Falacian Dominion

The Falacian Dominion, once the second largest state of the Ervo Sector after the Verdan Federation, is now a unstable nation found on the borders of the Vernarca Nebula centered on the planet Darossa. The Dominion is the current primary state of the Falaci species, although how long it will remain so is in question.

The Falacian Dominion has fostered a generally violent culture, and the fall of House Kor'ann from the Ruby Throne has resulted in a long period of political instability. Many nations took advantage of this instability to secede, creating the Krask Hegemony and the United Planets, as well as the current Verdan Federation member states of United Earen and the Republic of Avor. The Verdan Federation's support of the latter two's independence led to the Dominion's withdrawal from the Yazera Pact and the beginning of the Falacian Cold War. The Cold War fizzled out as the exiled Imperial Guard created the Falacian High Rule for the Dominion to posture at instead, and relations with other Ervo Sector powers were only renormalized shortly before the beginning of the War of the Broken Bow.

History

Falacian Unification War

Before the time of the Dominion, a number of Falacian states were scattered through the stars surrounding Darossa. The homeworld itself had receded from political relevance since several centuries prior, controlled by the tiny fiefdom of House Oda and lacking any real political power. However, this all changed when House Kem'tas began a campaign to unify the species, believing that the Falaci would be stronger if they stood together.

Ragor, leader of House Kem'tas at the time, declared the new Falacian Dominion in 439 BC after the houses Kor'ann and Hayusa joined her in this crusade. Within three years, he had swiftly brought most of the other houses into the fold, but House Oda still somehow held on, keeping control of the homeworld from the new Dominion, supported by a completely unknown source. Electing instead to surround the Vothan System before the final march to reclaim the homeworld, Ragor attacked House Pelasa, his main rival. The impressive battle of Atrate ended in a draw, with much of both fleets being destroyed by each other and environmental factors. The feud with House Pelasa was ended by an efra, a ceremonial duel, between Regor and Saikan, House Pelasa's leader. The efra also ended in a draw, but Regor's use of strategy in the efra to compensate for her smaller physical stature finally impressed Saikan enough for him to call off the feud and join the Dominion.

At exactly the same time, House Oda folded. This tells modern historians that the mysterious support that the house was receiving in its defense of the Vothan System was likely coming from House Pelasa, and Saikan's joining of the Dominion resulted in this support being withdrawn.

Initial Expansions: From Neeia to Tekarani

The newly consolidated Dominion covered roughly 40% of its modern territory, and much less than that of its peak extent. To attain this height of power, it had to conquer, and the consequences were not good for anyone in their way. The first target was the ocean world of Neeia, populated by the Pahvo species and at the center of a large, fractured interstellar society which may have evolved into something like the Dominion had the actual Dominion not been present.

The early Dominion spent the first twenty-odd years of its existence consolidating its claimed territory, "gently persuading" the last of the independent houses, and stamping out rebellions. But once this was done, the massed fleets of the now-unified Falaci houses were a force to be reckoned with. Led by the famously bloodthirsty general Kraios, the Dominion ships entered the Pahvo nation of Ijayal near the Salis System on 2.11, 415 BC. The ensuing battle in that system's limit cloud was violent and led to mass casualties on both sides, severely damaging the outer system infrastructure and preventing the immediate establishment of a Falacian foothold in the system.

This conflict would rage for another decade as nation, but the comparatively primitive Pahvo stood no realistic long-term chance against the Falacian Dominion. Kraios ordered the bombardment of the largest of the broodhouses within each former Pahvo nation as punishment for their resistance, crippling their population growth for decades afterwards, and returned to Darossa hoping for a triumphant celebration. She did not get it. Upon hearing of this punishment enacted without regard for the emperors will or even the obvious consequences, Emperor Ragor subjected Kraios to the worst punishment allowed under falacian law: death to the third degree. Her parents, grandparents, children, grandchildren, and so forth were executed as she was forced to watch. Then the Emperor had her ministers make it four.

After this, Ragor became disillusioned with the idea of infinite expansion, warned her successors against it, and retired to a farm on Darossa. Predictably, her successors did not listen. Over the next century, the Dominion consolidated its control over Pahvo territory. The Pahvo were officially termed the Neifalaci in official government records after 359, when Emperor Goral declared them to have attained True Civilization as part of the Dominion. Around this time, the Dominion would begin to probe the dense clouds of Keuremaske's Labyrinth, trying and failing to find any reliable paths through it.

In 341 BC, the Dominion to encounter the furthest reaches of the Krask Confederation on its coreward fringe. A proud nation committed to pacifism and a strict reading of their Great Law of Peace, Emperor Goral saw them as an easy target occupying valuable territory. Fortunately for him, this assessment was correct and the 400-year old and politically calcifying Confederation was hopelessly unprepared for battle.

Goral of House Kem'Tas died with little warning in 328, the first year of the Krask campaign, before he could name an heir. This resulted in the first of many succession crises of the Falacian Dominion, in which Kem'Tas' holdings largely collapsed as Mizar of House Hayusa declared himself the emperor with the backing of his house troops. After the crisis resolved, House Kem'Tas retained control of almost nothing beyond a single outer world. The first Hayusa emperor continued the Krask campaign as his predecessor did, continuing to steamroll the unprepared Confederation and finishing the relatively short-lived conflict with the orbital bombardment of Tekarani in 326 BC. The survivors of the Krask were scattered to the winds as second-class citizens of the Dominion, beginning the Krask Diaspora.

Falacian-Seyerin Conflicts

Shortly after the conquest of the Krask Confederation, the similarly expansionist Traken Empire came into contact with the Dominion. At first, the Hayusa Emperors saw them simply as another target for conquest, but this contact would shape the centuries to come. WIP

Conquest of Earen

House Kor'ann and the Falacian-Tyran Conflict

The Tyran War and the Era of Good Feelings

Falacian Cold War

Fragmentation and Civil War

War of the Broken Bow

Government

The Falacian Dominion's government, if it can actually be said to have one, is a semi-feudal elite democracy with a large selection of noble houses holding territory across the Dominion. The current leading house is always the one who holds the fiefdom of Darossa, the Falacian homeworld and seat of government, and each house runs the empire differently. House Kem'tas ran it as an absolute monarchy in its day. House Kor'ann ran it as an elite democracy. Houses Hayusa and Pelasa, the two longest lasting houses after House Kor'ann's extinction, both elected to enlist the support of the common people, but they were both overthrown once again before this had time to bear fruit.

Society

The dominant culture of the Falacian Dominion (and in most regards the Falacian High Rule and Imperial Falacian State) relies on a hierarchical system of fealty to one's betters. There exists a vast array of noble Houses of varying influence and power. While they all officially swear fealty to the Ruby Throne at Darossa, in practice each desires to hold the Ruby Throne for themselves and jockey for the chance at it whenever an opportunity presents itself.

Beneath the Great Houses, there are several minor houses and lower-ranking nobility, which swear fealty to those directly above them in the hierarchy. This system guarantees protection in exchange for service from the junior partner in this relationship. In some cases, this means the command of a minor house's forces in the service of a major one, but it could just as easily mean almost anything else. Each major and minor house has broad authority to govern themselves, resulting in wide variation in systems of government across the Dominion and High Rule ranging from absolute rule of the house leader to surprising levels of democracy.

However, a near-constant is the presence of stratified social classes. The lowest class of laborers has little to no rights under Falacian law and no recourse against their betters, and the theoretical ability to fight your way up the class system if deserving is long gone if it ever existed. The highest ranking noble families supposedly earned their lofty positions through merit long ago, but most commoners and even some members of the upper classes voice doubts. Thus, only the uppermost strata of society have much agency in Falacian politics.

Culture

Despite the historical Dominion's often violent method of expansion, the lines between species blur almost to nonexistence in most places. A species gradually loses its native name as its population assimilates into the dominant culture of the Dominion. As an example, the Pahvo of Neeia assimilated quickly after their brutal conquest in the early days of Falacian history, and now make up a plurality of the population of Falacian space and hold the name Falaci just as much as the original does. Species which resist such assimilation, like the historical Eanai and Krask, do not receive this "honor" and remain as second-class citizens until they do so.

Across the remaining Falacian Dominion, most members of the society are expected to have excellence in the arts of violence, ranging from brawling to careful tactics. Many problems are settled by an efra, a duel fought with special swords carved for the purpose. While in some places the original lethal rules are held to, most places consider it more of a ceremonial practice. Due to the stratified nature of Falacian society, efra challenges largely only exist between those of the same social class as a commoner's issue of a challenge would be beneath a noble's notice and challenging an inferior commoner would be a waste of time.

Foreign Relations

The Falacian Dominion impressively has no good relations with any of its immediate neighbors. After the Vernarcan Federation vocally supported several secession movements in 79 AC, the Dominion withdrew from the Yazera Pact, citing the belief that the other nations of the pact were attempting to undermine their sovereignty and control. Two of those secessional states later joined the Federation, worsening their opinion of them. The Dominion has long had designs on the Varaltin-Zartha System, but the Tyran Free State's staunch support and protection of the Federate means that the two nations have a very frosty relationship even prior to their joining of the Federation.

The Krask Hegemony and United Planets are two more breakaway states. The Hegemony is small enough and its territory worthless enough that the current government simply does not care, and the United Planets are strong and entrenched enough in their territory that any attempt to reclaim them would be a long, bloody failure.

In 141-150 AC, the Falacian Dominion fought alongside the Yazera Pact in the War of the Broken Bow due to predictions that mounting hostilities from the Void in the distant Apple Nebula would spill through the Szalana Wormhole and threaten the Ervo Sector powers. Today, the nation is much farther away from all-out war with the Federation and the rest of the Yazera Pact, but relations are still not as cordial as they were during the Tyran War.

Astrography

The Falacian Dominion is a large nation occupying much of the coreward lobe of the Vernarca Nebula, spread over a great number of stars. The nation is split into a number of often-shifting territories of varying size, each controlled by one of the feudal houses of the Dominion. The Ruby Throne (colloquially termed Emperor) of the Dominion is the ruler of the house which controls the national capital of Darossa, but it is rare for a single house to hold this position for very long.

Within Dominion space, a number of interesting features can be seen across its stars. The rimward-most edge of the Falacian Dominion encompasses the strange and dangerous Keuremaske's Labyrinth, as well as several planetary nebulae and the outer edge of Istrin's Cloud.

Notable Star Systems

Capital

The homeworld of the Falaci species, Darossa is a cold, marginally habitable moon in the Vothan System. It orbits the tranquil gas dwarf of Engkaran far beyond what should be the habitable zone, but the volcanic and geological activity stimulated by tidal forces from its parent planet warmed the moon just enough to save it from complete uninhabitability. As the Falaci spread across the stars, Darossa itself spent long periods of time languishing in obscurity under the fief of a minor house, with the other, often more powerful houses being near-completely independent and controlling much more habitable regions of space.

Today, Darossa has been left in its historic state out of respect for its spiritual status as "the forge of the Falaci's strength", with terraforming efforts directed to new planets. Despite this, there is an impressive population across the planet's marginally habitable equatorial region as well as the pockets of habitability surrounding tidally stimulated polar volcanoes. The planet's orbit is also filled with a number of orbital habitats.

Neighboring Powers

The breakaway Falacian High Rule, created by the exiled Imperial Guard in 122 AC, can be found spinward of the territory of the modern Dominion, making up roughly a third of its peak territory. Slightly coreward and antispinward lies the Imperial Falacian State, a theocratic breakaway dedicated to the eventual peaceful union of the many Falaci species. Rimward of the Dominion's territory can be found the Verdan Federation, a massive confederation of species formed during the Tyran War which the Falacian Dominion also participated in. Two of the bordering provinces in fact seceded from the Dominion during the Kor'ann Succession Crisis in 79, before voluntarily joining the Federation. Spinward lies the pacifist Krask Hegemony, another breakaway state whose territory is so desolate and the Dominion so chaotic that no one cares enough to reconquer. Coreward of the Dominion is the United Planets, a unified alliance of several systems which similarly broke away from the Dominion, and rimward and antispinward lies the tiny Federate of Varaltin-Zartha.

Major Worlds


	Darossa	Haletrin	Rayato

Location	Vothan System/Engkaran	Ciluren-Densio System	Haras System/Elarus


Population	2.77 trillion	6.1 trillion	4.4 trillion


Unique Attributes: