Empress Mary Tattersall

b. 12 October 390
d. 6 July 419

401 - 419: Empress of the Terran Empire

Mary Tattersall was the result of a political marriage between Denise Löwenger and Edward Tattersall. At the time, Idara Tattersall controlled a bloc of about 25 votes in the Imperial Council, votes which were desperately needed by the unraveling Carroll Coalition. The Tattersall allies, who generally steered a middle course between the Throne and its chief opponents, agreed to support Joseph Löwenger and, later, Denise, against the Elendan-led opposition which wished to make peace with the Patalanian Union.

In 390 the Imperial Council passed an Act of Succession which named Mary as Denise's Heir. The same Act also, as a matter of routine, named Edward Tattersall as Regent in case Mary was too young to take the Throne.

Denise had little interest in her daughter or her spouse; she left Mary to be raised by Edward under the vague supervision of other Carroll elders.

Idara Tattersall won its gamble in 401 when Denise died while Mary was only 11. Under the terms of the Act of Succession, Edward took on the mantle of Regent, while at the same time he moved Mary firmly away from the influence of the Carrolls. Edward's Regency lasted until 406, when Mary passed her adulthood tests and took on the Crown. (Edward remained Mary's most trusted advisor until his own premature death in 411.)

Edward's Regency was a time of quiet anticipation and political suspense, as Edward worked to balance the two factions -- Carroll and Opposition -- against one another. By skillfully adjusting appropriations, Edward was able to beef up the local Navy forces of Borshall, New Sardinia, Credix, and Geled -- the Provinces which adjoined the Patalanian Union, and the sites of the heaviest fighting. At the same time, he allowed the Provincial Dukes to increase their control over Navy forces in their Provinces, thus satisfying those of the Dukes who wanted more autonomy. Edward began a strategy of "defense only" -- under his rule (and, subsequently, for the rest of Mary's reign), the Empire ceased attacking Union worlds and did not intrude into Union space.

In TE 406, days before she turned 16, Mary took and passed her adulthood tests; she formally ascended to the Throne on her sixteenth birthday (although, thanks to her rigorous training and daily stints under the Memory Crown, she appeared to onlookers like a woman of thirty.)

Mary continued Edward's policy of political neutrality, balancing one party against the other while all the time trying to keep the Empire together and defend it against the Union.

In order to placate Opposition forces, who still formally called for peace with the Union, Mary agreed to an Act of Succession which named her cousin Charles Castiligoni as Imperial Heir. (The same Act, as a major concession to Carroll forces, named Thomas Carroll as Heir's Heir.)

In all her dealings, Mary tried to steer a middle course. Personally, she was a calm and diginified person, and after the juvenile excesses of Denise's reign, she brought a sense of style and decorum back to the Throne. During Mary's reign, a new restrained style of fashion and furniture swept the Empire; it is referred to by historians as Regency or Tattersall Style.

By force of personality and skillful politics, Mary Tattersall soothed the Imperial Council and the Dukes, and restrained the growing power of the Idara. Beginning in TE 412, she held an annual summit meeting between Galactic leaders -- she and Union President Pola Masilek were the chief attendees, but the summits also included the Archdukes of Elendan, Odonia, Sedante, and Teleskany. Largely as a result of these summits, hostilities between Union and Empire slowed down.

Mary's reign, which had begun in a hostile atmosphere with all sides waiting for the other shoe to drop, turned out to be a period of relative peace and quiet -- just what the Empire needed.

In 419, at the chronological age of 38 and the biological age of 100, Mary Tattersall passed the Crown to her Heir, Charles Castiligoni, then closed her eyes and died peacefully. She was mourned throughout the Galaxy; even in the Patalanian Union flags were lowered and the President declared a tenday of mourning.

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Empires of the Gathered Worlds

The Pyslistroph (c. 2.4 - 1.2 billion BCE)

Little is known of this culture, as most records were lost during the Schism and the Flight of the Daamin. The Pylistroph was a loose confederation of 50-100 worlds inhabited by the Seven Races. The Pyslistroph was led by The Council of the Wise, composed of a few beings from each of the Seven Races.

It is known that the Pylistroph did not have tachyon conversion, nor the antigrav. Pylistroph ships were mainly light-sail vessels. The Pylistroph sent light-sail ships out into the Galactic Halo (aka the Scattered Worlds), apparently to seed suitable worlds with Pylistroph-based life. It is conjectured that a Pylistroph vessel passed by Terra about 8-900 million years ago; it has been further conjectured that almost all life on planets in the Scattered Worlds is descended from Pylistroph Seed Vessels.

Mertorthar (c. 1.2 billion - 600 million BCE)

Mertorthar was born when the Gergathan recalled the Coruman race to Messilinia and launched a war of conquest against the Pylistroph. The Gergathan is a great war-machine, constructed on Messilinia during the wars that preceded the foundation of the Pylistroph. Composed of computer parts plus the living minds of those it has absorbed, the Gergathan is vastly intelligent, utterly implacable, and relentlessly ruthless.

The Council of the Wise capitulated quickly, but others fled the Core into the Scattered Worlds (the "Flight of the Daamin"). The Schism of the Hlutr divided the Hlutr race.

About 600 million BCE, Mertorthar reached beyond the Core to destroy the Empire of the Iaranor. During this effort, many tributary worlds rebelled, and Mertorthar's authority fell apart. The Gergathan was forced to turn its attention back to the Core.

Garadhros (c. 600 million - 22 million BCE)

Garadhros was established in the wake of a successful war against the Empire of the Iaranor. During its rule, the Gergathan established a boundary about the Gathered Worlds that prevented its subjects from leaving or observing the freedom of the Scattered Worlds. Teleportation was developed about 500 million BCE, and Garadhros expanded into the Cores of nearby galaxies, most notably Andromeda.

About 22 million BCE, Garadhros met the expanding cultures of M-87 and its surrounding galaxies of the Virgo Cluster -- the so-called Virgo Cultures. A great war ensued, a war which resulted in the detonation of M-87's Core. Garadhros, however, was conquered and the Gergathan shut down. The Virgo warrior Jel Haran fought, and was seriously damaged, in this final war.

After an interregnum of approximately one million years, Garadhros was succeeded by Diebethar.

Diebethar (c. 21 million - 5.2 million BCE)

After its defeat by the Virgo Cultures, the Gergathan took a million years to recover power and influence. Although hindered by the Free Peoples of the Scattered Worlds (and particularly by Jel Haran and Lirith), by 21 million BCE the Gergathan had regained enough power to start reconquering the Milky Way's Core, and to proclaim the third great Core Empire, Diebethar.

Through treachery, guile, and division, Diebethar rapidly spread through the Local Group and beyond, meeting and defeating the Virgo Cultures about 19 million BCE.

About 5.2 million BCE, the Avethellan Empire led an assault against Diebethar and Messilinia, and the Avethellan hero Kylvin struck at the Gergathan with one of the Singing Stones. However, Kylvin's Strike -- like Forriva's -- was blunted at the last moment.

Nonetheless, Diebethar fell, and the Core was briefly integrated into the Avethellan Empire. About 5.19 million BCE, Diebethar was succeeded by Malreppidar.

Malreppidar (c. 5.19.million - 2.7 million BCE)

After the fall of Avethell, the Gergathan proclaimed Malreppidar, and began the systematic destruction of all life in other galaxies. Before this effort was really begun, about 3 million BCE, intercontinuual travel was developed, and Malreppidar spread like a virulent plague into the Secondary Spaces. (The Deserted Worlds of the New Continuum date from this era.)

About 2.7 million BCE, a tributary state in an adjacent continuum revolted and seriously damaged the Gergathan. Malreppidar fell.

The Kohlenebian Empire (c. 2.7 - 2.3 million BCE) carried on the Core culture in the Scattered Worlds, but a true successor to Malreppidar did not appear until about 900,000 BCE, with Kaypleskrit.

Kaylpeskrit (c. 900,000 BCE - present)

Kaylpeskrit rose about 900,000 BCE, following an interregnum of more than a million years. After destroying all copies of the Gergathan in Secondary Spaces (completed about 100,000 BCE), Kaylepskrit began isolating the Secondary Spaces from one another, and systematically eliminating all life in each.

Kaylpeskrit destroyed the Scattered Worlds state of Marpethtal c. 300,000 BCE.

Kaylpeskrit was instrumental in the collapse of the First Terran Empire c. 2600 CE.

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The Children of Lost Time

A Scattered Worlds race which flourished c. 550 million BCE on the planet Lamtek Tarluen. The Children of Lost Time were an offshoot of the Daamin race, descended from a Pylistroph-era exploration vessel that was marooned in the Scattered Worlds. The original Daamin had regressed to nonsapience, then evolved back up to a high cultural level, although they never developed star-travel. They excelled at the construction of intricate artificial intelligences.

After a long history of nearly a million years, the Children of Lost Time passed into a still, contemplative silence and over the next centuries their bodies withered and became one with their world.

The only survivor was Hes-Namu, a sapient computer constructed by the Children shortly before their ultimate demise. In time, Hes-Namu picked up and deciphered ultrawave transmissions from the Scattered Worlds. After a period of communication that lasted several centuries, Hes-Namu came to Nephestal to serve the Council of the Free Peoples.

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A Daamin Song

Before your mother's mother's dams
Yet danced in magic twilight dim
Before their mother's tribes were born
When time was new and yet unworn
We lived in endless day.

Remember, cub, the sea from which
In far-gone past the Daamin sprang
Now feel the soil of ages lost
And clouds that in a bright sky hang
Beneath a million suns.

We fled away into the night
When night was yet a haunting dream;
In dreams remember, cub, our home
Verkorra in eternal light
To light we shall return.

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