Between – 2204 IY and – 1776 IY, the Terrans had defeated the Vilani of the First Imperium and subsequently conquered them leading to the Rule of Man period or the Ramshackle Empire as many would later call it. Terrans ruled over almost countless Vilani worlds as best they could. In -1997 IY the heavy Terran cruiser Inflexible misjumped far from known space, The crew of over 1,000 Terrans had very few options save to head for the nearest system a mere week away. A garden world was found with a scattered population of humans of Brythonic Terran descent. With very few supplies the crew resorted to basic tactics to survive using their compliment of marines and squadron of star fighters to conquer an ever expanding area of the planet. Within 10 years the whole planet was conquered settled as Wisenna the new capital of their intended new empire.
They flourished and spread to control over a score of worlds within a century. The population was a mix of crew descendants and Brythonic Terran with a surprising number of other races close by. The people of Wisenna came to believe in the guiding hand of a higher being, The Divine Purpose, which intervened in their rise to greatness. Church of the Divine Purpose was the state religion with regular spectacles of religious power and wealth awing many. For fifteen hundred years the Empire flourished and slowly expanded. A series of unsuccessful border wars in the Golden Marches, to spinward, calmed the enthusiasm of expansionists and peace fell across the Empire. The three great fortresses worlds were established and the brightest and best set on guard. The Empire stagnated and grew stale for a thousand years and more till the arrival of the new Imperials a mere 150 years ago.
"We'll rant and we'll roar, like true Terran sailors,
We'll rant and we'll roar across the star seas
Until we strike readings
In the system of old Terra
From Dingir to Earth is 45 degrees."
For centuries vessels had arrived in the Empire from beyond but they were curiosities with their crews assimilated and their ships collected. Then the Vicuña arrived with her IISS, IIAA and Naval crew along with an excellent amount of supplies. Captain Pallenberg and her people where far enough away to make contact but not seen as a threat. The new arrivals set up an embassy and trade post on the Wisennian world of Rasenna, now Alkonost, and had good relations. The Fenwick ambassador, John Cabess, was an executive of the Sternmetal Horizons megacorporation, who had been sent as much to get him away from Pallenberg, as anything else. He preached the creed of pure capitalism and true free trade. Rasenna was an industrial world but ruled by a detached emperor and his local viceroy. The business leaders of Rasenna listened to the charismatic Cabess and his promises of wealth, corporate freedom and future prosperity. They planned and when ready, they rebelled. Cabess and his other corporate associates had spread the flames of dissent well; they promised whatever each world wanted to hear, even if it was mutually unachievable.
Saragusa (Rusalka), Karthago (Idrik), Corduba (Van Damien’s) and Cobelish all joined in the Cabess Revolt and threw the Empire in to disarray and a bloody internal war. Emperor Josef XXI was deposed and so was his swift successor Diederik IV, leaving matters in turmoil. It took a year before Flavius I finally stabilised matters. Flavius was a low born career officer who rode to power as a stable and capable ruler that was not afraid of breaking eggs. With revolt spreading to Gamma and Sygni, both keys worlds, he took his aged but operational cruisers, Shoulder O’Orion, Fires of Orc and Tannhauser Gate, to the rebel planet Cobelish and scrubbed it. The seas boiled, the earth trembled as a nuclear onslaught shattered Cobelish with over 100 million people killed. The horror of the scrubbing brought Gamma and Sygni swiftly back in to line and brought the rebels to the negotiating table. Emperor Flavius wanted to push on but his aged cruisers were struggling after years of inaction and poor maintenance, he agreed terms.
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