So a few months ago, when I was complaining (as I often do) about the bizarre lack of any real Achur-related reference material anywhere in the EVE PF, as well as the often contradictory nature of the stuff that does exist and how hard that makes it to roleplay one that isn't basically just culturally Caldari, someone suggested to me that I should do a speculative write up on the bloodline history myself, saying that in that past CCP and adopted stuff like that as their own if they like it and it doesn't contradict anything. At the time, my lack of belief in that possibility (which I still basically hold) and general offput-ness with the EVE lore in general made me decide against bothering. Also the fact that I'm not a great article writer! And, well, in the back of my mind, I was still sort of hoping CCP would do it themselves sometime soon, what with the recent resurgence of fiction, and make the point moot.
However, recently, I heard that when someone had spoken to CCP Falcon around Fanfest about Achur fluff and the contradictory population numbers for them in Eve Source, and the fact that he basically responded by saying, "Yeah, it's totally broken and makes no sense! Sorry we're not gonna fix it any time soon! Eve source is still canon though!" kinda convinced me that I should probably just go for it, even if it ends up being basically pointless.
So here it is: My own personal fanon of the Achur and Saisio III, composed of about one third raw canon, one third semi-reasonable inference, and one third crap I totally made up. My goals with this were to 1) Reconcile and connect the various little threads of fluff we have about Achur society, 2) Explain Achur culture as it exists along the setting theme of peoples development being defined by their environment, and 3) Present the Achur/Caldari as reasonably grey, without making either of them seem overtly evil or incompetent, but still create capacity for drama. Some of the ideas in this are borrowed from Aria Jenneth's great Achura writeups from a million years ago. Please send Aria flowers because he rules.
Please let me know what you think, or ask if you're curious about my sources and where I came from in any particular part. Also I don't expect anyone to acknowledge this as canon or anything - It's just my best personal effort that I hope will offer some inspiration to people enthusiastic about the bloodline. Thanks!
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A History of Saisio III (Achura), from Antiquity to Modern Times
Origins and Early History
"Build a castle by the sea, and the waves will take it from you piece by piece.
Build a castle on the hills, and the winds shall wear the stone into dust.
Build a castle in the sky, and one day, it will fall.
But build a castle in the soul, and it will stand until the end of time."
- Achuran Saying
No one truly knows how or when Saisio III, a extremely rocky and mountainous world with an unstable climate and planetary mantle that leave it unusually prone to earthquakes and violent storms, was originally settled by humanity. However, there are several theories that have gained some degree of credibility in the scientific community, despite their inherently heavily speculative nature.
The most popular, favored by proponents of Common Origin Theory, is that the planet was simply settled by the same group that originally seeded the New Eden Star Cluster originally, specifically by a faction with a strongly religiously-aligned mindset and an abhorrence for mortal temptations and reliance upon the material, explaining the choice of settlement site. (An alternative suggested is that they might have been scientists there to study the worlds unusual biosphere.) The next, proposed by Syncretists, is that the early inhabitants were colonists of the long expired Yang Jung, cut off when their home society was destroyed in ancient warfare; A theory that neatly explains the dramatic similarity in physical makeup between the two groups.
The third, also favored by Syncretists but by a comparatively smaller number, is that the modern day Achura are descended from a group of highly conservative Jovian Statics who separated from the Second Empire to return to a simple life, free from the excesses and dangers of high technology. Those who support this theory cite the common philosophical ideas shared between Achur and Jovian culture - Especially evident in the Society of Conscious Thought - As well as the thoughtful, calculated ruthlessness engrained in the darker side of both.
Whatever the truth, what is known for certain is that around 4000 years before the present day, early human civilizations began to emerge all over the largest continent on the planet, the only one to ever be widely settled before the advent of planetary modernization. At first, most of these were fairly small, isolated tribes and petty kingdoms, peaceful by necessity of the fact that the planets environment meant traveling was perilous enough to mean raiders would frequently not make it to their destination in one piece.
It was not an easy time to live. Many settlements simply vanished overnight, consumed by roaring tidal waves, hurricanes, or swallowed by the very ground beneath them. In a day, the works of generations might be stripped away, with nothing left behind in their wake. Thus, it is perhaps no wonder that religion quickly became deeply rooted in the hearts of the populace.
By this time, the proto-incarnation of what would become the modern day Achura Faith was already practiced in various forms across most of these communities. Unlike many religions still prominent in the star cluster today, there is actually very little in the way of concretely established origins for the faith, likely due to it's decentralized and disorganized nature as well as the difficulty the practitioners likely found in preserving written works in the early ages. The only real hint is a common deific legend and cosmogonic myth, though many believe this is only folklore devised after the core philosophical tenants which remain in common between the various sects to the modern day had already long been established.
The myth tells that before the age of man, a single deity - Known only as the Creator - Was in a state of terrible grief. The reasons for this vary depending on the telling; Some say that his lover had perished, others that he was the last of many great beings and was stricken with terrible loneliness, along with various other stories. In an attempt to distract himself from this melancholy, he set about undertaking a great work: The creation of the world, fashioning for himself a special rod to use as a paintbrush, or a conductors baton, in it's formation.
In contrast to the Amarrian Faith, the Achur Faith describes this process as an artistic, emotional work of imperfect passion, rather then a one of calculated divine imagination, with numerous unintentional faults. It also makes it clear that, while it was certainly not the universe as we know it, something existed even before the Creator. Usually, it is described as a force of raw chaos that he brought to order in the process of his mission.
When his work was finally concluded, the Creator set his tool down to survey that which he had made, but found himself unsatisfied. Though his work was fantastically beautiful and boundless in scope, his ennui still plagued him, and furthermore, no one else was there to see it. Without a witness, he reasoned, the efforts were naught but a waste of time. And so, as a final act, he created humanity, to walk the earth in the hopes they might come to understand his creation, and through doing so, understand him in turn.
The next part of the story also varies, with some versions keeping the details simplistic, while others incorporate a vast pantheon of demigods born of the primeval humans, the Creator, and various wild creatures or servants of him, alongside many tales involving these. What is consistent is that, at some point, the Creator became relatively satisfied with mankinds growing understanding (though it was still incomplete), and offered them a chance to try to use the Rod themselves.
However, humanity, still young and cautiousless, accidentally shattered it, sending his power, the raw essence of life, spilling in all directions. This gave a spirit (or simply "life energy, which essentially mean the same thing in Achuran spiritual terminology), to everything in the existence. From the rivers and the mountains, to the flowers and the animals, to the clouds and the stars. With this, creation transformed from a beautiful, but static entity, into a living, breathing world as we know it now.
However, this also diminished the power of the Creator to the point that he begun to simply blow away in the wind, merging irrevocably with universal energy that now encompassed all things. Before this happened, however, he asked of humanity as a last request to devote themselves to seeking to fully comprehend his great work, and the grief that brought him to make it. Additionally, he appointed some of the greater spirits to manage the heavens in his absence, leading to the spiritual bureaucracy that supposedly rules over the dead today. Finally, he expired, leaving mankind to it's own devices.
Though today this myth is considered to be mostly allegory by the majority of sects, it is still regarded as an important tale that expresses the core ideas common across all variations of the Faith - The concept of a universal, binding force that connects all life, the fragility and transience of the physical world, and the need for humans to seek understanding to come to peace with their own existence - in a way that is concise and simple to comprehend by the less educated.
(Strangely, despite this, the fragments of the Rod of the Creator, or at least things that are claimed to be them, are real objects of immense value to all members of the Faith, leading some to believe there may be a faint historical root to the fable, as well. This has been a cause of controversy and conflict in the past, which we'll return to shortly.)
In any case, this status quo of limited civilization, wholly oral religion, and peace would for continue for almost half of the Achura's known history. Some devoted practitioners of the Faith idolize this period as the one when the bloodline was closest to the natural world, and not distracted by the frivolities of technology and excess. But, as all things must, it eventually came to an end.
Feudal Period
"The most terrible curse inflicted upon the human soul is that of ambition. An ambitious man will find neither understanding nor peace, no matter where he seeks. He will spend his life in front of a mirror, picking at his own imperfections, and never turn to gaze at the face of the universe behind him. He may be master all that he sees, but he will never master himself."
- Yungil Sa, Scholar of the Jiang Sect
Around 2000 years before the present day, things had begun to change. Population growth, slowly picking up with the advancement of agriculture and more durable architecture, led to the formation of the first large towns and cities, and the rebirth of the profession of merchant as explorers began to discover and chart the safe routes through the many mountain ranges on the continent. Though travel along the incredibly hostile seas was still not an option, maritime trade also flourished along the many inland rivers that various city states had established themselves beside, finally creating quick and relatively reliable links between the various fiefdoms on the planet, and allowing wealth and culture to be exchanged freely, with all the boons that entailed.
What also came about was the advent of organized guard forces and armies, as well a class of noble elites who commanded them. At first, these were rarely used against eachother, and mostly employed to eliminate bandits and other threats to the populace, though there were early, small scale wars almost as soon as there was actually something worthwhile to fight over.
But it took many years to advance to the next stage in the planets history proper. As the population continued to boom, another concern of the planets environment, namely the relative lack of arable flatland suitable for advanced farming, started to lead to limited food shortages and famines even during prosperous periods. Though the growth quickly stabilized, the lords who now ruled over the multiple, increasingly organized kingdoms on the continent were not content, having grown used to the steady expansion and continued prosperity they had been experiencing.
Thus, the Achura entered their feudal period, with various factions of nobles forming alliances and waging war against eachother for the land and resources needed to continue their growth and development.
Even by the standards of pre-industrial society, early Achuran warfare and politics was -Despite that one might expect with normally peaceful lifestyle espoused by the Faith - Exceptionally cutthroat and brutal. Assassins were employed with impunity, to the point that the profession was considered one of renown and prestige rather than infamy, and battles were often shockingly brutal affairs, with soldiers taught to fight without any mercy and to the death, lest they face execution. Even peace treaties, when they were finally signed, with bloody by tradition, with the quill usually made up the plucked eyelashes of the defeated party and signed in equally grizzly ink.
It was a time of great strife and instability for the peasantry, who, if they were not sent to war themselves, were often taken as slaves by the victors and worked in an even more merciless fashion then they were acquainted with. Not coincidentally, it was also a period when the Faith became far more organized, with sects building great temples and monasteries, and becoming increasingly defined in their specific teachings. Common people began to become monks and priest(esses) in increasingly great number, seeking a life with greater meaning, and often, an education rather than none at all.
Additionally, though outright holy war and the concept of heretical belief never became popular on the planet, religion did become a factor in the regional jingoism widely held in the era, which was embraced wholeheartedly by the nobility, who sought any excuse to breed bloodlust in the peasantry. They would come to regret this, however, as the power of the growing theocratic caste, considered by many to be the only stable force in an increasingly chaotic world, began to grow to the point that it's influence could contest that of the aristocracy, with wealth, knowledge, and the increasing support of the people.
Many prominent scholars in this era predicted that many of the feuding kingdoms could potentially be subverted or overthrown to become outright theocracies, and indeed this did begin to take place in a few small, isolated states not deeply woven into the political landscape.
In regards to the fate of the continent, however, the heavens had other ideas.
The Akachi Dynasty
"Warfare, at the grand scale, is the art of calculated denial, of depriving an opponent of the things they desire most desperately until the prospect of any relief is enough to drive them into submission. This is true at all levels, in terms of both the material and the abstract[...] Be it wealth, food, safety, or even simply a good nights rest, it matters not. This understanding is also essential in rulership - the management of the already submissive. Starve a peasant for a year and then give him a bowl of rice, and you will have a most loyal servant, even if the grain is rotten."
- Treatise of Imperial Power, Nuhai Akachi, Empress of Achura
Amongst the many feuding warlords on the planet, one particular man eventually rose to prominence: A popular, fairly youthful king named Ichira Akachi from a small realm in the south of the continent.
Ichira Akachi was not a greatly thoughtful man or one of exceptional ability in combat, but one advantage he did have was a tremendous charisma and presence that made it easy for him to rally men to his cause. At this point, many kings were starting to struggle to keep their own vassals loyal and obedient, with internal rebellions taking place in a widespread fashion. But King Akachi had no such problem, and used this to his advantage, rallying a large army that was the envy, and fear, of most of his neighbors.
King Akachi was also ambitious. As soon as the strength of his force was unquestionable, he began invading and annexing large portions of key land from his opponents, despite their efforts of resistance. A famous tale from the time is that, when one of his rivals set mercenaries against him, he was able to convince their leader, on the field, to switch sides despite them having the advantage by far, and him at the time only in possession of a single coin - One that he stole from the mercenaries own pocket as they spoke.
Unfortunately, as soon as it begun to look as though he had a serious chance of achieving total dominance over the region, his reign was cut short when he was thrown from his horse after it tripped over an abandoned blade in the field, breaking his neck and killing him instantly. The title then passed to his only child: His daughter, Princess Nuhai Akachi. Women in roles of rulership were not common on Achura at this point, and most believed she would quickly lose both her fathers army, and then his crown.
Nuhai was not like her father, however. In contrast to his warm, amicable demeanor, she had an air of coldness and a mind of merciless logic. She also knew two things. The first was that, unless she did something quickly, she would almost certainly lose everything she had, either to a distant relative, a rival lord, or simply an upstart from her own army. The second was that her fathers plans had been flawed. At best, he might have achieved dominance for their kingdom against a few others for handful of generations, but inevitably the balance of power would wax and wane until the status quo returned, as it had for centuries.
But she had an idea to solve both of these problems, and that was the growlingly influential sects, or more specifically, the fragments of the Rod of the Creator. For as long as anyone could recall, the fragments had lain in the hands of lords and wealthy men, usually hoarded in private collections or displayed publicly as proof of the favour of the heavens. Nuhai set about collecting them, employing her fathers resources to buy them when she was able, but also offering impressive rewards for thieves, and, on atleast one occasion, outright attacking a city to retrieve one.
Finally, she held all thirteen of the artifacts. At this point, she turned to the leaders of the most powerful branches of the Faith in the world, and, offering them each a piece of the Rod as recognition of their authority and her submission to them in spiritual matters, made them an offer: Join forces with her in establishing a hegemony over all the feuding kingdoms, and she would give all of them a place alongside her in rulership, and the position of supreme authority over matters of the Faith. Most of them accepted.
With the support of these religious leaders, she was able to finally secure the complete loyalty of her forces, and began a campaign of unprecedented total warfare against her enemies, using new methods that had never been widely employed in the past. She dammed rivers to starve cities that resisted her, salted the fields of peasants under the influence of sects that rejected her rule. And all the while she keenly employed the elders and seers she had won over to turn the common people to her side, destroying her enemies from within.
It is for this period that she is best remembered. Despite the Empire she created being at the heart of most peoples idealizations of the Achuran civilization, she herself is not looked on favourably, seen as brutal tyrant who happily killed hundreds of thousands in her lust for power. Little concrete record of her popularity from the actual period in which she lived exists... Though perhaps this suggests something in of itself.
At last, after a lifetime of conquest, she had managed to unite, through one way or another, all notable realms in the known world. By this point an elderly woman of almost 60 years, she moved quickly to consolidate her power and make sure it did not collapse after her death. She decimated the remains of the noble class, leaving it as nothing more then a set of honorary titles that would fade from popular use after a few generations, and instead created a new class of bureaucrats that would administer the densely populated areas of her holdings in her place.
With the last of her potential enemies removed, she then proclaimed the foundation of the Achura Empire, and declared herself and her dynasty to be the representatives and stewards of heaven on earth, a claim that was supported by leaders of the sects, who united for the first time in a new grand temple she had ordered constructed for her coronation. Fulfilling her bargain to them, she then created the council of the Elder Visionaries, who would advise her and dictate the final word on all matters of religion, as well as rule over the countryside peasantry where it would be inefficient to employ the bureaucracy.
Finally, she chose a central position on the continent to found a new Imperial capital, building a city and a grand palace that dwarfed any other in the world. When it was complete, local, white-feathered birds from the nearby hills began to perch on the peak of the highest tower. Entertained by this, the new Empress Akachi declared them to be the formal symbol of her house and the Empire. Since then, they have been held in reverence and revered as sacred.
Thus began the Akachi dynasty. Though Nuhai herself was a fairly oppressive, ruthless leader who ruled with an iron fist, many of her kinder descendants succeeded in winning the love of the people, ushering in a new era of calm. The Empire never quite shook off the strict authoritarian character influenced by her rule, however - Amongst other things, food rationing to prevent the famines in the past was enforced throughout it's existence, and is so ingrained into Achur society and associated with the virtue of rejection of the physical that some conservative areas still practice it today.
Nevertheless, it is a time looked on much more fondly then the previous, simply for the lack of violence and warfare when before that there was nothing but. For more than half a millennium, the Empire maintained an firm, but nonetheless absolute peace, and a gentle, if largely stagnant, prosperity. The Elder Visionaries secluded themselves and produced great cultural works for the public, while lesser sects competed to rise to their level. Successive monarchs ruled mostly competently, slowly subjugating the last independent realms.
Some scholars the time called it the natural final evolution of a society, the one that would last until the end of time. But they could not have possibly imagined what was going to happen next.
Arrival of the Caldari
"Never have I seen, nor could I have imagined, a people both so familiar and so alien. Looking at them is like looking at what we must've once been, before the Gallente filled our minds with numbers and put us all in suits. It's so simple, so honest... And yet, in their hearts where in all Caldari, even in the most calculated Deteis, there is a burning fire... I see nothing but a cold reason. An ice that can never melt. It's unnerving. As though they all know something I don't."
- Ayetikko Tolaa, Sukuuvestaa medical officer, in private correspondence with his father, Naiven Tolaa
By a few hundred years before the present day, the Empire had changed considerably from it's original form. The Akachi dynasty had long ended, it's direct line extinguished in a plague that had swept over the capital, and the throne had since been held by a series of less successful cadet branches that increasingly isolated themselves from society at large. The Elder Visionaries now performed most of the duties involved in the day to day administration of the Empire, spending less and less time on spiritual matters, to the point that some believed they had become sovereigns in all but name.
In the cities, things had evolved even more dramatically. A culture of scientific interest and innovation had taken root amongst the wealthy, leading to the development of astronomy, alchemy, mathematics, and even advanced engineering that might have, had things gone a little differently, precluded an industrial revolution. Additionally, with the long-awaited development of ships finally capable of enduring the savage hostility of the oceans and returning in one piece (albeit far from comfortably), small colonies had been founded all over the planet, sending home unqiue resources and catapulting the volume of trade that took place.
But what had changed the most was the bureaucratic class. Once mere servants of the Emperor not much wealthier then a peasant, they had since come to dominate urban life both economically and politically, forming an elite caste of burghers that arguably held more influence in the cities then the Imperial administration itself, engaging in complex political games with eachother and using their wealth to garner considerable public support.
It was a fact that had not gone unnoticed by the Elder Visionaries, who had begun to move to revoke many of their historical rights and powers, but found the task of destroying their powerbase and leaving them relatively impotent less easy then they had hoped. But the attempt angered the burghers nonetheless, who began to develop dissenting sentiment towards the Empire, and even in some cases animosity to the Faith itself. A conflict was brewing, one that risked undermining the stability that had held fast for over a millenia and plunging the continent into civil war.
Instead, however, something entirely unexpected happened. Reportedly, in the last years of the Achura as an wholly independent group, Stargazers (Spiritual seers in the highest ranks of the Faith, so in tune with the universe that it grants them almost precognitive abilities) all over the world gave prophetic warnings of tremendous change coming, change that would destroy the Empire and alter the destiny of the Achura forever.
Whether this was profound political commentary on the acceleration of their society away from it's roots in a time of tension growing behind the curtains, of simply the fact they had noticed the spaceships flying around in their atmosphere while staring at the heavens, is a fact lost to history. Regardless, they were right.
In YC -103, the Sukuuvestaa corporation, in the process of embarking upon their secret colonization of The Forge that would ultimately lead to the Gallente-Caldari war, discovered what would later be named the Saisio system, and, by extension, the Achura. At first, before this the system became one of particular interest to the upper management of the corporation, the early colonists chose to simply avoid the indigenous population altogether.(The establishment of a few out-of-the-way landing sites on particularly valuable resource deposits did displace a tiny amount of Achura, though their reports of thus were seen by many as the ravings of madmen.)
The reason for this was, at the time, it was considered possible that the Federation would react with acceptance rather then forceful hostility when it inevitably discovered the settlements in frontier space, and the commanding executives did not want to render this outcome less likely by breaking the Federations rules on first contact with new, pre-spaceflight civilizations. When the Federation did make it's discovery, however, the opposite entirely happened. Not only was their presence in the system declared illegal alongside all the rest, but the Senate also voted to consider the Achura a race under Federal protection, and in swift need of proper incorporation.
At this point, the leaders of Sukuveesta realized they had three choices: Destroy the Achura, assimilate the Achura, or leave them be until the Federation inevitably slipped Cultural Deliverance Society frigates through their still limited defenses and did it themselves. With the first option abhorrent enough to render them black sheep amongst their megacorporate peers, and the third simply unacceptable by definition, as well as what they sensed was a pressing need to increase their desperately small pool of manpower for the conflict to come, well... The choice was obvious.
Despite wanting to incorporate them into the military-industrial complex as soon as possible, the executives was reluctant to simply descend to the planet and force the some-400 million Achura living there into their factories, with the blatant hypocrisy of outright slavery stretching even the fairly liberal morals of the Practical bloc to breaking point. Thus, they engaged in a brief campaign of surveillance with the hope to learn enough about Achuran culture that they would be able to entice the majority into becoming willing corporate employees.
It did not take their teams long to find the answer. Thus, in YC -81, just a single year before the onset of warfare in the clusters north, Sukuuvestaa diplomatic teams began to approach the leaders of the bureaucrat class in secret. They displayed to them their immense technological superiority, and let them sample in luxuries far beyond what even the wealthiest Achur had ever experienced, Finally, they offered them positions of relative importance and comfort in the corporation, alongside the training needed to fill them, if they could convince portions of the populace under their authority to follow. Already fearing confrontation with the Imperial Throne, and wary of the startling power of these outsiders if they refused, they of course obliged.
What happened next was an almost frighteningly quick process. The urban populace, enticed by the relative excess of the Caldari and, amongst other things, a complete end to rationing, were quickly brought into the fold, practically competing to submit their land to Sukuuvestaa in return for corporate positions. Seemingly overnight, ancient cities were largely transformed into efficient, grey metropolises not too distinct from anywhere else in the nascent State.
The Caldari also found it to be easy to wane many of the less educated away from their faith and onto their own, taking advantage of the similarities in imagery and terminology, despite the underlying separations.
The speed and ease of the early attempts at conversion shocked and encouraged the Sukuuvestaa executives, who began to grow more bold in their assimilative practices, becoming more willing to use overt intimidation to bring burghers into submission. There are even a few fringe cases, the severity of which is widely disputed, where the corporate forces allegedly used violence to frighten civilians into signing away their homes. It was an attitude that would, ironically, lead to their ultimate failure to completely absorb Achuran society, the legacy of which persists until the present day.
Once most of the notable cities on the planet were converted, the Caldari moved on to the ultimate prize: The Imperial capital, with by far the largest population in the world, at well over a million. Using the methods they had become used to (but without any pretensions of secrecy, the need for that long being ended) they sent a diplomatic party to speak with the bureaucrats engaged in the day-to-day running of the polis, along with a considerable entourage to impress the locals.
But the still limited degree of in-depth political understanding possessed by Sukuuvestaa led to a fatal error. Though many bureaucrats did live and work in the capital, they, unlike their peers, had spent their lives in the shadow of the Imperial Tower, and were still firmly loyal to the throne. They turned the party away, and, when news of their arrival reached the Emperor, he, panicking at the fact they had already come this far - And by virtue of his position deaf to all but the most terrible stories of the intruders - Ordered the entire group killed by the royal guard and standing military.
What followed was the first and only significant armed conflict ever to take place between the independent Achura and the Caldari State. Though the soldiers present with the diplomatic mission possessed far more advanced equipment and training, they were caught off guard by the assault and the sheer numbers of the Achura, many of whom were well disciplined and armed with high quality weapons for their civilization, including some early firearms. Though they dispatched many of the their assailants, in the end, they were overwhelmed.
Ultimately, the key diplomats managed to escape the city, but at the cost of 81 corporate guardsmen and lesser employees, the bodies of which were unceremoniously stripped and burned in the city outskirts.
At this point, SuVee did not know how to respond. Obviously, they had the capacity to capture the city or destroy it outright, and some executives advocated exactly this route, citing the need to set an example and to avenge their fallen comrades. Many, however, feared that a direct assault on a place of such incredible cultural and religious significance to the Achura in their employ so early into their incorporation would sour relations with the bloodline irrevocably, perhaps even inciting revolt. Their corporation, they reasoned, still vulnerable and desperately trying to rebuild after the loss of Caldari Prime, as well as arm against the Gallente, could not afford such an event.
And so, for over a decade, the planet settled into an awkward status quo, with a minority - But a very swiftly growing one, thanks to a higher quality of life - Under corporate governance in the cities, while the remaining population in the capital and the countryside at large continued life as "normal", or at least normal by comparison. Sukuuvestaa made no further efforts to integrate the remaining settlements, either because their size made the investment pointless, or on account of the citizens piety or loyalty to the throne.
The Emperor was assassinated during this period, only a few months after the battle had taken place. Historians differ on who they blame for this event, with claims ranging from SuVee, to the remnants of the burghers, even to rival cadet branches seeking to take advantage of the chaos and the Elder Visionaries themselves. Finding themselves struggling to find a suitable candidate to assume the office the present circumstances, the Elder Visionaries took provisional command of the remnants of the Empire personally, selecting a First Seer in their place from their own number. In the end, a new Emperor was never appointed, and the line quietly came to an end.
(A small amount of particularly traditional Achura were smuggled off the planet by the Federation at this time, utterly unwilling to accept any future Caldari response that might taint their way of life, including one of the claimants to the throne, who the Gallente helped establish a government-in-exile on Chainelant III. This still technically exists under his great-grandson today, though you would struggle to find anyone who still takes it truly seriously, even the man himself.)
Eventually, once the Gallente-Caldari war had become a mundane part of everyday life rather then an exceptional circumstance, Sukuuvestaa returned to the issue to settle it with finality. Unfortunately, the concerns they had over antagonizing workers in claiming the city by force had not subsided with time. Rather, a notable percentage of Achur in their ranks had even begun to grow discontent with the current state of hostility with their former leaders, as the initial high of the ascendance in lifestyle and comfort had begun to dull, and nostalgia and rekindled patriotism began to shift their perspective on the past events. It was a growing problem, especially since a few had even risen in the ranks enough to apply a small degree of pressure to the upper management.
Additionally, the imperative to do so had more or less faded, with population of both Achura and native Caldari growing at a healthy, sustaiable rate, alongside the advent of the tube child program. But leaving the planet in it's awkward, transient state was also undesireable. After all, it wasn't assured that the Imperial remnant would always remain weak and irrelevant - A time could one day come when enough technology leaked through to them that they could become a threat to operations in the system, which Sukuuvestaa had since declared their center of operations following the boost to output it experienced with the assimilation.
The issue eventually fermented for long enough that it became considered an issue of national importance, and reached the discussion table of the newly formed CEP. After considerable debate, the council eventually reached an agreement on a plan that they believed with satisfy both the Achuran bloc in SuVee and the local government, while also ensuring long term stability that would not harm corporate operations.
Once again, the Caldari sent representatives to the capital, but this time accompanied by only a token force, and with much better education in Achur custom and proper behavior. They approached the Elder Visionaries and made them an offer poetically not entirely dissimilar to the one Nuhai Akachi made their predecessors almost a millennia previously: Formally recognize the ultimate authority of the Caldari State as both religious and secular rulers, and they would be guaranteed their continued right to self-governance in both the capital and the countryside (of which SuVee had little interest), given protection from interstellar dangers, and offered free trade with the State with only light taxation. Once again, they accepted.
As the CEP had predicted, the signing of the secession agreement more or less ended the discontent felt by Achur, who no longer worried they were betraying their ancestry, closing the book on the conflict and the issue at large so they could concentrate on the war in full. As a final gesture of goodwill, the CEP also gave the Elder Visionaries the right to determine the official name of the system for international recognition. They chose one of the various ancient names of their sun: "Eye of Heaven", or "Saisio".
By coincidence... Or perhaps not, considering who chose it, the name also has a meaning in the Caldari language. "Fresh snow" - A beautiful thing, but one that must, by it's very nature, be spoilt.
Modern Times
"We stand with the Caldari because we benefit from them, just as they benefit from us. Such is the nature of all relationships. Of course, no relationship is equal. I like to imagine we have maneuvered ourselves from an unfavorable position into one where we have gained considerable, if quiet influence, while giving very little in return. But is that the truth? Do I hold a few of the Caldari's strings, or do they hold all of mine? Or are we simply both gripping possessively at eachothers flesh, each of believing in our control, as we tumble deeper and deeper into the abyss?"
- Sitting First Seer Chakai Potan, personal accounts, YC 114
Today, both Saisio III and the Achura themselves are prospering, but also fundamentally divided between two worlds. The planet itself has remained more or less as it was, with 90% of the surface under the dominion of the local government, and the remaining 10% consisting of the vastly swelled urban areas dominated by SuVee control and a small majority of the total population. Though the former is still undeniably conservative and invested in tradition, elements of the outside world have regardless taken root - It is rare you will find a farming community without any automated equipment, and the largest towns have begun to look relatively modern, though in a unique fashion not found anywhere else in the cluster.
The only real fully-fledged city under local control, however, remains the Imperial capital, which has grown considerably, but yet maintained it's archaic style, aiming for a distinct neoclassical appearance. The Imperial palace still stands at it's center, empty and rarely visited save for it's curators and the occasionally gawking tourist. The white songbirds still sing from it's peak. The Elder Visionaries mostly rule their appointed areas from their home monastaries and temples, by in large remaining quiet and reclusive save for a annual convention in the capital to discuss issues relevant to the planet at large. Ambition is a rare trait amongst them, and most are content with the state of affairs.
As for the planet itself, atmospheric manipulation techniques have so far proven insufficient to control it's violent weather patterns, and villages are still occasionally swept away by tsunami's. Most of the populace does not seem bothered by this, however. Afterall, it is good for the spirit for the body to be occasionally reminded of the transience of the physical - Even if it involves the physical being tossed miles into the air and uncomfortably deposited onto a large pile of rocks.
In the cluster at large, the Achura are slowly emerging as an increasingly relevant subgroup, albeit one still limited in influence beyond a few key areas. In the State, the bloodline now comprises almost 50% of Sukuveesta, and it's cultural imagery has become deeply ingrained in the corporation. Many have also migrated to other corporations and found fortune there. Though the majority of these Achura have more or less come to consider themselves Caldari first and Achur second, most still maintain some sort of connection to their homeland, be it family links, or in many cases a private belief to one degree or another in one of the many facets of the Faith.
Many, both exiles who fled during the days of the war and more recent immigrants, have also found a home in the Federation, which is - In it's imperfect way - More accepting of open belief in the Faith and the practice of traditional rituals thereof then the State. Though their place in the world is small, most Achur are content with this, happy to eeke out a quiet existence in one part of the cluster or another, more concerned with spiritual affairs and personal growth then politics.
Most, but not all.
In recent years, a small degree of friction has begun to develop between the Achura and the rest of the State, starting with the raiding of the planet and the theft of the 13 fragements of the Rod of the Creator from the temples of the Elder Visionaries 10 years ago. Though the time where they needed physical relics to maintain their positions has long since past, the fact that the Caldari Navy was not diligent enough to prevent it from occuring and seems still unconcerned with their recovery has led to a distrust of the Caldari authorities at the very highest level of the Achura theocracy.
The ascent of Tibus Heth, and the subsequent surge of race-centric nationalism has also served to alienate a number of less traditional Achura, especially considering the discrimination, and in a few cases violent hostility, some experienced. Most are hoping these wounds will heal quickly with his government topped and normality restored.
Finally, with the growing exodus of many traditional Achur off-planet in the last few years, the State has recently become more aggressive in it's policing of behaviour of members of the Achur faith, especially those who hold anti-war view points. Though some claim these groups are mere trouble makers funded by the Federation. Regardless, it is an unquestionable concern, and only draws attention to the rifts between the cultures of the two races, that may yet reconcile... Or widen.
Cracks have begun to show in the longstanding calm. Perhaps the recent tensions will prove to be nothing more then the inevitable political turbulence of times of war and strife; Brief flashes in the pan that quickly fade into nothingness with the return of normality and calm. Or perhaps - Just perhaps - It will escalate, likely to the detriment of all involved.
For now, however, even to the greatest of Seers, the future is unknown.
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Topic: Achura History Fanon (Read 8887 times)