequipped, undermanned and prematurely returned to active service, the 6th Fleet’s ships and sailors had barely trained together for more than a few months when the first Unbidden formation arrived. Yet as the only major fleet in the Confederacy to have engaged the invaders directly, its surviving officers proved instrumental in confounding the Unibidden’s powerful yet imprecise attacks.
The opening stages of the Battle of Xuukanis was unlike any other fought in the Confederacy’s history, resembling more a series of interconnected feigned-retreats and routs. The strategy failed to inflict any meaningful damage upon the invading forces, yet by avoiding a pitched battle, the 6th was able to prolonged the engagement long enough for the 1st and 7th Confederate fleets to arrive. Even with an overwhelming numerical superiority, Antares’ forces endured significant losses before the Unbidden fleet withered away into nothingness. The victory was the first of its kind in the galaxy, emboldening allies and other foreign powers with the knowledge that victory over the Unbidden in mass fleet actions was possible. Yet within just a few months, a second force of the interdimensional invaders emerged out of the rift.
The 1st, 6th, and the 7th fleets, depleted significantly by the previous engagement, were forced to retreat. With the loss of the Koxurem Matter Decompressor the economy of the Antares Confederacy collapsed almost instantly. Without the raw matter necessary to maintain the enormous production lines keeping the Confederate Navy reinforced, both the armed forces and nation seemed poised to disintegrate. The actions of the Confederacy however had not gone unnoticed, and within the Galactic Community it was Antares that emerged at the forefront of the defense effort. In exchange for various elements the Confederacy possessed in abundance, the Madarishian People’s Federation and Ro'thuggan Empire entered into an unprecedented trade agreement, dedicating an enormous percentage of their industrial output to the Confederate military industrial complex.
The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th battles of Xuukanis were merely the start of what would become a seemingly endless campaign to hold the system. The fleet actions fought here grew in size and scope until in the eyes of the galaxy, they had become the supreme drama upon which the entire war seemed to hinge. For seven years, extradimensional forces poured out of the gateway, assailing themselves against the massed Confederate defenses. Multiple times the system was lost, the Matter Decompressor disabled and Confederate fleets scattered across the surrounding systems. But each time, either through the massed production of the Galactic Community, the tenacity of the forces ordered to counter-attack, or sheer resolve, the system was retaken and the decompressor hurriedly reactivated.
It had long been remarked that Antares was the nation of a 1000 nations. Its citizens had come from every manner of world across the galaxy and that heritage could be seen and felt everywhere within the Confederacy. Yet its critics had been vocal in claiming that while Antares was undeniably a 1000 nations, it was rare that it was one. In every conflict, every contest, from the Liberation of the Vrul to the Invasion of the Great Khan, even during the campaigns against the Screk and the Greater Terran Empire, the nation had truly united only fleetingly. In the war against the Unbidden, the national spirit of Antares was catalyzed into something grander, something deeper. It was the refinement of a simple idea that had been expressed in many different forms throughout its history; as the “raging of a martial fire”, the concept of“Antares Exceptionalism”, the imagery of “a new Colossus”, or the simple notion that “evil must be opposed.” It asserted itself on every world in the Confederacy, emboldening each citizen towards the same great effort.
For perhaps the first time in history, the citizens of Antares embodied the concerted determination of the Earhart Pioneers, every doubt lost in the struggle against extinction. Even in the former worlds of the Screk, the ideals of the Confederacy took hold with an iron grip. The Font of Knowledge, once the decrepit throne of a fallen power, was restored, its long crippled foundries now burning with such light as to be visible from orbit. Millenia ago, the Screk had fought to save all civilization and now they did so again, the pride and honor of their ancient Empire finally revived. Within its endless industries, the stain of slavery was burned away and the Font of Knowledge transformed into a great Arsenal of Democracy. With the attention of the Unbidden directed on Xuukanis came the opportunity for counter-strokes. In 530al, a great victory was achieved by the Ti-Zru and the path to the heart of the interdimensional rift was opened.
Presented with the moment to end the advance of the Unbidden in a single stroke, Confederate Fleets abandoned the defense of Xuukanis instead driving towards Imdar itself. It was only when battle had been joined with the extra dimensional forces surrounding the great wound in reality, was it realized that to close this tear, the strange, ethereal constructs of the Unbidden erected across the galaxy would all have to be destroyed. With Confederate fleets engaged and without any means to retreat, all that could be done was to hope that the other nations of the galaxy would follow their lead. For weeks the massed forces of the Confederacy fought their way to the tear until their fire could be directed upon the rift itself. To the tremendous relief of all Antares, their faith in the galaxy was rewarded. Elsewhere, a final offensive by the Galactic Community had destroyed the last of the Unbidden’s constructs. The rift was finally closed.
Confederacy Dissolved[]
The nation that had entered the war against the Unbidden was not the same one that ended it. In countless ways, the Confederacy had been transformed. Within the Antares System, terraforming technologies had reformed the worlds of Alhaji and Vinh into paradises. In the Dronafeg system, an artificial ringworld had been constructed rivalling any of the greatest wonders in the galaxy.
But the greatest change was in the soul of Antares itself. The Confederate Republics of Antares had always been a compromise; a labyrinth of agreements and stipulations meant to balance the power of the Republics with that of the Federal system. It was a compromise that was no longer needed. On May 22nd, 532al, representatives of each Republic of Antares made their way one by one to the floor of Parliament in Sagallo, and announced the results of the last national referendum held by the Antares Confederacy.
That evening, at midnight Sagallo time, the Confederate Republics of Antares were dissolved and the Antares Commonwealth Federation established. The formation of the Antares Commonwealth was the greatest and most far reaching reform ever enacted across the nation. It transformed the sovereign republics into constituent states, solidified the roles of each branch of government, and ended the contradictions and peculiarities that had defined Antares politics.
Government[]
The early Antares Confederacy was both praised and criticized as being very different from the union that had been first imagined in the final meeting of the Earhart Flotilla. A parliamentary confederacy, the authority of the federal government is mainly limited to interstellar development and discovery, foreign affairs, and defense. Its ability to interfere in the affairs of its republics is limited, and addressed in a slightly vague general welfare clause within the constitution.[26]
Executive Branch[]
The Confederation's executive office is headed by a Prime Minister, who also serves as the head of state, but whose authority is relatively weak. The Prime Minister also serves as the head of the Cabinet of Ministers, which acts as the federal executive governing body of the Confederacy. The Prime Minister is not bound by any set term or by term limits and can serve as long as they retain the confidence of a majority in the Antares Parliament. However, there is an informal tradition dating back to the Non-Aligned Movement that the government must call an election once every four years.[27]
Legislative Branch[]
The legislative branch of the government is the Parliament of the Confederate Republics of Antares. This body holds major political power within the Confederacy. The parliament is a bicameral legislature with two separate chambers: The lower house is known as the Chamber of Representatives, and the upper house is known as the Confederate Senate.[28]
The Chamber of Representatives members are apportioned to the Republics by population size, and is therefore seen as representing the population of the Confederacy. As a matter of both practice and custom, it is the Chamber of Representatives that is dominant within Parliament, and to whom the Prime Minister is solely responsible. The Chamber is a democratically elected body. As of 210 AL there are 809 members of the lower house, with these numbers expected to increase with the total population of the Confederacy. Seats within the Chamber are distributed roughly in proportion to the population of each Republic. However, the Antares Constitution contains several provisions regarding this method of representation, resulting in some regional malapportionment relative to the total population.[29]
The Senate is composed of five representatives from each constituent republic and is appointed by the Prime Minister. There are few qualifications to become a senator, only that the individual is not beholden to economic vagaries or turmoil, and a citizen of the Republic they represent. The intent of the Senate is to act as the voice of the republics. While officially the upper house of parliament, it is first only in order of precedence for the purposes of protocol. While the Senate can introduce legislation, it is mean to act as a place of "sober-second thought."[30] As of 210 AL the Senate is composed of 55 senators.
Legislation requires the approval of both houses of parliament before it can proceed to become law. Backhand deals and a variety of committees, both official and unofficial, have become the preferred method of passing legislature, and the outcome of most votes is almost always known before they are brought to the floor. Combined with a lack of history, tradition and precedence, the Antares Parliament can often be chaotic, and sometimes bordering on violent. Shouting matches have become repeatedly erupted and are in danger of becoming routine.[31]
Judicial Branch[]
The Judicial Branch of the Confederacy is the High Court of Antares.[32]
Military[]
- Confederate Armed Forces
- Antares Confederate Navy
- Antares Confederate Army
- Antares Confederate Pioneer Corps
Territory[]
The Confederacy is an interplanetary and interstellar government, originally formed from the republics of the Antares System. Later, it would expand into an interstellar nation, with a number of extra-solar colonies, including the Federal Republic of Melaka, as well as the formerly independent Vrul colony of Torix.[33][20]
Notable Individuals[]
- Antares Assembly President Zahur Akindje[16]
- Confederate Prime Minister Zahara Haji[16]
- Confederate Prime Minister Zunairah Hashemi.[19]
- Confederate Prime Minister Dronafeg[20]
- Confederate Prime Minister Ehsan Habeeb[19]
- General Peddard[19]
- Colonel Salah al-Din[19]
- Diplomat Tanja Lisapally[19]
- General Reyes[21]
Trivia[]
- On the 7th of August 2020 the Antares Confederacy won the Stellaris Invicta Season 2 poll with 56% of the vote.[34]
- The Green Frontier Flag won the flag poll with 57% of the vote.
- Antares' government was based on both the European Union and the Confederate States of America as example of decentralized confederacies, while the Canadian Confederation was also a basis.[35]
- The background for each Republic was left sparse, focusing on geography and economy, to allow participants in roleplay to develop them.[35]
- The non-european cultures of Antares were chosen by the Templin Institute because they wanted to do something different for the sake of distinction.[35]
- Originally, the Confederacy was going to have Militarist as one of its ethics[2], but this was changed before Season Two started.[35]
- Differences in Antares from real life cultures and languages that created the republics are due to implied linguistic and cultural drift over hundreds of years.[35]
- The Confederacy technically has no separate air force in its armed forces. [36]
References[]
- ↑ https://youtu.be/LeYU_F0pT8Q?t=175
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://www.templin.institute/news/2020/7/21/the-antares-confederacy
- ↑ https://youtu.be/LeYU_F0pT8Q?t=11
- ↑ https://youtu.be/ZZsG_OiVsGk?t=492
- ↑ https://www.templin.institute/news/2020/10/16/an-update-on-stellaris-invicta-season-ii
- ↑ https://youtu.be/ZZsG_OiVsGk?t=726
- ↑ https://youtu.be/ZZsG_OiVsGk?t=757
- ↑ https://youtu.be/LeYU_F0pT8Q?t=97
- ↑ https://youtu.be/ZZsG_OiVsGk?t=780
- ↑ https://www.templin.institute/news/2020/8/11/referendum-on-the-national-flag-of-antares
- ↑ https://youtu.be/ZZsG_OiVsGk?t=830
- ↑ https://youtu.be/ZZsG_OiVsGk?t=868
- ↑ https://youtu.be/ZZsG_OiVsGk?t=937
- ↑ https://youtu.be/ZZsG_OiVsGk?t=990
- ↑ https://youtu.be/ZZsG_OiVsGk?t=1052
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 https://www.templin.institute/news/2020/11/13/front-page-of-the-sagallo-courier-november-13th-210al
- ↑ https://shop.templin.institute/collections/antares-confederacy/products/poster
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDr3eg34e4Y
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4 19.5 19.6 https://www.templin.institute/news/2020/12/11/front-page-of-the-sagallo-courier-friday-december-11th-258al
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilFiZgFTSIg
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bScEhfpvt-g
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 22.4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfFA36qpfYk
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilFiZgFTSIg&t
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 24.3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-1RuHWMmVI
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bScEhfpvt-g
- ↑ https://youtu.be/ZZsG_OiVsGk?t=1104
- ↑ https://youtu.be/ZZsG_OiVsGk?t=1142
- ↑ https://youtu.be/ZZsG_OiVsGk?t=1182
- ↑ https://youtu.be/ZZsG_OiVsGk?t=1221
- ↑ https://youtu.be/ZZsG_OiVsGk?t=1202
- ↑ https://youtu.be/ZZsG_OiVsGk?t=1314
- ↑ https://youtu.be/ZZsG_OiVsGk?t=1347
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfFA36qpfYk&t
- ↑ https://www.templin.institute/news/2020/8/7/stellaris-invicta-season-ii-and-the-winner-is
- ↑ 35.0 35.1 35.2 35.3 35.4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvokP6JIjKs&t=921s
- ↑ https://www.templin.institute/news/2021/6/5/front-page-of-the-sagallo-courier-saturday-june-5th-502al