Ectabana

The first of the empires of Florathel to rise into space again after the Andvaris Catastrophe, Ectabana stood alone at the end of the Dark Age, allowing it to expand far past what modern civilizations could hope to accomplish with a comparatively small population of citizenry. Ruled by the Varla species, Ectabana established a hegemony over the lesser species of Florathel for centuries until its fall in the Alshunaman Rebellion, succeeded by the Alshunaman Empire ruling from distant Alshaza.

Ectabana spent most of its existence as a major power as an absolute monarchy centered on the Frealee System planet of Veladris, known today as Tarbla. Forming a mostly unified state in 120 BCE, Ectabana was the first nation to rise back into space after the attack of the Swarm of Andvaris that caused the dissolution of the Lareas Alliance.

Ectabana set the stage for all civilization to come, from the universal concept of flags or symbols to represent states to technology and architecture. Its most notable legacy is its conquest of neighboring star system Cnara marks the beginning of the Common Era.

History

Background

Thousands of years earlier, all interstellar civilization in Cosmoria fell to the Swarm of Andvaris, leaving the species of Cosmoria to cower in fear of the roving patrols of swarm ships. The Varla at Veladris would rise first after the swarm was disconnected from its mistress by the Twenty-Four Companions, their warring factions theoretically unifying across the Frealee System and expanding outwards. Most of the major characteristics of Ectabana were derived from the fact that it was truly the first interstellar civilization in eons.

Formation

Fychis, site of Welem's conference and the founding of Ectabana

Before Ectabana's founding, the factions of Frealee were in an era of constant war poorly understood by modern historians. The great peacemaker Sir Welem held a meeting at the outer dwarf planet Fychis, beyond inhabited space, and eloquently persuaded the various faction leaders to lay down their arms against each other and band together to colonize the universe. His speech is sadly lost to history, but its effects have rippled through time.

Thinking themselves alone in the universe, the newly formed union of Ectabana expanded outwards, finding the mostly empty Cnara System and setting up colonies on its habitable planet of Carlea and seeding the subglacial oceans of Azelis with life. They declared this feat the "Start of History. The territory of the mostly independent fractions shifted and moved around within the wider borders of the ever-expanding Ectabana, resulting in a complex checkerboard of ever-shifting factional territories.

First encountering another sentient species at Saleas, the Varla's illusions of being alone in the universe were shattered. The proto-Salakela were subjugated, swiftly becoming one of many "lesser species" in Ectabana's ever-expanding territory. The Sekamar, the Felantids, and other such species would become the vast majority of the population of Ectabana, with the Varla outnumbered tenfold.

Civil Wars

Tensions between Ectabana's mess of factions checkerboarded across the map came to a head over a backwater planet known today as Artaclate. The battle between the current ruling faction of the Tholians and the house of Sellin caused a major switch in the upper reaches of Ectabana's government, giving the house of Sellin full power over the governing apparatus. Artaclate's then-primitive species simply watched as the explosions lit up the night skies.

The battle of Artaclate shifted the balance of power between the Ectabanan factions and kickstarted the first of many civil wars in the nation. With each one, the power flipped between one color of the checkerboard and the others, effectively changing nothing at the level of the individual citizen. The times of peace were punctuated by minor rebellions on some planet or another, trying to break away entirely from the empire, although these were quickly suppressed when possible.

These civil wars punctuated Ectabana's history with surprising regularity, with a new one breaking out between some pair of minor factions almost every century immediately after rebuilding from the last one had completed.

Tamandra's War & the Alshunaman Rebellion

The last and greatest of these civil wars is known to modern historians as Tamandra's War. Despite this impressive title, it was really simply a scaled-up version of any number of the small civil wars of Ectabana's history. Named after the leader of one of the participating factions, Relis Tamandra of the Tholian faction, Tamandra's War's most important consequence was that most of the Tholians' warships in the outer reaches of Ectabana flew inward to the populated core to do battle with the unpopular and corrupt House of Sellin.

While the war raged with generic space battles happening every couple of months over whatever planet was selected to be the set dressing, something that would prove far more important to the ages was brewing on the distant planet of Alshaza.

The Erkamar, the species dwelling on Alshaza and the surrounding worlds in the Andekai System, were long oppressed by the shifting leadership of Ectabana. Seeing the chance given to them by the sudden departure of the fleets, they swiftly took control of the planetside government strongholds and defense platforms. So began the Alshunaman Rebellion. It spread across the stars like wildfire, every oppressed species picking up their weapons and retaking their many worlds from Ectabana's oppressive rule. By the time Tamandra's War cooled off as the two sides realized their common enemy, it was too late. The revolutionary forces had control of almost the entire outer reaches.

Realizing their predicament, the Tholians and Veladrans stopped fighting and marshaled the last of their forces against the newly formed Alshunaman Empire, but they were pushed back toward Veladris time and again in the climactic battles of Varilazk and Karlaia. As the opposing fleets approached the edge of the Frealee System, fighting reached a fever pitch, and the Ectabana united fleet was completely wiped out. Unopposed, the orbital bombardment of Veladris begun, and the existence of Ectabana ended.

Legacy

Ectabana would fade from memory as the rule of Emperor Kymeria of Alshaza began an age of peace across the newly formed Alshunaman Empire. The Varla retained their autonomy and even cultural relevance as the Alshunaman Empire adopted their calendar, religion, and culture over time. Their colony at Karlaia after thousands of years is known today as Carlea, the center of the powerful Illuin, and Veladris itself is returning to habitability under its modern name of Tarbla.

Astrography

Ectabana's territory covered most of Florathel, although most of its citizenry was tightly concentrated around the Frealee System and its neighbors. The farthest reaches barely recognized its existence, and mostly operated on their own. Ectabana's rulers had a habit of claiming things they absolutely could not control, and one of its kings went as far as to claim that Ectabana had full control over Martial Space, all the way across the violent, uncontrollable Lux Aeterna.

Ectabana has the unique distinction of having jurisdiction over the most spread-apart populace of any nation in known history. Ectabana's entire population is less than that of modern Saw-Yos, and it is spread over 13 times as much area.

Society

Ectabana's society was highly stratified, with the rulers and wealthy classes of each faction generally sitting above the majority poorer population of the Varla species. The entirely of the Varla sat above every other species that Ectabana found on its expansion, and the other species were entirely subservient to them under the law.

Legal Status

Only the Varla were considered citizens under Ectabanan law, and often outright owned members of other species. If a Varla committed a crime against an individual from another species, they would often be completely unpunished.

By law, these "lesser species" were prohibited from leaving their home systems, although this law was completely unenforceable and many colony ships managed to make it across the interstellar void. During the several civil wars, the lesser species managed to spread thinly across most of Ectabana's territory while the nation's military was too distracted fighting itself. This was likely part of the reason why the Alshunaman Rebellion was so successful.

Government