The Fall of the First Terran Empire

The Fall of the First Terran Empire
by Mal Arin. Urbach Professor of History, Bosip University
published 23,953 H.E. by Terra-Prime Publishing Company.

The premier work of Second Empire scholarship, this book was over 200 years in the making. Author Mal Arin consulted primary sources on thousands of worlds while doing research for his magnum opus. The complete work is over 3 terabytes. It is estimated that, if printed, The Fall of the First Terran Empire would run to over 100 volumes equivalent to the volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica 9th Edition.

No comparable work would appear until Maarten Travesh's The Rise of Culture in the First Human Galactic Interregnum about 26,500 H.E.

Mal Arin's premise in his great work was that the First Empire was in a constant state of fall from its very beginning. Arin considered the Councilate phase inferior to the various Leagues of Worlds (i.e. the Nexus Worlds) that preceded it, and the Imperial phase was even less efficient than the Councilate. Arin maintains that a vast variety of forces worked to slow the First Empire's Fall, but never in Imperial history was the process of decline reversed.


copyright (c) 2007, Don Sakers

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Thanksgiving 2026

There was much to be thankful for, that year. For the very first time, the annual death toll from Dekoa flu had come down. Some said the decline was due to better medicines; others pointed to the Umoja-spawned public health revolution in Africa. Still others credited the happy news to five years of global economic management by the independent Artificial Intelligences. And there were, of course, the few who insisted that the credit belonged to God, or to Allah, or the Goddess, or the Divine Mao...consensus was not forthcoming.

Nearly a decade of scrub grass and buckyball algae had at last begun to lower carbon dioxide levels, and that summer, traces of ozone had been detected above Antarctica.

That was the year Gail Danube carried off seven Oscars -- including Best Director and Best Supporting Actress -- for her performances in the one-woman virtie classic Three in a Bush. It was the year the Meerkats took the World Series in four games and Kuchen Watabe broke the three-minute mile.

That year, for no good reason that anyone could name, over a thousand U.N. peacekeeping troops -- including 318 American boys and girls -- gave up their lives in Melanesia. It was the year that an Emperor again appeared in Middle China, to take his seat on the vacant throne at Sian; the year that Umoja sent troops to protect Nexus volunteers in the Kurdistan blockade; the year that Tsai Yu-chaio, the first native Martian in sixty-five million years, was born in the back seat of a rover racing toward Gagarin Town....

copyright (c) 2007, Don Sakers

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The Patalanian Union

2457 CE (TE 304) - 2730 CE
The Patalanian Union consisted of the Province of Patala, plus substantial portions of Borshll, New Sardinia, and the Transgeled.

The Patalanian Union officially seceded from the Terran Empire on 3 May TE 304, under the leadership of Kasia Sayyid Contenau.

By TE 334 the Patalanian Union had expanded beyond the boundaries of the Province of Patala, and faced the Empire's hostility. The official Patalanian policy of isolationism failed under Imperial pressure, which forced further expansion for security reasons.

In 340 a coup occurred, and the Masilek dynasty took over. The Masilek Presidents were ruthless and pushed for expansion. In 361, Patalanian Union forces met and defeated Terran Empire forces at the planet Karphos. This was the first major defeat for the Empire.

Thereafter, Imperial resistance continued to weaken. The Patalanian Union took much of the Transgeled. In 381, Patalanian forces made a surprise raid against Terra, defeated the TERRAD system, and sacked New York. Until about 470, the Patalanians had free run of much of the Sol/Laxus Province, although they did not quite manage to conquer any of the Nexus Worlds, nor did they occupy Terra beyond the initial sack.

The bifurcated Empire continued to put up a good fight -- Phuctra, Neordan, and Credix under the Castiligoni and Chen Idara and Geled under the Tattersalls. But in 471 Patalanian troops landed on Laxus and forced the Emperor, Conrad Kuchta, to abdicate. This marks the official end of the First Terran Empire.

In 2626 CE, immediately after the Empire's fall the Patalanian Union began to suffer defeats. The provinces now had their own navies, much more efficient than the widespread Imperial wings. Teleskany and Credix forced a two-front war, and soon the Union dissolved.

copyright (c) 2007, Don Sakers

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The New Renaissance

A period of the Interregnum, 7540 CE - c. 10,600 CE, which witnessed the rebirth of dynamic, growing civilization in the Galaxy.

The Inngebauer Dynasty in Credix

In 7540 CE (5387 CI), disgusted with the Purchik Dynasty, the Credixian Reichstaag chose Josef Inngebauer as Imperator. Josef was the son of Stevn Inngebauer, an obscure Credixian Noble, and Meria Kerteza, heiress to the monarchial throne of Vetret. Josef's older brother reigned as King Denal of Vetret until 7540 CE; Josef I inherited the throne of Vetret and brought Vetret under the rule of the Imperium.


ABOVE: Josef Inngebauer

Josef was a dynamic, expansionist ruler; during the year he reigned, Credix conquered vast territories around Vetret and began looking beyond its borders for the first time in a millennium.

Josef's daughter reigned as Antonia XIII (7541 - 7574 CE) [5388 - 5421 CI], and continued her father's work. She reigned for 33 years and had three co-Imperators: her sister Marcia X (7546 - 7551) [5393 - 5398 CI], her spouse Augusta XI (7545 CE) [5392 CI], and Augusta's daughter Nina VI (7545 - 7583 CE) [5392 - 5430 CI].

Prior to the reign of the Inngebauers, Credix had virtually no foreign policy. Perhaps because of Josef's childhood in the courts of Vetret, he was deeply aware that there were other powers in the Galaxy, somewhere far beyond the unorganized territories that surrounded the Imperium. He was determined to bring Credix into contact with those powers; Antonia XIII and her successor Imperators carried out his dream.

Under Antonia XIII, Credix signed a treaty with the Independent Traders, giving the Traders diplomatic immunity in Credix space, and allowing them to make full use of Credixian repair facilities and trade companies.

Teleskany-Credix Cultural Exchange

About 7650 CE, the Adelhardts of Teleskany allied themselves with New Sardinia and Borshall through a series of diplomatic marriages. Working through the Independent Traders, the Adelhardt Family entered into an alliance with the Credixian Imperium, assuring peace and mutual co-operation between Credix and Teleskany/Borshall/New Sardinia.

Jontan Adelhardt was sent to Credix and married Imperator Augusta XII (7650 - 7679 CE) [5497 - 5526 CI]. Their son became Imperator Mark XVII (7679 - 7740 CE )[5526 - 5587 CI].

The political agreement was little more than symbolic -- the two realms were on opposite sides of the Galaxy, and neither had the inclination to aid in wars that far away. But the real significance of the agreement was social. For the first time since the First Empire's fall, there was massive cross-cultural exchange between two of the Galaxy's major power groups, and exchange largely facilitated by the Independent Traders. The agreement also showed other powers an alternative to war -- an example of peaceful co-operation.



ABOVE: The Galaxy c. 7700 CE


copyright (c) 2007, Don Sakers

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