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[Simon Louvaki]

Hey there everyone!

Recently I re-subbed and began to rethink not only the direction I wanted to take my character, but the way he presents himself (before my ineptitude does anymore IC damage to his character due to my own ignorance) and was hoping I could get some tips about how to become a better RPer, but more specifically, a better Caldari RPer. I've done quite a bit of reading, and am currently having to refresh myself on the materiel due to my mind be preoccupied with so much over the course of my hiatus and would greatly appreciate some feedback from some of the more experienced and well versed Caldari RPers. I've got quite alot I wish to achieve with Simon, both in terms of gameplay and in an RP sense, and am contemplating rewriting much of the backstory.

Thanks guys!

[Jace]

Well, reading is the first step. It sounds like you are already doing that. As far as the community goes, certain elements of Napaani are fairly common. My only other suggestion, if you plan on writing extensively, is to find an experienced Caldari RPer to bounce your fiction off of. Sort of as a PF editor.

Beyond all of that, it just comes down to familiarity with the Caldari resources and finding your niche within the RP community. Just remember that your character doesn't necessarily have to fit in with one of the current "segments" of Caldari RPers. He is his own.

[Drakolus]

I'll jump in on this as well.  I'm trying to slowly grow myself as a Ni-Kunni roleplayer as well and so far I'm kind of at a loss in most areas.  I am trying to be generally friendly IC in the RP chats but again, so far I seem to be falling flat.  At the risk of needing a new topic, can I also ask for help in regards to a Ni-Kunni outlook or just general RP tips?

[Simon Louvaki]

@ Jace Sarice: Thanks for the reply and I appreciate your imput! I suppose one thing I really need to do is break out of my shell and start frequenting the RP channels. So far, I haven't 'met' many of the fine people who frequent these forums IC except for limited exchanges on The Summit and to be honest I am little intimidated heh. I actually also do plan on doing some fan-fic writing to flesh out things to help get myself more accustom to being in Simon's skin.

[Jace]

@ Jace Sarice: Thanks for the reply and I appreciate your imput! I suppose one thing I really need to do is break out of my shell and start frequenting the RP channels. So far, I haven't 'met' many of the fine people who frequent these forums IC except for limited exchanges on The Summit and to be honest I am little intimidated heh. I actually also do plan on doing some fan-fic writing to flesh out things to help get myself more accustom to being in Simon's skin.

It can be a bit difficult to get plugged in initially, don't get discouraged. Some of the channels can be fairly quiet for a while, then suddenly have some interesting opportunities.

[Lyn Farel]

Don't try to conform too much to the racial stereotypes. Don't overdo them if you choose to use them. They are good as a basis but a lot of players tend to think "I want to play an unique character of X faction so i'll do the exact contrary of its clichés !", which as you can guess, completely destroys cultural specificity.

The best way imo is either to think in racial stereotypes if you look for something rather safe, but the trick is to do something else with it. The stereotype has to be the core of the character, but not necessarily his personality. Pieter may be exactly what we expect of a brainwashed tube child prole bathed in Caldari fascist propaganda at first, but you just have to watch the character itself and it doesnt sound like it at all anymore. Well, at least, I think so.

Or either, my favorite way is to put a great emphasis on cultural relativism. Look how the Caldari culture is and what makes it that way, and try to put yourself in the shoes of the Caldari and not a RL westerner. Or the other way, in the shoes of the westerner, how alien the Caldari culture is to you and try to explain why. If you can understand why your character due to his upbringing thinks his faction is the natural way to go, then you nailed it. It is not necessarily good to think in altruistic ways like a lot of players do. I don't think that other empires than the gallente aren't altruistic and are like obscurantist backward reactionaries of the middle ages - actually I believe they are altruistic in their own way. What may look altruistic to a gallente will be different to a caldari or an amarr or a minmatar. What may look honourable will vary, etc etc. What will look honourable for a minmatar, saving his kin and tribe, will sound completely dishonourable and selfish to amarrians that consider that sacrifying oneself for the mistake of one's kin is honourable, or will sound completely dishonourable to a gallente that consider the one self above everything, and everyone equal, where a minmatar will just not care at all for other tribes and kins. It's just like changing the lens you look through.

More precisely, RP needs more cultural relativism. If I remember well, you did not that bad regarding that particular point on the IGS in the past...

Then, for a caldari, the mega (or lack of) defines the individual. Which is the mega to which the character belongs ? Has he seen other megas (rather rare) ? Is he disassociated ? And then, what position ? Prole/workforce ? Security ? Administration ? Director ? As much as the State can praise meritocracy, it is still all in the eye of the beholder. Who defines merit and what is worth ? How does a director live compared to a forklift driver ?

And not the less important, the character himself. What is his personality, not only in relation to his background, but also, how does it confronts his Caldari upbringing and social position ? The personality is important so that it offers an interactive way to create story material when confronted to the cultural position of a character and defines how he will react to it.

____________________________

For the ni-kunni, there are a lot of angles that can be exploited. How they were reclaimed (Oooooh, look, water, me thirsty !), their current position in the Amarr celestial order and ladder, their "exotic" side... And then the Amarr social structure itself.

- Noble ? Commoner or ex slave ? Slave ?
- Part of the low clergy (priests, etc) ? Part of the high born clergy (Holder, noble, theologian) ?
- Part of the imperial administration under the direct imperial authority (Navy, Civic Court, etc) ? Or working for a liege lord (Holder demesne) ?

[Jace]

I figured I should drop a couple links for you, just to make sure you see them. As you said you were reviewing materials, I assume you've already read these - but if not, they are must-reads:

Demographics of the Caldari State
Caldari Funds Unlimited
Masks of Authority (Chronicle)
Chief Executive Panel
Caldari Spirituality
Caldari Prime
Background to the New Gallente-Caldari Conflict, YC113
Caldari Chronicles

[Simon Louvaki]

Apologies for the late replies!

Lyn: Thanks! I appreciate the advice. I suppose in my head I wasn't playing my character 'Caldari Enough' which led to me posting this.

Jace: Thanks for the links, I've already combed through most of them but appreciate the links!

[purple]

You rang? 

Jace provided some really good links, you should give them a read.   If you don't mind though, I'll add a bit.

I've always felt that the chronicle 'New Horizons' is the the most important bit of PF for development of a Caldari character as it gives you a very broad view of Caldari culture, history and values.   Perhaps with the 'new' Caldari demographics article,  I shouldn't say it's the most important read but probably still fairly valuable.   This is a nifty discussion related to 'New Horizons.'

Since the Caldari-Gallente war had such a profound impact on modern Caldari, some reading on that subject would not be remiss.   Here is a timeline I put together by copying and pasting from different places on the wiki;

AD 22463 The Gallente spot the Caldari on Caldari Prime but are unable to establish contact. [885 Years ago]   (Interesting thread)     Gallente Information Age.  In the year 906AR (22463AD), the Gallente (today referred to as the ethnic Gallente) were well into their Information Age, having created a global telecommunications network that had started to facilitate cross-cultural and international cooperation. Their homeworld, the sixth planet of the Luminaire system, had many different names at the time, the most common one being Gallentia (the name of which is still sometimes used into the contemporary era).

The Gallente homeworld was a comfortable and biodiverse world that was still divided into nation-states (along with corresponding ethnicities and cultures), though the political and economic effects of their Information Age meant a large amount of globalization had started to take place. This included the intermingling of the different ethnic groups, as well as the evolution of the first international organizations (initially based on trade and diplomacy) evolving into the World Democracy League.

Technology and communication had resulted in democracy and libertarianism being exported from the Garoun continent to become the dominant ideology on the planet. Nations that had proved uncompromisingly resistant to these ideas (or were deemed politically unfashionable or anachronistic) were weeded out in interventionist wars by the major powers and alliances of the time. These one-sided conflicts would be over in days or weeks with minimal collateral damage, thanks to the development of precision weaponry such as guided missiles.

There was still some political tension on the homeworld despite the ideological standardization taking place. Many states were wary of democracy and liberalism, especially when it was forced onto other states via economic or military means. However, in that year of 22463AD, the Vivien Tolouti of the Republic of Lyace’s astronomical body discovered a new civilization on the seventh planet of the solar system (known as Cephalin up until that point), who were visible via telescope thanks to the start of that world’s Industrial Age.

The discovery of the Caldari, as they became known much later on, rapidly reorganized the priorities of the Gallente. The revelation that they were not alone in the universe had an unprecedented effect on the people, and the Gallente quickly came to believe that war and other disagreements was outdated and short-sighted.

AD 22517 First contact between Gallente and Caldari.[831 years ago]  Upon the discovery of the Caldari in 22463AD, the Kingdom of Central Garoun (the contemporary successor state to the historically influential Garoun Empire and home to the famed city of Caille) proposed the founding of the International Space Cooperative. Organized by Central Garoun and other major powers, many other minor states joined in later.

It had been decided that space was to become the future focus of the Gallente race, declaring the homeworld as nothing but a cradle of civilization to depart from. The ISC would be the harbinger of this, and technologies to cross the interplanetary distance became the primary focus of all future scientific endeavors.

Over the next fifty years, the ISC oversaw the development of Gallente Prime’s orbital infrastructure, in preparation of eventually visiting the Caldari. In the future, these developments would lead to the construction of numerous lunar and orbital colonies around the planet. Another project that would come to pass in the future were space elevators that would support solar power arrays in orbit, permanently ending any energy concerns on the planet.

The ISC launched several probes to the Caldari homeworld. The first landers were merely sent to acquire planetary data about the world, which simply baffled the natives. Later probes contained pieces of media about the Gallente, including a world political map, images of the different civilizations, and recordings of songs and movies in different languages. The governments of the Caldari, composed mostly of absolute monarchies and bureaucratically authoritarian states, were initially very curious about the probes, as the Caldari's xenophobic tendencies had yet to exist amongst their culture. Realizing that they would be greeted imminently by an off-world race, Caldari leaders trained linguistic specialists in attempting to translate the main languages of their neighboring planet, for the purposes of communicating with the alien humans. They were well-prepared by 971AR (22517AD), when the ISCSS Venture from Gallentia had made planetfall on the continent of Tikiona on the Caldari homeworld, home to the bulk of that world’s population.

The New Oryioni Collective was the first state to greet the crew of the Venture, assisting them with establishing a communication link back to Gallentia. When the prime minister of New Oryioni asked the ISC captain for the collective name of the people of her homeworld, she replied with ‘Gallente’, derived from Gallentia, which in turn was the Garoun name for the planet. This was the first recorded use of the term ‘Gallente’. The conversation between the two individuals took place in the city of Arcurio, and was televised across the Gallente homeworld, watched by billions across the planet. In response, the Caldari identified themselves as Caldari, which was simply the name of the world itself. The terms Gallente and Caldari thus became the primary identifiers in differentiating the ethnicities of the two homeworlds for all future interactions.

Despite the later tensions between the two races, there was much jubilation on both Luminaire homeworlds after the discovery of another planet inhabited by humans, answering thousands of years worth of philosophical posturing. As the Caldari leadership had already learned many of the Gallente languages before the first contact, the latter became the primary form of communication between the two planets. This was deemed the most practical and efficient system, but it did not stop many Gallente from learning the Caldari languages, either out of curiosity, or because they had opted to migrate to the Caldari homeworld.

The major Gallente nations established embassies across the Tikiona states, and began to assist the Caldari in emerging out of their industrial era and into the Space Age. Thanks to Gallente assistance, the Caldari were able to populate other areas of the world in earnest, which had remained undeveloped for centuries.

Over the following decades, the Caldari proved remarkably efficient in catching up with the Gallente’s level of development, thanks to a more homogeneous history creating a stronger sense of collective identity. In addition, the bureaucratically authoritarian governments of Caldari were not weighed down by democratic or populist concerns that may otherwise have held them back. The two races worked on colonizing and developing their home system together, which eventually was named Luminaire.

The untapped industrial potential of the Caldari nations meant that it was to the benefit of the International Space Cooperative that they joined. Eventually, the ISC’s participating role in the development of Caldari diminished as the nations began to take charge of their own development. Instead, the ISC was in put in charge of establishing terraforming colonies on the second and third planets of the solar system, known as Corufeu and Astrin respectively. This was done on behalf of the Gallente governments, who started to become concerned regarding overpopulation in the near future.

During this time, the best Gallente and Caldari scientists and engineers were working within the ISC to look at ways to expand outside of their home system, even if the Caldari population was not large enough to make interstellar colonization a sustainable choice. Though there were many Caldari scientists who passionately believed in the benefits of cooperation, there was a very small movement amongst some of the Caldari leaders that felt doubts about the implications of the alliance with the numerically superior Gallente. Over time, they learnt the history of the Garoun nations in particular, and how they came to dominate smaller states via peaceful and apparently noble means. These leaders feared the Gallente would attempt a similar subjugation in the future and wished to explore expansion as a method of retaining independence.

An example of an early disadvantage was with the International Space Cooperative. When it first came to being, it was founded in a way that nations with the larger population had the most votes. This was deemed a fair and just system on the Gallente homeworld, but it did not prove beneficial to the Caldari, who were simply outnumbered, thus handicapped in the amount of votes they could hold. While some made attempts to prevent the Caldari from being too negatively affected by this system, several incidences created tensions between the two groups. The faction within the Caldari felt it was only a matter of time before the Gallente would begin to take over.

AD 22588 The Gallente and the Caldari build their first stargate out of VH-451, sparking a period of expansion which mostly benefits the Gallente.[760 years ago]  The Gallente and the Caldari discovered jump gate technology at relatively the same time, due to the simple fact that their homeworlds were then in the same system. This was a little over 700 years ago. The Gallente and the Caldari did not enjoy the luxury of finding a relatively intact jump gate relic in their system as the Amarr did. Instead there were only fragmentary pieces to be found, so they had nothing to build on. Still, these fragments pointed the researchers into the right direction and many jump gate theories were tried out. It wasn't until after the discovery of a companion brown dwarf, making the system a binary system, that the gate research got on the right track. It wasn't long after that before the first working jump gate was erected.

Luminaire, formerly known as VH-451, is home to both the Gallente and Caldari ethnic groups, their homeworlds being the sixth and seventh planets respectively, simply known as Gallente Prime and Caldari Prime. In 22517 (YC -831), the two races made first contact, building their first stargate out of the system 71 years later. As a result, the two races rapidly began to expand and colonize outwards. Though this mostly benefited the Gallente initially, the Caldari established their own colonies in secret, separate from the main surveying and colonizing efforts.   [In a single generation the Caldari went from 1760s technology to quantum physics beyond what we understand in 2014.]   


When the first stargate out of the home system was built in 1057AR (22588AD), a mere seventy-one years after initial contact (which many called a testament to Caldari efficiency), a period of expansion was sparked that mostly benefited the Gallente. It rapidly came to be that the democratic structure of the ISC began to put the Caldari at a severe disadvantage. This came on top of the relative disunity of the Caldari nations on the homeworld, who were still getting accustomed to the sudden technological jump of over two to three hundred years that had taken place in less than eighty.

In addition, the ISC contracted out private corporations to assist in the colonization process, a concept the Caldari had yet to fully embrace. The ISC also allowed colonization and settlement by individuals or small groups, an idea that did not mesh with the Caldari collectivist mindset. Thus, the Gallente nations and people were able to expand through the ISC as the Caldari were still struggling to consolidate technology with their politics.

Armed conflicts had erupted on the Caldari homeworld, though their Gallente neighbors regularly intervened to prevent them from evolving into world wars, even sending peacekeeping forces when necessary.   One particular incident occurred when a prominent ISC diplomat and scientist by the name of Sebastienne Po-Lana was beheaded by a Caldari warlord for a breach of etiquette. She had overlooked removing her shoes upon entering an old Raata shrine, angering her hosts despite her profuse apologies. To many Gallente, large portions of the Caldari culture began to be seen as backward, as the latter were seemingly brutal enough to execute someone over what the former saw as an astronomically trivial detail. Religious conflicts were seen as something very primitive to the Gallente (who had ended such disagreements before and during their Industrial Age), and thus the death of Sebastienne Po-Lana exploded to cover the Caldari homeworld as a whole.

Though many Gallente agreed that the instability on Caldari had to come to an end, they all disagreed as to the methods as to how this should be done. In contrast to the Gallente nations, which were democratic, the states of Caldari were perceived as much more authoritarian in nature. Some groups felt that if these governments were replaced with democracies, then the infighting would cease, citing the perpetual peace that widespread democracy had spawned on the Gallente homeworld.

More extreme groups felt that this wasn’t enough, believing that the Caldari had simply not been civilized properly, despite the technological assistance granted to them. They believed the martial and hard-nosed traditions of the Caldari made them more prone to violence and conflict, as demonstrated by the execution of Sebastienne Po-Lana, and thus these cultural facets should be eradicated, or at least diluted. Others felt the International Space Cooperative should become an organization that started to involve itself in politics and diplomacy, or at least punish states that were undemocratic, but this never reached fruition.

AD 22631 The Cultural Deliverance Society (CDS) arrives on Caldari. [717 years ago]  The Cultural Deliverance Society was a Gallente organization that landed a space ship on the surface of Caldari Prime in 22631 AD. This was not the first face-to-face contact the Caldari had with outsiders - they had met the Gallente more than a century earlier - but it is believed to be the first overt instance of the Gallente exerting their cultural influence on the Caldari as part of their 'soft dominance' policy as was responsible for much of the cultural permutations the Caldari later become disgruntled with.   

The Cultural Deliverance Society was founded by several Gallente philanthropists, business tycoons, and other multinational figures, for the purposes of bringing stability to Caldari. The CDS was explicitly apolitical in its nature and was to not represent any one nation on Gallente Prime. In secret, however, it did have the backing of several major Gallente powers of the time, though this was not discovered until decades later. It arrived on Caldari that year, and set up several endeavors across most Caldari nations, including, but not limited to, charities, schools and humanitarian projects.

Over time, the influence of the CDS began to become increasingly noticeable. Several Caldari regimes were overthrown by uprisings and replaced with democratic governments, with many claiming the Gallente covertly supplied them with weapons and resources. The largest powers were slightly more resistant to change, with some absolute monarchies creating a parliament of some kind. These Caldari democracies differed from the Gallente ones, however. They were much more centralized, favoring a strong executive over a divided legislature.   [This starts a trend of the Gallente using 'friendly' committees, colaborations, coopratives, treaties, trade agreements etc. as a means of subjigation of the other members]

AD 22684 Isuuaya, the first Caldari [mega]corporation, is established.[664 Years ago]  Both the Cultural Deliverance Society and the International Space Cooperative went a long way to influencing modern Caldari society with Gallente concepts over the years, though Caldari culture was resilient enough to adopt many ideas for their own benefit, instead of being changed completely. An example of this was the concept of the megacorporation, which combined Caldari pragmatic authoritarianism with their collective outlook perfectly.

After the CDS introduced corporate capitalism to the Caldari, the first Caldari megacorporation was founded in 1173AR (22684AD), known as Isuuaya. At that time both the Gallente and the Caldari worlds were bursting at the seams and major effort was made in sending ships to nearby systems to build jump gates. [The Caldari populaton is very small, but it is speculated that planetary resources were scarce and that over the next four hundred years Gallente had been immigrating in droves.]

The mass exodus of the Gallente and the Caldari to other systems was nothing like the calm, deliberate expansion of the Amarr Empire, where only one system was colonized at a time and every aspect of the expansion was rigidly controlled by the state.e. Instead, private firms, the first of the Caldari corporations among them, were chiefly responsible for surveying systems, sending the constructions ships, and selling the territory to the colonists.

Traditionalists who found the CDS fueled culural changes to be outright sacrilegious abominations, believed the new stability to the homeworld was not worth the price of cultural change. These Caldari elites began to associate themselves with the Caldari megacorporations, who slowly grew in power and stature as a result. The influence of these megacorporations began to permeate the Caldari democracies, with many states simply becoming puppets of the corporate CEOs once the novelty of regime change had dwindled. The presence of lobbying within these democratic systems made it easier for the corporations to encroach their influence, to the point that they were able to do so even in Gallente states, though to a far more limited degree.

The sheer logistics of constructing the stargate network with conventional engines meant that governments and corporations almost had a monopoly on the first wave of interstellar expansion. Given the dominance of the Gallente in the ISC, the Caldari were in an unequal partnership with regards to colonization closest to Luminaire. Instead, it was the Caldari megacorporations that decided to undertake a separate colonization process from the Gallente, having the resources to do so. They were not bound to the ISC like most of the Caldari states were, allowing them to muster the industrial base to go it alone in regions of space that would later become the Citadel and the Forge.

These Caldari megacorporations signed undisclosed agreements with certain Caldari homeworld nations, allowing them to benefit from one another in terms of resources and acquiring colonists. These Caldari nations started to increase their cooperation with the ISC as time went on, in order to better hide the secret activities of the megacorporations from the Gallente powers.

It wasn’t long before the mild overpopulation concerns on Gallente Prime finally exploded into a panic, as Corufeu and Astrin had yet to be terraformed. This resulted in several nations negotiating for the construction of underwater cities on the Caldari homeworld. A total of seven arcologies were constructed, far removed from Caldari sovereign territories, though nonetheless a source of friction in later decades.

AD 22794 First contact between the Gallente and the Intaki.[554 years ago]  In 22794 (YC -554), the Gallente encountered the Intaki for the first time, assisting them in the development of their civilization and aiding them in the colonization of nearby systems. Just fifteen years later, the Mannar race are discovered by the Gallente.

As corporations were left with constructing the stargate network, and individual states were left to develop the handful of worlds around Luminaire on their own, the ISC sent out various deep space vessels to discover new planets and races. In 1306AR (22794AD), the ISCSS Sojourner stumbled across the Intaki homeworld, on a exploratory mission to survey and chart nearby systems and planets far from Luminaire.

The crew of the Sojourner did not believe there to be any civilization on Intaki, having sent a landing expedition to collect samples of the native flora and fauna on the semi-arid to tropical world. It was completely unexpected, then, that the expeditionary team encountered a delegation from a local village. The crew were at a loss; the ISC had no protocol regarding the interaction with indigenous populations, despite the expectation that new races may very well be discovered.

Using their initiative, the Sojourner crew decided to live within the local village for the rest of that year, recording the lifestyles and learning about the culture. Having gained enough information about the world, such as the divide between the Intaki in the northern and southern temperate polar regions, the ISCSS Sojourner left Intaki to return to Luminaire, leaving the local Intaki with items of technology and media about the Gallente and Caldari homeworlds. Upon their return, the crew were decorated as heroes within Luminaire, while the leaders of the Gallente and International Space Cooperative began debating amongst themselves how to return to the Intaki.

Unlike the Caldari, who had a working political system composed of nation-states on their homeworld before first contact, the Intaki were behind such concepts, and thus integration into the ISC would not be possible. Moreover, the ISC did not have the legal mandate or authority to ‘uplift’ civilizations, and it would be far too expensive for any one Gallente nation to take up the task so far away from home.

Many Gallente considered the spiritual and agrarian Intaki to have many similarities to pre-industrial societies and tribes on their own homeworld, and thus they were eager to reestablish contact. Meanwhile, the Caldari were focused more on the development of their secret colonies, and had no interest in the Intaki.

Instead, the largest Gallente nations created the Organization for Foreign Planetary Development (OFPD), a body that would work closely with the ISC for dealing with indigenous populations. The now-defunct Cultural Deliverance Society from over a century earlier was not revived, having somewhat of a negative stigma attached to its reputation (though many felt the OFPD was just a successor to the CDS). Unlike before with the ICS, the Caldari showed no inclination to join the organization, with a handful of states beginning to become skeptical regarding Gallente definitions of 'development.'

The OFPD funded the construction of the ISCSS Sojourner II, a significantly larger vessel that would return to Intaki, better equipped to bring the Intaki up to speed with technology. One of its primary missions was to establish a communication link back to Luminaire, while the ISC would start the long and laborious project of constructing a stargate chain to Intaki. It would not be the only vessel to return to Intaki. Popular support for the endeavor was strong on the Gallente homeworld, so many more expeditions were sent in the decades to follow.

AD 22809 First contact between the Gallente and the Mannar.[539 years ago]   Not long after the OFPD was founded, deep space probes confirmed the existence of another primitive civilization in a distant solar system that would later become known as Mannar. This time prepared to encounter a new race, the Organization for Foreign Planetary Development and the International Space Cooperative jointly announced the construction of the ISCSS Merolles-Kuoka. The latter half of the ship’s name was an acknowledgement to a handful of Caldari megacorporations that assisted in the starship’s construction. This vessel would be larger than anything built previously, and would have stargates erected by industrial ships that would follow in the wake of the journey.

First contact with the Mannar was established in 1324AR (22809AD), the huge Merolles-Kuoka remaining in orbit as a logistics platform and a communications link back to Luminaire. Similar to the Gallente, the Mannar were not a single political, cultural, or ethnic entity. Rather, the racial identifier came from the largest country on the planet, which was known as Mannar. As the country of Mannar was the first line of contact with the ISC and OFPD, the world would be named Mannar as a whole, despite various local names for the planet.

The main Mannar state was not very far from entering its Industrial Age, having invented the printing press and ships that were able to cross entire oceans. Its most distinct features were great architectural marvels in the form of symmetrical stone cities and pyramids. The largest cities were constructed from the ground-up in an organized fashion, rather than being smaller towns that had agglomerated into wider cities, as among the Gallente.

The other obvious feature of the Mannar was the artistic loudness and decadence of their culture, moreso than the Gallente cultures had ever been. Clothing was minimal, with eclectic body- and face-painting being the closest thing to an equivalent. Hairstyles were noticeably massive. Large monuments were decorated with paintings of all sorts, be it animals or humans, while some cities had each district painted in a separate color. The remaining countries on the Mannar homeworld were at various stages of technological and social development, mostly averaging at around the Iron Age. They were composed of radically different cultures and ethnic groups. Some portions of the planet were currently unclaimed. Initially, however, the Gallente would be fixated at the Mannar state itself. They were fascinated by Mannar, in different ways than they were with the Intaki. The exotic culture that valued artistic expression was certain to mesh well with the Gallente.

However, there were some key differences. In many ways, the Mannar were considered noble savages, practicing human sacrifice in their religious rituals and a plethora of other martial traditions. At the same time, their culture valued loyalty to the powers that be, sharing several similarities with the Caldari in terms of having slight tendencies towards xenophobia, all while having a strict code of honor. The Mannar country would also regularly invade other nations to acquire slaves for their ambitious architectural projects, as well as to serve as mundane labor to relieve the citizens of lesser tasks.

Even if Mannar was a nation-state for all intents and purposes, its political structure was not defined as per the Gallente and Caldari diplomatic systems, thus it would be a legal near-impossibility to integrate the Mannar state into the ISC in their current form. Its primitive style of government composed of an enlightened monarchy could not slot alongside the bureaucratic, law-governed states of the Gallente and Caldari. Instead, the OFPD claimed an unorganized area of land on a continent far from Mannar and established the Horizon Republic. The Horizon Republic was organized according to the Gallente-Caldari model, absorbing the indigenous natives as citizens. It was hoped that bordering nations would adopt the model, as Horizon exported modern technology to its neighbors. The Gallente were reluctant to intervene directly in Mannar itself, as they felt its long-established society would be difficult to penetrate. The intention was that the Mannar country would naturally advance to the Gallente standard, once it found itself encircled by 'modern' states.

The Horizon Republic experiment had the opposite effect. As the Gallente only ended up providing technology to non-Mannar states, Mannar itself lagged behind. The various non-Mannar countries, fed up of centuries of slave raids into their territory, decided to band together to invade and destroy the Mannar empire. As had occurred with the Caldari a few centuries earlier, the political mindsets were not peacefully inclined just because they had adopted modern technology. The defender advantage of Mannar meant the conflict would be drawn out, earning the name the Raspa Wars, named after Mannar's capital city.

Neither the ISC or OFPD were equipped to deal with this crisis. Popular opinion on the Gallente homeworld was in favor of the main Mannar state, but not any one Gallente nation could hope to send its military as a peacekeeping force such a far distance on its own. Gallente colonialist tendencies had caused a major flashpoint that, once again, the national leaders were scrambling to find a solution for.

AD 22821 The Sotiyo-Urbaata drive, the first warp drive, is built. [527 years ago] [The Gallente and Caldari] home planets were in the same system and this meant that intrasystem trade runs became an important element in their society right from the outset of their space activity. Thus there was a much greater incentive to find an acceptable solution to intrasystem travel. The first warp drive built was the Sotiyo-Urbaata Drive, built by Caldari engineers employed by the Isuuaya corporation more than 600 years ago. It was immensely big, tremendously expensive and outrageously inefficient, but it worked. The Sotiyo-Urbaata Drive, along with later versions, considerably sped up the social and technological development for both the Gallente and the Caldari and is without a doubt one of the most important discoveries ever made.   [Trade seems to have been very important to the early Caldari, and I imagine that importing and exporting, despite some groups pushing for mercantilistic protections, is considered by most Caldari to be extremely important to a healthy economy.   This allows plenty of room to claim historical examples of comparative advantage in RP]

The warp drive also allowed a better response from the Gallente to the Mannar conflict, with the cost of space travel dropping considerably. The leading powers on the homeworld formed the Gallente United Defense Command, better known as Gallente Command or simply GalCom. GalCom would be the extraplanetary military arm of all the Gallente home nations, though each would retain their own armed force.

GalCom dispatched a peacekeeping force to the Mannar in hopes of stabilizing the situation. Over the following years, peace was established, with Mannar on a equal technological footing with its neighbors. Reconstruction of areas devastated by the conflict would take place with GalCom and OFPD assistance.

AD 23121 The Gallente Federation is founded. Caldari are forced by circumstance to join. [227 Years ago]  After a further three centuries of expansion across the stars, the Gallente Federation was founded jointly with the signing of the Federal Charter by the Gallente, Caldari, Intaki, Mannar and Achur in the year 23121. In the space of 500 years or so the combined expansion of the Gallente and the Caldari had almost equaled the total expansion of the Amarr in 2,000 years.

However, despite historical and cultural differences with the individualistic Gallente, the Caldari were forced by circumstance to join (The Federation) due to the
location of their homeworld in Luminaire. Expansion continues, now under the unification of a singular, democratic union, with citizens from all member states being elected to positions of power. Despite this notion of equality, the Gallente still dominated Federal politics, the Mannar and Intaki having yet to flex their political muscles.

Over time, the relatively peaceful Intaki had begun to organize themselves under one representative body known as the Intaki Assembly. With minimal Gallente influence, the Intaki had established democracy organically and completely naturally. Many felt it unsurprising that the Intaki and Gallente became natural allies over time. The

Intaki were able to consolidate themselves behind one entity faster than any of the discovered races had done so far, including the Gallente.Though the Intaki Assembly politely declined membership of the International Space Cooperative, they had nonetheless established a reputation for clever businesspeople and deft negotiators, having started to trade with Luminaire openly. Having purchased and developed warp drive technology, the Intaki Assembly began to expand on their own accord across the area of space that would later become known as Placid. Within the century, they had become seasoned space travellers. Many Intaki migrated to Luminaire, becoming active members of the ISC, OFPD, and other international organizations.

The nations on Mannar's homeworld were slightly slower in catching up. A few decades after the Raspa Wars, the Mannar state followed the history of the Garoun nations by establishing a global telecommunications and media network. As Mannar were the first to adopt this technology, they began to export its culture onto other nations on the planet, precipitating a globalization process similar to the Gallente. Mannar became the sole superpower of its planet and possessed a hegemony over space travel, though the other ethnicities would retain their distinct identity. Before long, Mannar purchased warp drive technology, and began expanding around their home system on behalf of the other states on its homeworld. They would not join any of the pre-existing interstellar organizations.

Several opportunities arose on the Gallente homeworld as many natives began to migrate off-world. The Mannar, Intaki and Caldari were quick to fill in the empty spaces on Gallentia. As a consequence, the intermingling between the different ethnicities began to take place at a more rapid rate, with the first heads of state on Gallentia emerging into office who had at least some off-world descent.

Over time, warp drive technology dropped dramatically in price. It didn’t take long before private individuals could now captain their own starships and colony vessels. Though there was some independent colonization that had occurred beforehand, the widespread availability of the warp drive allowed such settlement to take place at an unprecedented rate.

It reached a point that independent colonization was just as frequent as settlement by corporations and governments. Many colonists began to settle in an area of space which separated Gallente and Intaki territories known as the Verge (later known as Verge Vendor). The bulk of these colonists wished to escape the somewhat regulated development that was taking place around the homeworlds, desiring their own homesteads to establish.

Some of the Verge colonies banded together into minor interplanetary leagues and alliances, declaring themselves sovereign owners of those systems. This was done in order to fend off ISC encroachment, and make it illegal for foreign entities to establish settlements on worlds that were already colonized. Indeed, it was often the case that war broke out on planets that been settled by multiple misaligned parties.It was common for the Gallente United Defense Command to intervene in these situations, which did little but encourage independent colonization further. In addition, there were several colonies that were administered by the four largest races who rebelled from their master nations, establishing their own states. Some of these would later join the ISC.

The Gallente homeworld had been in an extended golden age for some time now, with the first green arcology cities and crystalline megalopolises appearing in this period. As more races were discovered, many Gallente felt they had become champions of civilizing the universe and the benefactors of the other races, particularly the Caldari. The Gallente had either sent the Organization for Foreign Planetary Development in a form of non-violent conquest and assimilation, or deployed the Gallente United Defense Command as a ‘peacekeeping’ force to intervene in societies that were perceived a uncivilized, such as those who practiced slavery.

Unlike the Caldari, Mannar, or Intaki, these other races were much smaller in terms of population. Thanks to the increased ease of interstellar travel by this point, maintaining a steady stream of interference was far more palpable. By comparison, the Intaki and Mannar had established their own systems and identities before the discovery of the warp drive had enabled the Gallente to travel back and forth between worlds at a much more rapid rate.

As a result, these minor races did not gain any notoriety on the interstellar scene, and were either assimilated quickly, or never extended beyond their homeworld or system (or even their respective home continent). They mostly faded into obscurity as far as the other races were concerned, though many still cling to their own identities.

To many Gallente elites, the boom on the homeworld and the massive increase in living standards was not enough for those who became immensely wealthy from space development. Though the Caldari and Gallente homeworlds were firmly interdependent for most matters, these elites became wary of the growing borders of the Intaki and Mannar, as well as the independent states within the Verge. In addition, all of the discovered space so far lacked any sort of cohesive unity. It was a loose assortment of worlds, ranging from independent planets to colonies of governments and corporations. Nothing bound them together, except for the dominance of Gallente business interests, which started to show signs of dwindling for the first time.

An interstellar economy had been created, which not only downplayed the role of the ISC, the OFPD and GalCom (who were not structured to integrate into this economy), but also meant that individual planets could begin to rival the homeworlds in terms of influence, or at least being able to stand independently without outside interference.

In response to doubts about the future, the Gallente elites lobbied the most powerful Gallente nations to propose the creation of yet another interstellar organization, all for the purposes of ensuring Gallente dominance for the future. The Multi-World Agreement on Trade (MWAT) was created on the Gallente homeworld for the purposes of standardizing and regulating all interplanetary commerce between its signatories. It promised to be highly advantageous to all its member states, espousing the core value of free trade, and how it would benefit worlds that are not fully developed.

The Caldari nations, being the closest to their Gallente allies, signed and ratified the treaty, as they would have been left out of the exclusivity of the treaty. The Intaki Assembly joined the MWAT as well, in order to more formally reap the benefits of trading with Luminaire. The Mannar and Verge states did not join initially, though when it rapidly became clear that were at the disadvantage for not being signatories, they followed through a couple of decades later.

[purple]

It ultimately did not prove to be to everyone’s benefit, however, and it was clear that the Multi-World Agreement on Trade was an economic vehicle to keep the balance of power firmly tipped in Gallente Prime’s favor. As those with the most leverage for trade regulation, the Gallente nations reaped and annexed most of the profits, keeping the Verge states underdeveloped and maintaining an economic stranglehold on the Caldari homeworld, more-so than ever before.   [Again we see the theme of the Gallente offering cooperation under flag of prosperity for all mankind that in reality is a weapon designed to subjugate the other participants.   Another example of this is that despite a huge focus of the Caldari economy on weapons technology, they cannot pull ahead of the Federation because Directive Alpha Gamma 12 allows CONCORD to seize any piece of technology that they feel may disrupt the current balance of power in one nation’s favor, and release it to the other nations.   We see yet one more example in The Crielere project.]

The Intaki Assembly was the other major player within the Agreement. Their long history and proficiency in trade and business meant that they also were able to keep the Verge states closer to their home territories down, all for their own benefit. Meanwhile, a strong rich and poor divide had emerged within the Mannar as a consequence of the Agreement, with the most powerful states being able to exploit minor nations and colonies within their sphere of influence.

Despite the downsides of the Multi-World Agreement on Trade, there was an unprecedented economic boom, even if it was tilted in the favor of the rich and powerful. The interstellar economy became more integrated and, as a result, so were the worlds within known space, becoming interdependent on one another.

However, as time passed, many problems began to emerge, all rooted in the fact that there were as many as four gigantic interstellar organizations that started to prove bureaucratically cumbersome. Each of the four organizations had a specific role to play; the ISC was focused on exploration and spaceside development, the OFPD was slanted towards the development of planetside communities, GalCom served a military role, while the MWAT regulated interplanetary trade.

Overlaps and legal clashes became commonplace. For example, the Intaki Assembly had long become a member of the Organization for Foreign Planetary Development. They played a role in the peaceful civilization of many minor races and planets nearest to their homeworld, but it was often the case that violence had erupted, requiring military intervention. The Gallente United Defense Command would often step in, but the Intaki leaders within the OFPD would often send their own military forces, stating that any such crises did not concern the Gallente. Another example included the ISC claiming a new world within Intaki and Mannar territory, though neither race were members of the organization. All of these issues meant that political clashes became very frequent, sometimes even violent.

Politicians across known space soon agreed that the consolidation of all four organizations was needed, to abolish all preexisting institutes and establish a new order. Negotiations for what sort of organization should be founded lasted well over a decade. The Caldari leaders (who had the bulk of their territory in secret areas of space via their megacorporate ties) proved reluctant and wary of the potential creation of a supranational authority, apprehensive of what might happen should their secret colonies be discovered. There was also a growing postnationalist and postracialist movement on the Gallente homeworld, which offered popular support for the proposals.

As discussions took place, the Gallente elites [Corporate Leaders] started to become concerned that the founding of an interplanetary entity would not be to their exclusive benefit, as the current order was. They began lobbying the Gallente negotiators to push a proposal for a united superstate that would be founded in such a way to guarantee Gallente hegemony, instead of just an ordinary international organization. It did not take long for a democratic and regional federation of independent states to be proposed by Gallente diplomats. The Intaki and Mannar leadership were receptive to the idea, hoping to bring a swift end to the current bureaucratic mess. The Caldari, faced with becoming encircled, agreed to the concept as well.

The Federated Union of Gallente Prime, or simply the Federation, was founded in 1702AR (23121AD), signed by all nations of the Gallente, Caldari, Intaki and Mannar homeworlds, and several other entities. The Nascent Era ended, followed by the Luminate Era, a relatively short period troubled with war and strife.

The Federated Union of Gallente Prime, or simply the Federation, was founded in 1702AR (23121AD), signed by all nations of the Gallente, Caldari, Intaki and Mannar homeworlds, and several other entities. It replaced all the previous interstellar organizations that came prior, uniting all of humanity and known space under a treaty known as the Federal Charter. The treaty outlined the rights of each member state, as well as the powers and limitations of the Federation as a central body. The founding of the Federation took place in the city of Caille on the Gallente homeworld, which became the union's de facto capital.

Officially, the primacy of Gallente Prime in the union’s founding was deemed symbolic of the fact that it was widely considered the first cosmopolitan planet in known space, and an undeniable ‘center of civilization’. This was on top of the idea that the term ‘Gallente’ was fluid in its definition, with no cultural restrictions as to who may identify as such. To many others, Gallente Prime was chosen as the homeworld simply because it had been the most dominant player since the start of space exploration. Of note, this was the first official use of the name ‘Gallente Prime’, over the more traditional Gallentia. The new Federal Calendar was introduced; the year was dated as FC1.

The first Federation authority was composed of a Senate overlooking a variety of smaller administrative bodies to regulate and control interstellar affairs. The Senate was composed of representatives appointed to the position by the various subject nations. In turn, the Senate would vote amongst themselves to appoint a President. At the Federation’s founding, there was no Supreme Court. International disputes were settled by a special Senate committee. Though Senators represented their home nations, they had no power within them. A Navy was also created, which acted primarily as a watchful peacekeeping armada, protecting independent space development from piracy or other threats.

One of the most important elements of this new Federation was considering itself as the sole representative of the human race, standing as a meeting place to discuss all matters of mankind. Indeed, there was no comparable body in known space that could equal it. Unlike the modern day Federation, it was not considered a nation.

Instead, the Federation was envisioned as the ideal and final development of human civilization, transcending nations, races, or cultures. The Federation was designed to replace the concepts of dividing individuals based on artificial constructs such as ethnicity or world of birth. Its ultimate goal would be to unite humanity under a peaceful, post-nationalist and post-racialist flag where all could flourish at an individual level. However, as communications technology was not as advanced as it would become, these ideals were seldom exported outside of Luminaire. For now, it would remain the primary arbitrator of interstellar exploration and trade.

While the founding of the Federation successfully and democratically united most of known space over the following years (with the Verge states joining when they found themselves encircled), criticism was levied against this union early on.

One of the core requirements of membership of the Federation was to be a democratic state with universal suffrage. This was not a problem for mostly all the members except for the Caldari, who had still not fully embraced democracy despite the centuries of attempts to encourage it upon them. Nonetheless, as founding members of the Federation, the Caldari were faced with no choice; all nations on their homeworld switched to a democratic system. This was viewed by many Caldari as yet another abuse of their people and culture by the Gallente. Though little issue was made of it initially, t was clear that this Caldari faction was being pushed close to the edge.

Another problem with the initial Federation was the dominance of Gallente representatives in the Senate, due to their superior population and national membership. This meant that laws could be passed in favor of the Gallente, with other races not hoping to outvote them by numbers alone. In addition, many smaller states were disaffected, as the Charter specifically identified the Gallente, Caldari, Intaki and Mannar states as the major signatories. Those without a large enough population (certain homeworlds included) were classed as minor members, and thus could not wield as much influence.   [This means that whole countries on Gallente Prime had more say than all of Caldari Prime]

As a newly unified entity, the Federation’s first major endeavor was to colonize the area of space that bordered the Gallente and Mannar home systems, after having successfully overseen the full settlement of the region around Luminaire (which later became known as Essence). With a centralized organization and bureaucracy, this could be done with far greater ease than ever before. The Federation acted as a facilitator for all parties in colonization, whether these parties be individuals or corporations.

For the colonization of the region, the Federation Navy was charged with most security and defense concerns. Colonists of all backgrounds and ethnicities migrated to the region, which is where it acquired its modern name of Everyshore.

Mannar states were aggressive in quickly expanding and laying claim to areas of their own, disgruntled by the claiming of systems they felt they were entitled to from the beginning.  Several clashes emerged and had to be arbitrated by the Federation when Mannar colonists settled on worlds already claimed by others. It was clear communication was becoming a problem, where delays ranging from hours to days meant that the Federation was too slow to respond to colonial flashpoints. 

The asteroid belts in Everyshore were found to hold significant amounts of minerals, which were mined with a vigor never before seen to fuel the construction projects that the quickly expanding borders required. It was not long before greedy eyes turned towards the planets when it became clear that large-scale asteroid mining operations became uneconomical.

In the system of Aclan, the Astral Mining corporation, filling a contract for the Federation Navy, introduced a herbicide into the atmosphere of a lush planet to clear its vast jungle and enable mining to begin. Because of the limitations of communications technology, it took a whole week for central Federal authorities to become aware of what had occurred.

Outraged at the senseless destruction, where many species of flora and fauna were lost that had not even been studied, prominent ecologists managed to force a bill through the Federal Senate; no planet that supported any life-form was to have its ecosystem tampered with in any way without a license being granted from the

Federation. This law, the only one of its kind amongst the modern four empires, became known as the Aclan Agreement and it remains in place to this day. However, the problem with communications remained, and it was clear that the new law would be nothing but an empty gesture unless there was a surefire method to enforce it.

The answer came in FC25 (23146AD) with the discovery of FTL communications from young Gallente scientist Li Azbel. Since the discovery of the Sotiyo-Urbaata warp drive, the Gallente and Caldari nations had promised huge rewards for the discovery of a FTL communications method, which was previously deemed impossible due to the nature of the starship FTL drive. The famous Azbel-Wuthrich experiment demonstrated that FTL communications were indeed possible.

Within the year, the Federation had begun erecting FTL relays across colonized space, from lunar satellites to communication towers on remote planetary continents. Thanks to instantaneous communications, space was smaller than ever before, and enabled easier colonization and expansion as well as one of the greatest stock market surge ever as thousands of companies extended their reach to the whole known universe.

On top of an increased ease of space colonization, there were two additional consequences of the establishment of a widespread FTL network. The first was enabling popular democracy to take part at the interstellar level. Following much pressure from popular Gallente and Intaki interests, the Charter was amended so that voting by universal suffrage would elect one-third of the members of the Federation Senate, rising to half within the following years.

This had the side-effect of giving the Gallente further penetration within the Senate. For example, Gallente living in the nations of other races were significantly more inclined than the natives to participate in these Federation-wide elections (with the exception of the Intaki). This meant that those nations who would otherwise appoint Senators with local interests at heart were suddenly represented by those more concerned in the greater Gallente ideology.

The second consequence of the invention of an FTL communications network was the formation of a Gallente-dominated interstellar media, which ultimately led to the creation of a constitution. Gallente Prime was the first planet to create a global media network, and thus it pioneered the exporting of these concepts to the interstellar level. The various member cultures of the Federation would eventually be warped slightly to abide by a libertarian standard, beyond just their governments being democratic. Gallente and Intaki citizens would learn of the plights of individuals on other worlds, ranging from local government censorship to slavery and corporate exploitation.  [It seems that piracy, slavery and corporate oppression were common in the early Federation, and perhaps the modern one as well.   It's note worthy that FTL routers brought these issues to light at the same time as they allowed the Federation to develop a common identity and value system.  It's explains why piracy, slavery and corporate exploitation are such a hot button in the modern Federation since  crusading against these things is literally central to the  citizenship's core values and self identity.   I'm further intrigued by the idea that corporate oppression was common when Gallente Megacorps dominated this emerging economy. It explains why most Gallente associate corporations with exploitation, Caldari with corporations and thus Caldari with exploration.]

The Gallente concept of ‘human rights’ and ensuring that all members of the Federation abode by it suddenly became an interstellar issue. However, the Federation had no legal basis to intervene in domestic affairs, with Intaki and Caldari Senators being at the forefront of enforcing restraint. The Gallente nations, however, would bypass the Federation and sanction, penalize, or otherwise threaten ‘unsavory’ states directly.

Responding to large public pressure, Senators from mostly Gallente and some Intaki nations quickly pushed through the idea of a Federal Constitution and corresponding amendments to the Federal Charter that would not only recognize such a document as binding, but require the member governments to abide by the constitution’s principles. The Constitution outlined individual rights for every single citizen within the Federation, protecting them from government heavy-handedness with a plethora of rights, ranging from freedom of expression to freedom of preference.

Of note, the new Federal Constitution used the term “Federation citizen” for the first time. Beforehand, all government documents would refer to citizens of the individual member states instead. This was popularly considered as the Federation’s first step to the concept of full nationhood, rather than just being an interstellar authority, much to the chagrin of the Caldari nations and even some Gallente states. The Federation’s newly-found power to intervene in planetary and sub-planetary affairs was a notable contribution to the tensions that characterized the early Federation.

AD 23149 The Jove make themselves known to the Gallente; engage in limited diplomacy [199 Years ago] The Jove Empire made themselves known to the Federation in FC28 (23149AD). The two empires engaged in limited diplomacy, though the Jove warned that they would cut off contact if the Federal government revealed their existence to the public. In return for some sparse details about the internal workings of the Jove, the Federation permitted them transport within their borders. Newly-appointed President Arlette Villers was all too happy to comply with this unofficial agreement, wary that the revelation of the Jove to the Federal public may have a destabilizing consequence.

The advanced ship technology of the Jove meant there were almost never discovered by the public nor Navy, but there were some sightings by civilians and independent astronomers. This spawned an array of conspiracy theories regarding interstellar aliens and the like, though all claims were denied by the Federal government.

AD 23154 The Caldari secede from the Federation.[194 Years ago]

Tensions hit fever pitch between the Caldari states and the Federation in FC33 (23154AD). By this point, the Caldari megacorporations had become immensely influential on the Caldari homeworld and other territories within the Federation, thanks to the wealth and power they had generated by their secret colonies. It was often the case that CEOs would be seen to speak with more authority on Caldari matters than state or colony leaders would (who were no more than corporate puppets), something certain Gallente were wary about, but nothing that Federation law had any sort of mechanisms against.

In a national address to the New Oryioni Collective on the Caldari homeworld, Kaalakiota CEO Matias Sobaseki inflamed tensions by accusing the Federation of subsuming the Caldari, and calling for all to take a stand to preserve their identity.

"Slowly but surely we are betraying the legacy left to us, the children of the Raata. The light of the Caldari spirit grows ever darker under the encroaching shadow of our would-be masters. Our very identity as a people is being subsumed by the Federation and we must act to preserve it." - Excerpt from a National Address, delivered by Kalaakiota CEO Matias Sobaseki. CE 23154.6.26

In turn, Gallente Senators accused Sobaseki of sedition and encouraging insurrection, but current President Arlette Villers was not known for her confrontational nature. As an Intaki, she was averse to conflict, and did what was necessary to cool down tensions.

Such efforts were in vain, however, as an independent exploratory vessel stumbled across the hidden Caldari colonies later that year[5]. The Federation Senate came to session and immediately began debating how to deal with this situation. According to Charter law, it was perfectly legal for colonies to be established independently, as had been done for centuries. However, questions emerged from the fact that these colonies were being administered by Federation-based corporations without any democratically-elected authorities. Gallente Senators demanded that the corporations relinquish control of the colonies, and hold elections for a new leadership based on universal suffrage.

The Caldari Senators, however, refused to bow down to the pressure of what they saw as yet another Gallente demand. They stated that the corporations, and not any
democratic government, were now the primary representatives of the will of the Caldari people (though whether or not this was an actual reality remains debated to this
day).

Intaki Senators, encouraging restraint and wishing to defuse the situation, stated that the secret colonies were not technically Federation territory, and thus the laws of the Charter and Constitution did not apply. However, they did recognize the need to peacefully reel in the rogue territories into the Federation, believing that two separately administered areas of space would prove disharmonious in the long-term.

"It is rather strange that the good of the many seems to constantly coincide with whatever policies weaken the Caldari, the Intaki, and the Mannar and keep them under the heel of the Gallente." - Caldari Senator Kiriusu Otenga, Senate session 23154/T3782. CE 23154.11.21

The Federal Senate was in danger of hitting deadlock, but it took no time at all for the corporate elites in Gallente society to intervene. They feared that even if the Caldari colonies were reeled into the Federation peacefully, the power and wealth of their corporations would be a threat to the influence of their own interests.

To these elites [Gallente Megacops], the sovereignty of those territories needed be uncompromisingly placed in the hands of 'the people' [who's elected officals could be made into puppets with lobbying, and votes  that could be controlled with the power of the new Gallente Megacorp own FTL mass media networks], which would result in the Caldari corporations losing their huge industrial base, and thus ensure the hegemony of the Gallente corporations.

Indeed, if those territories remained under Caldari corporate control in some form or another while being integrated into the Federation, these corporations would have the industrial base to supersede their Gallente counterparts as the primary economic player in space. This was seen as intolerable by these forces[Gallente Megacorps].

The [Gallente Mega Corps] noted the growing, but still marginal, influence of the Guardians of Gallentia (better known as the Ultra-Nationalists, or U-Nats for short), a political party in the Senate who had originated from conservative nation-states on Gallentia and isolationist colonies. These conservative nations found the mass immigration to the homeworld that had taken place to be an abomination, as much of their ancient cultures and traditions had been lost due to the sociocultural effects of cosmopolitanism. Though the smallest of the spacebound political parties, they nonetheless represented a diverse range of political opinions.

Some U-Nats felt that the Federation should never have been formed, and that the other races should never have been uplifted, left to fend for themselves. Others felt that, in order to best protect the cultures and identities of the Gallente homeworld, the Federation and all its precursor organizations should simply have uncompromisingly converted all foreign races to Gallente culture. To the Ultra-Nationalists, the culturally and politically sensitive politics that had taken place hundreds of years prior had come at the cost of several minor states amongst the Gallente. They resented the larger states who were the historical champions of the Federation, much in the same way certain Caldari resented the Gallente, though the U-Nats nonetheless implicated the former and other foreign races as another part of the problem.

Several Gallente corporations poured countless millions into backing the Ultra-Nationalists within the Federal Senate. Their influence and popularity grew within days, with Mannar Senators aligning themselves with their Gallente counterparts. It didn’t take long for the majority opinion in the Senate to demand that the once-hidden Caldari colonies be classed as Federation territory, which included the relinquishment of corporate sovereignty and the immediate establishment of democratic authorities. Voices within the Senate that said otherwise were simply drowned out by the Ultra-Nationalists, led by the charismatic Senator Luc Duvailer.  President Arlette Villers was now rapidly becoming a puppet of the Senate despite her attempts to the contrary.

The response of the Caldari corporations to the Senate demands came in the form of the Proclamation of Secession in November FC33 (23154AD) a day after the Senate’s demand, with mostly all Caldari representatives walking out of the chamber following the declaration.

"We will not permit you to tell us how to be Caldari, and so you leave us with no choice."- Excerpt from the Caldari Proclamation of Secession. CE 23154.11.22

The Chief Executive Panel, the governing body of the Caldari megacorporations within the secret colonies, usurped immediate control of the homeworld. Authority of the Caldari Army was turned over to them by compliant planetary leaders, expelling or imprisoning all openly Gallente-sympathetic soldiers. Using the Army, the CEP was able to assert itself over the few states that refused to go ahead with the proclamation, violently or otherwise.

The CEP declared the founding of the Caldari State, which included the homeworld (defiantly called Caldari Prime) and the once-hidden colonies. While this new State technically included the other Caldari territories within the Federation, the lack of any military presence in those areas meant the proclamation was not enforceable there. The newly-formed Caldari Navy, composed of mostly single-man fighters and hastily-assembled carriers from industrial ships, moved to secure the stargates to their colonies (which also contained the bulk of their military infrastructure).

The Senate demanded that President Villers move to act at once, to treat this secession as an open rebellion. In response, the Federation Navy established a blockade of Caldari Prime. The economies of various worlds (including Caldari Prime) had been influenced over the recent decades to rely on off-world trade, and it was hoped that a planetary economic collapse may be enough to convince the Caldari to talk.

"We survived on this world for thousands of years without the Gallente. Do they think we will starve now?" - Wiyrkomi CEO Taaiko Wiyrkomi, Response to the Gallente blockade of Caldari Prime. CE 23154.11.30

Despite the sway of the Ultra-Nationalists, restraint within the Senate found its voice once again, championed by Intaki representatives. Combined with the Caldari’s reluctance to actually wage open war against the more powerful Federation, nothing much happened for the next few days. Even with warships in orbit, the Federation was hesitant to take further action out of concern for both the Caldari civilians and the considerable Gallente community who resided on the planet. The Federal government began to debate amongst themselves how to best negotiate a peace agreement or otherwise put a handle on the situation.

There was no cohesive strategy. On one side, it was believed that the situation must be accepted, citing centuries worth of irreconcilable differences. The blockade of Caldari Prime should be lifted, and the two nations should go on their separate ways. However, the presence of a planet owned by a foreign nation within their capital system made the elements of the Gallente leadership very nervous. Many felt that Caldari Prime should be conquered militarily, and the situation should be left at that. However, the CEP were not open to negotiations, and thus a non-hostile reaction from the Caldari State in response to conquering their homeworld was not guaranteed.

For this reason, the Ultra-Nationalists felt that it would not be enough to guarantee the security of Luminaire by words alone, and that a full-on military campaign against the Caldari would be necessary. In support of war, the Mannar saw the Caldari as overly prideful and stubborn rebels, incapable of seeing the greater good that their culture has long stood for. However, all sides were equally vocal, and thus the Senate was overall indecisive in how to proceed.

Eventually, the Caldari on Caldari Prime became restless, finding the blockade intolerable. Beginning in December, small-scale guerrilla activities were carried out by particularly nationalistic Caldari against the native Gallente, many of whom had been living there for generations, and even had some Caldari blood themselves.

In major cities, Gallente residents were victim to all manner of sectarian violence, while predominantly Gallente towns and villages found themselves at the brunt of the worst abuse. For centuries before, the distinction between both ethnicities on the Caldari homeworld was seldom an issue amongst the general public. Off-worlders found themselves absorbed into the local planetary culture, as the harsh environment necessitated adapting to the Caldari way of life there. Only the sudden government tensions occurring in space would bring the racial lines to the political foreground.

In response to the violence, disenfranchised Gallente members of the Caldari Army banded together to form the rebelliously-titled Free Caldari Army, to defend the local Gallente from their hostile neighbors. The situation escalated into all-out hostilities, with atrocities being committed by both sides. Entire towns and villages inhabited by the Gallente were leveled by the Caldari Army, while Gallente guerrillas made gruesome examples of captured Caldari soldiers. The speed at which the situation deteriorated, all in the space of less than a month, was alarming to both the Federation and the Caldari State. There were thousands of casualties, particularly those of Gallente ethnicity.

The Federation was quick to condemn the violence, all of which was doing nothing but polarizing the issue further, both to the public and Senate. On one side, the Ultra-Nationalists and their allies still believed that a full-scale military campaign against the Caldari must be undertaken, in order to protect the Gallente minority on Caldari Prime, who had begun fleeing to the seven underwater cities on the planet. On the other side, advocates of a diplomatic solution blamed the militarization of the situation as the reason the violence on Caldari Prime had erupted to begin with. If peaceful negotiations could take place, then the clashes could easily be quelled.

President Arlette Villers once again found herself caught in between the two sides, but the severe complexities of the issue kept her from acting decisively. It was so early on in the Federation’s existence that many of the first Presidents simply did not have enough experience in running an interstellar empire to know how to deal with these sorts of crises, especially one so severe that it risked fragmenting the union after only three decades of being.

In January FC34 (23155AD), action finally came in response as a result of the worst atrocity of the early sectarian clashes. Overnight, Caldari partisans known as the Templis Dragonaurs infiltrated the Gallente underwater city of Nouvelle Rouvenor on Caldari Prime. They were able to sneak past the military defenses and sabotage the polyglas dome and containment fields using high-grade explosives they had stolen from the Caldari Army. From the crushing depressurization, over half a million died almost instantly, including the perpetrators themselves. The victims were primarily of Gallente ethnicity, including refugees that had fled to the city to flee the fighting on the surface. There were no survivors.

"They will retaliate. We must be prepared." - Vice-Admiral Orlan Mito, Caldari Navy, Morning after the Nouvelle Rouvenor attack. CE 23155.1.14

Though the Chief Executive Panel denounced the Nouvelle Rouvenor attack, it did little to quell the events that followed. Federation or Caldari alike, the reactions of citizens ranged from appalled to traumatized. Up until that point, there had been no singular disaster in known history that had taken so many lives so quickly. The strongest feelings of anguish came from within Luminaire itself, and those furthest out from ground zero felt that only the worst could come from what had occurred. The Caldari were particularly fearful of the Federation’s response to the attack, knowing that their vengeance would be a strong one.

President Arlette Villers resigned the following morning, taking responsibility in stating that her indecision had ultimately allowed the Nouvelle Rouvenor disaster to occur. The turmoil in the Federation over the next twenty-four hours was unprecedented. Violence against Caldari citizens on Gallente Prime, Mannar and other areas escalated tenfold. Many states were forced to declare martial law, with protests calling for war erupting into rioting in response to the counter-protests that called for calculated restraint.

Several nations on the Gallente homeworld and in associated territories threatened outright secession and denouncement of the Federation if a response to the attack did not come within the next forty-eight hours. To the opportunists amongst the Gallente Megacorporate elite and military-industrial complex, the prospect of war would prove immensely profitable. All played a role in influencing the Federation’s response to the Nouvelle Rouvenor attack and the atrocities that had occurred prior.

The Senate voted to temporarily suspend the Constitution and Charter, the only time in Federation history. The loudest, but far from the only, voice stated that a swift response must not be hampered by indecisiveness that had dominated the Federal government prior. The Ultra-Nationalists were able to seize control of the situation, having the public support of state leaders and massive corporate backing. After hours of venomous debate, the Senate finally decided to appoint U-Nat chairman, Luc Duvailer, as the new President. Many felt this was an affront to democracy, considering the Federation had blindly transitioned between chief executives in less than twenty-four hours without deeper rationale, but very few dared to speak up. As the Ultra-Nationalists consolidated control of the Federation, an authoritarian regime was unquestionably established.

The first action of President Duvailer was the declaration of martial law across the Federation on the same day of his appointment, during his inauguration speech. The leaders and citizenry who had called for decisive action from the central government suddenly found themselves with more than they had bargained for. At first, the declaration was considered bizarre. As an interstellar union of planets with no consistency in political systems, it was believed that the term ‘martial law’ simply could not apply, reserved for sub-planetary authorities instead.

However, the sudden deployment of Federation troops on multiple worlds quickly answered such confusions. Rioters and protesters were imprisoned without trial, or shot
on sight in extreme cases. Curfews, and even entire blockades of particularly rebellious planets, were established. Order and compliance was enforced at gunpoint. Sub-Federal leaders were faced with no choice but to accept the authority of the Ultra-Nationalists, less they see their constituents punished. Within twenty-four
hours, stability had been imposed on the Federation by the U-Nats.

AD 23155 The Gallente-Caldari War begins and Jovians cut off contact with the Gallente Federation.[193 Years ago]  Two days after President Duvailer’s appointment, the Federation Navy was ordered to commence a strategic orbital bombardment of Caldari Prime for a period of a whole day. The objective was to inflict such a loss on the Caldari that they would surrender without question. Hundreds of thousands of casualties were inflicted, indiscriminate of ethnicity (although many Gallente had fled to the underwater cities that were spared from the bombardment, long before the campaign had begun). The natives of Caldari Prime were driven to the countryside, many cities having been reduced to nothing.

The Federation public and sub-leaders found the actions atrocious and appalling, considering the bombardment a disproportionate response to Nouvelle Rouvenor. On Gallente Prime, which had a low Federal military presence, many minor nations announced their intentions to secede and denounce the Federation. However, such intentions were short-lived. The major planetary powers, along with the Federation itself, launched a quick and decisive campaign to subdue these states. Outlying territories beyond Luminaire, fearful of what was taking place on both the Gallente and Caldari homeworlds, remained silent. It became clear that those who spoke up would be branded cowards or, worse, traitors to the cause.

After a whole day of orbital bombardment, the Federation demanded the unconditional surrender of the Caldari forces. Despite the massive loss of life and the unshakable dominance of the Federation, the Chief Executive Panel refused.

"Caldari Prime burns, those left behind are choking on the dust and ash that fills the air, and you demand our surrender? Is this a joke? You have only hardened our resolve. Every drop of blood you have taken from us will be repaid -- with interest." - CEP response to Federation demands for unconditional surrender after initial bombardment of Caldari Prime. CE 23155.1.18

In response, the Federation resumed their bombardment, while troops were sent in to assume control of the planet. The Caldari Army’s superior knowledge of the local
terrain meant that this campaign was drawn out considerably. Early on, the Federation Navy found themselves wasting resources on bombarding locations that were believed to be hideouts of Caldari forces, pummeling empty tundra or deserted settlements after having been tricked by the enemy. The morale and spirit of the Caldari Army meant that they were able to lure Federal ground forces into ruined cities or forests only to find themselves surrounded by hostile forces. The Caldari assumed victory in these situations, believing that the hostile navy in orbit would not bombard their own soldiers. They assumed wrong, however, as both Gallente and Caldari soldiers were bombarded indiscriminately.

A ground war was drawn out; though the Federation had numerically and logistically superior forces with orbital dominance, the Caldari had unrivaled knowledge of their world, as well as having their morale boosted considerably by the fact they were fighting for their homes and families. Federal ground forces, meanwhile, were hampered by a low morale caused by a disillusionment with what was occurring. Unlike the Navy in orbit, Federation Army and Marine forces saw the atrocities that were taking place first hand, from the cities that were destroyed by orbital bombardment, to the orders of driving Caldari fighters and civilians from their homes.

The fighting continued for almost a month. The Chief Executive Panel was far from being in full agreement as to what the correct course of action was. They knew that many in the Federation were not sympathetic to the actions of President Duvailer and his Ultra-Nationalists. At the same time, they did not find the actions forgivable or permissible, stating that atrocities were still being committed despite the Federation public’s sentiment. They also knew that simply surrendering would put them in a far worse state than they had ever been under the Gallente’s influence so far.

On the other hand, other Caldari CEOs felt that this was preferential to the mounting casualties the fighting had resulted in. If they did not surrender, they risked being exterminated wholesale, assuming the Gallente masses did not rebel against the Federation before then. Thus, the Caldari leadership was hampered from acting decisively through these continuing disagreements. Despite the disillusioned morale of Gallente troops, their sheer numbers meant that it would only be a matter of time before Caldari Prime would be firmly in the control of the Federation.

Federal victory on Caldari Prime seemed at hand until the Caldari’s Morning of Reasoning, almost a month into the Gallente campaign. The heads of the most militant corporations on the Chief Executive Panel jointly ousted the remaining CEOs from the board through the Tea Maker Ceremony.

"As we make the tea, you must take it. The Caldari way demands it." - Matias Sobaseki, CEO of Kaalakiota, Morning of Reasoning. CE 23155.2.10

Rather than remaining on the planet and attempting to fight the Federation off, the CEP command devised an evacuation plan, to take the Caldari populace off the planet and ship them to new homes within the once-secret colonies.

The extremist-governed Federation reviewed this intention curiously. Their objective was a swift and brutal conquest, but at the same time, if the Caldari evacuated their homeworld, an economic collapse within Luminaire once order had been restored would be inevitable. The sizable Gallente population on Caldari Prime would not be enough to fill in the sudden economic and industrial gap that would emerge. Given Gallente Prime’s dependency on the Caldari homeworld, the Federation had to act to prevent a mass evacuation. They either turned the Caldari ships around, imprisoned the evacuees for later repatriation or, in extreme cases, destroyed the vessels. It
was clear that the evacuation program would not work without a full month of Caldari orbital control, something they had yet to achieve.

"Their fleet is in total control of Caldari Prime's Orbit. We're heavily outnumbered and outgunned. To be able to effectively evacuate the population we need exactly one month of complete orbital control. Ideas anyone?" - Admiral Orlan Mito, Caldari High Command Session. CE 23155.2.21

During this time, the sheer level of authoritarianism that had taken place within a short amount of time across the historically liberal and democratic Federation and precursor entities was beginning to show signs of straining. The Ultra-Nationalists had launched a pervasive propaganda campaign that attempted to justify their actions as protecting the Federation from destabilizing forces. Extended pieces of state-controlled media romanticized the pre-history of the Federation and the values it espoused, showing the nation to be the future of a united humanity that would take all of mankind into a new golden age, and that the Caldari and other dissidents were enemies of such principles. However, the style of such propaganda was slanted in its Gallente Prime origins. Luminaire natives were hardly buying the propaganda to begin with, and those outside the capital system were even less inclined to do so themselves.

The Ultra-Nationalist regime started to get paranoid of conspirators against them. The population was getting restless over the continued martial law and suspension of the Federal Charter and Constitution. The Federation military was forced to withdraw from occupied worlds and redeploy to Caldari Prime, meaning that the authoritarian grip on those planets was loosened. Anti-war protests began to erupt in locales where the Federation had withdrawn, or places that it had little presence to begin with, such as Intaki. Instability was looking to return as quickly as its gunpoint opposite had been established.

President Duvailer and his ministers started firing prominent figures in the administration who started to show doubts, replacing them with eager yes-men with little experience and even less initiative. State and other sub-planetary leaders were stripped of their positions and replaced with puppets that had absolutely no connection or history with their constituents, making them ineffective executives that did nothing to quell anti-Federation sentiment. U-Nats attempted to counteract the large amount of defections or desertions within the military by replacing the senior leadership with freshly-promoted admirals, although this simply worsened the situation.

On the Gallente homeworld, the legacy nation-states were becoming incensed at the loss of their Charter-guaranteed sovereignty, angered at the sight of Federation troops policing their ancient streets. One particular flashpoint emerged on Intaki. The sympathy for the Caldari was strongest here, amongst other places. When the Federation was founded, the Intaki and Mannar governments dictated for a minimal central presence. Given the lack of FTL communications at the time and the physical distance of the two systems from Luminaire, this was easy to stipulate initially. However, when the Federation-wide FTL network was established, the bureaucracy had started to gain a reputation over the years for meddling in Intaki affairs, laying heavily upon them.

When the Ultra-Nationalists consolidated power, they quelled a few minor uprisings on the Intaki homeworld, but once the regime’s powerbase started to look shifty, matters started to spiral downwards again. Several movements emerged, ranging from anti-war or pro-secession, to even anti-Gallente. However, the leaders of Gallente Prime were watching the U-Nats carefully. If they responded to the Intaki situation harshly, they would have the vindication needed to attempt an uprising in the Senate. President Duvalier was aware of this, knowing that acting against the strong Gallente-Intaki relationship may spell his downfall.

Instead, Duvalier ordered the immediate arrest and detention of some five thousand Intaki individuals who were deemed the biggest threat to the stability of the regime. The majority of these Intaki were from the homeworld, though many were from across the wider Federation. The Intaki Five Thousand (as they become known) ranged from rebel leaders to perpetrators of hate crimes against ethnic Gallente, but there were many peaceful activists amongst them as well. Rather than imprisoning them in Ultra-Nationalist detention facilities (which had quickly become infamous for their draconian nature), or even executing them, the U-Nats ordered their immediate exile to the outskirts of the Federation. The exiles were barred from colonizing any planets or moons, and instead built themselves a collection of space stations that would later become the Intaki Syndicate. Conspirators against Duvailer begrudgingly found little disagreement with what was perceived as a reasonable action, especially considering the questionable backgrounds and activities of most of the exiles. As a result, the President’s grip on power was maintained.

The military command shake-up by the Ultra-Nationalists began to have a detriment on the Federal war effort. Soon enough, the Caldari fleet were able to gain control of the orbital zones of their homeworld with relative ease, sending the Federation Navy in a gradual retreat back to Gallente Prime. This tactical defeat at the hands of the Caldari shook support for the Ultra-Nationalists, with dissenting opinions ranging from their failure to pacify the situation, to others noting that violence possibly coming to another homeworld was a reason why the war was a poor idea to begin with.

Indeed, the U-Nats were counting on the less moderate Caldari to launch a strike on Gallente Prime, in order to gain the justification and vindication they needed to commit to an all-out retaliation.But the Caldari command knew that it would be impossible to decisively defeat the Luminaire fleet, and difficult to defend against once it had regrouped to reclaim the space around Caldari Prime. Instead, the evacuation program was hastened, and millions of Caldari were leaving the planet. The Ultra-Nationalists grew uneasy; the longer they held back, the greater the chance they would be left to conquering an empty planet. Even the few moderates left in the Federal government, such as choice Intaki Senators, knew that the economic collapse this would bring about in Luminaire would have far-reaching implications for the rest of the union.

Faced with a premature end to the young Federation, all agreed this situation had to be rectified, but the U-Nat hegemony meant that it would be uncompromisingly corrected through violence.

After two weeks, more than half of the Caldari population still remained on their homeworld. Federal ground forces, cut off from orbital support, were forced to retreat to the remaining Gallente underwater cities on Caldari Prime. The Federation Navy began planning a final offensive, with the objective to drive out all remaining Caldari space forces and land hundreds of thousands of soldiers onto the surface to prevent the evacuation and end the conflict once and for all. The Caldari leadership were aware of this, however, growing increasingly uneasy. Attacking the fleets amassing around Gallente Prime was seen as a suicidal act. Instead, one Caldari admiral took matter into his own hands

"High command need more time to complete the evacuation. We shall provide." - Admiral Yakiya Tovil-Toba’s personal log entry #21A231. CE 23155.3.7

Defying Caldari command, Admiral Yakiya Tovil-Toba of the Caldari Navy assembled the few dozen ships under his command and warped to Gallente Prime orbit, catching the Federal forces completely off-guard. Several picket fleets were destroyed by the Caldari, while superficial strikes on orbital defense satellites sent the Federal naval command into a sudden panic, fearing this was a preliminary to a full-on Caldari counteroffensive against the Gallente homeworld.

The Federal admiralty, nothing but puppets for the U-Nats, decided that Admiral Tovil-Toba was the real threat, mistaking him to be the military executive over all Caldari forces. The paranoia that dominated the Federal regime at the time allowed this tactical mistake to take place, what would later be an unsound decision to focus all efforts against this admiral and his fleet. The Federation had abandoned Caldari Prime and off-handedly permitted the mass evacuations to take place.

The Federation Navy quickly reassembled and struck at Admiral Tovil-Toba during a Caldari siege of a civilian space station in orbit around Gallente Prime. The agile ships of the Caldari, which was mostly composed of single-man fighters, light cruisers and hastily-reassembled industrial ships, were able to prove troublesome towards the Federation vessels, which were slow multi-role vessels designed for ship-to-ship combat, planetary invasion and logistics all in one. The point defenses of the Federal warships meant that inflicting losses on the Caldari proved tricky, losing a handful of battleships and cruisers to these fighter craft.

Agility won out in these battles, and Admiral Tovil-Toba was able to fight off the advancing Federation forces and tactically withdraw at every encounter. Retreating to the moon of Floreau, Admiral Tovil-Toba started a systematic bombardment of the colonies there, hoping to draw the attention of the Federal fleet and lead them right into a trap. The Federation was delayed, however, having to regroup before they were able to strike once more at Tovil-Toba’s forces.

The next day, the two fleets clashed yet again, with Admiral Tovil-Toba proving his tactical command superiority in being able to inflict losses against the Federation forces, and then withdraw relatively unscathed. This game of cat-and-mouse continued for a whole week, except it was the Caldari who were in the role of the mouse.

The administration and military command was becoming uneasy. Very few forces remained in Caldari Prime orbit to prevent the evacuation. It became clear that unless Tovil-Toba’s forces were destroyed and/or removed from Gallente Prime orbit, the Caldari would be able to leave their homeworld wholesale, effectively depleting Luminaire of an entire world and precipitating economic collapse.

Their operations against Caldari Admiral Yakiya Tovil-Toba stepped up until only his flagship remained, a badly damaged fighter-carrier called the Kairiola, a retrofitted water freighter. Less than a quarter of the Caldari remained on their homeworld, just a week short of the one month of uncontested orbital control required for the full evacuation. Knowing there was not enough time left, Tovil-Toba directed the huge vessel down towards the Gallente homeworld in a last ditch attempt to distract the Federation.

"Non-essential personnel, abandon ship." - Admiral Yakiya Tovil-Toba’s last command. CE 23155.3.15

---------

Goodbye, my love

Pain makes you alive


Goodbye, my love

I have only sixty seconds...


I know, my love,

I'm sorry...

I said I would be back

but

now

kresh burns in my throat,

and

steel burns all around,

and

as we dive, plunging forward

we hear Toba shout

"For Caldari!!"

he yells

"Haak'kin k'len!!"

we reply

and we dive, plunging forward...


Good bye, my love.


Good bye.


But as this burning hell of steel comes crashing

Laying waste to those who burn our world

Know this my love, know this

And carry it in your heart

Time is our dying gift

Use it well my love

Flee far away

Find a home

Raise our

Children

Teach


Them



Well



Goodbye, my love... BE STRONG!!



One day we will return...

By Herko Kerghans


On entering the atmosphere, the ship broke into several burning pieces, killing all aboard.

While most pieces fell into the ocean, the largest segment struck the city of Hueromont, killing roughly two million people instantly and thousands more in the resulting fallout, which blackened the sky for miles in every direction. Luminaire was thrown into disarray, utter turmoil enveloping Gallente Prime. The Ultra-Nationalists feared that a Caldari counterstrike against the Gallente homeworld was imminent, and immediately recalled all vessels in the system to garrison the orbital zones, assist in humanitarian relief, and guard against the enemy attack. This attack never took place, however, and millions more Caldari were able to leave their homeworld for good.

The cosmopolitan makeup of Hueromont meant that it was more than just the local Gallente that were amongst the casualties; a good many ethnic Intaki and Mannar  citizens were amongst the dead as well.

As a result, the entire Federation felt the aftershocks of what came to be known as the Hueromont Incident. There was a great sense of anger against the Ultra-Nationalist regime, blaming them to be the root cause of all the turmoil.  Some felt their failings to adequately defend Gallente Prime had led to this catastrophe, while many others believed that this was an inevitable consequence of war, and thus such a circumstance should have never came about to begin with.

Mayor Jen Yiona was at the forefront of channeling the anger of the population, which was not directed against the Caldari, but against the U-Nats [puppets for the Gallente Megacorps]in power. She was able to rally other states on Gallente Prime against the Federal government, and soon other planets followed, including the Intaki and Mannar homeworlds.

With the marginal victory of the Caldari, the Battle of Luminaire was finally over, after three bloody months of the fiercest fighting of the war. A ceasefire was called, as both sides consolidated themselves in the aftermath. The ceasefire would last for slightly over a year, as the Caldari did not complete the evacuation of their homeworld until FC35 (23156AD).

[purple]

I would also suggest taking a peak at Goals, Motivation and Conflict. for assistance in character development.

[purple]

AD 23180 First contact between Gallente and Amarr[171 years ago]   Despite the war with the Caldari occurring, the massive size and population of the Gallente Federation meant that it could continue to expand peacefully far from the conflict, as it had done before. It would continue to regard itself as the sole representative of human civilization, perceiving the Caldari as a mere rebel league to be reeled back in, either with force or diplomacy.

In FC59 (23180AD), a scouting vessel of the Amarr Empire’s Imperial Navy stumbled across a fully inhabited world in the Tolle solar system. Remarkable to the crew was the fact that initial scans showed this planet to possess a complete array of orbital infrastructure, such as defense satellites and space elevators. The local navy had detected the foreign vessel, but did not intercept it, sending a scout vessel to tail it from a long distance. Eventually, the Amarr starship would encounter the Gallente starship, with the former taking a cautious posture. The Gallente ship attempted communication, but the Amarr ship rebuffed all attempts. The language barrier between the two sides was vast, preventing any true diplomacy

The Amarr began to realize that the Federation was large and more than a technological match for themselves, and were hardened by the war with the Caldari for several decades. In turn, the Gallente became aware that the Imperial military was more geared towards crushing underequipped and undermanned Minmatar rebels, rather than combating the Federation’s advanced interstellar military. Even the most hawkish among the Federation leadership knew that a war on two fronts would be very unwise, as the Imperial Navy was still a large force to be reckoned with. Thus, the two superpowers began to fear one another, but were not unwise enough to escalate into open hostilities.

AD 23191 All four major nations of New Eden have by this point come into contact with each other.[160 years ago]

AD 23210 The Gallente and the Amarr reach the Gallente-Amarr Free Trade Agreement of 23210.[141 years ago]The two sides thus reluctantly began negotiating treaties with each other. The first and most important of these was the Gallente-Amarr Free Trade Agreement. Signed in FC89 (23210AD)[3], the agreement laid out the basis for limited trade between the two empires. Despite its name, the agreement placed numerous limitations on imports and exports by both sides. The Amarr notably agreed to refrain from selling goods produced via slave labor within Federation borders, while the Gallente promised to only deal with a number of authorized Holders and agents of the Empire instead of selling directly to commoners. Additional limits, such as the Amarr refusing to import genetically modified organisms or other items deemed “heretical”, served to curtail major trade between the two sides.

Regardless of the negotiated restrictions, the agreement did serve as the foundation for a shaky peace between the two sides. It established a neutral border between the two sides which ships were allowed to enter unrestricted. While the two empires have never been friendly, they have also never entered into open warfare. With the first treaty signed, the Gallente appointed an official ambassador to the Empire, Yanou Lautere. The Empire sent several dignitaries of its own to the Federation, including a sizable missionary group to attempt a peaceful reclaiming.

The Federation also exported FTL communications technology to the Amarr Empire, with many Holders willing to contract out Gallente companies for the construction of FTL relays on their behalf. Eventually, the Amarr would offer jump drive technology in exchange for the Gallente’s warp drive. The Federation agreed, hoping to use the jump drive as a force multiplier against the Caldari rebels.

Despite the encounter of the much more powerful Amarr Empire by the Federation, the hasty detente established between the two entities meant the Gallente could refocus their full efforts on bringing the Caldari back into the union. The Federation’s primary strengths were in manpower and the backing of a supremely well-funded military-industrial complex, whereas the Caldari had tactical and technological ingenuity combined with rigorous training. Morale within the State was high, as their border raids with single-man fighters into Federation fringe space within Sinq Laison would face little challenge from the ill-equipped Gallente warships. However, these successful raids would be unable overcome the might of the Federation as a whole, meaning victory for both sides was soon becoming a pipe dream.

The administration of President Josefia Harner would eventually learn that the Caldari were willing to sign peace if the Federation would agree to hand over control of their homeworld to the State. Given that no major victories had occurred for some time, the Senate felt that a resolution to the ensuing stalemate was preferable to the continued loss of life for both sides.

However, the Harner administration was reluctant to do so. Handing over control of Caldari Prime to the State meant uprooting the population, which was now primarily ethnic Gallente with small minorities of other Federation ethnicities. Secondly, acknowledging the Caldari as a sovereign state would potentially be perceived as a sign of weakness by the Amarr Empire, who were slowly emerging as the Federation’s main rival.

Thirdly, the Federation was still recovering from the existential shocks of encountering the Amarr. If the Caldari were no longer regarded as a rebel force, and that secession from the union could be a potentially successful endeavor, then the whole Federation may lose its integrity altogether.

This was known as the Harner Doctrine. The Gallente would bring the rebellion back into the fold, in order to maintain the strength of the union. That way, the Federation could protect all of its citizens, including the Caldari, from possible enslavement by the Amarr Empire. The Federation would not use the term ‘Caldari State’ in any official capacity, as it would be considered to imply they were a foreign nation and not just a league of rebel systems.

However, without an answer to the deadly single-man fighters of the Caldari Navy, the Harner Doctrine could not amount to much. The Federation Navy would deploy its own solo-fighters that would quickly be superseded by the Caldari’s latest model. Mines and sentry guns could only protect space facilities for so long, and if the Caldari demands were not met, then Federation space could be overrun sooner or later. The solution would come sooner than many expected, but not before a calamity that would reinvigorate support for the war.

In FC91 (23212AD), a species of airborne insect fundamental to the ecosystem of Mannar VIII suddenly underwent a mass extinction causing the collapse of the entire ecosystem of the Mannar homeworld.  The majority of the Mannar populace felt the Caldari were to blam and Mannar signed up to the Federation military in droves, eager to enact justice. So much of Federal military positions were filled by the Mannar, that they would earn their contemporary hawkish reputation, along with the Jin-Mei who were sympathetic to their cause. Over time, Mannar admirals and captains would be a common sight amongst the Federation Navy.

Despite the re-invigoration of support for the war, the Federation military found itself suffering from chronic personnel shortages. Eager recruits from Mannar were not enough to fill the spaces. The average citizens in the core territories were reluctant to commit, seeing the war as a thunder raging far from their safe worlds. The lesser-developed colonies were constantly on the frontlines, but the fiercely-spirited militia there could not hold back Caldari marauders on their own.

A solution came from the massive advances taking place in robotics and automation, all in response to wanting to avoid a future disaster that had taken place in Mannar. The invention of new military space drones evolved from the use of stationary mines[4]. The first drones were little more than mines with proximity detonators and some limited moving capabilities, but soon they had advanced to the level that a single drone almost rivaled a solo-fighter’s capabilities. The fact that drones were many times cheaper to build than fighters and didn’t require a highly-trained pilot meant that the days of the solo-fighters were numbered.

The Federation government declared Operation Forward March, and began a systematic campaign to use these drones to eradicate the Caldari raiders from Gallente space. The tide of the war turned, and the Federation began to score several victories and territorial gains. For the price of one Caldari solo-fighter, the Federation could construct tens of drones, leaving the State forces with no chance. The best Caldari scientists scrambled to find a solution, but for now, it was the Federation who were winning.

Support for Operation Forward March was high. The fact that no human lives could be risked by using drones was looking upon favorably by the typically peace-oriented Gallente, while actually being able to gain territory using these methods would further vindicate the use of drones. The Federation Navy would deploy an armada of drones to a system, empty each and every local sector of enemy forces, before deploying human-crewed warships to begin planetary operations. The vastness of space, however, would mean this process would not take days, or even weeks. The conquest of a system would take at the very least a month on average.

Nonetheless, the Federation set itself on the road to New Caldari Prime, hoping to end the rebellion for good.   

The Federation continued its advances towards core Caldari systems, and it looked as if victory was at hand. However, even if the Jove had assisted the Federation in the liberation of the Minmatar, they would then turn to assist the Caldari, adding in a force multiplier that would stem the tide once again.

The Caldari Navy’s first response to the Federation’s drones was the replacement of solo-fighters with Frigates in the same year as the Minmatar Rebellion of FC95 (23216AD). This was enough to place the war firmly back in the realm of stalemate, even considering the additional crew requirements of the frigate.

AD 23224 The Jovians give capsule technology to the Caldari. [127 years ago]  In FC103 (23224AD) [Eight years after the introduction of the frigate], Federation forces began encountering Caldari frigates that were far faster and maneuverable than anything encountered prior. It did not take long for Federal intelligence to discover that the Jove had given the Caldari a technology known as the hydrostatic capsule. It was able to remove the crew requirements on frigates, and give the pilot increased maneuvering options. Faced the enemy’s renewed vigor, the Gallente focused on increasing the speed and damage of their own drones. While this was never enough to completely counter the benefits of the capsule, it did eventually allow the Gallente to prevent the Caldari from making significant territorial gains against them.   [It should be noted that these are not the same as capsuleers of today.  First, these early Caldari capsuleers did not have access to cloning technology, which means death was not just a learning experience for them.   Once podded, they were dead for good and not able to keep gaining experience the way our characters do.  Second, T2 didn't exist yet which is a big advantage modern capsuleers have over traditional starship captains.   Third, the Jovians hadn't yet gifted humanity with the third ingredient required in addition to the clone and pod to create modern day capsuleer demi-gods;  The skillbook.    They had to pick up skills the old fashioned way - practice and study.   It could take them years to learn things our players could pick up in a few days.  ]

Victories would be scored by both sides, making them confident of their newfound strategies.

Located on the fringes of Federation space and close to the Caldari core, was an industrious planetbound civilization on the planet of Iyen-Oursta VII. Neither a client of the Caldari or a member of the Federation, the system of Iyen-Oursta was mostly ignored, even if both sides saw it as a potential entrypoint into one another’s territories.

Considering the industrial value and strategic location of Iyen-Oursta, both the Federation and the Caldari considered moving into the system in FC105 (23226AD). Each side claimed they would be protecting the local civilization from invasion by the other, but the truth of the matter was that both sides wanted control of the system to boost their own war effort. The Caldari knew that if the Federation claimed Iyen-Oursta, the Gallente would have a straight shot at New Caldari only a few lightyears away. The State would thus move to prevent this conquest from occurring.

Both sides were confident of victory, each with their own unique weapon to bring to the field. The Federation and State threw everything they had at the system, knowing very well that this would be the battle that would decide the fate of the war. Clashing in orbit of Iyen-Oursta’s planets the result was the second-largest space battle in New Eden, second only to the Battle of Vak’Atioth of the Amarr-Jove War. The battle raged for a whole day, and though each side claimed they were protecting Iyen-Oursta VII from the other, no planetside battle ever took place.

During a lapse in the action after almost fifteen hours of constant fighting, Caldari Navy forces began to withdraw, leaving the battlefield to the Federation. The Federation claimed victory for achieving their primary objective of assuming control of the system, but the Caldari also claimed victory for they had inflicted considerably more losses on the enemy than they received themselves. The State knew that the level of casualties inflicted on the Federation meant that they could no longer continue their advance as the Gallente had originally intended, thus the Caldari felt they had achieved their own primary objective.

As the Caldari had expected, support for the Federation’s war effort after the Battle of Iyen-Oursta was low. The newer generations were no longer interested in enacting justice for the crimes committed against one another over the course of the war, despite the best efforts of militant factions on both sides. Neither side were quite willing to sue for peace yet, as the Gallente were still fearful of the Amarr, and the Caldari felt that ending the war would be a shameful act. Eventually, however, the war would fade into nothing but small-scale border skirmishes and raids

AD 23233 CONCORD is founded by the five empires [118 Years ago] From the new generation, a faction was growing within the Federation that sought to end not only the Gallente-Caldari War, but end tensions and hostilities across the entire cluster. This faction came to be led by Senator Aidonis Elabon in FC106 (23227AD), a young politician with an extensive background in humanitarian development. Senator Elabon and other members of the Federation leadership envisioned an organization that would act as an interstellar mediator, where all five of the major nations in New Eden could come together to air grievances and resolve disputes without resorting to violence.

Senator Elabon was aware that the Gallente Federation was itself founded for similar purposes originally, however, and that a second attempt at such a body should not have the cultural and political partiality that characterized the early Federation. Knowing the Caldari would never accept the founding of such an organization immediately, Senator Elabon approached the Jove Empire first. The Jove quickly agreed to advance the cause of peace. With their technological prowess, they began to covertly influence the proceedings, pointing Elabon next to the Amarr Empire. The Jove and Senator Elabon hoped to demonstrate to the Caldari that, by inviting the Federation’s largest rival to join, this organization couldn’t possibly be a Gallente proxy. [I think that it's perfectly reasonable for a Caldari character to argue that despite Elabon's best intentions CONCORD is a Gallente proxy, or that at the very least they've tried their hardest to make it so.   As I mentioned before, with Directive Alpha Gamma 12 the Caldari were forced to give the Gallente, namely Hydrostatic Capsule  and various t2 tech but the various things added with each expansion that were credited to the Caldari (which were most  of them)  Things that if only the Caldari had today would have meant absolute victory over the Gallente.   CONCORD also opened the door to State for the Federation in terms of a campaign of cultural imperialism in which they use diplomacy, trade, quafe and mass media to bring the rebellious Caldari back under Gallente influence  ]

Heir politics in the Amarr Empire stifled the first few years of discussions, but eventually the Amarr agreed to enter negotiations so long as the Minmatar were barred from the table[6]. Senator Elabon agreed, knowing that the Minmatar had already agreed to the organization's foundation in principle and believing he could eventually wear down the Empire into allowing them to join.

By FC109 (23230AD), the Amarr relented and allowed the Republic’s representatives to join the table, which meant the Empire regarded Minmatar space as an independent nation rather than a rebellious territory. The Caldari, noting Amarr receptiveness and having signed a non-aggression pact with them a few years earlier, sent representatives from their Chief Executive Panel to engage in the discussions as well. There were factions and elements across all four of these nations who despised these talks, but those in power cared little for it.

In FC112 (23233AD), the Consolidated Cooperation and Relations Command, or CONCORD, was founded by all five empires. Its headquarters were to be located in the independent constellation of Sanctum, bordering Federation and Amarr space. The Federation’s first representative to CONCORD was Senator Aidonis Elabon himself, many feeling him to be the perfect man for the job.

CONCORD’s first action was to monitor the border with the Minmatar Republic and the Amarr Empire (including the Ammatar Mandate), to ensure that border skirmishes and guerrilla activities were minimized.

AD 23236 (YC 0)Eden Standard Time (EST) is agreed upon by world leaders at the historic Yoiul Conference. A period of accelerated space colonization by independent parties begins [115 Years ago]

[purple]

In FC115 (23236AD), the five empires, under the umbrella of CONCORD, met onboard the Jove cruiser Youil in an effort to lay the groundwork for further peace. One of the most important decisions to be made was the establishment of a universal time-keeping system that would ease interstellar trade and communication.

YC 12 The Gallente-Caldari War ends [103 Years ago, after 93 years of war] In YC12 (FC127), CONCORD finally decided to intervene in the waning Gallente-Caldari War[6]. The relatively young organization was only bold enough to do so since it assumed whatever animosity existed between the two sides was on the way out, given the near-negligible level of fighting by this point.

The Federation leadership were taken aback by CONCORD’s intervention. Many factions were more than happy to comply, thankful that they would have the support of an organization with a growing base of respect. A much smaller group of factions were more reluctant to do go along with CONCORD’s missive. The Caldari State, realizing the commercial benefits of peace and not wanting to base its entire existence on war, agreed as well.

After a mere six months of bilateral talks facilitated by CONCORD[6], a peace accord was signed in the marginal Gallente-Caldari system of Tierijev. All senior members of the Chief Executive Panel and a large delegation of the Federation leadership met in orbit of the previously wartorn planet there, and signed the Treaty of Tierijev.

The Gallente Federation would agree to recognize the sovereignty of the Caldari State, and both sides would retain their original outposts and settlements as per the CONCORD-designated borders. The exception was Caldari Prime. Though a point of contention in the negotiations, the majority of the CEP eventually decided pushing for the return of the planet would be far too costly and made the controversial decision to sign it away. It would remain under Federation control, which would be a source of lasting resentment within more militant Caldari factions.

YC 37 Sansha Kuvakei’s experiments are uncovered, and his nation is attacked and dismantled by the four empires. Sansha himself is killed [78 years ago] [Nation Chronicle]The populations of the Gallente, Minmatar, and Caldari were horrified by the revealing of Nation’s true nature. Their governments demanded that Sansha Kuvakei be brought before a CONCORD tribunal and tried for his crimes. While the Amarr initially attempted to defend Kuvakei, they eventually came to understand they would be ostracized if they attempted to stand alone. They joined the others in demanding Sansha surrender himself, but Kuvakei remained defiant.

Kuvakei declared the inalienable sovereignty of his Nation and revealed the massive power of his True Slave fleet, which was enough to rival any one of the empire’s navies. With diplomacy out of the question, the empires decided they had no choice but to band together to destroy Sansha's Nation.

YC 86 The Guristas pirate cartel is formed by two defectors from the Caldari Navy, known as Fatal and The Rabbit [Thread on nature of Gurista] [Also a neat thread]  [Fatal  and the Rabbit Chronicle]  Founded by the charismatic Fatal and technically-minded Rabbit, the Guristas Pirates are a professional and highly-organized outfit operating out of their home region Venal. Unlike other rogue factions, the Guristas focus primarily on old-fashioned piracy, although they're not afraid of making surgical raids deep into Caldari space if they think doing so will achieve something worthwhile.

Former Caldari Navy captains Jirai Laitanen (‘Fatal’) and Korako Kosakami (‘the Rabbit’) became famous for deserting the State in YC86 (FC201)[14], forming their own pirate cartel which came to known as the Guristas a few months later. Initially, this pirate clan kept to the Caldari State, engaging in traditional pirate activities such as theft, kidnapping, ransoming and sabotage of military installations.    Their rise to the fore saw hundreds of recruits move to join the Guristas, who then began launching operations within Caldari and occasionally Gallente space. Though fighting the Guristas became one of the few matters the Federation and State could agree on, the expansion of the Guristas was merely slowed down due to lack of coordination and cooperation.

Jirai Laitanen, better known by his nickname “Fatal”, was a member of the Caldari Navy 37th (Octopus) Squadron and later went on to found the notorious pirate group the Guristas with Korako Kosakami - “The Rabbit”.

Laitanen was a shrewd and gifted captain, with a glib tongue and charismatic smile. Many expected him to reach a position of authority in the end. But he was also vain and greedy; traits that led to his eventual desertion. Kosakami was much more introvert than his friend Laitanen, but he had a brilliant mind and was a technical wizard.

Over three decades ago, Laitanen was passed over for promotion and Kosakami was blamed for a lethal crash landing, all within the space of one week.They stole a couple of Condor-class frigates, the same they still use today, and set off to a pirate-infested sector between Caldari and Gallente space, deserting from the Caldari Navy and eventually founding the Guristas - an amalgamation of two Caldari words meaning 'naughty people' and also a slang term for 'gang'.

At some point in their career, Fatal and the Rabbit masterminded and carried out a kidnapping of the Gallente Federation ambassador in the Caldari State - Luecin Rileau. This has granted them great fame.

During an engagement with capsuleers, Fatal was podkilled. Due to an inferior clone, he reawoke with memory loss and was later apparently ousted from the Guristas. His current whereabouts and situation are unknown.

The Guristas often take over ruins in deadspace pockets, creating civilian-staffed mining colonies they protect with spaceship fleets and defense turrets. The Guristas are apparently willing to pay for revenge against capsuleers and others who destroy any civilian mining colonies under their protection.

The Guristas control a notable share of the “grey market” smuggling of competing products into megacorporate enclaves in the Caldari State. They also run one of the largest illegal currency exchanges of Caldari corporate scrip.

Unlike some of their more estranged brethren, the Guristas are paying a very active and often practical interest in Empire politics.

The one imperfectly executed operation during the Caldari invasion that attracted news coverage turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as it ended up deflecting attention from the other incursions made within the same time frame.

Many Gurista captains are asking each other how exactly the Rabbit knew to have all their ships conveniently positioned to make a synchronized strike on such short notice, but they're asking with a half-knowing smile on their faces. The near future promises to be an interesting - and lucrative - time for the Guristas, and despite the problems caused by the renewed militancy of the State they're still confident they can turn events to their advantage.

Guristas Production is a recent addition to the Guristas pirate cartel, responsible for maintaining the cartel's fleets and stations. It is also believed to be engaged in several top secret research projects, mostly in the missile field.