History of the Mandate

The Mandate takes place 1,500 year into our future, in order to help in understanding the forces that have shaped the Mandate universe Perihelion developed a history from the present day up to the start of the Game.

0 (Now): Earth slips towards resource drought, ecological collapse, internal warfare, famine. +50 years: Humanity expands into the solar system, mining the asteroids and establishing colonies on Mars and the moons of Jupiter. This merely prolongs the agony of the dying Earth. However, it does develop the technology like better space drives, fusion power, and cryo-hibernation. Long-range scans and probes detect dozens of Earth-like worlds across the galaxy. +200 years: Exodus As it becomes clear that Earth will soon be uninhabitable, different groups; the few surviving national governments, corporations, social clades and the like start making preparations to leave the solar system. They bring asteroids into Earth orbit, hollow them out, fit them with ion drives and cryo-hibernation vaults, as well as factories and construction gear to ‘bootstrap’ an industrial base quickly. Only a tiny fraction of the human population can take this escape route – billions are left to die on the dying planet.

The various colony ships depart in different directions. The crews sleep in the cryo-vaults, watched over by robots. Contact with Earth is lost as the Fifth Water War goes nuclear.

+500 years The colony ships cross the void between stars. Some head in groups for nearby systems; others seek out their own new world. The Romanov is part of this second wave of ships; after hundreds of years of travel through deep space, it arrives at an Earth-like world – Novy Petersburg. There is little communication between the various colonies – even the closest ones are several light-years apart, so transmissions take years to arrive, and ships take decades. Humanity is now scattered across dozens of worlds, each growing apart in isolation.  +800 years: Discovery of Gate Travel Novy Peterburg is now a flourishing planet. The descendants of the oligarchs who funded the expedition are the nobility of this new civilization. A scientist working for one of the noble families makes an unlikely discovery – she finds a method of travelling faster than light using stationary jump gates. These gates link two points in space-time. The nobles fund the construction of several such gates, linking Novy Peterburg to these nearby worlds. Novy Petersburg becomes the hub of a small network of gates, and so becomes the main trading world. It grows in wealth and power, as the majority of traffic flows through its ports.

Two of the first wave of colony worlds – Arkwright and Starfall – prosper especially in this era. With its vast natural resources and industry, Arkwright benefits immensely from the opening up of interstellar trade. Starfall becomes a center for diplomacy and scientific research. Officially, the network is a trade alliance of equal partners. In practice, Novy Petersburg, Arkwright and Europa dominate the smaller colonies. +1000 years: First Interstellar War One of the worlds in the network builds a Gate leading to another human colony called Aramis. However, in the years since that world last transmitted a signal, it had fallen to a xenophobic tyrant. The tyrant’s forces release a plague that devastates several other planets. The Black Eagle planets bear the brunt of this onslaught. The survivors cry out for vengeance. The first Grand Fleet is launched, comprised mostly of Novy Petersburg ships crewed by Black Eagle volunteers. After a grueling campaign, Aramis is conquered and the tyrant overthrown.

Determined to prevent future threats of this type, and to solidify their position, Novy Petersburg forces seize control of the gates in more than two-thirds of the systems in the network. In some systems, control of the gates goes undisputed; in others, there are skirmishes or even full-scale naval battles. Novy Petersburg’s leader declares that she has a Mandate to protect humanity, and therefore the gates must be under her direct control. The Black Eagle worlds, remembering the devastation wreaked on them, support the seizure of the Gates.

The Europans of Starfall protest at the seizure of their Gates, but lack the military strength to resist. The Arkwright colonies, though, have vast military production, and mount a lengthy defense of their Gates. War breaks out over the control of the Gate network. After another ten years of war, Novy Peterburg forces successfully capture the remaining gates in the network. The first Empress is crowned. +1200 Years: The First Fringe Wars A new protocol is put in place to deal with new gates. Instead of sending through a small expedition and teaching the inhabitants of the newly-contacted system how to build their own Gates, the new approach is to send a fleet of ships through, carrying with them the parts to rapidly construct a second Gate. Once two-way travel is established, the Mandate forces ‘convince’ the local government to join the Mandate. Sometimes, this goes peacefully as the locals realise the benefit of joining an interstellar trade league comprising dozens of worlds. Other expansions are more like invasions.

Most of the worlds discovered by the Mandate exploratory corps are dead. Only a fraction of the Colony Ships that left Earth found worlds they could settle, and only a fraction of those thrived.

+1300 years: Decline of the Mandate By now, almost all known human colonies settled in the initial exodus from Earth, as well as their daughter colonies established in the years between then and the present day, are part of the Mandate. With no new worlds to conquer – or at least to assimilate with gunboat diplomacy – the Mandate navy loses direction. Skirmishes and disputes between member worlds grow in intensity, and are put down more harshly by the Mandate government. Politics on Novy Petersburg grow more entrenched and calcified; Mandate culture looks more and more to the past, to tradition and the fading years of glory for inspiration. The one exception is on Europa, which continues to be a beacon of progress and innovation.

As economic growth slows across the Mandate, internal problems within the Arkwright culture manifest. The mercantile powerhouse runs low on key resources, and trade diminishes, creating an underemployed and resentful underclass. +1320 years: The Osmani Contact A Mandate scout discovers something unprecedented - a world inhabited by seemingly alien creatures. In fact, these are Osmani cyborgs. The Mandate cautiously opens up communications with the Osmani, fearing that they have finally encountered a superior civilisation - if the Osmani have Gates, then their empire might dwarf that of the Mandate. Soon, they discover that the Osmani expanded using sublight drives, although they are experimenting with Gate-related physics. The usual offer is hastily made to the Osmani - join us, cede control of the space lanes to the Mandate, and you can share in our trade network (and we won't stomp you). The Sultana accepts the Mandate's offer. Unfortunately, that isn't enough to prevent a war.

The Mandate forces, used to the swift communications offered by Gate travel, jumps into the other Osmani colony worlds, forgetting that the Osmani are still limited to slower-than-light communications. To the colony worlds, the Mandate ships look like invaders, and they defend themselves. The Osmani may lack Gates, but their ships and weapons are nearly as good as those of the Fleet, and they outnumber those first scouts hundreds to one. Worse, some of the Mandate ships involved are belligerent Black Eagles, so both sides take to the war with gusto. Some of the Osmani colonies hold out for years, refusing to believe that their home world had yielded to the Mandate.

The Contact triggers a second crisis. The Osmani worlds border on the Romanov and Europan spheres, so those two governments benefit hugely from the new influx of trade and resources, as do the Osmani themselves (doubly so, as the Osmani quickly settle dozens of moons and minor planets that were deemed uninhabitable by soft, non-cybernetic baseline humans). The Black Eagles and, more importantly, the Arkwrights are left out in the cold. To relieve political pressure from the Arkwrights, the Emperor permits a new and massive wave of colonisation out in the provinces.

+1400 years: The Provincial Expansion While this rush of colonization revitalizes the flagging Mandate, it also creates a new halo of Fringe worlds that chafe under Mandate rule.

Worse, as Novy Petersburg is in the center of the gate network, it sees little benefit from the influx of resources and wealth from these new colonies. Instead, it is the mother worlds of the new colonies that grow stronger from this expansion. Emboldened by their new strength, these worlds push back against the power of the Romanovs. Many of the new colonies are treated poorly by their mother worlds, adding to the rumbling dissent. The old Emperor – the grandfather of the present Empress – responds by launching a series of punitive wars to force the rebellious worlds back into line. In doing so, he underlines the weakness of Novy Petersburg– the heart of the Mandate has become little more than a parasite, a bully that produces little, but takes from the vibrant worlds at the fringe.

Recent History

100+ years ago (3500s): Disquiet spreads in the new colonies settled in the previous century. The colonies want more independence and self-governance, but the established inner worlds continue to use the colonies as a solution to their own internal problems - they exploit the colonies’ resources to feed their own economies, and use the colonies as a dumping ground for troublemakers and undesirables. At the same time, disputes between the Romanov-dominated Mandate and the major worlds grow increasingly divisive. Militant colonists build small warships and raid inner worlds.

90 years ago: The Emperor launches the Tagesha Offensive. A fleet of Mandate ships scours the fringes for the ‘rebels’. Outgunned by several orders of magnitude, the rebel ships are annihilated whenever they are found. Emperor Piotr hoped that this grand gesture would be effective on two levels - it would show the Grand Dukes and other nobles that he was willing to use the Mandate’s force to solve their problems, and that it would put an end to troubles on the fringe. It failed on both counts. The Dukes and other nobles saw Tagesha as a threat - if the Emperor was willing to use such force on a minor threat like the rebels, what would he do to them if they stepped out of line? They began to build up their own fleets, and stopped sending their best young officers to join the grand fleet. Meanwhile, Tagesha convinces more fringe colonists that the inner worlds will never grant them independence. Support for the rebels grows.

80 years ago: Punitive Expeditions. Over the decade, the Emperor sends more ships to keep the rebel threat in check. Out on the fringes, some Grand Fleet captains carve out their own petty kingdoms which they rule by force of orbital bombardment.

70 years ago: Death of Emperor Piotr. Piotr dies at the ripe age of 274, a disappointed man. He had seen the interstellar empire forged by his grandmother fall into disunity; it fell to his son Nicolai to put things right.  70 years ago: Crowning of Emperor Nicolai. The newly-crowned Emperor tries to resolve the problems of the Mandate through diplomacy and negotiation, but that only makes matters worse - the time for diplomacy was a generation ago. Nicolai’s lackadaisical approach to the situation doesn’t help matters. The old capital worlds continue to undermine the Mandate and build up their own military forces. The governments of the fringe worlds can negotiate, but they are just figureheads or outright puppets of the inner world nobles, and have no actual influence.  60 years ago: Summit of Albemar: Eight years of diplomacy lays the groundwork for the summit of Albemar. Nicolai hails this summit as a vindication of his diplomatic efforts, but in reality, it gives the increasingly powerful inner worlds freedom to act. The older fringe worlds are given some meaningless but impressive-sounding concessions with regards to self-governance, but they’re still puppets of the inner worlds. More importantly, the inner worlds are permitted to establish more colonies and expand their own fleets. The fringe becomes even more of a ‘wild west’, with new colonies, clashes between rebels and inner world ships, and less policing by the Mandate.

50 years ago: Birth of Nicolas: The birth of an heir to the throne is greeted with joy across the Mandate.

40 years ago: Siege of Feduykin: Feduykin was one of the most powerful fringe worlds. When it declares independence, the Arkwright worlds dispatch a fleet to reconquer the rebellious colony. Nicolai deploys the Grand Fleet to support the Arkwright Offensive, but also to ensure that the Articles of War are obeyed. In the confusion, a Grand Fleet ship fires on an Arkwright vessel, and the siege explodes into a three-way war between Arkwright, Mandate and rebel factions. Little remains of the Feduykin colony after the attack. The Arkwrights blame the Grand Fleet for allowing the situation to spin out of control; the Emperor demands that the Arkwright captains who fired on Grand Fleet vessels be arrested. The dispute drives a huge gulf between the Mandate government and its vassal states.

35 years ago: Departure of the Bloody Squadron: More than two dozen captains who were involved in the Siege of Feduykin incident, most of them Arkwright, flee Mandate space with their ships, crews and support vessels. They vanish into the Fringe worlds. The Emperor declares them criminals and traitors, but the Bloody Captains are seen as persecuted victims, blamed for mistakes made by coddled Grand Fleet officers.

30 years ago: Birth of Andrei: The Emperor’s wife gives birth to their second child. Meanwhile, Prince Nicolas is given a captaincy at the age of 19 and leads a flotilla to hunt down the Bloody Captains.

25 years ago: Birth of Anastasia: The birth of a third child is also marked with celebration, although they are muted given the ongoing strife. Some speculate that when one of his younger children comes of age, the Emperor will try to mend divides in the Mandate by wedding one of the Imperial family to a high-ranking Arkwright or Europan noble.

20 years ago: Rebel resurgence: While rebels on the Fringe have been a problem for most of the past century, they were always more of a nuisance than a threat. In the last twenty years, however, the rebel fleets have increased hugely in both power and strength. They now regularly field capital ships, and while these vessels may lack the advanced technology of the Grand Fleet ships, they make up for it in determination and weight of numbers. The source of these ships is a mystery - some of the Fringe colonies have shipyards, but these are under observation by the Security Department and cannot be wholly responsible for these new fleets.

20 years ago: Europan Border Wars: Rebel forces attack the relatively weak Europan military presence on the newly-settled colonies beyond the Herculean Gate. The Emperor keeps the Grand Fleet out of the conflict while he tries to open new diplomatic channels to the rebels; deprived of Romanov support, the Europans turn to mercenaries for aid.

15 years ago: Andrei is diagnosed with wasting disease: After collapsing at a state ball, Prince Andrei’s doctors on Novy Petersburg were unable to diagnose his ailment. He was brought to the Europan Institute for Advanced Science, where a complete genomic scan was performed. The Prince was found to have a rare genetic condition, Valledin’s Syndrome. While the syndrome cannot be cured, it can be treated.

15 years ago: The Rebellion Spreads: More colony worlds pledge to the rebel side, citing Arkwright and corporate oppression as the root of their dissatisfaction. The Emperor demands that the corporations reform their colonial policy instead of taking military action against the rebels.

10 years ago: Cracks in the Mandate: Old divides between the Romanovs and the other core worlds reignite as both sides use the rebellion to score political points. The Emperor's perceived weakness paralyses the parliament.

10 years ago: The Retreat from Alzar: In a humilitating failure, the Grand Fleet is forced to withdraw from its strongpoint at Alzar when a rebel fleet arrives in the system. While the fleet forces in the Alzar system outgun their foes, the cost of replacing the Grand Fleet vessels is so great that the Admiral chooses to retreat in the face of smaller, cheaper, more numerous foes.

9 years ago: Birth of Piotr - The youngest child of the Emperor.

5 years ago: The Steel Purges. A coalition of Romanov admirals embark on a fleet-wide witch-hunt for 'criminal, dissidents and cowards' as they attempt to expunge the shame of Alzar. Dozens of officers are court-martialled on trumped-up charges as the Romanovs solidify their control of the Fleet.

1 year ago: Death of Nicolas: The Emperor’s son and heir to the Mandate perishes in battle. His flagship, the Piotr Victorious, was caught in a rebel trap and surrounded. The other Grand Fleet vessels in the battle were too far out of formation to lend assistance. Rebel forces boarded the Piotr Victorious and killed her crew. Nicholas’ body was never found, along with the remains of the many others who were vented into space.

Events in the past Year

Death of the Emperor: Shaken by the loss of his son and heir, the Emperor retreats to the Summer Planets to rest and recuperate. When he returns, he is clearly sick and infirm. He collapses at a meeting of the Council of Dukes, and dies shortly afterwards of a cerebral hemorrhage. While it is theorised that he suffered from the same rare condition that afflicts Andrei, his body has yet to undergo a full post-mortem at the Europan Institute. Despite his illness, Andrei is next in line for the throne.

Rebels attack the inner worlds: Rebel ships break the stalemate at the Norva Gate and pour through into the inner worlds.

Loss of the Grand Fleet: Acting under the authority of the heir, the Council of Dukes votes to deploy the entire Grand Fleet to smash the Rebels at Norva. The gate network mysteriously malfunctions, scattering the Grand Fleet and leaving the inner worlds almost defenseless.

Andrei relinquishes his claim: Andrei declares that his ill-health disqualifies him to bear the burden of the Mandate. Anastasia is crowned Empress of the Mandate.

Muster of the Corsairs: As her first act as Empress, Anastasia orders that the Imperial reserve depots be activated, and the reserve fleet be taken out of storage and rearmed. To command this new fleet of ships, she issues conditional pardons to hundreds of naval officers.

Now (3514)