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The Empire of the Hand is a powerful nation found within the coreward regions of the Apple Nebula, and a key member of the Alliance of Five prior to its dissolution. By territory, it is the second largest nation within the Apple Nebula behind only the Sovereignty of Erorum, and stretches from the fringes of the central Gemstone Cluster all the way to the edge of the nebula.

The Empire of the Hand is a theocracy founded around the religion Thorana, a staunchly monotheistic religion based upon Sacred Scrolls of Thorana and the teachings of the enigmatic Wanderers. For much of modern history, particularly during the tenure of the Alliance of Five, the Empire of the Hand has been host to a deeply conservative and stratified society, but the Great Enlightenment has caused a reimagining of the meaning of the Sacred Scrolls and thus a wave of support for greater secular institutions and universal rights.

History

First Thorana Crusade

Initial Expansions

Conquest of the Qui Nar

The Tyranny Gospel Spreads

Third and Fourth Thorana Crusades

The Council of Kariek and the First Reformation

Yadera Civil War

Alliance of Five Era

Szalana Cold War

War of the Broken Bow and Modern Times

Government

Notably for an interstellar nation, the Empire of the Hand's imperial government is almost a pure theocracy. The high Cardinal of Thorana and the ruler of the Empire are one and the same, as are the constitution and the holy books. The Cardinal is officially an absolute monarch, but in practice they leave much of the more minor day-to-day runnings of government to the church bureaucracy and College of Bishops.

The imperial judicial system is based almost entirely on the decrees of the bishops, with increasing crimes dealt with by higher levels of the Church. The Court of Discipline is at the top of the ladder, and is the only body with the authority to prosecute the Cardinal and members of the College of Bishops. It is also arguably the most "grounded" branch of government, focused exclusively on matters of the application of existing law, rather than interpreting the holy texts and the will of the Hand more directly as the Cardinal and Bishops must do.

The national government is housed in the buildings surrounding St. Oyokal's Basilica on Nirauan in the holy city of Nuso Esva. The Basilica is at the center of a small city of bureaucracy, filled with beautifully constructed buildings layered with rare metal plating and extremely expensive art to be enjoyed by people who probably aren't looking away from their computer screens. On a more local level, smaller regions are led by individual churches and their priests with the 277 dioceses grouped together into 17 bishoprics throughout imperial territory. The government of these regions varies widely across the Empire, but irregular visits by the Inquisition ensure that local priests remain faithful to Thorana doctrine.

Society and Culture

Foreign Relations

The Empire of the Hand is within a complex web of diplomatic relations which necessarily comes with being one of the most powerful nations in the known galaxy. The Empire of the Hand was a founding member of the Alliance of Five, a military alliance within the Apple Nebula, prior to its dissolution in 148. The five nations underwent drastic political changes during the final five years of the War of the Broken Bow, with the Vauratin Empire violently removing its fascist government and New Union of Xeriphas bringing about an end to the severely discriminatory xurathi legal system. The Empire of the Hand itself began to break down the stratification and conservatism of its society during the Second Reformation, resulting in greater universal rights and support for secular institutions, as well as a great straining of diplomatic relations with the Sovereignty of Erorum.

The United Planets of Garsan-Jal came into being in 51 AC following an increase in the oppression of the Himir branch of Thorana denounced during the Council of Kariek. As such, it spent most of its history with the Empire of the Hand either refusing to recognize its existence at all or declaring it a nation of heretics. However, the greater tolerance that is coming with the Second Reformation has already resulted in diplomatic recognition and cessation of hostilities towards Garsan-Jal.

In 147, the Empire of the Hand signed the Treaty of Praxis, terminating all acts of war towards the Vernarcan Federation and its allies and committing to the fight with them against the Void until its defeat. During this phase of the War of the Broken Bow, the Empire and Federation's cultures were in direct extended contact in many places, and political scientists argue that this may have been one of the last dominoes of the Second Reformation. During the Working Title Fleet's journey from the Szalana Wormhole, several imperial ships abruptly left the defense fleet to join it. This temporarily caused strain in relations with the Vernarcan Federation, but the fact that the Fleet wasn't authorized by the Federation either and that both of them had much bigger things to worry about meant that this was quickly smoothed over in a manner unheard of prior to the reformation.

Religion

The Empire of the Hand's very being, from the uppermost echelons of government to the personal lives of most of its citizens, is founded in the religion of Thorana. A uncommonly monotheistic religion, Thorana's chief deity is known simply as the Hand, whose will is to be executed by all believers and more specifically the Empire supposedly created by it. Thorana believes that the Hand created everything in the universe to fulfill a plan, and that deviation from this plan is necessarily heresy.

The structure of the church and the government are functionally identical at almost all levels. Only at the smallest and most local levels is public participation common to most interstellar civilizations possible. The Sacred Scrolls of Thorana outline the morals and guidelines of the religion, as well as a long, long list of allegorical tales which serve to communicate these. Until the Second Reformation, the majority of Thorana practitioners took a far more literal approach, believing that the Hand literally created the universe from scratch around 20,000 years ago and assigned the Fantaar the role of His holy armada, and everything else within the Sacred Scrolls. However, as of now the opinion that the tales are allegorical as they were originally intended when the Scrolls were written down is much more widespread.

Demographics

Due to its long history of expansion and conquest, the Empire of the Hand's population consists of a great variety of species. At the top of the de facto hierarchy is the Fantaar species, hailing from Nirauan and claimed to be the Hand's chosen species in Thorana's Sacred Scrolls. Notably, the Lanai species of Forang in fact has a higher population than that of the Fantaar, but its members hold much fewer rights than the Fantaar or even others like the Chrelyth, even as the Great Enlightenment continues.

The Chrelyth and Qui Nar are third and fourth on the population rankings, hailing from Seayr and Nuota respectively and predominantly found in the regions of space surrounding those worlds. The Tectozin are a fairly slow population growth species, with less than a fifth of the population of the Qui Nar, and the Mandrals hold but the smallest share of the population pie after their genocide at the hands of the Empire 90 years ago.

Astrography

The territory of the Empire of the Hand is vast, covering enormous tracts of space within the Apple Nebula. Its 325 star systems exist within the Yadera Expanse, Vermilion Cluster, Shaenor-Resila Cluster, and parts of the Akdorn Association, including a number of unique spatial landmarks. The Empire of the Hand is divided into 277 dioceses, prefectures, and parishes, each governed by a religious officer appointed by the church at Nirauan. In addition, large parts of the outermost extent of imperial territory is contained within "territories", which are directly governed by the church and its governmental bureaucracy.

A number of species exist under the dominion of the Empire of the Hand, and until very recently they were considered to be second-class citizens at best and mere subjects at worst. These are the Chrelyth, Lanai, Qui Nar, Tectozin, and the few surviving Mandrals following the empire's genocide of that species.

Notable Star Systems

Capital

Nirauan is a warm terrestrial world existing in a close orbit around the red dwarf Gradilis, within the Yadera Expanse of the Apple Nebula. As the capital of the Empire of the Hand and homeworld of the Fantaar, Nirauan has had a great influence on the history of the region and the Apple Nebula as a whole. The planet was largely devastated by the First Thorana Crusade, but the newly founded empire took it upon itself to put enormous effort into revitalizing the holy world. The result of the empire's numerous conquests, Nirauan developed a highly cosmopolitan society populated by many species from the native Fantaar to the Chrelyth, Qui Nar, Lanai, and more. Prior to the Great Enlightenment beginning in 145, these species were largely treated as second-class citizens, but in the modern day their rights are improving as the more conservative factions within the College of Bishops lose favor.

Neighboring Powers

The Empire of the Hand, as large as it is, is surrounded by a great number of other nations within the Apple Nebula. The farthest coreward reach of its territory borders the edge of the seed cluster and thus unclaimed space, which the postwar Empire may begin to expand into. Its longest border along the trailing side of its territory is with the New Union of Xeriphas, a fellow member of the now-defunct Alliance of Five. This border is briefly interrupted by the Keren Guard. The farthest rimward extension of imperial territory borders the Evadne Republic and the Vernarcan Federation member state of the Zahl Order. Finally, spinward of imperial territory lies the Sovereignty of Erorum and the United Planets of Garsan-Jal.

Major Worlds


	Nirauan	Nuota	Seayr

Location	Gradilis System	Seirn-Elyin System	Jalcer System


Population	TBA	TBA	TBA


Unique Attributes:	Homeworld of the Fantaar and capital of the Empire of the Hand	Homeworld of the Qui Nar	Homeworld of the Chrelyth


	Forang	Tinela	Vide

Location	Agoraj-Elian System	Corob System	Curison-Urelia System


Population	TBA	TBA	TBA


Unique Attributes:	Homeworld of the Lanai	Homeworld of the Tectozin	Homeworld of the endangered Mandrals and site of the Mandral Genocide

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