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[Katrina Oniseki]

This is player created fiction, and should not be mistaken for Prime Fiction.

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Raata: The Early Period

The story of Cold Wind is an ancient tale that, through heavy use of metaphors and Wayist references, provides a brief interpretation of the formation of the Raata Empire. The story tells of how the ancestors to the Civire and Deteis people met on the field of battle, and fought until the icy breath of Cold Wind himself finally stopped them. This is true to an extent. The differences are in the details though. The two armies did meet at a clearing between two major forests, but did not only do so once.

Over a period of four months, the Fuukiuye and Oryioni armies clashed repeatedly in and around this same valley. Historical accounts vary as to who won or lost each engagement, and why and how. This article is not for detailing that. What is known is that eventually, a particularly bitter winter stalled both armies in their tracks and prevented further action. This allowed time for diplomacy to once again try its hand. By some stroke of miraculous luck, an accord was struck.

By the end of the year, the beginnings of an alliance between the Fuukiuye and Oryioni peoples had formed. Turning their attentions outward, they began a period of conquest and unification that brought the entire rest of Caldari Prime under uncontested control, under a new banner called the Raata Empire. It is widely understood that this was the second time the name "Raata" was used in this sense, though the first time it meant something nearly as powerful.

The Raata Empire, technically the Second Raata Empire, made extensive use of two major sources of military power. First and foremost was the Raata people's mastery of seamanship. The Oryioni had long since perfected the art of nautical navigation, while the K'vire had just recently re-invented a technique of shipbuilding that lent them the strongest wooden ship hulls across the entire world. Combined, the Imperial Raata Navy could not be matched, let alone fought. One by one, the waters of Caldari Prime fell under the red banner of Raata.

The later second, though by far not the least important, was the rediscovery of steel. Up until this time, all sources of steel or other advanced metals were repurposed salvage from the ancient Terran ruins. While useful in isolated applications, Terran salvage was impractical for large scale use in military advancement. The knowledge and ability to smelt iron into steel allowed the Raata empire access to highly advanced forms of weapons and armor. The most ubiquitous and influential Raata steel weapon was the Saii.

The Saii, which does not have a modern translation, was best described as a long handled sword-pike. A three foot curved and tempered thin blade sat atop a five foot handle. The entire piece was made from one solid piece of steel, with only the handle wrapped in other materials such as wood or leather. It is both a source of amusement and testament to Caldari sensibilities that both the words sairus (missile) and saisieni (hello) are etymological derivatives of Saii.

Perhaps the most telling addition to Caldari culture and physiology was the use of a poisonous plant in warfare. The Kresh plant was long known to contain a lethal toxin, and had been used in assassinations for centuries. Containing a dangerous chemical that would kill any man foolish enough to consume it, the Kresh plant was synonymous with death. Leaves from the plant were often placed on the pillow of a rival to deliver a most dire threat, and Kresh extract was used as a lethal poison by certain cunning killers. It was the Raata however who first used it on a wider scale for warfare.

It was not enough to simply wound your enemy. The enemy must be made to not heal… ever. By coating the blades of their weapons and the points of their arrows with Kresh extract, the Raata gained a reputation for delivering wounds that would fester for days before finally killing the victim. ‘Slow like a Raata blade’ was for a time a popular saying to refer to the way wounds inflicted by Raata troops would often kill the enemy days after being delivered in a most painful way. Not every victim died, however, and those that survived would introduce a genetic contribution precious to Caldari culture many centuries down the road.

Once the Raata Empire completed their unifying conquest of Caldari Prime, they found themselves the expected leaders of the Caldari people. This set the stage for a legacy that would persist well into modern times. The Early Raata Period, as this entire timeframe is known, despite being marred by war and strife, is generally regarded as the critical turning point in Caldari history. In the span of fifty years the Caldari people had finally unified their culture, made many important rediscoveries, and brought relative peace to the planet.

[Katrina Oniseki]

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Raata: The High Period

The Raata Empire had become, for all intents and purposes, the identifying name for the Caldari people as a whole. They did not call themselves Caldari. They called themselves Raata. The golden age of Raata influence and power, known as the High Period, was marked by rapid technological advancement and a cultural renaissance.

Raata culture had always been marked by a distinct militaristic undertone. The planet itself was barely hospitable, so no matter how elegant Raata culture became, it always emphasized survival of the fittest. Service in the Imperial military was still compulsory. Taxes did not exist yet as a form of currency payment, but rather as a form of mandated donations of produced goods to the state. The most obvious and widespread form of these Imperial taxes were staple grains.

Agriculture on Caldari Prime had experienced a boom with the accidental discovery of ancient Terran seed storage sites. Hardy winter strains of rice and wheat were found frozen for centuries in vast libraries, to be released once terraforming was complete. With the already inventive methods of winter farming the Raata had developed, these seeds quickly grew into fast tracts of farming land that fed the hungry Empire. Nearly every citizen grew grain, both for himself and for the Empire. It was by far the most common way to pay your taxes. Winters on Caldari Prime were notoriously harsh in some areas, yet mild in others, and the only way to maintain the stability of the Empire was by supplementing the hardest hit areas with stockpiled grain supplies taken from less affected areas.

For the first time, the people living on Caldari Prime lived without fear of winter famine. The Raata Empire had literally stopped starvation. Wealth of food was not the only boon brought to the world by the Raata Empire though. Discovery and invention took on a new vigor. Precious metals were coaxed from the planet's crust in vast quantities, and with the sudden influx of variety, inventors began mixing and matching them in great forges and workshops. Many particularly useful inventions were made during this time. More accurate clocks, advancements in construction, the printing press, the steam engine were introduced. A new calendar commissioned by a particularly ascetic Emperor brought a sense of coherence to the otherwise unpredictable seasons of Caldari Prime.

The arts experienced multiple booms and busts as well. Much of the Caldari people's most precious traditions in art and music were pioneered during this period. Raata cuisine came to the forefront at this time too, and for the first time the food people ate on that world centered on taste and look rather than rationing and efficiency. Magnificent palaces were constructed in the name of the Maker and Winds. It seemed for every Emperor, there was a new palace or temple to be built. In the shadow of the most magnificent palaces grew Great Cities, led by lesser heads of state called Ojaabun. Their power and influence would help cause the downfall of the Raata Empire.

The Raata military ceased to have a function as a tool of conquest, and was more of a drain than a benefit. Under Imperial edict, the Imperial Raata Army and Navy was officially disbanded. Instead of simply sending every soldier and sailor home to their families, the generals and admirals pledged themselves to the Great Cities as a public service. In the shockingly short span of two years, the mighty Raata military had become the servants of the people, or so it seemed.

[Katrina Oniseki]

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Raata: The Late Period

As expected, the sudden loss of actual power wielded by the Emperor to the benefit of the Great Cities caused immediate problems. There was no real threat to the Ojaabun for disobeying the orders of the increasingly bureaucratic Imperial administration, or even the Emperor himself. There was no more army to march on the city gates and demand obedience. There was no great navy to blockade the ports and starve the populace. The Great Cities, instead, held all the real power in the remains of the former military.

To combat this, Emperors increasingly resorted to nepotism and cronyism to enforce the loyalty of the Great Cities. The power of giving and removing titles still resided with the Imperial throne, so by declaring his cousin or childhood friend the new Ojaabun of a Great City, the Emperor could remove threats to his authority. By revoking the titles of troublesome Ojaabun, the Emperor effectively removed any reason for the people to obey, and more often than not assassination or exile were the only choices for those so disgraced. This worked, for a time.

As expected, the ineptitude and ambitions of constantly shifting Ojaabun caused serious problems. It soon became apparent even to relatives of the Emperor that even their title was something they held control over. By simply refusing to step down and executing the new installments, older and more powerful Ojaabun could retain their power. They began a systematic infiltration of the Imperial Administration, placing people of varying loyalties to the Great Cities in prominent positions. While the Emperors still held sole authority to install cabinet members, the lesser ranks of the administration were slowly taken over. This led to even the Emperors' once staunchly loyal administrators to finally turn against the throne. Various Emperors attempted to fight this trend for a time, but eventually succumbed to the loss of real power.

The magnificent Emperor of the Raata Empire was no longer so magnificent. He was a figurehead, and a symbol, but no longer commanded respect. The Ojaabun had reequipped their personal militaries, and secured their own dynasties. Occasionally, power trends would shift in the Great City as internal strife removed the old and brought in the new. However, generally speaking, the Great Cities increasingly practiced their independence. As the people began to realize what this meant, loyalists to the throne began to work in secret to bring power back to the Emperor. The Ojaabun would not bow so easily to such actions.

The final centuries of the Raata Empire were marked by a significant decline in stability. Ojaabun began openly fighting each other for power, and the Loyalists had become a symbol for atrocity committed in the name of a lost cause. Many millions died in the civil wars that tore across Caldari Prime. The Emperors increasingly removed themselves from public affairs, and many didn’t live past their early twenties as regicide became an epidemic. It was not until the reign of the last Raata Emperor that things finally became bad enough for the Empire itself to collapse.

The Last Emperor, as he is known, is a controversial figure. While generally credited as a competent military leader, he is also derided as a cruel and heartless leader. It was his attempt to reunify the Empire that finally turned the people against him. Over the course of his young life, he was shrewd enough to amass supporters in the military forces of two comparatively weak minded Ojaabun. With two well-placed assassinations, the Emperor once again commanded an Imperial Army.

He marched on the nearest Great City with an armed force that greatly outmatched the Ojaabun’s.  The response was predictable: The first surrender back to the throne. Many thought the Emperor would march on another city in turn, but he surprised all when instead he invited all of the remaining Ojaabun to meet with him in the Imperial palace for negotiations. While this sounds like an obvious trap, it should be noted that the Caldari venerated the concept of hospitality. To invite someone into your home was to guarantee them your service and protection for the duration of their stay. An invitation to the Imperial palace guaranteed the protection of the Emperor himself. Rather than risk a true war, many Ojaabun complied and made the trip to attend.

What followed is one of the most horrific acts in Caldari history. The Black Dinner, as it became known, led to the slaughter of every attending Ojaabun right in their dinner chairs. The Emperor was making a statement. No more would the title of Ojaabun exist in any form. Every Great City was by rights the property of the Imperial Throne, and he would tolerate no contest to that right. In doing so however, he had violated the sacred tradition of hospitality demanded of the host of any home. In doing so, he had spat on the time honored traditions of not just the Raata, but the Caldari people across all of remembered history.

The bodies of the Ojaabun were hung naked and upside down from the branches of ancient Kresh trees in the Imperial gardens. Their stomachs were cut open and stuffed with beeswax, and the ground beneath them was salted. In a final display of disgrace, the bodies were left there to rot for a full Raata month, allowing the birds to pick at the corpses in an effort to torture the spirits still trapped within. The Emperor decreed that none of them were to be cremated, but instead buried in the salted ground beneath the Kresh trees so their spirits would feed the poisons of the Kresh for all eternity.

Within a year, the Empire turned against itself. The remaining Ojaabun officially seceded from the Empire with full support of their people. While the new Imperial Army was stronger than any one Ojaabun’s, it was not strong enough to fight the combined might of all the remaining ones. A final battle raged outside the Imperial palace, ending in the murder of the Last Emperor and razing of the palace itself. The Raata Empire was now dead.

The Ojaabun remained in power for many hundreds of years, and frequently fought amongst themselves. As the Caldari people transitioned into their Industrial Age, some of the Ojaabun were replaced by new governments, and some simply took on new titles and shapes. When the Gallente finally arrived, this fractured society was the world they found.

[Saede Riordan]

sex.

[orange]

I like it.   I will have to reread to see what I don't like about it

One comment I have is

Turning their attentions outward, they began a period of conquest and unification that brought the entire rest of Caldari Prime under uncontested control, under a new banner called the Raata Empire

I am not sure it was even the majority of Caldari Prime.  No doubt Raata extended over a vast area and had incredible influence both spacially and temporally beyond its borders and existence, but I think it may fall firmly into the category of Earth empires such as the (Greco-)Roman, Mongol, or British Empires.   Do we have PF source for it being total unification?


Also, there is a need to talk about what kept the Raata's intellectual elite from looking to the sky and developing telescopes and the ilk.  There are 15 moons in orbit to look at and study, plus all the wandering stars of the system.

[Katrina Oniseki]

One comment I have is

Turning their attentions outward, they began a period of conquest and unification that brought the entire rest of Caldari Prime under uncontested control, under a new banner called the Raata Empire

I am not sure it was even the majority of Caldari Prime.  No doubt Raata extended over a vast area and had incredible influence both spacially and temporally beyond its borders and existence, but I think it may fall firmly into the category of Earth empires such as the (Greco-)Roman, Mongol, or British Empires.   Do we have PF source for it being total unification?

As far as I am aware of, no we do not. But for the purposes of the story, I felt it would be better if it was a total unification. There are a number of liberties I decided to take with regards to this, which is why it bears a special warning at the top unlike my other fics.

I do rather like your idea, but then it would preclude the dissolution of the Raata military, which was a central theme in how the Ojaabun came to power.

Also, there is a need to talk about what kept the Raata's intellectual elite from looking to the sky and developing telescopes and the ilk.  There are 15 moons in orbit to look at and study, plus all the wandering stars of the system.

Grr! I knew I forgot a major part of the High Period. I wanted to expand more on how astronomy had a significant impact on Raata culture, in more than just navigation. I may rework that section later.

[Valdezi]

Nice work, Kat!

[Demion Samenel]

Very nice indeed